I do not own CSI; I just like to write about it
Gil Grissom walked down the hallway of the Las Vegas Crime Lab, heading towards the break room where his crew of CSI's was waiting for him to hand out the night's assignments. As he got closer to the room, he could hear the roar of laughter and excited voices emanating from the room and could definitely pick up the giggles of one CSI in particular.
Rounding the corner to stand in the doorway, he saw his talent scattered throughout the room. Catherine Willows, his assistant supervisor, was at the table busily trying to concentrate on a crossword puzzle as Warrick Brown stood across from her, coffee in hand watching the activities going on across the room. Greg Sanders stood in front of the refrigerator, an energy drink in hand as he goaded the pile of tangled arms and legs on the couch. "That's five Sara!" Greg called with a laugh.
Sara Sidle was Gil's top CSI; her solve rate was nearly the number one in the country and she was a brilliantly dedicated CSI. Currently, she lay on her back on the couch with her body halfway off of the piece of furniture, her head hanging down just a few inches from the floor. Nick Stokes, another of Gil's lead CSI's, sat atop the couch, his legs pinning the slim brunette down as he held onto her arms. They were, indeed, a tangled mass of swinging arms and legs.
"Hey!" Gil called with annoyance to get their attention. Nick jumped, letting go of Sara to send her tumbling to the floor with a loud THUMP.
She lay a moment, uttering a word of discomfort before sitting up to rub her head, looking at Nick with bewilderment. "Hitting the floor counts as two." Greg tallied.
"So, technically." Nick told Sara. "Now I owe you seven..." He held up seven fingers, "Seven."
"Damn..." Sara muttered as she rubbed her head, crawling off the floor to sit on the couch next to Nick. "You were cheating and Greg is making up the rules in your favor..."
"Sara." Gil snapped.
She looked up at him, her brown eyes clouding momentarily as Greg plopped down next to her. "You are so screwed," he muttered, avoiding his bosses glare.
"Why would I get screwed? I got dropped." She punched Nick on the leg. "Now, it's six."
"Low blows don't count." He said as he rubbed his leg.
"They do in my court." Sara said. "Six."
"Sidle." He said it with more force, causing Sara to look up at him before shuffling her gaze to the floor. "Catherine," Gil called out, not taking his eyes off of the younger CSI. "Can you please hand out assignments. And Sara...come with me."
"Damn it." Sara muttered as Nick pushed her up off of the couch. She walked by Catherine, who gave her a good luck wink as she accepted the assignments from Gil.
Sara followed him down the hallway to his office, where he circled behind the desk and sat down. After a moment, he looked up at her. "Close the door, Sara." He ordered; she complied and then stood with her arms crossed. He sighed at the sight of her. "Sit down."
"No, I think I'm good standing." She replied, not bothering to change her position.
"What was that all about?" He asked her demandingly
She shrugged. "What was what all about?" She said slowly
He let out a deep breath. "Sara, you know you are my top CSI." He began, seeing by the look in her eyes that she really didn't care. "Listen, I expect a lot out of my staff, and I especially expect a lot out of you because you are a better CSI than even Catherine..." He was trying to keep his scolding tone down. "I understand that Nick and Greg are going to goof off occasionally to let off steam, but honestly Sara, I expect much more from you."
She didn't say anything, eyeing him cautiously. "Sooo...it's okay for them to let off steam, but I'm supposed to just sit on my hands like a good girl? That doesn't sound like much fun."
"This isn't about fun, Sara, it is about your job and about maintaining a professional demeanor while you are in this lab."
"Are you saying that I am unprofessional?" She snapped.
"No, Sara..." he tried to smooth his voice over. "What I am saying is that I expect you to behave like the scientist you are. And rolling around on the break room couch or dancing around in the laboratory to Blondie is not becoming of a scientist of your stature."
"What the hell is becoming of a scientist of my stature?" She made quotation marks with her fingers as she talked. "Sitting around watching bugs in jars all day or spending my evening doing crossword puzzles...'cause I gotta tell you, Grissom, that just sounds like a bunch of bullshit."
"Excuse me?" He met her gaze with one of his own.
"Are we done here, cause I gotta get back to assignments..." She asked him irritably, motioning to the door.
"You're with me." He said quickly, standing up.
"Great." She muttered with a roll of her eyes.
He stopped a few steps before her, looking her over. "Is that a problem?'
Bottom lip out, she shook her head. "I'm not the one with the problem, Grissom." She snapped as she opened the door and left. He sighed, following her out; it was going to be a long night.
It turned out that they worked with Nick and Catherine on a triple homicide at the south end of the Strip. Sara had never been so relieved to work with others as she was that night. Grissom had tried a few unsuccessful attempts to talk to her and she had told him that unless it pertained to the case, he could 'save it'. He had been exceptionally rude to her lately, snapping at nearly everything she said and harshly critiquing her every move. Nothing she did seemed good enough for him and she decided to stay as far away as possible.
She kept herself busy on the far end of the parking lot, looking for spent bullets and any sign of a knife. The perpertrator had fled the scene, presumably on foot and they had uniforms everywhere checking out the perimeter. Sara could barely hear the audible voices of the others, picking up Grissom's voice although she could not pick up what he was saying. She glanced their way, seeing them standing in a circle quite a few feet away from her and thought about heading that way to see what was up. Instead, she made her way slowly along the fence line, shining her light along the ground as she went.
Her light caught on an object, reflecting light as she shone the beam over it; the knife. She made her way to it, pulling a pair of gloves from her pocket to pull on before reaching for the knife. A sound behind her caught her attention and she turned around as a dark figure dropped from the fence in front of her. She glanced quickly around her, contemplating her choices. The others were too far away to see what was occurring and the uniformed officers were on the other side of the building, working their way towards her.
"This...is a crime scene." She said slowly, knowing already that it was the wrong thing to say. The man walked towards her and Sara backed up, her hands up.
"Just give me the knife lady." He said, looking around nervously.
"Uhm...I... I can't do that." She said nervously, taking more steps backwards.
He reached out, grabbing her around the neck as he reached for the knife. Instinctively, Sara thrust it forward, cutting his hand as he cursed loudly. He Squeezed her neck tightly before throwing her down, grabbing the knife as it fell from her hands. He was on top of her before she could roll away, and she felt the blade against her face. "I could kill you right now." He seethed.
"Drop the weapon!" Sara heard the deep voice order. The man atop of her put his hands up, dropping the knife as another officer grabbed him, yanking him up off of Sara.
"You okay, Kiddo?" Jim Brass was above her, grabbing her arm to help her into a standing position. Sara looked at him, wiping a hand across her face and feeling blood. Behind him she saw Nick, Grissom, and Catherine running towards them.
"What happened?" Grissom called out with concern.
"Perp jumped the fence, caught Sara by surprise." Brass responded as his guys led the handcuffed man away. "You okay?"
Sara nodded as Catherine shone her light at the cut on her cheek. "We need to get that taken care of." She said, noting the younger woman's shaking hands.
"What were you doing over here?" Grissom asked her accusingly.
"I was checking for evidence..." Sara responded numbly, her nerves still abuzz. "I found the knife..."
"Sara, no one had cleared this spot yet." He was glaring at her, noting the blood slowly pooling around the scratch on her cheek. "You shouldn't have been over here."
"I know that Grissom!" She snapped. "I know."
"What the hell were you thinking?" He scolded, continuing. "You need to be more careful, Sara. You can't just go looking for evidence before the scene is cleared. You are a CSI for crying out loud, not a..."
Sara felt the tears sting her eyes at his verbal lecture, glancing at Nick and Catherine, the humiliation clear on her face; she couldn't believe he was doing this to her here, in front of everyone. "I get it, Grissom." She said quietly, her brown eyes landing on him again.
"I don't think you do Sara!" He continued. "You could've been killed, you compromised the crime scene, you..."
"Grissom!" It was Catherine's turn to snap. "I think she gets it." She took Sara's elbow gently and led her away from the scene. "He's an ass..."
"What was that all about?" Catherine asked as they made their way to the Yukon for a first aid kit.
Sara shook her head. "I have no idea, Catherine." She sighed, as Catherine opened the back of the SUV, directing her to sit down. She sat and Catherine opened the kit, taking out some antiseptic and antibiotic cream. "I think I am the only one to screw up."
"Oh, trust me..." the older woman said, blotting some stinging antiseptic on Sara's wound. "You are not the only one to screw up...you just seem to be in his radar lately."
"Lucky me..." Sara replied as Catherine finished, and they headed back out to the field.
Catherine reached out to take her elbow again, leaning in slightly. "Stay with me." She whispered as they approached the men. "I'll be your radar deflector for the evening."
Sara smiled at her. "I think I'll do just that." She said as they joined the others to finish up a very long night.
Gil sat in his office later that day; it had taken a total of 12 hours to process the scene and Sara had avoided him vehemently following the knife incident. Her wound appeared superficial and would heal fine, but the event had scared him terribly. The ride back to the lab was uncomfortable, Sara refusing to speak to him even in response to the simplest questions. She sat quietly next to Nick, staring intently out the window as they drove. Even Catherine seemed a little distant, and Gil knew he had crossed the line between being rude and just plain being an ass. Once back at the lab, Sara wasted no time in grabbing her kit and getting away from him, slamming the SUV door before heading to the lab to deposit her evidence. She had gone home by the time he got everything turned in, and now he sat thinking about her, as he had done so very many times before.
The first time he had ever laid eyes on Sara Sidle, he felt something awaken in him he had never knew existed. He was teaching an entomology seminar in California nearly eight years before and had caught the beautiful chocolate eyes of the woman in the front row; she was inquisitive, intelligent, and challenging. He immediately found himself drawn to her and their friendship began that day after class, when they met for coffee for one of the most indepth, intelligent conversations of his career.
They continued the friendship while he was there, spending hours talking over life and theories and building a bond. The last day he was in California, they had had dinner at her small apartment, drinking wine and discussing forensics when he kissed her; that kiss led them to her bedroom where they made love and he realized then that he would never be the same; he was falling in love with her. He had went back to Vegas after that, keeping in contact but keeping her at a distance; until she came to Vegas to join his team. He had asked her to come, he wanted her near; but once she was, he had a difficult time dealing with the realm of emotions he felt for her.
Which is what led them to now. He had managed, for five years, to hold her at arm's length. To relish in her presence while ignoring it all the same; he knew it was complicated, knew it confused her, but he did it just the same. He wanted Sara Sidle more than he had wanted anything in his life, and the frustration was overwhelming.
That frustration came to light one evening in the lab, a few weeks prior to the evening he found himself pondering their situation following the knife incident. They had been working late, far after everyone had left the building. Sara was in his office, showing him DNA results when he came up next to her, hand on the small of her back, to look over the information. They had stood this way countless times before, the small touch being enough to placate him, to give him a feel of her warmth. On this evening, however, he leaned in a little too much, smelling the aroma of her hair, the gentle scent of vanilla from her body, the erotic sensation of Sara filling his senses. She turned to look at him, her brown his filled with a spark of their own and he leaned in more, kissing her gently at first.
The feel of her lips beneath his started a raging fire inside him and he plunged in deeper, grasping her face with his hands, as her lips parted, sending him into a frenzy of desire. As their tongues came together in passionate hunger, his hands moved over her body, through her hair, down her back, exploring her curves as if they were uncharted territory. They moved backwards, slamming against the table along the wall, their explosive chemistry causing papers to fall as Sara had her hands in his hair, responding to his aggression with a hunger of her own. She could feel his arousal against her and felt as hers built to near explosive levels, wanting more and afraid to receive it all at one time.
And then, as suddenly as it had started, Grissom pulled back, looking at Sara as though he had broken a very cherished commandment. His breathing was hard, his eyes full of desire and longing as he gazed at her. "Sara..." He whispered breathlessly, his eyes studying her hair, her lips, her body. Opening his mouth to say more, he shook his head before bolting from the room and out of sight, leaving Sara dumbstruck and bewildered against the table.
Grissom had rushed to the locker room, stripping off his clothes and letting the cool water of the shower wash over him. He could not believe he had done that; he could have easily made love to Sara right then and there in his office, God knows he wanted to. He realized that he had come too close, and knew that if it happened again, he couldn't stop himself. He made up his mind at that moment that he would have to distance himself from her again, push her away so that he would not be tempted again. Because if she just looked at him with a smile, if he just touched her one more time, he knew he wouldn't be able to stop himself and he was, after all, her boss.
