Title: Just in Time
Author: WashDCChick
Category: Angst/Romance; GSR
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Chaos Theory, Burden of Proof
Summary: Grissom and Sara have a secret. Will the others find out what it is?
Feedback: Constructive criticism welcome
Disclaimer: I don't own them. I just like to bring 'em out and play with them occasionally.
Thanks: This story wouldn't exist without the major fic support I got from k, Miyaka and Nutmeg: thank you all! Mad love to anyone who bothers to read and review.
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"Just in time!" Nick said, looking at his watch. "You start getting here any later, you're gonna face the wrath of Grissom.
Sara knew Nick was right. Ever since she and Grissom, well ever since there had been a she and Grissom, she had been shuttling back and forth between her apartment and his, and it was making her later and later. They couldn't keep their hands off each other, but neither of them slept much, so that wasn't the problem. She kept forgetting things at her own place; little but important things, like her big round hairbrush. She'd run out to the store or back to her apartment to replace what she needed, but it was making her late, not to mention frustrated.
"Don't you have anything better to do with your time, Nick? Like work, for instance?" she asked. Late or no she wasn't going to let Nick's teasing rob her of the good mood being with Grissom put her in.
Nick just grinned, unfazed by her retort, "Nope. Grissom hasn't been in with the assignments, yet."
"Pity." She wasn't angry with Nick, just irritated really, mostly because he was right. "Anyway, you told me to get out more, so I did."
That was an opening too good for Nick to resist, "Really? Good for you. Hear that War? Sara's got a beau."
Warrick just smiled and shook his head at his friend. He wasn't about to get into the middle of this.
Trying hard not to sound defensive, Sara insisted, "I didn't say that!"
Grissom *would* have to choose that exact moment to walk into the break room.
"You didn't say what?" he asked. Sara was always getting on his case to be more sociable, to join in more and he was trying. He didn't like it, but for Sara he was trying.
Warrick, and Catherine, sitting on the other side of the table next to him, both shot Nick a warning look.
"I didn't say that your tarantula looked sick." Sara fumbled. She wondered if that had sounded as bad as she thought it had. The conversation just wasn't worth Grissom getting involved in. She didn't want him worrying that she had told the others about their relationship. To make matters worse, she knew she'd been taking out some of her frustration on him. She didn't mean to, he was just the nearest target most of the time. Grissom looked over his glasses at Sara, but said nothing about it
Heading back from their crime scene early that morning, Warrick caught up to Nick. "What'd you do that for, man? You know Grissom's got a thing for Sara."
"Aw, c'mon, I was just having a little fun with the girl," Nick said. "Besides, you really think Gris has a thing for her?"
"Who knows? I used to think they had a thing for each other," Warrick shrugged. "I swear there were times I wanted to tell those two to get a room already. Remember that college girl who disappeared, Paige Ryckoff?"
Nick nodded, and Warrick continued, "Well, the three of us were in the elevator in her dorm, and if Grissom had been any closer to Sara in there, he'd have been on top of her. There I am, trying to pretend like I don't notice anything."
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Nick agreed. "I can't tell you how many times I've felt like I was interrupting something with them."
"Right. But lately, its like one minute everything's normal, the next they're trying to keep as far away from each other as possible. I don't know what's goin' on."
"I'll tell you this," Nick said, "whether or not Sara has a new guy, she's definitely acting funny. I'll get it out of her, you'll see."
At the lab, Nick began trying to look for Sara, without making it seem like he was actually looking for her. This was a delicate game he was playing and he knew it. If he was going to find out what was bothering Sara, he couldn't get her too mad at him. It was just like investigating a suspect; what he had going for him was that he knew Sara probably better than she realized. What he had working against him was that she was probably a better investigator than he was, and if she thought he was investigating her, she'd clam up and he'd get nowhere with her.
Spotting Sara, Nick casually walked into the room. He could probably play to Sara's sense of competition to get her distracted and then, hopefully, she would let her guard down enough to give him a sense of what was on her mind.
"Hey, Sara, can you help me for a sec?"
Sara assessed him cautiously. "What's up?"
Nick flashed a Texas 10,000 watt smile to put her at ease. "I know how much you love a challenge," he said, "I thought you'd want to help me with these encrypted computer files. C'mon, you know you want to."
"Give me the disks," Sara held out her hand petulantly. "Watch and learn for once."
"Yes, ma'am!"
The files were really not that complicated, but Nick let Sara take the lead with them, waiting until she was in a "zone", all her concentration focused on what she was doing.
"Hey, you know I was just kidding earlier about you being late, right?"
"Huh? Oh, sure, Nick. Whatever."
Good. What he said had barely registered with her. That was the approach, now for the landing.
"I mean, I think its good that you've got someone special."
Sara's eyes narrowed into slits and she didn't miss a beat, "So, that's your game? You think that just by distracting me I'll spill my guts to you? How stupid do you think I am?"
"Sara, no! That's not – I'm just worried about you is all."
Sara shoved the disks into Nick's hands. "Worry about your computer files. I've got enough of my own work to do. Somewhere else."
Towards the end of her shift, Sara walked down the hallway, head down, shoulders hunched, cursing at herself silently for letting Nick get to her. She reassured herself that he didn't actually know anything about her relationship with Grissom, he was just grasping at straws. If she hadn't acted so defensively in the first place he probably would have dropped the subject. "I gotta get it together," she thought.
"Sara!"
Sara was snapped out of her thoughts by the enthusiastic voice of Greg Sanders.
"Good," Sara thought. At least now she could get some work done.
"Hey, Greggo. Got some good news for me?"
"Indeed I do, but what kind of news do you have for me?"
Sara counted to 10 to keep from saying something she'd regret, "Look, Greg. Just give me the results you have, okay? I'm kind of busy." She hoped she hadn't been too harsh with him; she genuinely liked the young tech when he wasn't showing off or trying to get her to go out on a date with him. It was just that after getting in late, and having to contend with Nicky and Grissom, her good mood had been steadily decreasing and her temper had been steadily increasing throughout the night.
"Of course, of course." Greg showed Sara the results of the tests she was looking for, but wasn't about to let her go without finding out what he wanted to know. "So…Sara. Is it true?"
"Is what true Greg?" she asked, reluctantly.
"Well, rumor has it that you're seeing someone."
"What? No! I mean, where did you hear that?" she sputtered, horrified. "Not that it's any of your business."
"Oh, good one," Sara thought.
"Small office," Greg replied. "Word gets around."
"Who. Told. You. That?" She was inches away from Greg's face and she was not happy.
His bluff called, Greg caved, "All right! I overheard Nick and Warrick talking about it in the hallway."
Sara turned abruptly, turned back to pick up the report off of Greg's desk, and fled.
"This day is getting better every minute," she thought.
Grissom watched Sara walk in to his apartment and shut the door a little too hard. Despite the fact that they were staying together most nights, they still took separate cars to and from work. Although they had never discussed as much, they both believed it was best that their colleagues not know about their relationship; it would cause too many problems. Besides, deep down, Grissom was still unsure of his relationship with Sara. Even though she told him all the time that she loved him, they were still so new together. They had known each other for so long before starting a relationship, it was hard for him to believe she was his.
But there she was, dropping her purse in the hallway, carrying her overnight bag into his bedroom. Based on the scowl clouding her face, Grissom determined that it would be wise to stay out of her way for now. After picking up her purse, and placing it neatly on a side table, Grissom found an excuse to go to his bedroom to check on Sara, who was casually stripping off her clothes and dropping them on the floor, leaving a trail to the master bathroom. She certainly didn't have a problem being naked in front of him like that; why should she, Grissom thought, she couldn't possibly be more beautiful, with or without clothes. The newness of the relationship got the better of him, and he hid just out of sight behind the bedroom door, watching her.
After her shower, Sara padded into the living room, somewhat more relaxed. Her hair was still wet, but she could deal with that later, and she had put on her favorite soft tank top and gray sweat-shorts with 'Harvard' printed on the back. The clothes were the most comfortable she owned, and she figured correctly, as an added bonus, that the shorts gave Grissom an excuse to check out her ass. Grissom was on the couch, typically working on a crossword puzzle. Their usual routine, if it could be said that they had one, was for her to do some reading while he did the crossword puzzle. Grissom would cook breakfast and they would go to sleep, usually preceded and/or followed by them having sex. Sara thought she could use physical release, and hoped that would be the case today.
She sat down next to him on the couch, picked up his arm and draped it around her, placing herself under it, against his side. Grissom loved the way she took possession of him.
"Good, she must be feeling better," he thought. He leaned in to press his nose to her freshly washed hair. "So what was that all about last night?" he asked.
"What was what all about?"
"You and Nick in the break room. What were you talking about when I walked in?"
Sara stiffened. All she had wanted was a quiet morning spent enveloped in Grissom's arms. The last thing she wanted to do was revisit her conversations with Nick. "Absolutely nothing. Don't worry about it. Where's my book?"
"Which book?"
"My book; the one on quantum chaos! The one I was reading at home."
"Maybe you left it at home," Grissom ventured.
"Another thing I left at home!" Sara threw her hands up in defeat. "I give up. I'm going to sleep."
Grissom cocked his head, and squinted his eyes, wondering what he had said wrong. Should he send her another plant?
Sara climbed into bed and pulled the covers up over her head. Why did everything feel like it was going wrong? Why was something as simple as being with Grissom becoming so complicated? She buried her face in the pillow and waited to fall asleep.
When she woke up the bed felt empty without Grissom next to her, but Sara was grateful to have a few hours to herself. Grissom had left early for an autopsy. What had been weighing heavily on her mind, now seemed faded after a particularly deep sleep. She felt badly for overreacting with both Nicky and Grissom. Keeping their relationship a secret at work was making her unreasonably stressed, though the other option wasn't much better. The idea of having their friends at work know about them didn't exactly inspire her. Grissom was her supervisor, after all, not to mention the others'. She doubted that her sleeping with the boss would go over particularly well. Sara got up to get ready for work and remembered that she had gone to sleep without drying her hair. "That's just perfect," she thought. This workday was starting no better than the last one had ended, and now she had a headache.
Not even the autopsy could hold Grissom's attention completely; he kept thinking about Sara. She was definitely hiding something from him, he just couldn't figure out what. First she had changed the subject when he walked into the break room, then she wouldn't talk to him about it. She had been sound asleep when he left that evening, and hadn't even woken up when he kissed her goodbye, which was unusual. He told himself that he was overreacting, that he was making something out of nothing, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Science was his forte, not people, as he was so often reminded. When he had been younger, he had been in a few relationships, but before Sara none in recent memory. Once you've misunderstood people you care about, and been misunderstood yourself enough times, you begin to stop looking for people to care about. Finally, he had let *her* into his life. Sara. He doubted if even she really understood him.
Under normal circumstances Grissom could talk to Catherine; she seemed to know how to explain the rest of the world to him in ways that he could understand. Unfortunately, these were anything but normal circumstances; not even Catherine knew about him and Sara. Catherine was his good friend and he didn't like not being able to talk to her about this. What was stopping him was fear. He was afraid that people knowing about his relationship with Sara could jeopardize their jobs; he was afraid of others thinking that he would treat Sara differently as her supervisor, and most of all, he was afraid that Sara would change her mind about him and he would lose her. Grissom squinted and rubbed his eyes; he had Sara, and yet he felt completely alone.
Pushing his fears to the back of his mind, Grissom wandered back to his office and opened one of the files sitting in a pile on his desk to reacquaint himself with the particulars of the case before giving out that evening's assignments. He closed the file and stood up to go to the break-room for more coffee, hoping Sara would be there. Nothing comforted him more than seeing Sara smiling up at him. Grissom looked down the hall and did not see Sara; she would be in soon enough. Nick and Warrick were in the room, talking in somewhat hushed tones. Hearing Sara's name, he stopped outside.
"Man, I seriously blew it with Sara," Nick was saying.
"You never know when to quit do you, " Warrick teased. "What happened?"
"All I did was try to get her to talk to me about her new boyfriend and she almost went medieval on me."
Warrick laughed ruefully, "Why am I not surprised? So what'd she say about having a new guy?"
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And I'm still worried about her."
Warrick gave his friend a serious look, "I'm telling you, stay out of it."
"Yeah, I guess I have to now. I just feel bad for Grissom, this is gonna kill him."
Still standing in the hallway, Grissom grimaced. He hadn't realized his feelings for Sara had been that noticeable. And Sara's new boyfriend? Grissom thought they couldn't possibly mean him. He didn't want believe what he was hearing, but Nick and Warrick were making a convincing case; they had noticed everything he had. Was that the answer? Had Sara found someone else? They'd never really talked about their relationship, after all; they'd never said that they were dating, he wasn't even sure they'd ever been out on what could be construed as a date. He'd just assumed, and now he certainly felt like an ass. He didn't know what to think or what to believe. His world had turned upside down when he kissed Sara for the first time, now it felt like his world was shattering. He didn't want to hear anymore. Loudly clearing his throat, he walked into the break room, pretending to read the file in his hands.
Sara joined the others in the break room about an hour before the night shift actually started, but as usual everyone else was already there. She tried to catch Grissom's eye when she walked in, but couldn't. She figured he was angry with her for not telling him what she was upset about, and she decided she would apologize to him. He would forgive her and they'd both forget about it. It wasn't all that surprising when Grissom didn't assign her to the case he was working on. Since they'd been together, they hadn't really known how to interact in the office without making the others suspicious. Why couldn't they just act like they had before? No one had suspected their feelings for each other then, right? She would go to his office in a few minutes and talk about everything with him. Maybe he would know what to do, after all.
"Hey!" Sara said brightly, closing Grissom's office door behind her.
Grissom looked up from what he was writing, "Sara. Hi."
"Sara, hi? That's the best you can do? I didn't think you were that mad at me," she said, grinning sheepishly at Grissom over his desk.
"Mad at you? For what?" he asked.
Sara sighed, "For not telling you what Nick and I were talking about in the break room yesterday. I'm sorry. It was stupid."
"I know what you were talking about."
"You do? Well what do you think we should do about it?"
Grissom's voice was flat, "Stop seeing each other, of course."
"Stop seeing each other?" Sara repeated. "Grissom, what are you talking about?"
"You met someone else. That's great. You should have said something sooner." Grissom thought he would choke on his words as they came out.
Sara just stared at him, "Grissom, you've never made less sense in your life. I haven't met anyone else. What the hell gave you an idea like that?"
"Its okay Sara, I know. I overheard Nicky and Warrick talking about it. You don't have to hide it from me anymore."
Before Sara had been confused, maybe even a little amused, now she was just plain angry, "You think I'm seeing someone because you heard Tweedledee and Tweedledum and you believed them? God, Grissom, I thought you had more faith in me than that, not to mention more sense than that. My only new boyfriend is you. I thought we were past all this, now I don't know what to think."
Sara threw open the door and left Grissom's office. She needed to clear her head. How could Grissom be so willing to believe she was seeing someone else, so willing to let her go? Was he unhappy? Did he want to stop seeing her? Was this just an excuse for him to end their relationship? Yet again, everything was becoming complicated and Sara had no idea what to do about it.
Catherine was on her way to Grissom's office anyway when she passed an angry, worn-out looking Sara in the hallway, coming from the general direction of Grissom's office. She and Sara were working on the same case, so she knew that couldn't be what was upsetting her.
"Oh, lord," she thought, "what did he do this time?"
She usually had to pry to get any personal information she wanted out of Gil. She loved him, but he could be as trying as Lyndsey during her 'terrible twos'. Damage control was definitely in order.
"Hey, boss," Catherine said, "Sorry to interrupt your dinner."
Grissom looked equally worn-out, giving Catherine that much more reason to believe that he was the cause of Sara's troubles.
"Funny, you don't look sorry," he remarked.
"Yeah, well, deal with it. I passed Sara in the hallway, and don't give me the old 'you know how Sara gets' speech."
Knowing that he would probably lose any argument about this that he got into with Catherine, Grissom relented, "Things were going so well, and then…"
"And then?"
Grissom pursed his lips, "I don't know, Catherine. I wish I did."
"I've heard that one before too." She wasn't letting him off that easily.
"You think it was something I did."
"Now you're talking."
Grissom looked defeated, "You're probably correct. You usually are."
Catherine stood up to go see if she could get anything out of the other half of this equation, "Usually?" she said with a toss of her hair. "Fix it, Gil."
Grissom had a feeling he had been here before. If what Sara had said was true, Grissom knew that Catherine was certainly right. He had messed things up and he would have to fix them.
Before she was able to find Sara, Catherine found Warrick. Warrick was such a caring man. Despite his rocky start with Sara, Catherine knew that the effort he had made to put aside any hard feelings had paid off, and that Sara considered him a trusted ally as much as any of them. If anyone could help her sort out this mess with Grissom and Sara, it was Warrick.
"Just the man I wanted to see."
Warrick smiled at her warmly, "Really? Glad to hear it. Is this business or pleasure?"
"Both, actually. Its about Grissom and Sara."
"Uh, oh. You sure we should be getting in the middle of that?"
Catherine touched the top of his hand, "I'm sure that something is going on, and if we don't help we'll all be the worse for it."
"Jeez, Cat. You're beginning to sound like Nicky."
Catherine raised her eyebrows, "I doubt it, but what makes you say that?"
Warrick smiled out of one side of his mouth, but his blue eyes looked concerned. "You remember the other day Nicky when was getting on Sara's case about having a new boyfriend?"
"Now that you mention it, yes."
"Well, he hasn't let up. He even tried to get Sara to tell him what was wrong."
"Greaaat. Just what we need, an even angrier Sara."
Warrick nodded his head at her, "Which is exactly what we've got. What do you know about it?"
"I know I just saw Sara looking none too pleased," Catherine said, "And I know Grissom had something to do with it. I just don't know what or why. I'm missing something."
"Well, good luck. You know I'm behind you and Sara no matter what."
Catherine gave Warrick a small kiss on the cheek, "I know. Thanks."
Warrick returned the kiss on Catherine's cheek, "Any time. Anything I can do to help?"
"Actually, yes. Keep Nicky out of my hair and away from Sara for as long as you can while I try to find her and sort this out."
He nodded. "I'm on it. I think you might be able to find Sara in the break room."
Catherine took a deep breath and let it out, "I'm on my way."
The break room was empty when Catherine walked in, save for Sara picking at some food. Maybe Nick was right, maybe Sara was seeing someone else. It could explain the duplicate looks of distraction on Grissom and Sara's faces, but that answer just didn't feel right. Catherine poured a cup of coffee for herself and walked over to the table where Sara was still pushing her food into various piles in its plastic container.
"Anyone sitting here?" Catherine asked.
"Nope," Sara said without looking up.
Catherine sat down across from her friend. She thought perhaps the younger woman could use a female ear to listen; but she had to tread lightly. Sara, like Grissom, was very reluctant to talk about her private life and that was an understatement. Maybe add "very" a few hundred more times to that thought. Catherine didn't want to turn a friend into an enemy.
"Wanna talk about it?" she asked gently.
Sara sighed and lifted a piece of food to the vicinity of her mouth, staring at a piece of zucchini like it was some kind of alien life form.
The zucchini got Catherine's attention.
A broad smile crossed her face, "So, you and Grissom, huh?"
"What?" Sara looked up, suddenly acutely aware of her surroundings. She couldn't have looked more surprised if she had tried.
"Its okay," Catherine reassured her, "Nobody told me. I figured it out on my own"
Sara finally put her fork down. She looked like a huge weight had been lifted off of her.
"What gave us away?"
Catherine laughed, "Actually, in the end it was your zucchini. Gris brought the same leftovers, and I can't remember the last time I saw him willingly eat just vegetables. I heard Nicky hasn't let up about this so-called new boyfriend of yours. You maybe want to fill in the blanks for me?"
Grateful for an understanding friend, Sara told Catherine about her relationship with Grissom and how they had been hiding it from everyone, their argument, and how he had assumed she was seeing someone else.
"Ouch," Catherine said sympathetically. How could two people who were so perfect for each other be such perfectly rotten communicators?
"I swear Catherine, I think I'm as bad at this relationship thing as Gris is."
Out of the corner of her eye Catherine spotted Nick and Warrick heading towards them, "Can I offer one piece of advice?"
Finally, Sara smiled. "I wish you would."
Catherine chose her words for brevity and impact. "Trust me, Sara, he loves you. Forgive him."
Grissom strode into the break room, hands at his side, head leaning towards the object of his mission. For once, it didn't matter to him that the other three night shift CSIs were also there.
"Sara? May I see you for a moment?"
Sara looked up, somewhat surprised by his suddenly confident demeanor, "Sure."
Catherine stifled a smile and squeezed Warrick's arm gently.
Nick and Warrick could see that Catherine knew something they did not. Nick spoke up; he wasn't about to just ignore the expression on Catherine's face.
"Cat, you want to tell us what *that* was?"
"You were right about one thing, Nicky," Catherine turned a self-satisfied smile to her friend. "*That* is Sara's new boyfriend."
Nick looked delighted, "I knew I'd find out what was going on with her!"
Warrick just rolled his eyes and smiled back at Catherine.
Sara followed Grissom a few yards into the hallway where they couldn't be seen or overheard.
"I want you to go back to your place after shift is over," Grissom said.
"What? You don't want to see me tonight because of some argument?"
Grissom interrupted her, "Just listen. Go home, get some sleep and change your clothes. I'll pick you up at 1:00. We're going out."
Sara shook her head in confusion, "Out where?"
Grissom smiled slightly, "On a date."
FINI.