A/n: It has been a loooong while since I've written anything but thanks to my new "pen pal", I have been inspired to write again. Although I didn't spend as much time as I should have, I really hope you enjoy my fic. Don't forget to review and tell me what you think.
CSICSICSI
"Sidle." Sara answered the phone with a muffled, groggy voice. She had finally been given the chance to get some sleep after a triple shift at the Las Vegas Crime Lab. Trying to hunt a killer who left no trace was next to impossible but she knew with a bit of perseverance and a few hundred cup of stale, re- heated coffee, they would eventually find a clue. She answered the phone on its third ring.
The telephone call came from none other than Gil Grissom. He needed her assistance on a 419 out on some field in the middle of nowhere. A 17 year- old boy died near a swing set of some park in northern Nevada.
"And why exactly do you need me to drive three hours just to find out he was probably a drunk teenager who tripped and cracked his head on the swing set. Do you really need help on that?"
"Gee, someone's a little cranky this morning."
"Grissom, It's five o'clock in the morning. I haven't slept in a long time and now you want me to drive to a crime scene that a rookie could solve in a day. Of course I'm cranky." She replied simply and calmly.
"Well, I was going to do the driving."
'Great', Sara thought. How compassionate.
"Get someone else." She said with a dictating voice.
"There is no one else. Catherine is with Lindsey in New York, Warrick is on a serial with Nick, and Greg is due in court all week. Please Sara, I need your help."
She could never turn him down. As much as she wanted to tell him no and roll back into a deep slumber, she couldn't refuse.
"I'll be at the lab in half an hour." She said lazily.
"That's my girl." He said before ending the conversation.
Sara hung up the phone and whipped the covers off her warm body. She felt the cooler surrounding air hit her skin causing her to shiver. She wondered if she should cover herself up again and go back to sleep but instead she pushed herself to get up, shower, and pack as fast as she could.
She took a cold, quick shower and put her hair in a wet but. She was just too tired to dry it or spend any time styling it. She packed quickly all the while contemplating whether to get back into bed. She made a cup of fresh coffee, which she thoroughly enjoyed and left home to head to the lab for another long case, which she still didn't believe required her assistance.
- - -
Sara parked her car in the lot at the lab, collected her overnight bag and the two cups of hot, fresh coffee and headed towards Grissom, who was already leaning against the Yukon.
"Mmm, thanks." He said with his eyes closed, relishing the warm, sedating liquid that as a child tasted rotten and bitter, but soon began to fill a small part of him, and he knew without it, he would be somewhat lost.
"You're driving." She said waking him from his bittersweet thoughts of his coffee. She knew how much he loved his coffee and the moment he closed his eyes after taking a sip, she realised how much she appreciated all the small things that made him happy.
"Hop in." He said taking her bag from her and putting in the back along with his own, which was ironically the same bag she had, and the field kits packed with extra materials while she buckled into the passenger seat. Their three- hour drive had begun.
"Sara." Grissom said as she shut off the ignition. She still didn't wake.
"Sara, wake up." She slept on.
"Sara?" He reached over and touched her shoulder. As he rubbed her shoulder she suddenly stirred and opened her eyes.
"Sorry, I was just closing my eyes."
"Sure. We're here and we have to meet with Sheriff Sparrows. He will give us more details and we can get started. Sound good?"
"Yeah, the sooner the better."
CSICSICSI
"Hi, I'm Sheriff Ethan Sparrows. You must be the guys from Vegas."
"Hi, I'm Gil Grissom. This is Sara Sidle." He said gesturing to her as she waved politely. Although she was still in the process of waking up, she could sense something about him. She was unsure how or what it was but she felt something was off. She became fully awake and shrugged it off.
Together, the three of them spent the majority of the day sifted through. And examining the little evidence they had and interviewing a small pool of people. Grissom was hot, sweaty, and tired from the 100-degree weather and just wanted the sheriff to direct him to the hotel.
The body was at the morgue and when Sara wanted to examine evidence from it, the sheriff said he would take them to it the following day. She found that incredibly odd.
Sara had feelings almost identical to Grissom's however she could only wonder why the mysterious Ethan Sparrows had still not given them directions to their hotel. She had brought up a few questions of their hotel and he would always divert them. She wondered if Grissom had caught on to this. This time she could not shrug the feeling of how he made her feel.
"Tomorrow, there are close friends of the victim's whom I would like to speak to and you can try to match the shoe prints. " He said with a sly grin.
"Good. Thank you." Grissom replied evidently not noting the grin or the way he was planning everything for he and Sara.
Sara couldn't keep quiet any longer. "What about the body?"
"Good things come to those who wait, Sara." He quoted using her first name. She looked at Grissom and he finally noticed the inconsistencies.
"Please, let me take you to dinner, them to your hotel." Sara managed to get one sound of opposition in before Grissom accepted. Sara first wanted to shower and change but no such chance was given.
They sat in the round table in the corner of a tiny diner that was probably built in the fifties although it felt like earlier. She unwillingly sat in the middle. She was very thankful that the dinner had not lasted very long and as they waited for the bill the strange feeling came back. She spotted the waitress come out of the kitchen and counted the seconds until she arrived. It seemed like hours because as she stared at the waitress she felt a warmth upon her thigh. It took a moment to realise it but once she did she took action. Sheriff had put his hand on her thigh. She slapped it off loudly and became even more enraged that Grissom had not even noticed. He paid and they left.
Sara was silent on the ride to the motel and constantly said 'nothing' when Grissom asked her what was wrong. She grabbed her bad from the back and stormed in ready for a shower and a bed. And Grissom just took his time watching her leave and hoped she would be okay.
Grissom hadn't even opened his bag. He just sat on his bed and watched the news on the television when someone pounded on his door. He was quick to answer and sucked in a breath when he saw who it was. Sara was standing in the doorway with only a towel wrapped around her. He started at the top and was mesmerised by her dark brown hair cascading around shoulders and neck then watched as the water droplets slid down her chest and disappeared behind the towel. The towel ended just above her knees and his eyes dropped from there to her small toes.
"Here, I took the wrong bag from the truck." She brushed by him and he could smell the shampoo and soap reminiscing on her body. She walked over to his bag that lay before the television and picked it up into her right hand leaving his real bag in its place. She turned to leave but Grissom held her wrist so they were both looking at each other.
"What happened Sara?"
"Nothing."
"Sara"
"Let's just get this case over with and get out of this place."
"Sara please." He pleaded with his eyes and heart.
"The sheriff was acting inappropriately in the diner. He put his hand on my leg under the table." She turned to leave and this time he let her go.
"Are you going to be alright Sara?" He said putting his hand on her shoulder.
"Yeah, I just don't like him."
"Me neither. See you in the morning." He rubbed her arm affectionately before she left.
CSICSICSI
Sara, surprisingly, managed to get to sleep very quickly. She hadn't thought about him that long after leaving Grissom's room and she was glad for it.
Grissom never had so much luck. He lay in bed thinking about Sara and if she was all right. He didn't want to be a bother by knocking on her door at 1 on the morning but he just hoped everything would be better in the morning. As he tossed and turned the need to see Sara grew stronger and stronger and he wasn't sure if it was to make himself feel better or comfort Sara.
He got out of bed and walked to the door. He could hear a clicking sound outside nearby and he pondered what someone would be doing at this late hour. He opened the door was shocked at what he saw. Sheriff Sparrows was trying to pick the lock of Sara's room door.
"What the hell are you doing?" Grissom yelled louder than necessary. Sparrows looked up like a deer caught in the headlights and stood to flee when Grissom stepped forward and shoved him into Sara's door allowing for a loud thud.
Sara heard the yell and then the thud from behind her door and she thought of who it could be. Maybe a group of drunk people trying to locate their rooms. When she heard the voice saying 'get away from her door now,' she knew they were no drunks. She got out of bed and without thinking ran to open the door. Grissom was outside in his pyjamas telling the sheriff, who was out of uniform, to get away from Sara. While she was trying to think of what was going to happen next, the two men ceased all actions and looked at Sara, standing in her doorway. She, too, was wearing her pyjamas, dark pants with a white tank top that did not reach her pants, permitting both of, especially the sheriff's eyes to wander for a few moments. While Sparrows continued to stare Grissom shoved him once again, turning his whole body around.
"I just wanted to apologise for the way I acted in the diner."
"At one in the morning?"
"I felt awful and couldn't sleep."
"So you came here and tried to pick her lock to say you're sorry?" His voice was calm now.
"I…I also wanted to tell you that the body was stolen from the morgue."
"You're lying! There is no body, is there?"
"No."
"Why did you want us coming out here?"
"Well…I…I…"
"I want you to leave right now and I don't want to see your face ever again. Am I understood?"
"Yeah." He took one last look at Sara, turned, and left.
Once the sheriff had left, Grissom turned to face Sara.
"Sara, are you okay?"
"Yes."
"Sara."
"Grissom." She said back. She was building up her wall again; the wall that no one could break through. However, when the wall was almost build, she saw the look in Grissom's eyes. This look was loving and very sincere. She saw that he wanted to be near her and help her and this time she wanted to let him. She thanked him with her eyes for saving her that night and stopped building the wall.
Together they silently packed their bags, checked out, got in the car, and drove.
Many miles down, after quite some time of silence, Grissom spoke,
"Sara, have you ever played baseball?"
"What?"
"Have you ever played baseball."
"No."
"Why not?"
"Maybe I had better things to do with my time."
"Ya think so huh?" Before she could reply he quickly swerved off the road, onto a ramp, and then onto a side street. She sucked in a breath and held tight to the handle in front of her.
"Grissom! What the hell are you doing."
"Nothing, just taking a small detour. Don't ask questions. You'll see." She silenced quickly and although wanted to ask many more questions, she trusted him enough to wait and see.
He pulled into a deserted ball park and got out. He took a large sack from the truck and then ran to the field while Sara sat in the passenger seat utterly confused. Being a CSI, she had to investigate this bizarre behaviour he was displaying. As she neared the baseball diamond, she could hear a quiet rumbling from a machine in the pitching circle of the diamond. She saw Grissom, base ball bat in hand, prepared to hit any balls the seemed to have been coming from the machine.
"Grissom, what's all this?"
"Get over here, Sara." She hesitantly walked over to him where he took her by the waist and put her in front of him.
"Put your hands on the bat in between mine." She complied.
"Now Sara I want you to swing. Forget all worries you have, just swing Sara."
"Gris…"
"Here it comes." Together they swung and nicked the edge of the ball.
"Good, good. The next one remember just keep your eye on the ball and together we will make contact."
The ball came towards them and she swung and made contact. The ball soared through the night sky and landed with a thud in the outer field dirt.
"Home run!" He exclaimed. She giggled and prepared for the next pitch. She felt comfortable and free with her entire body pressed against his. And for the first time in a long time she let herself relax and be lead by Grissom. And together they swung on into well into the night both enjoying the peaceful and soothing sound of the bat making hard but solid and strong contact with the baseball.