Disclaimer: I own nothing
AN: Now edited...less mistakes I hope!
In your arms
Sara stood in front of the microscope, her eyes focused on the fiber under it. Suddenly she felt cold hands on he hips and the strong chest of a man pressed against her back…or better said her back pressed against his chest. She turned around and shot an asking look at Grissom.
"How are you today?", he asked.
"I'm fine…really."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Are you really, really sure?"
"Grissom!"
He grinned and stepped away from her. "Good!…Have you been seeing you counselor?"
"Yeah…twice this week, three times last week."
Grissom nodded softly. "And?"
"Well…let's say I made a few steps forward…not many…but a few…and I am really feeling better."
A smile flashed over her lips when he stroke softly through her hair with his right hand.
"I'm glad you feel better!"
Suddenly Ecklie entered the room. He threw an angry look at Grissom and an even more angry look at Sara. "Gil…I have to talk to you…about this problematic factor in your team.", Ecklie said with an ice cold tone in his voice.
Grissom nodded and followed Ecklie out…winking at Sara when he turned his head around while entering the hallway.
"What the hell was going on in there between the two of you?", Ecklie shouted at Grissom when they had entered his office and Grissom had just closed the door behind him.
"What do you mean Conrad?"
"You were touching her!"
"We are friends. This is ridiculous!"
"Friends don't press each other against the other's chest and friends don't stroke through each other's hair!"
"Conrad, Sara and I are only good friends. I don't know what the department rumors say…but you can believe me…there is nothing going on between us…I care for her. I s that a crime? I don't think so. And honestly…I regret that I haven't taken care of her earlier."
"Gil…you know that I could fire you if the two of you have an affair."
"Yeah…you could…but you wouldn't."
"Don't be so sure about this."
"Oh c'mon Conrad. I am one of the fifteen best entomologists in the whole country. I'm needed here. You'd never fire me…I am one of the most powerful men at the whole department…even more powerful than you are…although you are my boss…but believe me…they'd rather fire you than loosing me."
Ecklie swallowed hard…he had never heard Grissom talking in such an angry, but also serious and calmed way.
"I should have taken better care of Sara…I ignored the signs…but you can believe me…I wont let something like this happen again…and now excuse me please…I have work to do."
"We're not finished yet."
"What else?"
"I can't fire you, but I can fire her. So tell her that…"
"You wont fire her. I wont let you do this.", Grissom said serious with a strong voice, then he left the totally perplexed Ecklie in his office and walked back to the lab.
Sara passed him when he was about to enter.
"Hey…was he angry?", she asked a little bit concerned.
"Yeah…but I don't care."
"Grissom?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"For everything…for giving me my job back...for defending me to Ecklie…for caring for me."
A smile flashed over Grissom's lips. "That's what friends are for…right?"
Sara nodded softly. "Okay…I know I've asked you this before…and your answer was…devastating…but…", she took a deep breath.
Grissom grinned, well knowing what she wanted to ask. "…Would you like to have dinner with me?", he asked her.
The expression in her face was priceless. Happiness, excitement, confusion. He grinned. "Would you?"
"I…Grissom…I…"
"...don't say that you don't know what to do about this….that's my sentence."
She grinned. "Okay…when and where?"
"What about,… after shift?"
"Okay…great." she said smiling brightly.
"Okay." he whispered softly.
-.-.-.-.-
His hand caressed her back when they entered the restaurant. It slipped downwards to her hips when they had reached their table. They sat down. Grissom reached for her hand and caressed it softly. His eyes were first focused on the look of his hand, lying on hers, caressing hers, squeezing hers softly, then he looked up, their eyes met and they both smiled.
"What changed your mind about this?", she asked almost whispering.
"You…you said that you…feel attracted to emotionally unavailable men…and you pointed at me while you said this…"
"…I can't believe you finally got that hint.", she said grinning.
"You know there could have been other ways to tell me what you feel for me."
"Yeah…but none of them would have done both…I mean criticizing you and telling you that I…"
"…Criticizing me?", he asked grinning.
"In a constructive way."
He smiled. "It helped."
"I'm glad it did."
"Me too."
Both smiled, looking deep into each other's eyes. He squeezed her hand softly.
"Grissom?", she asked whispering.
"Yeah?"
"Tell me something about you…you know more about me than anybody else does…I want to know something about you that only I will know…except for you."
Grissom swallowed hard. "Sara...I…I tried all my life to not let people…know too much about me."
"Oh c'mon Grissom."
Grissom sighed softly. "Okay…something that nobody knows…let me think a little bit about this…", he made a long pause. "Okay…come with me." he stood up and wanted to drag her with him.
"I thought we'd have dinner."
"Later. I have to show you something."
She stood up and he dragged her out.
They entered his car. When he had turned on the engine he glanced over to her. She caught him looking at her and smiled brightly. "Where are we going?" she asked softly.
"A place that really means a lot to me."
Sara felt her heart beating faster. She took a deep breath and bite down on her bottom lip.
They drove for about an hour…deeper and deeper into the desert. Although she was horribly tired after working 16 hours without a brake. It was dark outside…not the normal time for her to be tired. The only thing that lightened up the dark were the lights of his Tahoe.
From time to time she tried to figure out where they might be.
Then Grissom stopped the car. In the middle of nowhere. She threw an asking look at him. Without paying attention to this he left the car walked over to her side, opened the door and helped her out of the car.
"Where are we?", she asked confused.
"The desert."
"Where in the desert?"
"Look around here."
"I can't see anything Grissom. Anything but darkness…stars…"
"...Exactly. Stars. That's it…this is the only place near Las Vegas where you can see the stars."
"It is?"
"Yes…the only place that's far enough away from the sity, from all the city lights, all the casino's…listen to the sounds here."
"I can hear nothing.", she whispered softly.
"Right. Silence.", he sat down in the sand, still holding her hand. "Sit down." He dragged her down next to him. He put his arm around her shoulder and she leaned against his chest.
"Sara?"
"Yes?"
"I go here whenever I feel bad. Whenever I need to think. Whenever I …think I can't go on….whenever I think that I can't keep on pretending that…this place always gave me the strength to go on."
"It's wonderful here." she whispered and snuggled against his chest. "So wonderful."
He kissed her softly on the top of her head.
She giggled softly.
"What?"
"It's just…"
"What?…do you want a real kiss?"
She turned to him, staring at him…not knowing what to answer. He put his hand on her cheek and caressed it with his thumb. Then he dragged her face closer to him softly. When their lips met they both felt as if they had just started a fire consisting of thousands of flames.
They kissed passionately and almost forgot to breath. She let herself sink down to the ground and he leaned over her, his hand slipped under her shirt and caressed her stomach. Her arms were twined around his neck.
When their lips loosened from each other thirty minutes later both gasped for air.
"I love you Sara." he whispered.
She felt tears rising up in her eyes. Grissom noticed this and kissed her softly on her forehead. "I did not mean to make you cry."
"You…I…it's just that I always dreamed of…hearing you say something like this….because I…because I love you too. More than my life."
Tears rose up in Grissom's eyes. A few single tears ran down his cheek. Sara whipped them away with her thumbs. "You are everything else than emotional unavailable." she whispered.
He grinned. "I told you that I had tried to change…I'm glad it worked."
"It did…really."
"I love you so much my sweet angel." he whispered and stroke a strand of hair out of her face.
THE END
