Title: Time to think by chibiness87
Rating: M (couple of swear words… nothing major)
Genre: Angst
Paring: GSR
Spoilers: Up to and Through 6x24 Living Doll
Disclaimer: Not mine
A/N: Ok, I cave… I'm joining the band wagon of Post LD fics… No I haven't seen the ep, yes I'm taking liberties, no I don't care! Lol.
Of all the ways she thought she would die, this had to be the most pathetic. Being trapped under a car in the middle of the desert had to rank way up there on the list of "stupid death scenes". She had hoped to have gone out fighting, if she wasn't to make it to die of old age.
Thinking back to last year when Brass had been shot, she recalled the conversation she had had over her bed with Grissom. He had told her he wanted to die of cancer. Be able to say goodbye to the people he loved.
And that made her hate the position she was in at the moment even more. She wasn't going to die quickly. If anyone else was with her right now, she would be able to say a decent goodbye to them. Actually, if anyone else was there with her right now she was pretty sure she would be yelling at them to get this goddamn car off her; couldn't they see she was a little pinned under it.
She had to give the girl (and didn't that just take the biscuit, the miniature crime scene killer was female!) credit. She knew how to draw out death. Lying pinned under the car, Sara was able to contemplate a lot of possibilities.
Of course, her brain hadn't let nice images play across her mind. No. Not of the last 2 ½ years with Grissom. Of the time he had finally found enough courage to make a move. The timid-ness he showed her on their first date. And all the good times since then.
Her over worked mind was speeding on to after they had found her. Doc Robbins would do the autopsy. Grissom wouldn't trust anyone else with her body, she knew. He wouldn't sleep. Not for months after. And even when he shut down through exhaustion he would get nightmares.
She knew. She had had her fair share when he had almost been blown up when Nick was captured. And she had seen him in the days following the case at the mental hospital when the inmate held the ceramic shard to her neck.
Oh sure, they had been dating by that point, but he had become so there after that event. As if leaving her alone would mean she would disappear. Not that she couldn't see where he was coming from on that front. He had, after all, left her alone, allowing Trent to get her by herself. Not that she would ever blame him. Ever. Her heart had almost broken as he had stood on the other side of the door, his eyes crying out in pain.
He was going to suffer. But she knew he wouldn't give up his job. He would drill himself into his work, pulling as many doubles and triples as he needed to to solve the cases. She could only hope that Catherine and the guys would keep an eye on him. Look after him after she was gone.
Which brought her back to her small predicament. She was trapped. Pinned beneath a stupid car, and was rather bored out of her mind. There was nothing to challenge her. She had already tried to dig herself out from under the car, but the compacted Nevada desert had stopped that futile effort pretty quickly.
She sighed, and drummed her fingers against the harsh ground beneath her. The first spattering of rain hit her outstretched hand, and she gave an internal sigh. Great. Now it was raining. Just what she needed. To be alone in the middle of the desert, pinned beneath a car, in the rain.
Drawing her hand back under the shelter of the vehicle above her, she sucked the moisture from her hand. At least the rain was good for something. As if following her, a small trickle of water made its way under the car.
Fantastic. She was lying in a slight valley compared to the ground around her. Oh, this day just got better and better.
Didn't her abductor get that she had important plans for the day? The doctor was going to get worried when she didn't show up. And if she then called the lab, and Judy answered the phone, her little secret wouldn't be so secret anymore.
Actually, come to think of it, knowing Grissom like she did, part of their secret was probably already out. After all, he had nearly blurted out they were dating back when Nick had been taken. Now, now that it was her; he had probably let them in.
And, of not, as soon as they walked into her house… their home, they would work it out. The photos on the wall, her stuff in his little office… heck, the dog was bound to give something away. So, she could die safe in the knowledge that the team knew about her and Grissom.
Fan-frikking-tastic.
Though, of course, the plan was to NOT die. She worked with a bunch of the brightest criminalists in the country. Who could follow the smallest clue and get a conviction. Who couldn't see what was going on right under their noses. Ok, so sometimes they missed the obvious… but not when it came to crime scenes, right?
She was pretty sure they paid more attention to crime scenes than they did to either her or Grissom's private life. Well, she could only hope.
Ok, so thinking of all this was getting her no-where. And now, not only was she pinned, cold, hungry, thirsty and late for an important doctor's appointment, she was also wet. Great.
The sound of the helicopter was so faint and foreign in the silence of the desert Sara thought she had imagined it. But as the hum of the engine came closer, she began to let the little seed of hope that she hadn't realised was there to blossom.
Maybe, just maybe, help was on its way. When the engines passed straight over, she couldn't help the sigh to herself. Of course they weren't looking for her. There hadn't been enough time for them to send out the choppers yet.
Before the little ray of hope could completely die out, the engine hum returned. And stayed. And then, just as she had all but given up hope of being found in time, a hand mad its way into her little dip of hell.
She grasped it, and held tightly, not caring about the tears that had made their way to her eyes and were now falling steadily down her face. A small groan was heard, and then the weight on her legs was gone. A muffled voice was saying something she couldn't hear or understand, but when the car was slowly rolled off her, she didn't much care.
And then she was free. And string arms were pulling her up and into a tight embrace. Sara let herself go at the familiarity of the embrace caught her. Grissom dipped his face into her neck, clinging to her tightly. Faint words from her finally hit him, and he smiled, clinging to her tighter.
He leant back just far enough to be able to pull her into a bruising kiss, the pent up fear, desire, love and a whole mess of other emotions riding out of him. She simply held him close and kissed him back with equal vigour.
Unmindful of their audience that had gathered at the display of affection or his knees, he dropped to the ground before her. He held out the small velvet box, thinking back to the first day he had shown her the contents. When she had explained he didn't need a ring to have her, she was his forever anyway, he hadn't pushed the matter. But he had continued to keep the little box close to him at all times.
Now, kneeling on the hard desert, friends and family around him, he looked up to the one person he had ever loved, and waited.
Sara looked at him kneeling there, box lid flipped open for the world to see its contents. Falling to her knees graciously before him, she took the box from his hand. Sliding the ring into place on her hand, she granted him a true Sara Sidle smile, a look he returned immediately before pulling her to him once more.
Things would need to be said, both between the two of them and to the rest of the team, but for now, he was content to just hold her in his arms, safe once more.