TITLE: And Then You Laughed
RATING: PG-13
CATEGORIES: Romance/ humor
PAIRING: GSR!
SUMMARY: So often it's the smallest things that change our lives in the biggest way. Something triggers Grissom's libido, and Sara is amused.
A/N: Welcome to Fluff-Mart, where you'll find all things painfully sweet and goey. Enjoy! (And laugh) ::winks::
"–So maybe that's what we've been over-looking? True, it's common for serial criminals to take personal possessions, but this doesn't fit up with...his MO...Grissom?"
Sara Sidle, sitting on the floor of her boss's house at 10 in the morning with case-files scattered around the room, frowned. The aforementioned boss was sitting right beside her, tapping his chopsticks against an empty Chinese take-out carton...and completely ignoring her.
"Grissom?" She tried again. Still, he ignored her, his blue eyes riveted on something in front of him, and eyebrow arched in interest.
Confused, she followed his gaze to the TV, a little startled to find that it was on, turned to the Discovery Channel which was currently doing something incessantly boring about Larvae. She remembered muting it after they'd finished their take-out, but she was quite positive she had NOT turned the captions on, which Grissom was currently reading raptly.
Her lips twitched, not sure whether to be insulted or amused. The whole reality was a bit bazar, with her being at his apartment at all, but the IRS had decided it was time to check up on the LAPD, and the Crime Lab came up in the mandatory inspection. Luckily, that happened to be Dayshift's problem. Ecklie was NOT a happy camper, especially when the official who was inspecting had immediately discovered a record that did not match up. Thus, the red-tape began, and the Night Crew was banned from the lab until the mess could be cleared up.
The Graveyard Team had been rotating around their houses for a week, working here and there on cases. None seemed too anxious to get back, or too worried about their open crimes, and even Sara found it was much more fun to play video games with Nick and Warrick than talk about dead bodies. Heartless? Perhaps, but, as Nick reasoned, they WERE already dead. Not like they were in a hurry to go anywhere.
However, during one of the browsing chats with Warrick, she had come across an inconsistency regarding a missing mantle display at a crime scene. She'd needed to talk to Grissom about it, tested the waters of their tentatively rebuilt friendship, offered to grab some Chinese, and here she sat...with him watching TV.
"Earth to Grissom? Dead bodies await you!" Still no response. Slightly annoyed, she snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Paging Dr. Grissom!" He batted her hand away, blinking slowly, before turning to face her.
"What?" He asked, clearly irritated.
She frowned again, holding up a manilla folder. "Does the word 'case' ring a bell?"
He sighed, running a hand through his gray locks and glancing longly at the TV. "Oh, right."
She cocked her head at him. "You zoned out on me. Interesting show?"
He nodded, reluctantly. "Yeah."
She looked at the TV. "Bugs. That doesn't surprise me." Her tone was light and teasing.
He smiled slightly at that. "They're discussing the inconsistencies of larvae development in Dung Beetles based on the humidity of the climate. I happen to find it intriguing."
She shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat." She looked at the TV again. "All it does is BUG me." He groaned at her.
"That was awful, Sara!" A smile hinted at the corners of her mouth.
"Yeah, well, so is the position Ecklie is in, but I'm not feeling very sorry about THAT either."
He tried to frown at her, but didn't manage it. "The red tape is probably all that's holding him together." He winked, settling back against the couch and laying the chopsticks down on the coffee table. "So, what were you talking about?"
"Well, before you got all distracted, I was SAYING that in the last murder, our killer took a personal possession from the victim."
"That doesn't fit his MO."
She DID smile at that. "That's what I said, before I realized I was getting more reaction from the wall than I was from you." As she watched him, he suddenly got a strange look on his face, and her smile faded. Apparently she'd crossed some line again.
"Really? What did it say?" His teasing tone caught her by surprise, and took her back to the past when this was normal for them.
A sensation tugged persistently at her mouth, and she gave in. "Something about you really needing to change this wallpaper. The 70's are dead, Grissom, let them rest in piece." She flashed her widening grin at him, though her brows furrowed when a ragged sort of sigh left his mouth, and that expression came back on his face, stronger and more piercing. "You OK, Griss?"
He nodded, swallowing and taking a deep breath before smirking. "If you're done insulting my tastes."
She shrugged. "Wasn't me, I was just translating for the wall." He startled her with his chuckle, and she smiled once more. "I bet you'd change it if some good insect prints came along."
"In a hearbeat," he said, with a dramatic sigh, though his gaze was still searching her face with unnerving intensity. "But I suppose I'll have to put that dream up on the shelf with my invisible pink unicorn."
She bit her tongue to keep from laughing. "How feminine."
He shrugged. "Something my mother used to say."
She smiled again, even wider. "If it's invisible, how do you know it's pink?"
"What other color would an invisible unicorn be?"
Sara didn't have time to struggle against it, the laugh erupting from her unexpectedly. She closed her eyes against the fit of giggles, unable to fight away the peals of laughter that escaped her at his answer. So abrupt and so...Grissom.
Eventually, she managed to stop, opening her eyes and wiping at them. She hadn't laughed in the longest time. Grinning, she looked at Grissom, the smile sliding from her face when her eyes met his.
His eyes were dark and clouded, and his face was searching and almost...aggressive. He looked like a hungry predator, his gaze fixed on her. She stifled a gasp. "Griss?" She asked weakly, not understanding what was happening, what she'd done to spoil his mood. "Grisso-" She never finished her sentence.
A low sound, like a growl, left his throat, and he Suddenly lunged towards her, his hands burying themselves in her hair as his lips came crashing down over hers in the same instant.
"Grissom! What the hell are you doing?" She shrieked, or TRIED to, but all that came out was a small sound, like a whimper. His fingers tangled further in her locks, and his mouth ravaged over hers almost angrily. He pushed the coffee table away with his foot, papers sliding over the floor along with a carton of open fried rice, but he paid no notice, one hand sliding from its massage of her scalp to grab her shoulder and twist her away from the couch so that she fell back on the floor, unbalanced. His mouth followed her, his body hovering over hers as he raised up on his elbows, continuing his surprise assault.
As her shock wore off, Sara realized that she had fallen on the remote, which was now digging into her back. Again, she opened her lips to say something, anything, but he took the opportunity to slip his tongue inside her soft mouth and continue his exploration. Mindbuzzing and body tingling, she yanked the remote away with a fumbling hand, sending it careening across the carpet before her hands made their way to his face, caressing his bearded cheeks as she kissed him back with equal force.
She had no clue how long they stayed like that, a hungry feast of lips and tongues and teeth, but when suddenly he nipped sharply at her lower lip, she could not hold back the moan that escaped, much like her laugh had a lifetime ago. And suddenly, his mouth was no longer on hers and she could feel him struggling to rise, and she realized her eyes had slipped shut. Snapping them open, she gripped his shoulders roughly before he could get up, and came face to face with the panic in his eyes. "Grissom?" She asked softly, hoping against hope that that one word would answer all her questions.
He swallowed hard. "S-Sara...I...I sh-shouldn't have...I'm s-so-"
But she cut off the apology, her hands coming up to cup his cheeks as her thumbs played over his slightly swollen lips. "What brought that on?" The question sounded stupid, fumbled, but it was simple and direct. Now if he would only answer.
"You laughed," he said flatly, as if that answered all her questions. Running her fingers through his soft grey hair, he cocked her head, waiting for more.
He took a deep breath, and she could tell he wanted to look away, but he didn't. "You come into my house with good food and a good reason, and then for the first time in months you smiled," he whispered raggedly, a hand coming up to trace her face. She only nodded, urging him to continue. "A-and I realized how long it had been, how...how COLD I had gotten around you...and how much I missed you. You work with me every day, but I realized I felt like I hadn't seen you in a year. You SMILED at me," she did so again at his unexpected words, and a harsh sigh left his mouth, as a gasp. "And I realized It was killing me, and I can't do this anymore, I can't hold you at arms length. I was trying to figure out how to stop the conversation, a-and TELL you, but then...You laughed." HE let out another shuddery breath. "I've always gotten so fucking hard when you laugh," he muttered lowly, and she could see the blush creeping up his cheeks, and felt a shudder run through her at his admission.
The shame in his eyes at that statement was clear, though, and she wanted it to go away. "Good thing it's a mutual sorta reaction then, isn't it, Griss?" At his confusion, she huffed a laugh, stopping in surprise when his head dropped to her neck and he groaned, pressing himself against her. She gasped; she hadn't been trying to tease him, the irony was just too funny. "I have to sit down for a few minutes every time you give one of your chuckles." He peered up at her, his eyes dark. She gave a small embarrassed grin, and whispered, "And I always pray I'm not wearing a thin shirt so no one can guess at my reaction." His gaze widened, and dropped to the aforementioned part of her anatomy. She smacked his shoulder lightly. "Well you can't really blame it on a laugh when I've just been kissed senseless by you, ya know!" He grinned wickedly, and she knew his chuckle then was purposeful.
Suddenly, is face grew serious, blue eyes staring intently at her. "Is it too late, Sara?"
She knew immediately what he was referring to, and sighed. "It would never be to late, Grissom. I'm always going to be hopelessly stuck on you. I was just trying to fool myself." She blinked slowly, a chill of fear running through her. "I'm just afraid you'll turn away again Grissom," she whispered. "You've been running so hot and cold-"
HE shook his head fiercely. "No more running and no more games. I can't. Even if I wanted to– which I DON'T, I can't. You laughed." He smiled, and so did she.
"We'll make it work Griss, I promise," she swore softly, her lips melding with his again, gentle and slow. "Remember what I told you, when you said you didn't know what to do?" He nodded, remembering as he pulled her into a warm hug. "I've always known what to do about this, Griss. You've just never been ready to listen. It'll be fine, I promise."
His smile was slow and genuine then, full of wonder and love, and he dropped his forehead against hers. "I believe you," He mumbled quietly. "And for the first time...I believe IN us."
She caressed his cheek again as they rose to lean against the couch again, her keen eyes taking in the scattered mess before her. "Grissom! You got Rice all over the papers! There'll be grease-stains on ALL the documents!" She groused lightly.
He looked around as well, amusement lighting his eyes as n arm went around her shoulders. "I was otherwise occupied. So sue me."
She just laughed.
Puts a whole new spin on reasons to laugh, doesn't it? ::giggles::
OK, I've actually been considering expanding on this universe I've created. So, if anyone is looking for a sequel, review and lemme know. Also, I'm aware this wasn't perfect, and maybe it was a little disjointed, but I wanted to give i to you before I have to go back to school. Thanks for Reading!