Disclaimer: None of it's mine.
A/N: I wrote this for the Halloween ficathon over at GeekFiction. My prompts were to have a pumpkin carving contest and the quote: I heard they found her liver in the mailbox next to her spleen and her pancreas. Please excuse an errors, it goes un-Betaed. And I hope you enjoy it.
The Beauty of Butterflies
The entire graveyard CSI team were sat at a table. Looks of set determination upon their faces. They were all tense and willing the time to go faster. All eyes on one person, waiting for his announcement. Then it came.
"On your marks!" he shouted, "Get set!" A starter pistol being fired finished off the sentence for the announcer. With knives already poised, the contestants dived into carving their winning face in the pumpkin.
The team were in the midst of a pumpkin carving competition in the middle of Freedom Park, and they weren't taking any prisoners. It was a bit of Halloween fun with a two week vacation to Hawaii, for two, at stake.
"Tell me, Greg, how did you get us into this again?" Grissom asked. He stuck his tongue out immediately after speaking in concentration while he carefully begun the carving of his masterpiece.
"Hey, I didn't force you to drive us here," Greg protested, "I just told you about it and you practically dragged us here." He was making mincemeat of his poor pumpkin.
Catherine put her elbow on the table and pointed the knife at Grissom. "Face it, you need that vacation just like the rest of us, Grissom." She smirked at him before going back to her barely touched pumpkin.
"I think mine's gone wrong," Sara said dejectedly. She sat back to take in the fruit of her work so far.
Nick leaned over to sneak a look. "Kinda looks like Warrick with that hair." Sara nudged him away only to have Warrick look round Greg to see Sara's pumpkin.
"That pumpkin's got some fine hair going on right there," Warrick chuckled. Sara held her knife up at him and he went back to his own pumpkin.
"Five minutes, everyone!" came the announcement.
"This is just not working out for me," Catherine sulked.
Bits of pumpkin flew as people of the Freedom Park merrily carved their works of art into the fruit. Some enjoyed themselves, some had the look of a fierce competitor etched into their face.
"One minute! One minute!"
"Finished," Sara announced. She set her knife down and glanced to the others frantically adding the finishing touches. She couldn't hide the small smile that crept on her lips watching Grissom, sat on the other side of Warrick, with the tip of his tongue peeking out. She fought the urge to go over and hug him as tightly as she could, feeling her love grow for him a little more. Instead, she drew her attention back to looking at her pumpkin.
"Knives down, everyone! Knives down!" The contestants obediently placed their knives down. "Turn your pumpkin to the outside, please. The judges will now come round."
The CSIs waited patiently in silence. Greg kept sneaking another look at his, just to make sure that nothing was hanging off. It was ten minutes before the judges arrived at their table. A hint of anticipation hit them, each of them slightly hoping theirs would be the winner; the competitor in them struck again. Pleasant 'uhmms' and agreeing nods passed between the three judges before they moved on to the table behind the team.
It was a further twenty minutes when the judges had seen all the pumpkins, deliberated and decided on the winner. The team actually waited on baited breath.
"The winner is…Mr Gilbert Grissom!" the only female judge announced. A round of applause broke out with heads swinging round to find the winner.
"Excuse me?!" Catherine could be heard saying indignantly while the others cheered and applauded him on. Grissom wandered up to the front of the rows of tables to collect his prize. Catherine spun his pumpkin round. "A butterfly! That's not a face!"
After a few pictures for the local paper with the judges, Grissom made his way back over to his team. He took his congratulations graciously and declined any bribes to give them his prize.
"A butterfly?" Catherine asked with a smirk. Grissom smiled knowingly with a brief glance at Sara. "Trust you to win with a butterfly."
"It's only fitting that Grissom wins when he's carved a bug," Nick laughed.
"What was wrong with mine?" Greg held up a very sorry looking pumpkin that had things hanging from it.
"Yeah, but a butterfly?" Catherine shrugged.
"I like butterflies," Sara stated simply.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
Sara sat on the couch channel-surfing. The setting sun was casting an orange glow across her apartment through the window. Lying down she was grateful for the night off. It'd been a long week.
"I heard they found her liver in the mailbox next to her spleen and her pancreas," the new channel spoke to her. "That's 'Scream' at nine, eight central for tonight's Halloween fest."
Sara clicked off the TV just as a key could be heard in the door. She jumped up and raced over to pull the door open. Grissom stumbled in with the key still in the door and a balanced bag of groceries.
"Did you get them?" she asked eagerly taking the bag off him.
"Yes, dear, I got them." Grissom's eyes lit up when he smiled. Sara smiled back at him before pulling out the goodies. Lollipops, candy and every sugary delight to cause many cavities were in there. "I've never seen you so excited." He closed the door shrugging his jacket off. He threw it on the counter and moved to her.
Sara turned into him. He willingly pulled her into a small hug. "It's this selfish side of me that loves this. For one night of the year kids love me because I have candy." She smiled sheepishly before moving to find her largest bowl.
"What makes you think they don't love you the rest of the year?" Grissom asked leaning against the counter.
She smirked and moved to stand next to him placing the bowl on the counter. "Because the rest of the year I'm the grumpy lady in apartment 5C who never says hello in the mornings." Grissom laughed at this new bit of Sara he'd learnt about. "It's not funny." She elbowed him playfully, emptying one of the bags into the bowl. "You try being cheerful to pre-teens on their way to school when you're coming back from a double homicide."
"Point taken," he spoke softly. He took a bag and joined her in filling the bowl up.
Grissom paused before asking the question. "You like butterflies?"
"Yeah," Sara said with a shrug of the shoulders. "They're so ugly…yet beautiful. And they're never the same as the last one. Which reminds me…" Sara moved down the hall and into her bedroom. Grissom frowned, waiting for her to come back. "I got you something," she called down the hall.
A moment later Sara was back at the counter handing Grissom a small box. He hesitantly opened it to reveal a beautiful, butterfly that hadn't decided if it wanted to be blue or purple.
"I don't know what it is, but a friend I know helped me out…I hear it's rare." Sara took in the colour of the butterfly once more.
"It's a Plebicula Amanda…Amanda's Blue," Grissom stated not daring to breath over the amazingly coloured creature. He reluctantly closed the box, placing it on the counter to look at Sara.
"I need you to know how much you mean to me and this was all I could think of without trying to force you to speak to me about it." Sara smiled. "And you're making me talk too much."
Grissom pulled her in for a kiss. "I love you, more than anything," he whispered once they broke apart. Sara kissed him again, and moved back to the counter to continue with the bowl filling.
"So…" Sara smirked at him, "who will be delighting in your company on this vacation that you managed to steal from under my nose," Sara asked innocently.
"I was thinking about taking this very leggy and very special woman who seems to like butterflies." Grissom held a smile back and emptied another bag into the bowl.
"Oh, anyone I know?" Sara played along.
"I don't think so. You wouldn't like her much," Grissom teased.
"I won't?"
"No. She can be very temperamental…and controlling."
Sara threw a lollipop at him in mock outrage just as the doorbell rang. "Saved by the bell." She nudged him playfully with her hip as she walked by him with a bowl full of sugary goodness.
"You love me." Grissom pinched her butt playfully.
"Maybe," she said nonchalantly pulling the door open before he could retaliate, with mischief clear in her eyes.
"TRICK OR TREAT!"