The fire that burns
Sara awoke a weird feeling inside her. She looked around trying to figure out what was wrong. Everything looked normal; well almost everything.
Sara hated her nights off, not as much as she used to, but when Grissom had to work on them it felt just like before.
She looked to where he normally lay. Smiling at the thought, thinking quickly of their last two years together and how happy they had made each other.
Looking at the clock she found it was 1a.m. Probably why she wasn't tired she thought, normally she would have been working at this time.
Restlessly, Sara grabbed her robe and went to the kitchen to make some hot tea. Bruno followed slowly and she lightly patted him on the head.
While making her tea, Sara decided she would do something she hadn't done in a long time; she would listen to the police scanner, for 'fun.'
She grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch, the police scanner from the desk, took her hot tea and curled up in the chair in the dark living room.
After two glasses of tea Sara was starting to become tired again and decided she would try and head to back to bed. Taking her cup to the sink she rinsed it and set it aside. Straightening out the blanket, she grabbed the scanner just having to turn it off before she returned it to the desk and headed for their room, their 'empty' room. Her thoughts silently drifted off toward the man she had loved for so long.
Just as she was about to turn off the scanner, something caught her attention. It was her address. "Why on earth would they be headed to my apartment, not even I have been there lately," she thought.
Seconds later she was clued in by the scanner that a fire was blazing through 'her' apartment building. In the heat of the moment Sara thanked 'God' that she was not there.
Quickly running to their room, Sara had grabbed some old sweats and a t-shirt and headed towards the door. Only Bruno's whine had stopped her, she bent down bringing her eyes to his level and gave him a small kiss. Then grabbed her keys and flew out the door.
Back at the lab
Thankfully for the grave shift CSIs, it had been a slow night. Grissom was hauled away in his office tediously getting through some paper work, often letting his thoughts drift to the woman who was sound asleep in their bed. Or so he thought.
His phone chirped, and he snapped his head from his thoughts, quickly checking the time he saw it was 1:26 a.m.
"Grissom."
"Hey buddy, it's me, Jim. Look we have a situation here. Not exactly CSI material, but I thought you would be interested."
"Yeah, what is it Jim, we are having a slow night anyways."
"Okay, well, there has been a fire. Sara is off tonight right?"
"Yes, she is! Oh my God, Jim. Is she okay? Where is she? What does her having the night off have to do with the fire? Are you with her? Have you gotten a hold of her? Do you want me to call her?"
"Settle down man, we don't know much but just drive to her apartment. Okay? I'll see you there shortly"
"Yeah, okay I'll be there. Bye."
"Bye."
Grissom had obviously settled down hearing it was 'her' apartment building, and not where she actually was. But then he thought what if she got bored, and went there to get something? What about all the things she still had over there. How would she react, does she already know? She couldn't know she was still sleeping, but he was going to call her just to be sure.
He got her voicemail.
"Hey honey, it's me. I'm just making sure you are okay and everything is alright. I just got a call from Brass. Anyways, I hope you are sleeping well. I will call you later. I love you."
With that he grabbed his keys and headed to find Catherine.
"Hey Cath. I need you to do me a favor? Can you take control of the lab for a while; I have somewhere I have to be."
"Ah, yeah sure Grissom. Is everything okay?"
"Um….yeah, I hope so." Grissom said it with a shaky voice and then headed for his truck. No time to answer Catherine's questions.
Sara was speeding through the night to get to 'her' apartment. In her rush to leave the house, Sara had left her phone on the bedside table, she had completely forgotten all about it. She could hear the sirens as she neared, and her heart skipped a beat. She hoped her neighbors were okay. The few she knew anyways.
She was thankful that she didn't have much left in her apartment, only the couch, her bed, and a few other small things that hadn't yet made their way to her 'home' with Grissom.
Pulling up she parked on the road and started to walk towards the building. There were numerous fire trucks and a couple police cars when she walked up. Some of her neighbors, mostly the ones she didn't know, were huddled in groups on the sidewalks.
She wandered around looking for a familiar face. And she found one. It was Brass.
"Cookie, how are you? I didn't see you come down! Are you hurt? Do you need anything?"
"Oh, um, no I'm fine. Thanks though," she smiled. It had hit her in that moment that the secret she and Grissom had been keeping had surprisingly stayed just that. A secret.
"Alright, but are you sure you don't need anything? How did you even get down her? I was looking for you the entire time! I called Grissom he is on his way."
Just then Sara realized she had forgotten her phone. She was certain he must have tried to call and worried himself almost sick when she didn't answer. She felt bad for making him worry. He always worried about her, she thought it was sweet, but now she felt bad for bringing him unnecessary worrying.
"Oh, that's good." She brought herself back to reality.
And then realized that this fire may be just the thing that 'outs' their relationship. After all, how was she going to explain being at her "bosses" house at one in the morning and not asleep in her own.
"I have to get check on a few things, but you come get me if you need anything. Okay Cookie?" With that Brass just left her standing in thought.
Sara was standing trying to come up with some explanation as to why she wouldn't have been home. She could have said she was out on the town, but her sweats had given a different story.
Lost in her thoughts she never noticed Grissom sneak up being her. Almost forgetting where they were, and who was around, he wrapped her into a hug from behind and kissed her neck making her turn into him and smile.
She however, hadn't forgotten where they were and who was around, quickly pulled away from him and with apologetic eyes she just smiled.
"Hey."
"Hey, how are you?"
"I'm alright. I couldn't sleep without you. I was up and in the living room drinking some tea when I heard about this. I decided I should come over and see what was happening. How are you? Slow night?"
"I'm better now. I tried calling you. I figured you must still have been asleep. I'm glad you're okay," he said smiling at her.
"Me too. But I was just thinking. How is this going to look? Me driving to my own apartment, from your townhouse in the middle of the night. How are we going to explain that?" She smirked and tilted her a little to the side.
"Um, I sure we can come up with something to tell them-"he was then cut off by Brass welcoming him to the scene.
"Hey buddy! What do you have to come up with, and who to you have to tell?"
"Oh, ah, hey there Jim."
"Hi," he said smiling. "Cookie, is this man bothering you? I have him hauled away you know!" He teased Sara and made her laugh.
"Ha no it's okay. Thanks though!" She stole a look at Grissom and winked. "So what is this looking like? An accident? Arson? What is the damage?"
"Well I think they have everyone cleared out now. Only minor injures. The bottom floors got the most damage so I think most of your stuff should be okay. I'm still wondering how you got out and I never saw you!"
She smiled, "well Jim, I've got my ways."
Grissom had to cough to cover the smirk that was forming at his mouth and also to distract himself for wanting to just grab her and take her away to their home. That's it! He had an idea.
"Hey Brass, can you leave us alone for a minute, I have something I need to discuss with Sara."
"Yeah, sure no problem. Just let me know if you need anything, I will be around."
"Thanks," the couple said in unison before locking eyes with one another.
"Was that just to get him away, or do you have to talk to me?" Giggled Sara.
"A little of both," he smiled before continuing. "Sara, will you move in with me?"
"Gil, I pretty much already am."
"Well, I know, but I mean lets just make it official. Give up this apartment and stay with me and Bruno forever!"
"I'm going to do that no matter what!" Sara smiled. "I guess it makes as good a sense as any right now. I hardly have anything left up there anyways. Just a few clothes and some furniture, if it didn't get ruined."
"So it's settled. You are 'officially' my roommate?"
"Ha! Roomate? Is that all I am?" She laughed.
"Well um, what else would you call it?" He said with a confused look on his face. He still after a few years wasn't the greatest at this 'relationship thing.'
"Um, I would call it, a live in girlfriend!" Sara winked and went to see if she could enter into the building yet.
Back at the lab
It had been a while since Grissom left and Catherine was wondering where he had gone. She checked his office to make sure that he wasn't there, and then decided to give him a call.
"Grissom"
"Hey, it's me. I'm just making sure everything is okay. You ran out of here in kind of a hurry and you had me a little worried. Is everything alright?"
"Yeah yeah, everything is okay. Look I'm sorry about before. Brass called me and told me about a fire at Sara's place. Since it was a slow night I figured it would be alright."
"Oh my God! Why didn't you say anything before you left? I could have come with you! Is she okay? Was she hurt? Is there a lot of damage to her stuff?"
A normally un-phased Catherine sometimes let her motherhood get in the way at work. She was just making sure that Sara was okay, she always knew that there was a special place in his heart for her. Even if neither of them knew it.
The scene had pretty much cleared and everyone was making their way back inside. The sun was up, and for Grissom, he was done with his shift. He and Sara had made their way up the three flights of stairs and into her 'old' apartment.
Looking for damage they didn't much. Just some smoke and little bit of debris. Grissom told Sara to sit on the couch and he would make them some coffee.
She did what he said and now stared at the almost completely empty apartment. She was right, not much was left, and for that she was happy. Grissom brought her a steaming cup of coffee and sat on the couch wrapping his arms around her.
"I'm so happy you were at 'our' place and not here when this happened."
Sara smiled; he had said 'our' place. "I know so am I." She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck slowly leaning in for a kiss.
The coffee had been forgot on the table and at the kiss became more passionate they clothes became removed. Grissom slowly pulled Sara's shirt off of her to expose her pale white flesh to him.
She was undoing each of his buttons while he played with her hair in his hands. It was one of his favorite things to do while they made love.
After his shirt was removed he quickly, but cautiously, pulled her sweats right off her long smooth legs. Feeling every inch of her as he did so.
She would have to take more time to remove his pants seeing as how she had to unbutton and zip down. That was okay however because in this moment, one of the last they would share in 'her' apartment, everything was perfect.
Everything that is, until both were completely nude on the couch. Sara lying in Grissom's arms with a blanket draped lightly over the top of them. And then they heard a knock.
Lost in the moment, neither heard the knock until it was brought with more force.
"Hey Sara! Is everything okay in there. I heard from Grissom there was a fire in your building, I thought I would bring you breakfast"
Both struggling to find the clothes they had thrown so wildly on the floor Sara answered. "Um, yeah, ah, Hey Cath, hand on a sec." Sara said nervously searching for Grissom's shirt.
Catherine could hear the distraught in her voice and thought she was just shaken up by the fire so she returned a nice calm, "Okay, I got you waffles with extra syrup and eggs. I think that is what you like?"
"Yeah, yeah it is, hang on I'll be right there." Then Sara found the shirt. "Hey I have it right here, hurry up and put it on." She hadn't realized however that she said it loud enough that Catherine could hear.
"Um Sara, is this a bad time? I mean, I can just drop this out here and –" Sara opened the door to a very confused Catherine.
"Hey Cath, come on in. Thanks for bringing this by, you really didn't have to!" Sara smiled and let Catherine come into her apartment.
Although she had never been there before, Catherine realized that not even private little lonesome Sara could live in here. There was NOTHING in here.
"Ah Sara, did the fire destroy your things? There is hardly anything left in here."
"Um, no. I uh, well I'm moving?" She suggested, not sure if the older women would believe her.
"Oh, well then I guess you are lucky in a sense. I mean that you didn't have much for the fire to destroy."
"Yeah, and thank God I wasn't here." It slipped out before she realized, but Catherine had heard her loud and clear.
"Sara are you seeing someone? I mean, you just said you weren't here in the middle of the night when your apartment was burning, and then when I come by I here you tell someone to put something on." Catherine examined the younger women who was about to answer.
"Look Cath. I um. Well." Not really sure what to say Sara changed the subject. "I have to go to the bathroom, I will be right back."
"Okay, I'll just grab some forks." Catherine said turning to the living room.
A blanket thrown on the couch was her first clue, so she looked closer. Two cups on the coffee table. She walked closer to examine them. Only then did she notice those glasses. His glasses. Gil Grissom was somewhere in this apartment.
With Sara in the bathroom, Catherine decided to do a little searching. She walked down the hall and looked to the left, nope not in there. But then to her right, he door was closed.
Catherine didn't even think, she just opened the door and looked in. That is when everything changed. On the bed, Sara's bed, laid Gil Grissom. Sitting next to him with her back to the door was Sara.
"Don't worry, I will um, tell her I don't feel good and then she will leave." Then the unthinkable. Gil Grissom laughed. He sat up and kissed the women he loved.
Just then he opened his eyes to see Catherine staring at both of them. Mouth dropped wide open.
"I don't think you need to lie to her. Just tell her you want to come back to bed with me, I think she will understand."
"Are you kidding?" She laughed. "The last two years of our lives we have hid this so well, and now you want me to just come out and tell Catherine?" She jokingly swatted at his chest and kissed him again.
"I think maybe you should go back to Catherine, she may be starting to worry." Grissom smiled knowing full well that Catherine had heard everything by the look on her face.
"Okay, but I will be back soon. I promise!" Sara smiled and kissed him one more time. "I love you."
"And I love you, honey." Grissom said this holding back a laughed and it was only then that Sara realized something wasn't right.
She turned to see what he was looking at and saw Catherine, frozen in time. For once the older women was at a loss for words.
"Oh my God!" Sara stuttered. "How long have you been standing there?"
"2 years?"
"Huh?" Said a confused Sara.
"2 years? How could we have been so blind?" Catherine could not believe what was happening.
An little while later the three of them sat out in the living room. Sara and Grissom on the couch, and Catherine on a small chair. And Catherine was full of questions.
"When did this happen?"
"Well, it had been building for a while, but after Nicky was kidnapped, it just made us realize that we needed each other."
"And who all knows?"
"Well. That would be just you." Sara said smiling.
"Were you ever going to tell us?"
"Yes, eventually" said Grissom, "I suppose you should know that Sara will be moving in with me and Bruno-"
Catherine cut him off. "Who the hell is Bruno?"
"He is our dog," said Sara smiling.
"You two have a dog? Together?"
"Yes" they both said in unison laughing.
"What happens now?"
"Um, I suppose we ask you to keep a secret with us. Sara moves in with me and becomes my 'live in girl friend!" He smirked.
"Wow." Said Catherine. "You two never cease to amaze me."
"So it's settled. You keep our secret, and when Sara is all moved in, we will invite you over for a house warming dinner. Does that sound good?"
"Yes, I suppose." She said, "But Sara, you hardly have anything here anyways."
"Well then I guess what are you doing for dinner tomorrow? We would love to have you over to our home!" Sara said and smiled at Grissom.
"I guess that sounds great. I will be over at 6p.m." Catherine said with a smile. Still trying to comprehend everything she had just learned about the couple.
Sara and Grissom had spent the day cleaning out her small apartment and moved her remaining things to their house. They were fully settled in by 4p.m. and were totally spent. They decided to get a few hours of sleep before the shift ahead of them.
Work went by fast. There was a double homicide in Henderson that Grissom, Sara, Catherine, and Nick were sent to.
The case was easy for the criminal was a young teen who left the weapon along with bloody fingerprints, footprints, and a lot of DNA behind. This left Catherine with plenty of time to let her mind wonder.
She found herself staring at the couple numerous times throughout the night. They worked well together but gave off not a hint that they were more than co-workers. Catherine would have not had a clue had the couple not told her for herself that very morning.
After shift Catherine stopped by Grissom's office to say goodbye and ask if she should bring anything to dinner to that night. She found Sara laughing at something Grissom had said and just watched for a while outside the door.
Grissom noticed Catherine at the door and told her to come in. Catherine smiled and just said she came by to say goodnight. The couple said their goodbyes to her and told her they would see her tonight.
As they headed home they thought about telling the rest of their team. It didn't feel right to just let Catherine in on the secret. They decided that they would call a meeting at work that night after dinner with Catherine.
Getting into bed Sara waited for Grissom to let Bruno back in a join her in their bedroom. He came in wearing his classic pajamas, clad in only flannel pants and bare chest. Sara loved how comfortable they had become with each other over the years.
He slipped lightly into bed and pulled her towards him. She smiled and looked up into his crystal blue eyes. "I love you so much," she said.
He kissed the top of her head pulled her close and said "and I love you so much more!"
Sleep came and went fast and soon it was 3 pm. Sara and Grissom decided to take Bruno for a walk before Catherine came over for dinner. They walked down the street and to the park.
It was one of their favorite spots to take Bruno because he could roam around and they could sit and talk and not worry about people seeing them and what they would think. It was like their perfect little family.
It was ten to 6 when they heard a knock at the door. Since Grissom was cooking dinner Sara went to open it.
"Hey Cath!" called Sara as she opened the door.
"Um, Sara? What are you doing here?"
"Oh my God! Jim!" Was all Sara could say. Grissom turned to face his friend who looked as stunned as he did.
"Jim Um, what are you doing here? I mean, come in, but what are you doing here?" Grissom said with surprise.
"I um. I just figured you could use some company. Yesterday I went to check on Sara in her apartment. I saw Catherine leaving so I waited for her I was going to talk to her. Except she didn't notice me. She was just mumbling, something about 'how could she be with him, I can't believe she is with him.'"
"Oh, well that kind of explains it," said Sara.
"I'm really sorry, I just figured that she meant Sara was with someone else. I figured that if you knew you would maybe want to go out for a drink and about it or something. But this, I was not expecting this."
Sara smiled, "Jim, would like to have a house warm dinner with me, Gil, and Catherine, she will be her shortly, and we have plenty of pasta and garlic bread."
"Oh, no I mean you don't have to. Wait? House warming. Gil has lived here for years. Does that mean? But how long have you been together? This is all happening so fast!"
Sara laughed, "Actually Jim, we have been together about 2 years now, and I have basically lived here for a year and half, we are just, making it official I guess! Come on, it will be fun."
"Alright, I guess it couldn't hurt anything. And I did bring some beer!" He said excitedly.
There was another knock at the door. This time it was Catherine, smiling at the door holding a chocolate cake. "Hey Sara!"
"Hey Cath, I hope you don't mind but we have another guest. Jim stopped by to take Gil out for some drinks to cope with me being with another man. Little did he know that that would not be needed." Sara smiled.
"Well sure, no problem I have enough cake for everyone!"
Dinner went over very well. Grissom was an excellent cook and Catherine definitely kept the conversation going. The question came up about the rest of the team, and Sara stated that they planned on telling them tonight.
They all still agreed that nobody should tell Ecklie and risk getting the couple in trouble. It had been a great night. Sara and Grissom could get used to having their friends over in their home after tonight. The thought was a happy one!
Later that night at the lab
Sara and Grissom had rested a little bit before into work early. They wanted to arrive before the rest of the team so they could plan out how they should break the news. Sitting in his office with the blinds drawn and the door locked Sara cuddled with Grissom on his couch.
They didn't do this often but they figured it was alright since they would be breaking the news later that evening and Ecklie was not even in the lab.
They talked about small things, cases open and closed, the dinner earlier that night and how well their friends had accepted them. They didn't doubt they would, but there was still a little worry.
It was almost time for shift to start and Sara stretched out in Grissom's arms one final time before stand up and holding her hand out for him to grab. He grabbed it, but pulled her back onto his lap.
She smiled and looked into those eyes that she loved. He dipped his head down and kissed the woman he loved. They were happy. And they were content.
"Come on," she said, "Let's go tell the guys that we are in love and about to start a family!"
"Wait what?" Grissom said thinking he had heard her wrong. "What did you just say?"
Sara giggled at his caution as he asked the question. "Yup that's right. Starting a family"
"You mean to tell me that you are pregnant? When did this happen? Why didn't you tell me? He asked.
"Well I'm not sure when it happened. But I didn't tell you because I just found out. Do you not want us to tell them that yet? We can wait, I just figured-"
He cut her off with a very passionate kiss. "I love you honey!"
"I love you too!"