Okay, so I re-watched The Two Mrs. Grissoms and this just came to me. I hope you like it, I think Sara needs to ignore all the judgements from her friends, and this is how I envision it.
Disclaimer: don't own, wish I did!
Judgements.
"What are you implying Greg?" Sara asked in a sarcastic, shocked tone. Her words curved due to her growing smirk and her eyes twinkled as stared the younger man down.
"Nothing!" He said flirtatiously, running his hand through the slightly spiky golden blonde hair. He was smirking not only with his mouth, but also his eyes.
Sara ran their previous comments through her mind once more, analyzing every word.
'So...what was it like working with the deaf community?' Greg asked half-heartedly, trying to start a conversation.
'Not what I expected, actually.' Sara had replied honestly. Greg's face had become puzzled.
'What'ya mean?' He asked, tapping a pen on the break room table.
'It was weird, you know? Signing everything and not needing to vocalize Really quiet.' She had explained, still confused herself. It had been an experience alright.
'Really? I thought you would have been used to that, living with Grissom.' Greg had said, and Sara knew he wasn't kidding with her.
By now Sara was annoyed. What was everyone's impression of her and Gil's relationship? Why was it such a shock that they were...normal?
She raised her eyebrows at Greg, daring him to explain further. He stared back for a few moments, a young look to his face. Finally, he gave in and sighed.
"I don't know." He told her. "You're married to Grissom. He's the bug man, always has his nose in a book, and never talks. I mean... one can only assume."
Sara leaned back, shock clear on her face. Did everyone think her marriage was boring and lacking in normality? How could they even think that? It wasn't the case at all.
"What?" She blurted out, before she could stop herself. Greg gave her an apologetic smile. "Ughh why does everyone think that!"
"Well-" Greg started, but Sara cut him off, rolling her eyes to the tiled ceiling.
"The whole lab! Like seriously? Hodges gave me entire speech yesterday about Gil's choice for sexually dangerous women, and how in the end he settled for mental stimulation." She said, starting out upset, but ending with a growing smile.
Greg snorted and began to laugh. "Geez, wish I was there to see that. When's his foot ever not in his mouth?"
Now it was Sara's turn to chuckle, feeling very different than she had a few seconds ago. "Oh yeah, it was pretty damn funny. Basically stuttered over his words to the point that Catherine told him his lab phone was ringing." She smirked and was mirrored by Greg.
Greg's face had the after play of a smile still on it as he shook his head in disbelief.
"But the worst part is that Catherine wouldn't believe me when I told her that Gil and I have great sex." She said, her annoyance breaking through. "We do." She then added as an afterthought.
Greg put on a look of mock horror, covering his eyes.
"Saraaaaa." He whined. "Can we not talk about this? You're my best friend and Grissom's like... my dad... god no."
"Oh grow up, Greg." Sara said, reaching across the table to slap his arm.
"I can't! It's bad enough that you're married, but don't talk about your sex life." Greg joked with her, smirking his Sanders smirk. She hadn't seen it in a while.
"Oh, that reminds me. I was talking to him on Skype, and Betty walks in. And then, guess what?" She asks, raising her hands in a showing of annoyance.
Greg raised an eyebrow and lowered his head slightly, silently saying 'what?'
"She starts signing about our apparent lack of sex! What is that? She has to get involved in everything. Like, don't get me wrong, she's great, but really? All she's done is question our marriage!" Sara, ranted on, Greg completely forgotten now. Somewhere in her mind she noticed him sitting there, leaning back in amusement, but her flash anger clouded her vision.
"Everyone somehow thinks that we have this boring, disconnected life, where all we do is sit around and watch discovery channel! What's with that? Like, oh my god. I hate it, we have a normal relationship. I mean, yeah we live far apart but that doesn't stop us!" She continued on, but had just run out of coherent words.
She paused and looked up at Greg, who was smiling at her like a parent would to a tantrum throwing toddler.
"Sorry. I sound like a 16 year old on her period." She said softly, with a chuckle. But Greg put his hand over hers, which had just slammed the table.
"No," He said, becoming serious again. "You sound like a caring woman who misses her husband, and doesn't like people judging her." Sara smiled at him, looking down in slight embarrassment. He was right.
"And anyway, people aren't judging you, they're just trying to figure out your relationship, with the information you share. Which is little to none, Sara." He told her and smirked with his eyebrows high. She nodded.
"But why does everyone assume that we sit around all day doing educational stuff? Seriously, we don't; we go to movies, go out to dinner, have...well yeah." She said, remembering Greg's aversion to her sex life quickly. She sighed, just plain annoyed.
"Well, you need to face facts. Look at Grissom. He was always quiet, locked away in his office with his pet bugs, and with all the historians he quoted, all you can do is assume he reads all the time. And then there's you." He said, but before he could continue she spoke again.
"What about me? I'm not a freak or anything."
"Never said you were. But you used to be a work addict and you never share anything personal. People only see this side of you, so they assume that's your only side. But people like your husband, and your best friend who is undoubtedly me," He said with a small chuckle, "know better."
She couldn't help but laugh at that. The lighting in the crime lab was low, and it shone over their smiling faces in odd ways.
"Thank you." She stated simply, squeezing his hand.
"I only speak the truth." Greg said in an unidentifiable accent, his hands mimicking a psychic like action.
Sara leaned back and smiled, watching as he fiddled with the chocolate bar in front of him, an idle orange pushed to the side. He had the ultimate fast metabolism.
"Well then Mr. I-know-all, tell me this; what gives people the impression that I'm a dork?" She asked him, her smile vanishing.
Greg groaned. "You're over analyzing this Sara. You're not a freak, or a dork, or anything else. You're Sara Sidle, who's amazing, funny, smart, and one of the best friends I've ever had."
Sara felt a shock to her heart. Best friend...ever? That couldn't be right, he was just saying that.
"You liar," She said and punched his shoulder. "I'm not any of those things. You're describing yourself."
"Am not! Sara, seriously. You. Are. Perfect. Just accept it kay? As for me, I'm just the amazingly good looking smart ass." He said jokingly, but squeezed her hand in a showing of legitimacy.
"Uh huh." She said sarcastically.
Just then Nick walked into the room, muttering a 'Hey' as he went straight to the fridge. Being a CSI took it's toll on your appetite, alright.
"So Nicky, how's your case coming?" Sara asked sarcastically as he unwrapped a sandwich, before leaning against the counter. Everyone knew he was stuck with the tough case, with no suspects, weapons or leads.
"Shut up, Sara." He said in his Texan drawl, taking a huge bite of his lunch. Sara chuckled and finished the last of her now lukewarm coffee.
"Nah, man," Greg said, pulling his hand off Sara's before Nick saw. Not that they were embarrassed but it was going to cause more speculation. "We wanna know."
Nick paused for a second, and Sara wondered if he had noticed their hands. But then he relaxed against the counter, putting the garbage from his sandwich on the counter half-heartedly.
"Horribly." He said with a groan. "The victim was a narcissistic psychopath who lived in his imagination. Actually, it's probably a case Grissom would have loved."
Sara contemplated this for a moment, trying to stay focused. But she kept coming back to the thought that everyone thought Grissom was obsessed with work.
"Knowing him, probably. But you have no leads. If he was here, he would have some." She said cockily, and stood up, her chair squeaking on the floor. She began to walk out of the room, but was stopped by Nicky's taunting voice.
"I don't think so. I mean, wouldn't he be spending time with his wife?" He said with a cocky grin. Sara stood on the spot, not moving.
"Gil knows the difference between his personal life and his work. You don't have the first without the second." She stated shortly.
Sara glanced at Greg, who now had a shocked smile growing on his face. That man loved his drama.
"Oh that's right, I forgot. His personal life is his work. Or is his life his bugs? I could never tell..." Nick joked with her, tapping his fingers on the countertop.
Sara could feel her anger rising, the familiar heat was welling in her stomach.
"Nick. I advise you shut your mouth, before I do it for you." She said slowly, pausing between her words. Her posture remained calm, as did her face, but inside was another story.
Normally she could joke with others about Grissom and herself. She could act like it was funny even if she was offended. She was used to the taunting that came with marrying Gil Grissom. But these last few days...they were too much.
"Oh come on, I'm just kidding with you," Nick began, but she wouldn't take it.
"No, Nicky. You're being serious, and that's what's so annoying. Can you please get this through your head? We. Are. A. Normal. Couple. Okay? We do normal things, we talk about normal things, we...are normal! And if you can't understand that then..." She said heatedly, and trailed off, letting her arms swing down and hit her side loudly.
Nick followed her outburst with a quick chuckle. The nerve he had. " I get it Sara. You do normal things." He said, and she sighed, finally relaxing. "Like walking his pet tarantula."
That did it for both Greg and her. With a flick of his hand, Greg's orange flew across the room and barely missed the older man's head.
"Shut up dude." He said harshly at Nick, looking at Sara for support. But she had listened to enough, and with an annoyed shake of her head, she spun on her toes and walked out the door.
As she went, she heard Greg actually lecturing Nick on his low level of maturity. That was probably the first time he'd ever taken a dominant role in a conversation, and she was proud.
Sara stepped briskly down the hall, eager to throw herself into a case, and forget about this until her scheduled Skype date.
But nothing in the crime lab ever goes as planned.
"Sara! Wait up." She heard Catherine's womanly voice float through the air to her, and she shut her eyes in annoyance. She paused her steps and turned to see her supervisor jogging towards her, heels clicking on the tiles.
"What was that about?" The red head asked Sara, her confusion clear on her face. "Greg's lecturing Nick on respecting relationships... I never ever thought I'd hear that."
Sara smirked a miniscule amount, but sighed. "I don't really want to talk about it Cath. I'm done with everyone judging Gil and I."
Catherine took a deep breath and placed her hand on Sara's leather jacket. Sara just wanted to walk away, but her feet somehow wouldn't move.
"Sara, you need to relax. You're blowing this up bigger than it needs to be. We might tease you, but deep down we all know just how great and normal your relationship is." She told her, and smiled.
"And somehow I doubt that. Look at what Hodges said." Sara argued, still wanting to end the conversation, but also needing some kind of support, or second opinion, or... she wasn't sure what.
Her supervisor looked at her ridiculously. "Really? Hodges is a self centered dork with verbal diarrhea. His opinion shouldn't matter to you. And as for everyone else, we love you, and we love Grissom. It's just still a little hard to get used to."
Sara felt her heart lighten slightly.
"I guess." She admitted, and let her weight fall onto one leg.
"Don't think so much Sara. Just live your life, and please, please stop worrying about everyone else." Catherine said to her, and smiled. "Okay?"
Sara forced a silent laugh at the look on her supervisor's face. She looked ridiculously like a mother, but still very much her friend. It was something new for her, but not totally weird.
"I'll try." Sara joked, but was serious on the inside.
Catherine grinned and continued down the hall, leaving the slightly younger woman to her thoughts.
Okay, so maybe everyone had their judgments and speculations on her and Gil's relationship, but... maybe that wasn't so bad. Yes she wanted to prove them wrong, and explain the truth, but that could wait. Catherine was right, she should live the way she wants to, and not be influenced by anyone else. Gil was everything she could ever want. And more.
And she should listen to Greg, because she knew he was being honest, despite his joking nature. He really was her best friend, and he was probably right. Sure she had her issues, and Gil had his quirks, but that shouldn't define who they were. They should only worry about the time they spent together, because they only opinions that should matter are theirs.
And somehow, that made her smile as she walked down the hallway. But unlike so many times before, as she got stares from lab techs, and heard the tail ends of comments shared about her, she managed to be amused at the speculation.
And so she entered her office a different person, one who maybe, just maybe, could be strong, independent and unaffected by any judgements passed about her.
And that, was something she was more than fine with.
LIKE IT? I know its late, but it just came to me and I needed to write it down. I wasn't going to finish it, or publish it at all, but oh well. Tell me what you think, because I wish this would happen.