Author's Note: Hello, all! The idea for this one-shot came from the "Writer's Block Busters" page on CSI Forever Online. Whoever jotted the idea down on the page there, thanks! This story assumes neither Sara nor Grissom left the lab following the whole Living Doll/Dead Doll saga and its aftermath. It's set after the Case of the Cross Dressing Carp, which, as I'm sure you already know, is the episode in which Grissom proposes to Sara. Also, the Shakespeare quote used in this fic is from A Midsummer Night's Dream. I hope you enjoy this, and please leave me a review!
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A man wearing a UPS uniform strolled into the LVPD's Crime Lab. He stopped at the front desk and waited his turn to speak to the receptionist. Just as he reached the desk and said, "I have a delivery here for a Mrs. Sara Grissom," Nick and Greg happened to be walking in.
As the secretary politely responded, "I'm sorry, sir, but we have a Sara Sidle who works here and a Mr. Gil Grissom, but no Mrs. Sara Grissom," both Greg's and Nick's jaws dropped. They looked at each other with raised eyebrows and knew the same thought was going through each other's head- Mrs. Sara Grissom?
As the UPS delivery man flipped through his notes and remarked to the secretary, "Well, according to this, the package was sent by a Mrs. Betty Grissom… does that name ring a bell?," both Greg's and Nick's eyebrows seemed to raise higher on their foreheads than ought to be possibe. Both stopped dead in their tracks to listen to the secretary's response, ready to butt in should they need to help out.
"Actually, yes, sir, it does. I believe that's the name of Mr. Grissom's mother. I assume the package has been through security?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"All right then. I'll send it to Mr. Grissom's office and he can decide whether it is meant for Sara Sidle or not."
At this, Greg practically bounded to the reception desk and offered a breathlessly excited, "I'll take it to Grissom!"
Nick and Greg looked like two kids observing their large piles of presents on Christmas morning as they quickly scurried to Grissom's office. Deciding they may as well let everyone in on this event, they popped into Trace, Ballistics, and DNA on their way (well, they actually had to go out of their way to get to Ballistics, but who were they going to tell?), gathering Catherine, Warrick, Hodges, Henry, Wendy, Bobby, and finally Sara and Brass, who were walking down the hall to the break room when they were interrupted by the now rather large throng of colleagues coming to drag them to Grissom's office. Nick quickly paged Doc Robbins and David with an "SOS- Grissom's office ASAP," and was pleased to find them curiously coming up the hall just as they were homing in on Grissom's office door.
Curiosity and confusion were etched on everyone's features, even Nick's and Greg's, although their faces showed considerable excitement as well, even though they had been bombarded with what felt like a million versions of "What are we doing?"s, "What's the big deal?"s, "Where's the fire?"s, and "Would you just tell us what's going on already?"s from their various acquired followers on their mission to the boss' office.
"All right, now, everybody just calm it down." Nick's voice cut through everyone's grumbling, leaving the group quiet. He continued, "We've reached our destination. Greg and I have uncovered some extremely valuable evidence in an ongoing case and think you'll all appreciate being present while we present it to Grissom. I'd advise you all to keep your mouths shut so you can hear what he says, because I'd imagine it'll be priceless! Now, ready Greggo?"
"Couldn't be more ready, Nick," was Greg's response as he pushed open the door to an unsuspecting Grissom's office. "Hey, boss man. Got a minute?"
"Greg?" Grissom queried in obvious surprise and annoyance as he surveyed the throng of people pushing into his sanctuary.
Greg responded in the excited, boyish voice reminiscent of his early days as the lab's DNA tech, "Grissom, this is gonna be great, you have no idea!" He was practically bouncing as he spoke, and Nick's grin mirrored his colleague's excitement.
Grissom removed his glasses, rubbed his face, meticulously set his glasses down, finally deigned to look up at Greg, and asked, "Would you mind telling me and the clearly confused crowd you've obviously gathered what exactly is 'going to be good'?"
"Nah, Grissom, I get to do that," Nick said. He continued, "So Greg and I were walking into the lab when we happened to observe the UPS guy delivering this package…"
When Nick paused for dramatic effect, Grissom's annoyance gave voice to everyone's thought when he spat out, "Get on with it, Nicky. What's so thrilling about this package?"
"Well, I have no idea." Everyone collectively rolled their eyes, so Nick cleared his throat and continued quickly, "The thing is, though, the recipient's name is rather intriguing."
As he spoke, he shifted his gaze from Grissom's face to Sara's, and Sara returned Nick's gaze, if perhaps a heck of a lot less excited than he was. She grumbled, "Nick, I happened to be in the middle of an investigation before you yanked me away from it. Can you just tell us who the hell the dumb package is for so we can all get back to work?" She crossed her arms defensively in front of her as she spoke, and her posture was mirrored by a few other colleagues who were more irritated than intrigued at this point.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, cool your jets, Sar." Nick turned his gaze to Greg and asked, "So, Greg, my friend, care to do the honors?"
Greg blurted out, "Oh man, guys, here it is. This is epic. Seriously epic. Like more epic than closing four homicides in one night epic. Like I can't even tell you how epic-"
"Greg, get to the point!" Greg couldn't even tell who he'd been cut off by, but he took the hint.
"The package was delivered for a Mrs. Sara Grissom."
Dead silence followed. And lasted.
It was Catherine who finally broke the silence. She, in her dumbstruck state, had at least been smart enough to tear her slack-jawed gaze from Greg's face to move between Sara's and Grissom's. She watched the silent conversation they were having with each other; she recognized that, "Oh, shit" look they were both wearing. She realized the truth.
Focusing her stare at Grissom, Catherine let loose with, "You son a bitch, Gil Grissom! How dare you?"
Grissom looked startled, even more so than he had at Greg's revelation of who the package was for. "Catherine!" he admonished.
"Oh, don't you 'Catherine!' me, mister, like I'm out of line here. I specifically remember telling you after you that if you ever decided to marry her, you had to let us all witness your wedding and celebrate it. I told you, dammit, not to hide everything from everyone anymore and you-"
Sara wouldn't listen to any more of Catherine's ranting. She angrily interrupted, "First of all, Catherine, you have no right to speak to Gil like that." No one missed her use of Grissom's first name, heretofore reserved only for usage by Catherine herself and Brass at the lab. "Second of all," she continued, "Who are you to dictate the terms of his life? And third of all, Cath, it was me who wanted to keep the wedding to ourselves, okay?" At that, she realized she'd just let the whole truth slip; there was no denying they were married after that comment. Not that it mattered too much; Ecklie had even allowed them to work on the same shift again because he hadn't wanted her to quit, but she had struggled with PTSD-induced fear on assignments when she had first returned to work, and Grissom had suggested letting Sara work cases with him to calm her fears. Ecklie had balked, of course, but had given in after creating a couple of very strict rules regarding how they were to work together, which they had been smart enough to follow, at least while Ecklie was looking, anyway.
After another dead silence, during which Catherine seemed unable to speak, Grissom rose and moved to his wife, and Sara took her husband's hand in hers, Greg broke the silence with, "Holy shit, it is true! You two got hitched! When? How? Where? Did you get married by Elvis in one of our own lovely Vegas Chapels of Love? Huh? Huh?"
Everyone laughed. Even Grissom couldn't help but smirk, and Sara's grin followed quickly after his. Grissom merely commented, "I can't be giving away all of my secrets during one shift, Greg." Sparing a glance to each person in the room, he brusquely asked, "Don't you all have work to do?"
After many "Seriously?"s, "You've got to be kidding me!"s, and "They're not going to tell us?"s, the lab's employees, save Sara, dutifully filed out of Grissom's office where at least, if they hurried, they'd be able to share the big news with at least one other LVPD employee before anyone else did. Even Catherine left them alone, even though she looked back, shook her head, and remarked, "I'm so not through with either of you" as she walked out and shut the door behind her.
As soon as they were alone, Sara burst into a fit of laughter. "Married by Elvis?" she choked out.
Grissom grinned, pulled Sara to him, and shared a quick kiss with her.
Grissom pulled away and sighed. "I do believe I'm going to have to have a nice, long chat with my mother. Who else would have sent a package to you here instead of at home and addressed it to Sara Grissom instead of Sara Sidle?"
"She's clearly just trying to make her point, Gil." Sara sighed, too. She did so hate that her mother-in-law found it nearly criminal that she didn't change her name.
"I'd say she was just trying to be rude."
"I'd say she just doesn't understand that the word "Grissom" in this place is only used for one rather revered individual." She paused, gave Grissom a sultry look, and added, "I'm also not about to explain what that particular name means to us in bed, either." After blushing under Grissom's rather lustful eye, she asked, "Well, care to find out what it is that she sent me?"
Sara didn't wait for an answer, but proceeded to eagerly open the shoebox-sized package in front of her. At first glance, it appeared the box contained nothing but packing paper.
"The guys didn't mention just how light this package is."
Grissom just smiled as Sara continued to explore the contents of the box, shifting and removing paper until she found her wedding ring concealed in a small jewelry box.
Grissom dryly commented, "I guess we know where your ring ran off to, then. It's a good thing we hadn't gotten around to filing an insurance claim on it yet."
Sara coyly stated, "I guess I can start wearing my ring to work now, huh?"
Grissom took the ring from Sara, got down on one knee, and, grinning like a little kid, asked Sara for the second time, albeit more formally this time, "You know, maybe we should get married?"
Sara grinned and commented as Grissom slipped the ring on her finger, "I'd marry you a million times over, Gilbert Grissom." She further commented, "Now, I believe I still have a case to solve, and lab gossip may just get in the way of my productivity this evening" as she backed out the office door, leaving Grissom to shake his head in amazement as his wife willingly fed herself to the proverbial wolves roaming the halls.
He aptly quoted Shakespeare to her retreating figure as his office door swung shut behind him, "The course of true love never did run smooth."