Author's Note:

Caving Under Pressure is the 2nd series in the Feasibility Study series (Before FS was pulled and reworked,it was posted as FS Chapters 21-28). It picks up directly where Feasiblity Study Chapter 20 left off. It is 8 chapters long and all 8 are posted. All cast: GS, GrOC, CW, NOC,BrassLH. Romance, angst and comedy.

Caving Under Pressure - Part 1

August 3, 1 2005 (Day 103)
Crime Lab
6:07 a.m.

Walking to the locker room, Sara hoped it would be empty when she arrived. Over the last couple of days, instead of the gossip about her and Grissom fading, it seemed to take on a whole new life.

With accidental pregnancy ruled out as a reason for the surprise marriage, the grapevine gang had to formulate a new juicy theory. And not just any theory would do, they needed one to satisfy their urge for scandal.

The latest speculation…poor Gil Grissom, the lonely scientist, was snagged by Sara Sidle who sensed his vulnerability and played him like a fiddle to get him to marry her. Apparently, there was already a betting pool available to place wagers on the day she would rip out his heart, file divorce papers and pocket her fifty percent share of his assets.

As with any gossipy theory, she knew people would believe it until disproved. But, while it was easy to show she wasn't pregnant, Sara was having a hard time figuring out a way to discretely prove she loved her husband with all her heart. It's not like she could profess her feelings on the PA system without embarrassing them and discrediting them professionally. And, even if she did, it seemed like no one would believe her because words are just words and people lie all the time.

Things were also worse because Nick was back and she no longer received the protection a supervisory role provides. Her team members weren't reporting to her anymore, they were equals, and with the exception of Jas, they were all ruthless when it came to one-liners and digs. And even though he wanted to help, there wasn't much Nick could do other than reiterate that while he didn't require his team members to like each other, they had to respect each other on the job.

Try as she might to let it roll off her back, Sara recognized the signs of caving under pressure. At work, her smile had faded, the bounce in her step was gone, and instead of looking forward to coming through the door every day, she was starting to dread it.

"Morning, Sara," Nick warmly greeted as he caught up with her in the hall. Checking his watch, he asked, "Are you here early to impress your new boss, or to sneak a little extra time with your old boss?"

"Little of both plus, I like to get here before night shift is leaving and before the Days people arrive. Less of a chance I'll be sharing the room," She informed him as she cautiously entered the locker room. "See…no one is here."

"I wish I could…"

"It's okay." She opened her locker. "You didn't create the problem, we did, and anyway, you can't fix it. People are going to believe what they want to believe. I'm sure you remember that from your stint under the scandal microscope."

"With Kristy? Yeah…" He reached for his ID and clipped it on his shirt. "That took about six months to die down. Only thing that got me through was I knew the real story. Just like you know the real story of your life and…you know you have friends that do too."

"Thanks." Deciding to change the subject, she forced a sunny tone. "How's life as a fiancé going?"

His glum mood evaporated. "Awesome! Fantastic!" He closed his locker. "We set a date."

"When!"

"February 11th."

Beaming, he took a seat on the bench and Sara joined him.

"We're going to have it here in Vegas." He winked. "Don't tell her I told you but, that's why Carrie is taking you out to lunch next week. She's asking you to be in the wedding."

"Really?" Now that was something to smile about. "I've never been in a wedding. Well…I guess I would have had to have friends in order to be asked."

"You have a bunch now," He reassured her. "And Carrie needs you as a friend just as much as you need her."

"Thanks, Nick." She appreciated the nice sentiments before walking out the door to face the gossip hungry hoard.

"We met with a realtor last night," He excitedly announced. "We're going to start looking for a house." Elbowing her, he teased, "It won't be in your neighborhood though, because the mini-mansion Grissom bought to keep you happy is well beyond my means. As is most of the stuff he let you buy for it!"

By the time he finished his statement, Hodges was standing in the room. "Good morning!" And what a glorious way to start a new day…a fresh tidbit to inject into the vine…Grissom bought a mansion to bribe Sara to live with him.

Nick knew the damage was done. "Let's go, Sara. We have to work on the Culver case." He got up from the bench and exited the room.

Sara took a deep breath and held her head high as she passed Hodges, determined to act like nothing happened. "Good morning."

"Yeah, I bet every morning is a good one when you're living at the Grissom Estate rent free."

"You're an ass, Hodges." She snapped while walking through the door.

He called after her. "Wait, don't I get to say what you are now?"

In the hallway, Nick shook his head. "I'm the ass. I can't believe I said that at work."

"It's fine." Deciding laughter was the best means of survival, she informed her concerned friend, "I'm uh…going to see if my Sugar Daddy is in his office because I need lunch money for today."

Happy to hear her laughing, Nick whispered in her ear. "Is he going to make you earn it, Boom Boom?"

"Every evening between six and nine p.m." Her laughter strengthened. "Is there a departmental policy against having a second job?"

Continuing the playful banter, they strolled to Grissom's office. And once there, Nick announced, "Hey, Gris, look who I found loitering in the hall…your wife."

Removing his glasses, Grissom relaxed in his chair. "Thanks for escorting her through the minefield." He was expecting her five minutes ago and was worried she was getting cold feet.

Sara walked over to the desk. "Ever since Nick returned from Texas, he's all, can I help ya li'l lady." Turning around, she cracked, "Feel free to mosey along, Cowboy. I've got business to attend to and I don't want an audience."

"Yes, ma'am, but don't be late for work." He shut the door behind him to give the newlyweds as much privacy as a glass walled office and a department full of voyeurs would allow.

Sara sat on the edge of the desk. "He is such a hard ass compared to you, Honey."

"Did you say 'he is such a hard ass compared to me' or 'he has such a hard ass compared to me'?

Cocking her head, she asked, "Have you rescheduled your hearing evaluation yet?"

"I was making a joke." He narrowed his gaze. "But to answer your question, my inquisitive wife, it's next Tuesday, which coincidentally is your day off."

"Good. I'll personally escort you."

"I assumed as much."

"Enough small talk." Gushing with excitement, she pushed up her sleeve. "Let's get down to business." It was eight days since they first made baby-making love in Colorado Springs, which meant it was test day.

As Grissom opened his desk drawer to pull out the syringe and a vial he stored earlier, Sara watched over her shoulder for any spies.

"Ready?" He asked as he unwrapped the syringe.

In a jittery voice, she replied, "For the blood draw? The result? Or the next nine months?"

Smiling, he tossed his glasses on and prepared. "Just the draw."

"Then yes." Grabbing a report file, she held it up with her free hand to block the secret activity. "OW! Jeez!" The sudden stab of the needle startled her. "Greg is much better than you! He's got a very gentle poke."

"Yeah…definitely a phrase I never need to hear again." Watching the vial fill, he sighed, "In the last five minutes you've compared me to Nick and Greg, I really hope you have no plans to bring up Warrick unless you're comparing his knowledge of Entomology to mine."

"Honey, thanks for making me laugh while I'm a nervous wreck." She placed the cotton ball he handed her in the crook of her arm and taped it, before pulling down her sleeve.

Grissom capped the vial and stuffed it in his jacket pocket. Then he topped the syringe and handed it to Sara. "You toss this in a sharps container and I'll meet you in the lab."

Biting her lip, she whimpered, "I wish we weren't doing this here, because I really want to be in your arms while we're waiting. I'm feeling a hundred different things right now."

"We talked about this. You said you didn't want to wait until less sensitive tests could detect…."

"I'll meet you in the lab." She slipped off the edge of the desk and disappeared out the door.

I guess that means she's not changing her mind, he thought, as he hurried out of his office. She's certainly been more moody in the past two days, so maybe this will give us a positive result.

In the hallway, Greg immediately slammed into him.

"Sorry, boss." Greg looked up from his file. "I was immersed in my work. Make note of that for my evaluation, okay?"

"Right now, I'm making note that you're standing on my foot."

"Oops." Greg stepped to the side.

No longer trapped, Grissom continued to the lab where he saw Sara already waiting in the empty room.

"Fancy meeting you here." He walked over and immediately began the process. "I know we've talked about this at length but…"

"I know!" While droning the rest of the speech like a robot, she paced behind him. "Even though we've been at it every day during what should be the critical fertility window there are no guarantees it worked. On the other hand, even if the test shows zero hCG, it doesn't mean I'm not pregnant. It just means that it didn't work in Colorado. It could have happened after we got home, in which case today wouldn't be day eight. My cycle last month was forty days, not the normal twenty-eight. This month it could be less, it could be more, we don't really know because I might not be regulated yet. Remember, the doctor said it could take three months before I'm ovulating consistently."

"You really do remember everything I say." Turning to her, he set the timer down on the counter. "Now we're just waiting."

"Yep." Wringing her hands she joined him at the counter. "Just think, this time last year we were avoiding each other, and now we're standing here waiting to see if we're having a baby."

With their backs to the door and the high counter providing cover, Grissom reached out, taking Sara's hand in his. "Four minutes."

Suddenly, Catherine's voice startled them.

Releasing each other's hands they stood straight and turned around.

"If it isn't Mr. and Mrs. No Personal Time Together." She strutted across the room. "Are you trying to steal a moment? Sorry, I need to check my experiment, so either three's company or take a hike."

They exchanged tense glances before shifting their eyes to the timer…three minutes.

"You two ever think of meeting for lunch?" Opening the fume hood, she grabbed her container. "Sara, I know you've worked through lunch for years, but you are technically supposed to take one, and Gil, you're available during the day." Working at a fevered pace, she continued to talk. "And, if you're looking for a place to have lunch, may I suggest Monty's Motel down the street…excellent ambiance. Or so I've been told."

Two minutes. In perfect symmetry they folded their arms across their chests.

Looking up, Catherine groaned, "Did I interrupt a lovers' quarrel? Because normally you would have at least told me to shut up by now."

"No. We're not fighting." Sara shook her head. "We're uh…we're just tired."

Grissom nodded in agreement.

"How can you possibly be tired?" Chuckling, she returned to her experiment. "You're never together long enough to get tired. Maybe you need to add a home gym to Casa Grissom. Build up your stamina."

One minute.

It wasn't like they had the liberty to wait all day. Once the test was complete, the results had to be read within two minutes or the integrity of the test is breeched.

"Catherine…" Sara was prepared to grovel. "Do you really have to do that right now, or could you maybe come back in five minutes and work on it? We were uh…kind of in the middle of something here."

Craning her neck, she looked at Grissom. "Boss? You want me to drop what I'm doing?"

"Uh…"

The timer sounded.

In a panic, he answered, "Immediately."

Peeling off her gloves, Catherine sauntered over. "Are you positive?" She jested. "Oh wait…I think that's why you're asking me to leave, so you can find out." Tossing her gloves in the trash, she made a beeline for the door. "Good luck and if it's not positive, remember, you can always try, try again!"

Once again alone in the room, Grissom took Sara's hand. "We'll look together."

Nodding, she gripped his hand tighter. "Ready."

The result was as plain as day…a big fat zero.

"Zero?" The excitement drained from her body and all she wanted to do was curl up in his arms.

"Sorry, Sweetie." Her disappointment flashed in her eyes like a neon sign and he was dying to hold her. "We can test again in few days."

"Yeah." After taking a moment, she said, "It was so perfect that night in Colorado, it would have been nice if it was attached to that memory."

"Knowing our history of bad timing, we'll conceive when we have the worst sex ever."

A scant smile formed. "Then I look forward to the lackluster loving."

"Am I supposed to say, 'me too'?" Pointing to his watch, he chided. "Hey, you're going to be late for work and your hard ass boss will be looking for you."

As she walked behind her husband to leave, she lingered her hand on his back. "I'll see you at home."

"Unless you want to meet at Monty's Motel for lunch."

Busting out laughing, she said, "I really think that could be where we have the worst sex ever, because I'd be so worried about germs I know I wouldn't be focused."

Just then, Nick popped his head in the door. "Did you get your lunch money, Boom Boom? Because it's time for the team's morning pep rally and I need your sunny disposition to counteract the sour ones."

"You need money?" Grissom asked.

"Actually, yeah, the ATM was down at the bank when I drove to work this morning."

He pulled out his wallet and plucked out a twenty. "That's all I have on me."

Unfortunately, Nina Birch showed up at the open door to speak with her boss just in time to catch the financial transaction.

Nick, dying to make up for his previous blunder, yelled at Grissom, "You should have had more faith that Carrie would say yes this soon." Turning to Nina he explained, "Sara bet him twenty bucks that Carrie and I would be engaged by the end of July. Gris thought December."

Waving the bill, Sara crossed the room to join her team mates. "I'll buy you a burrito today, Nick, since you had everything to do with my winning." Winning this point against Nina Birch, who was already formulating a list of one-liners about how I earned this twenty. "I can't wait to start shift," She announced in the sunniest tone, which she knew irritated the hell out of her perpetually crabby co-worker.

After they left, Grissom began disposing of the test evidence.

"How's the rabbit?" Now that her five minutes were up, Catherine waltzed back in the room.

"Alive and well," He replied in a deflated tone.

"Congratulations, now you get to keep trying." She took a seat at the table and resumed her work. "Where did that rabbit saying come from anyway? I'm sure you know, Mr. Encyclopedia."

As he went about his business, he answered the question. "In 1927, medical researchers discovered that if a pregnant woman's urine was injected into a rabbit, the hCG in the urine caused ovarian changes in the rabbit. A common misconception is that the rabbit keeled over in a reaction to a pregnant woman's urine, but lived if the urine was from a woman wasn't pregnant. In reality, the rabbit didn't die from receiving the urine at all. It died when it was cut open by the doctor to determine if there were ovarian changes."

"So, the rabbit died regardless if the woman was pregnant or not."

"Yes." He rinsed his hands in the sink. "So saying the rabbit died or lived is technically inaccurate, but everyone does it anyway."

"EPT must have been invented by a rabbit loving PETA activist." While jotting notes, she groaned, "In my more irresponsible days I would have had the blood of a few unnecessary rabbit deaths on my hands. I had some pregnancy scares. Easy to do when you have no recollection of how you spent the previous night."

"Was Lindsay…" He immediately stopped his question. "Sorry, that's none of my business, I can't believe I…"

"Oh come on, you know I'm high-disclosure. That's why we work…I'm yin to your 'lack of sharing' yang." Her face lit up. "Besides, that's a good memory, and not one I'd share with Warrick, so I'll share it with you." Tossing her hair off her shoulder, she laughed, "I mean finding out I was pregnant is a good memory, not the conception…although that was good too but, I'll spare you the details."

Curious, he took a seat next to her at the table.

"I did the test, and then Eddie and I sat on the bathroom floor waiting for the minutes to pass so we could check the result. We were both scared shitless about being parents." A bittersweet smile found her lips. "When we saw the line, we both screamed, and he pulled me into his arms saying, we're having a baby, Baby! God I loved him so much in that moment. Our future seemed so bright. We talked for hours about raising our kid, had a cute argument over names, he fed me ice cream and pickles in bed, it was a crazy day…a beautiful day, and when Lindsay was born eight months later, everything seemed right in the world." Shaking off the memory, she looked at Grissom. "But you know the ending of the fairy tale. We didn't fare so well."

Listening to her, he wondered if his own parents had a similar story. Were there brilliant moments of happiness prior to the devastation? Was he one of those moments, like Lindsay was for Catherine and Eddie? Unfortunately he was too young to recall any good times. "Does Lindsay know how happy you and Eddie were back then?"

"Yeah, I remind her of that all the time because I don't want her to think she was unwanted, or that my feelings for her father later on in life were I how I felt when she was conceived. It's important that she knows she wasn't the reason we got married or divorced. On the contrary, she was the best thing about our union."

"Good." He turned his eyes to the floor.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bum you out." She patted his arm and in her trademark manner, lightened the mood. "You and Sara will live happily ever after because, let's face it…you're both neurotic nut jobs and aware that you're lucky to have each other, because who else would want you. That kind of desperation keeps people together."

"Thanks." He appreciated her point buried in the insult.

"Just promise me when you do have a kid, you'll let him or her do normal stuff too." On a roll, she kept laughing. "It's a given that any progeny of you and Sara will be an uber-geek but, maybe if Aunt Catherine spends a little quality time coaching the kid, he or she will stand a chance of going to the prom as well as Harvard."

Teasing back, he replied, "If we have a boy, definitely, if we have a girl…doubtful."

"I don't blame you." Watching his eyes, she grinned proudly. "Once, years ago, I told you to lift your head out of your microscope and look how far you've come. You're married and trying to become a daddy."

"Yeah."

"Damn I'm good!" She boasted. "If it's a girl I really think her middle name should be Catherine."

Tawny's Apartment
8:35 a.m.

As planned, Greg showed up on his waitress-by-day/stripper-by-night girlfriend's doorstep with breakfast.

"Hi, Greggy," she greeted in a sullen tone.

"What's going on?" She looked totally bummed, which was highly unlike her normally perky self.

"Come in and I'll tell you." She walked inside her studio apartment and plopped down on the pink and black leopard print blanket covering her bed.

Greg followed, setting down his box of Krispy Kremes on top of the TV and taking a seat next to her.

"I'm late."

He checked his watch. "But your shift doesn't start until ten-thirty. Did they call you in?"

"Not that kind of late, Sweetie." She ran her red acrylic tipped fingers through her hair. "I was supposed to get my period two days ago. It's always day 27. Always. Today is day 29 and it's a no-show."

"Oh." Greg felt the blood drain from his face. "You mean you could be…"

"There was that one time we…"

"Oh god." The Walgreens incident. When he and Grissom got hit on, he left the store without purchasing anything, assuming Tawny would have supplies. In the heat of the moment, when it turned out she didn't…

"I bought a test, but I was too scared to do it until you got here." She shivered. "I really have to pee so I'll go do it and be right back."

"Um…" The deafening thump of his heart made it barely possible to hear his words. "Okay…I'll uh…be right here." I'll be right here because I am completely paralyzed with fear and unable to move! Oh my god! I can't believe this is happening. How could I have been so…oh I know how I could have been so…just look at her…we were drunk…I was so pent up…oh my god! I can hear my grandmother Enid's voice…Greggy when you move to Vegas don't get a stripper pregnant. Oh no! My grandmother is known for her psychic ability. She was foreshadowing this! Okay okay…calm down. Assuming Tawny is…I can't even say the word. Assuming she is, how do you even know it's yours? She's a stripper who hit on Grissom to be her Sugar Daddy for crying out loud. She doesn't have standards! Okay, but I can't ask her if it's mine, because she's implying it is. It would be rude to challenge her and I'm a nice guy. Yeah…a nice guy who has unprotected sex with a stripper! Oh my god! I'm a very stupid nice guy! I think I'm going to faint.

"All done." Tawny took her seat again. "Three minutes. You want to keep track?"

"Uh…" Lifting his shaking hand, he set the timer on his watch. "Okay…three minutes."

"You uh…wanna watch TV?" She grabbed the remote from the bed and started surfing through the channels.

"S..sure." Staring straight ahead, he watched the channels flipping while his life passed before his eyes.

"Wedding Story. I love this show." She was grateful for the distraction and thankful it wasn't Baby Story.

Gulping for air, Greg checked his watch. One minute of freedom left. In one minute Tawny was going to say she was pregnant and apply to be on Wedding Story. My parents are going to love this. At least Sara won't have to worry about being the office gossip anymore. Greg knocked up a stripper and their wedding is going to be televised should definitely plunge her and Grissom from the Top Scandal spot.

The beep of his watch signaled the end of three minutes and life as he knew it.

"Can you check it?" Tawny pleaded. "I mean, you do work in a lab."

"Uh…" But that would require me to move, and I don't think I can because all the blood in my body is now pulsating in my head. I'm hoping for a stroke inducing coma actually. That way when my parents kill me I won't feel a thing.

"Please." She batted her doe eyes. "I'm too scared."

"Okay I'll…" Releasing his vice grip on the blanket, he propelled himself up and began his death march to the bathroom.

"Am I?" Tawny jittered.

"Well…" Greg came out of the bathroom holding the test and the instructions in his trembling hands. Letting his inner lab-geek take over, he spoke more calmly. "The test is negative but, the instructions say false negatives can occur if you test before the hCG level is greater than 50 mlU. 50 mlU usually isn't reached this soon after a skipped period, which means there is still a possibility that you are. This isn't a very sensitive test."

"It was the cheapest one."

"Yeah."

Returning to the bed, he sat down and took Tawny's hand. "I can uh…take a blood sample and run it at the lab. Our equipment is much more sensitive and we'd know for sure." Because waiting to find out will definitely cause me to stroke out…most likely a positive test result will as well.

Sniffling, she nodded. "Okay."

The Grissoms'
9:15 a.m.

When Grissom took a seat in his home office, he saw a piece of paper on his desk with the words, To my husband, written on it. When he flipped it over, he saw Sara had written a note.

If you're reading this, you're home, and we've already done the pregnancy test.

Because we did the test at work, I'm sure we didn't get too emotional, and I'm sure I didn't tell you what I wanted to say. So I'm going to tell you now.

In your top right desk drawer, you'll find two envelopes, one says positive and one says negative. Pick the one that matches the result we got this morning and only read that one.

Pretty elaborate, huh? Can you tell I have a lot of free time at night? I also baked you oatmeal cookies and did all the laundry. I think I was hoping a real domestic display would be good mommy karma for test day. I know, Mr. Biology, it doesn't work that way, but hey, you got clean underwear out of the deal so be quiet!

Elated by the gesture, he opened his drawer, pulled out the envelope marked negative and removed its contents.

On the card were three words written in bold red marker… I love you! Belowthat, in blue pen it said, In case you're curious (Ha! When aren't you?), the other card says the same thing, because no matter what happens with this endeavor or any in our life together, the end result will always be the same…I love you.

Are you missing me right about now?

Holding the note, he reclined in his chair. "Yes, I am."

Crime Lab

9:32 a.m.

While Tawny waited in the car, Greg hustled inside the building to grab the necessary blood collection supplies. In his haste, looking over his shoulder, he crashed into Sara, who was on her way to the Ladies Room.

"What the! Greg, where's the fire? What are you doing here anyway? I thought you had a date with your favorite stripper girlfriend." Grinning, she teased, "Run out of dollar bills?"

"I…I was worried I forgot to turn off a burner in the lab." He scurried away, panting like a dog on a hot summer day.

Continuing on to the Ladies Room, Sara thought, ever since Greg got in the good graces of Grissom, he was trying so hard to keep up the good work and not let him down. It was really kind of sweet. Almost a father/son type of thing. A smile crested on her face. Grissom was going to be a terrific dad one day.

When she opened the door to the Ladies Room, her smile faded. There was Nina Birch with her purse contents splayed on the counter, applying thick layers of make up. Nick was sending her to the courthouse for a meeting with the DA, so obviously she was preening.

Ignoring each other, Sara proceeded to the nearest stall. Twenty seconds later, she realized Nina wasn't the only disappointment she'd encounter in the bathroom. The pregnancy test was negative and not just for today, but for this month. Last month it took forty days, this month twenty-one. Last month they tried too early, this month they tried too late. Story of our lives…out of sync every time!

Once out of the stall, she washed her hands and then headed for the dispenser, fully aware that Nina was watching her every move. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the twenty Grissom had given her this morning. Damn it!

"I know you probably like it when daddy gives you big bills but, you really should hit him up for some change once in a while."

"This isn't a good time, Birch." Her emotions building, she didn't want to say something she'd regret. She was already surprised she had called Nina by her correct last name.

"Don't think I'm doing this because I like you." Grumbling, Nina reached into her purse, produced two quarters and slapped them on the counter. "I owe you for the Rickert case."

"Fifty cents? Is that the price for evidence leading to a murder conviction these days?" Begrudgingly, she took the coins.

"Guess you really aren't preggers." Nina fluffed her long blond hair.

"No, I'm not." Sara retrieved her purchase, waving it in the air. "Make sure you tell all your cronies, I bought a tampon."

Laughing, she said, "I'll make sure it gets in the next departmental newsletter."

"Do you realize I could have nailed your ass over the Rickert case but I didn't? I gave you a chance to fix it and save yourself."

"And I gave you fifty cents, now we're even." She started packing her purse. "Besides, you only did that in the hopes of getting me off your back."

"Is that what you really think?"

"Why else would you have?"

"Teamwork. Because like it or not, I'm on the Days team and I don't want to see us fail."

"We're never going to be one big happy family like Nights." She tossed her purse over her shoulder. "It's not in our blood."

"Whatever!" She wouldn't give Nina the satisfaction of seeing the pressure of nasty gossip, unfriendly team mates and no baby getting to her, but in the safety of a bathroom stall, she lowered her head in hands and let out a few hormone-induced silent tears.

Crime Lab
Parking Lot
9:42 a.m.

When Greg slid the needle out of Tawny's arm, she smiled. "You're much better at that than the people who work at the HIV testing center."

"What!" As if the pressure building in his head wasn't already at a precipitous level, the last thing he needed to hear were those three letters in that specific order. "How uh…how often do you go there, and how worried should I be?" He was wearing latex gloves to do the blood test but just realized that safety precautions might be a little too late.

"Not worried at all. I have a clean bill of health." Glumly, she held the cotton ball he gave her on her arm. "About two years ago, this guy took advantage of me on a date and well…I kept going back to get tested just to be sure." A dash of offense peppered her voice. "Hey, just because I'm a stripper doesn't mean I'm loose. I never fly without a net…except this one time and well…that was only because you told me you had a trust fund so, I figured if anything happened you'd take care of me or I could sue you and get your money for child support."

Stuffing the vial in his pants pocket, he cringed, remembering the line Grissom fed him to feed Tawny. My ex-girlfriend was a stripper. I loved her something awful but she dumped me because I liked watching romantic movies. I thought my generous trust fund would have been enough to keep her around but I guess money doesn't matter to some women. Gosh, I'm so lonely. This is all Grissom's fault! Okay, that's an exaggeration. He started it. If only he hadn't taken me to Tweeters that night. Ugh! Grissom feeds me the right words to land a buxom babe and now, in some cosmic twist of fate, she may be pregnant with my baby. This is all like Cyrano meets Melrose Place meets the Twilight Zone. "Okay…uh…I'm going to run in and do the test. It will be about twenty minutes probably before I get back."

"That's too long to leave the car running in this heat, so how about I head around the corner and wait for you at Starbucks?"

"Okay." Greg threw open the car door.

"Hey, Greg?" Tawny walked over to him. "How worried should I be about you because you were the one who showed up for a date without protection?"

"Nothing to worry about." He took her hand. "It was the first time in my life I was ever irresponsible about…this."

"Okay." She let a smile out. "Then what are the odds of me getting pregnant on the first time both of us make our first mistake?"

"Million to one." He patted his pocket. "I need to get this going." I need to get it going before I suffer a cardiac episode right here in the parking lot. "I'll meet you at Starbucks."

A man on a mission to preserve his lifestyle, Greg dashed toward the building, praying for the first time in many years.