Geek Goddess

In response to this week's Yahoo Challenge.

Sara was in the locker room, packing up for the day. Suddenly she turned around and saw Neil, one of her favorite techs. Neil smiled nervously at her and Sara returned his smile with one of her own. "Can I help you Neil?"

He stammered, "Hey Sara, remember the case with the hotel killer guy, when you had said that 'Geeks should be revered'?"

Sara nodded and began to wonder where this was going. Was Neil going to ask her out on a date? Sara smiled at the thought. Neil was friendly and not bad to look at, and she honestly could not remember the last time she went out.

Neil continued, "Anyway there is this new place call 'Club SciGeek', and a bunch of us from the lab are going tomorrow night for David's bachelor party since we're all off. Me, Archie, David, of course, Greg…."

Sara smirked, "You want me to come to a bachelor party? I don't know, isn't that a guy thing, with strippers and unspeakable things happening?"

Neil blushed, "Well not for David, he's not into that stuff and Samantha made me promise no strippers. Club SciGeek is a theme club for people who like Science Fiction, and we know that David has always liked you and thought it would be fun…" Sara stood there quietly and Neil thought he was losing her. "Please Sara, everyone's coming, even Grissom."

Sara quirked her eyebrow. If she stayed home and Grissom went out on a Saturday that would officially make her the world's most pathetic person. Sara flashed one of her brightest grins at Neil. "I would love to go. But I see one stripper, I am out of there."

Sara sauntered out and waved good-bye to Archie and Greg. Neil walked out of the locker room and was stopped by Archie. "Well, is she coming?"

Neil blushed, "Yes, but… I told her that Grissom was coming too."

Greg and Archie shot Neil a look.

Neil sputtered, "Well it didn't seem like she would go until I mentioned that."

Greg smiled at Neil, "While I guess that settles it. Grissom is going to David's bachelor party."

Archie smirked, "Whose going to tell Grissom that?"

Greg smirked back. "Don't worry; I know exactly how to get him there." And sauntered off towards Grissom's office.

Saturday evening came. After debating with herself a hundred times, Sara found herself at the bar. She gave her keys to the valet, and walked in.

Upon walking into Club SciGeek, she was immediately impressed. The club was smoke-free, and instead of pictures of Hooter Girls and Sports figures, the place was decorated with memorabilia from all of the Star Trek shows, Stargate, Star Wars, Seaquest and Discovery and History Channel shows. Instead of several televisions blaring sporting events or music videos, they were showing episodes from the various Star Treks, and Quantum Leap. Sara found her group huddled around a screen showing Star Trek Next Generation, and smiled. She walked over to David, who was chatting with Sofia, congratulated him on the upcoming wedding, and kissed him on the cheek. David blushed from the attention, and noticed that the rest of the guys were silent. Sara began to blush. Why were they staring? Did she have lipstick on her teeth?

Sara was never one to be conscious of the way she looked. That was Catherine's territory. She was always well groomed and fit as it befit her control freak ways, but she was never aware of the way she affected the others. And tonight in her faded 501's and her deep rose halter top, that made both her neck and legs look like they went on forever, she was having quite an effect on the guys.

Greg gained his composure first. He smiled and gave Sara a hug. "Lookin' lovely Sara." Sara smiled, "Thanks Greggo." She looked around the room and noticed no Grissom. She sighed, and decided to just enjoy the presence of the others. But first, she had to find the ladies room.

Grissom walked into the bar. He felt very comfortable there immediately. He never would have agreed to coming to a bachelor party if there were going to be strippers or hookers. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy a pretty girl; he just knew that the others would not have as much fun with him there. Spotting the waitress, leaving the group Grissom caught her attention. He asked her about how they were billing, and she said that the guys had set up a tab. Grissom gave her his Gold Card, and instructed her to put the entire evening on it, including a 25 tip for her. Grissom was truly fond of the guys, and wanted to do something nice for them, to try and make up for all the times he could never seem to thank them properly.

Grissom walked up to the group and said hello. He was greeted enthusiastically. He noticed for a minute that Sara was not there. He was disappointed, but knew that he really shouldn't have believed Greg's aside that she was coming. Even though Sara was more than friendly with all of the lab guys, she didn't strike him as the type who would go to a bachelor party.

On the way back, Sara noticed the waitress. She remembered from college how dreadful waitress work could be and pulled the girl over. After complimenting her Uhuru outfit, Sara handed the girl a wad of cash. The waitress smiled. "Thanks, but I am all set. The blue eyed gentleman paid the tab for the evening and told me to put a 25 tip on it." She gestured towards Grissom. Sara smiled. It was so like Grissom to do something like that, being nice, when he probably wouldn't get caught. The waitress watched her watch Grissom and continued. "This really isn't a bad gig as far as cocktail waitressing goes. The tips are good, the guys are polite and pretty hands off, and I never worry about computer viruses anymore." Sara nodded at the waitress and joined the group.

At the bar there was a young coder getting a little tipsy. He had been recently dumped by his girlfriend and was looking for a Ms Right Now. After seeing Sara, he was smitten, and figured that he should send her a drink. He motioned to the waitress and she nodded and got busy.

A minute later, Bethany the waitress came by with an odd looking drink, which she handed to Sara. She got a curious look from Sara and told her that the gentleman at the bar bought her a drink. Sara sniffed it and asked what it was.

"It's a Counselor Troi" Sara gave Bethany a look. "It's kind of like an egg cream, it has milk and seltzer, but instead of Chocolate Syrup, we use Godiva Liqueur." Sara nodded and took a sip. Grissom walked over and said his hello. "What are you drinking?" Sara smirked, and feeling a tiny bit wicked, decided to play with him.

"It's a Counselor Troi, the handsome man at the bar thought I was thirsty and sent it over." Grissom looked at her quietly. "Is it any good?"

Sara laughed, she could see the wheels in Grissom's head spinning, and even though she was sure it was momentarily, she was enjoying having the upper hand. "It's not bad, although I feel that it's blasphemous to make an egg cream beverage with anything but U-bet syrup." Noticing Grissom's curious look she continued. "In college I had a roommate, Maddie who was from Long Island. I would go home with her on vacation, and got a thorough education on the finer points of NYC cuisine." Sara sighed. "I really miss the city sometimes. Its fun and night oriented like Vegas, but doesn't seem to try as hard."

Grissom nodded, unsure of what to say. He never thought that Sara would ever like to live anywhere but here. He began to try to talk to her again, when Bethany came up to Sara. She explained that they were having a contest tonight. The women would compete in a trivia and video game contest to be crowned Queen of the Geeks. The Queen and her court would participate in an auction, where the males and non-participating females would bid on a dance with the court. Bethany explained that on Xena night, they had the women bid on the men. Sara was shaking her head, until Bethany explained that all proceeds would go to Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Sara had been a Little Sister and a Big Sister and knew firsthand about the good work the organization did. She couldn't say no. Sara went to join the group of female competitors and found herself joined by Sofia. Even though she felt no animosity towards Sofia and her 'date' with Grissom, she could feel her competitive nature get the best of her and she was determined to be crowned Queen of the Geeks. Sofia won the spelling Bee, but Sara kicked her but on the video game portion, Sofia won the state capitals contest, but Sara gave her a trouncing in mental arithmetic. The other girls couldn't even compete. Sara and Sofia were competitive people, although the blond hid her drive better than Sara. Finally it came to the single elimination round. The test was trivia. They would each take turns answering questions until one stood victorious. They competed for an hour, but Sara came out victorious being able to give the name of the mother of Warf's son from Star Trek TNG. After Sara was declared Queen of the Geeks and Sofia her lady-in-waiting, Sara was surprised from a hug from Sofia, and the group took a break before the bidding for dances began.

Sara caught Grissom's eye and pointed to a picture of Captain Kirk drinking a coke. Grissom walked to the bar to get Sara her drink. While he was there, he watched Greg making a move on Bethany. Grissom was mildly surprised, as he had heard rumors that Greg and Sara were involved, but instantly realized that he had been jealous for no reason, as Greg would either be too respectful of Sara or too fearful for his personal manly parts to flirt with another woman in front of her. Grissom picked up the soda, and he and Greg began walking back to where Sara was waiting. He heard the drunk guy who had sent Sara the Counselor Troi talking to his buddy. He was talking about how hot Sara was, and how he was going to win the bidding war, get her on the dance floor and take her home. Grisssom's blood boiled at the thought of that man, talking about his Sara that way. Realizing that he just used the phrase 'his Sara', he paused. He could not believe that he was jealous. Greg was tipsy, but not drunk enough to miss the fact that Grissom was no longer walking with him. He looked back and saw Grissom looking at the man sitting at the bar, with Grissom seemingly smug in the knowledge that he could hide a body better than anyone. Greg walked back to Grissom, tapped him on the shoulder and walked him back to the group.

The bidding began. Sofia and the ladies in waiting all were bid on, with Hodges winning Sofia. Finally bidding on Sara began.

The obnoxious coder began bidding on Sara. He started at $100 to let the others know that he was serious about winning. Greg smirked. "Look at him, trying to establish himself as the leader. He thinks he's being smart, but he's really being cheap. Most of the others will give up right away thinking that this guy will bid anything. Nope, nothing quick about that at all. Wish I had thought of it."

Grissom stiffened. That man would not win Sara. Gil Grissom did not lose. The bidding continued, It went to $150-$200-$250 and up until the bidding seemed stalled at $2000, since the men in the lab group pooled their resources to bid on Sara.

Sara sat up by the bandstand with a small smile. She did not want to dance with the coder. The man bought her a drink and did not even ask what she was drinking. A man like that would be condescending and become angry if he ever lost at anything to her. Definitely a bad relationship bet. She also noticed that Grissom wasn't bidding. That began to make her angry. It was irrational that she should do so, but for her Grissom and rational feelings rarely went hand in hand.

The bidding had gone to $2200. It was going once…going twice… and not sold as Gil Grissom stood up….

$5000 for the Queen of the Geeks." The crowd went wild cheering, and the coder knowing he was beat, stomped off.

The winners claimed their dances. Aerosmith's "Angel" began to play as Sara and Grissom danced together. Sara thanked Grissom, and adjusted his crown. They held each other and swayed to the music, lost in their own thoughts.

As the song ended, and Grissom signed the credit card bill and got the receipt for his donation, he asked Sara if she was ready to go home. Sara nodded and went to coat check to pick up her coat. She was headed to her car when Grissom asked her if she wanted to take a walk. He asked her if she was planning to continue wearing the tiara, and Sara blushed and asked him if he would mind. They walked along the strip and talked quietly of nothing in particular, the way they did before everything between them had become so complicated. Fortunately for the two of them, a woman in a small tiara walking though the strip was nothing unusual, so they could enjoy themselves.

Sitting by the fountains at the Bellagio, Sara thanked Grissom for bidding on her, admitting she was a little embarrassed at the size of the bid. For once, Grissom managed not to say something stupid about tax deductions and simply smiles and told her that she was welcome.

Sara turned to Grissom, she was smiling the way she did when they first met, and her eyes shone brighter than any light in Vegas. She told him that when she was in school, she obviously was never the prom queen type since she was a big science geek, and how it was fun to be Queen of the Geeks, and how she was actually going to keep the tiara by her bedside. Grissom momentarily paled at the thought of being anywhere near Sara's bed. This would normally have been a time where Grissom would have pulled away and said something he would later regret, but tonight Aphrodite and Venus seemed to smile upon him, and he said nothing. He just brushed Sara's cheek, and smiled. Sara put her hand on top of Grissom's and held it to her face enjoying the pressure, trying not to pull him to her, but to let him lead. For once Sara's patience was rewarded, and Grissom put his other hand on the empty side of her face and pulled her to him for a soft kiss. Sara wrapped her arms around Grissom and deepened the kiss. They stood there for many moments enjoying the feel and the taste for each other, only taking a moment to sigh with both contentment and regret, the regret being that they waited so long to indulge in that moment. Sara went to kiss Grissom again, and the tiara began to slip. Girssom caught it and took it off her head, and placed it next to him. Sara pouted. Grissom laughed.

"You know Sara; you are really more than Queen of the Geeks."

Sara raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Grissom leaned in so his lips were almost covering hers, "You are my Geek Goddess."

Sara laughed and groaned at the pun as she drew her lips to Grissom's for another kiss.

End