This story has been written some time ago...Sara's backstory hadn't been revealed then...so the one in this story is different than her real one...I hope you enjoy it anways...this story is a little OOC...but isn't that where the fun is: P
the trip
Monday evening
Grissom, Catherine, Warrick, Nick, Sara, Greg and Sofia stood in Ecklie's office. Ecklie sat on his chair and threw an angry look at them. "So…due to the fact, that you were all responsible for what had happened, I have to suspend you all for one week."
"What?", Catherine said shocked.
"You can't suspend all of us! You need at least…", Warrick mentioned but was interrupted by Grissom.
"… You are not allowed to suspend two whole teams!"
"Officially you are not suspended. I gonna send you to an advance training."
"Advance training?"
"It's about teamwork…I heard that there were some mobbing problems in your teams.", Ecklie said.
"There were none!"
"Well, I know this, you know this…but the chief does not know about this.", he grinned mean. "It's an adventure trip."
"Adventure trip!", Grissom asked and threw an asking look at Ecklie.
"Yes. You gonna start tomorrow morning, 9 AM. It is a Rafting-tour."
Sara stared shocked at Ecklie. "Sorry but I can't do this. I can't go on a Rafting-trip."
"Miss Sidle, this is nothing you can decide about. You go there like everybody else! This is my last word…Like I already said, the tour starts tomorrow at 9 AM. You have to get there alone. Start point is a town called Marble Canyon, Arizona."
"Arizona!"
"Yes. If anybody should dare to not show up there he should better look for a new job."
Tuesday
Sara, Nick, Warrick and Greg had decided to drive to Marble Canyon together. Sara sat on the back passenger's seat next to Greg. She remained in silence for the whole drive. She was pale and it was easy t read her fear from the expression in her eyes.
When they arrived, half an hour too late, they left the car and walked over to Grissom, Catherine and Sophia who were waiting for them together with tow men.
"You are late!", Grissom said serious.
"This wasn't my fault!" Sara said pointed at Nick. "He couldn't decide whether he wants to wear a black or a blue jacket."
All, except Nick, laughed.
Then the rip was about to begin.
They were divided into two teams. Catherine, Warrick, Nick and Greg were in the first boat, together with one of the men. Grissom, Sara and Sofia were in the second one, accompanied by the other man. All except for Sara had already entered the boats. Sara stood at the bank and stared feared at the roaring river.
"C'mon. It's not as horrible as it seems!", Grissom said grinning and reached for her hand. Sara went even more pale when he dragged her into the boat. She sat down and grabbed for one of the security ropes, which she wouldn't let go until they were about to leave the boat again.
The whole ride was horrible for her, she forced herself not to cry, but this almost feared her to death. Grissom noticed how she felt, but did not know how to help her. From time to time he tried to calm her down by saying that it wasn't that bad at all and that she'd sure like it when she would just calm down and let her self go a little bit, but it didn't help. She stared at the ground of the boat for almost the whole ride.
When they finally got out of the boats the color came back into her face and when she was back in save again she was relieved. Finally she found her conscience back and was able to speak and smile again.
They put up their tents and began to search wood for the fire afterwards. When the fire was finally burning and they had cooked beans with sauce they sat around the fire and even Sara was now able to laugh about the weird jokes the two men made.
Nick and Warrick had brought some beer and tequila with them and Greg had brought some limes. All of them, except Sara, drank a lot and there fell more and more dirty jokes. Even Grissom warmed up and got more personal with the gang.
It was ten PM when they decided to call it a night, due to the fact that they had to stand up at 6 AM the next morning.
Wednesday
It was 2 AM when Grissom heard strange noises from the outside. He left his tent and searched for the source of those sounds. He finally noticed that those sounds were cries and that they came from Sara's tent. He went over to it and kneeled down in front of the entrance. He opened the zipper carefully and almost soundless. He crawled in and closed the zipper behind him. Now Sara recognized him. She wasn't able to identify the person who had entered her tent and she searched scared for her flash lights.
"Hey, no panic, it's just me.", Grissom whispered.
Sara calmed down a little bit.
Grissom lay down next to her and put his arm around her. "What's wrong with you? You were so strange the whole day."
"I'm ok."
"Why are you crying then?", Grissom asked her concerned, still whispering.
"This is because of…because of a real horrible memory…I…I'm not sure if I want to talk about this."
"You must know that you can tell me everything Sara."
"I know…it's just…I don't know if I'm able to talk about this."
Grissom stroke over her back twice. She was wrapped into her sleeping bag.
"Are you freezing?", she whispered.
"It's cold, but I'm ok."
"There's enough place in here for the two of us."
"This is tempting, but I think I better don't join you in there."
She nodded softly.
"Will you tell me what's making you sad?"
"It's this sound of the water. This roaring water…it reminds me of how…", she swallowed hard and some tears ran down her cheek. "It remembers me of how my brother died."
"You had a brother?"
She nodded. "He was three years younger than me…we once visited our aunt, together with my mother,…my aunt lived near to a river…I forgot, or better said swamped it's name out…my mother wanted to help my aunt…because my uncle had died a few days ago…she was stressed and told us that we should go and play somewhere. There was an old bridge and my brother and I played on it. We were running around, fooling around. He balanced on the railing… and suddenly stumbled over his own feet and fell down. It was as if it happened in slow motion…I saw him falling down, I heard his screams, his death feared screams, then I heard his had smashing against the rocks. I looked over the parapet, but he was gone. The current had already brought him away. They found his dead body miles away, a few days later.", her voice was shaking and her sentences were often interrupted of some soft cries. "When I hear sounds of rivers it always reminds me of the fact that I'll never see him again, it reminds me of the fact that his young life ended this tragically, it reminds me of the fact that it was all my fault."
"This was an accident! Sara you are not responsible…"
"…I am! I was the older one, I should have known that it was much too dangerous!"
"You were a child!"
"I was thirteen! I should have known!"
Grissom stroke over her back again and tried to press her closer against himself.
"I should have known!", she whispered under tears.
"Sara, you were a child!"
"They took me away from my parents after this. They said my mother was responsible for all what had happened and that she would not be able to take care of me anymore. I was in the foster home system for almost two years."
Grissom put his hand on her cheek softly and whipped away her tears with his thumb. He was shaking from cold.
"You are freezing!", she whispered.
"Almost, yes."
"C'mon, there is enough place for the two of us in here."
"I can't!"
"But I need you…don't leave me alone! I can't stand this sound of the raging water."
"I wont leave! Don't worry!", he whispered and twined his arm around her.
She put her hand on his upper arm and caressed it softly. "Thank you so much for listening."
"That is what friends are for."
"I'm so thankful that you are my friend Gil Grissom! You don't know how thankful I am…you can't imagine!"
Grissom grinned.
"Why do you prefer to freeze?"
"I…I am afraid to loose control."
"About what?"
"My…my body."
Sara couldn't help but smiled softly.
"I already lost control about everything else.", he whispered into her ear.
"For example?"
Grissom grinned. "Let me in!", he whispered and opened the zipper of her sleeping bag. It needed a few minutes until they had managed to find place in the sleeping back and until they were able to close the zipper again. And it was not easy to do this quietly too.
Grissom twined his arms around her waist and she snuggled against his chest.
"Please don't tell me that the only thing you wear is this T-shirt!", Grissom whispered.
"Ok."
"This makes it even more complicated."
She grinned and caressed his cheek. "Promise me something."
"What ever you want."
"Promise me to never forget this night."
"Why?"
"Because…this night changed everything."
"It did?"
"Not jet.", she said and then began to kiss his neck.
"Sara…are you sure that…"
She put her index finger on his lips. "Sssshhhht….keep quiet."
"I can't promise you to be quiet.", he whispered and then rolled over her.
"Me neither."
He slipped between her legs and caressed her thighs. Then his lips met hers softly. When his tongue began to massage hers she did the same with his.
"Are you aware of the fact that this would change everything?", he whispered.
"Are you aware of the fact that this is all I ever wanted?"
Grissom grinned and kissed her passionately.
"We have to be quiet!", she whispered.
"I'll try."
She put off his trousers and his hands slipped under her shirt. His cold hands on her breasts made her wince softly twice.
Then she felt him deep inside her. This fact let her almost forget about the river's sounds. For the first time in her life she felt as if what she was doing was right. She had never felt this when she had sex with other men. It always had felt some kind of wrong…maybe it had been the fact that she had never really loved her former lovers. But she loved Grissom, she loved him from the bottom of her heart, and this made it all feel so right. It was not easy for the both of them to be quiet.
When they left the tent at half past 5 AM to take a bath in the river they were holding hands and ran down to the water as fast as they could.
When they had reached it Sara refused to go in, but Grissom could convince her. He reached for hand and helped her in. The water was cold. As cold as Ice. The water reached up to their hips. Grissom twined his arms around Sara and kissed her softly.
"I have never been this…satisfied before.", he told her while he kissed her neck.
She grinned and kissed him passionately. "Let's hope that we did not wake up the others.", she whispered into his ear. "And by the way, I honestly never were really satisfied before last night."
Grissom smiled and then began to rub her skin clean with the cold water.
Ten minutes later they returned to the tents, both wrapped into towels. They were fooling around and teased each other. A few meters before they reached the tents, they were still out of sight, he twined his arms around her and kissed her passionately, then he became serious.
"What are we going to tell the others?", he asked.
"I don't know…do you want them to know?"
"I…I'd prefer if they would not know about it until we know where this will lead us."
"Ok…then we wont tell them."
"Is this ok for you?"
"Well,…I don't know if I can resist the temptation of your body or if I'll be able to not reach for your hand every single second."
"I think holding hands is ok…we can still tell them that this because of the fact that you get seasick easily."
Sara grinned and kissed him softly.
Then they kept on walking. When they reached the tents Catherine and Sofia were already awake and sat by the fireplace. They stared at Sara and Grissom who joined them laughing, only wearing towels.
"Where have you been!", Catherine asked and threw a questioning look at Grissom.
"We were taking a bath.", he said and grinned at Sara.
"Seems as if you had a lot of fun.", Sofia said with a sound of disappointment in her voice.
"We had.", Sara said and stroke over Grissom's muscular upper arm. "Especially I did.", she said and grinned.
Grissom laughed softly and bite on his bottom lip. "Oh yeah."
Then they went into their tents to get dressed.
When they were about to start the next boat ride and they had to get aboard Grissom took Sara's hand and helped her in. He dragged her close to him and they sat down together. He twined his arms around her and caressed her arms. "No panic…I'm here to take care of you!" She leaned her head back and snuggled against his chest.
The others threw asking looks at them, but they ignored them. All they were interested in was each other. Grissom stopped caring about the fact that there were others around them. He ignored the fact that these were their colleagues and so did Sara.
It was a wild ride and it would have scared Sara to death if Grissom would not had held her.
When they finally had put up their tents in the evening Grissom and Sara sat at the fireplace, waiting for the others to call it a night, which sadly did not happen that early.
Thursday
They woke up late, it was Nick who woke them up. In fact Nick had expected that Sara would be the only one he'd wake up. He had opened the zipper of her tent and had shouted a loud "Whoa!", at her…but he was more shocked than she was…what he saw was Grissom, who had twined his arms around Sara. Sara and Grissom stared at Nick and Nick stared at them, for a few seconds none of them said a word, then Sara broke the silence. "Please don't tell anyone!", she whispered pleading.
Nick nodded. "I did not mean to interrupt you.", he whispered.
"You did not, but we would appreciate it if you wont tell anyone about this.", Grissom whispered.
"I wont.", Nick stepped out of the tent.
"Is she awake!", Catherine shouted.
"Yeah…"
"…and Grissom?", Sofia asked.
"…too.", Nick said and glanced back at the tents.
It was almost a miracle for Grissom and Sara how they could leave the tent without anybody seeing them. While they all had breakfast together Sara sat next to Grissom. She leaned against his shoulder. Sofia threw an angry look at Sara.
When they were about to enter the boats Sara caught up with Sofia.
"Hey, what's your problem?", Sara asked her.
"I don't have one…but you will have one soon if you can't keep your hands off of Grissom."
"What?"
"Yeah…don't dare to hit on him!"
"Oh c'mon! This jealousy thing doesn't suit you!"
"I'm not jealous…I don't have to. I know what he feels for me!"
Sara grinned. "Sure…I do too."
"Did he tell you what he feels for me?"
"No, he … you know what, you will get to know this when he wants you to know it. Be patient.", Sara said and grinned.
Sofia noticed the portion of sarcasm in Sara's voice, which even made her more angry. If looks could kill Sara would have been already dead.
Sara still hated it to be in those boats, to on the water…but with Grissom by her side it was easier to calm down.
Then, no one saw how it happened, Sofia suddenly fell out of the boat. Grissom reached for her hand, but instead of dragging her inn she dragged him out of the boat.
The stream was dangerous and seeing Grissom in this water let Sara almost faint by fear. She spotted a rope, grabbed it and threw one end into the water.
"Catch this!", she shouted at Grissom.
But a few seconds before Grissom was able to grab it Sofia took it and dragged Sara into the water.
"What was this!", Sara shouted angry. "You damned bitch do you want to kill all the three of us!"
"Sara this was an accident!", Grissom tried to calm her down.
"No! She did this in purpose!"
Grissom had reached Sara and she grabbed for his live vest.
"Don't be afraid!…I'll get us out of here!", he whispered.
Sara was feared, that feared that she was not able to move.
Grissom tried to reach the bank, but it was impossible with Sara who had twined her arms feared around him.
"Sara, you have to swim!"
"I can't!"
"You can't swim?"
"I can swim, but not now!"
"You have to try angel! Or we'll never reach the bank!"
Sara took a deep breath and then let go Grissom and tried to swim. When they spotted an old tree that had been toppled down and reached into the water they reached it. They grabbed it and tried to hold on to it but Sara wasn't strong enough. She glide off and the streaming pushed her head against the bole. Grissom grabbed her arm and dragged her back, but she had lost conscience. Finally he finally managed to reach the bank. He dragged Sara out of the water and took of her live vest.
"Sara! Sara wake up!"
He tested if she had a pulse and if she was still breathing, luckily she did. He was relieved and kept on trying to wake her up. Finally she opened her eyes.
"Oh my god! I was so afraid to lose you! I was so afraid!", he twined his arms around her. She sat up and leaned against Grissom's chest. He twined his arms around her closer and kissed her on the top of her head.
"I've got an horrible headache!", she whispered.
"You had a date with the bole."
Sara managed to grin. "I'd rather have a date with you."
"We have to search for the others…I guess they tried to reach the bank too, but they are probably one mile downstream."
Sara nodded and Grissom helped her to stand up. When she stood in front of him he twined his arms around her waist. "I was so scared! I thought I'd lose you! I thought I'd never see you again! I thought…"
Sara stared at him. Were this tears that ran don his cheek? She caressed his cheeks and kissed him softly. "I'm fine.", she whispered.
Now Grissom was obviously crying.
"Hey, don't…don't cry. Everything is ok!", she whispered.
"I thought I'd lost you!"
Sara wiped away his tears and kissed him passionately. "Everything is fine…let's go and search for the others…we should change our clothes."
Grissom managed a soft smile, then he took her hand and they searched for the others.
They found them two hours later. Everyone was relieved to have their friends back alive and almost fine. Sofia had been dragged out of the water a few minutes after Grissom and Sara had reached the bank. She was fine too, not that Sara cared about this fact. They decided to put up their tents and to stay there for the night.
Friday
It was a few minutes after midnight when Grissom and Sara entered Grissom's tent. They lay down and Grissom twined his arms around her waist.
"I will never ever let you go again Sara Sidle!", he whispered.
Sara kissed him softly.
"You are the everything to me!"
"Am I?"
"Yes…I…when I saw you almost drowning I realized that I can't live without you! I could live without everything else, but not without you! I don't care about my work, I don't care about protocol, all I care about is you!"
"I love you!"
Grissom swallowed hard.
"It's ok.", she whispered and kissed him softly.
"No it's not, I…I should…"
"No Grissom…I know that you have a problem with…expressing your feelings. And these three words are probably the hardest words to say…it's not easy…I…this was the first time I every said it."
"Really?"
"Yes…it's the first time I ever really loved someone, so…yeah…this was the first time I ever said it….and by the way, telling me that I am the only thing you care about is even better than speaking out these three little words."
"I wish I could…"
"…Grissom, I know what you feel, that's enough, isn't it?"
Grissom kissed her softly. "Promise me to never ever leave me!"
"You wont be able to get rid of me again, are you aware of this fact?"
He nodded. "I…I had always been afraid to loose myself in a relationship, I was afraid to loose my individuality, I was scared that the one I care for does not feel the same for me…but this changed, I changed…I want you in my life! I want you to become a part of me and I want to become a part of you! I can't stand all these lonely nights anymore. I need you by my side, until the end of time, for ever. Not even death can do us apart! I will always love you!" Sara smiled brightly and Grissom grinned when he had realized what his last five words had been. "This was not as hard as I thought it would be.", he whispered and kissed her softly. "I love you Sara Sidle!"
When they woke up in the morning and his tent they had totally forgotten about the fact that they weren't alone. When Sara had crawled out the tent Grissom had followed her. She had been stumbling and lay on her stomach. Grissom had crawled over her and she had grabbed for his shirt. She had dragged him on the ground and now kneeled over him. Both were laughing loudly.
Warrick, Greg, Catherine, Sofia and Nick stared at them.
When Grissom and Sara realized that everybody was staring at them they laughed even more. Sara let Grissom stand up and they walked to the others hands holding.
"Let's face the devil.", Grissom whispered grinning.
They reached the others that were still staring at them. Sofia's anger, frustration and jealousy were recognizable for all of them If looks could kill Sara would be dead. Sofia turned around and left the group.
Catherine was the first one who found back her words. "Well…so I guess the two of you…finally…"
"…talked.", Greg said.
"Yeah, somehow…but I think they did not just talk.", Nick said grinning. "I hope you used birth control!"
Sara laughed softly. "C'mon Nicky…we're adults…and you may stop pretending now that you were the first one who knew about this."
"You already knew about this!", Warrick threw an asking look at him.
"Well yeah…"
"…he entered my tent yesterday morning to wake me up and…"
"…did you interrupt them by doing something?", Catherine asked grinning.
"No! Hell…I guess Grissom would have killed me then!"
"Why didn't you tell us!", Warrick asked still unbelieving.
"I had to promise that I wont."
The rest of the day was unspectacular. Sofia ignored Sara and Grissom the whole day. The boat ride was not as dangerous as yesterday and everything went fine.
Saturday
Sara woke up early. Grissom was still asleep. She kissed him softly on his bare chest, then stood up and got dressed. She left the tent and walked to the fireplace. Catherine was awake too. She joined Sara. They sat down and first remained in silence.
"So…you and Grissom."
"Yeah."
"Finally."
"Oh yeah.", Sara said and grinned.
"I'm glad…I mean I'm happy for you that he finally confessed his feelings."
Sara smiled. "Where did you let Lindsey?"
"She's at a friend's home…I could kill Ecklie for this!"
"We all could….he should have told us earlier!"
"He…he is so….hu…I don't find the right words."
Sara nodded. "I think it's unfair…it wasn't your fault. Sofia, Nick and Warrick worked the case…it's not fair that we all have to pay for this."
"But we were the only ones that had access to the lab. And this was the place where the evidence got lost."
"Yeah but Hodges was able to take it away too or…I could prepare a list of people that…"
"…yeah but that's not the point, Grissom and I were responsible for the case…and the evidence got lost in our lab… Ecklie searches for someone to blame in our teams…that's why he sent us away for one week…he wants to investigate this case without having anyone of us around."
"This ignorant asshole!"
Nick and Warrick joined them.
"Hey…where's Grissom?", Nick asked grinning.
"Still asleep."
"Where's Greg?"
"He is in his tent…he feels bad…he said that he might have a typhlitis."
"Really!", Sara asked concerned.
"Yes…I think we should bring him to a doctor…he is pale and I think he has temperature."
Sara and Catherine jumped up concerned and walked over to Greg's tent.
Sara opened the zipper and entered. Greg lay on the ground and grimaced from pain. He was pale, very pale. Sara put her hand on his forehead.
"Hot!"
"Thanks!", Greg said forcing himself to grin.
"Yeah, yeah…you can't feel that bad if you can still make jokes Greggo.", Nick said.
"Will someone bring me to a doc?"
"We will.", Cath said and tried to calm Greg down.
"I'll wake up Grissom and Sofia, who's going to tell the boys?"
"I will…they are the only ones who know how to get us out of here.", Cath said and searched for the men.
Sara walked over to Grissom's tent, opened the zipper, crawled in and kissed Grissom softly on his forehead. "Wake up lover."
Grissom grinned when he noticed that it was her voice that woke him up. "Hey sweetheart…what's up?"
"Greg's ill…we have to bring him to a hospital or something like this."
"What's wrong with him?"
"He thinks it's typhlitis."
"Oh…I'll…I'll get dressed and then I gonna help you with him.", he sat up.
"Wait a second.", Sara kissed him passionately. "I love you!"
A smile flashed over Grissom's face. "I love you too!…and if we're lucky we can spend the night in a hotel…with a real bed…and then we can be as loud as we want to be."
Sara grinned. "I can't wait for this!"
They reached the next town two hours later. They brought Greg to the hospital and then waited for news about him.
When the doctor had told them that it was really an appendicitis it was clear that the trip had found it's end.
Catherine decided to drive back to Vegas immediately, Grissom, Nick and Sofia had to get their cars back from Marble Canyon. Grissom and Sara decided to spend the night in a B&B and then wanted to get to Marble Canyon by train the next morning. Nick, Warrick and Sofia decided to do the same. Catherine took the next train to Vegas and Sara had promised her to drive her car back to Vegas. Greg had to stay for the next week. He had told them that it was ok for him that they wanted to leave. So they did…they all had their reasons why they wanted to go home as fast as possible. Catherine wanted to go back to Lindsey, Grissom and Sara wanted to have some privacy, Sofia couldn't stand the fact that Grissom and Sara had a relationship now, Nick and Warrick simply wanted their own beds back.
Sunday
It was long after midnight when Grissom and Sara finally lay in their hotel bed. Grissom lay on her and kissed her passionately. He caressed her thighs and she opened his belt buckle. In this night they had not to be quiet…and they weren't.
When they sat in the train together with the others they were the only ones who had a good mood. Sara sat on Grissom's lap and he had twined his arms around her. Sofia stared angry and jealous at the happy couple, Nick and Warrick were bored…
When they had finally reached Marble Canyon at 11 PM all were glad to be able to get home now. Grissom and Sara shared a last kiss before Sara entered Catherine's car. Both knew that this wouldn't be their last kiss and that this week had only been the beginning of a life, a real life, better than everything they ever had. Grissom twined his arms around her. "I love you damn much Sara!"
She kissed him softly. "We'll see at Vegas then…my or your apartment?"
"Mine…I'll be waiting there for you."
Sara nodded, then entered the car and started the engine. Then Grissom entered his car too and left the parking lot.
He soon caught up with Sara. When he overtook her he let the lights of his car flesh twice. She grinned and winked at him and so did he.
THE END
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