Every Day

By Dany

Summary: Just another normal day of chaos. (GSR. Post WTG)

Rating: T (to be safe)

A/N: This is a response to an elemental challenge posted by wiske2:
- Bobby tries to set Sara up with a date
- Grissom has MSN contact with his old college roommate: Gregory House
- an explanation for the beard-shaving
- Cath having a hard time with a case, turns up unexpectedly at Grissoms
- Nick says, what would you like for breakfast?
- plans for a surprise trip to the east coast
- GSR of course, but the team has no idea
Given one of the elements, this is also my first (tentative) crossover.

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI or House MD.

xxxxx

"Come on, why not?"

Her frustration was rapidly growing and she started shifting from one foot to the other. "No, just tell me what you got."

Sara glanced at the door, hoping that someone would walk in and put an end to this.

Bobby just grinned and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Not until you give me a good reason why you don't want to go out with a great guy. He's fun, good-looking, sporty and intelligent.

Sara felt like she was back in high school, being set up for a date because she couldn't get one, and she didn't like it one bit. This was ridiculous. She didn't need help in that department.

"I don't need to give you a reason. The answer is no. And if you don't get back to work right now, I'm calling Grissom." Alright, she was being juvenile, but she had no patience for this.

Her threat seemed to impress Bobby and he finally informed her about his findings, which weren't really much. That didn't help with her frustration level.

They had nothing. Well, not nothing, but nothing conclusive.

The bullet matched the standard gun type, one everyone could buy on every corner, and the shell casing didn't match anything in the database. They would need the gun itself.

Her day had just gone from bad to worse.

Catherine would be breathing down her neck even more now. She was pushing them all harder than usual. The case hit too close to home for her to just let it go.

After a fight with her mother, a teenage girl had run away, probably planning to go to her grandparents, but she had never made it there. They had found her one block away, shot in the back.

So far, Catherine wasn't acting unprofessionally; she was only pushing this case harder than most others.

Since Sara had nothing probative, Catherine would push her harder as well.

Sara wandered through the halls, looking for Catherine. It would be no use putting off the inevitable. The sooner they got to the bottom of this, the sooner they could all rest.

She didn't find Catherine, but Nick seemed to have been trying to find her with his results as well. "Hey, you got anything?"

Sara shook her head. The look on his face told her that the fibers he had collected hadn't yielded anything they could work with either. "I don't even need to ask, do I?"

As Nick silently shook his head, she cursed, but at the same time resigned herself to the fact that this was rapidly turning into a cold case.

Only two things still stood out: some soil samples from around the body and fingernail scrapings. She hadn't had much hope of getting anything from around the body and the autopsy had confirmed that it wasn't a close contact shooting, so she didn't dare hope that there was something underneath the girl's fingernails that could help them.

"Hey, we still on for breakfast?"

Sara was a bit thrown by Nick's sudden change of topic, but then she realized that that was his way to cope. "Yeah, meet you in the parking lot."

She paused, tying to figure out which was the best way to tell Catherine that they had nothing. "Look, I'm going to update Cath on the case. Want me to tell her about the fibers too?"

There was no sense in dragging this out or having both of them be the bearers of bad news. Although she was frustrated herself, she felt like she could take the brunt of the other woman's anger without losing it.

"Yeah, thanks." Nick handed her the folder and moved to leave. "I'm going to see if Wendy has something new."

With that, he left her alone to find Catherine and bring her up to speed – not that there was much to tell, but she needed to know.

Suddenly, she could hear some yelling, and when she followed the sounds, she found herself standing in front of the trace lab where Catherine was obviously scaring the hell out of Hodges.

The usual arrogant man was almost cowering behind his table while Catherine was ranting. After another minute of this, Sara felt sorry for Hodges and went in to try and diffuse the situation. Ever since their fight in the hallway, Sara was treading carefully when it came to Catherine – they were both too stubborn to not clash from time to time – but this would not help the case, especially if Hodges ran to Ecklie as soon as Catherine was done with him.

Sara stepped into the lab and called Catherine's name, but she didn't react. She was too focused on Hodges to notice anything else.

"Catherine," Sara called again, this time louder, and Catherine turned around.

The look in her eyes dared Sara to say one wrong word, so Sara remained silent. She just raised her eyebrow and tilted her head to one side. Apparently, that was enough to make Catherine stop and assess the situation because she stepped away from Hodges and left the room.

Sara followed her but waited until Catherine was ready to talk to her. "Don't tell me - you've got nothing."

She stopped, tiredly rubbing her eyes before looking at Sara, who merely shook her head. "Nothing that we didn't already know on the bullet, the shell casing or the fibers."

Catherine sighed and instead of exploding again, she retreated silently, leaving Sara behind, worrying about her.

To clear her head, Sara shook it and went over the whole exchange again. She would have to talk to Grissom about this. Maybe he could get through to her.

For now, however, there was nothing she could do, for Catherine or the case. They would have to wait for the other results, and until then, she could take a break.

Shift would be over in five minutes, so she decided to stop by Grissom's office before she met Nick outside. To her disappointment, his office was empty.

She pulled out her cell phone and called him. When she only got the voice mail, she called Warrick, knowing that he was working tonight's case with Grissom, and he picked up.

"Hey, where are you?"

"Campus, interviewing some people. Why?"

Ever the perceptive one, Warrick knew she wouldn't just call to make small talk. There was a reason for her asking and there was no sense trying to make him think there wasn't. "Grissom's not answering his cell and I wanted to ask him something."

She had decided to leave the important part out for now. Warrick would only worry about Catherine and she had no idea how much she could actually tell him.

"His battery's dead and right now he's talking to the dean. Do you want me to relay a message?"

"No, I'll just talk to him next shift."

The phone call ended awkwardly, but she didn't want to tip him off. She would have to talk to Grissom when she saw him again.

Right now, Nick was waiting for her and she was actually hungry.

Leaving the lab, she quickly found Nick standing beside her car, casually leaning against it. "You ready?"

At Sara's nod, he smiled. "So, where should we go? What would you like for 'breakfast?'"

xxxxx

Grissom was relaxing on his couch, reading a forensic journal, trying to forget about the stress of the job, but he wasn't having much luck.

His mind kept wandering back to the odd conversation he'd had at the end of shift. Warrick had hinted that there might be something wrong with Sara because of the phone call he'd had with her. When he called her to see what was really going on, she evaded, telling him it wasn't that important. He had realized that she wasn't alone and would probably tell him when they were face to face without any eavesdroppers.

Still, the whole thing had made him sit up and pay attention.

And then… there had been Hodges. He was actually glad that Hodges had come to him because if he hadn't, he would have gone straight to Ecklie and that wouldn't have been pretty.

If only half of what he had to say was true, then he had to talk to Catherine. He admitted that sometimes, he felt like yelling at the man too, but he wouldn't. Yelling never solved anything.

In Catherine's case, not only did it accomplish nothing in regard to the case, it could also get her in a boatload of trouble. He had to talk to her before assignments next shift.

Although everything seemed clear, he still couldn't help thinking that this wasn't over.

He tried to focus on his reading again, but he couldn't. After five more minutes, he was ready to give up.

He put the journal away and got up, deciding to work on his computer as a distraction. The programs hadn't even fully loaded when the doorbell rang.

Surprised that anyone would visit him, he checked the peephole first and was even more surprised when he recognized Catherine. After a quick look around to check if everything was presentable, he let her in.

There was no platitude greeting of 'how are you' or 'what are you doing here.' One look already told him that she was not doing well and that was why she was here. It was rare that she came over, but if she did, she usually had a good reason.

She followed him to the living room and sat down on the couch. Knowing she would tell him what was going on when she was ready, Grissom busied himself in the kitchen, preparing some coffee. He was so intent on ignoring her until she had figured things out that he didn't hear her come up behind him. He startled and spilled the coffee.

"Forget about the coffee, I need something stronger."

At his questioning look, she shrugged her shoulders and reached for the cabinet where she knew he kept the alcohol. "I took a cab and I'm going back the same way, don't worry."

Grissom held up his hands in surrender and took a step back, letting her get whatever she wanted.

Once they were back in the living room and Catherine had taken the first sip, she spoke. "Lindsey wants to live with her grandparents."

It was a simple statement, but Grissom could hear Catherine's heart breaking. "I know I'm not the best role model, but Sam and my mother…?"

Unconsciously, he licked his lips because there was nothing he could say to that.

"That girl, what if that was her?" Her random statement confused him, but Catherine must have seen it in his face. "The case we're working. The only thing we do know is that she ran away from home, wanting to go to her grandparents. And now she's dead. Lindsey tried that once. I could lose her forever."

That was when she broke down. Catherine seemed to fold into herself and began to cry. Grissom didn't know when he had seen her do that last, but it was never a good sign.

He let her cry, offering her no other comfort than his presence. She wasn't expecting more and thus they remained this way until her tears had dried up.

Grissom had used the time to think of a way to help her and an idea had formed in his head. "Why don't you take the next shift off? I know you don't want to because of the case, but maybe you should take the time to talk to Lindsey."

Catherine huffed at his suggestion, but didn't look at him. "Tell her what's bothering you and let her do the same. For once, just listen to her. Maybe then you'll get an idea what's really wrong with her."

Although he didn't have any experience with the matter, Catherine seemed to seriously consider his idea. He seemed to have gotten through to her and he genuinely hoped that Catherine and Lindsey could clear the air between them.

"Another drink?" he asked and got up to fetch it, but Catherine shook her head.

"Just call me a cab."

xxxxx

When Sara finally got home, she was tired, but not tired enough to not notice the glasses on the living room table. She frowned but moved deeper into her home until she found what she was looking for.

Slowly, she inched closer to her destination, which was illuminated by the glow of the computer screen. Leaning closer, she pressed her lips to his neck, startling him.

"Hey! Honey, don't do that to me."

His smile told her that he wasn't really mad and she bent down further and captured his lips. Everything else was forgotten as they kept kissing. It wasn't until they had to come up for air that they separated. Grissom used the opportunity to pull her into his lap, bringing them even closer.

"Are you alright?" he asked, remembering the phone call from Warrick.

She looked at him questioningly. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"Warrick said you called and I thought something was wrong." Grissom was confused, but when he tried to place the pieces of the puzzle again, he suddenly saw the whole picture. "You were calling about Catherine."

Sara could swear that she saw the imaginary light bulb go on and smiled. "Yes, the case hit her hard and I thought that maybe you could talk to her."

"Done - she was here earlier and she's taking some time off to sort through her life."

What he told her was vague, but Sara could read between the lines. If that was true, Grissom had gotten through to her and maybe things would go back to normal.

"Good." With that the issue was solved and Sara showed her appreciation by bending down and kissing him again.

It was exhilarating that she could kiss him whenever she wanted and she reveled in the feelings he evoked in her. When Grissom left her lips and started going for her neck, Sara giggled and turned it slightly away from him.

"What?" It was just a rhetorical question.

Every time he did that she reacted in a certain way. On some days, she started giggling, on others she would moan and purr, and sometimes she just pulled him closer and kissed him with even more fervor.

His scientific mind inserted itself and was already planning something. He pulled away slightly and looked at her. "Are you up for a little experiment?"

Sara looked at him doubtfully, not quite following his thoughts.

"Oh, the experiment has something to do with 'this.'"

She became even more curious and her eyes showed it.

"You have certain reactions to my beard, and I love that."

Sara blushed slightly. She knew what he was talking about.

"But now I'm wondering if I can elicit the same reactions without it."

It took some time for the words to sink in, but when they did, she gasped. "You want to shave it off? Just like that?"

"Honey, don't pout."

She did so even more exaggeratedly and made him laugh. "Every good experiment has a time frame. How about we start the experiment today and document the results until…"

Grissom broke off and reached around her to open a drawer of his desk. Her back was turned to his hand, so she couldn't see what he was looking for.

"I'm not going to the entomologist meeting in two weeks. I'm taking a vacation."

Pain flashed in Sara's eyes, but he didn't leave her the time to mull over it. "And so are you."

He pulled his arm back to show her two plane tickets. Sara's eyes went wide and she started to tremble. She wanted to ask him why and how, but she couldn't seem to form the words.

Grissom just smiled and pulled her closer to him. "I hope you're not angry, but as your boss, I put in for vacation time for you a couple of weeks ago. I want us to go away together. Just the two of us, no work."

Sara was stunned. Stunned, but not angry. To show him that, she leaned over and kissed him once more, letting all of her feelings pour into the kiss. It ended way too soon, but they still had some things to discuss.

"I'd love to go." Her bright smile made him answer it with one of his own, happy that he had done the right thing.

It had taken a lot of planning, working around the others. They didn't know that he and Sara were living together now; they didn't even know they were together. Knowing that it would cause them both, but most of all Sara, trouble if word got around that they were in a relationship, they hadn't told anyone. Grissom had signed her vacation form a couple of weeks ago and last week, he had given his to Ecklie, telling him there was this meeting he had to go to. He had staged it like that, hoping no one would put one and one together and figure out that they were taking their vacation not only at the same time, but together.

Turning his thoughts away from work, he again focused on the beauty sitting on his lap. "We have one week in New York. I know it's not much, but…"

A finger on his lips stopped his apology and he saw her shake her head. "One week sounds great. Let's just take what we have and enjoy it."

He nodded and tightened his arms briefly.

"So, how does this tie into the experiment you plan to conduct?"

Grissom laughed and nipped her finger, which was still resting on his lips. "Well, we could see how things are going without the beard. And if you don't like it, we can use the time in New York to let it grow back. Well, at least start to."

Sara grinned, making it obvious that she liked the idea. "That will be interesting. But hey, I love experiments."

Her hands traveled over his beard, trying to memorize it once more before it would be history. She would have to wait and see how much she would actually miss it. "Once more…"

"…with beard? Yes, let's move this somewhere else."

Sara got up and was about to leave, not waiting for Grissom to shut the computer down, when a soft chime made her stop. She looked back and could hear him typing something.

Curious, she moved back and looked over his shoulder. Essentially, he was telling someone via MSN that right now was not a good time – someone called 'Rockdoc.'

But Rockdoc didn't give in so easily. Grissom continued answering, although he knew that Sara was standing right behind him. It didn't seem to bother him that she was privy to this conversation.

/If I'm not getting any action, why should you?./

Sara snorted at that and wondered who Rockdoc was. This was not a conversation she would have expected from him.

/Because I was smart enough to finally give in. /

After typing that last message, he turned around to face Sara and mouthed 'Thank you.'

She just shook her head, not really knowing for what he was thanking her.

He turned back and began to type again. /You should do the same. Give it up, man; she's going to get you anyway because she's far smarter than you. /

With that, Grissom shut his messenger off, not leaving Rockdoc a chance to reply. He had said everything that needed to be said and now there were more pleasant things he had to attend to.

When the computer was finally shut off, he stood up and took Sara into his arms. "Thank you for being smarter than I am, for hanging on…for loving me."

He hugged her closer to him and reveled in the close contact. When he pulled back a bit, he saw her smiling but there were also some questions in her gaze.

"I love you," she said, still gracing him with her almost ethereal smile.

After a quick kiss, she asked the burning question on her mind. "What was that about?"

"That was an old friend. Roommate from college, Gregory House. He has one serious problem."

A smirk replaced his smile. "Someone young and beautiful, someone way smarter than he is, has taken interest in him, and he's still in denial that he feels the same and that they could really work together."

Sara's smile widened. "Ah, now personally, I've never been in such a situation."

"No, me neither. But maybe…" he trailed off, thinking about something.

"What?"

"You know, he lives on the East Coast - Princeton. Maybe…"

Sara knew what he was thinking about and decided, 'why not?' "Maybe we can both knock some sense into him when we go and visit him during our trip to New York."

She could see his eyes light up and reached for him to pull him closer. Just before their lips met, she heard him whisper "I love you."

Her heart warmed and her passion flared up again.

"Come on." She tugged at his hand, intent on moving this somewhere else. "We have some unfinished business and an experiment to start."

The End