Disclaimer: Yeah, CSI denies all knowledge of my existence. Darn!
Notes: Response to the latest Unbound challenge (5th Sep). Start and end lines provided and I went a little over the word limit… oops. I haven't written anything for a long time, so hope I'm not too rusty!
She gasped as the marshmallow hit her nose.
"Back away from me now, Greg," Sara warned, one hand wiping the goo from her face while the other flailed in Greg's general direction.
The young CSI was frozen to the spot, partly because he was terrified of what Sara was about to do to him, but also because he was fascinated by the explosion the projectile had caused.
"I didn't think it was that melted, I swear," he begged. Looking down into his mug of hot chocolate, he studied the remaining marshmallows, the spoon clanging against the rim as he dropped it back into the slightly frothy liquid.
"Right, because marshmallow coming in contact with heat doesn't melt," she said dryly. "I think Grissom needs to check out your credentials, Greg, because even high school students know the basics of science."
Absently lifting the spoon from the mug, with a marshmallow perched on it, Greg looked at Sara, giving her his best puppy eyes.
"Put the spoon down, Greg, that's how this happened in the first place!"
"How what happened?" Nick asked as he entered the Break Room and took stock of the atmosphere. "Brr, is it just me, or is it cooooold in here?" No response was forthcoming from either of his colleagues so he took a moment to observe more closely. "Okay, Sara with the remains of pink stuff on her face and Greg with a marshmallow on a spoon… hmm, just as well I'm a CSI so I can figure this out," he drawled, flashing Sara his widest Texas smile and earning a glare.
"I uh… I guess I shouldn't wave my spoon around when I talk, huh?" Greg said quietly, returning the spoon to the mug.
"Greggo, you shouldn't wave anything around ever," Nick smirked.
A rebuttal was prevented by the arrival of Catherine and Warrick, with Grissom following close behind. Sara was still trying to remove the remaining marshmallow from her face, but was failing miserably since she had no mirror.
His nose buried in assignment slips, Grissom hadn't made eye contact with his team since he entered the room. Addressing each of them in turn and passing them a slip, he stopped mid-sentence when he finally noticed Sara's face.
"You might want to stop by the restroom before we leave, Sara," he told her and she gave him a small smile for not teasing her, but her eyes narrowed when he continued, "because our case has bugs and I don't think you want them feeding off whatever you have on your face, much as I'm sure they'd enjoy it."
"Sorry, Sara," Greg muttered preemptively before she could glare at him again.
Grissom's eyebrows rose and he stared at the younger man. "You did that, Greg?" An embarrassed nod was all he got in return. "In that case, on behalf of Sara, I think I'll swap your assignment with Nick's. Greg, you get your very own decomp, enjoy."
"Thanks, Grissom," Sara beamed, laughing as Greg opened his mouth to protest and then quickly shut it upon seeing both Sara's face and Nick's look of 'don't even think about it, dude!'
"Would you mind grabbing some beef jerky from my kit?" Grissom asked Sara hesitantly, wary of how she'd react to being asked to handle meat, albeit the wrapped kind. His own hands were full with trying to segregate insects into separate jars so that he could start a timeline upon return to the lab.
"Here, but don't ask me to feed them," Sara said, though her tone held a trace of amusement.
Grissom held out his hand for the jerky and his lips curled a little at her comment, but he refrained from replying, or at least, she thought he had. However, after the jerky had been torn into pieces and added to each jar, Grissom looked over his shoulder to address her properly.
"I wouldn't let you anywhere near them, not when you still have marshmallow remnants on your face."
Sara's hands flew to her face and frantically felt around for stickiness. Moments later she lowered her hands and stared in amazement at a chuckling Grissom. Had he just teased her? Really teased her?
"What happened to defending me and getting revenge on Greg on my behalf?" she asked, her heart racing at the boyish glee in his eyes.
"I take every opportunity I can to get revenge on Greg, doesn't everyone?" he answered with a smirk. "As for defending you… I thought you were more than capable of doing that yourself."
"I am, but it's nice to have a knight in shining armor every so often," she smiled.
His head cocking to side, Grissom returned his attention to the bugs.
The break they took after two hours of processing was what they both needed. Brass dropping by on his way back from a scene at an amusement park was also a welcome relief, especially when he brought park 'goodies' consisting of popcorn and cotton candy, both of which Grissom relieved him of quickly before telling Brass they had everything under control and he could leave.
Although he reluctantly shared the food, the cotton candy was mostly consumed by him. Sara thought about mentioning the fact that some of it had become stuck to his beard, but she rethought when she remembered his earlier teasing about the marshmallow on her face.
The atmosphere grew a little tense again as they stood side-by-side leaning against the SUV hood. Sara decided to try to lighten it by asking, "So, what would you have done if some of the bugs had tried to eat the marshmallow off my face?"
He turned his head slightly to look at her and requested clarification. "After I had retrieved enough for a timeline?" Her forehead wrinkled for a moment and then she nodded. "I'd have left you to it and continued processing. If you don't clean up before you work, it's your problem," he said with a smirk, walking back towards the insect-infested corpse, but not before she'd caught the teasing glint in his eye.
Grissom has been bent over the body for less than two seconds when he quickly stood up and backed away, scrubbing at his face.
"You okay?" Sara asked, knowing exactly what was happening.
He glared at her, his hands still clawing at his face. "Do I look okay?" he growled, though there was no anger present. "Are you going to just stand there, or are you going to help me?"
Smirking back, Sara replied, "Isn't that your problem?"