UNCAGED
A slash fiction with Grissom and Aaron from the episode, Caged.
Sexual content, but not extremely explicit
Part II
I.
"Gil!"
Aaron's panic-stricken voice cut through Gil's deep sleep, so much so that he wakened and immediately sat up.
Aaron, fully dressed...in different clothing than the night before, was standing on the other side of the coffee table, shifting from foot to foot, face twisted with anxiety, clearly distraught.
"Aaron, what's the matter?" Gil demanded, jumping to his feet and going to him.
"It's 7 o'clock! I have to ... catch my bus... in ten minutes!"
"Oh," Gil said with sudden relief.
"I spend... Sundays... with my uncle. Fishing on his boat. I have ..to go ...now."
"Okay, Aaron, no problem. I'm ready to go. We can go now."
"Yes, now. I can't miss my bus."
"If you miss it, I can drive you in my car."
"No!" Aaron said sharply. "I take the bus. 7.10 am."
"Well, I'll walk you to the bus," Gil said, quickly slipping on his shoes. "Come on."
The bus stop was right outside the apartment building, and they arrived there at precisely 7.05.
"See, plenty of time," Gil said.
"Yes."
"You should have wakened me earlier. It would have been alright."
Aaron didn't reply, merely turned his head away.
"Well, it's all right." Gil said again. "We're here in plenty of time."
Aaron had calmed down. "Plenty of time," he said, nodding sharply. "Good."
"You like fishing, then," Gil said.
"Yes. My uncle's fishing boat. On Lake Mead. All day. Every Sunday."
At that moment, Gil saw the bus coming down the street. "Here it comes," he told Aaron.
Aaron immediately reached into his pocket and drew out his bus pass. The bus came up to them, and Aaron started to get on board. Suddenly he turned.
"You're coming...next Saturday?" he asked.
"Yes."
Aaron smiled quickly, then turned to climb into the bus.
Gil headed back to his car. Time to go home, brush his teeth, and have a hot shower.
2. Saturday
Gil knocked on Aaron's door, and Aaron answered it promptly. He smiled. "Hello, Gil."
"Hello, Aaron."
"Two white bags. One brown." Aaron observed.
"Yes. The brown one's for later."
Aaron took the two white bags of Thai food into the kitchen and immediately began arranging the tray.
Gil took the brown bag and placed it on the end table on his side of the couch.
Aaron bustled in with the tray, placed everything in front of them, and then sat down on the couch... about two feet away from Gil. He didn't look at Gil as he pressed the button on the remote and the TV sprang into life with Contraband... another Conrad Veidt movie.
They ate in silence, and when dinner was over Aaron immediately jumped up and returned the tray to the kitchen. He returned and sat back on the couch again...two feet away from Gil.
Contraband wasn't a long movie, only 90 minutes, compared to the four hours that the Shakespeare movies ran.
It was over, and it was only 7.47.
When the credits began to roll, Aaron reached out and turned off the movie.
"You are a Conrad Veidt fan, aren't you?" said Gil.
"Yes."
"I like him, too." (Damn, he and Aaron had a lot in common.) "My favorite is The Thief of Bagdad."
"Yes!" Aaron said.
''I never know why men come back from sea." Aaron continued, quoting the opening number when a sailing ship arrives at port and the sailors sing as they unload the cargo.
"The sea is cruel but the sea is clean. The cause of this vast purity must be, That men at sea are few and far between. Hardship is all she ever gave me. Yet I ask why men come back from sea?
The sea is cruel but the sea is clean. Oh, poor brother, how kind you might have been."
Gil nodded. He never had understood the lyrics of that song. But it had been sung by a guy with a great voice.
Aaron wiped his hands on his thighs. "Did you..." he said, not looking at Gil... "Did you... want to watch Spy in Black?"
"Sure," said Gil.
He watched Aaron thoughtfully as the young man switched over the discs, then returned the couch and pressed the start button.
Aaron was nervous...very nervous. Was he embarrassed about what had happened last Saturday? Did he not want it to happen again? Or did he want it to happen again, but was just too embarrassed to make the first move?
Well, that was the thing. Aaron had to make the first move. It was up to Aaron if he wanted this to be a friendship only... or a friendship with benefits, as the saying went. Gil wasn't going to influence him one way or the other.
Unless, Gil suddenly realized, Aaron thought that the brown bag he'd brought in contained the condoms he'd talked about on Saturday. In which case Aaron might already think that he knew what Gil wanted, and that's why he was so embarrassed. Damn, Gil thought. He should have realized that would happen. Stupid.
He could take out part of its contents - which happened to be a DVD - in order to show Aaron that it wasn't condoms (although they were in there as well) but the subject matter of the DVD was such that it had to remain in its little brown bag until Aaron decided what he wanted to do.
Spy in Black took place during World War I, in the Orkney Islands. Conrad Veidt played a German submarine captain who comes onto the islands secretly in order to contact a German spy - played by Valerie Hobson, who has information on the British submarine fleet in Jutland. But it's a trap... Veidt's character is deceived into sending a message to his wolfpack giving them the coordinates of where the ships are... and those coordinates lead them into an ambush which will result in all the subs being sunk. Veidt escapes and commandeers a ferry - the very ferry that Valerie Hobson is also on - and orders it into the North Sea in the hopes of preventing his wolfpack from falling into the trap.
But his own submarine shoots a torpedo that sinks the ship. Everyone escapes on life boats, except for Veidt, who remains on board the sinking ship as it goes under in the knowledge that his shipmates would soon be joining him in the briny deep.
The credits rolled, and once again Aaron turned it off.
He glanced at Gil. "I like that movie," he said, "but it's very sad. I wish... Conrad Veidt...had not died at the end."
"It's more powerful this way," Gil said. "Only sad endings are powerful ones."
Aaron looked away.
"So did you enjoy your fishing on Sunday?"
Aaron brightened. "Yes. I caught... five salmon. My...uncle...cleaned them...and we had them for... dinner."
"How long have you been going fishing on Lake Mead?"
They conversed for another two hours, then Gil glanced at up at the clock and saw that it was 10.30. Time to go.
"Well, I'll be going now, Aaron," he said. "Same time next Saturday, right?"
"Yes," said Aaron.
Gil stood up, picked up the brown bag casually, and headed for the door. Aaron had stood up also. Now he said abruptly. "The brown one's for later."
Gil turned. "What?"
"Your brown bag. You said...'the brown one's for later.'"
"Yes...well...it's not important, Aaron. I'll see you next week."
Aaron stepped up to him, and clasped his hand, standing very close to him. "You...don't...have to go..." he said.
Gil felt the warmth of his body... and swallowed hard. "May I kiss you?" he asked Aaron, softly.
"Yes," said Aaron.
Gil bent down, and sought out Aaron's lips. Aaron's lips met his with no hesitation... after a few seconds he put his hands on either side of Gil's waist, holding him.
After a few minutes, Gil forced himself to stop kissing Aaron and stepped away.
"I've brought something to show you," he told Aaron huskily.
He took the DVD out of the bag. "You remember last week I asked if you'd ever made love to a man before?"
"Yes."
"Well...this DVD is a training manual, put out by sex therapists. It shows the various ways that two men can make love."
Aaron looked at him with wide eyes.
"I want us to watch it," Gil said, "So you can see what it's like. And if you don't like what you see, then we won't do it."
"Oh...okay." said Aaron.
Gil opened the case and handed the disc to Aaron. He then returned to his normal spot on the couch. Aaron put the disc in the DVD player, then came back and sat on the couch also... about a foot away from Gil. He pressed the play button.
The DVD was 30 minutes long, and as Gil had said, it had been put out by a reputable institute and showed - albeit quite graphically - the various sexual positions.
"They're not wearing condoms!" Aaron commented as the first demonstration began.
"That's right," Gil said. "That's because this is a training video, and they want people to be able to see everything. But in real life, you never have sex without a condom. It will say that at the end of the DVD."
Once the DVD was over, Aaron reached out with the remote control and stopped it.
Gil looked at him. "So what do you think?" he asked gently.
Aaron said nothing.
"You don't think you'll like it?" Gil asked, gently.
"I ... don't know."
"Well...that's okay. We don't have to do it if you're not sure."
"I'm... sure. I'm... just scared." said Aaron.
"Well, we'll go slow," said Gil. "I wouldn't mind watching The Spy in Black again. And we can just cuddle on the couch, like last time."
"Yes," said Aaron, smiling.
He started the movie.
Gil sat back on the couch, with his back to the armrest, one leg stretched out, the other on the ground.
"Sit with your back against my chest," he told Aaron, and Aaron did so, such that his head was just below Gil's. Gil draped both arms around Aaron's chest, and in that position they began to watch the movie. Then, very slowly, Gil bent down and began to kiss Aaron's neck.
He couldn't see Aaron's face, but Aaron leaned his head back, as if he were enjoying the feel of those kisses. Very, very slowly, Gil kissed his neck, starting on the left side and slowly working his way over to the right side.
Then, suddenly, Aaron twisted over, until his whole body ran the length of Gil's and started kissing him. Gil cupped Aaron's face in his hands and let Aaron kiss him.
After a few minutes, Aaron stopped. He sat up slightly, looking at Gil... then his fingers tugged briefly on the buttons of Gil's shirt.
"Did you... bedroom?" he asked.
"Yes," said Gil.
They rose, and Aaron took him by the hand, and they walked into the bedroom.