Disclaimer: These CSI characters do not belong to me. 'nough said!

Rating: T for now

A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! Your comments meant a lot to me! If you didn't have time to review, thanks for spending the time reading also! Glad you all are enjoying this story so far! Enjoy and comments are always welcome! Thanks again for reading! Peace…


Chapter 02

Sara sat stoically in the front row listening to the "Bug Doctor" as Josie and her friends referred to him. He seemed pleasant with a very disarming smile and yes… clearly with a very nice bottom. She caught him glancing at her several times throughout the lecture as if trying to discern whether she was paying attention or not. Before she could acknowledge the unspoken query, he had quickly looked away to the other students in the class.

Josie had warned her that Professor Gil Grissom was boring but Sara actually found him to be really entertaining and very knowledgeable in his field of study. His introduction to Forensic Entomology was quite fascinating and at the same time, beneficial to her line of work. Since she became a CSI, she had been exposed to several DB cases where the victims were covered with insects and she had absolutely no clue as to what purpose those bugs actually served. Armed with her new knowledge, the next time a decomposing corpse showed up saturated with bugs, she wouldn't have a problem estimating time of death by differentiating between the developmental stages of, for example, a Chrysomya rufifacies, a common blowfly species. As she sat listening and gazing at the animated figure behind the podium, she was glad that Josie had convinced her to come to this lecture today.

When the class ended, Sara watched in fascination as the flock of women buzzed around him like a bunch of Cochliomyia macellaria around a fresh carcass.

"C'mon Sara," Josie's voice interrupted her quiet observation, "Let's go meet Professor Grissom."

"Uh…maybe not…" Sara looked at Josie, then at the crowd in front of her, "Looks like he may be busy for awhile…"

Josie laughed suddenly, "Don't worry. Leave it to Amie. She'll have the others scattered before you know it."

Sara smiled at the thought as she eyed the petite blonde from PD, who was currently making her way to the center of the group of gawking female attendees. Sara turned to Josie and said, "I think I need to get back to the lab. I have evidences from that stabbing case that need to be logged."

"You sure?" Josie asked in surprise. "We're technically working while we're here… You know… continuing education and such."

"I know." Sara stared at the people in front of her. Despite her best efforts, Amie from PD did not seem to disperse the crowd like Josie had advertised. Sara chuckled to herself at the scene before her.

"What's so funny?" Josie inquired at Sara's facial expression.

"I think I had better get out of here before this turns into a crime scene and I have to process it!" Sara had to laugh at the thought. "I'll see later."

"You sure you don't want to stay?" Josie was making a last ditch effort to convince Sara to stick around for the fun. "We're planning on asking him to happy hour with us."

"You weren't kidding when you said he's a player." Sara looked incredulously at Josie, then at Dr.Grissom.

"Nope." Josie gave her a know-it-all wink and in a low voice, added, "He's been known to go out for drinks with students afterward. What happens after the drinks, I'll leave it up to your imagination."

"Hmm… if that's the case, have fun." Sara gave Josie a lopsided grin and picked up her bag, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye!"


Grissom watched her figure disappeared out the door of the auditorium with a sudden pang of sadness. He had hoped that she would stay behind to introduce herself. In his preoccupied state of mind, he had forgotten to do roll call. He could always ask one of her PD buddies for her identity but he did not want to be too obvious. Of course, he still had another chance to talk to her. This introductory class was a two-day course. He made a mental note to remember to do roll call tomorrow.

Now he concentrated on his current pressing need to get rid of all these wonderful Cynomya mortuorum that was whirring around him. He smiled politely at each student and answered each question pertaining to the course to the best of his knowledge. At the same time, he courteously dodged anything that he deemed suggestive in anyway.

Then Amie Harris from PD made a beeline toward him. He had to smile at her aggresiveness. At five foot five, the petite strawberry blonde was a natural born cop. She also reminded him of his colleague back home, Catherine Willows. He wondered what Catherine would say about Amie. They probably wouldn't like each other since they were so alike. He had to laugh at that mental image.

The last time he was in town, he went out with Amie and her colleagues and found out just how wild these women really were. They were fun but definitely wild. As Amie came to a stop in front of him, he was thinking hard to come up with an excuse not to go out with her and company tonight.

"Dr. Grissom?" A soft voice called him out of his reverie.

He turned to find his TA looking at him expectantly. "Uh… you go ahead, I can finish up here by myself. Thanks Susan."

She gave him a disappointed look before asking again, "You sure? I can help you pack up your props..."

"Don't worry about it Susan," Amie's patronizing tone interrupted the TA, "We'll help him with his stuff. You may go on home, hun."


Sara entered the locker room to find Josie was about to leave.

Josie glanced at Sara's teal business suit and asked, "Court date?"

"Yeah. Found out yesterday that the Taylor's stabbing case was moved up." Sara suddenly remembered and looked at Josie, "Shouldn't you be in class?"

"Ended an hour ago. You missed an interesting anecdote today."

"Really?" Sara's right eyebrow raised in question.

"Really. Something about a double murder in a garage." Josie gave her a crooked grin before continuing. "It was about a jealous husband or was it a boyfriend…" Josie mused a bit then shrugged, "Doesn't matter, one of the intimate partners of the dead woman did it. Messy scene, still unsolved since the evidence pointing to the killer kept changing."

"Wow, that interesting huh?"

"Ok, I was a little distracted." Josie's eyes twinkled like a cat that just ate the canary. "You should have stayed and gone out with us last night."

Somehow Sara was not at all interested in hearing about Dr. Grissom's escapades with the female students in his class but at the same time, she could not help but being intrigued by them. "Some of us have to work around here, what with all the female law enforcement officers tailgating Dr. Gil Grissom."

"Hah! Very funny! But you do have to admit he's quite charming." Josie laughed a bit while recounting what had transpired after Sara left yesterday. "Leave it up to Amie Harris to clear the scene. She managed to snatch him up for a drink with us before that grad TA got a hold of him."

"TA?"

"Yeah, that tall what's her name…Anyway, she looked pissed that he left with us instead of her. Amie practically shooed her away. Bless that girl Amie. Worst comes to worst, I hope Amie gets her man. She deserves it after all her troubles."

Sara remained silent while her stomach turned queasy at the new piece of information.

"Anyway, we had fun and afterward, Dr. Grissom had to give Amie a ride home since none of us would." Josie winked conspiratorially at her.

At that point, Sara didn't know why but she didn't want to hear anymore about the visiting professor and Detective Harris from PD. She glanced quickly at her watch and said to Josie, "Hey, I have to go pick up results from trace before that new lab tech leaves for the day. Catch you later?"

"Yeah, sure."

Sara made a quick exit and hoped that Josie didn't see the uncomfortable feeling that was clearly etched on her face.


"I would like to think that you had dressed up just to impress me."

The young brunette was making her way down the hallway of the San Francisco Crime Lab before turning around in surprise toward the direction of Grissom's voice. She looked confused at first then recovered quickly. "You really do live up to your reputation Dr. Grissom."

"Oh?" Grissom cocked his head as he smirked at her. "And may I ask what you have heard about me?"

"You really are a flirt, an arrogant flirt."

Grissom found blood flushing his cheeks with warmth at her words.

"Why, are you actually blushing Dr. Grissom?" Her lower lip pursed into a mocked grin.

Grissom raised an eyebrow then slowly the corners of his mouth curved up to form a wide grin. "Point taken." He eyed her lovely face with a hint of mischief before catching her off guard with his next question, "Is that your opinion of me?"

"I am just forming my opinion based on perceived evidence." She replied without missing a beat.

"Ah…" Grissom nodded his head while noting for the first time the small adorable gap between her two front teeth. "I do agree that first opinions are crucial, but if the evidence changes, so must the theory."

"Regrettably, the evidence just now reinforced the standing theory."

Grissom found himself mesmerized as he talked more with this girl. Very witty and so pretty… and apparently, she knew about the damn bet. He was wondering what else had she heard about him before he blurted out the next unexpected words, "You missed the second half of my lecture today."

She suddenly turned shy as she briefly looked down at her feet before lifting her face to him, "My court date moved up at the last minute."

"Of course, perks for working this job." He said, fully understood her situation.

"By the way, I just want to say that I really enjoyed your lecture yesterday." She was barely looking at him now, distinctively uncomfortable.

"Thank you." Grissom's voice lowered in pitch, making it huskier than he'd anticipated. "I am so glad to be able to spread the knowledge that insects are wonderful creatures and are beneficial to human beings also."

As if finally worked up the courage, she allowed her dark brown eyes to gaze deeply into his ocean blues, holding his captive. "Do you study them because of their usefulness or because of their beauty?"

"Beauty?" Grissom gave her a perplexed look.

"Yeah, beauty." Her eyes still stared intently into his. What she said next made his heart skipped a few beats. "For example butterflies, nature's artistic masterpiece… colorful, graceful and symmetrically beautiful."

"You like butterflies?"

"Don't you?"

"I do now…" Those words slipped out of his mouth before he was able to catch them. He cursed inwardly for acting like a teenage boy around this girl. She was starting to scare him, affectively making him opted for damage control. "If I didn't know any better, I would think that you're a closeted entomologist."

She gave a low chuckle as she shook her head, making her brown curls fall softly down her cheeks. "No, not me. I don't like creepy crawly creatures, just only appreciating the beautiful things nature has to offer."

Grissom was about to say more when suddenly her beeper came to life. She looked down at it then face him again, "Sorry, gotta run. Criminals don't seem to take vacations around this town."

Grissom wanted to say something to her before she would disappear completely out of his life but his mind came up empty.

As she was about to turn around and leave, she inquired suddenly, "Just curious, why are you here today?"

"I work as a consultant for the San Francisco Crime Lab from time to time. Though I am here today only to see my college buddy, Frank Schmidt."

"Oh, you know the lab director?" She sounded surprised then caught herself. She smiled at him again as she spun on her heels and waved to him. "It's been nice meeting you Dr. Grissom. Have a safe trip home."

As she slipped away down the corridor and turned into one of the conference rooms, Grissom suddenly remembered that he hadn't even asked for her name like he intended to.


TBC