A/N: Thank you to Sara who is my "Yay, there's G/S angst!" cheerleader, and who also helped make this a better chapter.
Disclaimer: See first two chapters.
Make yourself at home. If you're still around when I get back and want to make me breakfast, I won't object. Otherwise, we'll catch up later.
— Sara
P.S. I'm really glad you're here.
She's already running late – her version of late, of course – in leaving for work, so she hastily signs the note and sticks it to her refrigerator with a magnet, knowing Drew will at least come into the kitchen once more, if only for a glass of water.
Grabbing her purse and car keys, she leaves her apartment, shutting and locking the door behind her as quietly as she can.
—xx—
She's sitting next to Catherine in the break room, when Grissom comes in to hand out the evening's assignments.
"Warrick, you and Nick are with me—" he breaks off when he sees her yawning, the lines on his forehead drawing together as his eyes narrow. "Am I boring you?"
"No," she says quickly, snapping to full attention. "I uh, didn't get much sleep. Drew kept me up—"
The guys do a poor job hiding their amusement at her choice of words and Catherine smirks.
She feels her cheeks begin to heat and finishes her sentence, "Talking," shooting her coworkers a look of annoyance.
"So he's staying at your place then?" Nick asks.
"He fell asleep on my couch. Jet lag and a crazy sleep schedule finally caught up with him. He has a room booked on The Strip…"
She realizes by the look on the faces of everyone around her – Catherine's ever-growing smirk, Nick and Warrick's look of distinct awe and Grissom's scowl – it's the most she has said about her personal life… ever.
"Not that it's anyone's business," she hurries to add, but Catherine's smirk refuses to subside, much like the growing heat of her cheeks.
—xx—
His door's opened, but she knocks anyway.
He lifts his head and the pen between his fingers falls to his desk.
"Can I come in?" she asks when he says nothing.
"Sure."
She steps inside his office, and he gestures for her to take a seat. She shakes her head no. "Thanks but I'm not planning on staying long. I just needed to ask you a question before I left…"
"Yes?" he asks, even as he drops his gaze from her to his desk, straightening up some papers before him.
"I was wondering if I could have a night off."
His head snaps up at her words, almost comically.
She shuffles her feet a bit and shoves her hands into her pockets to keep herself from fidgeting. "I want to take Friday off," she clarifies further.
Even if he's a monk, or a hermit, or whatever else the guys think of him, he still knows what Friday night means. It's code for date night. What happened to them being just friends? He frowns, feeling an unpleasant stirring of jealousy in the pit of his stomach rise again.
"I know I'm not giving you as much notice as you might like," she goes on, when she sees him frowning.
"No, you're not."
"It's Sunday morning though, so it's almost a week." She takes another step closer to his desk. "It's really important to me."
"I'm sure it is."
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asks as tension grows inside of her, and in the air.
"Whatever you want it to mean," he retorts, knowing it's childish, knowing he's acting like an ass, and knowing he doesn't give a damn because he's learning that once unleashed the green-eyed monster is hard to tame.
His words cut like diamonds on glass, and she recoils, filled with fury at him for being so… so bitter.
Stay calm, she orders herself. You're in control of your emotions. Don't let him get to you.
He finally speaks again, when he realizes she isn't going to say anything more until he makes the next conversational move. "Friday and Saturday are always our busiest nights. You know that."
"I know," she says and nods. She's proud of herself for the way she's handling this – staying calm and cool. "But how many times have I helped out and covered other shifts without even being asked?"
"I'll… think about it."
She sees him turn his head, like he's dismissing her, and all she can think is screw control.
"Are you serious? It's a simple yes or no answer, not some complicated TOD timeline you need to figure out with the help of your bugs." Her hands are out of her pockets now, and she runs one carelessly through her hair in frustration. "This is just once, Grissom. One time I ask for something and you…" her voice breaks off.
He leans back in his chair, taking off his glasses, and rubs the corners of his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.
"It's not like I don't have plenty of vacation time," she says finally.
She's just so tired of this right here. Everything's a battle with him lately, and if she's honest with herself, she isn't sure she has any more fight left within her when it comes to him. She doesn't want to argue with him, she just wants… something to change.
He's tired, too, and he's thinking and feeling too many things that he doesn't want to think about or feel. The one thought that keeps circling his mind like buzzards circling a carcass in the desert is: why is workaholic Sara taking time off for this guy? What makes him so important to her? Even when she was dating Hank, she never asked for time off.
Putting his glasses back on, he looks at her. His eyes take in her body language and he sees the weariness lining her face. "Fine," he says a few moments later, "but I expect you to be on call, just in case I-we need you."
She doesn't even blink or bother to say anything about his 'correction' from 'I' to 'we'. It doesn't matter; really. "Thanks," she says, and leaves without one glance back.
—xx—
"Drew?" she calls out, opening the door to her apartment and letting herself in.
No one answers. She's disappointed; she hadn't realized how much she had been looking forward to having someone to come home to – which never happened – until just now, coming home to an empty place. Again, like every single day.
She sets down her purse and keys before moving into the kitchen to get something to drink.
When she sees Drew's handwritten note pinned to her fridge, she smiles.
Sara,
Sorry, got a phone call and had to leave. I'll make up breakfast by cooking you dinner tonight… sound good?
— Drew
P.S. Great magnet by the way. Very fitting.
She laughs. The magnet is one Greg had given her as a joke that said: Warning! This fridge contains hazardous waste!
Drink forgotten, she takes down the note and walks into the living room, grabbing her cell phone from her purse. She dials his number from memory, while rereading his message.
He answers on the fourth ring, sounding out of breath. "Hey, I'm here. Sorry," he says.
"Drew."
"Sara, hey." She can almost hear the smile in his voice.
"I got your message. Hope I'm not interrupting—"
"No, no. I was working but I've been hoping for a reason to take a break for the last half hour," he tells her. "What about dinner tonight? Interested?"
"Dinner sounds great. If you're sure you want to cook… otherwise, we can just go out, or we could order takeout at my place… or yours, since you called me the queen of it."
"Well it's true," he says with a hint of laughter. "Cooking's fine. I enjoy it, and I haven't had the chance to cook for a beautiful woman in a while…"
She laughs, while settling down on her couch. "Uh-huh. I don't believe that, but thanks. If you want to pick up whatever ingredients you need for dinner, I'll pay you back."
"Sara," he begins, "you don't have to—"
"Drew," she interrupts, "how many times have we had this argument before?"
"Uh, many times," he admits.
"And how often do I let you win?"
"Hardly ever."
"Exactly," she says smiling. "But if it makes you feel any better, we can go Dutch on the expenses."
"It does, a little." Changing topics, he asks, "Did you have a chance to ask your boss about Friday?"
"Yeah, I did. He said yes. I'll have to be on call though," she tells him and begins yawning into the phone. "Sorry."
"Don't apologize. Why don't you get some sleep, and call me when you wake up?"
Ten minutes later, she's in bed wearing her favorite set of pj's and the last thought she has before drifting off to sleep is of Drew's smiling face.
A/N2: On a slightly unrelated note, I wanted to take the time to say thank you for the CSI FF Award Nominations. It's a huge honor to be nominated, and also I wanted to say congratulations to all the other nominees.
