Chapter 4 – It's a Date

Every end of their shifts together ended the same way. Breakfast, coffee, or both. It didn't go unnoticed at the lab that the two had become quite inseparable.

Tessa also quickly made friends with Mandy Webster, the lab's quirky fingerprint technician. They'd exchange sagas of old boyfriends and days of college lore, and while Mandy spoke of her unrequited crush on certain Texan, Tessa gushed endlessly over Greg Sanders, as if she really needed to identify her CSI sweetheart by name; it was pretty obvious the two were quite smitten with each other.

"You know," Mandy said to her one day, "Greg and Nick are pretty tight. Once you guys end up dating, we should totally go on a double date. Play some slots, shoot some pool, get you all immersed in the Vegas culture."

Tessa blushed, smirking at Mandy. "That's a clever tactic. But how can you be sure we are going to end up dating?"

"Well, now, I know I'm no CSI, but it really doesn't take an investigator to figure this one out. You like him and he likes you. I get the guys I like to sing to me, you should…" Just then Mandy stopped, a smile tugging at her lips. "Well, speak of the devil." Mandy gave Tessa a mischievous grin before she spun on her heels as Greg entered the room. Tessa just smiled and bowed her head before turning around to meet Greg's curious brown eyes.

"You should what?" Greg asked, sneaking a peak around Tessa to look at Mandy.

"Totally let Mandy check out some killer fingerprints…no pun intended…over here whilst you two lovebirds discuss bacon or whatever it is you two kooky kids talk about these days," Mandy quipped as she pretended to be absorbed in her microscope.

Greg shook his head at Mandy's antics, but quickly turned his attention back to Tessa. "Did I interrupt some good gossip?" Greg leaned on the counter to look up into her playful eyes.

Tessa bit her lip coyly. "Possibly."

"Well, I have an idea for today." Greg's smile was almost akin to Mandy's. "What do you say we skip the diner and I take you back to my place for pancakes?"

Tessa's eyes widened in excitement. She clasped her hands together, the friction of her latex gloves emitting a soft squeak. "A boy who wants to make me pancakes? How could I possibly refuse that?"

"I know. It would be silly to even try." They looked at each other for a moment, while Tessa bit her lip again and smiled. Greg drummed his fingers on the table before adding, "So it's a date. I'll meet you in the locker room in a little bit?"

"You got it." Tessa watched as Greg left, but then abruptly turned around to catch Mandy smirking into her microscope.

Not looking up, Mandy could feel Tessa's eyes on her. "I don't want to say I told you so, but…well…I told you so."

Tessa sighed. "Oh come on, we do this all the time."

"Ah yes, young Padawan, but this time he said 'date.' I'm pretty sure he's never said that before, am I right?"

"Maybe."

"Am I?"

Tessa rolled her eyes as a she tried to contain the wide smile that was soon blossoming on her face. "Alright, fine, yes, you are right, and you told me so, okay?"

Mandy nodded assuredly, savoring her victory. "Okay then. Now, get going for your pancake date."

"Now that is something I am not going to argue with." Tessa gathered her things and headed off to the locker room, cheeks flushed wearing the smile she couldn't contain.

XXXXX

Tessa leaned over the counter as Greg whipped up the pancake batter. "So, tell me something creepy gross from one of the cases you've worked on." She swiped a slender finger along the rim of the bowl, doing her best to look sneaky as she slid the batter into her mouth.

Greg stood mouth agape for a moment as he watched the way her lips surrounded her finger. Trying to remain focused, he crinkled his nose at her suggested topic. "Are you sure you want to go there while I'm making breakfast?"

Tessa shrugged, sneaking a second scoop with a different finger. "Sure, come on. We've both worked in the lab. I think our stomachs can handle it." As she made an attempt to steal another taste, a bead of gooey batter gathered on her bottom lip. Greg's hand acted of its own accord as he reached across to wipe away the batter, his thumb gently sliding over her mouth. Reflexively she brought her hand up to wipe away the remnants as they locked eyes. Greg cleared his throat to continue talking, not wanting to ruin the homemade breakfast, and possibly commit arson, by abandoning the stove in favor of her velvety lips.

"Well, okay. This one time Sara and I were working this case with these dead bodies that were left in the trunk of a car, and out in the heat you know what that means."

Tessa nodded matter-of-factly as she swallowed hard from the sensation of Greg's thumb still tingling on her mouth. "Decomp soup."

"Exactly," he said as he focused all his attention on making perfect silver dollars. "Well, I ended up getting decomp in my mouth when I pulled the drain in the car. Sara had called me a cannibal. Told me Grissom would have been proud. I told her that Grissom would have tasted it on purpose."

Tessa looked at the batter and back up at Greg. "Maybe that wasn't the best question to ask."

Greg smiled as he continued to pour the batter onto the pan. "Just remember, it was your idea."

Tessa got quiet for a moment as she watched Greg, stuck momentarily in a hypnotic batter trance. "So…who's Sara?"

Greg froze for a moment as he watched the pancakes cook. He figured this conversation had possibility for disaster. But she had no idea who Sara was, so he shrugged and gave a vague description. "Sara Sidle, otherwise known as Grissom's girlfriend, was a CSI who one day disappeared into the wild, blue yonder."

Tessa looked at him thoughtfully. "Sara Sidle, the one I've heard rumors you used to have a major crush on?"

Greg turned around with his first batch of pancakes. Apparently he had assumed incorrectly. He looked uncomfortable for a moment, but the look on Tessa's face held no judgment. He took a deep breath and decided that honesty was, in fact, the best policy.

"Yes. That Sara Sidle."

Tessa saw Greg's awkwardness with the topic, and wanted to do her best to make him feel at ease. "Greg, it's okay. You had a life before we started hanging out. And it's not like we're dating or anything. You can like whoever you want."

Greg's expression shifted from awkwardness to longing, but he masked it with his typical, bubbly smile. "All true, I suppose. But hey, let's dig in to these pancakes before they get cold."

Tessa smirked as Greg changed the subject. "Alright, Mr. Sanders, but you're not off the hook yet."

"Fair enough," Greg said, before shoving a forkful of pancakes into his mouth and grinning.

After the breakfast feast, Greg gave Tessa the obligatory tour of his quaint apartment.

"So, a real live Vegas bachelor pad," Tessa quipped as she took in the rest of Greg's apartment. Flat screen TV, gaming systems and consoles, and Marilyn Manson posters mixed in with science textbooks, a chess set, and forensic magazines. It would have seemed completely unusual if you didn't know the guy who lived there. But it was Greg's eccentric attitude coupled with the geeky science side that enticed Tessa from the beginning.

She skimmed the walls, her eyes resting on family pictures in frames above his computer. "You've got some nice family photos here. That's cool."

"Yeah, my family's pretty tight. What about you?" Greg asked. Tessa hadn't mentioned anything about her family, and Greg wondered if she had any to speak of since coming out all the way to Vegas not knowing a single soul.

Tessa tugged on her sleeves, pulling them over her hands as she balled them up into tiny fists. "I don't really get along with my family. Things haven't been good for a long time. Now that I am out in Vegas…I probably won't talk to them for a long time."

Greg furrowed his brows apprehensively. "Do you have any other family you talk to?"

Tessa wandered from looking at the wall to Greg's couch, where she sat carefully, as if not wanting to disturb the décor. "Not really. I don't come from a big family, and the ones that are still alive I've never been close to. It's pretty much just me. I'm like little orphan Annie." She offered him a faint smile, but the look in her eyes betrayed her.

Greg came and sat down next to her. He knew that Tessa wouldn't want to be regarded as a little stray kitten, but his heart went out to her all the same. He couldn't imagine someone like her having no one to call a real family.

"I'm sorry," he said, a hint of sadness in his voice. "And the guys you were with?"

Her posture one of protection, an anxious look flooded her features. "You always go to what you're familiar with, right?" She smiled slightly, but quickly looked down at her hands. "I've had a lot of boyfriend trouble over the years. Tried to use them to escape having to be at home. I thought I had finally met the right guy, we lived together, started talking about marriage all that. But once I moved in, everything changed. Or maybe I just was now privy to what was going on all the time, and…God, it's so typical. The lies, the cheating, the fights. If he didn't stay out all night with god knows who, he was coming home drunk to pick fights with me."

Tessa's small hands were clenched into tight fists, her knuckles turning white as her hands shook. "One night he came home, and we started fighting. The next day I had to go to work and explain how I had tripped out of bed during the night, and had stumbled into the doorknob. He kept telling me it would never happen again, and every time I believed him. Just like all the others. I guess I wanted to be able to believe one of them could actually be nice. After a couple of months, I knew things were never going to change, and that's when I packed up and left."

"You know…not all guys are like that."

"I guess I've just had bad luck. Or good luck. I mean, I did find a few of them." Tessa shrugged weakly. "Not all of them were violent…but…they definitely weren't good for me."

Greg reached out and grabbed Tessa's hand, squeezing tightly. "Well, coming to Vegas was a good thing for you. It brought you to me. And I could never do that to anyone. Ever."

Tessa's eyes shone with hope, tears pooling in her brown eyes. "Promise?"

"I promise."

Greg looked at her and saw the tentativeness, the fear, and wished beyond wishes he could erase her uncertainty. He reached out to brush a stray crimson tendril away from her face, causing Tessa to bite her lip with a new look of uncertainty. They locked eyes for a moment until the pull was too strong.

Their first kiss was sweet, gentle, and echoed the promise that Greg would cherish her. When Tessa let out a small gasp, Greg pulled back worriedly. When he opened his eyes, he saw a shy smile on Tessa's face, as her lashes fluttered back open to look at him.

"Wow," she said breathlessly. "That was…" She didn't bother finishing her sentence as she pulled Greg back into another kiss, this one with more urgency than the first. "You are an amazing kisser," she said between intermittent kisses.

"You're not so bad yourself," Greg said, his voice slightly raspy with desire. Greg could feel the corners of Tessa's lips curl into a smile.

"What do you say we make out for a little while?" she asked playfully.

"You know, you're really good at this mind-reading thing, too." He broke the kiss for a second to look at her, deciding to take a risk. "How about you tell me what I'm thinking right now?"

Tessa studied his eyes for a moment, the playfulness dissolving as they looked at each other earnestly. She hesitated a moment, not wanting to read the look wrong. "Are you thinking that'd you like me to be your girlfriend?"

Greg smiled. "Very much so."

Tessa played up a relieved sigh. "Good," she said with another smile, "because I was thinking the same thing." The playful smirk returned to her face. "Now, come closer so that I may kiss you."