Title: Now and then
Author: Prawncocktailflavouredcashewnut
Summary: Griss and Sara reflect on how their relationship has changed since they met
Genre: Griss/Sara Romance
Archive: If you want it take it
Author's notes: So I finally finished chapter 4. So many things delaying me, but with any luck chapter 5 will be up soon two, as I'm so involved in this story that I'm bunking school tomorrow in order to continue it- thank me! I just reread this and I got so mad- it's incredible, this took me like three days to write, and you can read it in a space of five minutes or so! Growl! Cheers again for the reviews, keep them comin' and I hope you all enjoy the latest instalment of my little game. Oh yeah, more Warrick and Nick in this episode!
Sara looked at herself in the mirror; she looked, nice, she finally decided. Yeah, nice. She had gone home that morning and had done some serious digging in her wardrobe until she had found what she was looking for; a black, square-neck strap dress with a single red rose embroidered up the side. Her favourite dress; she had never worn it, only bought it in case she might need to wear it, thank God. It had been an impulsive thing, something she didn't usually do, but she had seen it in the shop and bought it, she'd never even tried it on, until now. And it looked, nice. Sara never thought much about looking nice. She always tried to look respectable; but nice was a whole different thing. Catherine always looked nice; no strike that Catherine always looked perfect. Immaculate make-up, and she was just at the right border between sexy and dominatrix slut- it looked good. Sara sighed as she applied her lipstick; it was a darker shade than usual, a deep purple to accent the colour in the dress, it made her look different. Almost vampirish she thought. She smiled at the reflection and closed her locker. She walked over to the door, opened it, and walked straight into Warrick.
"Damn Girl, slow down." He started, he had been looking at the ground. She watched his expression as he noticed her feet in a pair of strappy sandals, and then proceeded to move his eyes up her body until he reached her face. "Damn girl." Was all that came out. She looked at him, challenging him to say something else. He broke into a grin and let out a low deep laugh.
"Nicky, come here." He called in the direction of the break room; he craned his neck back so as to see where his friend was.
"What's up?" Came Nick's reply from somewhere down the hall. Warrick looked back at her with a sly smile and then turned back to talk to Nick again.
"Sara's got legs."
"What?!" Sara could here his footsteps running down the hall. She rolled her eyes and hit Warrick on the arm as Nick turned the corner. He stopped when he saw her, quickly surveying his sight. He raised his eyebrows and let out a low whistle.
"Man, Sara, where you bin hiding them?" This constituted an annoyed look from her and another punch for Warrick as he started chuckling.
"Ow." He looked at her and winced.
"Baby." Nick had moved towards them now and a grin had spread across his face, he pointed at her and started dancing around.
"Someone's got a date." He started in a singsong voice, he repeated it with more jumping around and excitedly hopping from one foot to another. Sara looked at him with disgust.
"I do not have a date. O.K.?" Warrick flashed a whatever look, and Nick just continued singing.
"Nicholas, what are you doing?" Grissom's voice cut into their conversation; Nick stopped dancing and turned around looking slightly embarrassed.
"Nothing boss." Grissom looked at Sara for an explanation, she simply shrugged and made the loopy sign with her finger. Warrick saw this and decided to explain the situation to Grissom, maybe see how they both would react to that.
"Well, you see Griss," He began, clearing his throat and placing his hands behind his back in an official way, "Sara here has a date and she's refusing to admit it, so my trusted companion Nicholas and I decided to try a little experiment; namely, annoying the hell out of her until she did, so if you'll excuse us we would like to get back to solving the case, seeming as she was about to crack." He gave a short, toothy smile and turned back towards Sara. He smiled sweetly at her and she was about to return the sentiment when Grissom cut in.
"Sara doesn't have a date." He said simply, the boys both turned to look at him and found his expression blank, he was shaking his head. Nick scoffed.
"Yeah right Griss, she just got herself all dolled up and painted her toenails for work." He laughed. "I mean look at the girl, she looks fit for dinner at the Hilton." He laughed to himself and smiled at Warrick.
"Lunch actually." Came Grissom's reply with a short half-smile. Both men snapped their heads to look at him, then at each other, and finally, Sara. She just flashed them a sweet smile, and then laughed at the bemused faces. She turned to Grissom and shrugged. He smiled at her, a full smile.
"Parking lot in ten minutes?" He asked, confirming her earlier plans, she nodded and he began to walk away. Before he had turned the corner he looked round at her, "You look nice." He told her. She did.
"Thanks." Was all she could manage to say. She looked nice, exactly what she had been trying to achieve. She smiled to herself. Then she caught Nick and Warrick staring at her in disbelief. "What?" She asked them, knowing full well what was coming.
"You, and Grissom?" Warrick asked, clearly in shock.
"No, not me and Grissom." She replied dutifully, "Me, Grissom and a bunch of my friends from college, one of whom is getting married, and one of whom, may, or may not smell of hog." She told them.
"Huh?" Came from Nick. He had wrinkled up his nose and his eyes were half shut, something he only ever did when he was completely confused. She rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Never mind little brother, I'll explain it all to you when you get back." She patted him on the head and started towards the parking lot. From behind her as she turned the corner she could hear Nick calling out,
"I thought I was the older sibling." He still sounded confused.
"Not so young one." She called back as she exited the building. Once they had heard the door slam Nick and Warrick looked at each other. A realisation came into both their eyes at the same time. Nick was the first one to voice their thoughts.
"Griss."
"Sara."
"Skirt"
Then they looked at each other grinning, and simultaneously said.
"Legs!"
Driving in the car on the way to the hotel, Grissom couldn't keep his eyes off of Sara. *She looks nice? Nice? How lame was that? You said she looked nice. Geez Gil be more distant could ya? * He looked at her again, she was staring out the window, her neck was craned so that she could almost see behind her. He could make out the outlines of her bones slightly protruding from her skin. A small diamond glistened from the hollow at the base of her throat and he could see her chest rising as she drew breath. Her skin was pale, but then what with only ever going out at night it was to be expected. It wasn't a sickly pale, her complexion made her look radiant, beautiful. * Hey look, you found a better word than nice. * He laughed at himself, causing Sara to look round at him. She smiled curiously at him a question in her eyes. He looked back at her and drew in a long breath.
"You really do look-" he let his breath out and crumpled his eyebrows as if searching for something to say,
"Nice?" she helped him out.
"Incredible." Their eyes met and she drew in a sharp breath and looked away. She turned back to the window and smiled, letting out her breath as she did so. Had Grissom just said what she thought he had? Grissom was not a descriptive man, he rarely used words that weren't vague or unmeaning; when he did they were about something that had nothing to do with people, and he had just used an incredibly descriptive word towards her, that had substance. She looked back at him sceptically, surveying his appearance.
"Well you don't look so bad yourself boss." She raised her eyebrows at him and he flushed, "Keep your eyes on the road." She told him, nodding towards the oncoming traffic; he had been looking at her for almost a minute, seeming to forget that he was actually driving into the Las Vegas lunchtime rush. He snapped his head back to the direction he had been going and she turned back to resume her stare out of the window; they were silent for the rest of the journey to the hotel.
Standing in the hotel lobby Sara looked around. She must have been in this hotel fifty times, but she had never really taken in her surroundings. She was always concentrating on the crime scene, taking in specific details instead of the big picture. For the first time she realised what a beautiful place it was, and for the first time, she didn't feel underdressed. She turned to look at Grissom.
"Shall we?" She inclined her head towards the restaurant. He smiled and followed her to the Maitre'd's stand.
"Fawler party?" She asked the man in a white tuxedo and he nodded.
"Yes ma'am, you're the last to arrive." He motioned for them to follow and started to lead them to their table.
"Ready to go to a reunion?" Grissom asked as he came up behind her, taking hold of her elbow in a reassuring manner. She turned to face him with a grin,
"God Griss, you sound like one of those really bad eighties teen bopper movies, "Ready to go to the prom?" What is wrong with you?" they had started walking in the trail of the waiter.
"I was just making sure you wanted to do this."
"Why would I not want to do this?" She looked at him curiously, up until now there had been no doubt in her mind that she wanted to see her friends; she hadn't thought about not doing it.
"It's just that it's been a while, they might have changed is all."
"Yeah right, Grissom this is people like Trisha and Jake we are talking about, that girl is always going to be a prom queen, and he will forever be the lost little frat boy that never found his way back to campus. They're never going to change." As she finished this they reached the table and were greeted by many exclamations of,
"Sara!"
"Oh my God"
"Girl you look incredible!"
"You grew your hair!"
"Isn't that the bug guy?" This last comment came from Trisha and everyone's attention turned to focus on Grissom. Sara turned round to look at him; he was obviously embarrassed by the attention. She forced a bright smile on her face and preparing for the worst, she turned back to her friends.
"Yeah, everyone I'm sure you remember Gil Grissom." She gestured her hand towards him and he came up to stand beside her.
"AKA the bug guy." He added to her comment, everyone laughed, seeming to break the awkwardness that had veiled over the table. Sara and Grissom sat down. Sara was placed next to Casey and Grissom was sandwiched between her and Hildi. This he was thankful for, he had always preferred to talk to her as opposed to any other of Sara's friends. He found her quite a sensible girl and almost enjoyed her company. He smiled at her and she smiled back. *Goin' kinda grey huh? * She gestured to the wine bottle that was in the cooler in the middle of the table. He simply smiled and shook his head at her; he was on duty, even though he rarely drank anyway. While the two were involved in this little exchange, the others had been going round the table introducing their dates, Sara was interested to meet whoever people were seeing, but what she found most intriguing was that Jake and Trisha were sitting next to each other, exchanging civil conversation, and even smiling at each other. Jake noticed her confused look as she continued to look at them.
"What?" He smiled at her as if he knew what her question would be. Trisha was completely oblivious to what she wanted to ask, but then, Trisha was completely oblivious to most things, except for clothes, shoes and the application of the perfect accessories to make every outfit complete. The girl was a walking talking Vogue magazine. Sara took a sip of her orange juice and put on her best game face. She looked at Jake with curious eyes.
"Go on then, spill."
"Spill what? My vodka? Because really honey, I don't think that would get us anywhere, especially as you would be the one to pay for my new one." He made a move to spill his drink. She gave him a look, obviously stating his pathetic ness.
"You know what Jake, I want to know what happened with you two. The last time I saw you both you were screaming at each other and she was trying to run you over with a Land Rover." Everyone at the table laughed at this, remembering Trisha's face as she aimed the car at him and drove with a considerable amount of force until, at the last moment, she had chickened out and drove into a wall. Unfortunately the car had not been her own, she had *borrowed* it off a bald ex-marine who had practically screamed as she had written off his much loved vehicle. Though they laughed about it now it had been rather scary at the time.
"Well, last weekend when Mark called us to invite us to this little gathering, he made us sign a little agreement." Jake nodded towards Mark motioning for him to speak, Mark finished swallowing his scotch and cleared his throat, turning to Sara his face became serious.
"You see, I wanted to make sure this entire business went off smoothly, I did not want to have to be chasing Trish round the church on my wedding day, trying to persuade her not to bash Jake's head in with the communion goblet. It would distract from the original attraction you see."
"And by the original attraction you, of course mean, yourself." Casey cut in with mock approval.
"Of course." Mark said this completely seriously causing everyone else to chuckle, and Becky to hit him on the arm with disgust. "And of course you my dear." He leaned in to kiss her. She nodded in agreement and gave him a short sweet kiss on the lips. He turned his attention back to Sara and continued his story.
"So I made them both agree to a dinner together so they could come to some understanding that would involve them both staying alive and unharmed and my wedding not being ruined."
"So you reached an agreement?" Sara turned back to Jake and Trisha; she was curious to find out what it was that it had taken them six years to work out.
"Yep," Trisha spoke to her for the first time since the bug guy remark. "It' s called sex on Jake's kitchen floor." Grissom, spurted out orange juice from his mouth and went into a coughing fit, Hildi tried to help him by hitting his back. Sara looked mortified as his face continued to turn different shades of purple. * Oh God, please don't let us have to call an ambulance. * Grissom's coughing finally ceased and his face started to return to its original colour; Sara relaxed. For the first time, Hildi spoke.
"Jesus Trish, do you have to be so graphic? You could have killed the guy."
"Well I'm sorry but Sara did ask." Jake took her hand,
"Yes honey, but you could have been a bit more tactful." She scoffed.
"Oh please, tact is just not saying true stuff, I'll pass." With this she started to play with Jake's fingers, kissing each one and finally placing one in her mouth and licking all the way up it.
"Man, Trish, if you're that hungry we could just order already." Sara cut in to the pre-make out session, seeing the worried look on Mark's face; this was a pretty upscale place, and also she just couldn't resist a chance to get a joke in at the girl's expense; one of her favourite pass-times back in college. It brought back memories of good times to be able to make fun of Trish; besides the fact that it was just fun. Sara came out of her thoughts in just enough time to see Trisha flash her a dirty look, and Hildi send a triumphant smile her way.
"That's a good idea actually." Mark motioned the waiter over. "We wanted want you two to be late back to work, and I know Becky's gotta be back sometime this afternoon." He finished speaking as the waiter approached the table.
Half an hour later the food arrived. Sara was observing everyone around the table. Hildi and Grissom were involved in a very intense conversation about Oscar Wilde and she could see the twinkle in his eyes, a sign that he was not to be disturbed. Trisha and Jake were holding hands and talking quietly and intimately holding hands and smiling. Hildi's Russian violinist was vehemently trying to explain something to Casey and she was nodding like she was understanding him, but Sara knew that she didn't get a word he was saying; unfortunately it was something she knew all too well. Sara had spent countless occasions trying to explain some scientific theory to her and got the same mildly confused but always-polite expression that was displayed across her face right now. And Mark and Becky were obviously discussing wedding plans, but they stopped to thank the waiter for the food. Sara chose this opportunity to interrupt their conversation to ask the question she had been dying to ever since she had sat down.
"So Minpin, are you ever going to tell me how you two got together? Because I would have never imagined you and Becky as potential lovebirds." She smiled at the waiter in thanks for her food and took a forkful of her salad, then looked expectantly at him as she waited for an answer. Mark drew in a deep breath and broke into a huge grin.
"I was wondering when you were going to ask that." Becky laughed.
"That's my sweetheart, always looking for a chance to brag about how he caught me." She planted a hand on his arm and squeezed it tight. She took up her fork and started to eat. Mark and Sara exchanged a smile, one of those secret smiles between friends that no one else ever understands. Grissom caught the end of their look and stopped talking. This gave Hildi a chance to observe him more deeply. She studied his expression as he studied the interaction between Mark and Sara, his face was a mixture of surprise, confusion and something that she recognised from Mark's face when he used to watch Sara flirting. Jealousy, she realised was a predominant feature on Grissom's face. Hildi smiled. * And so the tables have turned. * Grissom turned back to her and started to continue their discussion.
Sara was still awaiting an answer from Mark.
"Well? Are you gonna tell me or not?" She asked, taking another bite of her salad.
"Of course I'm going to tell you, as soon as I taste this delicious shrimp." He lifted his fork to his mouth and took a bite of his food. He started chewing and then an incredibly horrified look came over his face. He started to cough and then wheeze, his face turned red and he started waving his hand around wildly. He moved to get up from the table, Becky did the same. He ran out on to the balcony and bent over and continued to cough. Becky stood over him rubbing his back and speaking softly to him. Her phone rang and she moved to answer it. Just then Mark's fit developed into choking, spluttering, phlegm spitting convulsions. Sara got up and rushed to his side. She bent down beside him and said something to him. He nodded to her and she stood up. Tensed her arm, bent her elbow, and hit him hard in the lower back, causing him to regurgitate his shrimp and allowing him to breathe again. The others watched in amazement as Becky got off the phone, spoke to Sara, kissed Mark lightly on the cheek and rushed out of the room. Sara walked back in from the balcony, and stood in front of the rest of the group.
"Bad white sauce?" Casey asked, a worried expression on her face.
"Bad white sauce." Sara confirmed. Grissom and Hildi's violinist were the only ones who didn't understand this last statement. "Mark's allergic to yoghurt." She explained to them and then turned back to Casey. "He's o.k. now, but we're gonna stay out on the balcony for a bit, just to make sure he's alright." Casey nodded and Sara turned to walk back out, on her way she caught Grissom's eye and flashed him a smile. He grinned back at her and, as she moved away from them, he sat back down at the table with the others.
Out on the balcony, Mark had stood up and was now leaning against the balcony staring out at the strip. Sara moved slowly towards him and came to stand beside him, her back to the view and looked at him.
"What?" He said without looking at her.
"You've changed." She was observing him with shrewd eyes, eyes trained to never miss anything. He turned to look at her, a curious smile on his face.
"I have not."
"You have."
"How?"
"Well, for a start, you're more confidant than you used to be. And you're smarter. I mean, that thing with Jake and Trish. That was clever. I never would have thought of that." He smiled at her and turned back to the view.
"Yeah, that was pretty good huh?" She laughed. He really had changed. He used to be so serious about anything. She'd never seen him joke around so much. Yeah, they had always had fun, but not the kind that came from mucking about in a childish manner; more the kind of fun that grown ups had. They went to movies and plays, and discussed literature. They had never really been college kids together. She liked it; she decided to carry on what they had started.
"Y'it was!" She exclaimed with false excitement causing them both to laugh and Mark to start coughing again. When he ceased, they decided it was better not make him laugh any more.
"You know, I'm not really more confident. I'm just different around you."
"Just me?"
"Yeah."
"Why?" He looked at her.
"I used to have the hugest crush on you in college." She turned to face him full on, surprise in her eyes.
"What?!!!" He laughed.
"I thought you knew." She shook her head in stunned silence. "Well, everyone else did, I just figured you'd figured it out and didn't want to say anything." Once more, she shook her head.
"You really had a crush on me?"
"Sara, I was in love with you. I was still in love with you the last time I saw you, and for a year after that." Sara, obviously shocked, opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it again. She couldn't think of anything to say.
"So what happened?" He leaned back against the railings and gave a satisfied smile.
"I met Becky." He said. His smile turned into a grin and his grin into a blush. He ducked his head in embarrassment. * Oh my God, he is so cute.*
"Wow, true love huh?" She gave him a huge grin, he returned it and nodded. "Well that figures." He gave her a questioning look. "The only guy who's ever been in love with me and I didn't even know about it, and now he doesn't even love me anymore." She'd meant this sarcastically, but he seemed to take it to heart.
"Aw, honey I still love you, I just love you in a different way these days. Besides, what do you mean I'm the only guy who's ever been in love with you?" She laughed regretfully.
"Well, they're not exactly lining up are they?"
"That's not true, I can see one guy right now who I don't think hates your company so much."
"Who?"
"A certain ex-professor now boss slash friend of yours who was willing to endure an afternoon with your friends from college, who you probably don't like, and who he likes even less. Willing to sit through Trisha's tactless remarks and Hildi's violinist speaking Russian and pretending to understand. No one does that for a friend. If they weren't my friends I wouldn't do it for you. That kind of thing requires serious amounts of care and dare I say even love?" Sara contemplated what he said, and although she dismissed it out loud; she was still considering it as they left the restaurant.
Grissom stared at her as she drove them back to the lab. She had a pensive look on her face, and she was concentrating extremely hard on the road. * I wonder what Mark said to her on the balcony* When they had finally come back into the restaurant, she had been in a strange mood. She had barely looked at him all meal, and when anyone had spoken to her she had given short answers, and returned to not eating her food as though it had taken huge amounts of concentration to move the Mediterranean vegetables around the plate every two minutes. She hadn't spoken since they had gotten in the car and she showed no signs of doing so. Grissom decided to direct his thoughts to the case he was on; he needed a break from all the things going on in his head right now. Things that so far, for the last three years, he had managed to keep out of his mind.
Sara kept her eyes on the road, pretending to concentrate extremely hard on driving, so as not to provoke any conversation from the man sitting next to him. She didn't think she couldn't handle talking to him right now. Not with the thoughts she was processing and trying desperately to understand. Could he love her? She had always known there was something between her and Grissom, and she'd always assumed it was more of a father daughter thing n his side. She knew how she felt about him, but she had long since resigned herself to the incredibly unsatisfying cliché of unrequited love; never once dreaming that her feelings were more than one sided, that was something she had deemed impossible. She stole a sideways glance at him, he was obviously off in some little world of his own, thinking Grissom things in his own Grissom head that no one could get to; and for once she was glad of it. As she was also glad of the fact that she wasn't working with him today, it would have been too awkward and he would have noticed that she wasn't herself as she was sure he already had. There were only ten minutes left until they got back to the lab, and Sara thanked God that all she had to do was get through those ten minutes and then she could get back to doing something that really would require all of her attention, work. Thank God for work.
Author: Prawncocktailflavouredcashewnut
Summary: Griss and Sara reflect on how their relationship has changed since they met
Genre: Griss/Sara Romance
Archive: If you want it take it
Author's notes: So I finally finished chapter 4. So many things delaying me, but with any luck chapter 5 will be up soon two, as I'm so involved in this story that I'm bunking school tomorrow in order to continue it- thank me! I just reread this and I got so mad- it's incredible, this took me like three days to write, and you can read it in a space of five minutes or so! Growl! Cheers again for the reviews, keep them comin' and I hope you all enjoy the latest instalment of my little game. Oh yeah, more Warrick and Nick in this episode!
Sara looked at herself in the mirror; she looked, nice, she finally decided. Yeah, nice. She had gone home that morning and had done some serious digging in her wardrobe until she had found what she was looking for; a black, square-neck strap dress with a single red rose embroidered up the side. Her favourite dress; she had never worn it, only bought it in case she might need to wear it, thank God. It had been an impulsive thing, something she didn't usually do, but she had seen it in the shop and bought it, she'd never even tried it on, until now. And it looked, nice. Sara never thought much about looking nice. She always tried to look respectable; but nice was a whole different thing. Catherine always looked nice; no strike that Catherine always looked perfect. Immaculate make-up, and she was just at the right border between sexy and dominatrix slut- it looked good. Sara sighed as she applied her lipstick; it was a darker shade than usual, a deep purple to accent the colour in the dress, it made her look different. Almost vampirish she thought. She smiled at the reflection and closed her locker. She walked over to the door, opened it, and walked straight into Warrick.
"Damn Girl, slow down." He started, he had been looking at the ground. She watched his expression as he noticed her feet in a pair of strappy sandals, and then proceeded to move his eyes up her body until he reached her face. "Damn girl." Was all that came out. She looked at him, challenging him to say something else. He broke into a grin and let out a low deep laugh.
"Nicky, come here." He called in the direction of the break room; he craned his neck back so as to see where his friend was.
"What's up?" Came Nick's reply from somewhere down the hall. Warrick looked back at her with a sly smile and then turned back to talk to Nick again.
"Sara's got legs."
"What?!" Sara could here his footsteps running down the hall. She rolled her eyes and hit Warrick on the arm as Nick turned the corner. He stopped when he saw her, quickly surveying his sight. He raised his eyebrows and let out a low whistle.
"Man, Sara, where you bin hiding them?" This constituted an annoyed look from her and another punch for Warrick as he started chuckling.
"Ow." He looked at her and winced.
"Baby." Nick had moved towards them now and a grin had spread across his face, he pointed at her and started dancing around.
"Someone's got a date." He started in a singsong voice, he repeated it with more jumping around and excitedly hopping from one foot to another. Sara looked at him with disgust.
"I do not have a date. O.K.?" Warrick flashed a whatever look, and Nick just continued singing.
"Nicholas, what are you doing?" Grissom's voice cut into their conversation; Nick stopped dancing and turned around looking slightly embarrassed.
"Nothing boss." Grissom looked at Sara for an explanation, she simply shrugged and made the loopy sign with her finger. Warrick saw this and decided to explain the situation to Grissom, maybe see how they both would react to that.
"Well, you see Griss," He began, clearing his throat and placing his hands behind his back in an official way, "Sara here has a date and she's refusing to admit it, so my trusted companion Nicholas and I decided to try a little experiment; namely, annoying the hell out of her until she did, so if you'll excuse us we would like to get back to solving the case, seeming as she was about to crack." He gave a short, toothy smile and turned back towards Sara. He smiled sweetly at her and she was about to return the sentiment when Grissom cut in.
"Sara doesn't have a date." He said simply, the boys both turned to look at him and found his expression blank, he was shaking his head. Nick scoffed.
"Yeah right Griss, she just got herself all dolled up and painted her toenails for work." He laughed. "I mean look at the girl, she looks fit for dinner at the Hilton." He laughed to himself and smiled at Warrick.
"Lunch actually." Came Grissom's reply with a short half-smile. Both men snapped their heads to look at him, then at each other, and finally, Sara. She just flashed them a sweet smile, and then laughed at the bemused faces. She turned to Grissom and shrugged. He smiled at her, a full smile.
"Parking lot in ten minutes?" He asked, confirming her earlier plans, she nodded and he began to walk away. Before he had turned the corner he looked round at her, "You look nice." He told her. She did.
"Thanks." Was all she could manage to say. She looked nice, exactly what she had been trying to achieve. She smiled to herself. Then she caught Nick and Warrick staring at her in disbelief. "What?" She asked them, knowing full well what was coming.
"You, and Grissom?" Warrick asked, clearly in shock.
"No, not me and Grissom." She replied dutifully, "Me, Grissom and a bunch of my friends from college, one of whom is getting married, and one of whom, may, or may not smell of hog." She told them.
"Huh?" Came from Nick. He had wrinkled up his nose and his eyes were half shut, something he only ever did when he was completely confused. She rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Never mind little brother, I'll explain it all to you when you get back." She patted him on the head and started towards the parking lot. From behind her as she turned the corner she could hear Nick calling out,
"I thought I was the older sibling." He still sounded confused.
"Not so young one." She called back as she exited the building. Once they had heard the door slam Nick and Warrick looked at each other. A realisation came into both their eyes at the same time. Nick was the first one to voice their thoughts.
"Griss."
"Sara."
"Skirt"
Then they looked at each other grinning, and simultaneously said.
"Legs!"
Driving in the car on the way to the hotel, Grissom couldn't keep his eyes off of Sara. *She looks nice? Nice? How lame was that? You said she looked nice. Geez Gil be more distant could ya? * He looked at her again, she was staring out the window, her neck was craned so that she could almost see behind her. He could make out the outlines of her bones slightly protruding from her skin. A small diamond glistened from the hollow at the base of her throat and he could see her chest rising as she drew breath. Her skin was pale, but then what with only ever going out at night it was to be expected. It wasn't a sickly pale, her complexion made her look radiant, beautiful. * Hey look, you found a better word than nice. * He laughed at himself, causing Sara to look round at him. She smiled curiously at him a question in her eyes. He looked back at her and drew in a long breath.
"You really do look-" he let his breath out and crumpled his eyebrows as if searching for something to say,
"Nice?" she helped him out.
"Incredible." Their eyes met and she drew in a sharp breath and looked away. She turned back to the window and smiled, letting out her breath as she did so. Had Grissom just said what she thought he had? Grissom was not a descriptive man, he rarely used words that weren't vague or unmeaning; when he did they were about something that had nothing to do with people, and he had just used an incredibly descriptive word towards her, that had substance. She looked back at him sceptically, surveying his appearance.
"Well you don't look so bad yourself boss." She raised her eyebrows at him and he flushed, "Keep your eyes on the road." She told him, nodding towards the oncoming traffic; he had been looking at her for almost a minute, seeming to forget that he was actually driving into the Las Vegas lunchtime rush. He snapped his head back to the direction he had been going and she turned back to resume her stare out of the window; they were silent for the rest of the journey to the hotel.
Standing in the hotel lobby Sara looked around. She must have been in this hotel fifty times, but she had never really taken in her surroundings. She was always concentrating on the crime scene, taking in specific details instead of the big picture. For the first time she realised what a beautiful place it was, and for the first time, she didn't feel underdressed. She turned to look at Grissom.
"Shall we?" She inclined her head towards the restaurant. He smiled and followed her to the Maitre'd's stand.
"Fawler party?" She asked the man in a white tuxedo and he nodded.
"Yes ma'am, you're the last to arrive." He motioned for them to follow and started to lead them to their table.
"Ready to go to a reunion?" Grissom asked as he came up behind her, taking hold of her elbow in a reassuring manner. She turned to face him with a grin,
"God Griss, you sound like one of those really bad eighties teen bopper movies, "Ready to go to the prom?" What is wrong with you?" they had started walking in the trail of the waiter.
"I was just making sure you wanted to do this."
"Why would I not want to do this?" She looked at him curiously, up until now there had been no doubt in her mind that she wanted to see her friends; she hadn't thought about not doing it.
"It's just that it's been a while, they might have changed is all."
"Yeah right, Grissom this is people like Trisha and Jake we are talking about, that girl is always going to be a prom queen, and he will forever be the lost little frat boy that never found his way back to campus. They're never going to change." As she finished this they reached the table and were greeted by many exclamations of,
"Sara!"
"Oh my God"
"Girl you look incredible!"
"You grew your hair!"
"Isn't that the bug guy?" This last comment came from Trisha and everyone's attention turned to focus on Grissom. Sara turned round to look at him; he was obviously embarrassed by the attention. She forced a bright smile on her face and preparing for the worst, she turned back to her friends.
"Yeah, everyone I'm sure you remember Gil Grissom." She gestured her hand towards him and he came up to stand beside her.
"AKA the bug guy." He added to her comment, everyone laughed, seeming to break the awkwardness that had veiled over the table. Sara and Grissom sat down. Sara was placed next to Casey and Grissom was sandwiched between her and Hildi. This he was thankful for, he had always preferred to talk to her as opposed to any other of Sara's friends. He found her quite a sensible girl and almost enjoyed her company. He smiled at her and she smiled back. *Goin' kinda grey huh? * She gestured to the wine bottle that was in the cooler in the middle of the table. He simply smiled and shook his head at her; he was on duty, even though he rarely drank anyway. While the two were involved in this little exchange, the others had been going round the table introducing their dates, Sara was interested to meet whoever people were seeing, but what she found most intriguing was that Jake and Trisha were sitting next to each other, exchanging civil conversation, and even smiling at each other. Jake noticed her confused look as she continued to look at them.
"What?" He smiled at her as if he knew what her question would be. Trisha was completely oblivious to what she wanted to ask, but then, Trisha was completely oblivious to most things, except for clothes, shoes and the application of the perfect accessories to make every outfit complete. The girl was a walking talking Vogue magazine. Sara took a sip of her orange juice and put on her best game face. She looked at Jake with curious eyes.
"Go on then, spill."
"Spill what? My vodka? Because really honey, I don't think that would get us anywhere, especially as you would be the one to pay for my new one." He made a move to spill his drink. She gave him a look, obviously stating his pathetic ness.
"You know what Jake, I want to know what happened with you two. The last time I saw you both you were screaming at each other and she was trying to run you over with a Land Rover." Everyone at the table laughed at this, remembering Trisha's face as she aimed the car at him and drove with a considerable amount of force until, at the last moment, she had chickened out and drove into a wall. Unfortunately the car had not been her own, she had *borrowed* it off a bald ex-marine who had practically screamed as she had written off his much loved vehicle. Though they laughed about it now it had been rather scary at the time.
"Well, last weekend when Mark called us to invite us to this little gathering, he made us sign a little agreement." Jake nodded towards Mark motioning for him to speak, Mark finished swallowing his scotch and cleared his throat, turning to Sara his face became serious.
"You see, I wanted to make sure this entire business went off smoothly, I did not want to have to be chasing Trish round the church on my wedding day, trying to persuade her not to bash Jake's head in with the communion goblet. It would distract from the original attraction you see."
"And by the original attraction you, of course mean, yourself." Casey cut in with mock approval.
"Of course." Mark said this completely seriously causing everyone else to chuckle, and Becky to hit him on the arm with disgust. "And of course you my dear." He leaned in to kiss her. She nodded in agreement and gave him a short sweet kiss on the lips. He turned his attention back to Sara and continued his story.
"So I made them both agree to a dinner together so they could come to some understanding that would involve them both staying alive and unharmed and my wedding not being ruined."
"So you reached an agreement?" Sara turned back to Jake and Trisha; she was curious to find out what it was that it had taken them six years to work out.
"Yep," Trisha spoke to her for the first time since the bug guy remark. "It' s called sex on Jake's kitchen floor." Grissom, spurted out orange juice from his mouth and went into a coughing fit, Hildi tried to help him by hitting his back. Sara looked mortified as his face continued to turn different shades of purple. * Oh God, please don't let us have to call an ambulance. * Grissom's coughing finally ceased and his face started to return to its original colour; Sara relaxed. For the first time, Hildi spoke.
"Jesus Trish, do you have to be so graphic? You could have killed the guy."
"Well I'm sorry but Sara did ask." Jake took her hand,
"Yes honey, but you could have been a bit more tactful." She scoffed.
"Oh please, tact is just not saying true stuff, I'll pass." With this she started to play with Jake's fingers, kissing each one and finally placing one in her mouth and licking all the way up it.
"Man, Trish, if you're that hungry we could just order already." Sara cut in to the pre-make out session, seeing the worried look on Mark's face; this was a pretty upscale place, and also she just couldn't resist a chance to get a joke in at the girl's expense; one of her favourite pass-times back in college. It brought back memories of good times to be able to make fun of Trish; besides the fact that it was just fun. Sara came out of her thoughts in just enough time to see Trisha flash her a dirty look, and Hildi send a triumphant smile her way.
"That's a good idea actually." Mark motioned the waiter over. "We wanted want you two to be late back to work, and I know Becky's gotta be back sometime this afternoon." He finished speaking as the waiter approached the table.
Half an hour later the food arrived. Sara was observing everyone around the table. Hildi and Grissom were involved in a very intense conversation about Oscar Wilde and she could see the twinkle in his eyes, a sign that he was not to be disturbed. Trisha and Jake were holding hands and talking quietly and intimately holding hands and smiling. Hildi's Russian violinist was vehemently trying to explain something to Casey and she was nodding like she was understanding him, but Sara knew that she didn't get a word he was saying; unfortunately it was something she knew all too well. Sara had spent countless occasions trying to explain some scientific theory to her and got the same mildly confused but always-polite expression that was displayed across her face right now. And Mark and Becky were obviously discussing wedding plans, but they stopped to thank the waiter for the food. Sara chose this opportunity to interrupt their conversation to ask the question she had been dying to ever since she had sat down.
"So Minpin, are you ever going to tell me how you two got together? Because I would have never imagined you and Becky as potential lovebirds." She smiled at the waiter in thanks for her food and took a forkful of her salad, then looked expectantly at him as she waited for an answer. Mark drew in a deep breath and broke into a huge grin.
"I was wondering when you were going to ask that." Becky laughed.
"That's my sweetheart, always looking for a chance to brag about how he caught me." She planted a hand on his arm and squeezed it tight. She took up her fork and started to eat. Mark and Sara exchanged a smile, one of those secret smiles between friends that no one else ever understands. Grissom caught the end of their look and stopped talking. This gave Hildi a chance to observe him more deeply. She studied his expression as he studied the interaction between Mark and Sara, his face was a mixture of surprise, confusion and something that she recognised from Mark's face when he used to watch Sara flirting. Jealousy, she realised was a predominant feature on Grissom's face. Hildi smiled. * And so the tables have turned. * Grissom turned back to her and started to continue their discussion.
Sara was still awaiting an answer from Mark.
"Well? Are you gonna tell me or not?" She asked, taking another bite of her salad.
"Of course I'm going to tell you, as soon as I taste this delicious shrimp." He lifted his fork to his mouth and took a bite of his food. He started chewing and then an incredibly horrified look came over his face. He started to cough and then wheeze, his face turned red and he started waving his hand around wildly. He moved to get up from the table, Becky did the same. He ran out on to the balcony and bent over and continued to cough. Becky stood over him rubbing his back and speaking softly to him. Her phone rang and she moved to answer it. Just then Mark's fit developed into choking, spluttering, phlegm spitting convulsions. Sara got up and rushed to his side. She bent down beside him and said something to him. He nodded to her and she stood up. Tensed her arm, bent her elbow, and hit him hard in the lower back, causing him to regurgitate his shrimp and allowing him to breathe again. The others watched in amazement as Becky got off the phone, spoke to Sara, kissed Mark lightly on the cheek and rushed out of the room. Sara walked back in from the balcony, and stood in front of the rest of the group.
"Bad white sauce?" Casey asked, a worried expression on her face.
"Bad white sauce." Sara confirmed. Grissom and Hildi's violinist were the only ones who didn't understand this last statement. "Mark's allergic to yoghurt." She explained to them and then turned back to Casey. "He's o.k. now, but we're gonna stay out on the balcony for a bit, just to make sure he's alright." Casey nodded and Sara turned to walk back out, on her way she caught Grissom's eye and flashed him a smile. He grinned back at her and, as she moved away from them, he sat back down at the table with the others.
Out on the balcony, Mark had stood up and was now leaning against the balcony staring out at the strip. Sara moved slowly towards him and came to stand beside him, her back to the view and looked at him.
"What?" He said without looking at her.
"You've changed." She was observing him with shrewd eyes, eyes trained to never miss anything. He turned to look at her, a curious smile on his face.
"I have not."
"You have."
"How?"
"Well, for a start, you're more confidant than you used to be. And you're smarter. I mean, that thing with Jake and Trish. That was clever. I never would have thought of that." He smiled at her and turned back to the view.
"Yeah, that was pretty good huh?" She laughed. He really had changed. He used to be so serious about anything. She'd never seen him joke around so much. Yeah, they had always had fun, but not the kind that came from mucking about in a childish manner; more the kind of fun that grown ups had. They went to movies and plays, and discussed literature. They had never really been college kids together. She liked it; she decided to carry on what they had started.
"Y'it was!" She exclaimed with false excitement causing them both to laugh and Mark to start coughing again. When he ceased, they decided it was better not make him laugh any more.
"You know, I'm not really more confident. I'm just different around you."
"Just me?"
"Yeah."
"Why?" He looked at her.
"I used to have the hugest crush on you in college." She turned to face him full on, surprise in her eyes.
"What?!!!" He laughed.
"I thought you knew." She shook her head in stunned silence. "Well, everyone else did, I just figured you'd figured it out and didn't want to say anything." Once more, she shook her head.
"You really had a crush on me?"
"Sara, I was in love with you. I was still in love with you the last time I saw you, and for a year after that." Sara, obviously shocked, opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it again. She couldn't think of anything to say.
"So what happened?" He leaned back against the railings and gave a satisfied smile.
"I met Becky." He said. His smile turned into a grin and his grin into a blush. He ducked his head in embarrassment. * Oh my God, he is so cute.*
"Wow, true love huh?" She gave him a huge grin, he returned it and nodded. "Well that figures." He gave her a questioning look. "The only guy who's ever been in love with me and I didn't even know about it, and now he doesn't even love me anymore." She'd meant this sarcastically, but he seemed to take it to heart.
"Aw, honey I still love you, I just love you in a different way these days. Besides, what do you mean I'm the only guy who's ever been in love with you?" She laughed regretfully.
"Well, they're not exactly lining up are they?"
"That's not true, I can see one guy right now who I don't think hates your company so much."
"Who?"
"A certain ex-professor now boss slash friend of yours who was willing to endure an afternoon with your friends from college, who you probably don't like, and who he likes even less. Willing to sit through Trisha's tactless remarks and Hildi's violinist speaking Russian and pretending to understand. No one does that for a friend. If they weren't my friends I wouldn't do it for you. That kind of thing requires serious amounts of care and dare I say even love?" Sara contemplated what he said, and although she dismissed it out loud; she was still considering it as they left the restaurant.
Grissom stared at her as she drove them back to the lab. She had a pensive look on her face, and she was concentrating extremely hard on the road. * I wonder what Mark said to her on the balcony* When they had finally come back into the restaurant, she had been in a strange mood. She had barely looked at him all meal, and when anyone had spoken to her she had given short answers, and returned to not eating her food as though it had taken huge amounts of concentration to move the Mediterranean vegetables around the plate every two minutes. She hadn't spoken since they had gotten in the car and she showed no signs of doing so. Grissom decided to direct his thoughts to the case he was on; he needed a break from all the things going on in his head right now. Things that so far, for the last three years, he had managed to keep out of his mind.
Sara kept her eyes on the road, pretending to concentrate extremely hard on driving, so as not to provoke any conversation from the man sitting next to him. She didn't think she couldn't handle talking to him right now. Not with the thoughts she was processing and trying desperately to understand. Could he love her? She had always known there was something between her and Grissom, and she'd always assumed it was more of a father daughter thing n his side. She knew how she felt about him, but she had long since resigned herself to the incredibly unsatisfying cliché of unrequited love; never once dreaming that her feelings were more than one sided, that was something she had deemed impossible. She stole a sideways glance at him, he was obviously off in some little world of his own, thinking Grissom things in his own Grissom head that no one could get to; and for once she was glad of it. As she was also glad of the fact that she wasn't working with him today, it would have been too awkward and he would have noticed that she wasn't herself as she was sure he already had. There were only ten minutes left until they got back to the lab, and Sara thanked God that all she had to do was get through those ten minutes and then she could get back to doing something that really would require all of her attention, work. Thank God for work.