Chapter 4- Losing the Love Bug
The airport was crowded and noisy. It always amazed Grissom how much business could happen in such chaos. He loved it none- the- less and frequented it often.
"Thank you Mr. Grissom, we hope you enjoy your flight."
The lady at the ticket stand smiled warmly at him. Putting the ticket in the inside pocket of his jacket, he made his way to the small lounge on the airport strip. He had time for a drink before his next meeting. The waitress came quickly to him, a smile wide on her face.
"Well Gil Grissom it's very nice to see you!"
"Pauline! I was hoping you'd be here, I have something for you."
Grissom reached into his inside pocket and grabbed the little white box. Her eyes were extremely curious. He gave her hand a tiny squeeze and handed her the box. Opening it slowly, she squeaked with joy at the contents, then a blush formed.
"I can't believe you found one of these. You know a guy only gives a girl this when he's in love."
"Insetto di amore, or the love bug, yes that took me time to find but you will want to know he is an authentic Sicilian Love Beetle. I've had him since last week."
Before he could protest she pulled him halfway out of his chair into a hard appreciative kiss and let him fall back. Walking back to the bar, Grissom blushed at all the attention. An elderly man walked up to him and reached for his hand.
"My lad, marriage is a fine institution. My Edith and I were married for fifty-three years. It's nice to see a man give a woman so much happiness."
It took Grissom a full minute to realize that everyone thought he had just proposed. The flush on his face was a deep Bloody Mary red when Pauline returned. Quietly she sat down.
"You're still the world's greatest entomologist, Terri still says so."
"Uh, yeah how is your sister? It's been a couple years since I've seen her."
"She still thinks you're cute but all in all she's happy with Michael. She's looking to adopt a little girl over the summer so she will be a mom."
"Hey now that's terrific, she's very patient, please tell her I'll call her soon. How are your entomology studies going?" Grissom changed subjects from an uncomfortable one of his failings with women.
"Well the bugs are great, but we dissected a Schistocerca gregaria the other day and I cried all the way home."
"Ah yes the ever popular Desert Locust. I agree my first dissection was a Collombola fly and I was so upset that he had to die for my education, I wrote a thirty page letter to the dean on why insects should not be harmed."
"Grissom? What happened?"
"My partner Alicia Guinness got mad at me and said if I didn't learn how to dissect our bugs, she would dissect parts of my anatomy."
"Oh that's funny, so did you finally do it?"
"Yeah but it took for her to hold a scalpel to my manhood before I could do it. Now I remember that and have no problems."
"Ouch, well if I get that bad, I hope you won't take my body parts hostage."
She laughed but he didn't. It wasn't until a full moment later that she realized he was looking past her. His eyes caught on one image.
Grissom watched as Sara walked to the snack bar across from the lounge. She purchased a bagel and a bottle of orange juice. She had a suitcase on wheels, which she retrieved tickets from. An overhead voice came over the speaker.
"Second call for flight 33 non stop travel to San Francisco, California now boarding at gate B6."
Sara suddenly rushed forward. Grissom quickly handed Pauline a 20 dollar bill, kissed her cheek and took off after Sara. His mind was racing, where was she going? Why today? Today was July 3rd. He reached the gate just in time to see her walk down the ramp to the plane. He had missed her. He was too late again.
Grissom waited a few minutes, then dialed her cell number. He hoped that she had it on.
GRISSOM
The name flashed across the display of her phone.
"Not this time Grissom. I have to do this, you'll just have to call Greg to fill in."
She let the phone continue to vibrate in her hand, until finally it went to voicemail. Laying it on the tray table she awaited his message.
"Hey it's Sara and I can't answer my phone. If it's important contact me at the Las Vegas Crime Lab, thanks!"
He clicked the phone shut as her greeting ended. He suddenly felt very rejected. To hell with waiting till tonight, he would go to the lab now. With that he stormed out of the airport and slammed the door shut to the Tahoe. The white Buick followed suit. A cigarette butt fell from the window.