A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews!! Keep em comin! Just a note. Some have mentioned "when will the team find out?" Well, I was trying to keep this in time with the show and how they all found out when Sara was abducted. This is just stuff that MIGHT have happened in between the two years they kept it a secret. But whose to say that the Team didn't always suspect something, or know something? Hope you like! Wendy

Chapter Fourteen

Sara sat next to Catherine as Linda spoke. Grissom had a session of his own in an hour and wanted time to prepare. Sara had told Grissom about Davis and what he had heard and assumed about Linda. Gil was at a loss on what to do and he had the Conference to think about. So, Sara decided to hang close to Catherine and find out her assumptions.

Catherine looked over at Sara. She seemed like she was intently listening, but she knew that look. She was deep in thought. Catherine knew that at one time Sara and Gil had a relationship, that had for some reason turned into friendship. If she knew Gil, and she knew him pretty well, it probably ended the day he became her supervisor. He was a cut and dry by the book kind of man. That's what made him Gil Grissom. That and his love for bugs and science.

The session ended and Linda came over to where they were seated.

"Great Session, Linda. You're a great speaker. I HATE having to speak in public." Catherine commented.

"Thanks. That means a lot." Linda smiled at her. "So, Sara, was it totally boring?"

"Of course not. I love hearing about other crime labs and their procedures and techniques."

Sara got up to leave. "I'm going to head over to the room where Gil's setting up and see if he needs any help."

"Oh, ok. We'll be along shortly." Catherine went to get up then stopped. Wait! Did she just call him GIL? Sara had already exited the room. She turned to Linda. "Did she just call him GIL?"

"Yeah, why?" Linda was confused.

"Well, she NEVER calls him Gil. Just Grissom. I think me, Jim and Ecklie are the only ones who use his name. To everyone else...He's just...GRISSOM!"

"Oh. Hmmm. Well, maybe she thought in this setting it would seem more appropriate to use his actual name. Going by a last name is kinda "chummy" and not really professional, you know?"

"Yeah. Maybe. It's just WEIRD." Catherine still wasn't convinced. She wasn't sure what it meant, but it was just out of the ordinary for Sara.

Sara hastily made her exit from the room. CRAP! Did Catherine notice I called him Gil? She hurried to the room across the lobby and down another hallway. Gil was sitting in one of the chairs in the front, his glasses perched on the end of his nose, going over his notes. Sara walked up behind him and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Hey! You ready?' He smiled up at her.

"Well, now that you're here, My Dear."

"Right." She sat down next to him and took his hand in hers. "You ok? You seem distracted."

"I just don't know what to do, Sara. This whole 'Linda' thing and Catherine and her mouth."

"Well, maybe if we ignore it, it will go away. You know, don't give her any more information to form a wrong conclusion with. Or a RIGHT ONE for that matter." She smiled at him.

"Yeah. I have a feeling we are going to have to have a sit down with her sooner rather than later. She always has been the meddling type."

"Yeah, and, I am not sure if she noticed, but I called you Gil and not Grissom. Catherine's going to notice that and wonder."

Gil let out a defeated sigh and put his head in his hands. He lifted his head "HEY! Maybe you can just say, if she brings it up, that going by GRISSOM isn't really very professional, so you decided to use my name. No big deal!" He smiled at her.

"Ok. That makes sense." Sara squeezed his hand, looked around the room to be sure they were alone, and placed a quick kiss on his lips. Gil squeezed her hand and let go quickly when he saw Linda and Catherine walk into the room.

"Ok, Sara. I am NOT sitting in the front row. Let's move back a few, shall we? No offense, Gil." Catherine smiled at him.

"None taken. Just don't fall to sleep." He took his place at the podium and began to go through his notes as people trickled into the room.

Sara laughed and got up to join Catherine and Linda two rows back. They sat down, Catherine on the end and Linda between her and Sara. Gil shuffled through his notes then looked out at the crowd, letting his glance rest on Sara. Catherine and Linda were turned facing the row behind them talking to some men sitting there. He caught Sara's eye and gave a quick wink to her. She winked back at him and smiled. Linda turned in her seat in time to see Gil flash a wink in their direction. She glanced over at Sara. She was smiling to herself as she opened her notebook to a clean page.

Linda turned around to face front while Catherine continued to flirt with the men from Phoenix. She looked over at Sara and smiled. She turned to face Sara a bit more and leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"So, how long have you and Gil been seeing each other?"

Sara's head swung around so fast, Linda thought she might have whiplash! "What?"

"You heard what I said." She smiled coyly at her. "Doesn't take a Forensic Investigator to see how much he admires you, Sara."

"Yeah, well. We're friends. Have been for a while now. I admire him too. He's a great scientist."

"Oh, come on, Sara. That might work on your co-workers, who, by the way, don't seem to be very good at investigating, but I know Gil Grissom and I have seen how he looks at you. And how you look at him."

"I, uh..." Sara sat mouth open.

"I saw that wink. And the kiss." Linda chuckled at the expression on Sara's face. Sara looked over to Gil. He caught her gaze and smiled at her. "Please don't say anything to anyone." Sara said in defeat.

Linda smiled. AH HA! "I promise. But, uh. I think Davis is under the impression I was the one screaming his name last night."

"Shit. You heard about that?" Sara looked over at Catherine who was now in full flirt mode with the man behind her.

"Well, catherine's never been known to be shy. She asked me if I had spent the night with Gil. And the fact that Davis saw me leave his room this morning didn't exactly help in making her believe me."

"Yeah. Sorry about that. But it took the heat off of me." Sara flashed her a grin. Linda chuckled.

"What you two whispering about over there?" Catherine leaned forward to hear them.

"Oh. Just discussing what its like to be with Gil." Catherine screwed her face up in confusion at Linda. "I mean, you know, to work with him." She finished.

"Oh! I thought you meant...never mind." Catherine sat back in her seat.

"Good Afternoon! Lets get started!" Gil started his presentation as the lights were dimmed so slides could easily be seen. Davis slipped in at the last minute and took a seat in front of Sara. He turned back to her and smiled.

Two hours later, participants were exiting the room after Gil's Lecture. Catherine decided to join Andrew from Phoenix for a drink before dinner. Davis said he had to give his wife a call and would meet them at 6pm for dinner. Linda looked over at Sara. She was closing her notebook and rustling around in her bag. She was obviously stalling. Probably waiting for Gil. He was presently having a discussion with a few women about his lecture. Linda smiled. The women always seemed to buzz around Gil Grissom at conferences.

"So, uh, Sara. About our discussion earlier."

"Yeah?" She sat up, looking a bit annoyed.

"Look, I'm not going to say anything to Catherine or Davis either. You've obviously been keeping the relationship secret for a reason."

"Well, He IS my Supervisor."

"Yeah, well there is that." Linda smiled at her. "So, how long have you two been together?"

"Well, we first met over 7 years ago in San Francisco at a conference, so, yes, I was the culprit in the hickey incident." They both laughed. "But we've just started to see each other outside of work over the past 9 months or so. Gil never wanted to cross the Supervisor/Employee line. But over the past year or so...well, let's just say that a lot of horrible things happened to our friends and to us and we found that we needed each other."

"Well, I'm happy for you. Really. And I understand the secrecy. You two must be REALLY good at hiding and acting. Because I don't think Catherine even suspects it was anyone but ME that was in Gil's room last night."

Sara laughed. "Well, we've had to scramble a few times. And the fact that we had a couple of years where we really did hate each other helped."

"Oh." Linda just nodded her head.

"Yeah."

"Hey!" Gil stood at the end of the row of chairs they were seated in. "Ready to get out of here for the evening?"

"Sure." Linda got up and Sara followed. Gil was right behind Sara, placing his hand on her lower back as they walked out, he whispered, "were you talking about me?"

Sara smiled back at him. "She knows." He raised his eyebrow at her. "She won't tell." He nodded and followed them into the hallway.

They all met at that nights dinner event. It was a nice sit down dinner, complete with cheesy entertainment. They ate, drank, told stories and laughed. Soon after desert, the crowd thinned. Catherine decided to Join Andrew from Phoenix at a local bar. Davis left to call his wife and turn in for the evening, leaving Gil, Sara and Linda alone at the table.

"So, Gil. Sara says you two have been an item for months now."

"What?" His eyes grew wide at her directness.

"Oh, come on. You can't deny it. Sara already told me."

"Yeah. I know. But...I don't know." Sara smiled at him and took his hand in hers, giving it a gentle squeeze. He smiled back at her.

"See? That's what I'm talking about! How do your co-workers NOT KNOW!"

"Maybe their just too close to the situation. I mean, we're like a big family. Dysfunctional as it may be." Sara grinned. "Jim Brass knows we had something when we first met, but no one else knows the story. And no one seems to suspect anything now."

"Ah, Jim. Funny guy." She smiled. "He's a detective now, I hear."

"Yeah. He was moved to Homicide and I took over as Supervisor. The worst of it though, is that Conrad Ecklie is now the Assistant Director of the lab. He's my boss."

"No, way! Ecklie! The BOSS!" Linda shook her head in disbelief. "Well, he always was good at kissing ass."

"Yeah." Sara and Gil agreed in unison. Linda just laughed.

"So, no one else knows?" Linda asked.

"Nope. And right now we rather like it that way." Gil stated as he sat back in his seat, feeling the effects of the alcohol he had consumed.

"Well, more power to ya! I'm not sure how long you can keep a secret like that from trained investigators though."

Sara laughed. "Trust me. We have done our fair share of story telling over the past few months."

"So you don't have a problem with lying?"

"I prefer to think of it as story telling." Sara's face was serious. "I hate lying to our friends."

Gil took her hand in his. "Our jobs mean so much to us. We work well together. To not be able to work together, would kill us." Sara smiled weakly at him. Linda decided to let it rest.

"Well, I am happy for you both. I hope it works out for you." She got up, pushing in her chair. "I will see you in the morning."

"Good night"

Sara got up, holding her hand out to Gil. He took her hand and stood, pulling her into an embrace and kissing her soundly. A few people were left at the tables. No one seemed to be interested in the Entomologist and his subordinate. Gil liked that feeling. A LOT.

"Isn't it nice to just stand here, holding one another without all the office bullshit getting in our way?" Sara pulled back and looked at him, surprised at his comment.

"Yeah. It's nice." She smiled at him pulled him in for another kiss. "Let's go to bed, Bugman."

"That's the best idea you've had today." He smile at her, taking her hand as they walked to the elevators, oblivious of Catherine, who stood on the other side of the room watching them.