A/N: Hi all sorry for the delay, this is only a short chapter as I have had a few problems, But a short chapter is better than none. Right?
Chapter 26
"Sara walked out of the bedroom and walked over and opened the door with force.
"What? " she grumbled as she came face to face with Ecklie.
"Oh, ah, hi sorry." she mumbled and turned bright red.
"Sara, I have been knocking on your door for nearly 5 minutes." he replied a little pissed off.
"Sorry, I just got out of the shower." she replied. Luckily her hair was still damp.
"Uh, sorry come in." she said as she opened the door further for him to come in.
"Oh, sorry." he replied as he eased up a little. He spotted two coffee cups on the side and saw a pair of men's pants on the chair that he thought he recognized and wondered who else could be there. Sara followed his eyes and noticed Grissom's pants thrown on the chair. "Shit" she mumbled to herself and prayed that Ecklie didn't realize that they were Grissom's.
"Sara, I will cut straight to the chase." he said as he carried on having a nose around her apartment where he noticed a shoe on the floor under the coffee table. That looks familiar. he thought to himself and stood there thinking for a minute before Sara interrupted him quickly.
"Can I help you Ecklie?, I really have some errands to run before I get to work and I don't want to be late for shift." she replied after also noticing that he also spotted Grissom's shoe.
"Oh, yes sorry; there is a conference coming up and I think you will benefit from it." he replied and waited for her reaction.
"Oh, really, where and when?" she replied a little surprised.
"Well it's in Chicago and it's next week, for one week; the only problem is, somebody else needs to go with you and I'm not sure who to send with you." he replied. Sara smiled to herself hoping it would be Grissom.
"It will either be Nick or Greg." said Ecklie as he waited to see what kind of reaction she would give.
"Oh, right, ok, well just let me know." she replied not giving anything away about how disappointed she was.
Grissom was stood listening to their conversation behind the door. When he heard Ecklie say that Sara was to go on a conference his face dropped. He didn't want to be without Sara for a week. He heard Ecklie say that either Nick or Greg would be going with her and Grissom had other ideas. He was going to make sure that it was him going and nobody else. He was also going to do it without letting her know that he would be going.
"Right Sara, I better get going, I don't suppose you have seen Gil at all have you? He seems to of gone AWOL at the moment and I cant seem to reach him at home or on his mobile." said Ecklie having another glance around her apartment and over at the items of clothing that he noticed earlier.
"Ah, no, Um, why would I know where he is? I was sick last night." she replied nervously.
"No reason, just wondered seeing as you two are close." he replied hoping for a reaction but the reaction he got was not what he was expecting.
"No, he is my supervisor and he is somebody I can talk to about my problems." replied Sara trying not to give anything away.
"Ok, well I'll stop by his apartment and see if I can find him. Bye Sara." he said as he walked over to the door. He took a glance around before he left. He thought he spotted someone out the corner of his eye as he walked past her bedroom door, but carried on and left.
Grissom came out as soon as he heard the door close.
"Visit from Ecklie hey?" he said trying to wind her up.
"Gil, he has never been here before and to be honest I'm not sure why he came around just then, as everything we spoke about, could of been said at work tonight." she replied baffled.
"Perhaps he is after your body." he replied teasingly as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her neck.
"Gil." she mumbled as she slapped him on the arm and then cupped his arse and pulled him into her.
"Sara, no, we have to get ready for shift, by the sounds of it, he is already looking for me. My not being around last night was obviously noticed by him." he replied seriously.
Sara gave him a kiss on the lips and walked off to get dressed properly. Grissom went into the kitchen and made them both a coffee. He noticed the vegetable lasagne that was on the side and stuck it in the microwave for a few minutes and got out two plates and cutlery. He hoped to have it all on the table for when Sara came back through. Sara was just tidying around the bedroom after she had gotten dressed. As she walked out of the bedroom, she could smell the lasagne. Grissom had two places set up on the table. He had made the coffee, cut up some bread and had the lasagne all on the table. He held her chair out and Sara went and sat down and he pushed her in.
"Wow, your a quick worker." said Sara surprised, since she was only gone about ten minutes.
"It was nothing Sara, it was all done; it just needed warming up." he replied as he took his own seat.
They both ate in comfortable silence sharing a little joke now and again and laughing. Grissom actually enjoyed his meal even though it had no meat in it and didn't realize that Sara could cook.
"Did you make this honey?" he asked with a raised brow.
"Yes, of course I did, why?" she replied.
"Oh, ah, no reason." he said and took another mouthful.
"Thought I couldn't cook?" she asked knowing full well that was the reason he asked.
"Um, no, I just wondered honey." he replied with a smile.
"You liar, you thought I couldn't cook." she accused with a smile.
"Well, I thought you always got takeouts with the way the boys carry on about your eating habits." he replied.
"Well there's a lot you don't know about me." she replied teasingly. Grissom knew she was winding him up and decided to play her at her own game.
"Oh really, such as?" he replied with a raised brow.
"You will have to wait and find out." she replied and Grissom realized he wasn't going to win this one.
They cleaned up, Grissom said goodbye and headed off. Sara decided to wait half an hour and then go on in as normal. She sat down and put the television on for half hour and flicked through the channels. A film was on called Fear and just as she turned it on, it was the scene where William Petersen was in the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his bottom half.
"Jesus, that man looks like Gil, bloody hot!!" she said out loud to herself. She couldn't take her eyes off the T.V and didn't hear her phone ring.
Grissom pulled up outside of his townhouse and saw Ecklie standing on his top step. God this guy is persistent. he thought to himself wondering what on earth he wanted. He climbed out of his SUV and walked over to his steps.
"Finally. Where on earth have you been?" asked Ecklie in a pissed of tone.
"Nowhere in particular." replied Grissom trying to see how far Ecklie would go.
"Well I have been searching everywhere for you. You disappear last night through shift and when I try calling you on your cell I get no reply and then I call your home and get no reply." he replied angrily.
"Well I'm sorry but something urgent came up. I did try calling you and I also got no answer and your voicemail would not cut in." he replied telling a little white lie.
"Oh, well, I have stopped by because I need to talk with you." he replied as Grissom walked past him and opened the door.
"Come in." Grissom replied as he walked off into the kitchen to make a quick coffee before heading into work.
"So what is so urgent you couldn't wait another hour for me to get to work Conrad?" said Grissom as he passed Ecklie a coffee.
"Well firstly I'm a little worried about Sara. I know she is a loose canon and all, but...." before he could finish Grissom had walked over to him and looked him in the eyes.
"Conrad, Sara is one of my best CSI's she has done no wrong since that argument with Catherine and she has had a lot to deal with, now if you have come here to insult her, don't bother because I don't want to hear it. You wouldn't like it if I came into your home and started insulting one of your day shift employees Conrad." he replied harshly.
"Gil, I suggest you calm down." he replied.
"Or what Conrad; You'll suspend me? Go ahead make my day, because I could do with a bit of time off right now." he replied and walked off into the kitchen to place his mug in the sink.
"If that's what you want, you got it 2 weeks suspension without pay." he replied and stormed off out the house.
A/N: Well let me know what you think? Needed to bring Ecklie in. How do you like the way it's going? Hit the little green button and let me know.