Chapter Thirty Six:
They moved.
The townhouse was emptied and their contents made it across town.
The couch was left behind.
A new one was put in its place.
The new house consisted of a kitchen, den, study, living room, three bedrooms and two baths along with a basement and garage.
It was an easy move except when the movers had difficulty with the items in the garage.
They were moved.
Sara had purposely taken off work to supervise the move.
She had stood there and watched as the baby furniture arrived and was placed in the nursery.
He felt giddy when he arrived home to find that their vehicles fit in the garage.
He began to panic when he realized the aquariums along with his favorite chair were nowhere to be seen.
She proudly opened the door to the basement and he stared.
He glanced around to find the aquariums were there along with his chair. He also spotted his prized possessions that had been placed in storage because they did not fit in his office.
He smiled.
"I thought you would like your sanctuary returned," she said.
"Thank you," he said.
"Brass kind of hinted to me," she admitted.
"I'll be sure and thank him," he said.
He walked around the room admiring all the things he had collected over the years as an entomologist. He had missed them. He then made his rounds to the aquariums chatting as he went about the cases they had worked that day. He stopped in front of one of the aquariums.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"The cockroaches are gone," he said.
She stared at the aquarium.
"I never noticed," she said.
He walked around the room.
"I'm sure they'll show up," he said.
"Show up?" she asked nervously.
"Yes. They're not hard to miss, Sara," he said.
"Gil, I don't like bugs," she said.
"I'll find them," he said. "Besides, I only have two."
She nodded nervously.
He searched all day until he was exhausted and gave up going upstairs for bed.
She woke before him, getting up quietly so she would not disturb him and slipped out of the room to make coffee. She stretched as she waited for the coffee. She took down a coffee cup from the holder and sat it on the counter. She yawned as she poured the coffee into the cup. As she lifted the cup, two large eyes greeted her on the other end of the cup. She screamed throwing the cup to the floor and then stomped on the creature before she could stop herself.
Grissom woke from the sound leaping out of bed only to stub his foot on the dresser as he ran toward the scream.
"Sara!"
He stood there in pajama bottoms holding his foot as she covered her mouth while sitting on the counter.
"What's wrong?'
She glanced down at the floor where her house shoe lay. She could see the remnants of one of the hissing cockroaches beneath it.
She glanced at him and then the shoe.
"Nothing."
"Nothing? You screamed! I almost had a coronary…what are you doing on the counter?"
"Are you hurt?" she asked now seeing him limp toward her.
"I ran into the dresser….what are you…"
"I'm sorry I dropped a cup of coffee," she said.
"Did you burn yourself?" he asked now limping faster.
"No! I mean I jumped out of the way…don't come any closer!"
He stopped.
"There's glass on the floor," she said.
"I'll help clean it up," he offered.
"No! Don't! You don't have shoes on...I have house shoes," she said.
"Sara?"
"Hmmm?" she said looking down as the cockroach began to slowly twitch.
"You don't expect me to believe that…do you?" he asked with arms folded.
"Believe what?" she asked innocently.
"You're barefoot," he said pointing to her feet.
"I jumped out of them…see wait…" she said as she slowly slid off the counter and held up a shoe. "See."
"I'm up…I can help," he said moving closer.
"Sit!" she yelled.
He looked at her as if she were losing her mind.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Hormones….sorry….jitters…sit down and check on your foot," she said.
He glanced at her once or twice before sitting down on the couch. She quickly grabbed a paper towel and wiped up the cock roach thrusting it down the garbage disposal and turning on the switch quickly.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Sorry…still getting used to the kitchen lights….there," she said.
"Sara…the light was already on," he said.
"Oh,right," she said smiling nervously.
"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked.
"Good…very good," she said glancing down at the disposal to see the antennae of the roach. She flipped the switch again.
"What are you doing?"
"Just playing…I like the disposal…it's nice," she said.
He stood and headed toward the bedroom.
"Griss? How about some pancakes this morning," she asked.
"You want me to make pancakes?" he asked.
She smiled her Sidle-Grissom best.
He started for the kitchen but stopped.
"I better get my shoes on," he said.
"Oh…right," she said.
He hobbled into the conference room that night as the others watched.
"What happened to you?" asked Warrick.
"Sara," he said.
"Spousal abuse already?" asked Nick chuckling.
He said nothing as she sauntered in and took her seat. Greg sat across from her eating a pastry.
She stared at him.
He slowly pushed the pastry over to her.
She smiled.
Grissom slid it back over to Greg.
She frowned.
"Catherine, you want to hand out assignments?" asked Grissom.
"No."
He gawked. "What is this? Some kind of mass hormone hysteria."
"I didn't hear that," said Catherine.
"I did," said Sara glaring at him.
"Sara?" called Hodges.
"Yeah?"
"That special order you need…"
Sara was up out of seat immediately.
"We haven't gone through assignments yet," said Grissom.
She stopped and stared at him. "I uhm have to pee."
The guys smirked.
Grissom blushed. "You're excused."
She rushed out grabbing Hodges by the arm and did not stop until they neared the women's bathroom.
"Whoa…I'm not going in there with you," said Hodges.
"No, you're not. Did you locate a hissing cockroach?" she asked nervously.
"Yep….best racer in the south," he said smiling.
"Good. I need it now."
"It's a bit steep but I can get him here by tonight," he said.
"Fine. Do it," she said as she headed inside the women's room.
She came to stand outside his office as he tried to prop up his leg.
"Still hurt?" she asked.
"It's better," he said.
"I'm sorry…really."
"Sara, it's fine."
"Listen, I'm a little tired. I think I'll go home early tonight," she said.
"You feeling okay? I can take you home," he offered.
"Gil, I'm just tired. I'm just going to go home and sleep," she said.
"Good. If you need me, just call," he said.
She smiled as she left.
He smiled at the note left on the counter.
She had managed to locate one of the roaches and it was now safely inside the aquarium. He ducked into the bedroom and found her sound asleep. It had been a quiet night at the lab and he had been thankful since he still limped. He decided a nice soak in the tub would be good. As he lay back in the water, he heard a hissing noise and smiled.
"Ernie, nice of you to show up like this," he said looking at the cockroach sitting on the towel rack. He placed the other cockroach into the aquarium. As he started to walk away, he glanced back into the aquarium at the other cockroach.
He frowned.
She sat at the table as he fixed waffles that morning.
"I found Ernie last night," he said glancing over at her reaction.
"That's great….you have them both back," she said sipping on the juice.
"I have one of them," he said.
"One? The other one was in the aquarium last night. Did it get out…again?" she asked suddenly.
"It's amazing. When I put Ernie back into the aquarium, I noticed that Bert is much smaller…never heard of a shrinking cockroach…must be a new breed," he said staring at her.
"I uh…accidently stomped on Bert the other morning," she said.
He stared at her.
"I bought you a new one…the best racer in the south," she said.
"Did it come with a name?" he asked.
"Rocky."
His mouth shot open.
"Rocky? You bought Rocky Balboa?" he asked excitedly.
"That's the name on the certificate….I didn't know they came with certificates," she said.
"Only if their racing stock. Honey, do you realize Rocky beat Bert in the last entomology roach race last year," he said smiling.
"So Bert's death was a good thing?" she asked.
"No…but his replacement is better," he said smiling.
She leaned back and sighed.
"Good…I was afraid Hodges might use this as blackmail since he helped me locate a racing cockroach."
"I'll be sure and tell him to drop all blackmail notions," he said with a smile.
She stood and headed back towards the bedroom.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"Back to bed….the guilt kept me up a lot," she said yawning.
"What happened to honesty?" he asked frowning.
"Okay, he was on my coffee cup and I threw it on the floor and stomped before I could stop myself. I picked him up and then put him in the garbage disposal."
"Instant death with clean disposal of the body…you've been watching too many crime shows…I blame WP….his shows are violent," said Grissom.
She continued toward the bedroom.
"Don't you want a waffle before you go back to bed?" he asked.
She stopped and smiled, "Before dessert?"
He forgot the waffles and hurried after her.
Note from author:
I have been working outside all day…I am so sore. Please be kind and leave a review!
Take care,
Penny