Chapter 42
"You first," Sara offered as she held out a brightly wrapped envelope, then watched quietly as Grissom took it and looked at it curiously. He opened the wrapping carefully, pulling out certificates with little gray alien heads on them.
"I hesitated to get them," Sara confessed with a smile as he stared down at season passes for the 51s. "I mean, come on, 57 and 86 this last season? That's a .399 percentage for goodness sake! But I figure most of the time, if we want, we can sleep, catch a game and still make it from Cashman field to the lab in plenty of time for shift."
Grissom looked at her, remembering her first response when he'd told her so many years before that he liked baseball. They'd been sitting in the bleachers staring at an ice rink where a member of the team the Rat Pack had died on the ice during a hockey game.
"Two minutes for elbowing. Four minutes for high sticking. Ten minutes, unsportsman-like conduct," he'd mused.
"Boys will be boys."
"Yeah, sounds like these boys went to a fight and a hockey game broke out."
"You just don't like sports."
"That's not true-- I've been a baseball fan my whole life."
"Baseball. Well, that figures. All those stats."
"It's a beautiful game."
"Since when are you interested in beauty?"
"Since I met you."
His comment had stunned her into silence, trying not to hope, not to read too much into it, hating him for once again tossing her a bone he wouldn't, couldn't, follow up on. He, in contrast, had felt almost giddy at the admission. He'd told her a little of how he felt, and the world hadn't opened up beneath his feet to swallow him. And then the reality of the situation had swept back over the two of them, and then they'd gone back to work. Willing enough to ride with him, Sara had never come to really understand the freedom he felt on roller coasters, but she had come to share his love of baseball. And the 51s.
"I know we won't be able to make a lot of the games, but I figure you can give the tickets away, if you want. They have an 'unused ticket day' for season ticket holders at the end of the season. Maybe you can take a group from the lab." She was over-talking, unusually uncertain of his reaction to the gift.
"Sara, hush. I love them! I can't wait for Opening Day! Thank you!" He then reached under the tree, pulling out a small package wrapped in paper with a pine tree pattern.
"And this is for you." He held it out, his eyes brimming with excitement. Sara took the box carefully and paused before opening it.
"Go on, open it," he urged gently. "It won't bite."
She looked up and met his gaze.
"I don't remember getting a real Christmas present before. Other than the entomology text you gave me. I mean, office Secret Santa gifts and that sort of thing, generic stuff so I had something to open when I was in foster care, but not a real present, that someone picked out for me. I suppose I must have when I was a little kid, but…" Her eyes welled up.
"Hey, hey," he said, moving close to her, putting an arm around her shoulders and tucking her in tight against him. "Don't cry, honey."
"I'm so glad to be spending Christmas here with you," she told him softly.
"Open the present, Sara," he replied with a smile.
Smiling back at him, eyes still glistening with tears, she peeled the wrapping off of the package. Inside there was a large envelope. She looked up at him curiously, then opened it. Inside were two plane tickets and a card. Sara opened the tickets.
"Boston?" she asked excitedly. She opened the card, which featured the Newbury Guest House on the cover.
"It just so happens that we both have off the same five day block coming up. You, incidentally, requested the days off to go visit friends in San Francisco, in case anyone asks. I'm supposed to be presenting at a conference which just happens to have been cancelled. So, rather than redoing the schedule…"
"You thought we might as well just leave it the way it is," Sara finished his comment with a smile.
"I want to walk with you in the snow in Boston, Sara. I want you to show me your Cambridge. And," he added with a grin, "I'd really like to go on a Fenway Park tour."
