Stormy Eyes, a csi fanfic

Disclaimer: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation does not belong to me. The characters are full of inspiration, intelligence, and intrigue that I can't help but borrow them a short while. I heartily enjoy the show and its premise. The events of this story are mine, but the characters are definitely not.

Author's Note: This is for b8kworm. Thank you for watching CSI in the first place. Thank you for getting me hooked. You know that I'll make you sorry for it.
For Angie and Maxine, who wanted sequels since "Compromise To Happiness".

Archives: the Graveyard, ShipperworldCSI, Working Love, mine. Anybody else, email me. I like to go visiting.

Pairing(s): G/C

Sequel to "Souvenir (Snapshots)".

***** ***** *****

Title: Stormy Eyes

Author: Laeta
E-mail: ladylaeta@yahoo.com

Hands wove their way through his hair; he loathed to awaken. Sleep was comfortable and his dreams were always pleasant these days. Her voice reminded him that his happiness was completely real and was not leaving anytime soon.

A beautiful face lit by a brilliant smile greeted him as he left his dreams for an even better reality. She sat on the edge of the bed with a leg folded beneath her; a warm hip pressed itself deliciously into his chest as she half leaned and half twisted so she could see the whole of his face.

She watched expectantly as a moment of surprise flashed through his eyes before his mind re-caught up with his heart; he always woke like this. It was as though he still expected the night before was yet another fantasy. Catherine had no intention of letting Grissom go because here was a man who would never take her for granted. The method of his waking was evident enough; she tried to always wake before him so she could see that initial flash of surprise because of the smile that always followed. Ah, there it was.

"Hey."

"Sleep well?"

"Yeah."

He reached out his arms and drew her body to settle more comfortably against him.

"How long have you been up?"

"Long enough to bake a few things and make dinner with Lindsey. You have enough time for a shower before you need to go."

Reluctance tugged at Grissom. The thought that he would probably spend the night - shift or not - without Catherine, the first in ten days, was enough to have him wanting to throw the covers over their heads and ignore everything in reality for the next forty-eight hours. So, he did exactly that verbally.

"Hmm. Maybe I could come up with a reason not to go." An eyebrow raised in challenge.

She laughed. "Gil, think long and hard before you ask something like that. You know how persuasive I can be."

"Point taken." He sat up and Catherine ran her arms up his chest to loop around his neck. Yet, the comfortable ease of their positions persuaded him to continue his original train of though. "But do you think anybody would notice if I took the night off?"

"Hey. That means you get two holidays off. Not fair."

"But I'm the supervisor." He had to laugh at the face she pulled.

"Uh-huh. Get out of bed. Lindsey and I'll drive you to the lab."

She moved too quickly for him to grab a kiss in his seated position. Easily remedying that, he cornered his willing prey against the door and claimed his kiss. Lowering his forehead to hers, he embraced her. It was one of those extraordinary simple actions that bespeaks of a sweet eternity and then some. Catherine had a hunch that if she told Grissom about the addictive quality of his hugs, he would inadvertently drown her in them. Then she would have to admit that she found it fairly easy to drown in his eyes and that would not do at all.

So, she roughly pushed him on his way for the shower and slipped out of his answering lunge. A laugh followed her out of the room as she left his presence in favor for her daughter's.

True to her word, Catherine drove Grissom to the lab after dinner while on her way to drop Lindsey off at Eddie's place. She ejected him out of the car after extracting a promise of a call if the caseload was heavy that night. With Lindsey spending the holiday with Eddie and Grissom at work, she had to find a way to spend the evening. After all, she was only passing time at Sam Braun's New Year's Eve party at the Tangier's because she was not working and Grissom was vehement that she would try to take the night easy.

And so, with little flourish, Grissom started his first shift without Catherine since they first re-began life with their night time dance on Christmas Eve. He had a dual murder from the night before to continue sifting through so the other criminalist on duty was left with hit-and-run Brass introduced him to.

Midnight came and flew over Grissom as he burrowed deeper and deeper into the muck of the killer's scent. The only hint he received that the year had changed was the cheers coming from a ways down the hall as the rest of the lab's occupants celebrated. He would not share the little message on his beeper that promised him a private celebration when shift ended. He considered distractedly that the end was not arriving quite that quickly enough.

Eventually the revelry quieted down and Grissom seriously was contemplating the purchase of a digital clock as the ticking of the current analog clock was grating his patience. Then just as he settled himself down, Sara walked in to brief him on her case; then she blindsided him into the realm of shock with a proposal.

Sputtering, it took Grissom a mere instant to figure a response. "I can't, Sara."

"Why not? It's tradition. You weren't there with the rest of us before, so I'm asking you now."

He tried to scrap together all of his knowledge of human behavior to weasel out of the question gently. The situation was delicate and he could not afford to destroy the situation so much that he, Catherine, and Sara could no longer work as a team; everything rode on this conversation that had been avoided since Sara's arrival in Vegas.

"Because I'm with someone else and, in good conscious, I can't kiss you when I'd rather kiss her. You deserve better."

"What? Since when?"

"Since when what?"

"Since when have your feelings for me changed?"

Sara watched in morbid fascination when Grissom cringed. She could not understand why; had she read his signals incorrectly? With his next words, she knew she had.

"Feelings for you? I've never had any - no, I do. I respect you. You are a brilliant woman and an amazing scientist and investigator. That's where it ends. I'm sorry; I've been in love with Catherine long before I met you."

Still, bites sting. "Unbelievable! Then what was all - then why did you single me out?"

"I did? You need to believe me, I didn't realize -"

"And you've never had any feelings for me."

She dropped into a chair in a daze. He could not imagine the feelings running through her, but maybe he could. Similar to her, he had pinned his hopes around a single wish. The difference lie in that his came true.

"All this time, I thought -" She trailed off.

"What?"

"Nothing. It's embarrassing. You know, actually, there really is nothing more embarrassing than when the man you thought was your dream man tells you that he's in love with another woman."

She refused to meet Grissom's gaze. It was one thing to trust your heart to someone and another thing entirely to confess your deepest and most secret wish.

"When I was little, I had this recurring dream where the most handsome boy promised to always take care of me. My parents have always been into the new age stuff and Mom told me that he was my soul mate. I never remember what he looked like, only that he understood me. I can only remember that he had the most amazing, light-colored, stormy eyes."

"I come in where?"

"Your eyes are blue. And, well, I've started having the dreams again, since you asked me to come to Vegas. I really thought you were the one. You probably think this is really stupid."

"Sara, I'm a scientist, too, but I believe in love. How can I not? Especially now. But I do find a few things that don't make complete sense."

"Like what?"

"Well, you said the dreams started since coming to Vegas?" A nod. "And since I asked you, you thought it was me?" Another nod. "Sara, if it was me, don't you think that the dreams would have started again when I first met you? At the seminar course I taught while you were at Harvard?"

She was thinking furiously. She hated when Grissom was right, about everything, but this time, this time, if he was right, that meant -

"My dream man is someone I met here. Who? There's so many!"

"I think your dreams will help you there."

"Huh?"

"Maybe you should pay more attention to your dreams. They're probably trying to tell you something."

"Thanks, Gris. For not -"

The ringing of the phone interrupted the conversation. Sara rose and knew it was Catherine by the look cemented on Grissom's face. She waved her farewell as she pointed out the time: the first shift of the new year was now officially over.

In the privacy of the locker room, Sara let out a laugh; it was both frustrated and embarrassed. Though, she did find it interesting how something so irrational as love and soul mates are could be thought of in such a logical manner as Grissom discussed it. She would never know how he did it.

Coming from the locker room, Sara passed Grissom office and heard its owner's distinct voice overlaid by the laughter in a woman's pitch. Curiosity may have killed the cat but cats also have nine lives. Sara peeked into the room through the slightly ajar door.

They were standing next to the desk and his face was aglow. There was no mistaking the way his hands slid around her waist or the easy twine of her arms around his neck. Nor the lean of her svelte body into his larger frame or her coaxing of his willing head for the kiss. The scene in front of Sara spoke of a man who belonged to the woman in his arms and was completely happy about it as well as a woman who had finally found peace and an anchor.

Soundlessly tugging the door the small distance necessary to afford the couple complete privacy, Sara made a promise to herself. She wanted what Grissom and Catherine had, and she would settle for nothing less. She had a feeling that her stormy-eyed dream man was not that far away in her life of this new year.