O I have no idea where my mind has gone. Remember…think TwoP ("lines you'll never hear on CSI") and other fics…have fun!
Read on!
"Niiiiice apartment."
"It's a townhouse."
"Oh."
"Where can I put this?"
"Uh—."
"Here, I'll take it."
"Wow, niiice big screen."
Grissom looked down at Nick.
"It's technically a 'widescreen'."
"Oh."
"Gil?"
"Yes Catherine."
"Where are your wineglasses, they aren't where they used to be."
Nick and Warrick exchanged glances.
"They're under the—."
"No, they're over the dishwasher," Sara interrupted, putting down the small box she was carrying. "The right hand cabinet, middle shelf." She tossed her coat down on the couch next to Warrick.
All four of them looked at her suspiciously.
"What?"
"O nothing."
* * * * * * * * *
"Here."
"Thanks."
Grissom remained standing there, but he didn't say anything.
"Gil."
"Catherine."
"Stop hovering."
He looked at her.
"I'm not hovering."
"Yes you are."
"No—."
"Gil."
"Catherine—it's my house—."
"Townhouse."
"Yea whatev—."
"Anything I can help with?" Sara strolled into the kitchen, opening the fridge nonchalantly. They both looked at her. Grissom glanced at Catherine again, before speaking.
He sighed.
"Actually, Sara—there's something I want to ask you." Sara gave him a quizzical look. Catherine smiled to herself.
"Yea?"
"Yea—how is it that—you—all of you—are here?"
Sara slowly closed the refrigerator door, uncapping her water
"It's—a—kinda hard to believe actually—."
"Try me."
"I mean—if I wasn't sitting down when I heard it—who knows what would have happened," she took a sip of her water.
"You missed it Gil, it was great," Catherine chimed in.
He seemed thoroughly confused. Catherine handed him a glass of wine.
"Here have this first."
"Why?" He took the drink, but didn't drink it.
"Cuz trust me, you're gonna need it. Here in fact—have two," she handed him another one. He put his hand up to decline. She set it down on the counter.
"Cath—what's going o—."
"Drink." She clanged her glass against his, and took a swig. He remained motionless.
"Drink."
He politely took a sip.
That's when he noticed the two Cheshire Cat grins.
Catherine raised her glass in the air.
"To vacation."
"Vacat—?"
"To a long vacation!"
"Long vac—?" His eyes danced wildly between the two.
Sara and Catherine looked at each other with devilish smiles. They both raised their drinks.
"To a month off!"
* * * * * * * * *
"Wine?"
"A whole month."
"I'll get some more glasses."
"Can you grab some napkins too?"
"Don't sound so down about it."
"I'm gone for two days and look what happens."
"O Gil. Don't beat yourself up about it," Cath reassured him. "There's nothing you could have done."
"Actually Cath—he could have."
"Funny Nick. But no—the crime rates' dropped. They don't need us right now." She took a sip of her wine.
"You say that like it makes perfect sense."
She shrugged.
"Who am I to question a month of paid vacation?"
"Napkin?" Grissom looked up at Sara, then back at Catherine
"This is lunacy—."
"But a month off! Think of it Gil—a month to do whatever you want—and you'd still get paid for it!" She downed the rest of her drink. "I can finally spend some time with Linds, and you—can—do something—."
"Yea—and Sara can finally learn how to relax," Nick chimed in.
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," Sara said menacingly as she sat down next to Grissom.
"Ok, ok—," Grissom sighed. "Even though it's not making any sense whatsoever—say I go along with this whole—cockamamie story—."
"Good word," Sara joked quietly. Grissom looked at her.
"Thanks. But—say I go along with this 'story'—that doesn't explain what all of you are doing here on your night off," he paused. "And why the hell you're driving a minivan."
"What's wrong with a minivan?" Catherine asked, pouring herself more wine. "They pull great U-e's" she said mischievously in the direction of Warrick.
"That they do. That they do," Warrick said quietly, with an amused look on his face.
"Since a—we don't have to work for a month, they took the Tahoes back, and gave us the vans," Nick supplied.
"Why?"
Nick shrugged.
"Cheaper maybe? And maybe see if we'll like 'em better."
"I know I won't," Sara said absentmindedly, while pulling some fuzz off of her shirt. "They're such—teenybopper mobiles."
"Teenybopper mobiles?" Grissom seemed confused by that statement.
"Yea—and there's no room."
"No room?"
"Yes there was."
"You weren't sitting in the back Warrick."
"True—."
"There was no room to stretch or anything. It was such a cramped feeling."
"Space is good," Grissom said with a secret smile on his face.
"Yes. Yes it is." Sara took another sip of wine, as so to hide her own smile.
"What—why would you need to stretch out in the Tahoe?" Catherine interrupted. Grissom froze. Meanwhile Sara tried not to choke on her drink.
"Suppose something happens, that causes one of you to feel faint," Grissom improvised. "Are you ok?" he asked Sara gently. She nodded.
"What? When has that ever happened?" Nick jumped in.
"Well—I'm just saying that it's—."
"A viable reason. You never know," Sara supplied, wiping her mouth with a napkin.
"Riiiiight. And I'm really a blonde." Catherine said sarcastically.
"You're not?"
"No. Of course not. Now what's really going on here?"
The rest of them seemed confused. Her non-blonde statement seemed to have thrown them off the track.
"Going on where?"
"O don't play coy with me Ms. Sidle. I've been an investigator for ten years—."
"I thought fifteen."
"What?"
"I thought you said you've been a CSI for fifteen years," Warrick said, slightly confused.
"No—ten years.'
"But you said—."
"Ten, Warrick. I think I know how long I've been working—."
"Actually I thought it was fifteen too," Nick said taking his eyes off Grissom and Sara.
Catherine looked at everybody.
"Ten—fifteen—it doesn't matter!" She put her glass down on the coffee table. "Look at this. They're trying to distract us!"
"What?!"
"Cath—how much have you had to drink? It's not even 9 yet—."
"O shuddup Nicky. You haven't seen me drunk—."
"Catherine."
"What."
"Maybe y-you should switch to water," Grissom said cautiously.
"What?! No—I'm not drunk. Jesus you're doing it again!" The four looked at each other, each one as confused as the next.
"Doing what exactly?"
"Doing that—avoiding the subject. You do it all the time!"
"Cath—even though you're right—you're not making any sense," Nick said gently.
"No. I'm gonna get an answer outta him this time whether he likes it or not!"
"Cath—."
"No Warrick, he's not going to get away this time," her eyes narrowed. "And neither is she."
Nick and Warrick looked at Sara, whose mouth was open in surprise.
"Me? I haven't done anythin—."
"Do you know you blush when you lie?" Catherine gave her an evil grin.
"Wh—th-that's the—um—alcohol. It a o-opens up the blood vessels causing—."
"You know she's right," Nick said squinting. "You weren't so red a minute ago."
"Th-then it's just taken eff—."
"O Sara. Give it up."
Sara just looked at her.
"Give what up?"
Catherine gave a heavy sigh.
"How long have you two been together?"
Stunned silence.
"Who—."
"You and Grissom."
Sara and Grissom looked at eachother.
"Well—um—how long has it been?" she asked. "Two—three—four—four months on the fifteenth," Sara said, with suprising confidence. Catherine wasn't expecting that. Grissom, meanwhile remained quiet.
"Ah HA! I knew there was something going on!" Catherine deduced, her drink now back in her hand. The four looked at her.
"Dude—Cath. You didn't know?" Nick asked. Catherine looked at him, confused.
"Didn't know—you already knew?!"
"Well, yea. I thought everybody knew—."
"I knew," Warrick chimed in, leaning back into the couch.
"What the—how—who—."
"We thought you knew."
"Yea, we thought that you knew, that we knew, that they knew, that we knew."
It took her a moment to figure out what Nick meant by that statement.
"Looks like you were the last to know—."
"Astute observation Gil," she glared at him. "When was I gonna find out?"
He shrugged.
"All you had to do was ask." She gave him a Look.
"You won't even give me the time of day—."
"My watch is broken." Her jaw dropped.
"This is cra—."
"I thought it was obvious," Nick interjected. "They were always in each other's personal space and stuff. All those smiles, how could you not notice?"
"Yea—an investigator of 'ten years' such as yourself should have figured it out," Warrick teased, trying to lighten the mood. Catherine remained quiet, to stunned to speak.
"Look, Catherine, if it makes you feel any better—I can tell you something that they don't know," Sara offered.
The four looked at her. She looked at Grissom.
"We're gonna have to tell them sooner of later," she said quietly. He pursed his lips together, as if he was thinking.
"Tell us what?" Nick asked, thoroughly interested.
"Should I?" she asked quietly. The older man shrugged.
"Tell us what Sara?"
She looked at the group. Her eyes dancing like wildfire as a smile spread across her face.
After a moment of silence, she spoke.
"We're also married."
TBC….