Title: Taking the Cake Authors: Geek and Peggie Rating: NC-17 Spoilers: None Pairing: G/Original Character, C/W, N/OC, G/OC Disclaimers: Yeah, yeah, we know we still don't own them......but we have fun with them anyway! Thanks: Heidi for Beta-ing (She's the best!). Grissom's Girl for inspiring it!



Grissom awoke. Or at least he presumed he was awake. The way he felt, he could well have been dead. He couldn't remember EVER feeling this bad.

His head pounded, like a dozen jackhammers drilling in his skull. His lips were dry as the desert, and his tongue - he tried to move it, but apparently someone had come in and fitted carpets on it overnight, no carpets wasn't quite right, parquet flooring perhaps? It felt wooden enough, he remembered seeing on Discovery about something cows got - wooden tongue? Well he pitied those poor cows.

He lay there, unwilling, or unable to move. At this exact moment he wasn't sure which; but he knew that trying to move was not a good idea.

Slowly he opened his eyes, the light seared his eyeballs, causing him to flinch, and quickly shut them again.the pain was extraordinary. *Why was light so bright? Shame you couldn't get a dimmer for the sun.*

The slightest movement made the room spin bringing waves of nausea, so he lay perfectly still.hoping his head wouldn't explode.

As he lay there, reveling in total misery.he thought back over how he'd gotten into this sorry state.

It was his bachelor party, not that he'd wanted one, but Doc Robbins and Brass had insisted, and of course Nick and Warrick had to come, and then Greg had had to come. All of which meant it wasn't going to be the quiet drink he'd hoped for, and he had a feeling that he'd been outmaneuvered somewhere along the line.

They had agreed to a quiet drink, somewhere comfortable to start with.but a short time later and a few beers along, another, * livelier * bar had been suggested.

God! His head hurt! If he missed his wedding because of.... missed the Wedding? Wedding - why did that...? No, he didn't miss the wedding. He had vague recollections of a wedding. Laughing. Smiling. Kissing the Bride. His? He didn't think so, but in his sorry state, he wasn't sure.

Noise from the kitchen roused him from his thoughts. Coffee. He could smell it. Now if he could only move without tearing his insides out. Hmmm. He rolled slowly to his right shoulder. So far so good. Next he slid his feet over the side of the bed. Whoa! Taking deep breaths, he waited for the pounding in his head to subside a little. Gently, he pushed himself upright, eyes still closed. Moving slowly, he rose from the bed and turned towards the door. Barely opening his eyes, he headed towards the bathroom and into a hot shower.

Standing under the stream of hot water, his mind cleared a little. He remembered drinking. A lot. Then a back room.... somewhere, and a cake. CAKE?! "Oh my God, no!" His voice reverberated off the tile walls. He was suddenly very sober. His right hand grabbed the shower door as his left hit the lever that turned off the water. Grissom grabbed a towel, wrapped it around his waist and yanked open the bathroom door, eyes wide.

She was there, real, and still asleep, a soft smile gracing her lips. Her red hair spilled across his pillow. The woman from the cake. Gil ran his left hand through his wet curls. Something felt odd. He glanced at his hands....

There, for all the world to see. was a wedding ring. It looked exactly like the ring he'd picked out for his own wedding. Which he hadn't yet had. Had he?

Galvanized into action, he almost ran down the stairs, having to stop himself from falling at least twice. At the bottom, he stopped and fought his nausea. Once he could move again, he headed for the kitchen and some answers.