Greg's head peered around the door. The crooked grin on his face showed he was up to something, but what it was, Jilaine didn't know. "Come here." She followed him into her living room and watched as he sat down on the couch.
"What's going on?" she asked quietly.
"Sit down." She sat next to him and he scratched at his head. "We have a slight problem here."
"What's that?"
"A problem? Well, it's when things come up that contradict what you expected to happen, thus leaving you in a complete state of surprise and completely unprepared."
"Greg, I know what a problem is. What's our problem?"
"We work too much," he answered with a grin, shaking his head. "And we work with Grissom. It's enough to make anyone crazy."
"Tell me what the problem is!" she laughed.
"Maybe this should wait until after dinner," he began, his voice trailing off as his eyes scanned the room.
"Talk to me," she said softly. "You can tell me, whatever it is."
"I…umm…have a girlfriend."
"Yeah, right, stop playing." The grin on his face gave him away instantly.
"Why is it so hard to believe that I would have a girlfriend?"
"It's not, it's hard to believe that you would cheat on one." He blushed and stared at her shoes. "So what's this big problem we have?"
"For starters, I like you."
"And that's a problem how?"
"Because. I'm terrible at relationships. Girls always assume different things about me or think I'm something I'm not."
"And what do you think they are?" she asked and reclined against the back of the couch.
"This goofy lab tech guy. Which, I mean, for all intensive purposes I am, but I have other qualities too, you know."
"I know," she said softly.
"Or they think that because I'm funny, I'm not smart, or because I'm smart, I'm cocky, or because I'm fuzzy and adorable, that I'm not sexy." She glanced up to see if he was joking, but it was painfully clear that he wasn't.
"I don't think any of that about you, Greg." She paused carefully to choose her words. "You are funny, you are smart, you are fuzzy and adorable, and you are sexy. You're a multi-layered person."
"Thank you. I don't know, I guess I just don't trust relationships. Or myself in relationships." He paused and added, "Or women in relationships." A tiny grin escaped her lips and she reached for his hand, interlocking their fingers.
"I'm not asking you to trust me right off the bat. That's impossible. But I do like you. I really do. And I wouldn't intentionally do anything to jeopardize that." He nodded silently and she scooted closer to him, kissing his shoulder through his shirt. With an afterthought, she added, "Besides, you're a really good kisser," and peeked up at him with a grin.
"You don't even know the half of it," he said quietly with a smirk and locked his eyes with hers.
"Will I find out?"
"Definitely." He glanced at his watch then the kitchen. "Dinner should be almost ready, I'm going to go check." She nodded and curled up into the corner of the couch, watching him pull the chicken out of the oven through the doorframe. He had mentioned all that before, that he had never really been taken seriously by women, but she had no idea he was that insecure about it. She decided at that moment that she would be the one to finally take him seriously. She was going to figure out Greg Sanders if it was the last thing she did.
