By Jane Doe
Disclaimer: I do not own CSI and all research done for this is accessible by the Encyclopedia Smithsonian. Everything else is my imagination. Blah, blah, blah.
Notes: The final part...Horray! I again apologize for the tardiness. Time slipped away from me for quite awhile. 'Mutual Feelings' is next to be updated so please hang in there. Anyway, thank you for the reviews and please let me know what you think of the grand finale.
Part IV: Post-Mating Behavior
After mating, there is danger for some males. For example, praying mantis females sometimes eat their mates, starting with the head. Oddly enough the male mantis continues mating even though his head is gone!
"Grissom, you are being such an ass!" She spat the words over her shoulder as she jumped out of the Tahoe.
He threw the emergency brake in place and angrily stepped out of the car. "There is no reason for your behavior, Sara! Now get in the car!"
"No!" She marched off into the desert morning angrily kicking small pebbles with her foot. "I'll walk home."
"Like hell you're walking home." He slammed the door to the Tahoe. "Get in the car."
She didn't answer. He hated the silence more than the yelling. She knew it and used her knowledge well. He found that loving Sara was the easiest thing he allowed himself to do. Once she pried herself into his life completely, he realized that nothing so right could ever be a mistake. On the other hand, fighting with her required every ounce of energy he possessed and was anything but simple.
"You are acting like such a child!" He yelled.
"Me?!" She huffed spinning to face him. "You had no right to treat me like that! It was disrespectful!"
"If you weren't being so...so bullheaded, like usual, you might understand why I was trying to get through to you. It was a bad call! And believe me Warrick is going to hear about this too!"
"I acted on my own will! Warrick had nothing to do with what happened!"
"He wasn't there to keep that bastard from touching you, was he?!" His voice cracked into a hoarse shout. "For Christ's sake Sara, take a look at your wrists!"
He tried to blink away the image of the greasy bum that had Sara shoved against the interrogation room wall with her hands helplessly pinned to her sides. That creep's body near hers, touching her. Thank God he got there in time to stop a possible powerful fist connecting with her face. He didn't even want to envision her with a battered face.
Standing there in the morning light, Sara resisted the urge to view the damage done to her wrists. She hadn't felt the pain. She was just too distracted because her plan worked to notice the bruising. That was the point and really all that mattered. It had worked. She didn't feel immediate danger and thought nothing of her predicament until Grissom barged through the door.
His face was one of emotional fear and pure hatred. His strong hands pulled the suspect away from her to send him cascading into the table with a loud screech. "Stay away from her."
Grissom positioned himself between Sara and the suspect expecting retaliation. Although she couldn't see Grissom's face, she knew he was more than a little upset and no one could defend themselves from that. In fact, she had never seen him so outwardly angry in all the years she had known him. And for some reason that scared her. She wasn't afraid of Grissom. He would never purposefully hurt her in any way. She was terrified Grissom could get hurt trying to gain the control she lost or lose further control.
In the instant these thoughts and more ran through her head it was over. Brass and Warrick, whom she shouldn't have tricked into leaving her alone, charged through the door with their guns drawn. Brass read the suspect his rights and led him away. And for a very long time.
"It was enough to hold him until we got the warrant. You and I both know that he would have destroyed the evidence given the opportunity. He was probably on his way home to get rid of it." She said finally trying to hold her ground, but her voice was weak.
"Do you realize if his lawyer even suspected that you bated his suspect, the case would be dismissed? Not to mention you could too!"
"It won't happen!" She yelled back feeling the agitation rise again in her stomach.
"I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were capable of seeing the future! Maybe I should borrow that crystal ball of yours some time."
She opened her mouth but snapped it shut only to narrow her eyes in his direction. It grew unbearably silent between the two. Seconds, or perhaps minutes, passed without a word spoken aloud.
"You still had no right to belittle me like that." She whispered finally then looked away. "The whole lab was watching us."
"I don't give a gnat's ass what the lab saw or thinks." He said grabbing his throbbing temples. "When I see someone hurting you, I will do everything in my power to stop it."
She faced him again. "That isn't the point and you know it. You took me to the car like I was an irresponsible child! And yelling at me was uncalled for. Just because we are intimate doesn't mean you have the right to treat me like..." She lost her train of thought. "I knew what I was doing!"
His breathing again came in quick rasps. "It was irresponsible! Dammit Sara when are you going to learn that some case isn't worth getting hurt over?!"
"I guess I am too irresponsible."
He paused to catch his breath before continuing slowly. "I am not sorry for pulling you out of there. No CSI should do what you did today for reasons of ethics and more importantly safety. Now please get in the car."
She rolled her eyes considering his words in some form of an apology. She inhaled deeply and without a word she stalked by his distraught figure towards the Tahoe. The loud slam of the door died away in the rising heat but confirmed her presence in the passenger seat. He squinted against the sunlight for relief, but only caused more pain behind his eyes. He ran a tired hand through his hair before walking to the car and driving home.
-------------------
"How are your wrists?" He asked at a careful distance by the doorway.
She looked up from her novel for only a second before dropping her brown eyes back to the page. "They are fine."
He cautiously entered the room still uncertain if it was safe. "Do you need an ice pack? Or some aspirin?"
"No thanks." She whispered pretending to be deeply involved in her book.
He frowned and decided he wasn't going to get through to her fifteen feet away. He approached their bedside and sat by her legs. "Let me see them."
She had no intention to give in so he pulled the book from her hands.
"You lost my page." She said staring at the closed book. He gingerly brushed the fallen lock of hair away from her face, memorizing the silkiness as it lay between his fingers.
"You know exactly what page you were on." He said knowingly with a skeptical eyebrow. He turned his attention to her lithe wrists laying on her lap. She winced slightly when he ran his finger along the rim of a lightly colored bruise on the left side of her lower wrist. It wasn't as bad as it could have been or as bad as he made it out to be, but there nonetheless. "I thought you said they were fine."
"That was before you touched me." She said dryly. He lowered his lips until they met the tender skin of her wrists. She sighed and removed them from his seduction. "I'm still mad at you."
"I'm not happy with you either sweetheart." He ran his hand along the length of her outer thigh. "I think we can we agree to disagree."
"No." She said seriously but she smiled as his hands danced on her thigh effectively tickling her. "Stop. That tickles and isn't fair."
He climbed over her stretched out legs to his side of the bed to flop down. "We would have gotten him some way. We always do."
She huffed with annoyance. "Not always."
"We may not get them at first but eventually they make a mistake and we get them."
"At the expense of another victim?"
He lowered his eyes from her probing ones. "What are you reading?"
"You changed the subject."
"You are the most stubborn person I know. And it isn't a compliment." He replied with a half smile.
She slapped his arm. He avoided a second blow by pulling her into his arm. Once her head was settled on his chest a playful smile curled her lips as his hand wandered under her shirt to massage her back. Her eyes drifted shut enjoying the feel of his warm strong hand kneading her skin.
"I should suspend you." He whispered.
She rolled away from him causing his hand to slide away. "You won't because the couch isn't that comfortable."
"Is that a threat?" He teased as he began to sneak a hand across her exposed thigh again.
"Yes it is and I suggest you don't forget it." Her smile was wide but grew expectantly larger. "What are you doing?"
"Stroking my beetle."
"Huh?" She laughed. "What the hell are you...?"
"Never mind." He grinned as his hand danced across her skin.
"Whatever you think you are doing, you need to stop. Quit tickling me!" She tried to sound threatening but a giggle ultimately broke through. He disguised his smile with a pout as she removed his hand. "Come here you."
He slowly met her pursed lips lightly kissing her, but quickly broke away. "I know you know you shouldn't have bated the suspect and I'm not sorry for pulling you out, but my actions..."
"Could be considered as overboard." She finished.
"Yes, but you also crossed a line."
"Enough talk, okay? Are you coming to bed?" She said softly while admiring her hand rubbing his cheek.
"Why?" He said watching her sit up. "It's still early."
"I just asked if you were coming to bed." She grinned wildly over her shoulder at him. "But I didn't say we would be sleeping."
She extinguished the side lamp with a solid tug on the chain.
After mating the pair will separate. In Class Insecta, it is not uncommon for mates to leave each other and never meet again. Widespread fertilization is one of the reasons for such dramatic radiation of the species. However in higher classes of organisms choosing a mate for life is almost a ritual itself.
Six weeks had passed since their argument and makeup. As he stood watching her, he was reminded why he was so upset that day. The thought of losing her still provoked a pang in his chest, even if she just was across the room as she was now.
He closed the distance to her sleeping form. She was spread out across their bed adorned only in his shirt leaving her lavender fragrance on his manly clothing. When he finally reached her, he stood protectively shading the slits of morning sun from her eyes. She noticed the change in light behind her closed eyelids and rolled to her side of the bed sweeping a long welcoming leg across the mattress.
He removed his work clothes before climbing in, but did not move to take her in his arms. His pillow, still warm from her, shaped against his head as he took in the sight beside him. Patiently he waited for his eyes to adjust to her shapely outline to update everything in fine detail.
~~~~~ A search party consisting of Catherine, Warrick, Nick, and even Greg found Sara and Grissom leaning against the red SUV in the garage after their first kiss. The team made several jokes about putting a homing beacon on their boss before they realized the changes in both of them. In fact if they had entered through any of the other doors Grissom had indicated, they would have seen that Grissom had a firm hold on Sara's hand before he had time to release it. But they didn't and were left guessing as Sara and Grissom remained silent and resistant to the group's intrusion.
The shift ended shortly afterwards without any glances, touches, or words existing between them. Everyone went home to enjoy what was becoming a beautiful day. Well, everyone except Grissom. He wandered aimlessly around the city until he found himself at her apartment doorstep running on pure desire. He knocked and held his breath unsure and fearful of the consequences. She opened the door slightly surprised, but mostly soothed by his presence.
He closed the gap without words. The kiss had a purpose. His tongue had time to memorize her mouth in a long sweet agonizingly tender kiss. It steadily grew heated and before she could stop herself, she moaned longingly into his mouth. He answered back by whispering her name.
She guided him to her bedroom without a stumble or misstep.
Months later she held everything of appeal. He loved her body and more importantly how she used it. She had a beauty that he was blatantly attracted to because he wasn't afraid to be caught staring. At very close inspection her lip had a tiny scar, her eyes had a dark rim outlining her iris, and her fingers had the most beautiful prints he ever saw. In return she found more about Gruesome Grissom than she thought possible and fell more in love with Gil Grissom.
"You see," he was once saying sprawled across his bed next to her nine months later, "we accent each other as partials and beautifully merge as a completed whole. It's natural scientific logic."
She could not contribute how he made her feel to natural law, so she blamed it on being in love. But that's what they were: symmetric. Now complete. Now four years later. He couldn't live without her. She couldn't bear to lose him. ~~~~~
The hazy past drifted away when she lightly kissed his index finger that just made a trail from her jawbone to her lips.
"You're awake." He said stricken with mild shock.
She opened her eyes with a big Cheshire cat grin. "I felt you staring at me."
"Sorry." He said watching his finger run down her neck before dropping to the sheeted bed.
She reached for his left hand to lace it with her right. "What were you thinking about?"
"Us."
She brightened up fully awake. "And?"
"And...nothing. Just us." He said cryptically still dazed by the memory imprint.
"You were thinking about when I kissed you and we made love."
He smiled. "You're scary when you do that."
"Read your mind or have actual cognitive thoughts right after waking up?"
"Both." He answered causing her to giggle.
"How was work?" She asked after settling herself against him.
"Good. No new cases but some new breaks in those from the board. I read an article about mating rituals in insects, specifically beetles, that I found very interesting."
"You found something you didn't know about a beetle?" She was surprised.
"No, I found something that still fascinates me to this very day." He corrected.
"Which is?"
"That mating rituals or courtship rituals are beautiful and cross every species barrier. For example once the rare Australian Clay Beetle finds a mate..."
She interrupted. "If we were to relate ourselves to the mating rituals of insects, and I know you probably have, our species would be extinct because you took so long to 'court' me."
He let out a hearty laugh. "Never thought of it that way."
"That was the best day of my life by the way." She said when she met his eyes. "The day I decided to kiss you and accept the fact that I couldn't walk away."
"You were ready to leave?" He was solemn now. Almost sad.
"No. I was ready to stay."
He held onto her eyes for the longest of moments that always made her heart skip a few beats. "Happy first anniversary, Sara."
She squeezed his hand causing the gold band around his ring finger to dig into her skin. By first glance they were simple gold wedding bands, but a closer look revealed tiny leaves on a vine etched around her band and in a delicate scripture on the inside of his read: 'Give all to love; obey thy heart', which was a favorite quote by Emerson.
"I love you too, Gil Grissom." She whispered before their lips met.
_end