Dare-Soñar: FYI, Nevada's age of consent is 16. We'll pretend like it's 18 for the story.

7- "Can't Talk Right Now..."

Greg was back at work and by 9 o' clock that night. He almost couldn't stand it.

The Laws of Physics magically stopped working. He had NO work, forgot his new CD, and time was ticking away impossibly slowly. Also, his brain could not stop clicking off Ari's face. He was dying of suspense overdose.

"Greg?" Someone said. He was lying sprawled out in the middle of the lab in silence. He snapped up and saw Warrick and Nick.

"Thank God, you guys. Please tell me someone was murdered or raped or robbed so I can process something. I have the inexplicable urge to process. Give me anything. Heck, I'll process your DNA."

They stared at him wide-eyed, shocked at his babbling.

"Perhaps you need me. Do you need me for something? I can do any little pathetic CSI Level 1 chore. Want me to find a bottle silencer again? I will! I'll search all over Las Vegas."

"No, Greg, we-"

"I got it! You want to pay me back for that whole Birthday thing, eh Mr. Stokes? Fine! Find me a Playstation 2, I could-"

"GREG!" They both yelled in unison.

That shut him up.

"Yes?" He said, somewhat passively.

"We just came here because we haven't heard from you in awhile. Afraid you died. "

"Hmm." Greg said thoughtfully, "That would be a cause for upset, huh? Well, I can tell you two that I am fine. Dandy. Happily so dandy that I could not explain how fine and dandy I am, in fact."

They stared at him again.

"Hi." He said, as if seeing them for the first time. They nodded uneasily and left, and Greg collapsed in a chair. At that moment, his cell phone rang, causing him to jump about a foot into the air.

"Sanders." He said as he answered the phone.

"Greg?" It was Ari.

"Ari!" He said, a little too eagerly, "How are you? How did the interview go?"

"Greg, something bad is going to happen. I need to see you."

He sat up rigid. "Anytime or anyplace. Just give the word."

"Now. In the parking lot."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes. Unless I am at the wrong Las Vegas Crime Lab."

She hung up on him and he looked at his phone, as if it would have an answer.

Sneaking out of the LVCL wasn't that hard (he had done it before), but the fact that he was worried about the edginess in Ari's voice made it slightly more difficult. All of the CSIs were out, Nick and Warrick being called out right after their run-in with spastic Greg.

He walked into the parking lot and spotted her right away. She was in the passenger seat of a car.

He waved and ran over to her, and saw Lance in the front seat. Before he could say anything, she said, "Lance, tell him."

Lance smiled nervously and then said, "Uh... after you left I overheard a conversation the doctor was having with another nurse. After you and Ari had admitted to having sexual intercourse when she was a minor, the doctors were talking about having you arrested."

Greg took a step back, as if he were slapped. "Seriously? But... the baby isn't really mine."

Ari nodded, "I know, but there is no way to prove that we didn't do it, and since we both admitted to it, they could have you arrested for statutory rape. And by the sound of those doctors, they are going to."

Greg gasped.

"They are planning on arresting you tomorrow when you come in."

Greg stood there, wide-eyed, "But- but if I get arrested in my job it doesn't matter if I am innocent, they fire you without asking anything or..." He inhaled deeply, trying to calm himself down.

"Greg, Lance snuck me out of the hospital because we already found a solution to this problem." She paused awkwardly. "A drastic solution, but it can be temporary once this thing blows over."

"What?" Greg asked, curious.

"Well... um... it would be legal if... well.. if we were legal... and now that I am... it wouldn't have to be permanent... we wouldn't even have to see each other... it's just for the paper... I just-"

"What are you talking about?" Greg asked, trying unsuccessfully to calm down.

"You guys have to get married. Get in the car, now." Lance said, opening his back door and walking over to the driver's seat.

Greg gaped in shock, standing there stupidly, but he already knew that they were correct. In a shocked stupor, Greg got into the back seat as Lance drove them to the nearest Wedding Chapel.

Ari, Greg and Lance were the only ones there, but soon the pastor (Elvis) walked in and about thirty minutes later the ceremony had begun.

Lance was the witness, along with a somewhat grim looking pianist. When Elvis got around to the "I do's", he paused.

"What?" Arianna and Greg asked in unison.

Elvis sighed and shut his Bible slowly. He leaned in and said, "I have lived in Las Vegas all my life. Been doing this for eleven years, and I have seen plenty of couples whose marriages haven't lasted two days afterwards. But they all had something in common."

The three looked at him.

"For that one moment at night, everyone was happy. Even if it wasn't a good thing to do, everyone thought it would be at that particular moment. You guys don't even look like you know each other."

Before anyone could respond, Greg's cell phone rang.

"Huh?" He answered intelligently.

"GREG!" Grissom burst through the phone, causing him to hold it several inches away from his ear. "Where on this sweet earth are you?"

Greg paused, looked to Ari and winked coolly, finally allowing her to smile back.

"Can't talk right now, Grissom. I'm getting married." He hung up the phone and powered it off. Then, he smiled serenely at Ari.

"I've always wanted to do that." He said, and she laughed back, but at once she turned totally serious as she said unsurely, "You're not mad at me, are you?"

"C'mon, you saved my life. I can at least marry you temporarily, eh?" He laughed quietly.

After they both said, "I do" and received the wedding license, Lance first dropped Greg off at the LVCL. Greg stuck his head through the window and said, "Well, that was fun. I'll see you today, when the sun rises."

She smiled at him and held on to the license. "I'll be keeping this."

He politely kissed her on the cheek, just as he did after Elvis said it was now time to kiss the bride. He winked at her again, and they drove off. It was 3:30 am.

Instead of returning to work, Greg decided to just go home and sleep. He suddenly felt very tired. So he fell back on his bed, and fell to sleep.

This is possibly the most boring wedding night on record, he thought to himself right before he fell to sleep.

And yet, he couldn't stop smiling.

"Oh those lions they can eat my body / But they can't-SLINKY- swallow my soul / But they keep on tryin' to crash my party / But they can't-SLINKY- get control! No no!"
-Lost and Found "Lions (Slinky Song)"