"Ok, who's next?" asked Nick. "Greg or Sara?"
"That depends," Sara laughed. "Which one of us has to act Grissom out?"
"Good point," added Greg, "although no one's done Sara yet..." Sara wasn't looking in the right direction to see Grissom's blush.
"Yeah, I don't think we're nice enough to let Sara act Sara out!" Warrick added his two cents.
"Well, you all do realize that even though there are only two left to act Charades, there are three people left to act out," Nick commented. He could see the confusion in their faces, and laughed as he added, "You all didn't think I would be dumb enough to let you all yell out the obvious answer when we came to the last Charades, do you?" He laughed harder at the chorus of 'awww!' 'oh man!' complaints that echoed around the room. This sure was fun!
"Greg, you're up." Nick smiled as he caught Grissom's relieved look, and then he was shocked to see the older man surreptitiously scoot over on the couch to be closer to Sara. 'That must be some cake!' he thought to himself. He brushed the thought away and focused on Greg.
"You've got Sara," he whispered to him. Nick thought Greg was disappointed for a second, then the lab tech indicated the group behind them with his head.
"Gotta keep a poker face, Nicky!" Greg winked at him and then turned around to his audience.
The first thing Greg did was to pretend to be upset at Nick's choice for him, just to soften them all up. What he really wanted to do would give the game away immediately, so he knew to keep it interesting he'd have to be mysterious for a while. Greg pretended to be puzzled at how to begin, as he studied the faces of his co-workers. Catherine looked amused, and Warrick was looking at Catherine in such a way that Greg was sure the other man had no idea anyone could see the expression on his face. Grissom looked relaxed, as he grinned at Sara. 'Grinned?' Sara was watching to see what Greg would do next, but as he watched the two of them, she turned to see Grissom's grin and blushed. 'Blushed?!'
"Do you suddenly feel like a 5th wheel?" Greg turned to whisper to Nick, who nodded. Greg was happy to see Grissom finally starting to pay attention to Sara. He could tell how hurt she was when he didn't. All of a sudden he got an idea, the perfection of which dazzled him. Once, he'd heard about something Sara had done for Grissom, and it had fired his jealousy. Now, he decided he would act it out in order to encourage the actions his boss seemed to be taking tonight. He moved quickly; he didn't want to lose his nerve.
Grissom was captivated by Sara's charming blush when he realized he ought to be paying attention to the game they were playing. He looked up to see Greg advancing on the couch, and before he knew it the younger man was standing next to him. Greg took a deep breath, and placed his hand close to Grissom's cheek...
Sara caught herself before she yelled out her own name. It would be interesting to see if Grissom owned up to the action she'd taken. Everyone in the room seemed to be holding their breath--so much so that when Grissom spoke, nearly all of them jumped in their seats in surprise.
"I hope you're not implying that Nick has feelings for me, Greg." His dry tone of voice upset Sara at first, before she fully comprehended what he'd said. The sound of her own voice shocked her almost as much as Grissom's had--she spoke quickly, without thinking.
"Are you saying that touching someone's face like that implies they have feelings for you, Grissom?"
"I..." He was at a complete loss for words. Grissom looked around to see if anyone would rescue him from this awkward situation. He made eye contact with Catherine...
"Do you have a guess, Gil?" Catherine's comment did nothing to dispel the feeling of dread creeping in the pit of his stomach. If anything, it made it worse--did everyone know about it? 'Everyone DOES know, Gil--remember the investigation -?' He shifted his gaze to Warrick, who smiled at him slightly, pity evident in his face.
"Its me." Sara got up from her perch on the couch and pretended she needed to stretch her legs; walk around the room. She had made clear, in her tone of voice, that she was pretty unhappy with the way the game had evolved. What she had really wanted to do...
"Its me." Sara stood up and walked over to where Greg was still standing, hesitantly, next to Grissom. "But you got it all wrong, Greg--it goes like this:" Sara smiled sweetly down at Grissom, then raised her hand as if to stroke him gently on the cheek. She didn't, however. The resounding *SMACK* sound of her hand against his face wasn't lost on anyone in the room.
"Much better," Sara said, in satisfaction.
Sara was brought out of her daydream to the sound of Nick's voice, tallying the scores.
"Looks like Grissom and Sara are tied, folks."
Dead silence.
Nick coughed, partly to dispel the tension, partly in embarrassment. "Looks like we get to pick another game," he said.