Sara and Grissom had managed to wrap up their case earlier in the shift, and now Grissom was supposedly doing the paperwork in his office (though Sara had a sneaking suspicion that he was really working on some odd experiment or playing with his bugs). He had put Sara on Catherine's case, doing some tedious research for her on the Internet. Her eyes were going buggy from staring at the computer screen for so many hours. How was it that when she was totally into a case of her own she could stare at the computer screen for two days without feeling it, but tonight she had only been on for a few hours and she already was itching to find something else to do. She briefly wondered if Grissom might like some help on his paperwork, but decided that she wasn't that bored yet. Paperwork was the worst. And she wasn't so sure if she and Grissom were ready to work in such proximity. A case was one thing, both got so wrapped up in the science that they could work in a 3'x3' cube with each other and be fine. But paperwork is different. Paperwork lets your mind wander and she was afraid of what might spill out of her mouth if she was around him without the distractions of hard science. She had been known to put her foot in her mouth more than once around him. She didn't want to do that again. The last day and a half working with Grissom on the case had been really nice. She was almost ready to call it a new beginning and put some faith back into their relationship, but she knew better than that. Everything was going too well. She just knew that there was some horrible change lurking just around the corner. It was just the way that it worked with them. They had a wonderful history of over speaking and bad timing. Still, there was something about him that just kept drawing her back in. He was magnetic. At that moment her stomach growled loudly, distracting her from her thoughts.
"Hungry?"
Sara looked up to the doorway, startled. There was Grissom, calmly leaning against the doorframe. How long had he been standing there? How could he sneak up on people like that? Sometimes that man moved like a ghost, it was creepy.
"Don't sneak up on me like that! You about gave me a heart attack!"
"I apologize. I was working in my office and I thought it would be a good time to get something to eat. I saw you working in here and I thought I would ask if you were hungry, but your stomach seems to have answered me before I asked the question."
Sara blushed, "What did you have in mind?"
"I was going to order some Chinese food, would you like me to order you some?"
"Sure, how about vegetable lo mien and fried rice?"
"Will-do. I'll page you when it gets here."
"Ok."
Grissom turned and continued on his way down the hall. 'Chinese food?' he thought to himself. 'I'm not even hungry.' The truth was that he had just been walking down the hall to check on some of the cases the rest of the team was working on when he saw Sara on the computer and he found himself stuck in the door. He was just standing there watching her work for a full five minutes when he heard her stomach growl, and he made up the story about ordering Chinese food. It's strange what you will say to cover up for yourself. He certainly didn't want her to know he was just standing around watching her work.
4:15am
Sara was walking down the hall on the way back from the bathroom when she heard her name and turned. Grissom was standing in the door of the break room.
"Would you like to have dinner with me?" he asked.
Sara felt her heart skip a beat. That man sure did have a way with words. She walked back to him and looked through the door into the break room where there was an assortment of takeout containers on the table. Nick and Warrick were already inhaling the food. Oh, everyone was having diner with Grissom today.
"Slow down, Nick, the food is not going to get up and run away if you take a breath between bites," said Sara, edging her way into the room.
"Mmrmff mrm," came the muffled reply.
"Excuse me?"
"I doubt you want to know," answered Warrick.
Soon Catherine and then Greg joined the diner party, and the group had a good time teasing each other and eating good Chinese food. Nick came dangerously close to starting a food fight with Greg, but a stern look from Grissom stopped him before it could start. At the end of the meal, fortune cookies were passed around.
"Your hard work will pay off at work, if you work hard enough," read Catherine. "I guess that means I am supposed to get back on my case, huh?"
"You will soon come into great wealth," read Nick. "Ooh, maybe I'll win the lottery and be able to quit my job."
"Yeah, right, you would miss us all too much," said Warrick, tossing a balled up napkin at Nick. "Mine says 'You will soon meet a new friend who will change your life immensely.'"
"I see a promotion in your future," read Greg. "Hey Grissom, you hear that? So when do I get the raise?"
"When you get back to work," replied Grissom, as he started picking up the garbage and throwing it away. The crew grumbled a little, but started gathering their things to get back to work.
"Hey Sara," said Catherine. "What was your fortune?"
"I got the same as you, I guess that means I should get back to the computer lab," she said as she threw away her trash.
"How about you Grissom?" asked Catherine, turning her attention to him.
"Mine said to keep my mouth shut and my head down, and I may be able to make it through an entire shift without seeing the Sheriff."
Everyone filed out of the room, leaving Grissom alone in the break room. He looked down at the crumpled fortune in his hand. 'Love is in the air. Breathe deep and step forward' it said. He sighed and walked back to his office. It was just a fortune cookie, it didn't mean anything.
Sara walked into the computer room and sat down. She pulled the crumpled fortune out of her pocket and read it again. 'Love is in the air. Breathe deep and step forward,' it said. She sighed and put it back in her pocket. What if there was a cliff in front of her and when she stepped forward she fell off and crashed? What then? She shook her head and signed on the computer to get back to work. It was just a fortune cookie, it didn't mean anything.