Title: Christmas fever in the Rockies

By: Cindy

Email: sara.grissom@skynet.be; sg1phileshipper@skynet.be

Disclaimer: Grissom and Sara don't belong to me; they are property of CBS Productions, Alliance Atlantis and Anthony Zuiker. No copyright fringe is intended. I promise to return them as soon as I've cloned them.

Rating: PG (Language)

Category: Humour/Romance and just a little angst

Keywords: Sara/Grissom; Holiday fluff

Spoilers: Up until PwF

Summary: Response to Rox's Christmas challenge. Must contain the following:

1. Nick, Warrick, Grissom, Sara, Catherine and Greg each pick a name out of a hat

2. Pair whom ever you like together

3. Has to have humour and romance

4. Blinking Christmas boxers have to be given to someone

5. Two people have to give each other identical presents and the line "Great minds think alike" needs to be used.

6. Mistletoe has to fit in somewhere

Archive: Anywhere friendly is just fine. An addy would be nice so I can pay a visit.

Author's Note: For the travel freaks among you, I can only advise a trip to the Canadian Rockies. It's the most beautiful place on earth I've ever been to.

Dedication: For Leslie. I wish you the best of luck in your future career.

Thank you to Ann and Xant for the ideas, beta-reading, for making it look nicer and for the nice words. You guys are great.

Thank you to Ellesha for the encouraging words

CHRISTMAS FEVER IN THE ROCKIES

December 10th 2003

It was a little after midnight when an excited Greg Sanders came bouncing into the break room. Grissom looked up from his forensic magazine and frowned. "Are you high, Sanders?" he raised an eyebrow when he took in Greg's work attire. Under his lab coat he was wearing his usual outfit of wide pants, a large shirt covered in flowers and a pair of shoes that looked a few sizes too big. To top it off, he had donned a Santa hat, which was decorated with awful blinking yellow lights. "You are high, aren't you?" stated Grissom.

Greg caught his breath for a minute, before sitting down next to Grissom. He looked at his supervisor and a huge grin spread across his face. "I just had a wonderful idea."

Grissom clenched the muscles in his jaw, awaiting an explanation. "Well? Are you going to tell me or do I have to guess?" he asked impatiently.

Greg's grin fell from his face. "No..um... As I was about to tell you..."

"Spill it Greg, I don't have all night," Grissom interrupted him. "But if this has something to do with Christmas, you can spare me the details."

Greg smiled sheepishly. "Well, the point is..." Greg was clearly uncomfortable in Grissom's presence. "I have a great idea for Christmas."

Grissom groaned. "Didn't I tell you I hate Christmas?"

"So you did, boss," replied Greg, wincing slightly.

Grissom was biting his lower lip and gave Greg an angry glare. "How many times have I told you not to call me boss?"



He nodded. "Sorry, Grissom."

Grissom's lips curled at the corners into a small smile. "Tell me all about your idea."

Greg swallowed nervously. "Um, okay. Well I was thinking we could put up a Christmas tree and we all have to buy a gift for one person. Each gift is then placed in the tree until we hand them out on Christmas Eve." Greg smiled broadly. "Oh yeah," he added secretively, "and nobody is allowed to say who they bought a present for."

Grissom smiled at the enthusiastic young lab rat. "That's actually a pretty good idea. But how do you suggest we prevent anyone else from using our tree?" Grissom wasn't much into Christmas, but he had to admit that Greg's enthusiasm was contagious. The idea of picking Sara's name was driving him to put his negative feelings towards Christmas aside. The idea of putting that smile on her face was very appealing; the beaming smile would be the best present he could ask for.

Greg was quiet for a few seconds, before another smile formed on his lips. "How about putting it in your office?"

The nightshift supervisor pretended to think it over for a minute and chuckled. "You read my mind."

"Great minds think alike," Greg softly mumbled under his breath, earning a glare from Grissom.

"Don't push your luck, Sanders," Grissom deadpanned. He got up from his chair and turned on his heels, stopping in his tracks when he felt Greg's hand on his arm. "What?"

"Where is everyone?" Greg inquired.

"Let's see." Grissom paused. "Catherine is making a phone call in my office; Nick and Warrick are cleaning out their locker and Sara dug up some cold case. She is examining it in the layout room."

"Slow night huh?" quipped Greg, his smirk quickly disappearing as he observed the unimpressed look on Grissom's face.

"You can say that again," sighed Grissom. "Greg, don't you have better things to do than bother me?"

He shook his head. "No actually, I don't."

"Well, I'm sure you'll find something," as he snatched Greg's hat and walked off to the layout room. "Hey," he greeted the tall brunette hunched over a bunch of photographs.

Sara looked up from her pictures and smiled widely when she saw his blinking Santa hat. "Hi, nice hat," she said, trying to suppress the burst of laughter that threatened to escape her mouth. "Do we have a case?" she asked as she rose from her chair and walked to where he was standing.

Grissom held his hands up to stop her. "Sorry." He scratched his facial hair and motioned towards the pictures with a nod of his head, which only served to make his hat jiggle and blink even more. "Which case are you looking at?"

Sara's smile disappeared. "The Davis case." Her mouth was set in a thin line and she was biting her lower lip anxiously. "I guess the case will remain what it is: cold."

Grissom took a step closer to her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You can't solve them all, Sara."

She lowered her eyes to the floor. "I know. I just wish I could."

Grissom gave her shoulder a soft squeeze. "Don't beat yourself up over it."

She smiled thankfully as she met his gaze. Their relationship had been strained and extremely difficult ever since Sara had asked Grissom out and he had so adamantly refused. Grissom had avoided her for a couple of months, and had barely spoken to her. But since they had worked the Davis case together just over a month ago, they had slowly and carefully rekindled their difficult friendship. The case had been strenuous for both Sara and Grissom; it was never easy to investigate the murder of a young girl. It was even more difficult when the case remained unresolved.

Sara had been on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Luckily, Grissom had noticed something was wrong with her and had pulled her out before things got too serious. He had proven to be just the friend she needed, their long talks helping her more than she would ever be willing to admit. Their relationship had been going from good to better ever since.

Grissom took a step back from Sara. "Why don't you join us in the break room in ten minutes? There's something I need to discuss with all of you," he said mysteriously, before leaving in search of Nick and Warrick. As he walked down the corridor, the end of his hat bounced from left to right, making him look like an overgrown kid.

Sara smiled to herself as she watched him disappear from sight. Turning her attention back to the table, she let out a defeated sigh and gathered the pictures she had spread out earlier. Sometimes she just wished she couldn't feel anything at all.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Ten minutes later everyone, including Greg, sat around the table in the break room, waiting for Grissom. When he walked in, everyone eyed him suspiciously, trying to contain their laughter. He stood in the centre of the room, in a blinking Santa hat as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Okay people, here's the deal," Grissom started, only to be interrupted by a soft cough coming from Greg's direction. Grissom shook his head, making the Santa hat jiggle around dementedly. "Actually, this is Greg's idea. We all know that Christmas is coming and Greggo has proposed that we should all buy a present for someone else and hang it in the tree that will soon be put up in my office. Any questions?"

Sara just stared at him, Catherine scowled and Nick had a confused look on his face.

Catherine was the first to recover. "You're gonna put a Christmas tree in you office?"

Grissom shrugged his shoulders. "Why not?"

Catherine put her palms flat on the table. "In all the years that I've known you, you have never even put a tree in your house."

"People change, Cath," he looked at Greg, forcing an end to the discussion with Catherine.

Grissom took the Santa hat off, and Greg smiled when Grissom threw in a few pieces of paper. "Pick a paper out of the hat and you have to buy that person a present. Any questions?"

"What if we pick our own name?" Greg asked him, smiling broadly.

"If you pick your own name, you're out," Grissom deadpanned.

Greg pretended to pout, but smiled when Catherine passed him the hat. He fished a piece of paper out of his silly hat and scowled when he opened it. His face turned red as he threw the paper back in.

Sara held her hand in front of her mouth and let out a muffled laugh. Grissom chuckled and Warrick burst out in laughter. Greg sheepishly took out a new piece and smiled when he opened it. "Cool." The hat was passed around until everyone had picked out a name.

Grissom held his hands up. "Nobody is allowed to tell anyone else who they picked out of the hat, not even after everyone receives their present. Anyone who tries to pull the slightest stunt will be on decomp for the next month."

Greg grinned and kept his mouth shut, almost jumping from his chair when Grissom threw his hat back at him. "Thanks for the idea, Greg."

He scanned around the room and could easily tell how bored his CSI's were. "Since it's a slow night and you have all put in extra hours over the last few days, three of you can go home." He looked at Greg. "Sorry Greg, you have to stay." He looked from Warrick, to Sara, to Nick and smiled. "I also need a volunteer to stay." He looked at all four of them, his eyes lingering on Sara longer than on the others.

Sara smiled widely and let out a chuckle. "I'll stay."

"Thank you." He smiled back at her, a gesture that did not go unnoticed by Catherine. She would have to ask him about that later. After a quick round of thanks and goodnights, everyone left the break room, leaving Grissom and Sara behind.

"What can I do for you, Grissom?" She waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"Is that an indecent proposal, Sidle?" One side of his mouth curled into a grin.

She smacked his arm and started laughing. "You're nothing but a jerk, Gil Grissom," she said as she stood up. "What do you have planned for me?" she quipped.

"Care to help me with some paperwork?" he pleaded.

"I knew this was a bad idea," she muttered under her breath, but followed him to his office, a smile plastered on her face.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

TBC