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The Holiday of a Lifetime
Chapter Two
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Sara's eyes opened and she stifled a yawn, the shutters on most of the windows were down and so the plane was in semi darkness. Looking to her right she saw Grissom, on the seat closest to the window, his head lolled to the side slightly and his eyes shut, in a peaceful slumber. She watched him for a few minutes, this wasn't a novelty should could enjoy often though two times in the last two days wasn't bad. Another yawn escaped and she shifted in her seat, quietly cursing the lack of legroom for her tall frame. Giving up and deciding she wasn't going to get comfortable anytime soon the CSI stood and walked along the isle to the back of the plane to stretch her legs and wake herself up a little bit more. One she'd stopped she took the quiet time to regard a few of the people closest to her. There was a family of four closest to her, the mother and father both fast asleep, a kid of around ten was wide awake and playing some in flight game and a little boy that looked about four was curled up on his seat and sleeping soundly. Just in front of them was an elderly couple, leaning on each other as they snored, the man mumbling in his sleep every few minutes.
"Don't they all look cute" Adelaide had gotten up out of her seat after seeing Sara stir and eventually take a short walk. "Don't mind me interrupting your musings do you?" she asked as she came to a stop beside the CSI. Sara shook her head in answer and the other woman smiled and continued speaking, perfectly happy with keeping the conversation flowing. "Do you have children?" she wondered out loud as she followed Sara's line of sight, looking at the family.
She shook her head again, finding herself waking up quite quickly. "I'm not very good with kids anyway" Sara replied as she looked away from the family and turned her head slightly to look at Adelaide. She found it surprisingly easy to speak to her, maybe it was because she knew that after today she'd never see the woman again, and wonder what she thought of her problems. Not that she was going to spill absolutely everything about her life, but sometimes it was good to get things off ones chest.
Adelaide laughed then quickly fell quiet, not wanting to wake the passengers. "I was terrible with kids until I had Jamie, I was even worse in relationships but everything kind of…worked, after I tried a little harder with my life" she nudged Sara conspiratorially "but what about your boss? You two looked very comfortable together…" she left Sara with an opening to continue the conversation.
Sara tried to hide a smile but she couldn't help it. She hadn't known it was so obvious to outsiders, how could people that didn't know her and Grissom see something when the couple in question appeared completely oblivious? "Oh, we're just friends. We've know each other for a long time."
"I'd known Jack for twenty six years before we hooked up…now I have a daughter and I'm pushing him to marry me" she chuckled. "I'm going to try and rest some more, it's been good talking to you Sara" Adelaide gave a smile before moving off back down the isle in the direction of her seat.
"You too" she watched the other woman walk away before her gaze returned to the man next to the seat she was occupying, a few minutes later she was sat next to him again and watching the in flight movie.
*
"So Grissom…are we nearly there yet?" a few more hours had passed since Sara's conversation with Adelaide and the Entomologist was now awake.
Griss turned to the left to see his friend and co-worker leaning against one of the small white plane pillows with a bored look on her face. She hated being inactive, and there was only so far you could walk on a plane. He chuckled "only another hour or so."
Sara tore her gaze from the window to face him, a bemused expression on her face "you said that an hour or so ago." An old woman stood up and began to walk along the isle to get to the toilet, in her hand was a walking stick and as she shuffled along she hit the sides of the other chairs to make people move their feet. It must've been the eightieth time she had walked past them. Sara leant over to speak with Grissom "if she wasn't like, ninety years old. I'd think she had somebody in there waiting for her"
He smirked and an eyebrow rose "maybe she does."
The younger CSI watched the woman for a few seconds then shook her head "okay I did not need to hear that." She was about to say something more when an announcement from the Captain came on the overhead speakers:
"We will be landing at Charles de Gaulle in twenty minutes…"
That was all Sara heard, they would be landing soon and that was all that mattered "your timing was a little off Grissom" she smirked before looking out of the window to see if she could spot the Eiffel Tower yet, or some other landmark that Paris was famous for. "All I can see are clouds," she sounded exasperated, being on a long haul flight could do that to a person. It was getting dark outside and no doubt as soon as they reached their hotel they would be falling asleep, Sara leant back in the chair "wake me up when we get there." At Grissom's nod, she closed her eyes and started to drift off again.
*
It took fifteen minutes to get off the plane and Sara was beginning to get annoyed with all the pushing and shoving, it was claustrophobic and incredibly warm as people barged past to get down their hand luggage and inch their way through the crowds to find family members and friends that they'd gotten split up from in the bustle. "Why do people insist on pushing their way to the front of the queue, everyone's going to get off here eventually" it was starting to clear and Sara and Grissom joined the back of the line. She was partly frustrated because she too wanted to get out there and see parts of Paris before it became too dark to do so and these people were slowing her down.
"And we'll get off eventually too" Grissom responded calmly. "We just have to wait patiently," he added knowing that Sara was definitely not one of the most patient people in the country just then.
At long last they did eventually get into the lobby where it was quite packed but thankfully there was still plenty of room to wander around in. Ten minutes after that they collected their luggage and joined the queue at the security checkpoint "so how far away is the hotel from here?" she couldn't wait to get out of the airport, and as she looked back Sara noticed that Grissom, who had booked everything and had already seen an exterior shot and a couple of interior shots of the hotel, was excited too. His eyes twinkled and he was trying hard not to grin quite so much, enjoying Sara's obvious excitement too.
There were, at a guess, twelve people ahead of them in the line and Gil gladly noted that everyone was getting through quite fast and looking at his watch, which on the plane he had altered to fit Paris' time, he estimated it'd be another ten minutes until they got outside the airport. At least that's what he thought. A disturbance at the checkpoint turned quite a few heads, Grissom and Sara's included and they both cringed as they recognised the somewhat familiar irate voice shouting at security. "Give me a damn break here! I did not carry that…that stuff! All the way to your damn country!" it appeared that Jack had been angered by someone else.
"Please. We don't know where that came from" came Adelaide's pleading voice. French voices sounded and Jack and Adelaide were pulled from the line, she was red with embarrassment and looked close to tears.
Sara looked up at Grissom, his brow furrowed into a frown as he watched the display before them, at her questioning look he nodded and they both left the queue with their luggage and walked over to the couple, their baby and security. Their luggage was being taken out of their bags and spread across a small table; both Jack and Adelaide were being held and ready to be handcuffed. "What's going on here?" Grissom asked and as he spoke was debating whether or not he should even get involved in this.
It was the woman that spoke and she looked at the two of them with pleading eyes. "They found drugs in our luggage, I swear we don't know how it got there! But they want to take us to their police station" she looked terrified at the prospect, which wasn't exactly an unusual reaction to the situation they were in. Especially if they were innocent "they're going to question us but Jack said we'll probably be put in jail until this whole mess is sorted out."
She looked away from them and he teary and fearful eyes fell on the baby. "They'll take her away, I know it. Please help me Sara, I promise you we didn't knowingly bring those drugs there, I don't even know what type it is!"
"Uh…you want me to look after your baby?" now it was Sara that looked worried, and her reaction was mirrored by Grissom.
"Please" Adelaide begged, nodding at glancing from man to woman. She would have laughed at the looks on their faces if the police weren't on their way "just until they sort this out. I don't want some foreign people to take her; we'll probably get our one phone call, right? So we can contact you at the hotel you're staying at, please?" she asked one last time, even as she was being made to move away.
Sara was a little surprised when she heard Grissom speak. "We won't let them take your child…we'll…look after her for you, and we'll try to help you" a smile spread across Adelaide's face and she thanked them again and again. If she was telling the truth and the drugs didn't belong to her or Jack then it was highly possible that someone had slipped them into their bags in Las Vegas, turning them into unwitting carriers of the illegal substance. That also meant that somewhere in the airport there was somebody waiting to collect.
But until then. "Grissom? How are we going to take care of a baby?" Sara's question interrupted his thoughts, he didn't know the answer to that one.