Budding
Chapter Five
Grissom looked in the schedule book. He was thinking about making Sara take a week off from work; she had been working way too much, and she had once again taken up most of her overtime. She couldn't stand to be away from the lab for more than a minute, and he knew that she would resent him, but he had to make sure that she got some rest.
He scanned through and looked at vacation time for the rest of his team. Nick only requested Easter and the next Christmas off, Sara had requested Christmas, Catherine requested the next two weeks, and Christmas, and Warrick requested the next two weeks, and Christmas. Grissom noticed that it was the same two weeks that Catherine had requested.
He shook his head at those thoughts. He was impugning the integrity of his best CSIs. What with the rumors, he couldn't help but think what he was thinking.
***
Neither Warrick or Catherine were aware that Grissom was calling them because they were about thirty thousand feet in the air on their way to New Orleans.
They shared a Delta Mega SnackPak; there was nothing mega about it. The box had a cheesy design on it: the Greek sign for delta was a shimmering silver, and the box itself was a dark amethyst with lightning strikes going all around it, bearing its name. It was bigger than the contents inside. It only had a strawberry granola bar, a single turkey sandwich with no cheese (that bugged Catherine), and a pack of peanuts. They alternated the sandwich, split the granola bar, and split the six peanuts.
If the flight was uncomfortable, they didn't seem to notice. They barely spoke, which was okay for them; they didn't always have to talk. They had their fingers intertwined and Catherine laid her head on his shoulder. They were preparing their hearts and minds for what they were about to do.
The plane landed in New Orleans, and they got off.
"I'll go get our bags," Warrick said as he put his hands on her hips. "Why don't you go get something to eat?"
"No, let's wait until we get to the hotel," Catherine said.
"Okay," he said before kissing her.
Once again, it was raining, and Catherine knew that it would only be more humid. She and Warrick had been a little more wise about their clothing choices, which were casual since what they were doing was not work related.
They took a taxi to their hotel.
"Uptown Suites," Catherine said. "Looks nice enough. Good job babe."
When Catherine saw the room, she was excited. As soon as he closed the door, she pounced him and kissed him fervently.
"You are a genius," she said with a smile. "I love this place. Now I can stop worrying about getting fat off of fast food because we have a kitchenette."
"I don't think you ever have to worry about getting fat," Warrick chuckled, setting her down.
She stood up on tip toe and kissed him again before sitting down on the bed.
Warrick put their luggage in the closet and then he sat down next to her.
"One bed…" Catherine started.
"Yeah," Warrick said. "Are you okay with that? Or do you want me to sleep on the couch?"
"We can sleep in the same bed," she compromised. "As long as you don't try anything. Cuddling is okay, but nothing below the waist."
"Absolutely no hands touching below the waist ma'am," Warrick said.
Catherine smiled and kissed him sensuously. "Well, there is one exception," she said as she unbuttoned her shirt. "When we're making out, below the waist, but nothing between, if you catch my drift."
Warrick grinned and nodded as they kissed again.
***
Grissom thought better of making Sara take the week off; she ticked off at him for not helping her with their case, and she avoided speaking to him. Every time he looked at her, and she caught his gaze, she glared at him; her glare was unique in that it actually inflicted fear upon him. When Sara was furious, her brown eyes turned black with whatever vengeful wrath she was concocting in her head to inflict upon her glare's victim.
Grissom skillfully avoided her on that shift, and when he saw her coming, he knew to duck into a lab or another structure to hide him. He could smell her coming from a mile away.
On this particular shift, he hid out in his office. Sara had her own case to deal with that led her all the way out to Summerlin. That would take her a while, so he was safe…for the time being.
Grissom felt ashamed that he couldn't face his own feelings. He was a grown man scared of a slender, gap-toothed brunette. He loved Sara Sidle with all that he was. The hardest part was overcoming the fear of what others would think and about losing both of their jobs and ruining their careers. He had worked his whole life to get to where he was, and along the way, he made the mistake of falling in love. He could never find a woman quite like Sara Sidle. She was quite literally one in a million. He couldn't see himself falling in love with anybody else.
He'd had so many fantasies about being with her; both lustful and loving. He knew her entire body from just watching her.
He couldn't blame Warrick and Catherine for whatever made them realize what they felt for each other. He was rather happy for them; he just had to play the part of supervisor with them so that it wouldn't seem like he was condoning interoffice romance. He'd always felt that it was inevitable. He saw the attraction from the first day that they met.
Although Catherine was still married at the time, she had something in her eyes when she first met Warrick. Back then, he would have called it lust, but now, he called it love. They were soul mates and he was thankful to whatever brought them together. He still couldn't quite understand what was going on though; New Orleans was a hot spot for them now, and he couldn't put his finger on what they were doing there again at all.