Title:  Get Your Grub On

Author:  Battus philenor

Disclaimer:  I don't own CSI or its characters and it gives me nightmares.

A/N: Response to the weekly Unbound challenge where the first and last lines are given.

"Do meal worms ever just snack?" Brass asked Sara.  The smirk he was wearing disappeared slowly as he continued to scan through the remains of the canister contents with disgust.

"Actually, pretty much all the time.  But the food that they snack on is typically so low in nutrients that they're in the larval stage for ten weeks."

"Very good Sara, and what are they commonly referred to as?"  Grissom queried from his station; holding the rickety ladder which would not be used again after Nick was done inspecting the plant shelf in the kitchen.

Sara beamed up at Grissom suddenly very pleased with herself for studying her last Christmas gift from him.  At first a book on bugs seemed impersonal, but after a little thought she found it so utterly Grissom like.  Perfectly melding the excitement of sharing his greatest interest with giving her something to quench her never-ending thirst for knowledge.  She adored it.

"They're also known as golden grubs due to their coloring.  During the larval stage they start off white and turn to a darker honey yellow color."  Sara thought she could see Grissom's chest puff with pride as his eyes twinkled at her.

"Yeah, well thanks for the lesson.  Gil I'm leaving you and your ever-growing bug appreciation group to finish up here.  I have some preliminary interviews to get to outside."  Brass left quickly. While he thought of the nightshift CSIs as his friends, they were sometimes a little too creepy even for him.

"He asked," Sara mumbled mostly to herself.

"Jim doesn't always appreciate every aspect of what we do Sara."  Grissom tried to reassure her as he gave her a quick smile before turning back to check on Nick who was still up in his precarious post.

"Anything up there Nick?"  Grissom was starting to get anxious.  There were bugs present; even if they were just meal worms, and he was wasting his time holding a ladder for Nick.


"Well there are so many baskets up here, it's hard to say.  Wait just a second, there's a trail through the dust.  It looks like something's skidded through here recently."

Grunting Nick stood on his toes trying to reach for the end of the trail.

"Be careful Nick.  I'm holding this, but it's not the sturdiest ladder I've ever seen."

"I can't reach it Gris, I'm going to have to climb onto this shelf."

"As long as you don't disturb the trail.  There's probably not much else up there to disturb.  Let me know when you're done, I'll come back and hold the ladder again."

With that Grissom strode over to the other side of the kitchen to see what Sara was doing.

"Got bugs?" he asked hopefully.

"Are you implying something about my personal hygiene Dr. Grissom?" 

Leaning in closely he whispered, "With as thoroughly as I inspected you this morning, I think it's safe to say I'm confident that you are vermin free and your grooming habits are impeccable."

"I don't think you can count them as my grooming habits since it was technically you who last groomed me."  Sara smiled shyly as a blush rose on her cheeks thinking back to Grissom washing her hair in the shower that afternoon.

Grissom's mouth curled into a grin as he coughed and tried to change the subject.  "So, what was Jim saying about bugs?"

"Oh, meal worms in that flour canister on the counter. The canister's tipped over and there's flour and worms scattered about as if somebody was digging through it searching for something."

"Something that must have been in there for a little while anyway for the meal worms to be present.  When will people learn that canisters are an obvious hiding spot?" 

"I'd like to know when they'll learn not to leave flour in a canister for too long.  Sorry but that's just gross Grissom." 

"Worms don't bother me Sara, but that doesn't mean I want them in my flour either."  He couldn't help the smile spreading on his face as he watched her shudder looking at the worms lying in the flour.

"Good to know, I'll keep them off the menu for the breakfast I promised you tomorrow morning."

"Hey Grissom?  I can't find anything up here, but I want to bring these baskets back just in case.  It looks like the dust has been disturbed up here.  Maybe there used to be something in one of these.  I'm hoping that if a basket was another hiding spot, maybe we'll get a hair or something to match to a suspect.  It's a long shot, but you never know."

"Ok Nick.  You bag them and then you can hand them down to Sara and me."

Nick made his way back to the ladder again as Grissom and Sara handed him up some large evidence bags.  Standing on the 3rd rung from the top Nick began bagging baskets and handing them down two at a time.

Turning back around from depositing the latest packages behind him, Grissom's eyes flew immediately to Sara's chest.  She was bent down tying her shoe, allowing a clear view down her shirt.

Too caught up in watching Sara his mind wandered back to that morning; seeing the bubbles cascading down over the curves of her chest, he forgot all about holding the ladder for Nick.

Feeling the ladder starting to sway again, Nick was forced to drop the baskets to grip the ledge and just hope they didn't land on his co-workers down below.


"Duck and cover!" Nick called, from his perch on the wobbly ladder.

End

Battus philenor