A/N: Weekly Unbound Improv challenge. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to participate this week, but here it is. Now I can read everyone else's. Yay!
Disclaimer: As if.
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"Do mealworms ever just snack?" Brass asked Sara.
Sara shrugged and grimaced as she peered into the terrarium. "You're asking the wrong person."
"Ugh," Catherine groaned. "Worms in here, spiders in there. Every time I come over there's something new and disgusting. It's no wonder he lives alone. Who would want to live with him?"
"Hmm…" Sara responded noncommittally.
"Good, everyone's here," their host said as he emerged from the bedroom. He hoped his anxious need to get them out of the private sanctuary of his townhouse wasn't obvious. "The park is across the street."
Grissom marveled at Catherine's power of persuasion. Somehow she managed to wheedle him into hosting the annual night shift employee picnic. What the hell was he thinking? Fortunately, the townhouse was small, and the green expanse of Carson Park was, indeed, just across the street.
The group moved to the park, taking over a picnic area and grill. Sara set the ice chest down as Grissom lit the barbeque.
"I wish I had a kite," Sara mused as the warm wind swept through her hair.
"A kite?" Greg asked in apparent disbelief.
"Yeah, a kite. What's wrong with that?"
"Nothing. I just…will a Frisbee do?"
Sara nodded gamely. "Sure."
"Be right back," Greg replied and raced to his car.
Grissom took a seat at the opposite side of the picnic table. "Kites are easy to make, you know."
"That's okay. The Frisbee will work," Sara said as she popped open the top of her soda.
"Frisbee? Who's got a Frisbee?" Nick reached into the ice chest. "No root beer?"
"Hey," Warrick defended, "I asked everyone what kind of sodas I should bring. You should have spoken up."
"Greg went to get the Frisbee out of his car," Sara replied.
Nick opened his can of Sprite and took a long swig. "Cool."
"Nick!" At the sound of his name, Nick turned just in time to catch the disk that sailed toward him. He tossed it back to Greg as the spiky-haired DNA tech jogged near.
"I hope everyone likes potato salad," Catherine said, placing the dish on the table. "Lindsey 'helped' me make it and we sort of got carried away. I get to spend so little time with her…"
"Where is Lindsey?" Sara asked.
"Oh, my mom's watching her. She has a big soccer game today."
Greg waved the Frisbee in Sara's face. "You gonna play or what?"
She grabbed the Frisbee from him and trotted off to an open area. Grissom sat quietly, ostensibly listening to the chitchat of Catherine, Brass and Warrick, but keeping his eyes trained on Sara. Her shorts were of average length, and yet they accented her impossibly long legs. Her hair blew back in the light wind. She was laughing and energetic. He had missed seeing her like this. Recently, she had always seemed withdrawn and unhappy.
"Earth to Grissom," Catherine's voice droned.
"Huh?"
"I asked if the grill was ready."
"Yes, I'm sure it is. I'll go get the meat."
Catherine smirked and gave a knowing nod to her tablemates as they watched Grissom walk away. It was obvious where his attention had been. When Grissom returned, he set the plate on the table.
"Six hamburgers, six hot dogs and two veggie burgers." He took half the items to the barbeque and got to work.
"I don't know where Greg gets his energy," Sara muttered as she collapsed onto the bench seat.
The assorted entrees were cooked and the gang sat down to eat. In between bites of his chilidog, Greg was struck by inspiration. "Hey, we should play Trivial Pursuit! I bet Grissom has a game."
"Are you nuts?" Nick looked at Greg as though the younger man had sprouted a second head. "I'm not playing Trivial Pursuit with those two." He motioned vaguely toward the far end of the table where Grissom and Sara sat across from each other.
"We'll make sure they're on separate teams," Greg suggested.
"That wouldn't make a difference," Warrick said. "They could play individually against the other six of us as a team, and we'd still get our asses kicked."
"How about Twister?" Greg asked hopefully. "I've got that one in my car."
Sara couldn't help but chuckle at the mental image of Grissom playing Twister. Perhaps in private someday…but not wrapped around Nick and Archie. She laughed aloud again.
"I don't think so, Greg," Grissom dismissed the notion. He suspected that the vision of Sara in those shorts contorted into bizarre positions would be beyond his capacity for resistance. Perhaps in private someday…
"Chess?" Greg's enthusiasm was waning as he offered the suggestion.
"I suck at chess," Sara declared. "But if you want to play backgammon, I'll mop up the floor with you."
Greg pouted. "I don't have backgammon."
Grissom tossed his paper plate into the trash can. "I'll go get the pies. Sara, can you give me a hand?"
"Uh…sure." She was unprepared for the request, but nevertheless she accompanied him back to his home. She was amazed again when, instead of going into the kitchen for the pies, he rummaged around in a closet and then placed a backgammon set on the coffee table.
He grinned playfully. "Set up the game while I get the pies ready."
Sara shook her head and smiled as she arranged the gammons. How did that man manage to keep surprising her? Fifteen minutes later, she pumped her fist in the air and removed the last of her gammons from the board. "Double sixes!"
Grissom was unperturbed. He'd never before been defeated at the ancient strategy game, but somehow, he didn't mind. "I demand a rematch," he teased.
"They've got to be wondering what we're doing in here. Can I take a raincheck?"
"Stay after the others have gone," Grissom said suggestively. He put the game away and handed one of the pies to her to carry. Nick walked in the front door.
"Griss, you got a ladder?"
"In the garage. Why?"
"Greggo got the Frisbee stuck in a tree. The branches start too high up or I'd just climb it."
The trio returned to the park to find Greg still staring up at the disk lodged between two twigs. Nick placed the ladder up against the tree. "Hold it for me, Greg. It doesn't seem too steady."
He reached for the Frisbee and inadvertently broke off a branch, sending it tumbling downward. "Duck and cover!" Nick called from his perch on the wobbly ladder.