AN: Hi everyone thanks for the great reviews. Many thanks go to Amy for restoring my faith in this chapter.
Back at the lab later that morning Grissom and Sara had just dropped off forty-seven samples to trace and still had six sacks of garbage to sort.
"Let's finish up. We've already worked two hours of overtime. Let's come back in the morning with fresh heads and nail the S.O.B. who did this." Grissom exhaled while rubbing weary eyes.
"I might stick at it a few more hours."
"Sara c'mon, you're tired, too tired to make any sense of this. Go home, get some rest. You will need it!"
"I don't need much sleep."
"You do today… see you at six?"
"Are you coming in early?"
"No my mother is cooking, she…we would be honored if you would join us."
"Oh…ahh….at your place?"
"Yeah" Grissom gave her a quizzical look with a hint of a smile.
"Um…ok." After a long pause, "Who else is going?"
Grissom became slightly flustered at flustered at this. Was she expecting the others to be there? "Oh… Ah…you are the only one that my mom has met so far, she wants to get to know you better."
"Oh, so just the three of us then?"
"Yeah"
"At your place?"
"Yeah" Grissom seemed almost pathetic.
"Ok, see you there." Sara turned, heading for the exit with a wide grin cracking her face. Although she knew it was a fantasy it felt like meeting the parents at the start of a new relationship. Dinner with the Grissoms. Wow. After having breakfast alone with Grissom this morning…it felt like this was going somewhere… she couldn't let him break her heart again… don't hope until you are certain Sara…it was too late, now, hope was all she had.
Grissom on the other hand stood looking like a fourteen year old who had just asked his girlfriend to come over for dinner. He was blushing furiously while making meaningful eye contact with the linoleum. All he had to contend with now was what his mother would say over dinner…at least with that he could make some choice alterations.
He entered the front door silently in case his mother was still asleep. He turned around to close the latch as quietly as possible when he felt a light tap on his shoulder. He heart leap in his throat and his voice choked on it on it's way out. "MOM…are you trying to kill me."
'Sorry, thought you would have heard me' She signed back.
'Mom, I'm sorry. You frightened me.' He pulled her into a tight embrace and kissed her temple.'
She pulled away signing 'You hungry?'
'No, Sara and I had breakfast a few hours ago, I'm going to get some sleep.'
'Gil?'
'What?' he asked innocently trying to hide his grin.
'Is Sara coming for dinner?'
'Oh…yeah, she will be here at six… She is vegetarian by the way, she used to eat fish but I'm not sure if she still does. Is that ok.'
'Of course, go sleep' with that she gave him a light kiss on the forehead and headed for the kitchen and breakfast, while Gil headed down the hall to bed.