These characters aren't mine, but please don't tell my other personality...she'll get mad.
Notes: Don't even ask where this came from. I wasn't even present when I wrote this.
Sara, Warrick, Greg, Nick and Catherine stood on Grissom's doorstep cautiously curious as to why they were there. Grissom had said he needed help with an experiment and had asked them all to come over after work. He wouldn't say what the experiment was, but had promised that it wasn't anything bad. So, here they all were, waiting for someone to knock on the door.
"Sara, you knock. He'd probably like the sound of your knock," Warrick said.
"You're his favorite," she shot back.
Catherine pushed them both out of the way. "You four are cowards. He invited us over, remember? It's not like we decided to just drop in to say hi." She reached up and knocked on the door.
Grissom opened the door to find five sets of wary eyes. "Come on in." He stepped aside to let them enter. "Have a seat and make yourselves at home. Can I get anyone a drink?"
"How about you just tell us what this is all about," Catherine said.
"It's about an experiment," he replied.
"What kind of experiment?" Nick asked.
"How Mary Jane reacts with different people," Grissom answered.
"Who the hell is Mary Jane?" Greg asked.
"You're not thinking what I think you're thinking, are you?" Catherine asked.
"If you think that I'm thinking about the six of us testing the mental and physical effects of marijuana…then you're thinking what I'm thinking."
Nick gave Grissom an incredulous look. "You want us to smoke dope?"
"Yes, for the sake of science."
"Is this related to a case?" Warrick asked.
"No," Grissom answered simply.
"Are you writing a paper on it," Catherine asked.
"No."
"Okay…they why do you want us to smoke pot?" Greg asked.
"I'm just curious about it."
"You want us to use an illegal drug and risk our jobs for your curiosity?" Sara asked in a disbelieving tone.
"Yes."
"Okay, I just wanted to clear that up. Are you going to be smoking too?"
"Of course. I'd never ask any of you to do something that I wouldn't do myself," Grissom replied.
Sara thought for a moment and then said, "Okay, I'll do it."
Grissom grinned and the other four shot her a disbelieving look. They looked back and forth between Grissom and Sara waiting for one of them to say it was just a joke, that Grissom really didn't want them to smoke pot. Then they looked at each other, none of them believing that this was actually happening. Greg was the first to recover from the shock and said, "Sara Sidle high…that's something I have to see. I'm in."
Warrick thought it over for a moment and asked, "Are you buying the food when we get the munchies?"
"Sure."
"Okay, I'll do it. Grissom getting high is something I have to see."
They turned to look at Catherine and Nick expectantly. Nick gave Catherine a worried look and she reached over and patted his knee. "Sorry, Nicky, but peer pressure is a bitch. I'm in."
"I can't believe all of you. You're all actually gonna sit here and smoke weed? Do I need to remind you that we are all just a step away from being cops? What if someone finds out about this? We'll all lose our jobs. What if one of us has a random drug test? Have you really thought this through, Grissom?"
"Calm down, man. It's just a little weed. We'll be fine. Even if we do get caught, we'll just say it had something to do with a case," Warrick said.
"You don't have to participate, Nick. You can always just leave," Grissom said with a shrug.
Nick gave each of them a dirty look before saying, "Okay, I'll do it, but if I get in trouble I'm gonna kick every one of your asses."
"Yeah, that'll happen," Sara said. "You might be able to take Greg, but the rest of us…not a chance."
"Yeah, we'll see, Sidle."
"All right, let's get to it then," Grissom said. "Whoever knows how to roll a joint, raise your hand."
Catherine, Warrick and Greg's hands quickly went up. Nick sat shaking his head, while Sara laughed at him.
Catherine looked at Sara and Nick. "You guys don't know how to roll a joint?"
"Hey, I've never used any drug," Nick said.
"I always used a pipe," Sara replied.
"And here I thought everyone knew how to roll a joint," Catherine sighed.
"Actually, I bought a pipe, so no one has to roll anything. I was just wondering if any of you had ever smoked before. I guess Nick and I are the only one who haven't," Grissom said.
"You're telling us that you've never once in your life tried to smoke pot?" Catherine asked Grissom.
"Never."
"Where the hell did you grow up? In a convent or something?"
"I was a good boy," Grissom said, a small grin on his face.
"Let's just hurry up and get this over with. Grissom, bust out the weed and the pipe and let's just get high," Nick said.
"For someone who didn't want to participate, you sure seem eager to get started," Sara said.
Nick gave her a dirty look and didn't reply. Grissom disappeared into another room and quickly returned with a baggy full of green and a glass pipe.
Grissom stood in the middle of the room and looked at his team. "Why don't we all sit in a circle on the floor? That way it's easier to pass around."
"You're going all sixties hippie on us," Catherine said.
Sara was the first to take a seat on the floor. Grissom sat down to her left and Greg sat to her right. Warrick took the empty space on Grissom's left, while Catherine took the empty space on Warrick's left. Nick reluctantly took the empty space between Catherine and Greg. Grissom held up the baggie and the pipe and asked, "Who wants to get us started?"
"Give it here," Sara said. She pulled a chunk out of the baggie and placed it in the bowl. "Do you have a lighter, Griss?" He reached in his pocket and pulled out a lighter and handed it to her. He watched in amazement as Sara put the pipe to her mouth and took a hit. She tried to hold it in, but couldn't keep from coughing. A big puff of smoke came out of her mouth as she started to cough.
Concerned, Grissom put a hand on her shoulder and asked, "Are you all right?"
She nodded and as soon as she caught her breath she said, "Man, that's some good shit."
Everyone but Nick laughed as she passed the pipe over to Greg. Not wanting to be outdone by a girl, Greg took a bigger hit than Sara had. He managed to hold off his cough longer than she had, but everyone shot worried looks at him as he looked like he was convulsing in an effort not to cough. Finally, he couldn't hold it anymore and coughed. He passed the pipe over to Nick while he tried to breathe normally.
Nick stared at the pipe in his hands with a disgusted look. He couldn't believe he was about to smoke marijuana. The harder thing to believe was who he was sitting here smoking with. Greg, Catherine and maybe even Warrick, he could picture getting high, but Sara and Grissom…this situation was just too strange.
"Nick, man, are you gonna stare at it all day, or are you gonna hit it?" Warrick asked.
"Yeah, Nicky. Puff, puff give. Puff, puff give. You're screwing up the rotation," Sara teased. Greg and Warrick let out a loud laugh.
"How do you do this?" Nick asked.
"Your observation skills suck, Nick. You just saw Sara and I do it. You put the pipe up to your lips, you put the flame on the green and you suck," Greg said.
Nick did as Greg said and barely got any smoke in his lungs before he started to cough. He quickly passed the pipe over to Catherine as he fought to catch his breath. Greg patted him on the shoulder and said, "See, Nick, it wasn't that bad, was it?"
Nick pushed Greg's hand off his shoulder and replied, "Sanders, you're gonna get one hell of an ass beating when we leave here."
"Potheads aren't supposed to be mean and angry, Nick. You're supposed to be easy going, laid back," Greg remarked.
Everyone turned their attention to Catherine as she was taking her turn. She took her hit and passed the pipe over to Warrick. They all sat and waited for her coughing spell, but it never happened. She blew the smoke out with a wicked grin on her face and said, "You were right, Sara, that is some good shit."
Warrick chuckled as he brought the pipe up to his lips. He took a long, slow toke and passed the pipe over to Grissom. He coughed a little as he blew out the smoke.
All eyes were on Grissom as he eyed the pipe and lighter like they were a piece of evidence. He held them in front of his face and looked at them curiously. Everyone held their breath as they watched him put the pipe up to his lips and take a few puffs. They saw him close his eyes and breath in deep and in a second start to cough. He handed the pipe over to Sara as he gasped for breath. She took it and reached her hand up to rub his back asking, "You okay, Griss?"
Catching his breath he replied, "I'm fine."
Sara smiled and pulled her hand back to take her turn. The pipe went around the circle several more times before they ran out of marijuana. All six of them sat on the floor looking at each other. Grissom was the first to move. He slowly got up and made his way to the kitchen. He came back into the room with a bottle of water and a bowl of ice cream. He took a seat on his couch and took a bite of ice cream. He felt like he was being watched, so he looked up. His five employees sat staring at him. "What?" he asked.
"Do you have enough ice cream to share with the rest of the class?" Catherine asked.
Grissom looked down at his bowl like it had the answer to her question. Catherine watched him stare at his bowl for about five minutes before she spoke up again. "Well?"
He quickly looked up at her. "Well, what?"
"You know, we might like some ice cream, too."
"Oh! You guys can help yourself to whatever you want," he said.
Sara jumped up and ran into the kitchen with Greg following closely behind. Warrick and Catherine took their time getting into the room. Nick didn't move, he stayed on the floor and seemed to be staring at the wall.
Sara returned to the living room with a big smile on her face. She had a can of root beer in one hand and a bowl of chocolate ice cream in the other. She plopped down next to Grissom on the couch. She opened up the root beer and began to pour it over her ice cream. Grissom gave her a curious look and asked, "What are you doing?"
"I'm making a root beer float."
"With chocolate ice cream?"
"You took all the vanilla. So, it was either chocolate or maple almond fudge." She took a taste of her concoction. "Mmm. It's actually not that bad. You want a taste?"
Grissom thought about it for a moment. "Sure."
She dipped her spoon in her bowl and brought it up to Grissom's mouth. She made an airplane noise and she pushed the spoon into his open mouth and she started to giggle. She giggled and then she giggled some more and before too long Grissom started to giggle.
Greg emerged from the kitchen with a can of soda and a bag of chips. He flopped down next to the still giggling Sara and asked, "What's so funny?"
Sara stopped giggling and turned serious. She turned to him and asked, "What are you talking about?"
He gave her a serious look. "I don't know."
Warrick and Catherine walked back into the living room fighting over a banana. Warrick took a seat in the easy chair next to the couch. He set his bottle of beer on the coffee table and took a bite of his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Catherine grabbed a footstool and took a seat on it at the other end of the table. She began to slowly peel her banana. Greg and Warrick sat watching her, with their mouths hanging open, as she took her first bite of her banana.
Sara and Grissom were totally oblivious to the show Catherine was putting on with her banana. They weren't really aware that there were other people in the room. They sat trading bites of ice cream and longing looks. "You know, Sara, I heard that smoking marijuana enhances the sexual experience, it increases the euphoria."
"Really, Grissom? Cite your source."
"High Times magazine."
"Never heard of it."
"I'll get you a subscription."
"Why don't you two just get a room?" Catherine cut in.
"Yeah. Nobody would notice if you two disappeared for a while," Warrick added.
"I would notice," Greg exclaimed.
"What are you talking about?" Grissom asked, totally bewildered as to where this conversation had ended up.
"Oh, never mind. You don't get it," Catherine said.
"Yeah, and he probably never will," Greg added with a laugh.
Everyone got quiet for a while. Grissom and Sara resumed their ice cream eating. Greg continued to munch on his chips. Warrick finished off his sandwich and his beer. Catherine sat looking around the room. Her eyes roamed over the walls and soon landed on Nick. He hadn't moved and hadn't made a sound. He just sat there staring off into space.
"Nicky, are you all right?" Catherine asked.
"I'm fine. I'm just thinking," he replied quietly.
"Thinking 'bout what?"
He took a breath and on a sigh said, "Jesus."
Not that Jesus was funny or anything, but for some reason everyone burst out laughing. Greg almost choked on his chips. Catherine was rolling on the floor. Warrick had tears in his eyes. Sara had ice cream dribbling out of her mouth and Grissom had just taken a drink of water and had ended up spraying it all over the table.
As everyone began to calm down, Nick looked at all of them and said, "I don't think that stuff was any good. I don't feel any different."
"Believe me, Nick. It was good. You may not feel any different, but you should see yourself. You've been sitting there staring off into space and thinking about Jesus for a long time," Catherine said.
"Oh."
"So, Grissom, what are the results of your experiment?" Warrick asked.
"What experiment?"
"You know, the six of us smoking weed."
"Oh, that. I just wondered what you all would act like when you were high."
"So, this had no scientific basis? All you wanted was to see us high?" Nick asked incredulously.
"Yeah."
"Okay…you got anything to eat?"
"Help yourself, Nick. The kitchen's right there."
Warrick pulled out a deck of cards. "Who's up for a friendly game of poker?"
"I'm game," Greg said.
"I guess I could play a hand or two," Catherine replied.
"Hey, Nick!" Warrick yelled. "You want to play some cards?"
"Yeah, deal me in," he yelled back.
"Cool. Let's play at the dinner table."
Greg and Catherine followed Warrick across the room to the table and took their seats. Nick joined them a minute later, with a piece of cold pizza and a cup of coffee. Warrick dealt the cards and they began their game, forgetting all about the pair on the couch.
Grissom and Sara had finished their ice cream and sat glancing at each other every now and then like a couple nervous teenagers. Sara finally turned to face Grissom and reached out and turned his head to face her. They locked their eyes on each other. "So, Grissom, about enhancing sexual experiences and increasing euphoria…"