They stumbled out of the house looking far from bright eyed and bushy tailed. Sara slumped down low inside of Grissom's Tahoe and hid behind her sunglasses. He leaned across inspiring a flinch but she soon relaxed after realising he only wanted to turn on the radio.
Great, she thought silently fuming. Who's the biggest ass in the world? I am, I am!
Her skin was positively crawling at the prospect of entering the lab. If anyone said anything to her about last night she could possibly die of mortification right there, on the spot. Sara had never contemplated life in a convent before but it was looking mighty attractive right about now.
At least it would keep her away from her three main poisons: alcoholic beverages, costume parties and Grissom.
They had awoken in bed together earlier that day and 'awkward' did not come close to describing how Sara had felt. It was worse than the naked in public dream and her fifth grade bowl cut and her pimply prom date all rolled into one! Things were abysmal and set to get steadily worse.
"Should we talk about this?" Grissom asked earnestly.
"I don't know what 'this' you're referring to," she lied, nervously.
"Come on, Sara," he said softly. "I don't know what got into you last night or me too, for that matter."
"Starts with a 'T' and ends with 'equila' Griss," she returned sarcastically.
Sara wished to be magically transformed into a piece of inconspicuous shrubbery, but the gods weren't listening. In fact Zeus was probably laughing his head off, sharpening his thunderbolts and saying to Hera, 'That Sidle is in for it now darling, watch her squirm. I know what will make it worse, lets get Gil to mention sex!'
"I was very flattered by your offers of multiple sexual encounters," Grissom began.
She flushed bright beetroot and gasped with relief as they pulled into the lab car park. Sara would rather face a hundred drunken fool impressions from Nick and Warrick than spend another second talking to Grissom about the now laughable possibility of their copulation.
Leaping out before he had even finished parking, she ran towards the building at the speed of light and galloped down the hall to the break room. Just as she was about to head inside, memory struck. Sara thought back to the speech she had given Greg and froze with dread.
It was then a squeaky voice simpered into her ear, "Hello fair Juliet, or would you prefer I use your other name? …Little Miss Grissom Loving Sidle Dust."
Damn.
"How is your loverboy this evening?" He continued.
Ignoring this second rate Casanova, Sara poured herself some coffee and hid behind a magazine on the couch. She hoped, more than anything, that she would become invisible, or better yet prove that spontaneous human combustion does actually happen.
Her discomfort grew when Nick appeared. "Hey guys."
Warrick swaggered in behind him, "Well if it isn't Sara Sidle."
"S-A-R-A-S-I-D-L-E. Sara Sidle." Nick announced before looking as pleased as a cowboy who'd just lassoed his first Hodges.
Realising the power of thought was not enough to turn make herself vanish or become a fireball, Sara reluctantly pulled the magazine away from her face.
"Very funny boys. How long have you been practicing that?" She said slightly aggravated.
"Come on Sara, it's not every day you see Shakespeare's Juliet smashed on tequila, falling down on her way to an imaginary crime scene." Nick shrieked.
"It was hilarious," Warrick politely added.
"I'm glad my inebriation caused you enjoyment..."
Sara sensed they were not yet finished with their jokes but they seemed to be manageable.
Until Zeus resumed sharpening those thunderbolts…
"Did Grissom get you home alright? I saw he gave you a ride in today," Greg stated loudly. Afterwards he risked a glance at Sara's rapidly reddening face before grinning at the others. He loved that he knew more than them!
It didn't take a trained investigator to figure out that meant Sara stayed the night at Grissom's house. Nick positively beamed at the revelation and Warrick was excited, but of course, in his own laid back way.
"Sara and Grissom in a tree…" Nick began childishly. "K-I-S-S-I…" He stopped abruptly as all eyes landed on the door, where Catherine and Grissom now stood.
Sara screamed inside, the gods definitely had a vendetta against her today, it was just humiliation after humiliation. If she had the means she would have gone back in time and stopped the whole sorry mess before it had even started. Where the hell was Marty McFly's Delorian when she needed it?
Grissom calmly cleared his throat. "Sara, can I see you in my office for a moment?" He asked efficiently before heading back from whence he came.
Sara thought through her options. She could either go with the very implausible ideas of invisibility, combustion and time travel or she could face Grissom again.
As she stood in the threshold he looked at her through soft eyes. "You left your cell phone in my car during your attempt to break the land speed record."
She approached the desk timidly as he came around to meet her.
"You Ok?" He inquired, touching her shoulder sympathetically.
"Well, I got drunk, said things I probably shouldn't have, came onto my boss and now wish I was anywhere but here. But other than that, everything's peachy."
"It can't be that bad."
"Oh it is," She exaggerated. "Maybe I should just quit-it would be easier than facing them again." She was smiling now, but only at the absurdity of her rationale.
"So you're gonna leave? Then what…run a bar?" He teased gently.
She recognized the words from her drunken rambling, which in turn led to more memories resurfacing. How she'd flirted outrageously with him, talked of threesomes, asked him to sleep with her and also how she had kissed him. Yep, the convent life had definitely come back-a-calling.
"Look Grissom, if I did or said anything that made you feel uncomfortable last night, I'm sorry. It was never my intention to…"
"…to sleep with me?" He interjected bravely as she fought another blushing attack.
"Exactly. I drank…a lot." He nodded a little too much at that for her liking. "Hey, you seemed like you'd had your fair share of alcohol too." She reacted and playfully slapped his arm.
"Actually, I didn't drink last night." He admitted but Sara refused to believe him.
"There's no way you would have let me kiss you if you were sober."
Failing to meet her eye he whispered, "Well, I did." Smiling shyly he closed the gap between them. "I take that to mean you wouldn't kiss me unless you were drunk."
Before she had a chance to respond, Grissom leant forward and gently brushed her lips.
Watching through the glass wall of Grissom's office Catherine Willows smirked.
It might not have gone exactly how she imagined, but her plan had got the desired results.
The previous weeks of tedium and monotony in the break room had now been replaced by excited conversation and teasing!
.... And obviously best of all, Romeo had got his Juliet- minus the unpleasant theatrical suicides.
-----Insert sweet sighs of satisfaction----
The End (Amen!)