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Unwound

Unwound was a nice little bar off the strip. It was a perfect place for locals to hang out without worrying about tourists. They always had several customers no matter what time of day, but it never got too packed. It was a place where you could go to unwind and not worry about being bothered. You could dance or sing or just sit at the bar and chat with the bartender. They played every kind of music, which was a pleasure to the wide variety of patrons. A biker sat next to businessman at the bar, while a group of cowboys sat at a table next to a couple of baggy-pants-wearing Eminem wannabes. The bar also had a pool table, where Warrick and Nick were currently waging a battle. In the back of the room, at one of the long wood tables, Sara sat between Greg and Mulder on a bench. On the other bench across from them were Catherine, Scully and Brass.

After the waitress had brought their first round of drinks to them, Brass took a sip of his beer and said, "So, Sara, I hear you beat up Grissom."

Sara started to giggle and almost choked on her beer. "Where did you hear that?" she asked, shooting Catherine a suspicious glance.

"Hodges."

"Man, I am gonna kick his little weasel ass. I didn't beat up Grissom. I never touched him…didn't lay one finger on him," Sara said, a hint of anger in her voice. But then she smiled a little, realizing that she did touch him and laid more than a finger on him. They sure as hell don't need to know that, though, she thought.

"I can vouch for Sidle," Mulder cut in. "She didn't hit Grissom. He was trying to protect Sidle and he got in a little fight with some drunk asshole."

Brass smiled at Sara. "Grissom was trying to protect Sara? I wish I could have been there to see that."

"Yeah, me too," Catherine chimed in. "I just can't picture Grissom fighting."

"Well, you know, Catherine, when someone you lo—care about is in danger, you're capable of doing just about anything to protect them." Brass winced. He had almost slipped and said love. And from the look on Sara's face she caught his little blunder.

Sara suddenly felt the need for something stronger than beer. She stood, chugged down what was left in her bottle and quickly walked to the bar. She took the first empty barstool she saw and ordered a shot of tequila. She tossed it back and ordered another. She sensed someone sit down beside her, but didn't acknowledge whoever it was. She tossed back her second shot and ordered one more.

"Long night?" a familiar voice asked.

She spun her head around and looked right into a pair of blue eyes. She tried to fight it, but that damn smile just came out without permission. "Long week."

"So, do you come here often?" Grissom asked.

"Only when I need to unwind," Sara replied, downing her tequila.

"Isn't it funny that a bar named Unwound would be a great place to unwind?"

Sara chuckled. "I never really thought about it." Sara gave Grissom a quick once over. He had changed since he left the lab. He now wore blue jeans and a dark blue polo shirt. Damn look at those arms, she thought. "How about a beer, Griss?"

"Sure."

Sara waved down the bartender. "Hey, Roy, can I get nine bottles of Bud?"

He winked at her and said, "Coming right up, sweet thing."

Grissom shot the bartender a dirty look, which dissolved when he caught sight of Sara's amused smirk. Roy set the drinks and the bar and Sara said, "Put in on my tab." He nodded and she and Grissom grabbed the bottles and carried them over to their friends at the table.

Mulder and Greg had teamed up to try to beat Nick and Warrick at a game of pool. Brass sat watching the boys play. Catherine was making small talk with Scully.

"Anyone ready for another round?" Sara asked, as she and Grissom set the ice-cold bottles of beer down.

"You must have been reading my mind, girl," Catherine said, while grabbing a bottle.

Sara took her seat on the bench and Grissom took Mulder's empty spot next to her. Out of the corner of her eye, Catherine saw the two CSIs sitting, both comfortably and uncomfortably, next to each other. Only those two could be both comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time. She smiled a little and continued her idle chitchat with Agent Scully.

The boys' game ended with Warrick making the winning shot. Nick let out a woo-hoo and gave Warrick a high five. As they all made their way back to the table, Greg was swearing up and down that he saw Nick cheat. Mulder agreed with him and Warrick shook his head at them saying, "You guys are just sore losers."

Mulder grabbed an empty chair and sat at the head of the table near Scully. Nick grabbed another chair and took the other end of the table. Greg was about to return to his seat on the bench next to Sara when Warrick playfully pushed him out of the way and sat down. He whined for a minute about not having anywhere to sit, but then figured there was enough room on the bench for four people. He pushed Warrick over a little and tried to sit. He needed a little bit more room so he nudged Warrick a little more, smashing him into Sara, which caused Sara to be pressed very closely up against Grissom. They all had a place to sit, but they could hardly move. Warrick turned a little with the intention of putting his arm around Sara so he would have a little more room, but he changed his mind when he realized that someone else had already put his arm around her. Warrick turned and looked at Greg and hesitantly placed his arm around Greg's shoulder. Greg stiffened and looked at him saying, "What the hell are you doing, man?"

"Chill out. I'm not trying to put the moves on you. I'm just trying to be able to drink my beer," Warrick said, taking a long swig of his Budweiser.

"Why don't you put your arm around Sara, then?" Greg asked, worried that the ladies in the bar might get the wrong idea.

"Hey, if it bothers you that much, you can always find another place to sit."

Nick was sitting comfortably in his chair watching Warrick and Greg. He had the biggest grin on his face. "So, how long have you two been dating?"

"Man, that's it!" Greg jumped up and went to look for another empty chair. Warrick, Nick and Brass laughed at him.

Warrick slid over to give Sara some more room. Sara went to scoot over, but the hand that had been on the small of her back grabbed one of her belt loops to keep her in place. She froze. She had figured he had just put his arm around her to have more room, but now she didn't know what to think. She wanted to turn to look at him, to see his eyes, to know what he was thinking, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. She wondered what had gotten into him—someone was bound to notice how close they were sitting.

The waitress came around to see if were ready to make another order. Warrick ordered them all another round of beer, while Sara excused herself to go to the restroom. Greg having no luck finding an empty chair quickly took Sara's vacated seat. Greg was baffled as to why the bar was so full on a weekday morning. This is Las Vegas. When does anything make sense here, he thought. Sara returned from the restroom to find that she had nowhere to sit. Being a gentleman, Mulder stood and offered her his chair. She declined and he insisted. "It's okay, Mulder. I'll just stand for a while."

Mulder smiled at Sara and looked over towards the dance floor, where several couples were dancing to a Sarah McLachlan song. His eyes landed back on Sara and he said, "Well, if you're gonna be on your feet…you might as well be dancing." He held out his hand. "Shall we?"

Much to Grissom's dismay, Sara placed her hand in Mulder's and replied, "Okay, but if you try to make a move I won't be responsible for my actions."

"Is that a good or a bad thing?" Mulder teased.

"Try and you'll find out," she shot back. Mulder led her to the dance floor and pulled her a little too close for Grissom's liking. They began to move to the music and Grissom could no longer watch. He decided that trying to tear the label off of his beer bottle seemed a better thing to do. He became engrossed in tearing the paper off the glass without ripping it, but hearing Sara giggle made him abandon his task and look at them again. Mulder leaned in and whispered something in Sara's ear, which caused her to giggle again. He thought about cutting in, but with half the lab here he figured it wouldn't be such a good idea. Imagine the office gossip if he and Sara were seen dancing in a bar after work.

Mulder and Sara continued to sway to the music. Mulder pulled Sara a little bit closer and she gave him a serious look and asked, "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to make those two jealous," he whispered in her ear.

"What two?"

"Grissom and Scully," he said, as if it was obvious.

"Ah, I see. Jealousy—a great motivation. You're trying to further your relationship with Scully, while helping me to further my non-relationship with Grissom."

"You know, Sidle, if my heart didn't already belong to someone else…I'd run away with you."

"Yeah, and if my heart didn't already belong to someone else, I'd go with you."

"We're hopeless," Mulder said as the song ended and they stepped back from each other.

Sara looked across the room at Grissom and saw a look of despondency on his face. "Nah. I think there's some hope for us yet," Sara remarked as they made their way back to the table. Mulder pulled out his chair for Sara and she thanked him before sitting. He knelt down in front of Scully and asked, "You about ready to go, Scully?"

"Yes. I'm exhausted. I just want to go to the hotel and sleep for a couple days," she answered, slowly rising to her feet. Mulder stood next to her.

"We're gonna get going. It was nice to meet you all. Grissom, Sidle, if you two need anything don't hesitate to call," Mulder said.

"Thanks, Agent Mulder, Scully," Grissom replied.

"Yeah, and if you two ever need anything, don't hesitate to give us a call," Sara put in.

After several 'goodbyes' and 'it was nice to meet yous' and handshakes, the FBI agents quickly made their way out of the bar.

Catherine sighed and started to gather up her purse and coat. "I should probably get going, too. I have some things I need to do. Warrick, Nick, you guys still need a lift, 'cause the bus is leaving."

"Yeah, Cath, I'll just go pay our tab and meet you outside," Warrick said, while slipping on his jacket. Catherine and Nick went outside to wait for Warrick, who was fishing in his pockets trying to find his wallet.

"Go ahead and go, Warrick. I'll pay the tab," Grissom stated.

"That's a big tab, Griss. Are you sure?"

"Hey, how often do I go out with you guys? Never. So, please let me pay. Consider it a sign of appreciation for all your hard work and dedication."

"Okay…see you guys tonight." And with that Warrick was gone.

"So, Grissom, you're paying, huh? I guess that means we can get smashed on the good stuff," Greg joked.

To everyone's surprise Grissom said, "Order whatever you want, Greg. Cheap, expensive, bad, good, whatever…I'm paying."

"In that case, I'll have a Margarita. I'm headed to the bar, you guys want anything?" Greg was beginning to feel a bit tipsy.

"I'll have another beer," Grissom said.

"Sara?"

"A shot of tequila and another beer, Greggo."

"Brass?"

"Nothing for me, kid. I need to get home and crash. You three have fun, though." Brass grabbed his jacket and headed for the door, while Greg skipped over to the bar.

Greg returned with their drinks and the three of them sat and chatted about unimportant things. They discussed movies and music and the latest episodes of Forensic Files. They people watched and commented on human behavior. Hours had passed and it suddenly hit Sara that this was a strange situation. Here she was sitting in a bar with Greg and Grissom, drinking and talking and having a pretty good time. The strangest thing was that Grissom seemed to be really enjoying himself. At the moment he was in a friendly argument with Greg about which band was better—The Who or The Doors. It didn't look as though anyone was going to win this argument. Greg was saying that Jim Morrison was a musical genius, while Grissom was disputing that The Doors couldn't even compare to The Who. Sara smiled at the two men. It was nice to see them in a conversation where Grissom wasn't annoyed by the young man.

A few more drinks later, Greg was having trouble keeping his eyes open. He kept nodding off and almost fell off of the bench once. Sara decided that it was time for the young lab rat to go home, so she asked the bartender to call him a cab. Grissom helped her carry him outside and put him into the waiting taxi. Sara paid the driver and gave him directions to Greg's place.

Sara started to stagger back into the bar, when Grissom gently grabbed her by the arm. "Maybe you should head home, too."

"I think I need another drink first," Sara slurred.

"Don't you think you've had enough? You're drunk." Grissom gave her a concerned looked.

She tilted her head and smiled. "I'm not exactly drunk."

"You're not exactly sober, either."

"Okay. I'll go call a cab and go home, boss."

"I'll drive you home, employee."

Sara laughed. "You know, Grissom, you're funny when I'm drunk."

He grabbed her by the elbow and led her back into the bar. "I thought you weren't exactly drunk?"

"Well, I didn't exactly tell the truth."

"Sara Sidle lied. I'm a little disappointed in you," Grissom teased.

"What else is new?"

Grissom ignored her comment as he gave the bartender his credit card. He quickly singed the receipt and thanked the bartender. He wrapped his arm around Sara's shoulders and guided her to the door. They stepped back out into the bright Nevada sunlight and strolled to Grissom's truck. He let go of Sara and helped her get in. He ambled around to the driver's side and took his seat behind the wheel. They were soon on their way to Sara's apartment.