"Back door. Back door!"
Grissom was whispering harshly to Sara, trying to turn her in the right direction.
"I'm sorry, I've never been here before!" she whispered back.
He put a hand on the small her back, causing a shiver to run up her spine. She saw Catherine's back door just ahead, between two kitchen counters cluttered with baking supplies. Grissom gave Sara a slight push ahead, and she grabbed his hand and led him out with her. They stepped out into the night and he wrapped his hand around her waist.
"You think everyone's gonna notice we're gone?" Sara asked as they made their way to where the cars were parked alongside the street.
"Ah, they won't care."
Sara smiled. The two approached Sara's Denali. They went around to the driver's door, and Grissom gallantly opened it and helped her inside. She sat about a foot higher than him as he stood and looked at her.
"So...your place or mine?" he asked.
Sara shook her head. "Yours. My apartment is in ruins."
Grissom gave her a nod of approval. He took her hand for a moment and pulled her head down, giving her a gentle kiss on the cheek, very unlike the one they had shared not even ten minutes ago. She grinned and tightened her grip on his hand, and then they pulled away.
"I'll lead the way," he said with a smile.
She nodded and her lips turned upward again. She took the door handle in her hand and pulled it shut, and she waved goodbye to Grissom, who winked back at her. He went to the car parked in front of hers, his Tahoe, and got in. Just before Grissom started up his car and pulled away, Sara sighed and her heart pounded with the memories of their kiss and what he had said during Truth or Dare. She put her hands on the wheel and stepped on the pedal at her feet, and followed Grissom. This was her first real invite to his home.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Back at the party, Catherine emerged from her upstairs hallway, where she had finally seen her colleagues kiss...and they kissed rather...passionately, she thought.
The only one who noticed that Catherine had disappeared was Hodges. He stood at the entrance to the living room, munching on a few potato chips, and his eyes fell on her with curiosity.
"Hey, Cath...where you been?"
Don't talk to him. You're drunk. Don't tell him what you saw.
"I, uh...went to get something from the kitchen."
God, that sounded fake.
Catherine hastily moved to the food table and stuffed her mouth with pretzels, anything to keep her mouth shut. Much to her displeasure, Hodges followed her and leaned against the table.
"Okay...if you went to... 'get something from the kitchen', where is it?"
Catherine gulped loudly. Hodges didn't give her a chance to redeem herself. He leaned in a little closer to her and muttered, "You know something."
The blonde scoffed loudly. "I know that you're getting way too close to me, man. Nothing more."
Hodges smiled sweetly...almost too sweetly. He swiveled and grabbed a beer and handed it to Catherine. "Have another."
Catherine stared at the bottle. Her conscious was screaming at her.
Don't take it! He's trying to find out!
Hodges forced the beer bottle into her hand. He reached forward and twisted the cap off, and as if some guy behind a hidden curtain was controlling Catherine, she slowly brought the bottle to her mouth and sipped the liquid inside.
"So, uh...what happened back there?"
Catherine took the bottle away and her bottom lip quivered. She pursed her lip into a smile, and tried to hold back what was said next.
"Well, it's not like I saw Grissom and Sara kissing!"
Hodges' eyes seemed to pop out of his head. The entire room went dead silent. Catherine stared at every face. They were all looking at her.
Oops. Oh...crap.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Sara took a seat on Grissom's couch and stared around at the subtle changes in the room since she had been there on the Strip Strangler case. He had moved his bookshelf around, a few butterfly displays had been taken down and replaced with pictures, and the whole house smelled of fresh paint.
Grissom smiled as he came toward her, taking a seat next to her and crossing his legs. He was now looking at Sara with a newfound admiration, and it nearly made Sara melt. He brushed her hair away from her face and caressed her cheek. She took his hand down and set it on the black leather of the couch, and she ran her fingers over his.
"What happened, Grissom?" she said, shaking her head.
Grissom shrugged. "I'm sorry, Sara. You should have known long before tonight. We've wasted years chasing each other."
She squeezed his hand. "Not anymore."
Grissom smiled shyly, then shook his head as if coming out of a trance. "Oh, sorry, you wanted a tour?"
"I guess..."
They got up simultaneously and Sara followed Grissom to a long hallway just off his living room. Before they went down the hall, Grissom turned quickly and said, "Right, well, that's the living room and that's the kitchen, for starters."
"I kind of figured that."
He turned back and went down the hallway. He opened doors along the way, and she peered in curiosity at his bathroom, a spare closet, a guestroom, and a little office filled with baseball memorabilia. Finally, the last room he showed her was at the end of the corridor.
"This...is my bedroom."
Sara poked her head inside and took in the rather scientific room were he slept. It had to be the room packed the most with bug displays.
"I like to study them when I wake up," he explained, dangerously close to her ear.
Sara stepped onto the creamy-colored rug. "Interesting." She made her way to the foot of the bed and turned back to Grissom.
"Griss?"
"Yeah?"
"You gonna...act on what you said at the party?"
She smiled seductively and arched an eyebrow.
He couldn't help it. She was too beautiful.
Grissom moved in on Sara and gingerly pushed her back on the bed.
"I have every intention of doing so."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Damn. What a party.
Catherine sighed and tipped her head back on the breakroom couch.
"Hey, good night last night."
Warrick patted her on the back.
Nick came around and sat next to her.
"Yeah, good way to spend the day off."
Catherine held up a hand and kept her eyes closed. She thanked God they hadn't mentioned her little slip of the mouth. Maybe they had forgotten, and it would blow over as an old piece of gossip.
A clicking of heels announced Sara's arrival. The brunette removed her coat and set it down on a chair, then went to crash in a seat across from where Warrick sat at the table. Sara became slightly alarmed when Warrick began to chuckle like a schoolboy who just found out a juicy piece of gossip.
Sara tried to smile, despite her feel of unease. "What?"
Warrick quickly put his hand over his mouth, attempting to make his unsuppressed giggles stop. "Nothing, you, uh...you have a good night, Sara?"
Sara shrugged. "I guess so."
Nick joined Warrick at the table, and he was also laughing.
Sara's anger began to surface, and she said, "What the hell is so funny?" She turned to look at Catherine, but Catherine looked away and busied herself with a magazine. At that exact moment, Grissom entered the breakroom, carrying his team's assignments with an unnaturally wide smile. The grin grew smaller when he saw his two younger male co-workers laughing hysterically at Sara. Sara blushed and looked down.
"What's going on?" Grissom asked in his best supervisor voice.
Upon seeing Grissom, the two laughed even harder, and Grissom found that now his cheeks were getting hotter. He tried his hardest to get their minds off whatever they were laughing about, as Grissom could sense it had something to do with him, and went on with his usual business of handing out the cases.
"When you two gentlemen are finished, you have a triple homicide at a post office downtown." He handed the slip to Warrick. Nick looked at it, his laughing ceased slightly, and he headed towards the door. Warrick followed him.
"You, uh..." Nick forced out to Sara, "you have fun with Grissom, Sara. You're no doubt on his case..."
With that, they left.
Grissom arched an eyebrow and handed Catherine the next slip. "Catherine, you have a body found on the side of I-15."
Catherine silently took the paper, not looking at Grissom, and left in a hurry.
"Sara, you and I are working on finding out if Bert Brown jumped off the roof of the MGM Grand or if he was pushed off."
Sara nodded and threw him the tiniest of smiles.
As Sara and Grissom walked to the parking lot, Grissom finally took up the courage to ask, "What were Nick and Warrick laughing about?"
Sara shook her head. "I don't know, but it can't be good."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Three hours had passed since the team had received their assignments. Catherine returned to the lab, dropped off the DNA evidence she had found with Greg, and then trekked to the layout room, where she laid out a blanket found near the scene. She logically deduced that it had been covering the body, hence the blood stains on the fabric.
Just as Catherine pulled on a lab coat and grabbed a magnifying scope, her pager beeped. She rolled her eyes and removed it from her belt. The message said:
My office. NOW. Grissom.
Catherine felt her heart start to pound. Judging by the capital letters in the word 'now', she could tell that Grissom wasn't exactly in a good mood.
She felt she had something to do with it.
When she knocked tentatively on Grissom's doorframe, Grissom beckoned her inside.
"Sit," he commanded, pointing to a chair in front of his desk. Catherine sat stiffly, took a deep breath, and looked at him. Noticing that the halls had been unusually quiet the past half-hour, he didn't bother shutting the door. He just got right into it.
"Catherine...let me start from the beginning. Around two hours ago, I arrived at the MGM Grand, and was greeting by Detective Vartan. Instead of filling Sara and myself in on exactly what had happened, he enjoyed dropping a few oblique hints about the party last night."
Catherine shifted uncomfortably.
"He mentioned how he was shocked to discover that two of his colleagues were secretly kissing one floor above him."
Catherine's skin paled. Grissom leaned a touch closer to her.
"I know you have something to do with this."
"I...I, uh..."
Grissom's piercing gaze wasn't helping her reply, but she did reply.
"I was drunk, it slipped out, I mean, I was speaking hypothetically, Hodges made me--!"
Grissom stood up suddenly and his office chair crashed into the wall behind him. Catherine stood up and tried to match his height, but her confidence was slowly failing. Her supervisor advanced on her and whispered, "Now, you're gonna tell me how, and you're gonna tell me why."
Catherine took a deep, shaky breath. "Grissom, you were flirting up a storm with her!"
Grissom pointed an accusing finger at her. "You have absolutely no right to get into my personal life, Catherine, so why the hell did you intrude on Sara and I?!"
The blonde took a fighting stance. "God, Grissom, you intruded on my personal life!"
"No I didn't, I was merely helping out as a friend as a supervisor, you told me every little detail on your own free will!"
"Have you even been aware of what has gone on with you and Sara the past four years?!"
"What, so when Gil Grissom actually gets a life outside of work, it has to be public knowledge?"
"Grissom, if I hadn't --- !"
"If you hadn't what, Catherine? If you hadn't pushed me to order that damn plant so Sara would stay in Vegas..." Grissom stopped midway through his sentence. His jaw dropped and his eyes were fixed at the door. Catherine wheeled around.
Sara was standing in the middle of Grissom's doorframe. Her bottom lip quivered, her eyes were filled with hurt, and the manila folder she had been holding fell to the ground.
"Sara..."
Grissom didn't have any time to apologize, because Sara was off and halfway down the hall when Grissom got to the door. "Sara!" he shouted after her, but he was too late. Hands balled into fists, Grissom turned to Catherine.
"Damn it!" he said in frustration.
"Gil, I-I'm sorry..."
"Get back to work," Grissom snapped at her in a tone other than his normal voice. Catherine hung her head, and Grissom bolted down the hallway after Sara.
When he had meandered through the maze that was the Las Vegas Crime Lab, with no luck of catching her, he ran to the door and out into the parking lot.
He was just in time to see Sara's Denali pull out onto the highway with a screech.
Grissom put his face in a hand and rubbed his forehead.
Twelve hours ago, he had been submerged in a wonderful dream come true.
Now, he was in a nightmare.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
When shift had ended, Grissom plowed into his apartment furiously and threw his coat and suitcase to the floor. The first thing he did was bolt to his phone. He dialed Sara's cellphone number, thinking she might be out at a bar or something, trying to drown her sorrow in a beer. He was greeted with the all too familiar recorded voice that his call didn't go through. He slammed the phone down, then picked it up again and dialed her home number. It rang four times, and her answering machine came on. Her digitally recorded voice echoed through the receiver.
"Hey, it's Sara. Leave a message."
A loud beep rang in his ear, and Grissom talked quickly.
"Sara, please, I didn't mean for you to hear that. It's not what you think. Really. Please believe me."
About three miles away, Sara sobbed into a pillow.
Back at the town house, Grissom wasn't finished with his message.
"Honey, please...you have to trust me. I...I love you, don't...don't leave me now..."
Suddenly, the phone went dead.
She had shut off her answering machine.
Grissom threw the phone down forcefully and made one last attempt to talk to her. He unclipped his beeper from his belt and typed in:
Sara, listen to me. I love you.
He found Sara's beeper number and sent the message, but was infuriated to find that Error: Message could not be sent was flashing back at him mockingly.
She must have shut off her beeper, too.
Grissom shook his head and staggered over to his couch. He fell back and rubbed his eyes, as a migraine came around and pounded at his brain.
The phone rang. Hoping it was Sara, he ran to his Caller ID, but was disappointed to see:
Willows, Catherine
Grissom decided not to answer it, lest Catherine was ready to give him more crap about his personal life. He let it ring, pulling a stunt that Sara had no doubt pulled a few minutes ago, and his answering machine clicked on.
"Hi, sorry I can't come to the phone right now. Please leave a message, and I'll get back to you as soon as possible." Beeeeeeep.
"Grissom, pick up the damn phone for God's sake."
His hand hovered over the receiver, but he didn't pick it up.
"Grissom, I know you're there. I've known you long enough that when you're pissed, you retreat to your castle."
He had to hand it to her: she did know him well.
"Griss, I'm your friend, and as your friend, I'm apologizing for getting a rise out of you. I'm sorry I saw you and Sara at the party. I'm sorry I accidentally let it slip to everyone. I need to talk to you, I have a plan." She paused for a moment, then said, "Grissom, pick up the phone, damn it!"
Considering his consequences, Grissom slowly picked up the receiver and put it to his ear.
"Grissom, thank God!"
"Have you called to inform me of my rapidly decaying relationship, do you really have a plan, or both?"
Catherine sighed. "The second one."
"Fine. Talk."
Catherine breathed out. "Well, first do you accept my apology, or are we bitter enemies now?"
Grissom looked down for a moment, thought about it, and said, "I forgive you."
"Now that we have that out of the way..."
"This better be good, Catherine."
"Griss, I got you into this, and now I'm going to get you out of it. Give me a minute, okay?"
He fell silent.
"First of all, if you want Sara back...I don't think sweet talk will help."
"Tried it. Didn't work."
"Right. I figured that. Secondly, acting like a lovesick teenager won't help, either."
"Catherine, just cut the crap and tell me what your plan is."
"Alright." She took a breath. "Here it is..."
TBC
A/N: Well, I guess I am writing a sequel! Or something to that extent...::shrug:: With all due respect to Catherine fans, erm....I enjoyed writing the arguments between Grissom and Catherine. Don't worry, he'll get her back...don't get your panties in a bunch.