One Must
Author – LadyLuminol )
Rating – PG for minor swearing
Pairings – Grissom/Sara, all the way!!
Summary – Never assume that what you don't know won't make your life miserable...
Author's Notes – My first attempt at a 'happy ending' story, due to popular request. Enjoy!
"Ooh, it bites!" said Greg with a grin. Apparently being rejected by Sara for something like the fifty-seventh time (according to Nick and Warrick's running tally) had long ago lost its sting.
"You wish you knew where, techie. Unfortunately, your music tastes are just too much for me." Apparently Sara had learned some measure of good humor about it as well. One must point out, though, that Thousand Foot Krutch was often considered 'too much' for just about anyone but the 15-28 year old crowd.
Shaking their heads, Nick, Warrick and Catherine just kept walking. The three of them were on their way to file preliminary reports of a case involving a wino dying of a combination of an excess of money and a lack of common sense. Grissom had been particularly eager to assign the three of them to the case, especially since the body had been found just seconds away from Police HQ.
One must point out that Grissom was not exactly someone who could be accused of being 'in love with the limelight'.
Entering his office, the three CSIs dutifully handed over the sheaves of paperwork required for the case. Glancing through them, Grissom merely nodded and said something to the effect of "Don't tell the papers I exist, and I won't make your life miserable".
Catherine just shook her head and went to gather the latest evidence results, while Nick meandered off in the direction of the break room and Greg's weekly treat of Blue Hawaiian coffee.
"Greg asked Sara out again," said Warrick by way of conversation. "It was the fifty-seventh time, we think." Come on, little fishie, thought Warrick, bite the nice bait. He knew all about Sara's massive crush on Grissom, and Grissom's equally massive, if better-hidden, crush on her. "She turned him down flat again. I wonder if she'll ever say yes, just to get him off her case."
"I wouldn't count on it, Warrick. I think she has better sense than that."
"So, what's the latest with our oh-so-oblivious duo?" asked Nick at what was jokingly referred to as 'Operation Geek Love'. The bi-weekly breakfast session had been held at the same diner at the same time for the last three years, ever since Catherine had noticed something...well, odd, about how Grissom and Sara acted around each other. The group sessions were so routine that the staff at the diner oftentimes had their breakfast prepared for them before they even walked in the door.
One must note that it was not a coincidence that these breakfasts were always held on the day that both Grissom and Sara had off.
"Nothing. And believe me, I've tried everything. I even baited Grissom about Greg asking her out again. I only got a raised eyebrow and something like 'don't bet on it'." Warrick moaned. Since about the third breakfast, he had tried at least once a week to get them to admit something, anything, about their relationship.
"I was kinda hoping you'd pick up on that." Greg was the most recent addition to their group, having joined about a year and a half ago. He'd made the mistake of mentioning something to Sara's face in Nick's hearing, and had joined the operation even before the black eye went down. "Hey, at least this time she didn't threaten me with making me 'assist' her with some soupy one!" Laughter rang as they all remembered Greg's horror and nausea at seeing a mostly-decomposed body the last time he had helped Sara at a scene. One must assume that this was not a nice memory for the lab tech.
"Well, if they don't admit it soon, I'm going to go nutters and actually try one of your suggestions," said Catherine with a chuckle. "I'm kinda liking the one where we kidnap them and lock them up in Ecklie's office. Although they would probably take it as an opportunity to hide all of his elastic bands." The day shift supervisor had become almost notorious for wearing dozens of elastic bands around his wrist in place of his watch, which had accidentally become 'evidence' in one of Warrick's cases. Warrick's excuse? 'It had some of my sample spilled on it, honest!'
One must note that the actual location of the watch was duct-taped in place of Ecklie's hood ornament. Surprisingly, he had yet to notice.
"Well, I need to get home," said Nick. "I've got a hot date with my Playstation and I don't want to miss it." By general consensus, they all paid for their bills and left, not noticing the odd couple sitting just across the aisle.
The odd couple in question was silently hysterical. Just glancing at the other sent them into fits of paralyzing laughter.
Sara and Grissom had been together since two weeks before the start of the regular koffeeklatches. They had only discovered them by accident, overhearing Catherine start the idea in the break room one particularly dull night. By unspoken agreement, they both showed up there a few minutes before the appointed meeting time, in disguise, and listened in. Three years later, it was still as funny as it was back then. As a bonus, they had yet to be noticed.
"Do you think we should tell them sometime soon? After all, I do want to invite them to the wedding, and handing them an invitation and going 'So, I'm getting married. Wanna come?' would probably mean more work for us." Sara had managed to restrain herself, although she was holding on by a hair.
"You mean after they have a heart attack, or before they burn out their brains trying to figure out how they didn't notice?" retorted Grissom. One must remark that this was a rather truthful statement, considering that the top investigative minds in the nation hadn't even noticed when Sara started wearing her engagement ring to work.
"I say we tell them tomorrow. Make up some emergency staff meeting or something, and we break the news. It'll be fun!" Grissom could only nod his agreement, picturing the looks on his CSIs' faces.
"Catherine, you and Sara have a DB at the Luxor. And there is an emergency staff meeting tonight in my office at the end of shift. Any questions?" stated Grissom. "Good. Go to it." On her way out, Sara just winked at him. He grinned in return.
One must note that they forgot the break room's one other occupant, who played this over in his mind on his way back to his lab.
"Everyone here? Good. Now, I have a little present for you."
The entire team, including Greg and Brass, but not including Sara, looked at each other in puzzlement. What the hell? seemed to be the sum of their collective thoughts.
"Actually, they're from both of us." Sara chucked a sheaf of cards on the desk in front of them. Reaching for them in puzzlement, they were suddenly enlightened when Brass started reading aloud.
"You are formally invited to the wedding of Gilbert Augustus Grissom and...Sara Renée Sidle... Is this some sort of April Fool's joke? Because if it is, I hate to break it to you, but you're about eight months off."
"No, it's not a joke. And would the four of you men like to be the groomsmen?" said Grissom with a smirk.
"And Catherine, would you be my maid of honor? You are the best one for it, especially since we found out about you catching on to us about two weeks after we started dating. Oh, and by the way, we've been at every one of those 'Operation Geek Love' meetings."
"Yup, in the booth across the aisle. Pretty funny, some of the stuff you guys came up with. And none of it was accurate," chimed in Grissom.
A loud thud resounded from the area of Catherine's chair. One must note that this was a rather effective announcement that she was unconscious, and would prefer to remain like that, thank you very much.
"Aw, gee. And I never even got to ask her if she would let Lindsay be the flower girl." Sara apparently thought this was hilarious, and not a cause for great concern. Only Brass, who was pulling her up off the floor, even tried to glare at her.
"I guess we can assume that this meeting was your effort to get back at us for all the times we ragged on you about it?" Greg asked with surprising insight, considering tears were streaming down his cheeks. Grissom and Sara only nodded, unable to do or say more.
One can assume that this was only the beginning of one long joke war, which happened to cease when the men discovered Sara was entirely serious about making them wear bubblegum-pink tuxedos.