Author's Note: Here's the sequel that takes place shortly after the events in "Motion to Adjourn". It's not R rated but... very close. The bit about Sara's gag reflex is information from "Fight Night". Thoughts are in italics and there is one side note in brackets.
Per a review I've revamped one section though. I was too busy figuring out the required thermodynamics for making a muffin rise in a microwave (theoretically impossible, you'd just end up with boiling muffin mix) to think about the no-metal-in-microwave restriction. This is what happens when engineers over think stories...
Motion Denied
Tearing around the corner with files in hand, Grissom ran into his office like it was his last sanctuary. He shut the door, closed the blinds, and collapsed into his desk chair.
What was I thinking??????? I just blindly.... At least there was no one else nearby but how am I going to justify this to Sara? Oh god. Sara.
The last thing he heard when he left the room was a dull thud from behind him. In his haste to leave the scene of the drive-by confession he never looked back. It was all he could do to suppress his laughter at the look on her face though. A sympathetic smile broke out on his face when he remembered it.
I have been waiting four years to say that to her. But what have I done?
Sara was either going to open a can of worms or a can of whoopass. Grissom couldn't quite figure out which.
Fortunately for him, the last slip laying on the table had been an assault and battery turned murder on the far side of Las Vegas. As he busied himself with paperwork, Grissom rightly assumed that she had taken the slip and left for her night's case. One hour of dodging later, he cautiously left his office and peered around the corner.
"Grissom! Oh man!" Warrick's voice came from right behind him, causing him to leap out of his skin. "Sorry bout that Griss."
Grissom put a hand over his heart, steadying the furious beating. "Warrick you... Nevermind. Where's Sara?"
Warrick's blue eyes twinkled and he laughed. "That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. I don't know what happened in there after we bolted but damn man, the last I saw she was grinning from ear to ear. At first I thought it was her gag reflex thing..."
At Grissom's confused look he elaborated. "At this one case she told me that she smiles really wide to keep from throwing up. It apparently suppresses the gag reflex. But back to the point, I found that she was really genuinely uh, ecstatic. Which is really unusual for her." There was a pointed pause.
A Texas accent piped up from behind him yet again. Cornered by my own staff in the middle of my own lab... I'm going to have to teach them better office gossip protocol... "Sooooo what did you say to her?" Nick had slid behind Grissom during his conversation with Warrick, and posed the sticky question himself.
"Hum. I said... 'That's nice' and then I left the room."
"Oh you know that's bull!"
"Well then, if you don't trust my answer, why don't you ask Sara when she returns?" He made a mental note to grab Sara from her SUV the moment she rolled into the lot. They had a lot to talk about.
After one excruciatingly slow shift, the CSI staff had scattered across the grounds, anxiously waiting for Sara. Most of them were willing to take a double shift just to be there when she got back. Greg was poised in his lab for her evidence to come in and need processing. He had already made up a story about how her evidence will become priority over Catherine's and Grissom's if she just spilled what happened in the break room.
Warrick and Nick were on opposite sides of the locker room, Nick at the opening (fast talker gets the story on the run) and Warrick at her locker (good friend gently persuades the suspect to confess).
Catherine was firmly stationed near the women's restroom, figuring that Sara would probably immediately take a restroom break after being at a crime scene all day. As we all know, CSI's shouldn't take bathroom breaks at the scene, now should they? Greg!!!
Even Dr. Robbins and David had been alerted to the situation and were ready to ferret out any choice information should she return with a DB in need of first opinion or autopsy.
What they didn't realize though, was that Grissom (whom they last left in his office) was out "taking a walk" around the parking lot, waiting for her to pull in.
At long last Grissom watched as Sara gracefully pulled her Denali into her parking spot and jumped out, pulling out a large paper bag of evidence samples. He all but ran over to her side.
"Grissom!!!" To his delight and humor, he noticed that Sara was still smiling as wide as humanly possible. He grabbed the bag in one hand and her elbow in the other, steering her towards the door.
"Sara, don't ask questions right now but we need to go back to my office immediately. Something's afoot and I'm in the mood for a game."
The electricity in their touch amplified and Grissom swore he felt her skin heat up. Stealing a glance at her out of the corner of his eye he noticed she was blushing (but still smiling).
Oh. In the mood for a game? That didn't quite come out right.
They made it to his office in record time and, luckily, with no snooping CSIs any the wiser.
Sara clapped her hands together and bounced on her toes. "Okay Griss, what's the game? I'm... you know, all for it."
"Here's the game Sara. Every CSI and one inquisitive lab tech is currently laying in wait to ask you what happened between us earlier. No one heard what was said but everyone did see the joyous look on your face. Now here's the real game. I want you to go to each person and give them all a different story. When they all come together to discuss, which both you and I know they will, everyone will have a different story and therefore will negate them all."
Her face fell slightly once she realized during his discourse that the game was verbal not... "Oh I see. False information leads them to discount the truthful. Nice game. But we know the truth."
Grissom's cheeks colored and he looked down nervously. "Yes, Sara, but we've always known the truth, you and I."
After a beautiful moment of knowing silence, Sara perked up again. "Alright Grissom you can count on me. I am one falsity-spewing revenge machine!" With that she grabbed her paper bag of evidence, tore open the door and began planning her circuit of deceit.
Phase 1: Dr. Robbins and David. They were on the farthest end of the lab, way back in the morgue, plus she really did need her DB examined at least preliminarily for the true cause of death. With an assault and battery, it was hard to tell if the cause was extreme bodily damage due to beating or if it was complications due to a pre-existing condition.
Pushing the door open to the morgue, Sara was greeted by an enthusiastic David.
"Hey Sara! How are things going with you?"
She smiled to reassure him. "Oh, great David, thanks for asking. Have you received my DB? I need an obvious cause of death for him."
David turned around and walked over to the far slab. "Yeah, he's right over here. Severe blunt head trauma as you know. Teeth missing, broken nose, and even the right eye socket has been caved in." He laughed. "That's gotta hurt. Cause of death was asphyxiation due to choking. He apparently tried to swallow several of his own teeth at once. Never a good idea."
Dr. Robbins approached with a cup of coffee in hand. "Would you like a cup Sara? I've got my own personal brew down here. Far superior to the stuff Gil makes." Dr. Robbins and David shared an unmistakable look that said "You ask... No, you ask!"
Sara made the pretense of being absorbed with examining her DB. "Swallowing too many teeth huh? That will still be attributed to the assault. Perp could get accidental death. Manslaughter instead of murder but hey, at least he'll be behind bars right?"
David spoke up quickly. "Right! Right... Hey Sara, ummm, Doc and I heard from... Well we heard that something went on between you and Grissom today..."
"Care to spill it?" Dr. Robbins asked, fairly forwardly.
"Oh yeah, Greg and his big mouth said 'Sara loves you' in the middle of handing out assignments," she mumbled the last part, "what a jerk."
Robbins spurred her on, hoping for the real scoop. "And everyone left apparently... what did Grissom say?"
Smiling sweetly (but with just enough bitterness to be believable) she replied "Oh, he just said 'That's nice' and left. Left me a nice assault-turned-manslaughter for my troubles too. What embarrassment!"
"Awwww, I'm sure he didn't mean it in... a mean way" David said, completely floundering the sympathy.
"It's ok though. I've dealt with him before, I can do it again." She sighed, paused, and picked up the paperwork Dr. Robbins handed her. "See you guys later. Thanks for the quick assessment on my DB!"
Before either of them could reply the door to the morgue was already swinging shut. Dr. Robbins turned to David. "That's nice? That poor girl, he shouldn't lead her on like that then shut her down."
David gazed at the door sadly. "Yeah I know. I w--could treat her so much better." Blushing momentarily he looked back at his mentor. "Well, let's finish this up shall we? I'm sure the others will want to know what we found out." The two coroners silently began their last autopsy of the day.
Phase 2: Greg. Sara still had to run by the lab to get her DNA samples run off. She also had a few unknown substances to run through the GCMS.
Greg saw her coming through the glass walls of the lab and hastily turned around in his chair, rolling back to his computer to look busy. Sara cleared her throat to get his attention.
"Oh. Hey Sara, what's up girl? Wait. Before you say anything I am really sorry about this morning." He held up both hands in a defensive posture. "Please don't hurt me! I didn't think he was listening."
She approached him aggressively and grinned as he shied away from her. Sara patted him on the back in reassurance. "Don't worry Greggo... I am sooooooooo glad he was listening. You know, all that time skirting around the issue, it's over now! You effectively broke the ice and let our feelings rush to the surface unbridled."
Greg's eyes grew large. "Hey, Sara, you've got to tell me what happened. I mean, it was partially my fault, whatever did... happen. So---"
Sara cut him off with a playful kiss to the forehead, spinning him around in his chair. "Well if you're partially to blame then I owed you partially what happened with me and Grissom, as I have now repaid you I will tell all in detail."
She made a show of checking left and right, then pulled up a rolling chair next to Greg. "Okay Greg, you have to keep this a secret."
Caught up in the moment he leaned in closer to her. "I promise. Please, tell me!"
"Okay... so after you all left we just stared at each other for a second then... blam! We were on each other! Man, we made out for like 15 minutes solid but he broke off saying we had to keep those kinds of feelings separate from our jobs. Like, we had work to do, you know?" She laughed and lowered her voice conspiratorially. "So. We had a make out session and (she giggled) he is really good at what he does. Oh and he is really... big." She locked eyes with Greg. "You can't tell anyone okay? Especially that last part!"
Greg's jaw had hit the floor halfway through her "confession" and his eyes nearly left his head. Sara and Grissom making out? In the break room? Holiest of holies, GeekLove had prevailed! While Greg's heart sank at the thought he was not on the receiving end of those lavish kisses and trailing touches (that his imagination heartily created in the scenario), he was glad that the situation was resolved.
He finally shook himself awake again, realizing he couldn't daydream on the make out session for too much longer if he wanted to maintain propriety. "I... I won't tell anyone about the last part Sara, I promise. Just... enjoy yourself Sara, you deserve him. You've deserved him for a long time now, ok?"
She smiled genuinely this time. "Thanks Greg, you're the best."
With that she left the room, having dropped off her samples and deposited Lie #2.
Phase 3: Catherine. Sara's bladder was full to bursting by the time she made it to the women's restroom. She had held it all day long while examining the crime scene, then interviewing the suspects and the witnesses. At long last she felt up to lying to the only person she thought could possibly see the deceit, or worse, see the truth through the deceit. If she could get past Catherine she would have no problems with Nick or Warrick.
Catherine wisely let her pass and use the bathroom. However, she heard the door open while she washed her hands and, lo, there was the other female CSI.
"So... What happened after we left this morning girl? We didn't see Grissom for nearly 20 minutes and then you just left the lab with a manic grin on your face. Anything I should know about?"
Sara laughed. "I should have known you'd get directly to the point."
"I don't mess around anymore Sara, it's one of the side effects of being a single mother," Catherine replied with a snort.
"Alright Catherine. Here's how it went." She dried her hands with a paper towel and threw it away casually. "We had hot... steamy....... muffins." It was hard for her to keep a straight face as Catherine seemed to be hanging onto every word, in anticipation of the logical conclusion. The older CSI almost groaned when the word muffins came out instead of...
"Muffins????? MUFFINS!?!?!?!?"
"Yeah, I never woulda thought either, but they were damn good too. Grissom's secret recipe for instant microwave muffins. Blueberry in fact."
"My God Sara, you can't possibly expect me to believe that Greg confesses that you love Grissom and then he makes you muffins? He looked like he was going to kill Greg and then cry!"
"Well maybe I should have taken my muffin to Greg then. He doesn't seem too upset about it now. Greg I mean. He didn't say anything when I took him my evidence."
"How many... muffins did he make?"
"Oh, only two. Only two can fit in the microwave you see. He puts the instant batter in single plastic cupcake trays and then nukes them for 3 minutes. They rise right up into hot steamy... muffins. Absolutely delicious. You should go ask Grissom for the recipe, I've never seen muffins made in a microwave before."
Catherine stood there with her mouth agape, then slowly closed it. "You know... I will. That sounds like a great idea. He should market it if it really works."
"Okay, well I'm on my way out Catherine, I'll see you at shift again tonight huh?"
"Yeah, see you later Sara."
Sara exited the restroom laughing quietly to herself. This was the most fun she'd had in weeks and the best was yet to come. With three lies down she felt compelled to tell the truth and she couldn't think of a better victim of the truth than Nick.
Phase 4: Nick. As soon as she was within sight of the locker room, Nick straightened up from his position near the door. He had been lazing against the doorframe keeping an eye out for Sara, and here she was on final approach.
"Hey, Sara, girl, let's go talk somewhere."
This time she decided to feign ignorance. "About what Nick? It's been a long shift and I'm ready to go home, take a shower, and curl up in bed."
"About this morning, hun, we need to talk about what happened this morning." He motioned for them to enter a nearby investigation room.
Once they both entered the room Sara turned to Nick in a panic. "You know what happened this morning? Who told you?!?"
He held his hands out in front of him to placate her. "Nobody, nobody, I need to hear it from you. People have been asking... you know, asking if you're alright and I wanted to make sure from the source herself. So. Are you alright?"
She looked at the ground, embarrassed. "Yeah. I'm fine." She was surprised to feel Nick's hands on her shoulders, squeezing gently.
"You know you can tell me anything right?" Nick picked up Sara's chin to look her in the eye. "If you're not okay or fine we can talk about things elsewhere if you need to. If you want to, just know I'm here for you ok babe? Can you... tell me what happened?"
Nick's honesty was warming and she knew he deserved the truth.
Taking a deep breath, she calmly told the truth from her perspective. "Nick, it went like this. You all ran out of the room. It seemed like an eternity later, then he turned to me and said 'I love you too, meeting adjourned,' gathered his files, and left me sitting there. My vision went a little blurry... then I remember waking up with only one assignment slip left on the table. I took that and ran. He told me Nick, he told me he loved me."
Nick gave her another reassuring squeeze. "That's great Sara! I know this means a lot to you. I'm glad you trusted me with this."
Sara blushed a bit and reached out to touch his arm. "Nick, thanks for listening. Thanks a lot."
He let go of her, giving her back a swat, guiding her to the door. "You're welcome girl, now go get some rest. You've pulled a long shift."
Planting her feet and turning back to look at him she replied "So have you Nick! Why did you pull such a long shift though? Log says you were done two hours ago. What were you waiting for?"
The cowboy gave his charming beaming smile. "I was waitin for you Sara, waitin for you."
They both exited the investigation room, nearly arm in arm. So comfortable with each other they matched strides on their way out. Nick cut left to go home; Sara entered the locker room to gather her things. Her purse, keys, and personal effects were still in her locker. It was a small shock, though, when she rounded the first set of lockers and came face to face with Warrick Brown. She had all but forgotten about victim number five.
Phase 5: Warrick. Blue eyes riveted to hers as soon as she made for her locker.
"Hey Sara, I, uh, I wanted to see you before you left for the day."
"What about?"
"You know, about earlier. Greg can say some random stuff at the worst time. I'm really sorry about that. I know he is, or will be after Grissom gets done with him."
"It's no problem, really. I've more than gotten over it." She gave him a "cat that got the canary" grin.
He laughed, chagrined. "Oh? What made you so happy?"
She gave no response, just smirked and continued emptying things out of her locker, preparing for the journey home.
"No. Really, Sara, what happened?"
Sara looked at him, weighing her options. She made sure to look in the "memory" direction for eyes instead of the "creation" direction. Make-out, muffins, that's nice, and the truth were already used. Hmmm....
Sara burst out laughing, startling Warrick. "He proposed! Right then and there!" She dropped down to sit on the bench next to him. "He doesn't have the ring yet but we're going tomorrow to pick one out. All this time and he was just waiting for a straightforward confession on my part and public knowledge of it to seep out here. Griss was just so worried that people at work wouldn't like it... him being my supervisor and all... But you all took in stride and now..." Her eyes misted over. "Oh my God Warrick I'm just so... thrilled!"
He started laughing, honestly pleased (but still somewhat stunned) by the situation. "Whoa girl! Gettin married to Grissom? Congratulations!!! That's big time! Please tell me I'm the first to congratulate you?" Warrick's voice dropped low enough to be heard only by her, and no other prying ears.
"Yeah, you're the first person I've told. But you can tell the others, I don't have time to. I have to go home and get some sleep before I start deciding on bridesmaids' colors." Sara paused for a moment. "Would you be my best man? I'm sure Griss would want you and Nick as the best men, Catherine could be a matron of honor. Lindsey could be the flower girl! Oh and Brass will give me away! My family will attend but they won't be thrilled by the suddenness..."
Sara kept babbling on for minutes while Warrick nodded and smiled, giving input at odd intervals.
"Sara, of course I'll be your best man. Anything for you girl, I'm just so happy for you. You and he... you just belong together, you know?"
"Yeah," she looked at her hands clenched in her lap, "I'm just glad he finally acknowledged that." Sara held her breath a moment (Let's kick this up a notch...) "But... what if he doesn't really love me? What if he's only marrying me because he thinks he's supposed to?"
In a panic she grabbed the front of Warrick's shirt. "What if... he's proposing to get me off his back then weeks from now after I've chosen colors and fabrics and gotten bridesmaids and a caterer, chosen my cake and found my veil, and those veils are really hard to find mind you, picking one that's sufficiently beautiful but won't jab you in the skull and---"
Sara's eyes teared up and she bit her lower lip (which was trembling). "Warrick!?!?"
In response to her terror, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her into a pseudo-hug. "Shhhh... s'ok girl, I'm sure he does love you. I mean, look at the way he looks at you. We all see it, we all knew it. He ain't foolin around. And if he is... well Nick and I'll jump him for you. Nobody messes with Sara like that. But... go into this with all your heart girl, marriage only comes once, and you gotta do it right the first time, you know?"
She sniffled and straightened up. "Yeah. Yeah, I know. Thanks Warrick, so much." Sara gave him a winning smile. "I needed that reassurance." She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue from her purse. "Well, I gotta run, I really need some sleep."
"Yeah girl, you do. Go home and rest. I'll see you shift tonight." Both CSIs got up. Sara pushed her locker door closed and exited the room to the right. Warrick headed to the left, mumbling goodbyes as they parted.
As soon as Warrick was out of sight, Sara deftly made her way to Grissom's office, hoping that his light would still be on. The door was slightly cracked and, even though the blinds were shut, she could tell he was there. Knocking once, she entered his lair, awakening him from his daydream.
"Grissom? Mission accomplished."
At the same time elsewhere, five people were meeting in the break room, sitting around that ill-fated conference table. Sitting at the head of the table was Catherine and her delegates were Greg, Nick, Warrick, and David (the coroner's delegate).
Tension lay thick in the air and Catherine broke through it first. "Okay people, I have the inside scoop, though it be odd, from Sara herself." They all listened intently, each one listening for a match to their story. "Hot.... Steamy.... Muffins."
"WHAT?!??!?" Three voices cried out as one and David was about to pass out from the suggestive tone of Catherine's voice.
"No no no Catherine, I think you misunderstood." Greg sat forward in his chair to make his point. "She told me they had a make-out session and she felt him up and..." He blushed furiously at the stares from around the table. "Nevermind, you really don't want to know the results."
"She told us that he said 'That's nice' and left her sitting there, rejected," David stammered once he finally found his voice.
"Yeah? She told me that he said 'I love you too, meeting adjourned' and she passed out in happiness." Nick almost sounded hurt but... he knew the truth. He hadn't known of her deception but hey... a game's a game.
There was a long pause and soon everyone had turned to Warrick, who was staring blankly ahead. Greg prompted. "Hey, man... What did she tell you?"
He inhaled deeply, finding the inner calm required to relate the locker room lie. "She said... He proposed to her right then and there. They're going to pick out rings tomorrow, she wants me to be the best man and she thinks Grissom's leading her on but I resolved her anxiety and now she thinks she wants the bridesmaids' color to be burgundy."
"Great. So we have five people and five different stories." Greg hung his head.
Nick looked deflated. "So she lied all the way around. Everybody got a load of crap story."
"Damn folks, it looks like we'll never know exactly what happened in this room 11 fateful hours ago." Everyone started to leave, sullenly thinking about how sure they were that their story was correct.
Greg lifted up his head, looking at Catherine determinedly. "Catherine. Motion to group interrogate suspect."
She scoffed at the idea, sliding out of her chair and gathering her belongings. "Motion denied Greg. Let it go."
Meanwhile....
Sara had related her lies to Grissom and the two had decided to leave the scene of the crime as quickly as possible, believing that someone (like Greg) would try to corner them and re-investigate. Laughing hard and admiring Sara's creativity, Grissom suggested that they go back to his place to finish their conversation in a strategic retreat.
With butterflies in her stomach, Sara hopped in her Denali and tailed Grissom back to his townhouse. She skipped up the stairs and entered his domain as he held the door open for her.
"You hungry?" He asked, moving towards the kitchen.
"Oh yeah, I skipped dinner before I went on shift and haven't eaten since." Sara gave her trademark smirk. "Somehow the break room seemed a little bit different after this morning."
A rumbling assent came from the kitchen and she heard something in the microwave. A minute or so later Grissom returned with a covered platter.
Kicking off his shoes and sitting down on the couch next to her, he stated "My dear, breakfast is served," and uncovered the tray.
Sara squealed in delight and anticipation.
Steam rose to reveal...
"Hot... steamy.... Muffins!!!"
THE END