Disclaimer: Jingle bells, jingle bells, TPTB suck butt. Oh what fun it is to see that good ol' GS smut! (yes, it's sung in the tune to the ever-irritating "Jingle Bells" XP)
A/N: :) I'm such a poet. Get in the Christmas spirit, folks! (you know, or Hannukah, or Kwanzaa, or ... whatever the hell you celebrate ... don't even know if I spelled those right.) Please don't sue me for saying that ... Anyway, don't you guys go and let that "Submit Review" button start collecting dust ... you know how they're allergic to that stuff. Enjoy.
Chapter 6.
Sara sat up and stretched. She looked around at her surroundings and realized with a horrifying jolt that she had fallen asleep in the break room, open to the public. Quickly pulling on her shoes, she realized she was on the couch. For some reason, she had the feeling she had fallen off during her cat nap.
Apparently not. Why else would she still be on the couch?
Grissom set his head down hard on top of a small pile of manila folders. After getting caught by a day shift lab tech, Grissom had walked as fast as he could to hide behind his many jars of bugs in his office. He had been fully prepared to hide inside one of the broom closets, but thought better of it.
After the picture incident, which he had come to unconsciously call the Picture-Perfect moments (ironic, ain't it?), he really didn't need to be seen like that, least of all with Sara Sidle.
Flashback - we love these things, don't we?
Grissom watched Sara stretch, flexing her toes and stretching her arms. She groaned, and had soon rolled from the couch and to the floor. He stepped towards her cautiously, leaning forward to peer over the coffee table. She still lay sleeping.
Sighing, Grissom set down his coffee cup and moved to pick Sara's sleeping form up from the floor. He turned her over and slipped one arm around her back, the other behind her knees. He shifted over slightly to lay her gently down on the couch when a sharp gasp caused him to turn.
One of the lesser-known day shift techs stood in the doorway. Grissom had made a small motion with his feet to run after him as he ran down the hallway, but when he felt Sara almost slip from his grasp, he thought better of it. He turned and hastily- maybe too hastily- set Sara back on the couch. He quickly fled the break room, his empty coffee cup sitting forgotten.
End Flashback - oh, damn. It was so fun, too
Grissom sighed irritably at the thought of the embarrassing scene that had occurred not ten minutes ago. He felt almost ashamed when he thought of how he had relished the feel of Sara sitting comfortable in the crooks of his arms.
He shook his head roughly, as though it would dispel any thought of Sara from his mind, as he stood to go back to the break room. First he would make sure Sara wasn't there. Then he would rescue his empty cup of coffee.
Catherine saw through the glass Warrick and Nick throwing the football around the break room. Apparently, it helped them think about whatever it was they were talking about. It seemed the topic was a good one, too, for how fiery they sounded as she walked in.
"What's up?" she said, watching the football sail right past Warrick's head as he turned to look at her. Nick grinned.
"Nothing much," said Nick as he watched Warrick move to pick up the football. Catherine sat on the couch, Nick sitting next to her. "We were just talking." He flashed Warrick another broad grin.
"Ooh, must have been something good. Can I ask what it was about?" Catherine was pleased to have finally asked, considering Nick looked like he was going to wet himself if he didn't tell her about it.
"A day shift lab tech saw something interesting in here earlier," he said proudly. Catherine looked at him for a moment.
"Nick, you almost exploded trying to tell me what it is that got you two excited and now you won't explain it?"
"We're getting to it," Nick said, a look of mock sorrow on his face. Warrick rolled his eyes and sighed.
"I don't know what really went on, we kinda heard it being passed down- you know how that works. But someone said they saw Grissom ... uh, holding Sara, said it looked like he was trying to put her on the couch there." Catherine slapped a hand to her forehead. First the humiliating pictures, now this. "I heard it looked pretty suspicious."
"You guys know just as much as I do that whatever Grissom does have a different meaning than what we'd expect."
"Good luck getting him outta this situation, Cath," Nick said as Warrick tossed him the football once more.
"What does Sara say about this gossip?" Warrick and Nick looked at each other.
"I don't think Sara knows," replied Nick innocently. There was silence between them for a few short moments. Catherine stood and started for the door.
"Well, Nick, since you care so much about this, you can tell her about it." Catherine didn't give him a chance for defense as she left. Warrick stood grinning at Nick, a sadly confused look on his face.
"But-"
"Dude, just do it. It'll all be over once you finish." Warrick gave the football to Nick and he, too, left.
"Well, that made since," Nick said after him, looking down at the football in his hands.
Sara had bumped into Brass in the hallway (lucky she was coffee-free, eh?), who had been out to see her anyway. After informing her that their prime suspect had just come up with a confession to sexually harassing his sixth grade student, they went to collect Grissom to go see the alleged molester. They found him walking carefully and cautiously toward his office, a fresh cup of the usual putty in his hand.
"Hey, Griss!" Sara called as she started to catch up with him. He jumped, stopping in his tracks, and Sara gave a laugh as she realized he had almost sloshed his coffee all down his front. He gave her a somewhat sarcastic smile as she approached, a broad grin on her face.
"Almost pulled a Sara there, didn't you, Gil?" Brass said teasingly, having heard about the incident a few days ago. He turned his attention to Brass.
"What do you got?" he said, opening his office door. He sat behind his desk, and Sara and Brass stood in front of it.
"Suspect of your case made a big confession. Apparently it wasn't the only time this happened. Used to be a resident in New York, had a couple little incidents over there, too." Grissom nodded, taking a small sip of coffee.
"Meet you outside in ten?" he said to Sara, who nodded.
"What about Warrick?" Sara asked, turning to Brass.
"I'll inform him. He can met you two over there." Without giving either a chance to say otherwise, Brass had gone.
Sara was waiting by Grissom's Denali when he arrived. She smiled smoothly, as always, but made no comment of him being late. He fumbled with his keys for several moments before finally finding the right one. When Sara opened the door and hoisted herself into the seat, he took the opportunity to steal a glimpse of her.
He had enjoyed holding her in his arms those few precious seconds earlier in the day, but he wondered how she would react if she knew he had done that. If she felt the same as she had a few years ago, then she probably wouldn't mind. God, I hope she still feels that way, he thought, climbing into the Denali and starting the engine. Just give me time, Sara. Oh, wait, that's the first thing she gave you, dumbass. Who was he kidding? It'd been two or three years since she'd asked him out. No way she still felt that way.
The ride to the precinct had been quiet but comfortable. With the heater going, it felt cozy. There was no music, but the silence was good enough. To Grissom's troubled mind, it seemed to him that Sara's constant irritation of him had become so that she wouldn't even talk to him, though he knew that wasn't true. To Sara, Grissom was uncomfortable being alone with her, and the silence was a symbol of the respect she had for his not wanting to speak. Truth was, Grissom's will to not tell Sara how he really felt was crumbling into tiny little pieces on the floorboard beneath his feet,
The ride back from the precinct was much more disturbing to the both of them. After hearing the criminal's past convictions of the killings of a few small children and the assault and rape of others from ten to sixteen years old, they had left, the guy being taken out by about four guards. Sara and Grissom continued back to the Denali, where Sara currently sat huddled against the door, facing away from Grissom, staring at his reflection against the window. A downpour had started, and his concentration was fully on the road in front of him. Or so she thought.
Grissom kept stealing sideways glances at her. He knew cases such as these disturbed her, possibly as much as they disturbed him, but he couldn't find anything comforting to say to her. Then he remembered it was raining.
"Hey, Sar, remember that rain check on dinner you promised?" When Sara heard his words she pictured a formal dinner, then remembered this was Grissom. She nodded.
"Sure, why not?" she said. Grissom wasn't entirely comfortable with her answer. He liked that she had agreed to it, but the lack of conviction that was so glaringly obvious in someone like Sara disappointed him. He wanted to get something to eat with her because it was something they hadn't done by themselves in a while, but he wanted her to be happy about it.
"We don't have to if you don't want to, you know," he said, casting more nervous glances her way. She turned to him, a small smile on her face.
"Griss, I said I would." He nodded. "Is that diner next to the lab okay?" No, he thought bitterly. What I- well, we- don't need right now is a bunch of our techs out on break seeing us eating alone and making their own assumptions based on ... He stopped thinking about it when he realized he was going to start rambling inside his head.
Pulling into the parking lot, he hopped out of the car and waited for Sara. He stood with his hands in his coat pocket looking at the diner before him. One day he hoped to take Sara to a nice, formal restaurant, not some dumb diner.
"Griss?" Grissom felt a hand on his shoulder and turned. "Are we going in or aren't we?" she said uncertainly. He nodded and let her lead him inside.
Warrick had been in the observation room when Sara and Grissom talked to the sick bastard who had assaulted the kid in their case. Getting fed up with the bullshit he had tried to feed them about being sorry for everything, Warrick left for the lab.
He ran into Nick almost immediately. "Hey, where's Cath?" Warrick asked.
"Where's Sara?" Nick said it almost regretfully.
"Precinct," replied Warrick. Nick gave a relieved sigh. "Cath?" he tried again.
"Eh, I think she might be in the break room again, something about a-"
"You up for something to eat? I'm starving." Nick looked startled at his sudden out-of-place question.
"Uh, yeah, I could use food and a decent cup of coffee."
"Great, lemme go get Catherine."
After collecting Catherine, the three left out. It was about time for breakfast, anyway. The problem was, the three couldn't decide on where to eat.
"I say that diner just up the road. They have great eggs." Nick nodded.
"Yeah, I'm okay with that." Giving a defeated sigh, Warrick changed lanes.
"You guys better be glad that place is budget-friendly." Catherine gave a laugh, but it faded when she noticed another Denali parked a short distance away.
"You don't think that's-"
"Nah, they're probably still at the precinct," Warrick assured her. "I bet it's just coincidence."
Seated in a rather strategic booth near the door of the diner, the three ordered their coffee and breakfasts. When the waitress had returned with their cups, Nick had been in the process of staring at her rear when he noticed something just to the left of her.
"Hey, guys," Nick started, looking up as the waitress walked away. "Look who it is." Catherine and Warrick turned their heads simultaneously to look in the direction Nick had nodded. "Coincidence, huh?" They saw part of Sara's face and Grissom's front. He looked kind of nervous.
"Oh, don't make mountains out of mole hills. I'm sure they're just having a friendly breakfast," Warrick said, although he didn't believe even himself.
Sara sipped at her coffee while they waited for breakfast to come. Grissom hadn't touched his coffee, but instead took to staring out the window, a small smile on his face. Desperate to start a conversation, Sara began on the first thing that came to her mind.
"WhatdoyouwantforChristmas?" she said hurriedly. He looked from something on the other side of the window (probably some bug) to Sara, his head cocked slightly to the side.
"Huh?" he asked in confusion. Sara turned a light shade of pink.
"I-I mean," she stammered. "What do you want for Christmas? As a gift, you know." Grissom watched her for a minute. More than I'll ever be able to tell you.
"For Christmas? I haven't really thought about it."
Yes! New topic!
"You haven't thought about what you want for Christmas?!" Sara said it as though it were a very repulsive thought. "That's not normal, Griss."
"Not a normal person, remember? You said it yourself." Sara gave a small laugh. Grissom grinned and looked out the window once more. Neither of them said anything more until the waitress had come with their orders. Grissom looked up at Sara from his eggs, bacon, and toast.
"So, Sara, what do you want for Christmas?"
TBC ...
A/N: What do ya'll think Sara's gonna say?? :) Oh, yeah, before I forget, tell me who you think is sending those "horrid" pictures around!