~*^*Chapter 3*^*~
Whilst still asleep, Sara rolled over to find a new comfortable position to sleep in. She found it quickly. A lovely warmth filled her when she realised he was sleeping in the same bed. Sleepily opening her eyes, she smiled when she saw him lying on his back, on top of the covers.
He looked peaceful and relaxed. The stress of the day gone from his face and the wrinkles around his eyes had vanished.
She lay there for a long time, watching him. In her wildest dreams had she seen this moment, but in her dreams, she could touch him and not be afraid of his reaction or rejection.
Sighing and closing her eyes at the sudden thought of her asking him out, hit hard and added more pressure to her already bruised ego. Maybe this mess they'd gotten themselves into was worse than she thought.
He hadn't spoken to her in such a long time, she couldn't remember the last time. It was scary and upsetting that he seemed uninterested anymore. She'd figured he met someone and didn't know how to tell her or that he just never felt anything toward her from the beginning.
Years of flirting must have scared him away. In any case, she felt she could fix their friendship by asking him to dinner and additionally she tried to make him see that she'd be happy if he wanted more, but he said no.
Well, if that wasn't a straight forward answer, the first she'd probably ever gotten from him, then she didn't know any simpler way of saying, 'no, I'm not interested.' The least he could have said was sorry or gave her a different explanation than, 'I don't know what to do about this.'
She should have known he'd be vague about trying to let her down, maybe he was just trying to be nice about the whole thing and wanted her to stop and think about what she was doing asking him out. She stopped, she thought about it and in the end, she felt hurt and sad.
This case was something she'd never have agreed to if she knew she'd have to pose as his wife for two weeks. He obviously didn't want to be with her in any form than a co-worker.
~*^*^*~
Knowing something was different from when he normally woke, he soon found he had his right arm wrapped around her, resting on her stomach.
Waiting a few minutes to steal the moment away in his mind, he let his eyes roam down her hair to stop on the exposed flesh of her neck. He slowly withdrew his arm and rolled off the bed.
He knew she had a crush on him, but he couldn't do anything. She had to know that he couldn't. He had known her too long and the years between their ages would get in the way.
An old professor's crush was what she had; it wasn't anything more than that. He knew he once held a crush on her when she came to Vegas, but since that time. it grew into so much more.
Crushes were nothing more than infatuations and once she got what she wanted, she'd move on. He knew that, he knew he couldn't make her happy enough to stick around and that's what prevented him from pursuing his dreams.
Checking the time as he left her to sleep a while longer, he headed to the bathroom for a shower and shave.
When he finally emerged from the bathroom, he saw Sara sitting on the couch with files and photo's spread across the small table in front of her.
"Hey." She said softly as he closed the bathroom door. "Hope you don't mind me starting."
Grissom shook his head when she looked up expectantly. "No, it's fine. Um." He sat down beside her and watched her movements for a moment. "How far did you get?" He swept his arm over the files briefly.
"The suspects profile, that's about it." She shifted her body to face him and shrugged innocently. "Where did you go earlier?" She inquired, turning back to reading a file on their suspect.
Hearing her question, he sighed and rubbed his face. "I went to the payphones in the lobby. Rang Catherine. She says hi."
Well, it was hidden somewhere between the words while she was lecturing him.
"Oh, okay. Err. We need to talk about how were gonna do this, you know. us?" The whole time she spoke, she kept her eyes on the file spread before her. It was the only way to speak to him with out showing him her true feelings about the whole thing. The closeness they'd have to be, plus their show in public and other things she had swimming around her head.
He glanced at her before standing and walked towards the phone. "You want some coffee or something to eat?"
Sara nodded and listened to him making the call. -I knew this was gonna happen- She sighed and picked up a package. -What's this I wonder- She opened the thick brown envelope and emptied the contents onto the table. -Oh-
"You may want to put this on." She held up one of the gold band wedding rings that were accompanied with cash, cards and papers. All the normal married couple information they needed.
Grissom leaned down to reached for the ring and at the same time, watched her slip hers on quickly before returning to reading. He pushed his ring on and closed his hand in a fist. -This is too much- His mind screamed.
~*^*^*~
They spent an hour going over the information; including their own make believe part in the whole mess. Their names were normal, likes and dislikes were varied to their actual likes and dislikes. There was no way Sara was eating meat for the sake of a suspect.
Grissom hadn't broached the subject yet and neither had Sara. It was still up in the air about their behaviour in public and both being professionals in the art of human behaviour, it was easy to tell they were more than nervous.
Dressing causally for dinner, they stood in the elevator alone. It was safe to say that the tension was mounting and sure enough, it escalated when Sara slipped her hand into Grissom's as the doors opened.
To all appearances, they were a normal married couple on their honeymoon, but on the inside of their own occupied brains, were two completely terrified people with no way of wrapping their minds around what else they'd be expected to do.
He looked down at their hands and absently squeezed hers tighter as they moved out into the lobby. Sara was surprised, but held it in. She let him lead the way to the restaurant that was off to the left and through some large doors. What she didn't expect was Grissom's next moves.
"Ok," He sighed lightly, it seemed to her, but inside he was screaming. -JESUS CHRIST, I'M GONNA DIE- But he continued calmly. "Show's on the road." He released her hand and wrapped his arm around her waist.
Sara swallowed hard and looked around the room. -OH GOD-
-She's too stiff- He sensed as he pulled her closer and whispered in her ear. "Relax."
"Easy for you to say." She mumbled on a breath before leaning into his side and smiling at a waiter.
"What?" Grissom asked, looking down at her. When she didn't reply, he figured he must have been hearing things. Although he knew his hearing was fine now, he still worried at times.
"Follow me please Mr and Mrs Grissom." The waiter smiled at their shocked expression and made a beeline towards a far table against the wall. "As requested, sir. Here's the menu, I'll be back once you've decided." He waited until they were both seated before leaving them alone.
Sara looked across at Grissom and frowned. "You requested a table?" He shook his head and matched her frown. She nodded and opened her menu. "I wonder what else they've requested. I hope it's nothing."
Grissom sighed and poured some water from the glass jug, which sat to one side, into the two glasses. "We can't keep doing this." He stated as he replaced the jug and reached for his glass.
"What are you talking about?" She asked softly when she saw his face. It was almost as if he was struggling to act normal or something.
"You need to relax. You were so tense back there." He looked down at her stare. "We're married and on our honeymoon. There's certain things newly married couples do and we are not doing them." -God! I have no clue what I'm talking about-
She kept her eyes on her water, but drifted them to his hand that was resting on the table by his glass. She hesitantly placed her hand between them. "Give me your hand." She requested.
Grissom's head snapped up. "Huh?"
"You're practically saying we're not doing what couples do. I'm trying here, so help me out." She said on a long sigh and waited with her hand offered to him.
It seemed in slow motion to them, but as soon as his hand covered hers, they both visibly relaxed. "We should talk about other things too."
"I know, but not here. Here, we'll have to muddle through and this, this is a good start." She let a small smile surface and was pleased when he smiled back and nodded.
"I may need some help. It's been a while since I did this sort of thing." He chuckled as her eyes widened. "Not the marriage, but the couple stuff."
Sara shook her head and looked around them. "You think he's in here?" She asked, going all business. -It should help him relax- She thought and was proved right when his shoulders dropped slightly.
-Ah, work. I can do that- He took a deep breath and looked across the room. "Maybe, but tonight we relax and wait it out. We might not even see him."
~*^*^*~
As Sara reviewed her notes she began to reflect on the evening they just had, it had been a long one, that was certain, but not surprisingly she didn't feel at all tired, falling asleep when they arrived had been a rare moment for her. She didn't know if she was so awake because she always alive with energy or because of all the coffee she had been drinking to avoid actually having to speak about something non-case related with Grissom. The dinner hadn't been terrible, but they were still no closer to being comfortable with each other.
She was still pondering this when she realised that Grissom was talking to her.
"Sara, are you listening?" Grissom asked for the second time.
"Huh, what? She responded, "Sorry I was miles away, what did you say?"
"I said I'm kind of tired and I'm going to call it a night."
"Oh, okay." Sara said as Grissom walked towards the bedroom, watching him stop as he reached the door. She asked. "Something wrong?"
"There's only one bed," Grissom stated the obvious, remembering them sharing the bed earlier in the day.
"Ah," She called out, "You take it; I'll sleep on the couch."
"No Sara, it's alright, you can have it." He said, walking away from the door.
"Look, Griss, there's no point in me taking the bed, I don't really sleep that much and I'm not tired, you take it."
"How about we alternate nights?" Grissom suggested, although the thought seemed completely stupid.
"Okay, are you sure, because I probably won't sleep very long in it anyway."
"Yes I'm sure, and why wont you sleep?" Grissom asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"No particular reason." Sara hesitated, delaying as though she had to think up an excuse. "I just don't feel tired that's all."
Grissom could tell by the way she was looking away from him and the way she spoke, that there was something she wasn't telling him, but he decided to leave it at that for now. -I'm not going to make her tell me something she doesn't want to reveal, just yet.-
"Well, goodnight then." He said, "I'll see you in the morning,"
"Yeah, night." Sara replied, keeping her eyes from following him out of the room.
-Why can't I just tell him- She chastised herself, -So I have nightmares about the cases sometimes, so what? He already knows that. I kind of let it slip during the Kaye Shelton case- 'Would you like to sleep with me?' -What was I thinking-
-But he thinks I got over it- She corrected her own mind. Well he'll figure it out sooner or later she realised, he's not stupid. Turning back to her notes, she readied herself to face what was going to be the beginning of a long night.
Whilst still asleep, Sara rolled over to find a new comfortable position to sleep in. She found it quickly. A lovely warmth filled her when she realised he was sleeping in the same bed. Sleepily opening her eyes, she smiled when she saw him lying on his back, on top of the covers.
He looked peaceful and relaxed. The stress of the day gone from his face and the wrinkles around his eyes had vanished.
She lay there for a long time, watching him. In her wildest dreams had she seen this moment, but in her dreams, she could touch him and not be afraid of his reaction or rejection.
Sighing and closing her eyes at the sudden thought of her asking him out, hit hard and added more pressure to her already bruised ego. Maybe this mess they'd gotten themselves into was worse than she thought.
He hadn't spoken to her in such a long time, she couldn't remember the last time. It was scary and upsetting that he seemed uninterested anymore. She'd figured he met someone and didn't know how to tell her or that he just never felt anything toward her from the beginning.
Years of flirting must have scared him away. In any case, she felt she could fix their friendship by asking him to dinner and additionally she tried to make him see that she'd be happy if he wanted more, but he said no.
Well, if that wasn't a straight forward answer, the first she'd probably ever gotten from him, then she didn't know any simpler way of saying, 'no, I'm not interested.' The least he could have said was sorry or gave her a different explanation than, 'I don't know what to do about this.'
She should have known he'd be vague about trying to let her down, maybe he was just trying to be nice about the whole thing and wanted her to stop and think about what she was doing asking him out. She stopped, she thought about it and in the end, she felt hurt and sad.
This case was something she'd never have agreed to if she knew she'd have to pose as his wife for two weeks. He obviously didn't want to be with her in any form than a co-worker.
~*^*^*~
Knowing something was different from when he normally woke, he soon found he had his right arm wrapped around her, resting on her stomach.
Waiting a few minutes to steal the moment away in his mind, he let his eyes roam down her hair to stop on the exposed flesh of her neck. He slowly withdrew his arm and rolled off the bed.
He knew she had a crush on him, but he couldn't do anything. She had to know that he couldn't. He had known her too long and the years between their ages would get in the way.
An old professor's crush was what she had; it wasn't anything more than that. He knew he once held a crush on her when she came to Vegas, but since that time. it grew into so much more.
Crushes were nothing more than infatuations and once she got what she wanted, she'd move on. He knew that, he knew he couldn't make her happy enough to stick around and that's what prevented him from pursuing his dreams.
Checking the time as he left her to sleep a while longer, he headed to the bathroom for a shower and shave.
When he finally emerged from the bathroom, he saw Sara sitting on the couch with files and photo's spread across the small table in front of her.
"Hey." She said softly as he closed the bathroom door. "Hope you don't mind me starting."
Grissom shook his head when she looked up expectantly. "No, it's fine. Um." He sat down beside her and watched her movements for a moment. "How far did you get?" He swept his arm over the files briefly.
"The suspects profile, that's about it." She shifted her body to face him and shrugged innocently. "Where did you go earlier?" She inquired, turning back to reading a file on their suspect.
Hearing her question, he sighed and rubbed his face. "I went to the payphones in the lobby. Rang Catherine. She says hi."
Well, it was hidden somewhere between the words while she was lecturing him.
"Oh, okay. Err. We need to talk about how were gonna do this, you know. us?" The whole time she spoke, she kept her eyes on the file spread before her. It was the only way to speak to him with out showing him her true feelings about the whole thing. The closeness they'd have to be, plus their show in public and other things she had swimming around her head.
He glanced at her before standing and walked towards the phone. "You want some coffee or something to eat?"
Sara nodded and listened to him making the call. -I knew this was gonna happen- She sighed and picked up a package. -What's this I wonder- She opened the thick brown envelope and emptied the contents onto the table. -Oh-
"You may want to put this on." She held up one of the gold band wedding rings that were accompanied with cash, cards and papers. All the normal married couple information they needed.
Grissom leaned down to reached for the ring and at the same time, watched her slip hers on quickly before returning to reading. He pushed his ring on and closed his hand in a fist. -This is too much- His mind screamed.
~*^*^*~
They spent an hour going over the information; including their own make believe part in the whole mess. Their names were normal, likes and dislikes were varied to their actual likes and dislikes. There was no way Sara was eating meat for the sake of a suspect.
Grissom hadn't broached the subject yet and neither had Sara. It was still up in the air about their behaviour in public and both being professionals in the art of human behaviour, it was easy to tell they were more than nervous.
Dressing causally for dinner, they stood in the elevator alone. It was safe to say that the tension was mounting and sure enough, it escalated when Sara slipped her hand into Grissom's as the doors opened.
To all appearances, they were a normal married couple on their honeymoon, but on the inside of their own occupied brains, were two completely terrified people with no way of wrapping their minds around what else they'd be expected to do.
He looked down at their hands and absently squeezed hers tighter as they moved out into the lobby. Sara was surprised, but held it in. She let him lead the way to the restaurant that was off to the left and through some large doors. What she didn't expect was Grissom's next moves.
"Ok," He sighed lightly, it seemed to her, but inside he was screaming. -JESUS CHRIST, I'M GONNA DIE- But he continued calmly. "Show's on the road." He released her hand and wrapped his arm around her waist.
Sara swallowed hard and looked around the room. -OH GOD-
-She's too stiff- He sensed as he pulled her closer and whispered in her ear. "Relax."
"Easy for you to say." She mumbled on a breath before leaning into his side and smiling at a waiter.
"What?" Grissom asked, looking down at her. When she didn't reply, he figured he must have been hearing things. Although he knew his hearing was fine now, he still worried at times.
"Follow me please Mr and Mrs Grissom." The waiter smiled at their shocked expression and made a beeline towards a far table against the wall. "As requested, sir. Here's the menu, I'll be back once you've decided." He waited until they were both seated before leaving them alone.
Sara looked across at Grissom and frowned. "You requested a table?" He shook his head and matched her frown. She nodded and opened her menu. "I wonder what else they've requested. I hope it's nothing."
Grissom sighed and poured some water from the glass jug, which sat to one side, into the two glasses. "We can't keep doing this." He stated as he replaced the jug and reached for his glass.
"What are you talking about?" She asked softly when she saw his face. It was almost as if he was struggling to act normal or something.
"You need to relax. You were so tense back there." He looked down at her stare. "We're married and on our honeymoon. There's certain things newly married couples do and we are not doing them." -God! I have no clue what I'm talking about-
She kept her eyes on her water, but drifted them to his hand that was resting on the table by his glass. She hesitantly placed her hand between them. "Give me your hand." She requested.
Grissom's head snapped up. "Huh?"
"You're practically saying we're not doing what couples do. I'm trying here, so help me out." She said on a long sigh and waited with her hand offered to him.
It seemed in slow motion to them, but as soon as his hand covered hers, they both visibly relaxed. "We should talk about other things too."
"I know, but not here. Here, we'll have to muddle through and this, this is a good start." She let a small smile surface and was pleased when he smiled back and nodded.
"I may need some help. It's been a while since I did this sort of thing." He chuckled as her eyes widened. "Not the marriage, but the couple stuff."
Sara shook her head and looked around them. "You think he's in here?" She asked, going all business. -It should help him relax- She thought and was proved right when his shoulders dropped slightly.
-Ah, work. I can do that- He took a deep breath and looked across the room. "Maybe, but tonight we relax and wait it out. We might not even see him."
~*^*^*~
As Sara reviewed her notes she began to reflect on the evening they just had, it had been a long one, that was certain, but not surprisingly she didn't feel at all tired, falling asleep when they arrived had been a rare moment for her. She didn't know if she was so awake because she always alive with energy or because of all the coffee she had been drinking to avoid actually having to speak about something non-case related with Grissom. The dinner hadn't been terrible, but they were still no closer to being comfortable with each other.
She was still pondering this when she realised that Grissom was talking to her.
"Sara, are you listening?" Grissom asked for the second time.
"Huh, what? She responded, "Sorry I was miles away, what did you say?"
"I said I'm kind of tired and I'm going to call it a night."
"Oh, okay." Sara said as Grissom walked towards the bedroom, watching him stop as he reached the door. She asked. "Something wrong?"
"There's only one bed," Grissom stated the obvious, remembering them sharing the bed earlier in the day.
"Ah," She called out, "You take it; I'll sleep on the couch."
"No Sara, it's alright, you can have it." He said, walking away from the door.
"Look, Griss, there's no point in me taking the bed, I don't really sleep that much and I'm not tired, you take it."
"How about we alternate nights?" Grissom suggested, although the thought seemed completely stupid.
"Okay, are you sure, because I probably won't sleep very long in it anyway."
"Yes I'm sure, and why wont you sleep?" Grissom asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"No particular reason." Sara hesitated, delaying as though she had to think up an excuse. "I just don't feel tired that's all."
Grissom could tell by the way she was looking away from him and the way she spoke, that there was something she wasn't telling him, but he decided to leave it at that for now. -I'm not going to make her tell me something she doesn't want to reveal, just yet.-
"Well, goodnight then." He said, "I'll see you in the morning,"
"Yeah, night." Sara replied, keeping her eyes from following him out of the room.
-Why can't I just tell him- She chastised herself, -So I have nightmares about the cases sometimes, so what? He already knows that. I kind of let it slip during the Kaye Shelton case- 'Would you like to sleep with me?' -What was I thinking-
-But he thinks I got over it- She corrected her own mind. Well he'll figure it out sooner or later she realised, he's not stupid. Turning back to her notes, she readied herself to face what was going to be the beginning of a long night.