Chapter 18

[Spoilers: Scuba Doobie Doo]

It was nearly the middle of the second week and there was only a little headway on their case. The doctor was still being watched by both the FBI and the CSI's that were undercover.

Grissom still couldn't believe that he couldn't find any viable evidence to link the doctor to the kidnappings. It was starting to show in his behaviour.

Sara was more concerned with the doctor asking too many questions about her and Grissom's love life and it was making her nervous as she was always alone when he approached her. Though there was nothing in his behaviour to tell her that he was going to kidnap her, Grissom was reluctant to let her out of his sight.

Allison and Sean were both smartening themselves with the art of observation as they kept an eye on each of their newfound friends.

Unknowingly to Grissom and Sara, Sean and Allison were starting to boil with worry that Grissom was cheating on Sara whilst on their honeymoon and Sara was bottling it up and ignoring the signs.

But again, unknowingly to Allison and Sean, Grissom and Sara were getting on better than they had in the last three years of their up and down friendship. If it were friends from work, they would be pleasantly pleased that they were even talking or standing in the same room.

-Hmm, so warm- Sara sighed contentedly as she wrapped her arm around the body that lay beside her. When she encountered air and warm sheets instead, she momentarily panicked.

"Gil?" She called through a yawn.

Getting no reply, she pushed back the covers and slid out of the cosy bed to slip on her robe that lay at the bottom of the bed.

Walking through to the living area, she noticed the light on near the window and the case file spread out on the floor. Not finding that strange, she turned at the sight of a flash under the bathroom door.

"Grissom?" She knocked on the door lightly, only to get a grumbled groan as an answer. "I'm coming in." She called through the door before reaching for the handle and turning it.

Grissom sighed and turned with a razor in one hand and shaving foam in the other.

Seeing something in his eyes before he turned back to the mirror, Sara approached him and looked at his reflection, though it was flickering, like the light above the mirror.

"Damn thing won't stop flicking. I nicked myself." He grumbled weakly, looking from her concern brown eyes to the blood drops on his throat.

Sara pulled him back slightly by the waist to squeeze in front of him. She took the razor from his hand and reached for the cloth that sat in the sink. She gently wiped the blood from his skin and concentrated on applying white foam to the areas that whiskers were still showing.

Grasping her wrist quickly, Grissom looked into her eyes as they looked up at him. "When was the last time you shaved?"

Sara smirked and shook off his hand. "Relax." She told him softly. "Us woman know shaving, believe me." She teased, with a straight face. "Besides," She smiled, rinsing the foam from her hand. "My Dad let me shave him and so did my brother." She shared, taking a slow swipe up his throat and over his cheek.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Sara knew she was standing in a bathroom, in a flickering light show of Grissom's glistening body, but that was in the back of her mind, for now.

"As a married couple," Sara began, rinsing the razor before gliding it over his chin. "And being the woman sharing a bed with you, as your wife," She caught his piercing blue eyes briefly. "I'm entitled to ask why you left our bed so early in the morning."

Grissom watched her eyes as her hands softly and gently held his face and shaved him. Never, has a woman shaved him before… When he was in his teens, his mother had asked his Uncle Herb to introduce him to the importance of shaving, but not in all his relationships, though that's not been many, he'd never had a woman shave him.

Now, to have Sara standing, almost touching her body to his, shaving him in a poorly lit bathroom, alone and still in her pyjamas, was more arousing than he'd ever dreamed. It was a good thing he was wearing the hotels thick terrycloth dressing gown, though it did expose a large area of his chest.

Remembering her question only a few seconds later, he let out a puff of air through his nose as she turned his chin slightly to gain access to his other cheek. He took a deep breath, trying not to move too much and well aware of the sharp instrument in her hands, he argued with himself to tell her.

-What harm would it do? She wasn't technically his wife and though it sounded so normal coming from her lips, he felt he needed to tell her-

"I'm worried." He told her after a moment. His eyes locked onto hers for a miniature moment before hers dropped back to the razor poised at his left cheekbone.

"We have nothing to work with here." He said, referring to the case. "If we aren't careful, we could become the next victims."

"But we don't actually know if there are victims. All we know is that these people are missing." Sara argued sensibly, concentrating on not cutting him. "You know as well as I do Griss, a percentage of missing persons aren't missing at all, they just don't want to be found."

He nodded, but winced at the sting.

"Gil don't move!" She hissed worriedly. Her eyes crinkled at the sight of blood and her fingers quickly wiped it away. "Damn," She turned her head to catch his eyes. "I'm sorry. Guess it's been a long time."

"I moved, not your fault." Grissom reached for the wet cloth and collided with Sara's hand. His eyes locked with hers as she brought the wrung out cloth up to clean the blood.

Her eyes drifted to the cut as she held it against his cheekbone. -If I just stand here with this cloth on his face, you think he's gonna make a move?- She asked herself as she felt him shift on his feet.

Grissom let his gaze settle on her and in seconds he was tempted, more than tempted, to do something. Feeling a little uncomfortable with her being so close to him in his current state, he knew she'd feel just how much of an affect she had on him.

-But what the hell- He shrugged off the thought and let the corners of his mouth turn upwards with the thoughts running through his head. -We are married, even if we're technically not-

Sara caught his smile and stared at his mouth for a bit longer than she'd should. She didn't want to give off the impression that she wanted to rip off his robe and ravage him right here in the bathroom.

"Has it stopped?" He asked, knowing she wasn't listen, that she was thinking the same thing he was.

"Huh?" Shaking herself mentally, she pulled her hand away to see the blood clotting and the cloth needing a good rinse.

"The bleeding?" He asked, knowing very well it had. There was something very endearing about seeing Sara stumbling to catch up with the situation. He felt the same, though he could still think coherently, which surprised him.

Offering a shy smile in answer, she nodded and leaned back against the sink with her hands resting on the porcelain.

Meanwhile on the other side of the hotel, Sean and Allison weren't so content, despite reassurance from both of the CSI's that everything was fine; they were still concerned that something very wrong was going on.

"Alli, Honey, have you seen my T-shirt?" Sean called from the bedroom.

"Yeah, in fact, I've seen many of them. They're usually lying on the floor where you leave them!" Allison said, letting it sound a little harsher than she had intended, "Which one do you want?" she added, trying to sound calm

"Never mind," Sean called. "I'll get it myself, if you're going to be like that." he muttered under his breath, continuing his search. Bending down to look under the bed, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Allison apologised. "I'm just a little tense. Gil and Sara are hiding something and I can't figure out what it is. I mean, why does that cop keep coming over?"

"I wish I'd never mentioned that now." Sean sighed, "Gil said they were old friends and I have no reason not to believe him." he said flashing a smile at his wife in a vain attempt to reassure her.

"And the phone calls…" Allison continued.

"Sara said it was his sister." Sean cut in, trying to stop where this conversation was going. Despite his queries about Gil's occupation, one thing he knew for sure was that he loved Sara and that he would never cheat on her.

"You believed that!?" his wife almost joked. "Come on Sean, I saw the look in Sara's eye when she said it, she knows something."

"Since when have you been an expert on people you hardly know?" Sean questioned, getting only a glare from across the bedroom as his answer.

"Okay, if it makes you feel any better, why don't you talk to Jenkins? That way, you might believe him when he tells you there is nothing to worry about." Sean suggested, his voice muffled as he pulled his T-shirt over his head.

"You've changed your tune. Last night you were sure that Gil was in trouble with the police and that he was hiding something." Allison said, placing her hairbrush on the bed and reaching for her skirt.

"I know and last night I also thought drinking tequila shots would be a good idea." her husband joked, even though beneath the façade he was worried about the couple, he didn't want to encourage his wife because once she got started there was no way to stop her.

-What kind of trouble could they be in?- Sean thought to himself, -Maybe they saw something they shouldn't and they're in hiding… oh come on… listen to yourself… this is real life not a gangster movie. But there's definitely something going on- he concluded.

"You really think I should talk to Jenkins? I mean, it's really his area." Allison questioned.

"If it'll put you at ease then I want you to do whatever it takes." Sean said, taking his wife into his arms and holding her tight. "We should go, as much as I'd love to stay in this room all day with you," he continued, a glint in his eye. "the others are waiting."

"Ooh, flattery will get you everywhere." Allison said as she took his hand and led him from the room.

"I hope so." he smiled, but not able to hide the doubt in his eyes. He wanted to believe Sara and Gil were telling him everything, but there was just something off about them at times.

When they reached the elevator, Sean finally admitted his feelings, knowing that one way or the other his wife would make him say what was on his mind.

"Okay," he began, "You're right. I am worried about Gil, but we haven't known him long and we don't have the right to pry into his life. If he wants to talk he will, until then lets just keep and eye on him, but play it cool… if there is something wrong, we don't want to tip him off that we know."

"Do you think Sara knows what's going on?" Allison questioned.

"I don't know, but don't ask her. If there's something to tell, it should come from Gil."

"Yeah, you're right." Allison agreed, "This is our floor."

"Let's go then, they'll be waiting." he said as they stepped into the sunlit lobby.

They didn't know exactly who moved first, but the kiss that was initiated was that of gentleness.

"Sara." His voice was barely heard over the top of the loudness their hearts were beating.

"Yes." She whispered against his lips, eyes closed against the exquisite taste of him.

"Should we be doing this?" He asked huskily against her parted lips, his own eyes peering at her.

Her eyes fluttered open slowly to find his darkened blue orbs fixed on her. "Shouldn't we?" She asked in returned, wanting to know what he thought first.

He swallowed hard, missing the taste of her already. His hands were holding her waist slightly away from his, saving him from embarrassment, but their chests were heaving against each other as they fought for breath from their previous entanglement.

Sara swallowed too, her hands currently rubbing his shoulder blades.

"We're not technically married." He finally uttered.

"We have the marital papers." She argued gently.

"They're fake." He reminded.

"Does it matter?" She asked.

He thought about this for a moment. "We're both grown adults." He surmised.

Sara nodded slowly. "And it's the 21st Centaury."

He nodded too. "It's not like it's wrong." His gaze glanced to her lips.

She shook her head. "Didn't feel wrong."

Grissom breathed out. "It felt good."

Sara smiled as he hovered against her lips. "Something else feels good too."

His eyes snapped to hers, but he didn't get a chance to move away or apologise as she quickly covered his embarrassment with a slow kiss. Though she took pleasure in watching his skin brighten.

TBC