Dedication: To shedigzarockstar, who was the first to email me with her life story. And a very cool life story it was, too. So here's to you, Courtney!
Grissom and Sara were prodded awake the next morning by the chirping of Sara's cell phone alerting her to a new text message. She peeled one eye open as she grabbed for it and smiled when she flipped it open. She poked her bedmate in the ribs. "Griss," she said with a voice raspy from sleep. "Nick sent a picture—wanna look at it with me?"
He rolled over and forced his eyes open against the morning sun. When his vision had cleared itself, he leaned in to look at the cell phone. They read the accompanying message before looking at the picture.
Hey, Little Sis and Old Codger,
Breaking the news to the gang was fun! If you think I looked like a fool when Catherine told us you were on vacation together, you should see the look on her face when I told her you were moving in together.
Have fun and be safe!
Love,
Nick
When Sara opened the attached picture, she and Grissom both burst out laughing. Catherine's stunned face was hilarious—her eyebrows looked like they were about to rise right off her face, her eyes were huge, and her mouth formed a perfect "O." She was the picture of shock. Sara lay against Grissom's chest, giggling like a ten year-old when she suddenly jumped up, hands covering her mouth.
"What?" Grissom asked lazily.
"Morning breath," she said from behind her hands.
Grissom rolled his eyes. "Yeah, welcome to the club. So go brush your teeth if you're that worried about it." Sara did just that, calling to him from the bathroom as she brushed her teeth, "Sho, ah we gohnna go shoppig dis mohnnig?"
"You bet," Grissom answered as he rolled around on the bed, stretching.
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Their shopping expedition turned out to be more fun than either of them had imagined. They decided to start farther down the strip, at the Silver Sands Outlet Center, then work their way back to Destin Commons before heading home.
Once she got over her reluctance to let Grissom spoil her, Sara proved to be an enthusiastic participant, although she had to be careful to stop Grissom from buying every single thing she even so much as glanced at. "Grissom!" she giggled after she slapped his hand away from a picture frame she had picked up. "I'm just looking!"
"Do you want it?" he whined. They were standing in the Oneida home store, and Sara had spied a beautiful sterling silver picture frame. She could just picture it holding a photo of her and Grissom on the beach.
She cocked her head to the side, considering. "Hmm..." Her face broke out into a wide grin. "Yeah. I want it."
Grissom gave her a matching grin, snatched the frame away, and went to pay for it, leaving an eye-rolling Sara Sidle in his wake.
When Sara spotted the J. Crew outlet store, her eyes lit up, and Grissom seized upon the opportunity, grabbing her hand and dragging her toward it. Fifteen minutes later, she was standing in a dressing room with about 20 things in her hands. One by one, she came out and modeled each article of clothing for Grissom. Shorts, skirts, tops, even a couple of extremely sexy bikinis—she looked amazing in everything she tried on.
They went through the same routine at the Banana Republic outlet, the Gap outlet ("Hey, if Sharon Stone can wear a Gap t-shirt to the Oscars, I can wear a Gap t-shirt to work…"), and the Calvin Klein outlet, where she nearly drove Grissom to his knees by buying three completely sheer bras. She managed to blow him away by picking out quite a few things for him, as well. At Banana Republic, she dressed him in a tight black t-shirt and a pair of flat-front khakis. He was shocked at how good he looked. Sara looked him up and down with an approving eye. "Good—you can wear that when we go out tonight," she winked. She chose some nice work clothes for him at Eddie Bauer, and bought him a floppy beach hat at Fossil. After their third trip to deposit shopping bags at the car, Sara put her hands on her hips and declared that they'd done quite enough damage for one mall, thank-you-very-much.
They headed back toward the beach house, stopping at Destin Commons, an upscale open-air town center. Grissom made an obligatory stop into the Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World, looking for insect and fishing gear. While there, he purchased snorkels, masks, and fins for himself and Sara. Might as well snorkel while on the Emerald Coast, he reasoned.
He and Sara split up for a few minutes to check the place out, and while she was gone, he bought Sara a butterfly sculpture at The Zoo Gallery and arranged to have it shipped back to her apartment in Vegas. Then he stopped in at the J. Reid Britt silver company and selected a delicate silver chain and a navy blue crab charm to go with it. He wanted to spend a romantic day at Crab Island, as Charlie had suggested, and he wanted her to have something to remember it by. He had the chain and charm gift wrapped in a small box and slipped it into his pocket.
When they met up later, Sara was breathless with excitement. "There's so much cool stuff here!" she cried. Grissom couldn't help but grin like an idiot. He was enjoying this new, child-like side of Sara more than he thought possible.
At Maui Nix surf shop, Sara bought two more amazing bikinis, and she selected two brightly-printed pairs of swim trunks for Grissom. She bought a strap for her new Oakleys so she wouldn't "lose them on the damn WaveRunner." She then looked up at Grissom and asked if she could please buy something for Lindsey. His response was, "Screw that—buy something for the whole team. And don't forget Jim."
Half an hour later, she had selected two wild Hawaiian print shirts for Greg before proclaiming that she wanted to look elsewhere for the others' gifts.
She got Catherine and Lindsey a wild assortment of gifts at Zbuz, a funky little store with plenty of cool stuff for a girl Lindsey's age, and lots of bath products that Catherine would go nuts over.
Nick and Warrick were a little more difficult to shop for. They finally wandered into the Sharper Image, where the selection of cool "guy toys" was overwhelming. She moaned in frustration, then snorted and said, "For Warrick, we could just buy him some sexy lingerie and tell him to give it to Catherine. Think that'd be good enough for him?" Grissom snickered in response. "They're about as bad as we were," he commented. "I wonder when they'll finally give it up and just get together."
Deciding that lingerie would probably not be the best route, they set to work finding something for Warrick and Nick. They split up to save time in scouring the store and after only two or three minutes, Grissom felt Sara grip his arm in excitement. "It's perfect!" she squealed, dragging him across the store. She came to a stop directly in front of a small display. Grissom read the words on the boxes. "Hoverglide Amphibian with Remote Control." Looking closely, he saw a red hovercraft on the box, and a description that read, "zips over land or water on a cushion of air."
"It's perfect, Griss!! We'll get one for each of them, and then maybe they'll let somebody else use the damn Playstation in the break room!"
Grissom laughed. "Yeah, but then we'll never get them in out of the parking lot. They'll be racing each other all the time."
"You know it's the perfect gift!"
"Yeah, you're right. I do." He pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. This was quickly becoming one of his favorite ways to show his affection.
As if reading his thoughts, Sara spoke up in a murmur. "I love it when you do that—kiss the top of my head like that."
"Mmm, good. I love doing it."
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They decided to spend more time and care in selecting Jim's gift, since they were both giving Jim the credit for finally pulling Grissom out of his shell where Sara was concerned. "I wish we could give him some Cubans," Grissom mused, "but I wouldn't even know where to buy them illegally here, and I wouldn't want to try to take them back on the plane with us." At his words about the plane, Sara gasped. "What?" he turned to her, concerned.
"Grissom…how on earth are we going to get all of this stuff back to Vegas?"
"We'll cram what we can in our suitcases and ship the rest," he said easily.
"That'll cost a fortune."
"Don't care."
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The rest of the day passed leisurely. They made a quick stop at a liquor store for the obligatory rum ("No trip to the beach is complete without it," Grissom noted), as well as some bourbon, tequila, mixers, and beer. Once back at the house, Grissom made them each a margarita and he and Sara changed into new swimsuits to hang out by the pool. The sun had come out, and Sara insisted on getting a few minutes of tanning time in.
Their time at the pool proved to be much more pleasant than the day before. Grissom was pleased that no vomit-inducing discussions took place today. After an hour, Sara proclaimed that her shoulders were getting burned, and they took the party inside. She sat on the bed while Grissom rubbed aloe after-sun lotion on her pink shoulders, and moaned with pleasure as his movements took on a decidedly more…amorous overtone. He hesitated as his thoughts wandered back to her revelations yesterday, and Sara picked up on it quickly.
"Grissom," she spoke quietly. "It happened fifteen years ago. Just because you only found out yesterday doesn't mean anything. We made love three times before you knew, remember?"
Her logical words comforted him, and he dipped his head to kiss her deeply. As he did, he couldn't help but notice that her natural beauty had only been enhanced by her exposure to the sun. He stopped before he got to her lips, and she looked at up at him in surprise. Before she could speak, he shushed her with a finger to her lips. "I'm just looking at you for a minute," he soothed.
He brushed his fingers over her face as he took her in. Her skin was bronzed and healthy. Her faint freckles were now becoming quite dark, which he found incredibly sexy. The glow of her face only made her dark eyes sparkle more. And her lips…oh, her lips. He gave up his visual expedition in favor of hungrily sucking on her lips. Any hesitations he had had previously fell away as he proceeded to make love to her.
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That night Grissom and Sara had an early dinner, then proceeded to "play" along the strip, first hitting a mini-golf course (where Grissom beat her soundly), then tackling a go-cart track (Grissom swore he was never letting Sara drive his car after her resounding—and terrifying—victory over everyone on the track). As they were leaving, Grissom spied something that looked most interesting. Grabbing Sara's hand, he said, "Come on!"
"What?"
"SkyFlyer! You up to it?"
Sara looked straight up. At first she looked a little nervous, then her demeanor changed, and she got an evil glint in her eye as she said, "Hell, yeah."
Grissom felt the adrenaline course through his veins as he looked up at the huge arch overhead. "Look, they're about to go." Three teenagers were strapped together on the end of one cable as another cable pulled them back and lifted them high into the air—about 100 feet, Grissom estimated. When they reached the apex of their climb, they hung there, suspended in limbo, for a few seconds. Then a voice came over the loudspeaker.
"THREE, TWO, ONE…GO!!!"
The cable that had lifted them into the air was released by one of the riders and the three teenagers went soaring downward at an insane angle, screaming wildly every second of the way. Automated cameras took pictures of them on their descent. The crowd beneath cheered wildly as the three kids swung back and forth on a path that looked like a giant parabola. After a couple of minutes, they were gently guided to the ground.
Sara breathed out. "That looks awesome," she said.
Half an hour later, Grissom and Sara were on deck, so to speak. As the couple ahead of them was being pulled up for their ride, Grissom and Sara were getting suited up. An employee helped them into the huge two-person harness that would be their sole protection from the hard ground below. Ever the physicist, Sara carefully inspected the carabiners on the back of the harness for any signs of defect. In response to Grissom's amused smile, she said, "Hey, these 'biners are the only things that are going to be attaching us to that cable. I'm just making sure."
He grinned and said, "Nervous?"
Sara started to give an automatic "no," but changed her mind and decided to go the honesty route. "Well, yeah, but I'm also excited. I love this kind of thing, but still…I'm only human," she shrugged helplessly.
"It's okay." He tried to give her a little hug, but the harness was in the way. He was glad she had been honest.
Five minutes later, they moved to the middle of the staging area and an assistant snapped the cables to the Sidle-approved carabiners. "Who wants the release?" he asked. Sara snorted and just looked at Grissom. As if it even needed to be discussed. Grissom indicated that he wanted the release. "Just pull here when the announcer says 'go.' Good luck!" the assistant shouted as Grissom and Sara were hoisted into the air.
In order to avoid thinking about the fact that the ground was getting farther and farther away, Sara concentrated on the breathtaking view as they ascended. "It's beautiful," she breathed. Then, "Uh, we're really high up." She hated to admit it, but she was freaked. She knew she'd be over it once the drop and swinging part started, but for now…she was freaked.
Grissom understood her apprehension and gently took her hand. "I won't pull the release until you're ready, ok?"
She gave him a look of pure love.
They were at the top now. The announcer came over the speakers. "THREE, TWO, ONE…GO!" Sara nodded at Grissom and he pulled the release with his free hand.
Suddenly, they were falling, holding hands, their free hands outstretched. Sara's stomach was somewhere up in her head, and she didn't care. She and Grissom were both screaming in pure joy at the liberating freedom they felt. They reached the bottom of the arc and swung forward. As they reached the top, in that split second of total stillness before they began to fall backward again, Grissom squeezed her hand and their eyes locked. Simultaneously, "I love you." Then the wild descent, with two deliriously happy lovers grinning and laughing the whole way.
When the ride was over, Grissom and Sara couldn't stop laughing. Sara had tears streaming down her face and was struggling valiantly to breathe. "That…was so…fun!" she finally managed. They stopped by the counter on the way out to look at their picture. Grissom snorted when he saw it. His mouth was wide open in delight, and Sara looked like she was caught somewhere between petrified and delighted.
He cast a sideways glance at Sara and asked with a grin if she wanted the picture.
"Are you high? Of course I want it! I'm moving in with you, Buddy, and you can bet that your townhouse is going to be covered in pictures of you and me before it's over with!" She stopped. "Or am I overstepping my bounds?" she asked carefully.
He pulled her close. "Absolutely not. It's your home, too, now."
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After the SkyFlyer, Grissom and Sara went back to the house to change into "going out clothes," as Sara called them, and headed over to AJ's. Sara wanted to party like she did in college for at least one night of this vacation and Grissom was going to damn well do everything in his power to see that she got what she wanted. He looked at himself in the mirror, dressed in his Banana Republic shirt and chinos, with new black loafers on. He looked good, and he thanked God he had been working out, because the shirt was prettytight. As he was slipping his Gucci watch on, Sara stepped out of the bathroom and Grissom's jaw dropped.
"Damn, Sara," he murmured. She was wearing a soft brown gauzy halter-style top with an extremely short denim skirt. The brown color looked outstanding against her tanned skin, and the skirt set off her sexy legs to perfection. She had on a pair of open-toed sandals with small chunky heels. A silver bracelet on one wrist, a delicate silver ring on the middle finger of her right hand, and a small pair of silver hoop earrings finished the ensemble. She had pulled her hair back into a loose ponytail at the nape of her neck, but had left a few tendrils loose around her face.
Grissom was dumbfounded as he looked at her. She was stunning. For her part, she was rather enthralled with what she saw, as well. She walked to him and ran her fingers lightly down his chest. "Damn, Griss, you look hot." She turned them toward the full-length mirror so they could see themselves together. Sara grasped his face and turned it toward the mirror. She looked at the couple in the mirror, and spoke. "See, Gil? We look pretty damn good, if I do say so myself. So every time you start to get insecure about what it is that I see in you, I want you to remember the couple you see in the mirror. They look perfect together."
And as he looked in the mirror, he started to believe her words. Maybe age really was just a number. The two people he was looking at in the mirror looked perfectly happy together. And damn, she was hot.
He jerked himself from his reverie as Sara started digging in her suitcase. "Aha!" she said triumphantly, as she came up with a small tripod. She motioned him to follow her. She walked out onto the deck and set the tripod up with her camera atop it, then posed him. Hitting the automatic timer, she took her place beside him, and they smiled as the camera flashed.
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AJ's was insanely crowded, but neither Grissom nor Sara really cared. As soon as they entered, they made a beeline for the bar and ordered Bushwackers, as Charlie had recommended.
Drinks in hand, they headed for the dance floor. Between the alcohol and the leftover adrenaline rush from the SkyFlyer, Sara didn't need much encouragement to get wild. Grissom was soon thanking God for his limited dance experience as Sara dragged him through dance after dance. He was able to keep up with her just fine, and he was relieved that there were people of all ages in the club. The majority were twentysomething types, but there appeared to be plenty of people in their thirties and forties, which gave him some comfort.
By the time the evening was over, both Grissom and Sara were thoroughly trashed. Grissom couldn't remember the last time he was this drunk, and he didn't care. All he wanted to do was get his gorgeous date back home and do extremely naughty things to her. He knew it was time to go when he began strongly considering sex in a public place—like the middle of the dance floor. He whispered some extremely suggestive things in Sara's ear and in no time, she was equally ready to go. They headed back down to the bar, where he asked the bartender to call them a cab, and they helped themselves to another bushwacker while they waited.
Half an hour later, Grissom and Sara were taking a midnight swim in the pool and Grissom was testing Sara's assertion that sex in the water wasn't all it was cracked up to be. He quickly agreed and pulled her out of the water and onto a lounge chair, where he proceeded to have his way with her. Sara giggled through her alcohol-induced haze and said, "Griss, I know it's dark out here, but you're aware that it's not out of the realm of possibility that someone could see us, right?"
He grunted and said, "Alcohol lowers inhibitions."
A giggle. "I'll say. Who are you and what have you done with Gil Grissom?"
When they were both sated, they dragged themselves upstairs and into bed. Grissom had the good sense to make them both drink a bottle of water to ward off dehydration and thus a hangover.
As they lay in bed, Sara murmured, "Griss?"
"Yes, Sara?"
"Thank you for this. I needed it."
"I know. Me, too."
There was so much more to say, but he couldn't find the words and so left it at that. As he held her in his arms and drifted off to sleep for the fourth night in a row, he thought, 'I am the luckiest man in the world.'
A/N: You know the necklace with the little navy blue crab that Grissom bought Sara? Yeah, it's mine. I actually did buy said necklace in Destin this year as a memento of Crab Island—because I'm THAT much of a freak about Crab Island. Does this make me a totally pathetic whacko? It's really cute, though, and people ask me about it all the time. I think I'm a little Destin-crazy or something.
Another note: I found out yesterday that I won't even have an actual classroom when I teach next semester. I get to be the "floaty" teacher that goes from room to room. How much does that suck, people?