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"Willows…" Cath sounded exhausted. Grissom cursed himself for waking her. Of course she'd be asleep.
"Hey Cath… It's Grissom."
"Grissom." Cath blinked a couple of times, but still everything seemed cloaked in blurriness. "Is everything Ok?" She stifled a yawn.
"Fine. I was just wondering if… uh… Did I wake you?"
Cath paused… Ok, It wasn't just the fact that she was half asleep that made that question odd.
"You called me to ask me if you woke me …by calling me…"
"No, actually. I was being polite."
"Grissom." She sighed heavily. "What is it?"
She was beginning to sound aggravated now… Grissom looked across to Sara, who was watching Grissom getting more flustered as the conversation continued.
She was amused. He could tell by the way she was resting her head on her palm and watching him.
"Actually, you know what? It doesn't matter. Get some sleep."
"Grissom-"
"Sorry I woke you, Cath. Sweet dreams."
He hung up, and shook his head.
"I woke her up."
Sara stared at him, perplexed, and nodded. "I gathered."
Grissom waited for more, but she didn't continue. He started again. "I thought it was probably better to let her sleep."
"Where am I supposed to go?" She checked herself. Cath deserved a peaceful sleep. After all, she owed her her current safety. "I mean -"
He looked back to her, ignoring her snappy attitude. "It looks like you'll have to stay with me."
Sara stared at him, aware that he could probably see her tonsils; her mouth was so wide open.
"Are you sure?" She tried not to sound as surprised as she felt.
Actually, I'd prefer it, Grissom wanted to say, but he couldn't. He didn't want to make her any more uncomfortable than she already felt.
A meek "Of course I'm sure." was all that he could manage.
"'Cos I could always call Nick…" She wasn't searching for an escape herself, but wanted to let him know he had one. She was happy that he was finally allowing her back into his life, even if it took mortal danger to point him in the right direction.
He thought for a moment.
"I'd rather not anger another CSI by breaking into their beauty sleep."
He hoped she couldn't see that he was covering the real reason. He definitely didn't want her to stay with one of their male colleagues.
Unless it was him, of course.
He shook his head, partly in response to her suggestion, but mostly in response to his desire to keep her all to himself. She wasn't his to keep.
Sara smiled at the thought of Nick being involved in anything concerning beauty. This thought started a replay of a memory that she cherished.
She could remember every moment of that conversation beside the ice, every word and every breath. She smiled broadly now, her eyes sparkling.
"Ok."
"Hey, Vega? Change of plans. Can we go straight to my place?"
"Sure thing, Grissom."
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Grissom lead the way up the steps to his town house, with Sara trailing behind.
As he slid his key into the lock, he suddenly felt his heart jump into his throat. She hadn't been inside his home since the strip strangler case, and she'd never been there outside of work. This was strange for him. He took a deep breath and pushed open the door, revealing his home to her.
She stepped past him, inside, stopping just in front of him.
"Make yourself at home." His voice seemed close. In fact, he was almost talking in her ear; she had stopped so close to him. She knew he was watching her, waiting for her response to his place.
"Thanks." She walked into Grissom's living room, out of his eye line.
"Want some coffee?"
"Sure." She was investigating his space, something which she had longed to do properly since they met. It struck her that she knew too little about her commander and chief.
She glanced over his CD collection, noting the similarities to hers, with a half-smile.
She moved on to his books, lining the two bookcases that towered over her.
There were the ones she expected – Shakespeare, Poe, – but in amongst these there were a few that surprised her. Some modern stuff, some that were on her own bookshelf. What surprised her most, however, was that her favourite was there, 'Pride and Prejudice.' She smiled.
The bottom two shelves of the bookcases were filled with science journals, forensics magazines, and the like. She scanned them briefly, till one jumped out at her.
'Applied Psycho-Dynamics in Forensic Science.' Huh. She thought he'd been making that up. Sighing, she moved over to sit on his big leather couch.
She placed her cast forearm on her lap, and sank into the big plump cushions.
She frowned as she noted a small thundering, and jumped, and squeaked a little as something landed on the couch beside her. She soon realised, however, that the thing meant no harm. In fact, it looked almost as surprised as she did.
"Hey there."
The small ebony cat eyed her suspiciously; obviously it had expected to find Grissom in her place.
"It's ok…" She held out her un-cast hand toward it, extending her long fingers. It backed up a few paces, but extended its nose to meet the tip of her forefinger. "There, see? I'm not going to hurt you…"
The cat seemed to understand, as it nuzzled along her finger and allowed her to rub its ear. Still wary, it edged closer to her, as she stroked the full length of its back.
She lifted her cast off her lap, and the cat pawed its way on, purring like a subway train. It was kind of comforting. The warmth of it as it curled up on her lap, the gentle rise and fall, the vibration in its chest. Utter contentment.
Grissom came in, and handed Sara her coffee.
He caught sight of the ball of fur on her lap.
"Get down, Curio." He laughed nervously. "Sara doesn't want you lying all over her. Come on now." He bent to usher the cat away.
The cat raised sleepy eyes in Grissom's direction. It bestowed upon him a look of superiority, and then lowered its head again.
"No, leave it be." She took a sip of her coffee, and he sat next to her.
"Curio…" Sara looked at Grissom questioningly.
He turned sheepish. "It has two meanings. Firstly, I named her 'Curiosity', but then I shortened it to 'Curio', which means treasure."
Sara looked down at the black blob on her lap, and introduced herself. "Curio. Hi. I'm Sara." She laughed, and Grissom joined her.
Sara turned to look at him, a slight look of hurt in her eyes.
"How did I not know you had a cat?"
Grissom paused. "Because I never told you."
"You never tell me things, anymore."
He half smiled.
"You never ask me, anymore."
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Grissom is a cat person, right?
