This is a response to a private challenged posed by Ambient Flames

The Elements:

Pairing: GSR

Location: Someone's backyard

Characters: Your choice but you have to incorporate Sara's brother into it somehow

Lines to be included: "Wanna go for a joyride?" and "Tilly is my psycho kitty."

Must include the following items:

1) A cactus

2) A canadian quarter

3) A lightbulb

4) Guitar

A/N: I do not own CSI or any of its characters, yadda, yadda, yadda. Oh I don't own Izzy either, she is definitely her own person. : )

Stargazing

Sara leaned back against the picnic table to look up at the stars. The noise around her was comforting and annoying at the same time. She picked up on pieces of conversation around her.

"Yeah, so I had the eyeball in my hand, and Warrick had the ear in his…" Nick was on the verge of laughter.

"…he was so high he thought the guitar was a shoulder rocket or something because…I was trying not to laugh…he really could have hurt himself…found ecstasy…" Warrick's animated voice filtered in and out.

"…no, it was so incredible. The chemical reaction created a plasmic goo that—"

"Hang on, Jim! Brass! I wanted to tell you…" Mia sounded desperate to get away from Hodges and his goo.

"…she just spazed out, I didn't know what to do, Tilly was running in circles, the girl was sitting on the counter screaming at me, the blender was smoking, and I had pineapple on the ceiling…the date didn't end well." Greg added with finality.

"Stargazing here is not the same. You need to get out of the city." Grissom's breath was warm against her ear as he leaned in behind her.

"I heard there was a good spot near by," she answered back, and twisted slowly to look. She was in a surprisingly good mood, despite her earlier attempts to get out of the annual work party.

Grissom was sitting on the other side of the table, a sparkle in his eyes, "I heard that's not all it's good for."

"Why are you in such a good mood?" She asked fighting the smile his appearance aroused.

His grin widened, and he produced a beer from under the table, handing it to her.

She laughed outright and it felt so good. Taking the beer, "Oh I see how it is!"

Grissom took a sip from his bottle, "You're being antisocial."

Turing around to face him, she swung her legs under the table, "Just listening to everyone. Who knew Ecklie had such a nice place huh?"

Grissom looked around the backyard, "Pool, bar, hot tub…kissing ass does have some perks I guess."

She giggled slightly, "Did you see he planted cacti?"

"Most likely the only living thing that could tolerate him," Grissom offered.

"Hey guys!" Greg yelled as he plopped down beside Sara.

"What's up Greggo?" Sara asked still with a hint of laughter in her voice.

"I'm here to pay up," he started, and placed a quarter on the table sliding it over to her.

"A quarter?" She laughed.

"We never agreed on the price, but you were right." He leaned in and whispered to his two friends, "Boxers, Ecklie had boxers in his drawer."

No longer able to control her laughter, "I can't believe you actually did that!"

Grissom for his part shook his head, and watched Sara snatch up her winnings, "I can't believe you thought briefs!" She looked down at the coin, "Greg! This is a Canadian quarter!"

He nodded, "Yep, and I don't think I said I thought briefs, I just didn't think boxers." He added suggestively.

"Ew, Greg," she faked an appalled look, which wasn't hard. "Oh let's change the subject, please tell me Tilly was not your date?" She had to ask, the story left her with so many questions.

Grissom only offered an amused but confused look.

The younger man laughed, "Oh no, Tilly is my psycho kitty."

Sara arched her eyebrow in question; she was even more intrigued.

"I had a date last week, went to see a movie, and brought her back to my place for some drinks. She wanted a pineapple something…some fruity, vodka thing…so I got out my blender that I never use, and shoved everything in. So Isabella was petting Tilly when I started it up." Greg arms waved as he got into his story. "The blender just exploded! Pineapple flew everywhere, and there was this noise coming from the machine…Tilly freaked out, Izzy was screaming." He shook his head.

Sara shook her head as she listened, "Tough break Greg."

"Nah, that night didn't end well for me, but she returned my call the next day. I thought I'd take her trout fishing next." He explained enthusiastically.

Grissom looked him in the eye, "Greg, if she returns your calls after that, marry her." He advised seriously.

"I'll consider it bossman." he answered. "Oh no, hey, Mia's gonna kill me, I promised to protect her!" He added and hurried over to Mia who was once again entangled in an awkward conversation with Hodges.

Sara looked around her again, and then turned her attention back to Grissom. She was surprised to see him staring intently at her, "What?"

He wasn't drunk, but definitely could feel his inhibitions lowering, "Wanna go for a joyride?"

Intrigued, she nodded, and allowed Grissom to pull her up. They both looked around to make sure no one could see them, as they snuck around the fence, and ran to Gil's car. They were both breathless as they shut the doors, and Grissom started the car. "Where we going?"

He smiled but didn't answer her.

She had no idea what had gotten into him, but she decided to enjoy it. Leaning back, she watched the city lights fade into the distance. Finally her heart sped up as she realized where they were headed. He pulled into the gravel road that led to the hill with the great stargazing spot. 'Don't read anything into this,' she told herself, 'They were just talking about stargazing, that's why you're here.' Parking, he reached over her, and she held her breath. Opening the glove box he pulled out a flashlight. 'What did you think he was doing Sara?' She admonished herself.

Grissom flipped the switch, but nothing happened. Frowning, he unscrewed the top, wiggled the light bulb, and tried it again. When it did not turn on, he looked into it, and smacked it against his hand; the light instantly blinded him. Blinking rapidly, he grinned, "Just gotta have the right touch."

"Should you have driven here?" Sara asked good naturedly, and realized she could count the number of times they had been together outside of work on her hand.

He smiled, "I only had one. Come on." He cocked his head toward the door, and opened it. "Just let me grab the blanket I have in the trunk," he explained walking around the vehicle.

Grissom joined her in front of the car and they walked up the hillside side by side. "I haven't done this is in a long time." She commented as she sidestepped a tree branch.

"What making out," he shot back with a chuckle.

She slapped his arm, "No! Stargazing." She was glad it was dark outside so he could see the red creeping up on her face. "When it would get bad at our house my brother and I would grab our sleeping bags and hike out to our fort we built in the trees behind our house. Our parents never knew we were gone."

He let the silence hang for a moment, "I'm glad he was there for you." He finally said.

Coming to a clearing they stopped. Sara waited for him to lay out the blanket on the ground. With a dramatic wave of his arm, he motioned her to sit down.

She sat down first, and waited to see what he would do. To her surprise he sat down right beside her, so that they their knees were touching. Her heart raced. "We would stay out there for hours, and talk about how we were going to get out the house as soon as we were old enough." She shivered slightly.

Grissom wrapped his arm around her and rubbed her arm to warm her. "Physics? That's what you dreamed of."

She chuckled despite the fact that her mind was racing. His hands on her felt like sensory overload, "Bugs Grissom. You studied bugs." She joked and looked up at his face. She held her breath. She was sure he was looking up at the stars, but her eyes met his.

"Sara," he started, and she stiffened, sure she was about to get the speech again. His eyes softened, and he leaned in.

Their lips met gently. Sara was too stunned to move. Too afraid he would stop if she did anything. He increased the pressure, and searched entry into her mouth with is tongue. Sara moaned as she opened slightly, allowing his tongue to dance around hers.

They finally broke apart, eliciting a moan of complaint from Sara, "Grissom, I—"

"Shh," he interrupted, and pushed her gently down on the blanket. Kissing her deeply once more, his hand slid up her sensitive side. The kiss ended and he hovered just over her face.

"I thought you didn't know what to do about this?" She asked quietly.

Stroking her hair back he smiled, "I just figured it out." He answered and kissed her passionately.