Chapter 7

Deciphering

The first thing Gil Grissom did when he woke up was look at his phone tosee if there were any other messages from Sara. The possibility of a message he was sure was what had woke him up earlier than he'd intended to get up in the first place.

Although there were no new messages for him on his phone, he didn't feel disappointment. Perhaps it was the previous message he'd received from Sara which he had not deciphered yet that took his mind completely off of the disappointment altogether.

He got up, showered, and dressed, and then settled on his couch with his phone and a notepad, and wrote out the numbers in order.

25.5.19. 4.5.6.9.14.1.20.5.12.25. 16.5.18.19.15.14.1.12.

He stared long and hard. Are the letters meant to look like alphabetical letters?" he asked himself. He tried to imagine that perhaps the 5 was maybe a G upside down. He turned the notepad upside down and studied it. Still didn't make sense.

He tried to add up the numbers in his head, he tried subtracting them, as if this would come up with some answer that was relevant but it made no difference to anything – other than leaving him feel more and more frustrated by the second that he just didn't get it.

Okay, this is getting stupid, he thought to himself as he picked up the cell phone again, and he opened up his text messaging service, he quickly thumbed in the short message 'Your message doesn't make sense', and he sent it to Sara's phone.

I'm supposed to me smart, why can't I figure this out? Sara will probably be laughing at me the minute she gets my message, he thought shaking his head at himself. He stared down at the pad, squinting, as if it might make the numbers look like letters.

His phone began to ring, and he hit the answer button and had it to his ear, "Grissom," he responded distractedly. The phone was ringing so it could only be work calling. He could already imagine that they needed his help for something or other.

"How doesn't it make sense?" came Sara's soft voice on the other end, she was definitely hiding laughter beneath it, she sounded as if she might crack up any minute.

"Because it doesn't," Gil answered, "I'm looking at it, and it just doesn't make sense," he turned the paper the proper way around and stared at it again. "So what am I missing here."

"Didn't you ever use the number code when you were a kid? Like passing notes to friends at school in number code so that you can make jokes about how ugly the teacher is without the teacher being able to see what's on the note?" she asked.

"No…what is the number code?" he asked curiously.

"Each number represents a letter in the alphabet, Gil," Sara said with a sigh, "I can't believe you didn't know that."
"I worked two shifts without sleep and I'm still not completely caught up with my sleep right now – I'd say that's a pretty valid reason for not understanding it right off the bat," Gil wrote each letter of the alphabet down quickly while he was talking to her, he assigned each letter a number, starting with A as 1. "I thought you'd still be asleep."

"I only need around six hours sleep to function," Sara responded, she sounded peaceful and mellow – and definitely happy. Gil could hear the enthusiasm in her voice even as relaxed as she seemed.

"So…" Gil trailed off, he couldn't find anything to say and he was preoccupied with turning the alphabet into numbers.

"So…are we going to see each other tonight?" Sara asked.

Gil waited a moment to answer, he was still writing down the alphabet and the numbers, "sure," he answered, still a little distracted. He finished the alphabet and now started on trying to decipher the message.

"Should we meet somewhere?" Sara asked.

Gil stopped, he chewed on the blunt end of his pencil for a moment. Going out with Sara meant being in public view. What if one of their colleagues on shift while out in a vehicle should happen to see them together going into a restaurant, or going into the movie theatre…or even walking side by side. He didn't want to take that chance so early in the relationship.

"Gil?" Sara asked, he hadn't answered her yet, he realised he'd gone almost a minute without answering.

"Sorry," he shook himself to bring himself back to his senses, "I don't know if it's a good idea to go outside – together – at least not yet."

"We've been outside – together – a million times," Sara pointed out.

"Not on a day off," Gil reminded. "It's one thing if I'm driving you home after work, or if I'm out in the field with you at work – but on a day off?" he asked.

"Actually, yes we have been outside – together – on a day off," Sara interjected, "the night we all went out together, remember? We were together in the nightclub…when you were whispering in my ear. We were together in the street, when you hailed a cab…and we were together in the cab…holding hands."

"Okay…we haven't been together on a day off since…" he trailed off, trying to think of a way to put it.

"Since deciding to be 'together'," Sara finished for him.

"Yes."

"So how do we get together without…going out?" Sara asked. "Do you want to come to my place for dinner and a movie? I can't really cook but…we could order in."

Gil thought about this, but it seemed too risky. Sara would be comfortable in her own house, and more likely to feel comfortable with him there in it with her.

"Why don't you come here?" Gil asked. "I'll cook…"

Sara made a fake coughing noise, "excuse me, are you actually inviting me to your house?"

"Yes, yes I am," Gil answered.

"Wow…you don't like people in your house. You said it yourself a few times," Sara responded.

I'm not comfortable with having other people in my house, no, he thought at himself. But I'm also not comfortable being at her place. It's more inviting with its warm colours and scented candles…and that's bad news. I don't need a romantic setting tonight, I don't want to get carried away.

"Yeah, well…it's something I probably will have to get used to…especially if me and you are going to be…" he trailed off again.

"Together?"

"Yes," he said, "you remember where I live, yeah?"

"Yeah…yes, I do," she responded, "What time?" she asked.

"Whenever, doesn't matter," he answered. "Bring some movies or something…" he continued trying to break her number code.

"Alright…I'll see you later then," Sara said. She still had the tone of surprise in her voice, as if she could barely believe he'd asked her over.

I must be some kind of Ogre if she's surprised I'm inviting her into my house, Gil thought. "Yes, I'll see you later," he responded, "Bye, Sara."

"Bye, Gil."

Gil matched a letter to the final number in the code.

Sara's message read:

YES DEFINITELY PERSONAL

It was the response to the question he'd asked the night before.

Are we in a personal relationship or aren't we?

He rolled his eyes, "it took me this long to see what was so obvious. I bet she's laughing at me right this minute," he shook his head at himself and got up, deciding to clean up a little before Sara arrived.