Chapter 22

Planning

Gil stepped into the break room that next evening just before the shift was due to start, finding Sara, Nick and Greg sitting drinking coffee, their discussion seemed to be focused on a case.

"Sara," Gil said as he stood by the door, he was holding a leather bound schedule book in his hand, and a pen in the other.

Sara raised her head and turned slightly to see Gil, she looked at him, she kept her expression as casual as she could, and Gil was thankful for it, because he felt if she'd smiled at that moment, even Nick might have picked up on it.

"I need to go over the details for the trip," Gil said, he tapped the schedule book with the pen pointedly.

Sara looked at him blankly, "Right now?"

"We have a busy night ahead of us and we might not get another chance to deal with this so I'd rather get this through with before the shift starts. We have less than two weeks to plan this," Gil explained. He remained composed and professional. This trip wasn't about their relationship at all, and he had to make that clear.

Sara stood, finished her coffee in one swift gulp, tossed the paper cup into the trash, and she followed him to his office. She went to shut the door but he held his hand up to stop her.

"Leave it open," he said, he felt this was best handled as professionally as possible. Closing the door was something that he rarely did unless it was very a personal or delicate situation. The door had been closed too much lately, especially when Sara was inside. He didn't want to raise any suspicions.

Sara shrugged nonchalantly, and shoved her hands in her pockets awkwardly.

"Sit down," he offered gently.

Sara had a very uneasy expression on her face, almost as if she thought something might be wrong.

"Don't worry," Gil said quietly, "I just need to get all this done now…normally the invitations to lecture come months in advance and usually I have all the time in the world to plan such things, but unfortunately this time around everything is happening so quickly that the faster we get this done, the better."

"What's to be discussed?" Sara asked, she kept her eyes on his all the while.

"Trip in general," Gil explained, "I'm scheduled to be in Scotland by the first of April," he explained, "I give the first lecture on the second…"

"First lecture?" Sara asked, indicating that somewhere she'd assumed there was only one.

"The first of four," Gil answered, "since you're going on this trip – and it is expenses paid – you're going to have certain obligations…" he picked up a piece of paper and slid it across the desk towards her.

Sara picked it up, "which are?"

"Attending all of the lectures, unfortunately," Gil leaned back in his seat, "it's part of the learning process," he explained, "that there is the schedule," he gestured to the piece of paper he'd given her.

"What's this dinner date here," Sara asked, she pointed to a date and time on the paper where it had a formal dinner scheduled for the fourth of April.

"Formal dinner with the rector and the professors of the university. Something, also I'm obligated to attend," he explained, "as are you."

"Oh," Sara said quietly, she chewed her lip, "do I get paid for this?" she asked, "or will I lose the whole weeks pay for not being at work?"

"You'll be paid as if you were still at work," Gil responded, "any questions?"

"Hotel arrangements," Sara said all too quickly, which left Gil slightly jarred.

Gil sucked in a breath, "Okay…I already looked into this," he tapped his pen on the desk absently, "The university gets discount deals on booking suites rather than single rooms, but I feel really uncomfortable with that…" he explained, "whenever me and Cath went on a trip together and we'd be thrown into the same arrangement, I'd let her take the suite and book myself a room elsewhere in the hotel," he explained.

Sara nodded, "okay…" she nodded, "so…you'll be doing that?"

"I just think it would be a wiser thing to do given things as they are," he said quietly, after making sure no one was passing by the door, "male and female colleagues shouldn't be forced into those kinds of living arrangements, a hotel suite with two rooms is still very close quarters."

"I can book my own room, Grissom. This is your lecture, you should have the suite."

"I'm not going to argue about this, Sara," Gil looked at her and smiled just a little, before continuing the trip plans, "We do get to travel first class…"

"Only way to travel," Sara smirked.

"Here's where it gets complicated," Gil flicked through the details he'd written into his schedule, "we fly to London Heathrow first," he explained, "We have to stop over for the night," he glanced quickly at her before continuing reading from his notes, "from Heathrow we get a flight to Glasgow, and then from Glasgow, we get a train to Edinburgh…"

"That's a lot of traveling," Sara said, "That's, what, a whole day of traveling alone?"

"I haven't done the math, but I'm estimating sixteen hours or more," Gil shrugged, "not including the sleep over in the Holiday Inn when we get to London of course," he looked at her curiously, "if you're having second thoughts, I can easily go alone."

"It'll be fine," Sara said, "anything else I should know?"

"Yes, there is," he nodded, "I mentioned this before but I think I should explain in more detail – when you attend my lectures, you'll be asked to evaluate me…"

"Evaluate you?" Sara asked, "what for?"

"So many reasons," Gil rolled his eyes, "It's a pain, but unfortunately standard procedure, although I'm sure it won't bother you all that much," he placed his hands on the desk, "your attending the lecture means you're participating in the learning process, and after the lecture, so many of the students are handed out these evaluation forms to fill out, it asks a number of general questions, everything from regarding on my interaction with the class, to how good – or bad – my presentation is. Any bad feedback in the evaluation sheets of course is to be taken into consideration as room for improvement."

"Alrighty then," Sara remarked, and she blinked as if she couldn't quite believe she'd said this phrase.

Gil continued, "you'll be asked to interview a number of random students after the lecture," he explained, "and then you base your evaluation on my lecture though their opinions."

"This sounds very complicated," Sara confessed.

"Now you know why Cath never wants to go anymore," Gil commented, "but…as much work as there is, there's still plenty of time to participate in other activities. As guests of the University, we'll get free admission into several galleries, museums and historical sites," he added, as if this were to sweeten the pot.

"Sounds cool," Sara shrugged, she seemed to be struggling to say objective, but he could tell there were so many questions about their relationship and the impact the trip would have upon it. Her chest rose and fell as if she had silently sighed, Gil noticed immediately.

"Any questions?" Gil asked, he brought out some forms from his desk drawer.

"Yes," Sara answered, "as I'm going to be away for a week…am I going to be allowed to get in contact with my boyfriend at all during the trip?"

Gil remained still for a moment, he understood the question perfectly, "as long as it doesn't interfere with work, I can't see why not…" he admitted, he saw a smile building on her face and he was glad she had her back to the door and no one could see. He placed the forms in front of her, "You need to fill these out, sign them, and have them back to me by the end of the shift so I can confirm everything as soon as possible."

"Okay, will do," Sara picked the forms up, "shift started two minutes ago," she pointed out, "everyone will be waiting for assignments," she reminded.

Gil stood up, "time flies by when you're having fun," he joked, he picked up his assignment folder, "if you have any other questions regarding the trip, then I'll be in my office after midnight, I have field work to do, shouldn't keep me too long though," they left his office together, "and if you still have questions we don't have time for when the shift ends, then I suggest you see me after work," he added, a hint of mischief in his voice.

Sara suppressed a smirk, "will do."

Thanks to everyone who's been reviewing so far, I'm greatful for all your kind words:

Special mentions to Cindy aka SG1PhileShipper, kristy87, and Eaglesei for reviews more than 3 lines long :)

In reference to a review I receved from Eve, I want to make something clear...

Sara's eating meat in the chapter "Night on the Town" was actually an homage to a friend of mines who was a vegetarian, there was one night at a worksnight outwe were in this Mongolian restaurant she got SO wildly drunk that she was eating all sorts of things at the dinner table including Yak ribs and Ostrich - she went to everyone's plates and was helping herself.Also, despite how much alcohol she had consumed she still remembered the next day also what she had done, she was mortified.

I just feel I should point out that this was not meant as disrespect to vegetarians nor Sara's character or trying to break anything that was "canon", but rather just a reminder of how when people get drunk they do sometimes do things they wouldn't normally do. I used this homage to indicate just how completely DRUNK Sara had let herself get, so drunk that she did something she was against without even giving it a second thought.

Another thing I'd like to point in reference to Sara's vegetarianism - there was an episode that came after the thing with the pig where she claimed all she wanted was "coffee and a steak" or something (I can't remember which episode this was, I think it might be the one where she was called in to work on her night off and lacked sleep)...so even the CSI writers seem to get it wrong sometimes). In any case, I (and several other fans will tell you this)don't think her vegetarianism was the real reason she was ready to quit her job, it was more to do with Gil's attitude towards the situation that made her feel he didn't respect her.

I don't know if you're reading this, Eve, but there's also a reference to Sara being vegetarian in a following chapter where Gil makes her dinner, (he has to make it a vegetarian meal for her) so I didn't completely disregard it with disrespect, okay? I'm not out to disrespect anyone.

SS