Chapter 33

It's Fine

Gil's new plan worked, to a certain extent. Using some of his rather gruesome crime scene photos of maggot infested cadavers, he was able to somewhat capture the attention of the students – although he could have sworn some of them had begun to grow very pale as the lecture progressed. Still, he had their attention, and that was what counted.

Sara was somewhere in the back, he couldn't locate her, there were over two hundred students attending the lecture, and since several of those were female students with brown hair similar to Sara's, it was hard to pinpoint her – which he was glad of. He felt if he had seen her, he might have been distracted once again.

However, part of him was very distracted. Despite he was desperately trying to not think of the conversation he'd had with Sara that morning, his mind kept drifting back to it. However, if anyone had noticed his distractedness, they had yet to say.

Gil was glad when the lecture was over, fatigue had begun to settle over him like a huge weight. He had not felt this tired in years. He fell asleep in the cab on the way to the hotel, and the driver had to awaken him to announce they'd arrived at the destination.

When he finally got to his hotel room, he collapsed to the bed in exhaustion.

It was hours later, when a loud knocking at his door startled him awake, and he sat bolt upright, the room was almost completely dark, the window was streaked with rainwater which was throwing patterns on the nearby wall. At first, he'd been so completely disorientated he hadn't known what the knocking sound had been. When the knocking sound came again, he saw sense. He pulled himself up with a yawn, and headed towards the door.

Sara stood there, "I've been knocking for ten minutes," she remarked almost instantly. She stood there in a black skirt suit, a cream blouse peaking through between the lapels. Her hair was pulled back in an elegant but simple style which seemed to accent how beautiful she was even more than usual.

"What time is it?" he yawned, he scratched the back of his neck.

"Almost seven thirty," Sara glanced at her watch quickly, "we're supposed to be at a dinner party at eight," she reminded.

"I slept in…sorry…" he sighed. "I can be ready in five minutes…" he assured.

Sara sat down on the bed, she smoothed out the blankets absently, "I can wait."

Gil rushed to the bathroom with his suit to get ready, he heard Sara humming to herself absently, "How did you find the lecture today?" he called through to the bedroom as he was changing.

"Stimulating," Sara responded, she then paused, "the students were drawn in with the crime scene photos, just like you thought they'd be."

"I noticed. Now I have a secret weapon."

"One of the girls I spoke to actually said she found the lecture 'cool' – just thought you'd like to know that."

"Really?" he asked.

"Really," Sara responded.

Gil finished dressing and stepped back into the bedroom.

"That was some fast changing," Sara turned around to see him, "what are you, Superman? Did you spin around faster than the speed of light and just automatically end up wearing that suit?" she smirked.

"I'm a man of many special powers," Gil grinned, he tried to smooth down his grey curls as best he could while he stood in front of the mirror at the dresser.

Sara stood slowly, "how did you manage to be so completely fascinating today during the lecture with having so little sleep?" she asked.

"Another one of my special powers. Are you impressed?"

"Yes, very."

"My body definitely isn't used to pulling whole nights without sleep anymore…" Gil grabbed his necktie from the dresser where he'd left it and put it on with fast precision.

"I feel that way, too at the moment," Sara gave a little yawn, "I can only assume it's jetlag. I can go at least two or three days without sleeping most of the time…"

Gil examined her reflection in the mirror, "you look elegant," he said.

"Elegant enough to impress?"

"I'd say so," Gil nodded.

"I hate dressing like this, I feel stupid," Sara sighed, "not to mention uncomfortable, I wish I could just go wearing jeans and a tanktop."

Gil smirked, "you look stunning in anything," he said, "even when you wear coveralls."

Sara grinned, "is that so."

"Yes, it is."

"Can I ask something?"

"Yes," Gil glanced over his shoulder at her.

"I was just wondering…since you said you spoke to Catherine via email…Did Warrick tell Catherine he was the one behind the secret admirer thing?"

"Nope," Gil finished with his tie and turned towards her, he rested his backside against the dresser, and stood with his arms folded. "In her email she asked me to tell her who it is, but I refused. It's not my place to say, really, is it?"

"I guess not," Sara responded.

"I don't understand it, Cath can't see what is right under her very nose."
"Sometimes that happens," Sara said, "the clues are all there, the answer is front of you but you keep looking around it."

Gil straightened up, "I can kind of relate, when you put it like that."
"I'm sure you can."

This time, dinner was much easier than It had been the previous time, although Gil and Sara barely said a word to each other – more to do with being engrossed in the Professor's conversation rather than ignoring each other – the atmosphere was more comfortable and familiar. Every now and then Gil and Sara would steal a glance towards each other, being able to interpret the tiniest smiles as much more meaningful than perhaps anyone else at the table would have.

When dinner ended, the group – consisting of three professors, the wife of one professor, and Sara and Gil – moved on to a public house known as the Conan Doyle. The place was quiet, but atmospheric and strangely enchanting. He and Sara offered to buy the first round of drinks, it had only seemed fair.

For the first time that evening since leaving the hotel, they found themselves for the most part alone at the bar.

"I'm sorry I got you stuck in this situation," Gil said after he'd ordered the drinks at the bar, he watched the girl behind the bar making fast work of pouring whiskeys.

"It's fine," Sara assured.

He touched her arm in a tender but unsuspicious way. "Tomorrow is the last night, I promise. Then it's just you and me from then on…" he said softly.

Sara turned to look at him, "it's fine, I'm enjoying it, really," she forced a smile.

"You can be honest if you're having a bad time…" he said under his breath, he leaned a little closer so she'd hear.

"I promise, it's fine," Sara assured.

Gil felt that despite Sara's smile, that she really wasn't having a good time at all. He wondered how in the world he could ever make this up to her. Midway through the first drink, he came up with something.

Every so often, while he was talking to the Professors, he would feign little yawns, and apologise with the explanation he'd had very little sleep since coming to Edinburgh. It was believable – and somewhat true.

"Do you want to leave?" Sara asked, not at all catching on to his lies.

"Actually, I think it's for the best, I wouldn't want to pass out here on the table, or anything," Gil had admitted, he'd winked, and then apologized again to the Professors. Bid them farewell, and he and Sara had left together.

They left the public house together, and walked along the street whilst trying to flag down a black taxi cab. Several passed but most had their 'for hire' signs turned off unfortunately, or had people already in the back.

Gil maintained an expression of complete innocence, "see, you're not the only one who can lie."

Sara turned and looked at him, "huh?"

"You're not the only one who can lie," he repeated.

Sara raised an eyebrow, "what are you talking about?"

"I'm not in the least tired…I slept most of the day away after the lecture. I'm pretty awake now…" he turned and looked at her, "so…miss Sidle…what do you want to do now?"

Sara stared at him, quite taken aback, "Uh…I don't know…what do you want to do?"

"Lets…I don't know…go somewhere fun or something…"

"Somewhere fun?" Sara gave a laugh, "You're kidding, right?"

"Why would I be kidding?" he asked, they walked a little up the street together far away from the public house. Finally when they were out of view of the large glass windows, Gil put his arm around her shoulders.

"Because it's very unlike you…"

"I know…" Gil said.

"And you have a lecture tomorrow – early."

"I know, I know. But we don't have to stay out all night," he shrugged. "So how about it? Do you want to go do something fun?"

"Like?"

"I don't know…" Gil paused, "we might be able to catch a movie, or…we could…find a nightclub?"

Sara looked at him, "You know I'd be quite happy to go back to the hotel and watch a movie with you."

"We could do anything right now and that's all you want to do?" he asked, it was his turn now to raise an eyebrow.

"Honestly, you want to know why?" Sara asked softly, she stopped in the middle of the street.

Gil nodded, he reached out to brush away a stray lock of her hair that had come loose of her twisted style.

"I have spent most of the time here sharing you with students and professors and I've barely seen you alone for ten minutes, which is precisely how long it took you to get through breakfast…honestly, having some time with you alone would be heaven right now…"

Gil paused, having to think about this. Alone in a hotel, as appealing as it was, it was somewhat daunting. Does she mean the bedroom or…in the living area of the suite? He wondered.

"I…uh…" he gave a nervous smile, "in the hotel suite? On the couch?" he asked, knowing there was a small television in the hotel suite with a couch facing it.

"Of course…" Sara said, she raised an eyebrow as if to ask where he'd thought she'd meant.

"I'd love to watch a movie with you," he said.

Sara smiled, "okay…"

"Okay."

Mention list for the 3 line reviewers will be coming up in 34. I know this chapter is blah, I've had a pretty mundane day with barely any inspiration but I'm going to try and get something more exciting in the next chapter ;)

Luv ya all,

SS