Chapter 54

Serenade

When Sara and Gil arrived to work together hours later they were serenaded the moment they entered the break room and the door had swung closed. Warrick, Greg and Nick playfully crooned out a rather out of key rendition of a classic Doris Day song.

"Onceeeeeeeee I had a secret loveeee, that liiiiiiived within the heart of meeeeeee. All too sooooooon my secret love, becameeeeeee impatient to be freeeeee!"

Gil felt his cheeks flush scarlet, put his hands to his face in complete embarrassment, but an amused smirk played about his lips. "Are you mocking me?" he asked.

Sara stifled her laughter against her hand, her eyes glittering. She seemed quite amused by this little serenade.

Catherine stood against the counter polishing off the last bite of a Snickers bar, a smug expression on her face.

"Sooooooooo I told a friendly star, the waaaaaaaaay that dreamers often doooooo, just how wonderfuuuuuul you are, and why I'm soooooo in love with you…" the guys continued, their voices growing louder, "Nowwwwwwwwwww I shout it from the hiiiiiiiighest hill….even told the golden daaaaaaaafffffodils. At laaaaaaaaast my hearts an open dooooooooor, and my secret loves no seeeeecret aaaaaaaaaany mooooooore."

Sara applauded, "that was great," she laughed, she was so completely overwhelmed by it and laughing so hard her eyes were watering, she had to stop to dab at them.

"You guys really need singing lessons," Gil managed once they had finally ended the song, he shook his head at them and hoped to god no one out in the hall had heard this. He gazed over his shoulder through the glass to see if anyone had been standing in the hall, but no one was there.

"Sorry," Warrick laughed, "couldn't resist."

Gil glowered at Warrick for a split second, deciding to take a stab at him too, it was only fair, and if this was all about fun, then there was no harm in it. He turned towards Catherine, "speaking of secret loves…" he cleared his throat, "has your, uh, secret admirer stepped forward as of yet?"

"No," Catherine said, "but I found a rose in my locker yesterday," she confessed, "so he's still around."

"Yes, I bet he is," Gil gazed towards Warrick again and smirked wickedly.

"Hey…" Greg got up quickly and moved over to Sara, he was looking at her neck in a curious way, shifting his position to look beyond her hair, "Ah-hah!" he said as if he'd just stumbled upon the conclusion to a riddle, he pushed her hair away from her neck, "look! Trying to conceal evidence!"

Sara's eyes widened a little, and she moved her hair back to her neck, "I don't know what you're talking about," she said rather quickly.

Gil watched this, confused, and then suddenly he realised what Greg was talking about. He preoccupied himself pouring coffee, Sara was moving away from Greg as he tried to show what was on her neck again to the rest of them.

"My, my," said Catherine, she tossed the Snickers wrapper into the garbage, "is that a hickey?"

"No," Sara said quickly, she laughed nervously, "it's a bug bite," she lied.

"Yeah, a LOVE bug," said Greg all too quickly.

Catherine smirked, "I guess we don't have to ask how the date went last night," she folded her arms casually.

"It went fine," Gil said rather quickly.

"More than fine," Sara mumbled under her breath, she threw Gil a quick look and smiled to herself as she looked away again.

Catherine gave Gil a suspicious look, and then her eyes glittered with that kind of realization that she could read exactly from his mind what had happened last night.

How does she do that? He thought. Why is it she can see through me like that? I hate that!

Gil looked at her quickly and pleaded with his eyes for her not to say anything.

"So what'd you guys get up to?" Catherine asked.

"Movies," Sara responded, "We watched 'Taking Lives' and then 'Red Dragon'."

"Good movie," Greg responded.

"Original is better," Nick responded.

"Wait a minute, 'Red Dragon' was a remake?" Catherine asked.

Sara nodded, she let Gil pour her a cup of coffee, "Yeah, the original had William Petersen in it…"

"Ohh yeah," Warrick nodded, "I remember that now…"

"Who's William Petersen?" Gil asked casually, he couldn't remember having heard the name before.

"Wait a minute, are you talkin' about that guy who was in that Joshua Jackson movie…what was it called…" Greg paused, "Oh, yeah, 'the Skulls'?"

"That's him," Warrick responded, "you couldn't forget the guys face, he looks like Grissom," he mused.

"You think so?" Catherine said, she looked at Gil as if trying to decide, "yeah, I guess in a way…before the beard," she gestured to the growth on Grissom's chin. He was still trying to grow his beard back after having shaved it off stupidly in a tiny midlife crisis error.

"Hey, we should write to William Petersen's agent and see if we can get a DNA sample to compare it to Grissom, they could be long-lost twins," Greg joked.

"I sincerely doubt it," Gil responded, "hey Cath, come brief me on yesterday," he requested. In truth, he wanted to talk to her in private. He knew Catherine was going to ask some questions, and he had some questions of his own he needed to ask.

"Okay," Catherine shrugged, she headed towards the door, waiting for him to follow.

"I'll come hand out assignments shortly," he assured the rest of the team, then he left, his face still hot from the mortification of the serenade. Catherine walked ahead of him to his office, and it wasn't until they were in his office, that either of them spoke.

"So…last night went…fairly well, huh?" Catherine asked casually, she moved over to his desk to pick up a folder, "You need to deal with this ASAP by the way," she added without skipping a beat.

Gil took the folder and opened it, going over the details as he spoke, "Last night was…just…I can't even find words for it."

Catherine smirked, "bet you're sorry you've waited five years to get to this point, huh?" she sat on his desk and placed her hands in her lap.

"No…I don't think I…regret waiting so long," he admitted, "it was worth it…to get to this point in the end, I mean…" he closed the folder, "Cath, can I ask you something?" he asked.

Catherine shrugged.

"I know…this is…a really weird thing to ask…but…" he trailed off. "I don't really have…anyone else I trust enough to ask…and…well…"

"Yes?" Catherine said rather slowly, she waited anxiously to hear what he had to say, her eyes widened a little as she looked at him expectantly.

"You seem to be…sort of…I don't know, kind of an expert at this kind of thing…" he admitted, "so…uh…"

"Spit it out," she ordered.

"Have you ever…had an instance in bed…where you've…uh, been with a guy and came up all bruised?"

"Bruised where exactly?" Catherine raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know, anywhere…" he swallowed nervously.

"Uh…yeah, actually," She admitted, "sometimes its easy to get caught up in the heat of the moment, and end up with all kinds of injuries. I fractured my wrist once during sex," she grinned, "I've come up with all sorts of bumps and bruises…why?"

Gil sighed, "I feel stupid," he mumbled.

Catherine looked at him curiously, "Hmm?"

"I guess I held Sara down a little too hard and bruised her wrist…I didn't mean to, but I did, and I guess I freaked…a lot…I just, I've never bruised anyone in bed before…I didn't know how to handle it."

"I take it from the way you're speaking, you've never been in to rough play, then," Catherine said, quite amused by this, "Not that I'm surprised, you are Grissom after all.

"It's not like I haven't gotten a little rough in bed before, but…I've never pinned anyone down hard enough to leave marks," he said, he could feel himself blushing.

"Let me ask – was she actually upset about being bruised at all? Did she complain? Did she at any point at all say 'hey, look, you're hurting me, let go'?"

"She didn't care," Gil shrugged.

"Then I wouldn't worry too much about it. Come on, you're in bed with a woman and things get a little hot and heavy, a few hickeys and bruises happen, it's not the end of the world…you'll probably end up the same way," she assured. "If you're unsure about how she feels about it, ask her. If she's not complaining about it – and I know Sara isn't about to sit back and just take anything she doesn't agree with – I'd just continue until she says otherwise. You can only try to be gentle, but if you accidentally get a little carried away and hurt her, she'll let you know before it gets much more serious."

"Okay…" Gil nodded, but still felt unsure.

Catherine gestured excitedly, "It's a new sexual relationship, you're both going to have your little doubts. Only way you can avoid that is to talk to each other openly about it…" she explained.

"Cath…where would I be without you?" Gil sighed, but smiled.

"Without a girlfriend and locked in your little town house researching the mating habits of insects," Catherine answered. "Anyway, stop worrying, I can see the worry stretched on your face, but it's not going to do either you or Sara any good. You should just relax. Enjoy the ride – not to put it too bluntly. The relationship is about to get really interesting for you," Catherine smirked, "I hate to say it, but I'm jealous. I wish I was in a relationship about to go through the phase you're about to go through."

"What phase?" Gil asked.

"The 'Gotta have it all the time' phase," Catherine smirked, "after the first time, its all experimentation and learning each others little turn ons. It's so much fun."

"I've never gotten to that part of a relationship before," Gil confessed. "Is it really all that great?" he raised an eyebrow.

"You're in for a treat," Catherine assured, "so…anyway…are you ever going to tell me who my secret admirer is?"

"All I'm saying is there's only a certain number of men in this building it can be, and I'm definitely not one of them," Gil answered, "now, I really have to get to work, so get your tush off my desk."

I know, this chapter was a bit silly, but I just had to write it to make up for the bouts of angst I've been laying on thick as of late, lol.

As promised, thanks to the following people for reviewing:

Kristy87, Ambient Flames, LGraziano, gossamerwings7, luckyladyinlace, csishewolf, Aidrianna, Samantha, lunar47, MissAmanda, Cindy aka SG1PhileShipper, CSICubsFan, Erlina Silverstra.

You continue to make every day a great day when I see reviews in my mail. ;)