"Oh, well that's nice." Sara spoke, and surprisingly enough the comment was genuine. She twirled another strand of linguini around her fork and recrossed her legs on the floor. She was seated indian-style on his floor in boy shorts and a tank top. Her hair was pulled back, pony-tailed at the nape of her neck.
To Grissom, she was the picture of relaxation. He wished he could be that relaxed.
Sara pointed her fork at him as she finished chewing. "How long has it been since you've seen her? Two years?"
Grissom thought for a moment and nodded. "About that, yes."
Sara shimmied over to where he sat on the couch and pressed her head back into his chino-clad legs. "It'll be nice to see her again. As I recall, I liked her..." Okay, that was a stretch, but not by much. There had been a time, years before to be sure, that she was sure Grissom was in a relationship with the other woman. Sara could be jealous, but that would be a waste. There was no reason to be jealous, plain and simple.
Grissom took a sip of his wine and pondered for a moment. "Hopefully she can shed some insight on this corpse." Sara's smile slid slowly up onto her face in such a delightful manner that he found it rather contagious and smiled a lopsided smile of his own. They gazed at each other for a few moments before Sara broke the moment.
She could handle mushy moments like that... but only to a degree.
"This linguini is really good." This time, she pointed the fork at her plate before spearing a piece of zuccini and bringing it to her mouth. Grissom continued to simply look at her. She ate in relative oblivion for a minute or two before she realized he was staring at her. Slowing her chews significantly, she turned to face him again.
"Wh... what?" Sara looked down at her lap and back up to meet his eyes. "Do I have zuccini in my teeth or something?" Feeling around her teeth with her tongue, she scrunched up her face.
Gil chuckled and took a bite of his psuedo-dinner. "No, no I just like watching you eat."
Sara's eyes were distinctly skeptical as she regarded him. "You like... watching me eat?"
Grissom simply nodded and smiled. Sara's hair fell in front of her face as she moved her plate to the coffee table and finished off her glass of wine. She then stretched out cat-like and rose from the floor, draping herself across him. "Well. I'm sure watching me doing other, far more exciting things..."
Sara nipped his ear and Grissom's hands went straight to her hips.
"...would be much more fruitful right now..." Sara ground out before capturing his lips with hers and providing him with a little after dinner entertainment.
The next day she picked Terri Miller up at the airport of her own suggestion. It had been Grissom's intention to, but he'd been called out early on a consult and Sara had offered herself up for the task.
"So Terri, how have you been?"
The blonde smiled warmly at Sara. "I've been wonderful. I've just spent the last three months in London, consulting with Scotland Yard."
Sara took a left and nodded her head in acknowledgement. "That's impressive." It was, Sara found herself actually enthralled with what the forensic anthropologist had to say. She was a startlingly interesting and wordly woman, and Sara admired her. She was lofty and smart and attractive, and didn't like to take shit.
They fell into comfortable conversation on the way back to the lab, each sharing war stories. Upon arrival they parted, Sara to meet Brass and Terri off to Grissom's office. Sara was in a surprisingly upbeat mood. Grissom was semi-excited to see Terri again, and his unbelievable mood that evening had rubbed off on Sara. So she was merry and chipper, even when Brass informed her that they were going to process a smash and grab. She collected the evidence with care and brought it back to the lab, attempting to reign in the spring in her step. It was difficult, but she managed.
She dropped some evidence with trace and some other items with Jacqui, who noticed her larger-than-usual smile. Sara attribuedattributed it to a wonderful morning's sleep and went off to find Grissom.
His office door was closed, which surprised her. He never shut his door. He rarely shut it even when he left for the evening. She shrugged and walked to the window and peered inside.
What she saw there... did insanely cliched things to her. She went deathly cold and yes, her stomach flip flopped violently and threatened to rebel into her throat. Indeed, fire did leap to her eyes and it was true, she had to bite her lip to keep from screaming. She wanted a thesaurus to peruse the synonyms for rage... because she was feeling all of them.
Terri Miller was stroking Grissom's face and moving forward, as if to place her lips to his. And he was doing nothing to stop her.
Sara knew, logically, that she should continue watching the spectacle. That to leave at such a crucial moment would be jumping the gun, especially if she was to confront Grissom about this.
She trusted him, trusted him, trusted him... but...
Sara tore her eyes away, swallowed her pride and walked to the locker room. She would not, not not jump to conclusions... okay, so she would.
She grabbed her jacket and handbag with a sense of calm, but slammed her locker shut, her eyes bloodshot, ready to shed tears. 'There's no need, there really isn't Sara,' she told herself over and over and over all the while making her way purposefully towards Grissom's office. The door was open now and Terri was gone and he was perched on the edge of his desk, apparently lost in the annals of his thoughts.
Sara knocked softly on the door, attempting to feign ignorance at the spectacle that she had just witnessed. A tight smile was her only expression. "You, uh, you coming over later?"
Grissom bit his lip and tilted his chin in her direction. "No, I... not tonight. I have some paperwork I have to finish up. I'd be a terrible bore." He said, nodded, and got up from the desk to retreat behind it. Sara nodded curtly and bit her tongue, holding back from saying, 'It's okay, I don't mind, bring your work home with you.'
Home, she mused on that for a moment.
Not their home, obviously, her home. That thought made her sad. But she turned her attention to the matter at hand. They had both decided that bringing work with them would be very unwise. And now she was considering going back on her own rule. No, not now.
"How's uh, how's Terri?" Her voice was casual enough and she gave herself a mental pat on the back.
Grissom's head snapped up and he regarded her slowly. "She's... well. She's very well." Sara nodded and waited for him to continue. "She, uh, just got divorced"
His voice was slow and cautious and she resented it immensely.
Sara nodded and crossed her arms tightly around herself. "Anything interesting come of the case?"
"Interesting? No... not that I recall"
And so she nodded again, really, really really not wanting to get mad that he wasn't saying anything. And then it hit her.
Had something actually happened? Had she kissed him? And, oh god, was he using work as an excuse to be with Terri? No, no. Sara wasn't that fickle. He said he loved her and that meant he loved her and that meant... that was that. That was everything. She was damned sure that this was it, they were the bottom line. They were reality and love, plain and simple. If this didn't work, she was sure nothing would. They were meant to be and blah, blah, blah. She was sure of it.
Sara dropped her hands to her sides and shrugged. Stalemate? Was that what he wanted? He wasn't hiding anything, he wasn't. He wasn't.
"Okay, well I'm going to head out." She waited for him to look up at her, and when he didn't, she continued. "Love you," she whispered.
And he kept his head down and muttered. "Uh huh."
Sara was unbelievably sad as she turned to leave.
And she didn't even bother to shoot him a look over her shoulder.