He Ain't Heavy…He's My Grissom

Chapter 4: Food, Glorious Food

Ratings, Disclaimers and Summaries, Oh My! See Chapter 1

Nana Bernadette led Grissom into the dining room. There he was enveloped in scents that could easily have descended from heaven itself. His eyes took in the eggplant parmesan, the crusty bread, with and without garlic spread, the manicotti, with each plump crepe stuffed with cheese and spinach and draped with tomato sauce, platters of grilled chicken, grilled vegetables. To the right there was a platter with tomatoes the color of blood, nestled next to smooth planks of fresh mozzarella, glistening with olive oil, He smelled seafood, and saw a bowl of plain pasta waiting to be dressed with homemade gravy, with meatballs that had to be the size of his head, and pesto so aromatic, he could feel the smell of the basil and garlic seep into his skin.

He stood before the buffet with his plate in hand, figuring out where to start, and mentally thanking Sara for keeping him from eating today. Normally Grissom was not interested in food, he ate when he was hungry, or if he forgot about being hungry ate to ward off his migraines, but had never been seduced by food this way before. As Grissom stood there, he felt the warm breath of Sara against his neck. "Pace yourself Grissom" was all she said with a smile as she took a plate and wandered towards the kitchen.

Nana Bernadette called after Sara, "You need to eat dinner before desserts, Sara."

Sara retorted in an almost whine, "Nana…you know I have to check out the desserts first, I need to plan."

Grissom's head spun around, "You mean there's more food!" He looked mildly bewildered. Nana Bernadette squeezed his arm and told him that this was just some of the offerings. He needed to go into the kitchen where the antipasto was laid out. Grissom thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head. Sitting on platters were fried calamari, rice balls and plates of pepperoni and cheeses. There were marinated artichoke hearts, and a salad made with fennel and oranges. Grissom just stood there with his plate as he watched Sara fill hers with vegetables and eggplant parmesan, and go to find a table. Grissom was about to do the same, when Nana Bernadette introduced him to a teeny woman named Nana Ro. Nana Ro grabbed his plate and began filling it, and then she and Nana Bernadette led him to a table filled with several women, all looking to be between the ages of sixty and ninety, who began to grill him about his life in Vegas, forensics (amazingly forensics was part of several popular TV shows,) and Sara.

Sara, momentarily panicking when she realized she lost track of Grissom, became really worried when he heard him explain the difference between asphyxiation and exsanguinations to the group of Nana's. Sara pulled a chair up next to Grissom, and gave his knee a reassuring squeeze. Nana Marie, noticing that Grissom's plate was empty, grabbed it to fill it again. The women took advantage of the fact that Grissom couldn't dodge their questions by putting food in his mouth to ask him about Sara.

"So." Nana Ro said sharply. "Are you taking good care of our Sara?" Grissom nodded, and used his fork to spear a piece of cheese from Sara's plate so he could hopefully avoid the round of questions. Nana Ro, however, was having none of this. "So, do you make sure that Sara gets enough sleep, and eats enough, and isn't working herself into an early grave?" Grissom looked sheepish. With the exception of some comments about getting a life, he never really took care of Sara until now. Of course, Sara had never asked, but he should have known better. Sara gave Grissom's knee a harder squeeze and looked at him, "Say yes" her eyes begged. "For the love of God say yes!" Grissom nodded and told the women that he took great care of Sara, he was very mindful of trying to get her to eat and rest enough. For this comment, Grissom and Sara were rewarded with quick raps to the backs of their heads.

"Owww, what was that for." Sara wailed.

Nana Ro smiled, "His was for lying to us, and yours was for making him lie."

Sara became indignant. "Nana, I can take care of myself."

Nana Bernadette broke in, "Of course you can Sara, but you shouldn't have to. People should take care of each other, otherwise you die alone and unhappy, and none of us want that. Also, you are not getting any younger, and you might want to give us a little bambina to spoil and make some dresses for. I would hate to think all these years of crocheting have been for nothing."

Sara blushed deep red. She must have been out of her mind to bring Grissom among these people when things were so new. She turned to look at Grissom and found him sitting there looking stunned, but managing to smile.

Just when Sara thought things couldn't get more embarrassing, Uncle Sol came to the table. "Minnie, how come you didn't bring Kitty Cat for me?"

Sara tried to stammer out an answer, but Mama M. saved her. "Jesus, Mary and Joseph Sol, you're 92 what would you do with a young woman like that? Catherine is easily half your age!"

Sol shot back, "Listen missy, I might forget to put my teeth in, but the day I forget to what to do with a doll like that, just shoot me. Anyway, I can get me some of that cialisomething drug..." Uncle Sol looked at Sara. "Listen Minnie, when you get back to Vegas, tell Kitty Cat that Solly is waiting. Tell her I'll get some of that Cialisomething and I can wait for the right moment."

Grissom sat next to Sara, desperately trying not to laugh. My god, no wonder she got kind of high strung. He did realize though that these people probably saved her from being too sad, and too anxious, and gave her some of the love and affection that her childhood must have been missing.

Sol motioned to Grissom. "What are you doing here in the hen party? Come into the basement, and have a drink. Any chance you play poker?"

Grissom smirked, "A little." He caught the look on Sara's face. A look that was clearly saying, 'Do not take all of their money, play nice.' Grissom smiled a choirboy's smile at Sara and followed Sol through the house. While Sol gave Grissom the tour, he stopped to notice the hundreds of family pictures on the walls. He smiled when he saw Sara's graduation photo from Berkley next to the wedding photos and grandchildren shots of all of the other children.

Sol began introducing Grissom to the other men in the room. Maybe it was the wine, or the scotch, or a dairy overload, but Grissom would have sworn that every one of them was named Frankie, Louie, Tony, or Vinnie, with a Carmine thrown in for good measure. The men watched soccer and played cards, and Grissom did his best to win enough to be respected, but not too much. Finally one of the men, (Louie, Frankie) spoke up.

"So Gillie, what is going on wit' you and Sara?" Grissom wondered how he became 'Gillie' and thought on how to best answer the question. He was guessing that these men were a little protective. He guessed right. Before he could answer, one of the other men (Vinnie, Carmine) continued. "Yeah, we understand that you're sharing a hotel room with her."

Grissom broke in. "It's a suite. Sara has her own bedroom and bathroom. I wouldn't …"

The men nodded, satisfied. Finally Sol spoke up. "I knew you were a right guy. Min's a nice girl, not some comare that you run around with."

"Sara is very special to me. I can see she is also special to you, and I can tell you, I wouldn't do anything to hurt her." (Well nothing now,) Grissom thought shaking his head at the memory of the various hurts he had done to her over the past five years.

The men seemed satisfied with his answer and began drilling him on places to go in Vegas, especially naked girl places.

While Grissom was getting grilled, Sara went upstairs to use the bathroom and get a little peace. On the way out of the bathroom, she looked at the wedding picture of Anthony and Antoinette. They looked so happy and excited, and Big Tony gripped her around the waist and she held his hands. Mama M. came in and watched Sara looking at the picture. "Its amazing I was ever that tiny." She told Sara.

"You were a beautiful bride." Sara told Mama honestly.

Mama M. walked over to Sara and enveloped her in a large hug. She thanked Sara for coming. "I will also have to thank your Grissom for bringing you to me."

At the term 'your Grissom' Sara blushed. Mama M. took Sara's face in her hands. "This 'thing' with you and him, it's new?"

"Yes. We just moved on to wherever we were on Saturday night." Sara was stunned at that. Was it just two days ago that they went from awkward to kissing. It seemed like millions of years.

Sara found herself wrapped in Mama's arms again. Mama M. looked at Sara, "Listen bambina, I need a break from everyone. Why don't you sit in my chaise with me and tell me all about it." Mama M. lowered herself into the large rose-pattered chaise that Tony had made her all those years ago. Sara perched on the ottoman, like she had so many times before and told her everything.

Before she knew it, it was after 10:00pm. Grissom must be wondering where she was. Mama M. and Sara got a glass peaches doused in red wine and went down to the basement, where she heard Grissom asking Sol about how long the Toni's were married.

"Over 50 years, but we all weren't sure that it would last when they got together. Anthony had his own plumbing business, and was thirty and trying to get his marriage annulled. Antoinette was eighteen and had just graduated from Our Lady of Mercy and had come to apply for a job as a secretary. From the moment they laid eyes on each other it was 'sbattuto dal fulmine'"

Grissom interjected "Struck by the thunderbolt?"

Sol nodded. "It's an expression for love at first sight. It's a special love that defines reason, that defies rules and niceties, but has a life of its own. If you ignore the 'thunderbolt' you are destined to be miserable and lonely and the gods will spit upon you for ignoring a special love."

Grissom was fascinated. "So what did they do?"

Sol continued, "Anthony got divorced, said he didn't care about the church, and the two of them ran away to Reno and eloped. The scandal was horrible for a while, but then Vito the vegetable man ran away with Carlo the neighborhood tailor, and everyone had something else to talk about. Eventually Anthony got his first marriage annulled and the two of them had a church wedding, and then the babies started coming. They were together every night until Sunday, when Anthony died."

Grissom was touched by the story. Even though Sara had heard the story many times before, it also made her frequently get teary eyed. Sara walked up to Grissom and he pulled her onto his lap and kissed her on the cheek. They sat silently for a moment, until Grissom noticed the glass in her hand. Sara speared the last slice of peach with her fork and fed it to him. Grissom did not know which left him more satisfied, being fed by Sara, or the smooth sweet peach with the tang and stain of red wine on it.

Sara smiled at Grissom. "Its late and you have a busy day tomorrow. We should go."

Agreeing, Grissom got up and the two of them proceeded to spend the next twenty minutes saying goodbye to everyone before they ended up in the car.

Sara grinned, "So, you survived."

Grissom shot back, "They are very nice. Fascinating really and the food was heavenly. I can't remember the last time I ate like that."

Sara regarded Grissom curiously, "So no interrogation."

Grissom smiled, he knew she must feel guilty about leaving him with the family. "It was fine. They had questions, and by the way the men are worse then the women. But I told them that my intentions were honorable, and they were satisfied. Then they began asking me about 'titty bars'.

Sara was glad she was not eating at that point, as she would have choked. It was bad enough that her laugh ended in a snort. "Gilbug, if I lived to be a hundred, I would have never imagined the phrase 'titty bar' coming from your mouth. Sara signaled and got the car onto the highway. "Griss, would you mind going for a little walk, to work off all of the food?"

"I would love to. Minnie, I don't know how to tell you this, but…."

"But what?"

"I think I'm hungry."

Sara nearly ran into a guardrail. "You're hungry?"

Grissom shrugged. "Yeah not for a whole meal... but for"

Sara smiled, "A little something…"

"Yeah, Minnie, I would like a little bling bling."

Sara whooped with laughter and was glad that she was getting off the highway as they were at the exit for Jones Beach.

"What, you and Catherine say that to each other all the time, and then you have cookies or M&M's! Isn't that what bling bling means..." Grissom was truly perplexed.

Sara gave him an indulgent grin. "Actually Grissom, neither of us knows what it means. It's just something Catherine used to get to that guy who killed Holly, and it's what we say to each other when we want to end an argument between us and neither wants to apologize. The chocolate is a peace offering." Grissom looked embarrassed and did not notice initially when Sara stopped the car.

"Wait here Grissom." In a moment Sara was back with two bowls of soft serve ice cream.

"Ice cream?"

Sara gave Grissom a pout. "Not just ice cream Grissom. Carvel. It is the best. I got you vanilla with chocolate crunchies and I got chocolate with peanuts. With that, Sara handed Grissom her bowl to hold and drove swiftly to the parking lot for Jones Beach.

TBC…

A/N: I don't know about you, but I gained five pounds writing this. Next up, a walk on the beach for the twosome.

A/N: If any of my readers live near a Carvel, go get a sundae and eat it while thinking of me. My husband moved me to a place with no Carvel, and while DQ is nice, its just not the same.