By the time Charlie Bucket's teacher declares that he he can't calculate a percent if Charlie's eaten only two Wonka Bars, Sara's relaxed enough announce, "The answer's 'two thousandths,' you idiot!" She looks over at me and rolls her eyes, waiting for me to agree. I just smile.

When Augustus Gloop takes a header into the chocolate river, she starts laughing, hard enough that she slips down the headboard and ends up with her head in the pillows, giggling the whole time. I look down and wait for her to sit up again, but she doesn't, just keeps snickering. Hmm. Sara is now lying on my bed, even if it is rather stiffly.

Innnnnteresting.

I inch down the headboard too, moving slowly and keeping an eye on her to make sure she doesn't panic, until I'm lying alongside her. We're not touching, except for our elbows, but still - we're lying together on my bed. I try hard not to grin like an idiot.

"What?" she says when she catches me looking at her.

"Nothing. Watch the movie." I turn my attention back to the TV, where the cast has just climbed into some sort of riverboat.

My attention stays on the TV for thirteen whole seconds before I'm sneaking glances at her again. She's completely oblivious, and I get to watch her for close to half an hour before she shifts position and turns her head slightly. I can tell she's peeking at me now, too.

Trying to pretend I haven't been looking, I make a show of moving around a bit, trying to get more comfortable. She seems to buy it, I think, but a few seconds later, her hand creeps across the space between us and slides over mine. Shocked, I look back at her, but she's got her eyes glued to the movie. I wrap my fingers around hers and savor the sensation.

When Veruca Salt is judged a bad egg and the scale sends her down the garbage chute, we look at each other and say in unison, "We need one of those at the lab!" Sara cracks up, taking her hand back from mine to cover her face as she laughs.

I watch her. Sara almost never laughs like this at home in Las Vegas. It's refreshing; it makes me smile, myself. It reminds me of the times when we didn't avoid each other, when we could just enjoy each other's company. This could be the beginning of another of those times, I think.

And maybe I could manage not to ruin it this time.

When her laughter dies down, she notices that I've been watching her again. "What?" she demands, sounding like she's losing patience with me.

I shrug, then reach out and take back her hand from where it ended up on her leg. "I love it when you laugh," I tell her, intertwining my fingers with hers and laying our entwined hands back on her leg. "It makes me remember how you used to be, before things...went wrong."

She looks at me, surprise plain on her face. "You never laugh either," she says. "Not counting tonight, I can't think of the last time I even saw you smile." Her words hurt a little, but that's overpowered by the sensation of her index finger gently stroking the back of my hand.

"Well," I say, clearing my throat and looking away - why yes, I am chicken! - "I haven't been very happy for the past few years..."

"Because of me?" she finishes for me. Her finger has stopped moving against my hand.

"No!" I exclaim, eyes returning to her face. "Because of me."

"So then..." she begins, "what --" She stops, closing her mouth with a snap.

"What, Sara?"

"Nothing. You...I don't think you want to get into this."

What had she been about to say? "Try me," I suggest, as much to myself as to her. "You might be right, but you might be wrong."

She worries her lip for a moment, then slowly pulls her hand from mine and sits up Indian-style, facing me. "I was going to ask, uh...ask what's changed now, that suddenly you're not uncomfortable with me anymore."

I take off my glasses, clean them on my shirt, put them back on. Try to buy as much time as I can.

"See?" she says, before I can come up with an answer. "I was right."

"I don't mind getting into this," I insist. "The problem is that I don't know the answer to your question."

She raises her eyebrows. "You have no idea what suddenly triggered this outpouring of friendliness?"

"Give me a second," I say. "I'm trying to work it out."

She gives me a strange look - not angry, more like...indulgent? - and waits, picking at a hangnail on one hand.

"I'm...here with you," I finally muster up. "Without an escape; it's very different from Las Vegas, where I can retreat into my office."

"It's because I've got you cornered?" she translates.

"Not exactly." I sigh. "It's...there are a lot of things that played into it, I think." I look down at my hands and start ticking things off on my fingers: "The way you talked to me when I first told you about this workshop. The mood I happened to be in the morning we left. That ridiculous eyebrow man and the...kiss. The way you shared your candy with me on the plane. How you took care of things when I was too tired to function. The way you...make little jokes about us and manage to make me think without me realizing it. The way you snap at Sharon when she comes near me." I stop, take a breath. "The way you look in that outfit," I add, looking up at her.

She sits quietly for a second, seeming to process that. "None of those things seems terribly earth-shaking to me," she says after a while.

"The earth-shaking occurred when you starting working for me. Everything since then has just been aftershocks."

That seems to startle a smile from her. "That's sweet, Grissom. Did you just come up with it on the spot?"

I shrug. "I guess so."

"So what you're saying is that there was nothing big that caused this - just a bunch of small things that happened in too quick a succession for you to recover between them?"

I blink. That's exactly what I was trying to say, I realize, but I could never have gotten it out so clearly. "Yes," I say simply. "You chipped away at me, I guess."

She seems to be somewhat comforted, and slips down on the bed until she's mostly lying down again, with her head propped on her hand. "You came back tonight."

I look at her in confusion and she adds, "When things got weird between us tonight, you came back to try again. It's the first time you've ever done that. Usually you'd just...disappear."

No wonder I felt so nervous before I did it! I hadn't thought about how really unprecedented it was for me. Deciding that if I'm already having a night of departures from my usual personality, I may as well continue it, I turn more on my side and lay my hand on her hip. My fingers touch that same area of bare skin they felt earlier. I idly trace the u-shape of the fabric.

"Grissom?"

"Mmm?"

"The movie's not over." She's not pulling away, though, I notice.

I don't answer, just run my hand up her back, which draws my entire body closer to hers, and cup the nape of her neck.

"Gris." She's still not moving away.

"What?"

She's quiet for a second. "I don't know. It just feels weird."

I move my hand away from her and meet her eyes. " 'Weird' like 'bad'?" I ask. "Or 'weird' like 'this is a new experience and I am currently evaluating it'?"

"The second one, I think," she says, then shrugs. "Ignore me."

"Not going to ignore you," I inform her, letting my hand return to her back. "Talk as much as you want. I'll just..." I break off and lean down to kiss her bare shoulder. "...keep myself occupied."

"Grissom!" This time she sounds like there's a giggle behind the word.

"Whaaat?" I mock playfully, not stopping what I'm doing.

"You're kissing my skin."

"You're right," I say, pausing for a moment and looking up at her. "It's very nice skin. Do you want me to stop?"

She lets out a long breath. "No..." Her fingers touch my neck where I'm bending it toward her, sliding gently over my skin and making me feel all sorts of tingles.

I suck in a breath and kiss her neck. "Do you realize," I mumble into it, "that, if you think about it, we're hardly touching each other?"

"Mmm." She lays her head against my pillow, allowing me better access to her neck. "Feels just fine to me."

I kiss up to her jaw as my hand explores her back. I feel a button at the nape of her neck and toy with it for a few seconds and then, feeling adventurous, slip it out of its loop. The top droops away from Sara, but since she's pressed against the bed, it doesn't really have anywhere to go.

She gasps, grabbing at the shirt, and sits up to glare at me. "Grissom!"

I move my hand away but can't hold back a smirk. "Sorry. I didn't know what the button did."

"Well you do now," she says in a schoolmarm voice.

"Mmhmm," I say. "It's an interesting discovery." She's still sitting up and staring at me and I reach out and, careful not to touch the shirt, gently pull her back down until we're both on our sides, face to face. "And after making that discovery, I'm intrigued," I add, letting my lips brush the corner of her mouth.

She sucks in a surprised breath, then moves her head the fraction of an inch it takes for our lips to meet. One of her arms slips across my waist and the other slides under my head. I feel her fingers stroke my back through my shirt. I copy her movement, letting my hand drift across her own waist and slightly up her back.

She sighs into my mouth as I walk my fingers up her side. After a few seconds, I realize that the top of her shirt has completely fallen away. Suddenly nervous, I try to pull my hand away from her, but she moves her own hand from my side and stops the movement. "It's fine," she breathes into my ear.

I'm still for another moment, trying to decide how to continue, and then I give up and move my hand back to where I left off. I feel her tugging on the back of my shirt, untucking it from my pants, and then her hand slides up my bare back. I shudder and pull back slightly, suddenly overwhelmed by this reality. My hands are still on her, but hers fall away from me as she looks at my face. "What?" she asks.

"Sara..." I say. I'm trying to slow my rapid breathing.

She starts kissing my neck as she mumbles, "What?"

"Sar--" I shiver as I feel her teeth scrape against my skin. "Sara."

"What?" she repeats. She takes pity on me and draws back, scanning my face. "Gris?"

I shake my head. I don't know what's going on in my brain anymore, so I just I lean my forehead against hers as I finally start to catch my breath. "Sorry."

"You want to stop?" she says softly.

I suck in a breath. "No...I don't know. I don't think so."

She smiles at me - the full-blown Sara Sidle smile that I haven't seen in months - and touches my face. "It's ok. We can stop."

I nod slightly. "Maybe for now. I don't...I mean this isn't...I mean, it's not you. I'm just..."

Her eyes soften as she looks at me. "I know. It's overwhelming. Don't worry."

"I'm sorry."

"Stop," she orders, levering herself up on her elbows. "I said that it's fine, and I mean it."

I don't think she realizes that her shirt is still hanging down. I gape.

She follows my gaze down to her chest and gasps. "Sorry!" she says, pulling it up.

I stop her hand. "Don't." She looks at me, confused, and I add, "You're beautiful. You don't need to...hide it."

She swallows hard. "Oh." She loosens her grip and allows the top to slip again. "You think I'm beautiful?"

"I know that you are beautiful," I correct. "I wasn't kidding about all those men ogling you at the party."

"Mmm," she says with a tiny smug smile. "I was too busy looking at you to notice them."

I lean up and kiss her neck, right over her carotid artery. I can feel her pulse pounding beneath my lips. "Thank you."

"For what?" she asks, touching her neck where I just kissed it.

I wiggle closer to her and take her hand in mine, squeezing it gently as I lay my head on the pillow next to her. "For letting me have my do-over."

A/N: Woo, I think I'm getting better at this almost-semi-smut thing!