AN: sorry, I know I promised that this chap would be up on wednesday ...I just didn't manage to finish it earlier. Sorry!

Thousand thanks to Alex for being the best beta-reader ever! :hugz:

A little note, because I was asked why Gretchen doesn't speak. I figured that according to the fact that she is deaf since almost 40 years she probably stopped speaking after a while. Have you ever tried to talk when you couldn't hear or barely hear what you were saying? I tried it and it's really weird and it's also really difficult because you can not really control how you say things. So I made the decission that in my fan fic Grissom's mother does not speak : ) I actually regretted it after the first chaps because it's somehow strange to write their conversations, but well, anyways... : ) I don't want to bore anyone with another long AN so let's start the story: )

chapter 7

A soft knock on the door ripped Sara out of her thoughts. "Yeah?"

He slowly opened the door and entered. "Are you okay?"

Sara sighed then she nodded softly. "Yeah."

"What happened?", he asked sitting down on the edge of the mattress.

Sara sat up, leaning against the back of the bed now sitting cross-legged on the mattress. "Your mother asked me some…weird questions. I'm sorry that I kind of freaked out…I just, I think I was somehow angry that you left me alone with her for so long… but actually it wasn't that long and you couldn't know that she was asking those questions it's not your fault… I'm sorry that I was so harsh."

Grissom smiled softly at her. "Mom was a little worried because you left so harum-scarum."

"I'm sorry if you would just know what she asked then you'd understand."

"You're not going to tell me, are you?"

She shook her head. "I just want to forget this conversation. If you'd know it would drive you crazy, just believe me it's better when you never find out."

"The more you say the more curious you make me."

Sara grinned softly. "Let's just say...your mother is pretty open minded and I didn't expect that from a woman in her age."

Grissom smirked. "She's the total opposite of me. You wouldn't know that we're related to each other."

"Oh, she's just as curious as you are, she's just interested in different themes."

Grissom raised an eyebrow. "O-kay, I think I really don't want to know."

"What are the plans for today?" Sara asked hoping that they would change the theme.

"Last minute Christmas shopping at the mall, afterwards we're having some coffee, in addition to this we're going to have dinner at the Eiffel Tower restaurant later tonight and afterwards we're going to decorate the Christmas tree."

"Now that sounds good." She said with a bright smile on her lips.

Grissom cleared his throat. "About the shopping.", he swallowed hard. Sara threw an asking look at him making it even more difficult for him to continue. "I doubt that you bought a gift for me so I made a list of stuff that I need anyways. I'll give you my credit card so you can pay the stuff with it." He tried to avoid looking at her, the tension between them felt more and more awkward.

Her mouth dropped open, she was trying to say something but she didn't know what to say so she just stared at him.

Silence lay between them, awkward silence. Until Sara finally took a deep breath and found her words back. "That's ridiculous."

He looked up to her. "Why? You shouldn't have to pay for that stuff so..."

Sara shook her head. "Grissom this is simply ridiculous. That is not the idea of Christmas."

"But we're not really...I mean..."

"...do you want me to make such a list too? And to give you my credit card to buy them?"

"No."

"Why not?" she tilted her head throwing a questioning look at him.

He swallowed hard. "Because..." he sighed loudly. "...because it's ridiculous."

Sara smirked. "You got a point there." She playfully grinned at him.

Grissom chuckled softly. "That was unfair."

"Relationships are never fair not even the faked ones. The woman always wins the arguments you should get used to it sometime.", she winked at him. But then the expression in her eyes got serious and the smile softly faded from her lips.

She swallowed hard, she had been asking herself from the beginning on how they'd handle the gift stuff. He usually gave a book to her and once it had been a framed butterfly. She gave him framed butterflies or textbooks. She had never dared to give him something else, something really meaningful...something that might reveal her feelings for him. She had been scared of his possible reactions to it.

This year she had bought something special for him, the funny thing was that she had bought it before she had been included into this lie, before she had known that she would spend these days with Grissom. She had sworn herself to give him something that made a statement, a statement that told him what she felt, that simply said 'I love you.' She wanted him to know and she hoped that he would finally act on it, that he would do something about it. Even if it was telling her that he didn't feel the same, at least she'd know it for sure then.

It was her New Years pledge to change some parts of her life what actually meant changing her relationship with Grissom. Either bringing them closer together or the final certitude that he didn't feel the same for her.

The bad thing of this whole lie was that now her gift wouldn't look like a 'real' gift. The statement would look like a faked one he would think that she just gave it to him because she wanted to give 'one hundred percent'.

"Hey, what's up?", he ripped her out of her thoughts.

She looked up to him. "Nothing." She faked a smile. "I...I already have a gift for you."

"You have?"

Why does he sound so surprised! Damn it! She felt how she got more and more nervous, the awkwardness between them had just disappeared only to come back again even worse now.

She nodded and bit down on her bottom lip. "Yeah.", she answered softly. She looked down on her hands, she felt the urge to chew on her nails but restrained it with all her power. For a second she glanced up at him and couldn't believe what she saw.

Was this a soft smile that flashed over his lips? Had he really smiled for a couple of moments?

"I have something for you too, but I don't know if you will like it." He made a pause while she was inwardly dancing the happy-dance he grew more and more nervous. He took a deep breath to calm himself down a little telling himself that there was nothing to be nervous about. "It's different from the other stuff, not a textbook again."

"As long as it's not a playboy subscription I am sure that I'm going to like it.", she said and smiled warmly.

He chuckled a little finally feeling the tension between them disappear again. "No, it's not a subscription. It's nothing to read. It's more...well, I don't know how to describe it..."

"Hey, don't spoil my fun! I'm going to see what it is tomorrow morning.", she said grinning.

He smiled softly then he stood up. "I bet Mom already worries where we are. I don't want her to think that we are fighting. I better go back to her and you'll join us when you are ready, okay?"

And I don't want her to think that we were doing the opposite of fighting in here... She nodded softly and smiled at him.

"You're not letting me alone with her again, are you?" she almost pleaded.

Grissom, who had just been about to leave the room, stopped in the doorframe and chuckled softly. "I so don't want to know what she was asking you. If it scares you so much that you are afraid to be alone with her..."

"Oh yeah, you so don't want to know." Sara let herself fall back on the mattress with a grin on her lips.

"But one day you will have to tell me."

"I'll tell you on the day that my dog learns to spell my name."

"You don't have a dog."

"Exactly." She winked at him, breaking out into laughter after he had left and closed the door behind him.

TBC

I hope you liked it : )