CHAPTER FOUR; getting away
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Disclaimer: I own nothing. CSI owns me.
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As Grissom paired them the next morning there was, of course, some giggling from the others, despite the fact that Sara was the only one not occupied with another case – but as the other realized how calmly they were both reacting to the childish teasing they let it go.
Now they were working in the layout room, looking through some clothes found at the scene, hoping to find something helpful.
"So, what are you doing for Christmas?" Grissom asked after several minutes of silence.
"I'm not sure – I usually volunteer at a shelter near my apartment, but I haven't signed up yet" she answered, not looking up, partly because she was occupied with the work but mainly because she didn't want to draw more attention than necessarily to the fact that she didn't have any family to spend the holidays with.
Grissom mentally slapped himself, forgetting that it probably wasn't Sara's favourite time of year, but continued as an idea popped into his head. An awfully stupid idea, but an idea nonetheless.
"What about afterwards?"
"I don't know" she answered embarrassedly
"Well, I was just thinking.." he started nervously "that maybe you'd.. ehm, not that volunteering isn't great – because I know it is.. but, it's just" he closed his eyes for a few seconds, hating how stupid he sounded all of a sudden.
"What?" she asked half smirking, obviously enjoying seeing Grissom, who'd normally be clear and calm, struggling to just make sense.
"WouldyouspendChristmaswithme?" he blurted out, surprising both of them "I mean.. not.. I'm going to visit my mother in California and even though it's nice to see her it can get a bit.. well, boring.. being just the two of us.."
They were both silent. Grissom was looking directly at Sara, quite proud of his own openness, and Sara was studying her shoes – not because she didn't know how to answer his question but because she didn't want to seem too eager to answer him.
She took a deep breath and looked up at him, suddenly realizing how close they were. "Sure..!" she said slowly
"Sure?"
"Sure."
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Sitting on the plane Sara was still not able to comprehend that she was going to spend 3 days alone with Grissom. Not only was it weird only a couple of days after they'd been groping each other at the departments Christmas party, but she was still stunned that Grissom would share something as intimate with her as Christmas with his mother and him.
Getting the three days of hadn't exactly been easy, but they'd promised to work at New Years and besides that they both had so much vacation time saved that they didn't have to be back before May.
"You've got to be the slowest reader in the entire universe" she grinned
"I cannot concentrate, when you're staring at me like that" he protested, realizing that for about 20 minutes he'd been staring at the same page.
She smirked, while shrugging her shoulders yet still looking intensely at him, just as he was still pretending to be reading.
"Stop it! Seriously!" he smacked her playfully on the shoulder as she didn't obey.
"Okay" she said, still looking ".. but I'm bored, you know"
"That's not my problem"
They were both silent for a minute or two, her staring, him pretending to read.
"Argh!" he said dramatically closing the book, "what do you want?"
"Talk to me" she said silently, "flying makes me.. restless"
"Yes I noticed. What should we talk about"
"Did you come across some exciting bugs lately?" she deadpanned, making him smile
"Yes, very. Last month I had this body who's face was eaten away by.." Grissom stopped as the woman next to them started to sound like she was getting sick.
"Sorry" Sara said as she saw that Grissom only found it amusing
"You're scaring the normal people" she whispered
He grinned and took out a piece of paper and a pen, knowing that getting as close to Sara Sidle as you had to be to whisper anything on the noise-filled plane would never be a good idea.
That's what you get for eavesdropping he wrote, making her giggle
She took the pen and wrote: be nice
I'm always nice
No you're not – particularly when you're cranky
I don't get cranky he wrote quickly, causing her to laugh loudly
"Well, you're not being very nice either, Sidle" he said mock-seriously, trying desperately not to think about how much he wanted to kiss her smile of her lips. Gosh I should never had asked her to come
"I'm glad I agreed to come with you" she said sincerely
"Me too" he smiled
To be continued..