Title: "The Beginning of Spork Love"

Author: grissomrocks

Rating: T

Category: Romance

Pairing: Grissom/Sophia

Summary: Grissom feels the need to make up with Sophia after Catherine's outburst in "King Baby". My version of the beginning of Spork Love.

Spoilers: "King Baby", "Unbearable", "Nesting Dolls"

Disclaimer: Don't own them, just play with them and put them back nice and neat when I'm finished.

A/N: Tazzer, I tried my best to take my vision in a different direction than your wonderful story on csiconfessions. If anything appears too similar, it's not intentional and I do apologize.

Grissom plodded through the paperwork on his desk, but his mind wasn't focused on it. Instead, he was reliving what had happened between Sophia and Catherine after the Eiger autopsy. He would've included himself in his thoughts on the dispute, but he had been so shocked at Catherine's paranoid outburst, he couldn't react.

He was angry with himself for not speaking up for Sophia. She was a member of his team now and deserved the same effort that he had put into keeping Sara from getting fired after her run in with Catherine. Why did this have to happen right after Grissom had convinced Sophia to stay and give working at the lab a second chance?

The memory of their recent dinner surfaced in Grissom's mind. Amongst other assurances, he had promised her he would try to take part of the sting out of her demotion by giving her more autonomy and responsibility, including allowing her to take over for him when he was off. It seemed that the assurances, plus allowing Sophia to openly express her feelings of humiliation and disappointment, helped her decide to stay – for now.

Professional considerations weren't the only factor in Grissom's appeal to Sophia. In the past two and a half months they had worked together, his feelings about her progressed from respecting her as a CSI to admiring her as a woman. Grissom was fairly certain that Sophia had similar feelings for him as well. However, the CSI supervisor knew that Sophia officially was his subordinate and a personal relationship would be the end of one, if not both, of the CSIs' careers in Las Vegas. For Sophia's sake, Grissom wasn't sure if he was willing to risk that, but he still enjoyed being with her. It had been some years since he had kept company with an intelligent and appealing woman who challenged how he thought and acted upon things.

Reluctantly, Grissom brought his thoughts back to the present. A nagging feeling enveloped him that the other night's dinner would be for naught – that Sophia would be submitting her letter of resignation anytime now. He wondered if he should take the initiative and try to patch things up with her before that letter crossed his desk.

Sophia approached Grissom's office and noticed the troubled expression on his face. Normally she would just walk in, but this time decided it would be better to knock. Grissom's head shot up as the sound of the knocks penetrated his preoccupied brain.

"Glad to see you're back on Earth," Sophia teased.

Grissom removed his eyeglasses and sighed. "Sorry. Something's been on my mind."

Sophia sat on the edge of his desk and asked, "Case related? Want to talk about it? It usually helps me."

Despite his depressed mood, Grissom couldn't help but smile at that statement. "Yeah, but usually you're not talking with someone else." He was fascinated as to how she could manage to make him smile even though right now he felt like an absolute failure as a supervisor. His mood became more somber as he regarded the woman sitting on his desk. "Actually, I would like to talk with you, but not here," Grissom said, having decided to try to mend their professional relationship, at least. "Would you like to join me for breakfast?"

Something was seriously wrong, Sophia thought. She hadn't seen him this disturbed since Ecklie split up the night shift. "Okay," she answered uneasily. "Let me grab my purse, clock out, and freshen up. Where did you want to go?"

Grissom gave her the name of and directions to a diner close by his townhouse. With the sensitive nature of what he wanted to discuss, he didn't want to be interrupted by anyone they knew. After Sophia left, Grissom straightened up his desk and collected what papers he wanted to take home. He hoped he'd be in a better mood when he eventually got there.

After the waitress brought their coffees, Sophia gently confronted Grissom. "What's going on, Gil? In your office, you sounded like your world just fell apart."

"I'm sorry about what happened after the autopsy," Grissom quickly said with genuine remorse. "I should have spoken up after Catherine snapped at you. You shouldn't have to put up with any more unacceptable treatment because I can't deal with office conflicts."

Sophia's expression relaxed some. "Gil, if I can't deal with Catherine's unprofessional conduct, I have no business being a CSI," she reassured him. "Do you remember what I was telling you at dinner about missing being a supervisor?" Grissom nodded as Sophia continued, "I had a temporary memory loss, so to speak. My first instinct was to try to calm Catherine down, because that's what I would've done with someone under me. That's not my job anymore and I should have let you decide how to respond to Catherine, even if your decision was not to respond at all. So, I apologize for usurping your authority."

Grissom protested, "I can't accept that, Sophia. You weren't in the wrong."

"Neither were you," Sophia answered back, a little sharper than she had intended. She wasn't angry with Grissom about the original incident, but she was becoming slightly frustrated with his insistence at taking the blame for it. As far as she was concerned, she and Catherine shared in the responsibility.

Before Grissom could contradict Sophia's statement, their food arrived. They spent the remainder of their meal in awkward silence.

When they left the diner, Grissom, ever the gentleman, insisted on following Sophia back to her condo to make sure she got home safely. He had also done that when they went out to dinner. If it had been any other man, Sophia would've found it patronizing, but for some reason she found it sweet and charming that Grissom would care enough to watch out for her.

Sophia was about to place her key in the lock when she decided to try and diffuse the tension between them. She turned around and looked into Grissom's intense blue eyes. "How about we undertake a compromise?"

"A compromise?"

"If something like this happens again, I promise to let you handle it," Sophia suggested. She raised her hand to silence any objections on Grissom's part and continued, "And you promise that you'll be my knight in shining armor and defend your fair lady if she is attacked by the red dragon."

Although Grissom and Catherine had been close friends for many years, he found Sophia's suggestion rather amusing. When Catherine was angry about something, she did have a tendency to resemble a charging dragon in her demeanor.

But there was a couple of problems with Sophia's scenario. With a smirk, Grissom pointed out the difficulties. "You never struck me as the type who would need a knight in shining armor." Then he added, regretfully, as he took a step closer to Sophia, "And even if you did, you're not my fair lady."

Her already sultry voice became even more so. "That could change."

"I'd like it to change, Sophia," Grissom said. "But I don't want you to lose your job."

Sophia reached for Grissom's hand. "I wouldn't want you to lose your job, either. You've worked too hard to get where you're at."

Grissom tenderly stroked Sophia's hand as he shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not that concerned about my position. You're at the beginning of your career compared to me," he said nonchalantly. "If I lost my job here, I'm sure I could either lecture or find a teaching position somewhere." He quickly gave his stocky body a glance. "I don't think I'll starve."

Smiling as she conceded the point about his career, Sophia concluded, "If we're discreet, I don't think we'll have any problems at work. We'll just have to be extra careful in our cases and make sure our objectivity can't be called into question."

"It wouldn't matter to Ecklie if we were the most perfect CSIs in the country," Grissom replied pragmatically, "if he knew we were involved, he'd fire one or both of us in an instant."

Sophia shot an amused glance at Grissom. "Someone once told me not to take Ecklie seriously. If we have to deal with Ecklie, we'll do it together."

Together. Grissom liked the sound of that. He wanted this, but knew the cons of entering a relationship with Sophia, besides the professional ones. He was significantly older, intensely private, had unusual interests, and was set in his solitary ways. Was he willing to open up to her?

Then he thought of the positive aspects. Sophia was intelligent, witty, appreciated his unusual sense of humor, didn't seem put off by his eccentricities, stimulated him mentally, and made him smile in a way that he hadn't in years. If he couldn't do this now, when?

A decision was promptly made on Grissom's part. He released Sophia's hands and lifted his own to caress her face. Lowering his head, he pressed his lips gently onto hers. Her response was immediate and eager as she wound her arms around his shoulders, returning and deepening the kiss.

The world seemed to stop for the new couple. They slowly explored each other's mouths, stopping only to breathe. Hands leisurely mapped bodies, as best as could be done under the circumstances, each memorizing what touches garnered the best responses.

Grissom knew there was no going back. He had never believed in the concept of "soul mate" until now. He used to think it was an absurd way to describe how two people felt about each other. However, as he and Sophia continued to touch and taste each other as if they had been together for years, Grissom couldn't imagine a better phrase.

Sophia wasn't inexperienced in sexual matters by any definition, but she couldn't imagine feeling any more content right now than if they actually were making love. In the back of her mind, she concluded that it was the motivation. This wasn't purely physical. They were laying claim to each other on a mental and emotional level as well.

Reluctantly, they broke away from each other. If they were going to be discreet about this, making out in the hallway of her condominium building wasn't a good idea. "You'd better go home and get some sleep," Sophia said grudgingly. "We have to go back early today."

Grissom teased, "As usual, my fair lady is right." His parting kiss was quick, yet tender. "I'll see you later."

"See you this afternoon, my knight," Sophia replied, returning the kiss. "Sweet dreams."

"They have been since you've been in them," Grissom answered, his tone making it very clear what kind of "sweet dreams" he was referring to. He was certain, though, that his dreams couldn't compare to what he had just experienced. Once he was sure Sophia was safely inside her condo, he turned and headed to the garage to start his journey home. On his way home, he contemplated happily upon the journey that was just beginning.

A/N: This was my first attempt at a "make out" scene – I would love to receive constructive advice on how to improve.