Disclaimer: I do not own CSI

AN: LOL this seems like I have no personal life, this is the third thing I publish today. But I have to confess that I already finished this chap 3 days ago, I just had no time to post it.

Enjoy...

chapter 4

Oversleeping seemed not to be a one-time problem for the Grissom-Sidle household. Gladly Gretchen had woken them up just in time so that after a hastily exchange of gifts, Grissom and Sara had hurried to the airport.

Now when they were waiting in the arrival area they slowly calmed down from the run from the parking garage to the terminal. But Sara felt sick and she wasn't really able to hide it. Although she tried to. She didn't want Grissom to worry.

But he of course noticed. He softly put his arm around her shoulders. "Honey, what's wrong?"

"I'm okay." She insisted.

He pressed a soft kiss on her forehead. Then he sighed, his left hand softly touched her cheek, then he turned her face to his. "Still feeling sick?"

Finally she nodded.

"You should have drunk some good tea instead of coffee."

She sighed. "I can drink tea later." She freed herself from the embrace of his arm and gave a weak smile. "I will be right back."

Grissom nodded softly. "Okay."

Grissom watched her leave and in the same moment the first passengers entered the arrival hall. He wondered how he should ever spot Sara's brother and mother in this crowd of people. Sara only had one picture of her brother and none of her mother and he had seen that picture of Ben only once. He waited a while, hoping that Sara would return but she didn't.

Suddenly a man walked over to him. Grissom wondered if this could be Ben, but he wasn't sure, it might fit though, he thought.
"Excuse me, are you Gil Grissom?" the man asked.

So it was really Ben. Grissom nodded. "Ben Sidle?"

"Yes." He answered and smiled.

And that smile would have discarded the last doubts. "Nice to finally meet you… and merry Christmas." Grissom smiled and they shook hands.

"Merry Christmas. I was looking forward to this. Sara told me so much about you." Ben told him. "Speaking of Sara, where is she?" He asked, glancing around the hall.

"Bathroom." Grissom answered short.

Ben nodded. "My mother is waiting over there." He pointed to a couple of seats.

Grissom and Ben walked over to the seats where only one woman was sitting. Grissom, although he had been able to hide it, was really nervous. He did not know a lot about Sara's mother and neither did he know how to behave around her. The situation itself, meeting the mother of his 'girlfriend', was completely new to him, but in addition to this everything he had heard about Sara's mother had not really sounded as if she was a warm-hearted, loving mother.

Laura Sidle left her seat and smiled at him. "Laura Sidle... Merry Christmas." She said and Grissom tried to find more clues about her personality in the way she spoke.

"Merry Christmas…Gil Grissom. Nice to meet you Misses Sidle." His hands were sweating. This had never happened before.

"Where's Sara?" She asked after a moment of awkward silence.

"The Bathroom." Ben answered.

"She didn't feel well." Grissom added.

Laura nodded softly. Then silence followed again. Grissom really did not like this silence, so he thought of something he could say to not make this silence last too long. "Is this your first visit to Las Vegas?" He knew that it was, but at least this would break the silence for a moment.

"Yes. I don't travel much." Laura answered.

"I've been here once, but that was years ago. The city changes to fast, I would get lost in a minute." Ben said, laughing softly.

Grissom forced a smile. "I'm sure Sara will enjoy showing you around." Just a white lie.

In that moment Sara joined them. She softly leaned against Grissom's back, her hand lay on his shoulder. He turned to face her. "There she is." He softly kissed her on her cheek, then Sara took a deep breath.

She walked over to her brother and hugged him. "Hey Ben. Merry Christmas."

Ben pressed her close to him and put his arms around her. "Merry Christmas little Sis." Only slowly Sara pulled away from her brother, now the moment which she had feared so long was there. With shaking hands she walked over to her mother. "Merry Christmas Mom." She spoke softly.

"Merry Christmas Sara." Only for a second the two women hugged each other. Sara quickly pulled away back into Grissom's arms.

Grissom held her close to him, his hand brushing through her hair.

Silence.

Until Ben, who was probably the only one of them who could deal with the awkwardness that surrounded them, finally ripped them all out of the thoughts that they had fled into. "So, where can I win the most money in the slightest time?" He asked grinning.

Sara chuckled. "Oh I am sure we can find some place for you."

"But maybe we take you to your hotel first." Grissom said, feeling that Sara, although she pretended to be okay, tensed more and more whenever she felt her mother's eyes on her.

Grissom and Ben carried the luggage to Grissom's car, Sara and Ben took seat on the back seats and Laura took seat on the passengers seat in the front of the car. The drive to the hotel were the most awkward twenty minutes that both, Grissom and Sara, ever had to go through.

When they stopped in front of the hotel Sara helped the men to get the luggage out of the car again.

"So we'll meet tonight at the restaurant then." Grissom said, shaking hands with Ben.

"See you at six pm Benny." Sara said smiling, hugging her brother. Grissom could see how glad she was that Ben was there, he knew that Sara wouldn't be able to stand all this when only her mother would have been there.

"I'm looking forward to this…who pays by the way, just asking to know if I can risk loosing money." Ben joked.

"When you continue asking then you will pay." Sara winked.

"We will pay." Grissom told him then.

"Something to celebrate?" Ben asked raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe." Sara said and shrugged.

In that moment Laura joined them. This time Sara managed to stay calm. "I hope you will like the hotel."

Laura smiled softly. "I am sure that we will."

"See you two tonight at the restaurant then." Sara forced a smile and nodded softly.

After Ben and Laura had entered the hotel Grissom and Sara entered their car again. Sara leaned back and took a deep breath before she buckled up. Grissom slowly reached out for her hand. "Everything okay?"

"I still feel sick, but I'm less nervous when I think about tonight." She answered after a moment.

"I'm proud of you." He softly squeezed her hand.

She smiled and turned to him. "I love you so much."

He smirked. "I love you more."

She shook her head. "I don't think that's possible."

She leaned over to him as far as her seatbelt allowed it, then he closed the gap between them. They shared a long kiss until she suddenly broke away from him.

First he didn't understand why, but then he did. "I guess we better search for a bathroom, do we?"

Sara bit down on her bottom lip and nodded.

Grissom sighed. "My poor Honey."

TBC

Is there anything you did not like about this chap? Something you liked? Feel free to tell me. But don't hit me for the OOC-ness of this story, it's the sequel of the favor and that story was so OOC that this sequel actually can't be any better.