Masquerade & Disguise
Part Seven
Sara looked across the crowded room. She searched the sea of masked dancers, desperately trying to find him amongst them. The music played softly, a rhythmic and enthralling melody that the dancers moved along to in sync. She became mesmerized by them, almost hypnotized by their movements. Her gaze swept across the ballroom floor once more. A figure across the room caught her eye; only a glimpse, but it was enough. She'd found him. Sara began to make her way across the dance floor, the swirling figures parting with every step she made, clearing a single path for her. She kept her eyes on the man in the distance. Everything around her faded away...the music, the people, even the room itself. He was all that remained defined in her vision.
Suddenly he turned away from her. Her surroundings came crashing back into her thoughts. The music now was almost deafening, the walls of the ballroom seemed to have begun to close in on her, and the dancers...their faces which were once simple masks were now horribly disfigured, their mouths curled into wicked smiles. The space before her quickly disappeared, her path now littered with the dancers. She eagerly searched for him, only to see him leave the room, the door slowly closing behind him. She called out to him but her voice caught in her throat. On the verge of tears she began to push her way through the crowd. She desperately tried to ignore the hundreds of eyes upon her, and the sound of laughter that sounded from behind her. She reached the other side of the ballroom and stood where he had been only moments earlier. She pushed the door open and called out to him once more. This time she had found her voice, but it didn't find him.
Sara paused as she found herself outside, frozen in the middle of the street. The bright lights and colors of the strip blurred. The sounds of the city dulled down to an odd silence, leaving her alone with the thoughts inside her head. Had what she'd feared for so long finally come true? She fought back tears as she heard that familiar voice. She spun around, but there was nothing but an empty space. She fought the thoughts that ran through her mind, but she was losing the battle. She desperately searched her blurred surroundings, trying to find him. That voice sounded again from behind her.
"Sara..." He whispered, his breath causing a sensation on the back of her neck sending shivers down her spine.
She began to turn around, hoping that the slowness of this action wouldn't frighten him away from her. There he stood now, the only clear entity in her sight. There was no mask to be found and no mistaking his identity. Grissom outstretched his arm, inviting her to join him, enticing her to take his hand in hers. With one swift movement and without hesitation Sara found herself in his arms, safe once more. They began to slowly rock back and forth as a gentle melody began to play around them. She held onto him tightly and breathed in his scent. Revisiting the feelings and emotions that she felt in his arms made her vow that they'd never be torn apart, that she'd never leave his embrace.
"Never let me go..." She murmured, almost too softly to hear.
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Grissom shifted his weight as he moved into a more comfortable position beside her. He'd thought about this for years, and for years he'd hoped that one day he'd be there beside her, sharing a bed with her, and there he was. He propped himself up on an elbow as he looked across at her, wondering whether or not she was dreaming, and whether her dreams contained thoughts of him. She began to stir and he quickly froze, feeling as though he was intruding by watching her.
"Never let me go..." Sara barely whispered.
He gently tucked a stray curl away from her face before leaning over to kiss her cheek, "I won't."
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Sara rolled onto her side, outstretching her hand across the other side of the bed. It took her a few seconds to fully awaken, but she soon realized that there shouldn't have been an empty space beside her. Her eyes snapped open. She sat up and looked beside her, finding herself alone in her bed. Sara could feel certain thoughts and emotions returning to her, ones that she'd felt in that dream she'd just awoken from. She could handle those things in dreams, but had what she'd dreaded in her dreams come to true in life? How could he just leave her? A mix of emotions clouded her thoughts as she threw the sheets to the side and headed towards the bathroom. She leant against the basin as she stared at her reflection. How could she have been so stupid? She'd always thought this would happen...She fought back tears, telling herself that he didn't deserve a single tear, not if he could let go of her so easily. She angrily made her way to the kitchen, but the sight before her caused her to stop dead in her tracks.
"Grissom," she murmured without realizing that she'd done so. All thoughts quickly changed from anger to shock. He frowned; she seemed surprised to see him there, standing in her kitchen, cooking her breakfast. "I thought..." She began before shaking her thoughts away. How could she have been so quick to assume? She should've known better.
He made his way to her and pulled her into a hug. "I'll never let go of you." He said, making sure that she knew it. He kissed her forehead before tucking that same rogue curl behind her ear. Sara's face quickly morphed into a bright shade of red as she looked down at her feet, embarrassed that he'd heard her. She looked back up at him, wondering just how much he'd heard, but soon realized that it didn't matter.
"I know." She squeezed him tighter as she grinned, knowing that he meant what he had said.
"I love you," he said, almost trying to quickly fit it in before she even knew it was coming. The last time he'd tried to say it her actions had surprised him, to say the least. But now there was no escaping it.
Sara smiled, her eyes locked onto his. Those three little words that she'd yearned to hear and yet had been so afraid of sounded so good. "I love you too."
They remained in each others arms, both enjoying the comfort of the embrace. They'd waited years to end up like this, and they both wondered why they hadn't decided to do something about it so much sooner. But that didn't matter now, they were together, and he really would never let her go, not now that he had a hold of her. Grissom sighed as he remembered what he had been doing. He looked at her with a smile on his face. He could see himself doing this every morning for the rest of his life.
"Now...how do you like your eggs?"
Thanks for the awesome response to the last chapter! I really appreciate your reviews. I thought for a while about this chapter, I knew it would be the end, but I didn't know how it should end, thus the eggs, lmao. I hope y'all enjoyed it. It was fun to write despite the writer's block and all. Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed, I'm glad that you liked it, and hopefully I did some justice with the ending. Sorry for any typos/mistakes, still lacking a beta. As always, let me know what y'all thought. Thanks again / Britt