Disclaimer: I do not own CSI

AN: Thousand thanks to Rhee for beta reading! You're the best!

Okay, so the start of season 6 :) It's kind of fluffy, maybe... a bit... I don't know :lol: I hope you like it :)

Chapter 21

Sara and Greg entered the Pepper Mill and spotted Nick and Warrick at a table in the corner of the restaurant. They made their way over to them and Sara hugged Warrick "Once again, congratulations." She told him grinning and he grinned back at her.

Then she took a seat and glanced around. "So, where's the Bugman?"

"Joining us later." Nick told her and took a sip of his drink.

Sara nodded and grabbed the menu. "Hell I'm hungry."

Greg chuckled. "You are always hungry."

She shot an angry look at Greg and suppressed making a comment about his decomp-soup experience.

Then she spotted Grissom who was heading for their table. She smiled softly at him and he returned her smile. She felt the butterflies in her stomach wake up and chuckled inwardly, she had never really experienced this phase of a relationship before. They barely managed to keep their hands off each other when they were alone; working together was a challenge every day. She was pretty sure that this was special for him too, he had never told her how many serious relationships he had been in before her, but from the way he behaved she figured that this might be the first one. In the last weeks she had experienced a completely different Grissom, a caring, funny, happy Grissom, a Grissom in love. In love with her! Just thinking about it made her heart jump.

"Hey, finally." Nick told him signalizing for him to take a seat.

"Yeah, took longer than I thought it would. Sorry." Grissom told them and took a seat next to Sara.

"So since we're all here now we can finally order food." Warrick announced.

"How good for you Sara." Greg teased and earned an angry look from Grissom.

Sara privily nudged Grissom with her elbow, warning him that he should control himself better. Then she began to focus on the menu. From the corner of her eyes she watched how Grissom's hand disappeared under the table. A moment later she felt the warmth of his hand through the fabric of her clothing. She swallowed hard trying not to let on to anything. She could understand that it was difficult for Grissom to hold back, it was just as difficult for her, but he was walking on thin ice here. It would be very difficult to explain the presence of his hand on her thigh to the guys when they'd notice it.

While the guys chatted with each other Sara tried to focus on Grissom, not verbally though. She focused on the sound of his breathing and the feel of his hand on her body. She listened to his voice while he explained something to Greg; she paid no attention to the words.

Their dinner was served soon and Grissom's hand disappeared from her thigh. She immediately missed it but once again had to do her best to not let on.

"Greg why didn't you order anything?" Nick asked and threw an asking look at the youngest team member.

"Greg already had soup for lunch." Sara hadn't been able to swallow the words, neither could she suppress the slightly evil grin that built up on her lips. But Greg deserved to be teased after his prior comments.

"Sara, I swear if you tell them then..." Greg warned her.

"Tell us what?" Grissom raised an eyebrow and turned to her.

Sara chuckled. "Well when we were processing the trunk of the car it was Greg's job to pull back the drain plug and while he did so..."

"You're dead Sidle." Greg shook his head, not believing that she was really going to tell the others about this. Sara stuck her tongue out at Greg for a second. "So, while he pulled back the drain plug the whole decomp-soup splashed into his face. And since his mouth was open..."

Warrick and Nick grimaced while Grissom chuckled. Greg threw an angry look at Sara, but soon it surfaced that he was only playfully angry.

"Technically that makes you a cannibal." Grissom told him and Greg rolled his eyes.

"Sara told me the same thing." He replied and sighed. "Well I guess everybody understands why I am not hungry."

Everybody grinned while Greg watched them eat. Sara couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for him now.

After some time Warrick's cell rang and he excused himself. Nick used the opportunity to go to the bathroom and Greg followed him. That left Sara and Grissom alone at the table, alone for the first time in hours.

Grissom sighed and let his hand drop down on her thigh again. "Today was a long day."

"Way too long." Sara agreed. "I want my bed."

"Tired?" He asked her with a caring tone in his voice.

She smirked and shook her head. "No."

He smirked as well and softly squeezed her thigh. "We should try to get away from here soon."

"Definitely." She softly leaned her shoulder against him. She longed to feel him close to her.

"Sofia was hitting on me today." Grissom told her after a moment.

She pulled away and stared at him. "What?"

"Sofia was hitting on me." He repeated.

"I managed to understand you quite well." She could feel how her blood started to boil. "And I was nice to her today!"

Grissom chuckled softly.

"That's not funny." She really got mad now. "What did she say?"

"Honey, as if you would have to worry." He tried to calm her down.

"What did she say?" She asked more forcefully.

"I asked her if she'd miss the lab and she replied that there would be some things she'd miss. The way she said it and the way she looked at me."

"Such a…" Sara bared down the cuss. She took a deep breath to calm herself down. She usually wasn't a jealous person, but when it came to Sofia thing's were different. "Maybe you should have told her that you're off the market."

"You're off the market?" Warrick had returned without neither of them noticing it.

Sara winced. Damn. What were they supposed to do now? What did Warrick hear? And what did he see?

Grissom swallowed hard. "Yes."

"Wow, when will we meet her?" Warrick asked and sat down.

Sara felt the weight dropping off her shoulders, gladly Warrick did not suspect anything.

Nick and Greg returned and sensed that a question was hanging in the air. "What's up?" Nick asked while he took a seat.

"Grissom has a girlfriend." Warrick told them, his surprise still reflected in his voice.

"You have a girlfriend?" Nick asked unbelieving.

"Guys you're behaving as if this would be the news of the year. What is so unbelievable about me having a girlfriend?"

"Nothing," Warrick shrugged. "You just never mentioned it." He took a sip of his drink. "Why did Sara know and we didn't?"

Grissom glanced at Sara for a moment. "She introduced us to each other." He lied trying to be very nonchalant. With that said the theme was ticked off, gladly.

Suddenly Greg fell silent. He glanced around the table and sighed. "Guys, can you believe this? Warrick got married, Sara became a tease," that earned him an angry look from her. "Sorry but I did not forgive you yet." He winked at her, then continued, looking on Grissom's plate. "Grissom became a vegetarian, and I became a cannibal." He seemed to have reached the 'being able to make jokes about it' phase. "Isn't it funny how what happened to Nicky changed our lives?"

Half an hour later they called it a night. Grissom and Sara waited until the others had left before they both entered his car.

"Damn, you know that was a pretty close call." She broke the silence between them after a while.

"What?"

"With Warrick, I mean the whole 'off the market' thing. I though he probably…"

"I don't think he suspected anything." He calmed her down.

She nodded, then leaned back and closed her eyes. "You know, Greg was right. It's funny how we all changed."

"I thought you'd find it appealing that I stopped eating meat for you and not funny."

She chuckled. "That's not what I meant, I meant in general. I did not become a tease." She stopped for a second and looked at Grissom, knowing what he was about to say. "Swallow it Babe or you're not even going to get a goodnight kiss."

He chuckled. "You know what I would have said if I would have been Greg?"

She arched an eyebrow.

"Warrick got married, Sara got laid by her supervisor and..."

"You are the tease." She interrupted him, throwing a played angry look at him.

A boyish grin built up on his lips but then he became serious again. "We really changed."

Sara smiled softly at him and ran her hand over his thigh. "Yeah." She agreed softly. "But that's good."

Grissom nodded and smiled softly at Sara, letting his hand meet hers for a short moment, squeezed it softly and stated, "Yeah it's good."

TBC

some feedback would be nice :)