Worth The Wait 4/5
After the instance of Lindsey, Sara rode with her and Catherine, and Warrick rode with Grissom. Ten minutes later, both cars pulled into the parking lot and both parties exited their cars. Grissom watched as Lindsey immediately grabbed a hold of both Sara's and Catherine's hands leading them into the restaurant. Grissom and Warrick just shrugged at each other and followed the ladies inside.
They were standing in line with their backs to Grissom and Warrick. Warrick had an evil gleam in his eye as he grabbed a hold of Lindsey's waist, picked her up, and set her on his shoulders. Lindsey squealed in delight as the hostess showed them to their table.
They sat in a round booth big enough to fit eight people. Grissom sat next to Sara, Warrick next to Catherine and the littlest Willows in the middle between Sara and Catherine. They all gave the server their orders and made small talk as Warrick's arm wrapped around Catherine's shoulders. Catherine snuggled deeper into Warrick's side and Lindsey colored contentedly on her placemat. Grissom and Sara however, sat nervously in the booth.
They still hadn't talked about what was going on between them. But Grissom wanted to reassure her and himself for that matter, that the change would be for the better. Under the table, he grabbed one of Sara's hands and covered it with both of his. Sara looked down and let out a small gasp.
Grissom thought he had made the wrong move and began to retract his hands. Sara's other hand stopped his movements as she brought their joined hands to rest comfortably in her lap. Sara looked back and Grissom and gave him a half smile.
Lindsey looked back and forth between the two couples and giggled.
"Grown ups are so weird," she sighed.
The foursome giggled at Lindsey's comment as the server brought their food. They ate and made idle chit chat, mostly revolving around the drama that was Lindsey's school life. By the end of the meal, Catherine had successfully glued herself to Warrick, well their lips were glued together anyway. Grissom and Sara on the other hand, were just content being in each other's company.
"Are you okay?" Lindsey asked Sara.
"Yeah. I'm fine, why do you ask?"
"You seem weird, like Joey was before she told Dawson she loved him," Lindsey looked at Sara and Grissom's joined hands, "Are you gonna tell Uncle Grissom you love him or something?" she asked innocently.
"LINDSEY MARIE WILLOWS, you don't ask a question like that!" Catherine interrupted.
Sara just turned bright red and Grissom sat there smiling.
"Sorry Sara," Lindsey said hanging her head.
Sara leaned over and whispered softly in Lindsey ear. "I love him more than Joey loves Dawson, but as Ricky from I Love Lucy would say 'he's got some 'splaning to do'"
Both of them giggled as Lindsey gave Sara a high five. Warrick, Catherine and Grissom looked at each other completely clueless.
"What did she say honey," Catherine asked.
"M.Y.O.B. Mom"
"M.Y.O.B.?" she questioned.
"Yeah. Mind your own business. DUH!"
"Sara?" Grissom asked.
"What?" she replied
"What was your answer? What did you tell Lindsey?"
"Oh, um, you know I forgot." Sara smiled taking a sip of coffee.
"It wasn't that important." Lindsey added giggling.
"Alright, that's it. It's time to head home anyway," Catherine said.
"But Mom!"
"No way honey. It's 6 am, mommy is tired, and you young lady haven't stopped yawning since we sat down."
"Urrrrrrrr fine," she huffed following Catherine out of the booth.
Grissom and Warrick split the check and followed the women in their lives out to the parking lot.
"Hey Warrick, if you don't mind, I kinda wanna take Sara home."
"Yeah, Cath and I kinda figured that. I'm happy for ya man," he smiled
The two men walked to their cars where they found Catherine and Sara swinging Lindsey around in circles. Warrick and Grissom just smiled and joined the group.
"Thank you for breakfast Uncle Grissom," Lindsey said hugging his legs.
"Anytime Lindsey."
"And Sara, we are still gonna watch Dawson's Creek right?" she said moving in front of her.
"I promised didn't I? Besides, I gotta see what happens with this Jen Linley girl. She better stay away from Dawson and Joey," she said hugging the little blonde.
Lindsey smiled and thought now was the best time to put her "plan" into action.
"Hey Warrick, there's something at my house I really wanna show you, so I guess that means Sara you have to ride with Uncle Grissom," she said winking at Catherine.
Grissom and Sara both threw glances at Catherine. She immediately threw her hands up in defense.
"Don't even look at me! I have nothing to do with this," she said honestly.
"I'm not gonna complain," Warrick said slipping his hand in Catherine's.
Catherine smiled and looked up at him. As she lay her head on his shoulder, she stole a glance at Grissom and Sara.
"Is that okay?" Grissom asked.
"Um ... yeah ... of course," she said fidgeting with her jacket hem.
Grissom saw the nervousness and stepped towards her. He took both her hands in his and smiled at her.
"Everything is okay now," he said with Sara still looking at her feet.
He trailed his hands up her arms, gracing her shoulders to rest with one hand on each side of her cheek. He titled her face so she was forced to look at him.
"I promise," he whispered.
"You shouldn't 'promise' anything," she whispered.
Grissom was about to respond but Catherine broke the spell.
"Come on Lindsey, we gotta go," Catherine said walking to the car.
"Coming Mom! Bye Sara, Bye Uncle Grissom!"
"Bye darling! I'll call your mom to figure out when we can get together okay?" Sara responded.
"No you won't! You call me!" she said running to the car.
They all said their goodbyes and headed their separate ways. The car ride to Sara's house was that filled with silence and awkward sideways glances. After what seemed like and eternity, Grissom pulled into a spot in front of her apartment complex.
"Grissom."
"Sara," they said at the same time.
"You first," Grissom smiled
"Um ... I ... you know ... I really don't wanna have this conversation in a car. Come upstairs?"
"Sure," he said
As they walked up the stairs to her apartment, Grissom couldn't help remembering the last time he was here. The day he should have said something to her about how he felt. How she was nothing like her mother. How from that point on he wanted to be there to protect her. Once they stepped inside, he could see Sara ease up a little bit. He figured it was the comfort of being in her own home.
"I'll go put some coffee on. Make yourself comfortable."
"Sara, you don't seem like the type to have decaf, and with the last few days, I don't think either of us can handle any more caffeine. Maybe just some water?" he suggested.
"Water it is," she smiled retreating to the kitchen.
Grissom removed his jacket laid it over a barstool and made his was to the couch. Light peeked through the apartment as the Las Vegas sun began to rise. Sara placed the water on the coffee table and took a seat at the opposite end of the couch. She grabbed a glass and folded her legs Indian style so she was facing Grissom's side. It was then that Grissom turned to face her.
"So, why now?" she asked getting straight to the point.
"I just can't do this anymore. All this pretending not to notice you walk in the room. Pretending that what I feel for you will go away if I just ignore it."
"Again ... why now?" she asked
"You're not going to make this easy are you?"
"Why should I?" she asked
"Guess I have that coming. Well, I've been struggling with this ever since Ecklie split us up. You don't know how badly I wished he put you on Catherine's team."
"Why?"
"For some stupid reason, I though that if you weren't on my team anymore then I would stop running and you and I could finally be together. And when that didn't happen, I just tried to push my feelings for you out of my head."
"Grissom, pushing you feelings for me aside and pushing me aside are two completely different things."
"I know, that's when I realized I couldn't do this. My feelings for you, take control over everything else in me. I can't think about you anymore without bringing the love I feel for you into the equation."
"Love?"
"Yes, love. Sara, I love you. Every part of you, everyday, for as long as I can remember," he moved closer to her, "I don't care what happens to me at work anymore. I've realized that I'll make it through anything as long as I have you beside me," he placed a hand on her cheek and whispered against her lips, "Always."
He placed his lips on hers in a gentle kiss, just to test the waters. When he felt her lips press back against his, he smiled into the kiss. After a moment, he pulled away and looked into her eyes.
"Say you'll be beside me Sara."
"Just one more thing I have to know about."
"Anything?"
"Sofia"
His eyes went wide as he sat back on the couch. How was he going to explain that to her?