Disclaimer: This old fic, it played one, it played knick-knack on my thumb…with a knick-knack-paddy-whack, give the author a review…this old fic came rolling home!
A/N: Hello again all my lovely little minions! My apologies for taking so long, but Thanksgiving travels and spending time with my ill, elderly Nana seemed to occupy all of my time. Hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday, by the way! Let's see, what else…well, it seems to be almost unanimous for "Smooth" so "Smooth" it shall be. Glad y'all liked the last chappie. I really like this fic because I'm having so much fun creating this dynamic of friendship, trust, and the basis for more between Sara and Greg. Probably because it's so much like the friendship I have with M.K. who's my best friend and friend-soul mate- I mentioned him before. But anyways, I'm glad y'all didn't think it was too sappy, or if you did, you didn't say anything :-) hee hee. And if I was a nice person, I'd apologise for the cliffie, however, I need something to keep y'all coming back, so there. Now onto the chappie!
Dancing With the Law
Chapter Seven: In Which They're Found Out
"What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from." T.S. Eliot
"Greg…Sara!"
"David!" Sara exclaimed as she and Greg jumped apart to see David Phillips, assistant coroner, with a pretty, petite, blonde woman beside him.
"Uh hi," he greeted, wrinkling his nose a bit to adjust his glasses. "Oh, this is my fiancé Amy Lannigan. Amy, these are two CSIs from the lab, Sara Sidle and Greg Sanders."
"Hi, nice to meet you," she smiled, lifting a hand in greeting.
"So what are you guys doing here?" Greg asked.
"Well, we usually come here early afternoon to practice," David answered. "We signed up for that dancing fundraiser and competition."
"At my pushing," Amy interjected with a laugh, elbowing David in the side. "We took some lessons so we wouldn't look like complete dunces at our wedding, and simply decided to continue them for fun for the competition."
"Really? So are we. In the competition that is," Greg perked up at finally meeting another competitive pair.
"Huh, neat," David quirked his lips in a smile. "Do the others know?"
"No, and would you not tell them?" Sara asked. "We want it to be a surprise."
"Sure. That actually explains a lot of things," David mused aloud.
"Like what?"
"Like why you two arrive together, and why I've caught Greg counting out loud to himself and stepping in place."
"Really Greg?" Sara turned to look at him, eyebrow raised. "I guess that means I don't work you hard enough during our practices."
"No please," he fell to his knees, begging. "No pushing me harder, anything but that!"
"Oh get up you," Sara laughed, pulling him to his feet.
"So what's your freestyle dance?" Amy asked as she kicked off her sneakers.
"Waltz," Sara answered as she took off her dance shoes. "What's yours?"
"Paso Doble," Amy said with a dreamy sigh. "It's such a dramatic dance. And I find the whole concept of a matador in a bullfight so romantic, don't you?"
"I suppose. I can't say I honestly know too much about it though."
"That's all right. Not too many do. It's one of the few dances that's danced only in the ballroom world."
"Interesting. I learn something new every day," Sara said absently as she stood up, dance shoes packed back into her bag. "Well it was nice meeting you."
"You too, and good luck practicing," Amy looked up and gave her a smile.
"Thanks, and the same to you," Sara smiled back before walking over to Greg and David. "Ready to go?"
"Yep," Greg nodded. "We'll see you later Super-Dave!"
"Take care guys," David waved as they left.
"Well, it's nice to know who some of our competition is," Sara commented as they slid into their usual booth at the diner. The waitress came over a few moments later, knowing them and their order by heart now, they had been so many times.
"Yeah, and the fact that it's David is cool," Greg nodded. "His fiancé seemed nice too. I wonder why he's never brought her in to meet everyone before?"
"Well if I had a boyfriend, I wouldn't bring him in to meet you all. I'd be afraid it would scare him off," Sara grinned.
"Yeah, we can be a bit much," he chuckled.
"Exactly, which is probably why David never brought Amy in. Not to mention that she probably works during the day, and it might be inconvenient for her to come in at night."
"I guess. Hey Sara…Why don't you have a boyfriend?"
"You really have to ask?" She stared at him. "First, I pined after Grissom. Then when I decided to try and get over him, I went out with Hank, and you know how that turned out. So then I just contented myself with flirting with you guys in the lab, knowing a boyfriend isn't in my future."
"Well why not?" Greg persisted. Sara could easily see him as an obnoxious five year old, constantly asking questions about everything.
"Being a criminalist doesn't exactly make for the best of conversation starters on a date. Guys are either grossed out by what I do, or entirely too interested in it, not to mention they can't understand half of what I'm talking about. Add in the fact that I'm a workaholic, and my mum's a murderer, and that's pretty much guaranteed to turn away the guys. Understand?"
"Nope. I still think you need a boyfriend," he laughed. "Cause you're too uptight. And hey, once you get a boyfriend, you'll stop being a workaholic."
"Ha ha, very funny Greg," she scowled. "And who would I date? Grissom? Nick? Please."
"Well, you could always succumb to my charms," he batted his eyelashes at her playfully.
"And what makes you think I haven't?"
"Because you haven't agreed to go on a date with me."
"And what do you call all the dancing and coffee dates we've been having?" She teased.
"Again, they're not official, though I'd be happy to make 'em so," he grinned.
"Dating between co-workers never works out," she said seriously.
"How do you know? You've never done it. That whole dancing around thing you did with Grissom wasn't dating. And Hank was an asshole, not to mention he didn't work at the lab."
Sara just rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything.
"Come on Sara. I like you, you know that. And you like me too, at least in a friendly way," he pointed out. "Just one date, that's all I'm asking. And afterwards, if you want to just stay friends, then fine, we'll stay friends. And if instead you want to try a second date, then we can do that too. What do you say?"
"Greg…" she met his gaze and held it. "I know I'm going to regret this, but all right. One date, but I don't want it to have anything to do with dancing."
"Gotcha. Let's make it Saturday then, since we're both lucky enough to have the night off," he decided. "And no working overtime!"
"Damn, you foiled my plan," she shook her head, pretending to be disappointed.
"Good, cause I've got an idea of what I want to do, and it's gonna be fun!" He pumped his fist excitedly. "Now come on, let's give the gossips something to talk about and arrive at the same time again."
"You're on."
OooOooOooO
"Ah, you must be Miss Sidle, no?" A tall, willowy woman greeted Sara as she walked into one of the smaller dance rooms at the studio the next night for her belly dancing lesson.
"Yeah, that's me," Sara walked over and shook the woman's outstretched hand.
"Lydia, and it's a pleasure," she nodded. "Now, first things first…tie up the ends of your shirt. You can not possibly expect to be able to learn the basics of belly dancing if you can not even see your stomach now, can you? Of course not."
"Okay," Sara bunched up her shirt in back and used a hair tie to hold it up, allowing a good six inches of her stomach to show.
The instructor walked over, tutting her disapproval, and began tugging on the skirt Sara wore, till it was low on her hips. She then proceeded to tie a beaded-hip scarf tightly around Sara's waist, before tying one around her own.
"Uh, what's the purpose of the scarf?"
"The scarf gives you a secureness of your hips, so they don't feel loose. It also gives you control over your bottom half," Lydia explained. "Now, obviously, you can not learn to belly dance in two hours, but the main point of this is to give you an awareness of your hips and how they move. So, we're going to go over a few moves that will help with that."
"Sounds good," Sara nodded, feeling a little more excited about the whole thing. It was only the two of them, and after Greg's help, she was feeling much more comfortable with it.
"Lovely, now…we'll start with the hip-lift. Start with both legs straight. Now, take your left leg, which we're going to call the working leg, and raise your heel, resting your weight on the ball of your foot. Now, the hip is lifted by straightening the working knee, and then bending it back to its starting position. Simple, no?"
"In theory," Sara scoffed, not quite able to get her leg to co-operate.
"All right, try moving your working leg a little in front of you. That might make the hip-lift movement not quite so awkward feeling."
Sara spent the next twenty minutes slowly improving her hip-lifts. Lydia then moved on to working on hip-drops, which were very similar, except the working leg didn't straighten, but bent further. She then moved Sara onto combining the two moves, while incorporating some slow, elegant, arm movements. The last bit Lydia had Sara work on was figure eight rolls. The basic movement for that was to keep the hips parallel to the floor, moving them back and forth alternately to give the illusion of a figure eight.
By the end of the lesson, Sara was glad to hand back the scarf. An entirely new set of muscles was feeling the slight burn that only came from a good work-out. Grabbing her dance shoes and pulling them on, she left the small classroom for the one where she and Greg had her lessons. She would be joining Greg for the last hour of practice. Walking towards the classroom, she could only grin, thinking about how Greg had spent two hours alone with Madame Parajanov.
"Hello?" Sara called out as she opened the door, only to find the lights off in the studio.
"Come in, but leave the lights off," Madame Parajanov's voice penetrated the darkness as Sara stepped in and let the door close.
"Madame Parajanov, may I ask what you're doing?"
"I am learning to lead by relying on my own talent, skill, and direction, without using my eyes to look at my feet, or my voice to communicate which direction I plan to move in," Greg recited what had obviously been drilled into his memory by Esfir.
"Oh," Sara shook her head in amusement, though she knew Greg couldn't see. "And how's that working for you?"
"He is doing quite well, and improving immensely." Esfir came into view as she flipped the lights on from across the room.
"Hiya Sara," Greg bounded over and picked her up in a hug, swinging her around. "Thank God you're here!"
"Hello to you too, Greg," Sara couldn't help but laugh at his antics. "And why so happy to see me?"
"Cause now I don't have to worry about stepping on Madame's toes!"
"You only did that once, and it helped you learn quickly, did it not?" Esfir raised an eyebrow in question, a small smirk on her face.
"Definitely! It put the fear of God into me to keep my feet where they belonged. But I'm sorry, it was just too awkward dancing with you," Greg shrugged sheepishly before pulling Sara into position for the waltz, moving her around the floor. "I'm used to dancing with you. You're my dance partner forever more, until the competition do us part!"
"Sounds like a wedding vow, but where's the proposal?" Sara teased.
Greg immediately dropped to one knee, tugging off one of Sara's shoes. Lifting it up in his hands, he said, "Sara, will you do me the honor of being my dance partner, through blisters and sprains, sore toes and outrageous costumes, till the competition do us part?"
"With an offer like that, how can I refuse?" Sara laughed; grabbing her shoe and pulling it back on as Greg stood up.
"All right you two, back at attention please," Esfir directed, though a smile played about her lips; these two were her favourite to teach. "Now, please run through the rumba moves I've taught you thus far, with an eight count of basic step in between turns."
"Right-O Madame," Greg nodded, and moved into position.
Sara immediately noticed the change in Greg's dancing; he was much more confidant now, more sure of himself. And he wasn't afraid to direct her where she needed to go. They moved smoothly from turn to step, and into the next turn. Their extra practices had really been paying off, as was proven by their dancing. They easily changed their pace to match the music that Esfir put on, as well as staying on beat with the song.
"See, dancing in the dark helped your dancing in the light," Esfir nodded, satisfied. "Homework for you; practice in the dark as it will help you with leading and learning the steps and not just relying on looking at your feet in the mirror. Also be sure to continue to work on your posture. Take some time and slowly go through the waltz routine and the rumba moves step by step, checking your posture each time to make sure you're holding it. Now, off with you!"
OooOooOooOooOooOooOooOooOooOooO
A/N: Okie dokie, that's it. Sorry it's a little shorter than the others, but since I haven't update in a while, I wanted to get this out to y'all. Anyways, next chapter will have their date. I'm sure you're all thrilled to be getting a little possible romance, huh? I've got a couple of ideas what I'd like them to do, but if anyone wants to throw out some other ideas, I'll see if anything strikes my fancy. So review, and let me know!