Fifteen Years
She stood outside his office for what seemed like hours, before mustering the courage to knock on his door.
A second passed, before his voice was heard.
"Come in."
She stepped in the office. It was sparsely furnished, the odd jar of chocolate coated crickets around the place, and a few other wonders of nature stared at her through their glass prisons.
The main occupant of the room was sat behind his desk, staring at a manilla case file. He was thinking, not an uncommon state of mind for him, but as ever, his thoughts were a mystery to her.
"Do you hate me?" Sara asked Grissom, plain and simple.
A pause.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"No." She shot back. "In fact I've been sick forsix years."
"Why?" He asked, full well knowing the answer.
"Sick of our relationship. In fact sick of the way we interact in general." She replied.
"May I ask why?" Grissom asked.
"You don't listen to me… In my first year here, I had fun. Met new people, gained friends. Got a big brother in Nicky, a rival in Warrick. We were able to have lunch together without an awkward silence. You could touch me without recoiling as if you'd been burnt."
"Sara…"
"Save it Gil."
He flinched, she never called him Gil.
"Year two, no complaints. Year three, not great. The lab explosion was hardly your fault. Giving me hope was. Why did you do it?" She asked him, tears streaming down her face.
"Do what?"
"You called me 'honey'. To me it seemed like you showed affection. That's why I asked you to dinner." She explained tearfully.
"I was under a lot of stress then." He said. "In a week I was going into surgery."
"I know. Catherine told me. She thought I had a right to know. Otosclerosis. That's why I didn't return to 'Frisco. The fourth year… I just wanted to… die. The way you spoke to someone you knew was a murderer about us. I don't care that Brass was there, but a stranger…And just like that, I'm not worth the risk. What am I worth, Gil?"
Nick chose that moment to burst in.
"Hey Griss, I got that report from trace."
"Please leave Nick, come back in an hour." Grissom replied softly.
"But we need to bring this guy in!" Nick said.
"Leave, Nick!" Grissom repeated.
He left, albeit reluctantly.
"Sara…" Grissom began, turning to look at her. "You are worth the world as far as I'm concerned. With Lurie, I was just… lost." He said. "I was confused about my feelings for you. For reasons even I don't know I voiced them aloud."
The tears were just flowing from Sara's eyes.
"You're always confused about your feelings for me…" Sara choked. "If you can't do something now, I'm leaving Nevada. You're killing me, slowly but surely. If I stay any longer I'll just be incapable of anything."
She got out of her chair, going for the door.
"Sara…" Grissom said.
"Yeah?" She said, not turning around.
Grissom got up from behind his desk, walking towards her. She turned to face him. He placed his hands on either side of her face, wiping away the tears with his thumbs. They looked into each other's eyes and slowly leaned in.
Their lips brushed together for a second, and then the kiss deepened. Sara put her arms around his neck and Grissom pulled her to him.
The kiss seemed to last forever. The moment they had both wanted for twelve years. But, like all good things, it had to end. They pulled away from each other.
"Come to dinner with me." Grissom said.
She leaned in again.
"I'd love to." She whispered, before kissing him softly.
Grissom pulled up outside Sara's apartment block at seven o'clock on their night off. He took some flowers off the back seat and made his way to her apartment.
He knocked on the door and was stunned when Sara opened it. She wore a red dress that made her look simply stunning.
"These are for you." Grissom smiled, holding out the flowers to her.
She grinned.
"Thank you, Gil. They're beautiful." She said, admiring them.
"Not as beautiful as you." Grissom replied, stepping inside.
Sara smiled as she searched for a vase in the kitchen.
"You have no idea how long I've waited to hear those words from you." She replied.
In the restaurant, Grissom and Sara talked about everything to do with forensics, knowing that it would give them something easy to talk about.
"Well I think that if there was a way to boost the electrostatic dustprint lifter for better definition then we should use it." Sara said. "Gil?"
He looked like he'd seen a ghost.
"What is it?" Sara asked.
"Ecklie." He said simply.
"He can't fire you can he?" Sara asked, worried.
"No, but every decision I make regarding you will be opposed by him every step of the way. And he might split us…"
"She's a loose cannon with a gun. And she's all yours."
"No, he won't split us up at work. He'll try and publicly embarrass us though…"
"What do we do about that?" Sara asked.
"Beat him to it." Grissom said.
Catherine was sat in the break room when her cell rang. She sighed, it was probably only Brass with news on the B&E she, Grissom and Nick were working on. She flipped the phone open.
"Willows."
"Catherine, I need you to spread some news around the lab."
"What kind of news?" She asked. "You won a cockroach race?"
"No, Sara and I are dating. You have to tell everyone before Ecklie gets to the lab. Bye."
"But…" Catherine began. She sighed. Just the dialling tone.
"That's that done." Grissom said, putting his phone in his jacket.
"I don't… quite believe you just did that!" Sara laughed.
"Had to be done some time anyway." Grissom smiled.
"It's too long since I've seen you smile." She said, sincerely.
"It's too long since I smiled." He admitted.
Catherine flopped down on a chair in the break room. She had told everyone in DNA, trace, PD and the morgue. She picked up her phone and dialled Grissom's number.
"Hey. Who, How, When, What, Where?" She asked.
"Erm… Sara and I, talking, yesterday, a kiss, my office." He replied.
"Thank God," she said, "It's about time."
"How many people did you tell?" He asked, changing subject.
"A lot." She replied simply.
"We'll talk later, bye."
"Damn it." Catherine said, hearing the dialling tone again.
In Sara's apartment, Grissom sat on the couch and put his phone away.
"Odd sounding conversation." Sara said, sitting opposite him.
"It was indeed." He smiled. "Catherine's told everyone she can think of."
"So Ecklie will have been beaten to it?" She asked.
"Yes," Grissom replied, "If our relationship is out in the open, he can't exactly accuse us of hiding anything."
"True. So," she began, "where do we go from here?"
"Well, depending on Ecklie's resistance, anywhere we want to." He replied.
"Let's say Ecklie files a complaint," she said, "then where do we go?"
"In truth I don't know. What I do know is that Ecklie will not separate us, but he might find an excuse to fire us."
"And if he doesn't do anything?" She enquired.
"We proceed as any couple would in a relationship." He smiled.
"So, that means…" She pondered. "We can…move in together in six months, get married in a year and have kids in two." She laughed.
"If you wanted to do it exactly like that." He grinned.
She came and sat next to him, moving forwards to kiss him.
"What I do want," she began, "is to sleep next to you tonight."
"Then you're in luck," he said, "I want to sleep next to you tonight too. But, at the moment, it's only nine o'clock."
"I'm sure we can pass the time." She replied.
Well, there's the first chapter, typically short for an introduction. R&R!