Disclaimer: Not mine.
Authors Note: Thank you again to those of you who have sent reviews. You guys are awesome. A special thanks to SilverDragon for recommending this on TDAW. This is my first fanfic so they meant a lot. Please let me know what you think of this chapter. Thank you! Happy reading.
Grissom watched as Sam slammed the phone down on the counter. Behind his back, he finally worked his fingers up to where the knot was. He had to rest from time to time because they would cramp up.
"So, when they call back, what are we gonna tell them?"
"Well, we are going to say we want a million bucks unmarked and a car with a full tank of gas. Then…we take it from there." He took a deep breath and sat down at one of the barstools at the counter.
Grissom started to work on the knot again. He looked over at Sara with a crooked smile. She met his eyes and shot him a questioningly look. She whispered to him. "What?"
He spoke with equal volume. "Remember our first time?"
She lowered her head and grinned from ear to ear. "Of course I remember. I couldn't forget if I tried. I was so nervous, I was a klutz." She looked up at him. "Why are you bringing this up now?"
He smiled mischievously at her. "Oh, I don't know. Just came to mind. I don't really remember a whole lot of it. It seems someone was trying to get me rather drunk."
She rolled her eyes. "You were so not drunk. Besides, you were the one who wanted to go out for drinks. I was just along for the ride. And what a ride it was."
He chuckled at her. "Why don't you tell me how you remember the night?"
She stared at him for awhile. The investigator in her knew he was trying to get her mind off their predicament, but why this? She was positive he remembered that night. They just had a few drinks. Neither one of them were drunk by any means. So why? She racked her brain and he was trying to hide his smile as he saw the wheels in her head moving. She decided to humor him. "Fine, I'll tell you if you promise to quit trying to piss off psycho boy over there."
"I will do my best at keeping my sarcasm in check. Will that suffice?"
"Okay. I guess that's good enough for now." She closed her eyes and leaned her head on the back of the couch. "We both had the night off. You showed up on my doorstep, for which I was pleasantly surprised. We kissed for what seemed like an hour. I hadn't seen you for over a week, outside of work. God, I had missed you."
He smiled then nodded for her to continue. She smirked as well. She was about to continue when the phone rang. They both looked over to the brothers again.
"Alright, 1 million bucks, unmarked, and a car with a full tank of gas. NOW!"
"Mr. Baker calm down. It's going to take some time to get that kind of money togeth-"
"You got four hours. You either make it happen or you can start planning two funerals for your cops in here. Your choice." He clicked the button on the phone and slammed it down on the counter.
"That was awesome Sammy!" Kevin laughed.
"Yeah? Tell me that when we're sitting on a beach in Mexico. We still have a long road to the border little brother."
"We'll do it man. We have to. I'm not going back in the joint. I will die first." Sam looked up at his brother then back down to the counter. Kevin took a seat on the other barstool next to Sam.
Grissom shook his head then looked to Sara. "So, you missed me huh?" She smiled and was still trying to figure out what he was up to. He was so unbelievably calm. He let his fingers rest a little when she decided to continue.
She smiled sweetly at him. "Yes, very much. I don't know if you've noticed but we haven't been apart for more than a day since then. It's bad for my health to be apart from you for very long." He started to blush uncontrollably and she smiled with pride. "So, anyway, I asked if you wanted to stay in and you said you wanted to take me out instead. We had a few drinks and ended up at a bar in the Bellagio that night. That was where you stunned me when you asked me to dance with you. I didn't think it was possible to love you anymore than I already did. But I thought I was going to melt in your arms as we swayed to 'You and I' by Michael Buble. By the way, if anyone asks, that is our song."
He chuckled lightly. "I agree. That was pretty magical. Go ahead." He was trying not to show his excitement that he was finally getting somewhere with the knot.
She kissed him softly and then continued. "Then we sat back down at the bar and had another drink, which I did not force upon you. When we were just about done with those, you left to go use the 'restroom'. Then you somehow came back from there with a key to one of the rooms. Talk about speechless."
He laughed. "That was the first time I ever heard you struggle to put three words together for more than ten minutes. I usually can't shut you up."
She glared at him. "Excuse me, but I thought I was telling you this story because you couldn't remember. You know, due to your intoxication and all."
He tried to rid the smile off his face. "You're right. I'm sorry."
She acted like she was offended but he knew better. "Anyway, when we got into the room, after I almost killed myself by tripping over my own feet…" He rolled his eyes at the exaggeration. "…we kissed for awhile through bits of laughter. Then I had pulled off my shirt and thrown it, unfortunately, in the direction of the glass lamp on the end table. Do I really have to continue? I was a fumbling idiot."
He just about had the knot undone. "Please do. And you were not. You were and are incredibly sexy. You were just nervous."
She stared at him. There had to be a point to this. She thought to herself, 'we have these two crazies to worry about and he wants to stroll down memory lane.'
"Well, after the lamp shattered, you told me not to worry about it." She sighed at the embarrassing memory. "Then, I unbuttoned your shirt and was very careful to just let it fall off your shoulders. No more flinging of any clothing from there on out. That's when I got the drawstring on my pants into a knot. I seriously couldn't do anything right that night."
He got it. His hands were free but he kept them in the same position. He closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. She looked at Grissom as it all dawned on her. "That's when you undid the knot in less than a minute." She closed her eyes for a moment then opened them to look deeply into his. "Oh God, Grissom, please tell me you didn't."
"Well, it took a little more than a minute but yes, I did." Panic flashed over her face. "Honey, it's our only way out of this. Please, just trust me."
She closed her eyes again as a single tear trailed down her face. She took a deep breath and opened them. "I do. You know that." She leaned her forehead against his. "When?"
He looked over to the brothers. "I don't know yet. Since Kevin doesn't have a gun I need to go after Sam. But I'm probably going to need a diversion of some sort. We still have a little bit of time to think it over."
Warrick and Nick were sitting on the curb. Catherine was leaning on the SWAT truck and Brass was pacing.
"I can't take this! We have to do something!"
"Cath, we can't force this. We have to wait for them to slip up."
"And what if they don't Jim?" He could see the tears well up in her eyes, ready to fall. He reached for her and pulled her into a warm embrace.
He spoke softly. "They'll be okay Cath. They'll be okay." He was looking over her shoulder toward Nick and Warrick. They both had grim looks on their faces.
Kevin got up and started to rummage through Grissom's refrigerator. "Shit man. Don't you eat?" He looked over to Grissom then back to the fridge. "He ain't got nuthin in here but beer and some funky green and black things in jars."
"There are some chocolate covered grasshoppers on the top shelf. Full of protein and quite tasty." Sara rolled her eyes while the brothers glared at him.
"Relax man. Next time they call in I'll have them order us a pizza."
He through the door shut. "Whatever man. I'm gonna go take a leak." He started for the bathroom at the end of the hall but stopped when the phone rang.
Sam waved him on. "Go ahead. I'll order the food." He continued on.
"Yeah."
"Just checking in to see how everyone's doing."
"We want a pizza here in 20 minutes. Pepperoni and sausage and it better be hot."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Mr. Baker, don't you remember, tic for tac. Now we get something, within reason."
There was a long pause. "Fine. What do you want?"
Brass took the phone. "Let me talk to Grissom."
Sam looked over at him. "Fine." He walked over to the couch. "They want to talk to you. And since I'm such a nice guy, talk." He shoved the phone to Grissom's ear and held the gun up to his forehead. Grissom looked at Sara out of the corner of his eye. She knew the time was coming.
"Grissom."
Brass closed his eyes. It was good to hear his voice again. "Hey pal. How you guys holding up?"
"Never better. Jim, don't worry about busting up my place."
"Huh?" Brass was confused then realized that he was trying to tell him something. Sam was a little slow and looked at Grissom questioningly.
"Brass, now would be a good time to send your guys in."
"What the hell are you trying to pul-" Sam was interrupted by Grissom jumping him. The phone went to the ground and they were wrestling for control of the gun.
Grissom yelled at the top of his lungs. "NOW BRASS!" Sara was frozen.
Brass spoke into his walkie talkie while sprinting towards the townhouse. "All units move in now. I repeat move in now!"
A gunshot rang out from inside the house. Kevin came running down the hallway just as two SWAT guys came through the front door and two through the window.
Grissom was on top of Sam when he heard the 'good guys' come crashing in. "Freeze, LVPD! Down on the ground now!"
Kevin rushed Grissom and almost got to him when he was shot twice by one of the officers. Sam stopped struggling with Grissom when he saw his brother fall to the ground. "No! Kevin!" He through Grissom to the side and crawled over to his brother. The officers grabbed him and forced him to the ground on his stomach.
Grissom was breathing hard, relieved that it was over. Brass and the team came running in just as he looked over to where Sara was sitting. His heart stopped when he saw her slumped over on the couch, not moving.
"SARA!"
TBC