Growing Together

Part 1

By Dany

Rating: T

Summary: Sequel to "Growing Up" in the Baby series. After an exciting weekend, Sara and Grissom have to work on each other to make their relationship work. And their coworkers are not exactly helping.

Disclaimer: CSI and its characters don't belong to me.

xxxxx

Catherine looked down the corridor, searching for her next victim.

The first had been Grissom.

When she had come in this night, she had noticed his unusual mood. He was tired, his whole posture gave him away, but his eyes told her something else. There was something in his eyes that he tried to hide. If this was not Gil Grissom, she would have said it was happiness and satisfaction. These things could not be attributed to a visit with his mother.

Right after he had settled in, she had gone to unsettle him again to get to the root of this – unsuccessfully.

He had told her about his mother, but otherwise, he had not given anything away. She left his office still in the dark, vowing to herself that she would try again.

Catherine Willows did not give up that easily.

Which brought her to her second victim: Sara.

Last night she hadn't had the chance to talk to her, and Nick hadn't gotten anywhere with her either. However, she had noticed in passing that Nick was right.

There was something about her that practically screamed…falling. She didn't want to think about 'in love' just yet.

Wandering down the corridor, she finally found her in one of the labs. What else had she expected?

It looked like she was finishing up some evidence of last night's hit-and-run, so Catherine decided to just launch her offensive now. "Hey, Sara. I've been looking for you."

Sara looked up from her task, a little wary of what the other woman could possibly want from her. "Well, you found me. What can I help you with?"

Sara's voice was calm and collected. Too calm for Catherine's liking. This only affirmed that something was off.

"I just wondered if there was something bothering you." She tried to play it cool. Asking Sara straight forward about a potential love interest would not get her anywhere, so she opted for another tactic.

It seemed to work because Sara appeared to be confused. "No, I'm fine. Why?"

"Well, recently you hardly book any overtime and yesterday you left on time. I just thought that something's been affecting you. There was this case last week with the girl and…"

Catherine didn't get any further as Sara shook her head.

"No, I'm fine. I mean, yes, the case was tough, but…" Sara sighed and turned to Catherine, giving up on her analysis for now. "Look, don't tell anyone, but I listened to one of Grissom speeches for once and got a diversion. I…I take courses after work."

Catherine's eyes narrowed slightly, not sure if she should believe the other woman.

"They're uh…entomology courses." Sara hung her head, silently cursing herself. Couldn't she have come up with something more creative?

"Oh, well, then, sure, I won't tell anyone." Catherine mentally sighed, wondering how long Sara was going to hang on to her hope that Grissom might notice her one day. Strike that. He did notice her; he was just too much of a coward to get his head straight and make a move.

As much as she admired her, she felt sorry for Sara. Grissom was a tough nut to crack, but Sara obviously kept trying. That took a lot of strength.

"Yeah, right. Listen, I think I've humiliated myself enough, so I better get back to work." She knew what Catherine was thinking now and just wished she had never opened her mouth.

She turned back to her work and pretended to ignore Catherine, who was still standing there, trying to digest what Sara had just revealed.

It took a while for her to get her legs to function again and leave Sara to herself.

xxxxx

She reached the breakroom, finding only Warrick eating a sandwich. "Hey, Cath."

"Oh hey, Warrick." She sank down onto the couch, rubbing her closed eyes.

"What's up?"

"Huh?" Her hand wandered to her neck, rubbing it harder than she had her eyes.

"You look lost." Warrick put his sandwich away and walked over to sit next to her.

"Well, I am." At least, she didn't seem to have lost her sense of humor, because she gave Warrick a hesitant smile.

"I'm lost because Grissom's got a secret, and I bet it's a good one cause he almost looks happy."

"And I bet he didn't tell you, and that's why you're frustrated."

Warrick knew Catherine well enough to know that 'frustrated' was just the beginning. Things could get dangerous if she didn't find out soon.

"What's more, I wanted to help Nick with Sara, and it turned out to be something I wouldn't have expected."

"It's okay. You'll figure it out."

On impulse, Warrick wrapped his arm around her shoulder and gave her a hug.

Catherine let out a laugh of nervous tension and began to relax. "These two are really something. I'm still all in favor of locking them up somewhere to resolve things. I think only then they will stop driving us crazy."

She was glad Warrick hadn't asked for more information. It was rare that she and Sara had a bonding moment, and she really didn't want to jeopardize that by spilling Sara's secret.

She felt better now that she had been relieved of some of the tension and felt ready to go back to work.

Now, she only had to think about what to tell Nick.

xxxxx

When the end of shift neared, Grissom had other things on his mind than worrying about Catherine. He was preoccupied with Sara and the question what would happen after shift.

It seemed strange to think she would be heading home as if the last three days didn't happen. Could he go home and pretend it was no big deal that Sara had spent three days at his house?

What did it mean to him and how much was he willing to give?

Having Sara in his bed, feeling her warm form and her steady heartbeat close to him, had given him a new kind of relaxation. They hadn't done much else but sleep, conscious of the little girl that shared the room with them, and still, here he was, wondering how he was going to sleep tonight, alone.

He knew he was jumping ahead of things, wanting more than they were quite possibly ready for, but the thought of a night without Sara chilled him. How would she see it though?

In the end, he didn't think it was his decision. He had hinted that he wanted her to return, and if she needed space after this intense weekend, then who was he to dictate what to do? Sara would have to make the decision.

Grissom tried to focus on the report in front of him again. If he didn't finish this one and about five others, there would be no going home in the next few hours.

xxxxx

"Finally," Grissom sighed as he put his signature below the last report an hour after shift ended.

He couldn't say he had really read every word, but it would have to be enough. His mind had been somewhere else, and he hadn't done more than skim over the pages.

He knew he had to get a grip. This could only work if work didn't suffer.

For today he was done.

He packed up his things and when he turned to the door to leave, he was surprised to see Sara leaning against the doorframe.

"Hey, were you waiting for me?"

Sara just smirked. "What do you think?"

She had been working overtime, what else? He had to admit that he was a little bit disappointed, but he didn't want to let her know.

"And?"

What did she want from him? He was confused, and Sara's knowing grin was not helping matters either. "Help me out here, it was a long night."

Sara leaned into the room a little further and whispered, "Breakfast?"

Some of the tension of the night fell off of him. He realized that he had made himself more stressed than needed. He didn't have to be worried.

Sara had made it abundantly clear that she wanted them to be together. They were taking it 'slow' for him. What had complicated the situation and put pressure on him was the fact that he had pushed it and now he wanted more.

"My place?" she asked hesitantly when he nodded, and Grissom nodded again.

When Sara gave him a bright smile, he pushed all of his worries away. He could be spontaneous and just go with it, and he was determined to prove it. His briefcase in one hand, he used the other to guide Sara out of his office.

In the hallway he dropped his hand, which made Sara frown, but as soon as they had left the building, the hand found its way to her back again.

Reassured by his touch, Sara leaned into him and whispered, "I did wait for you," before she got into her car.

Grissom stood there in the parking lot, totally overwhelmed. Something in her voice told him that she was not only talking about right now.

TBC