Growing Together
Part 9
Summary: Sara and Grissom have to face the aftermath of their night apart.
A/N: Sorry for being late, but my graphic card decided to quit working. No computer for 4 days, which made me late. The next part will be up around New Year's Eve.
Have a nice Christmas.
xxxxx
Driving over to Jim's house, Sara was angry. She had to remind herself not to let the anger take control because she was driving and she could easily end up in a crash if she didn't stay focused. Still, the anger was there; anger at Grissom for doing something stupid.
She didn't know the details, but to have Brass call her to pick him up at his house told her that things were not good.
When she slammed her door shut in front of Brass' house and walked up to the house, she didn't even have to knock. Brass opened the door before she had reached it, probably alerted to her presence by the slamming of the door. To her surprise, he held up his hands and kept her from entering. In her anger, she didn't feel very cooperative and only glared at Brass, waiting for an explanation.
He sighed, knowing she wasn't going to make this easy. "Let me explain before you go and rip his head off. Please."
For good measure, Sara crossed her arms in front of her chest and kept glaring. She would wait and hear what Jim had to say, but she couldn't make any promises.
"First off, he didn't tell me. I had already figured it out."
Despite the seriousness of the situation, it was clear that Brass was proud of that fact.
Sara, on the other hand, was shocked and angry that Grissom hadn't been able to hide it, but then an odd sense of calm overcame her. The world didn't end just because Brass knew. They had other problems to worry about right now.
"He was in really bad shape and he knocked back a few drinks."
Hearing that, Sara tried to charge past Brass into the house. Her anger had mixed with concern, and she wanted to see for herself how bad it really was.
"He thinks that it's already getting to be too much for you, that he might be holding you back."
Now she was really confused. She had thought he needed space and wanted an out. After all, last night he had slept on the couch. And Brass was telling her now that he thought she was backing off.
She took a few deep breaths to calm down and focus her thoughts. Had her mind tricked her?
Grissom had been sleeping on the couch. When she had woken up and found the bed next to her empty, she had been worried. The rational part of her mind had told her it was nothing, but she couldn't help feeling hurt that he never seemed to be there when she woke up. The question that followed was, 'was he backing away because it had become too intimate?' Was it too much?
She had wandered out into the hallway to see him lying on the couch sleeping. Her first thought had been that he looked adorable: glasses in his hand, the other folded over an open magazine, his face relaxed. But suddenly, other thoughts had taken over. He was sleeping out there, on the couch, away from her and he looked relaxed. Her thoughts had started spinning and the rational part of her mind had taken flight.
Had she been wrong?
As she looked in Brass' eyes, she saw hope that she would be able to work this out.
They had promised to be honest with each other. Grissom would have been plagued by guilt if he hadn't told her that he was feeling overwhelmed. There was no way he could have slept so peacefully. More than that, he had looked happy when he saw her.
She had overreacted.
His distanced behavior afterwards could be explained as a reaction to her aloofness.
Two days, they couldn't last two days without causing trouble. It wasn't him who had to explain and apologize - it was her.
Then she remembered that he was most likely drunk, and her anger rose again. She would not rip his head off, but she would make it clear that some drinking pity party was an absolute 'No' from now on. At least one of them needed a cool head if the other was doing crazy things.
Brass had remained quiet while she had analyzed the situation, but when she turned to go in, he spoke again, "I'll wait out here. But don't take too long or I'll have to call for back up because of a 419."
She wondered if he thought that was a real possibility, but then dismissed the thought. Nothing would happen.
xxxxx
Sara entered Brass' living room with caution, not knowing what to expect. She spotted Grissom immediately, and to her great relief he did not appear to be a drunken wreck. His eyes were closed so she couldn't really tell if he was awake or not. Almost undetectably his body tensed when she took one step closer, telling her that he was still alert.
Carefully, she moved towards him, sitting down beside him when he didn't acknowledge her presence. She waited for him to make a move, any move, but he kept his eyes closed.
After what seemed like an endless moment, Sara moved her hand to hover over Grissom's thigh. She didn't dare to touch him, too afraid of his reaction.
Suddenly, he moved, turning a bit to face her, bumping against her. Although she was sitting down, her automatic reaction was to get a hold on something. One hand gripped the couch while the other lowered reflexively to his thigh.
At this moment when contact was made, Grissom finally opened his eyes and stared at her. His eyes seemed to be going in and out of focus until they had adjusted to the light and the closeness of her body.
She could see that the alcohol had taken its toll on him, but he appeared lucid enough to follow an apology.
"You're angry." Resignation tainted his voice, which was also rough from alcohol.
"No, well, yes. But that's not the point." Feeling better now that he wasn't ignoring her anymore, she squeezed his thigh to show him that she was really not angry.
"I'm disappointed that you felt the need to do this. I'm angrier at myself."
He sat up a bit straighter, more alert now.
"I'm sorry. I misinterpreted our situation."
Sara saw that he was struggling. Right now he was still alert, but his attention was waning. She had to hurry and get him home.
"You don't have to explain, just let me tell you what I thought when I found you on the couch. You weren't with me…in bed. I thought you felt suffocated and needed some space but didn't dare tell me that. I got angry without reason and didn't ask you to clarify that. I'm sorry." She finished with a deep breath before she would drift into more explanations and go over his inebriated head.
However, his last clear thoughts seemed to have left him, leaving him confused, unable to understand what she was saying. "I did nothing wrong?"
"Besides drinking more than you can take, no." She smiled at him, giving his thigh another squeeze.
"But…"
"No, let's leave it at that for now. We can work it all out tomorrow." Sara stood up, hoping to end this conversation now.
Judging by Grissom's dropping eyelids, it would be no use. She should get him home to his bed. "Promise me I will wake up with you."
He looked at her with wide eyes, nodding his consent. She felt a bit guilty because she didn't think his mind was still able to process anything.
With a strong pull, she got Grissom to his feet. They called Brass in and left, Sara promising to give him a call after a good sleep to let him know they were alright.
xxxxx
Grissom was out before his head hit the pillow. He must have drunk more than she had thought, which caused her anger to flare up again. Why had he drunk so much? Wouldn't have one shot been enough?
She knew that those were stupid thoughts – from her own experience. Drinking had no logic, and she was not innocent in his miserable state.
She forced those thoughts out of her mind and busied herself with undressing Grissom. It was not exactly an unpleasant task, at least if you considered the view she got, but undressing an unconscious man was not an easy feat.
She struggled with his pants and shirt, but in the end, her determination won out. He was finally stripped to his underwear and snug under the blankets a few minutes later.
Sara went through the house and locked everything up again, procrastinating joining him in bed, wanting to keep her distance from him for the time being. All that mattered was that he was there. She could deal with everything else in the evening.
TBC