Growing Together

Part 22

Summary: It's the night of the party. How will the others react to the news?

A/N: One more chapter to go. I decided to end this part of the story with the next part. However, there is one last step I want them to take before I finish this for good. There will, most likely, be another story to this series, but I need a short break from it to gather new ideas.
So, I hope you guys enjoy this part before we wrap this up.

xxxxx

"Sara, calm down."

They had reversed roles in accordance to the imbalance principle of relationships. Where she had been the soothing power before, she was now a wreck, and Grissom had to intervene.

Sara was currently pacing the living room of their new home, worrying the hem of her shirt, while Grissom was sitting on the couch, looking as calm as if he would be waiting for the newspaper to arrive. He had long since given up trying to get her to sit down.

They still had ten more minutes and everything was ready. Sara had scurried around all day, making sure that everything was perfect; and it couldn't be anymore perfect. He didn't know why she was nervous about the preparations, although he could understand the general nervousness.

Right now, he was eerily calm, waiting for whatever there was to come.

It was then that he heard cars pull up outside. Judging by the deer-in-the-headlights look on Sara's face, she had heard it too.

His hand motioned up and down, and she took a deep breath to at least calm down enough to open the door. She smoothed her clothes for the tenth time, checking again if she looked presentable, but Grissom could see that her hands were trembling.

When there was nothing more she could do for herself, she went over to him and attempted to straighten his hair. It was hard to control the urge to laugh at her clumsiness, but he knew that that would only make it worse. He wanted her to feel good and not to explode from excess tension.

They heard the car doors slam and Grissom grabbed both of her hands to keep them still. "Everything's going to be okay. They are our friends. Isn't that what you've told me again and again?"

Upon her nod, he smiled. "Good, then let's go knock the socks off them."

xxxxx

The doorbell rang, and with one last look at each other, Grissom opened the door…and saw all of their friends.

Their expressions ranged from smiling politely to absolute and utter shock.

The only exceptions were Greg and Brass. Greg had only tried to smile politely, but then his expression immediately turned a bit mournful. Brass, on the other hand, had a different reaction to seeing Grissom standing in the doorway with his hand wrapped firmly in Sara's. He only looked surprised for a second before he broke out into a broad smile.

Silence reigned the situation, everyone being too stunned to say anything. Somehow it was exactly how Grissom had imagined it.

What worried him most was Sara's tense silence, and that put him into motion. He stepped back, taking Sara with him. The doorway was now free for the others to enter, but when none of them moved, it was Brass who pushed them in from behind.

All of them entered and were steered automatically in the direction of the living room where Sara had set up some food and drinks.

Grissom and Sara followed last, he not letting go of her hand. It wasn't only for her. He also drew strength from her presence, repeating their mantra of 'we can do this together.'

To break the silence, Grissom spoke up. "Thank you for coming."

His words seemed to bring Sara out of her trance and she didn't look as lost and scared as she had five minutes ago.

"I don't think we need to spell it out," she took over from Grissom, "but we will anyway."

Sara glanced at Grissom, and upon his nod, she smiled. "We did invite you here tonight to stop all of this secrecy."

A squeeze of her hand and she was ready to come clean. "For the past couple of months Grissom and I have been together and now we've taken this one step further. You're currently standing in 'our' living room, in 'our' house."

For a few seconds there was nothing but silence before Catherine couldn't hold it in anymore.

"You bastard, you set me up yesterday!" The words were harsh, but there was a teasing undertone in her voice.

"Can you forgive an ill man?"

The banter between the two of them eased the whole atmosphere and had everyone cracking up with laughter.

All of the tension was released until they were holding their stomachs. This was good.

One look at Sara told him that she was more than relieved that they seemed to take it so positively. She was surprised when first Nick, and then Warrick, came to hug her.

"Glad you finally got what you wanted." It was Warrick who whispered into her ear, and she smiled back at him.

"Me too, me too."

Grissom got a punch in the arm and a teasing, "Finally!" from Catherine, and an appreciative slap on the shoulder from Brass.

Greg held back a bit, but when his turn had come to say something, he smiled at Sara and winked at Grissom. "Does that mean I won't get yelled at so much anymore now that you have proven you're the Alpha male?"

He probably regretted not having his big mouth under control when Grissom shot him a dark look, but Sara's giggles saved him from further harm.

"We'll see about that when the next decomp comes in."

Greg's resulting pout even made Grissom smile, although he tried to hide it.

"Now, where's the bubbly stuff to drink to that?" Brass jokingly looked around, showing fake disappointment when there was nothing to be seen.

"I never pegged you as the 'bubbly stuff' type of guy." Sara moved over to Brass, taking his arm and squeezing it.

"I am a man of mystery."

They could hear a snort and turned to see Catherine looking amused. "I think that's supposed to be Grissom's line."

xxxxx

"That was because of Grissom?" Greg looked more than shocked by Sara's admission.

She had just told the others that one night when Catherine had caught her changing from a fancy dress to her work clothes in the locker room was because Grissom had surprised her with concert tickets.

The others had started questioning the couple about several incidents that had them wondering. At the beginning, it was an uncomfortable questioning, especially for Grissom, but he kept telling himself that it was as much for Sara and the others as it was for him. Sara had set the example and he wanted to show her he could learn from the past too.

They had organized that evening to strengthen their friendship and he knew that he had not done enough up until now.

He didn't need to be a social butterfly with more acquaintances than a normal address book could hold. No, that wasn't necessary because it wasn't him. But he had friends – good friends – and every relationship needed time and effort. He had put so much of that into the one with Sara and it had been one hundred percent worth it. Sure, his fellow CSIs could wear him down, but he wanted to keep them as his 'family.'

With Sara at his side, he could do it.

"I felt just as uncomfortable, believe me."

They all laughed, even Grissom. The discomfort was mostly gone and he had to admit that he was having fun.

"Fess up Grissom. When I caught you in your office last week, trying to hide the computer screen, what was that about?" Catherine asked when they had all calmed down.

Grissom played dumb first, but when the simple 'huh?' didn't work, he had to explain. "It was not about an order of bugs that had gone wrong."

Catherine rolled her eyes and some of the others did the same. "I was talking to my mother about the couch she was burning to buy for us. I thought it was too much."

"Meddling mothers." Nick's comment made everyone smile in sympathy, although no one but Sara had met Grissom's mother. If she was anything like her son when he was determined to do something, then no one else stood a chance.

Catherine's smirk told Grissom that she was matching his expression of that day to a lecture his mother could have given him. "I'm guessing she won."

"Alright, get that laugh out of the way. I'm still doing what my mother tells me."

They wanted to laugh, but as they remembered their own mothers, they bit it back.

"Don't we all." Brass had taken a backseat in the interrogation game until now, but he couldn't resist the challenge that was left open for him.

"So, what did your mommy tell you to do next?"

TBC