The Time Has Come

Chapter 2 – Have To Get Away

"It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live."
-- Marcus Aelius Aurelius (121-180 AD), Roman emperor, philosopher

Grissom's eyes opened slowly as the scent of fresh coffee filled the air. He looked around, not quite remembering where he was. He took in the deep purple walls, the eclectic furniture and the tall brunette humming to her self in the kitchen and it all came back to him. The images, the facts, the embarrassing memory of falling apart in front of her all came flooding back to him as she made her way out to the living room, pausing briefly to notice him.

"Hey there. How are you feeling?" she asked, handing him the mug of coffee.

How was he feeling? Physically he was fine. His body felt somewhat rested and the warmth from the coffee mug was relaxing him. But emotionally he was a wreck. For once in his life he didn't know what to do, where to go. Even if he left Sara's apartment, what was waiting for him, a few spiders and some dead butterflies? For some reason the appeal of being alone just wasn't…appealing anymore.

"I don't know." He answered with stark honesty. He saw the surprise on her face. It was probably the first time he ever gave her a truly honest, no bullshit answer. "Thank you for the coffee."

"No problem."

There was a moment of silence that stretched for what seemed like an eternity before Sara stood up and went to the kitchen to re-fill her coffee mug. "I've got an idea."

Grissom stared at her as she crossed her arms and leaned against the counter top.

"Do you trust me?" She asked

He didn't have to think about it. "Yes I trust you. What's this about?"

Sara smiled. "Go back to your place and pack a bag. Two days worth of clothes should do it. I'll be by to get you in an hour."

Grissom looked at her. What was she on about? "Sara…I don't understand."

"You need to get away. I need some time off, so we're going to get out of here."

"But…" he wasn't allowed to continue as she took his coffee cup away and ushered him to the door.

"No buts. You just need to trust me on this. I'll take care of everything."

Grissom stared at her for a moment. Maybe she was right. Maybe a little time away would do him good. He nodded and left.

He packed what he thought he needed, enough clothes for two days, toothbrush, beard trimmer, deodorant and cologne just in case. He thought about not bringing it, but something told him he should. He had no idea if they would be going anywhere that required a tie, so he threw one in just in case, along with his suit in a garment bag. He hoped he wasn't being too presumptuous. For one almost laughable minute he was reminded of the movie "As Good As It Gets". He stopped laughing when he realized how much he had in common with Melvin Udall.

His musings were interrupted by a knock at his door. He sighed as he picked up his bags and headed for the door. 'Here goes nothing' he thought to himself as he followed Sara to her car.

For a brief moment after Grissom left, Sara almost felt unsure of herself. She didn't know if what she was planning was a wise choice or not. The idea didn't last long however. She knew that they both needed a break and after making the proper reservations and ticket purchases, she headed to the lab.

She didn't think it would be a problem to get the time off, but she was still surprised when Catherine offered to take care of the paperwork and Ecklie.

"I saw him at the scene Sara. He needs to get away from all of this. I'm sure that whatever you have planned will do him good," Catherine said after Sara thanked her for her help. "Just…make sure he actually relaxes a little. He tends to dwell on things for longer than he needs to."

"I'll take care of him Cath."

Catherine smiled. "I'm sure you will. Now get out of here. I'll see you back here Monday night."

Sara smiled and left, pausing briefly to say a quick goodbye to Warrick, Nick and Greg.

The thought of Catherine knowing that she was taking Grissom away almost made Sara panic. But as she merged onto I-15 south, she realized that Catherine wasn't the type to blab about something like this.

The car was comfortable and quiet for most of the trip. Occasionally Grissom would point out something along the way, explaining what he knew about it. She found that just listening to him talk was relaxing in itself.

By the time they crossed the Nevada/California state border his curiosity got the better of him.

"Okay…where are we going?"

Sara smirked. "You'll see."

"Sara…" he sighed, obviously giving up but not happy about it.

By the time she had turned onto CA-14 S towards Los Angeles, she could see that the nervous tension had left him. He sat relaxed, lightly tapping his foot to the beat of the music playing on her stereo.

"What are we listening to?" He asked.

"Musiq." She responded

He gave her an annoyed glare. "Smartass."

She couldn't help but laugh. "No really the guys name is Musiq. Spelled with a Q at the end instead of a C."

He looked at her with a mix of humility and amusement. "It's good."

"You think so?"

"Are you surprised?" he asked as he shuffled through her CD collection.

"A little. I never thought you would like rhythm and blues."

"I like a wide variety of music. It just depends on what mood I'm in. I prefer classic but I can respect most music."

As the road they were on turned into Valencia Boulevard Grissom turned to look at Sara. "Wait a minute."

Sara looked at him briefly as they came to a stoplight. "What is it?"

"I know where we're going."

"Do you now?"

He just raised his eyebrow at her as the light turned green.

Ten minutes later they pulled up to the Hilton Garden Inn, directly across the street from the entrance to Six Flags, Magic Mountain.

Sara parked the car and turned off the ignition.

"Thank you for this Sara." Grissom said, almost whispering.

"No need to thank me. I needed this just as much as you."

After checking in they stepped into the single room and set their bags down.

"Sorry about the single room. It's all they had on such short notice." Sara stammered as he looked around the spacious room.

"It's fine Sara. There are two beds." He said as he deposited his bags at the foot of one of the queen beds.

"Very true."

She checked her watch and looked out the window. "The park doesn't close until ten but their pool looks really tempting."

Grissom nodded as he pulled various items out of his bag.

"Would you like to join me?"

Grissom seemed to think about it for a moment as he held onto his shaving kit. "Sure."

Sara couldn't help but smile as he reached into his bag and pulled out a pair of dark blue swim trunks.

The California sun beat down, heating up everything in its path. The hotel pool was surprisingly unpopulated for this time of day. There was a family near the shallow end, their small girl splashing in the mother's arms. The father was sitting in a plastic reclining chair, a newspaper open in front of him.

A few other patrons were tanning themselves, turning over now and again to even out the process.

Only one person was actually doing laps.

He shouldn't be staring, he knew that, but the way her lean body cut through the water, her toned arms pulling her along and her long legs kicking behind her, she was a sight to behold. Every other stroke she would tilt her head to take a breath, and in those moments Gil Grissom had to remember to breathe.

It's not like he never noticed it. Good Lord the woman had driven him insane since she had made fun of his methods years ago, stating that they made computers for simulations and that dropping dummies off of buildings was "old school."

They were so different back then. They could flirt and tease each other all day long without a second thought. But somewhere along the line it started becoming uncomfortable, the dance they shared. He hadn't realized, or maybe didn't want to recognize, that there were real feelings involved. Hearts were on the line and when he had rejected her dinner offer he could tell he had broken hers. He felt horrible about it afterwards but at the same time was too scared to do anything.

Then came Debbie Marlin. He pushed himself too hard on that case, pushed himself hard enough to admit his feelings…albeit in a roundabout way. He knew she had heard him. Jim told him later that she was behind the two-way the whole time. He was mortified, scared shitless at the idea that she now knew. He pushed her away even more after that.

After she had gotten her DUI he realized that he couldn't keep pushing her away. He had tried in his own way to re-connect with her. Nothing seemed to work and he was afraid that he might have been too late. Then she got suspended and he did what he thought he could never do. He was there for her. The emotionally unavailable man finally became available.

After that things seemed to get better. Sara seemed to radiate self-confidence. Establishing herself as strong person, someone not to be trifled with.

And while Sara got better, Gil got worse. He threw himself into his work, more so than he normally did. He couldn't remember getting a good nights sleep in a long while. Most of his "off" time was spent reviewing old case files, the ones that got away, until that's all he saw when he closed his eyes.

He had been thinking about quitting for some time before this last case but every time he considered it he would think about not seeing Sara again and promptly shelve the idea. He had already admitted to himself that he needed her, wanted her by his side. The only question now was when would he admit that to her?

His melancholy inner musings were interrupted when Sara propped her arms on the side of the pool and called to him.

"Hey Griss, the water's great. You should put down that book and jump in."

Gil thought about it for a moment. He really didn't want to show more skin than he had too. He was already slightly uncomfortable wearing swim trunks and a blue Hawaiian print shirt.

"Come on. That shy act can only get you so far." She taunted him as she floated on her back.

He still didn't want to get in, but seeing her in her crimson bikini was convincing enough. Besides, it would feel good to wipe that arrogant smirk off her face.

Standing up, he unbuttoned his shirt and kicked off his sandals. He looked up, startled as he heard a low whistle.

Sara was treading water and smiling at him as he dropped his shirt. "Not bad Bug man. Not bad at all."

He could feel himself turning red with embarrassment. He looked around, afraid some of the other guests had heard her. Much to his relief nobody seemed to notice.

"I don't like being mocked Miss Sidle." He growled as he toed the water to test the temperature.

"Well I apologize Dr. Grissom, but I wasn't mocking."

His mouth hung open as he stared at her. He didn't consider himself very attractive and to hear her compliment him was just a little too much to comprehend at the moment. While he was processing what she had said she had swam up to the edge and before he saw what she was doing she had grabbed his ankle and pulled him in.

He hit the water with a resounding splash, causing the family at the shallow end to laugh along with Sara. He came spluttering to the surface, wiping the water from his face.

"You better swim fast Sidle. Swim far and swim fast because I am going to drown you."

Sara giggled and splashed at Grissom before swimming off to the shallow end, where the family had just vacated. Grissom ducked under the water and swam towards her. Reaching out he grasped her around the waist and lifted her out of the water only to toss her a few feet away from him.

She came to the surface laughing and splashing water.

"What did you do that for?"

"I felt like it."

She looked at him for a minute then before he could prevent it; she put her hands on his shoulders and pushed him under. He reached blindly out and grasped her leg. Pulling on it, he yanked her under as well then surfaced. In return she had grabbed a hold of his wrist and hauled him towards her. He sucked in a small breath when he realized just how close they had become. His hand was still holding her leg, under the knee and her hand was still gripping his wrist. Passing onlookers would take one look and think they were doing anything but just joking around. They were close enough feel each other's breath, see the water dripping from each others eyelashes.

Gil would later excuse his next actions as just the result of being overly stressed, or his emotions running high because of the last case. Whatever the reason was he found himself unable to resist kissing her wet lips. At first she didn't respond, too shocked he supposed, but after a moment she kissed him back, snaking her arms around his neck as she opened her lips to him.

Why hadn't he done this before? He asked himself as he slipped his tongue past her moist lips, tangling his hands in her damp hair. Then she moaned and he broke away, suddenly remembering where they were.

"I'm so sorry Sara." He said backing away.

Sara reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. "I uh…I'm gonna go sit in the spa for a while."

Gil wanted to say something, anything to make the moment seem a little less awkward. But as usual his inadequacies caught up with him at the most inopportune time. He watched her walk up the steps and cross to the circular spa.

Sighing, he raked his hands through his hair and pulled himself out of the pool. Grabbing his towel and discarded clothes he headed back to the room, all the while wondering why he had messed everything up yet again.

Sara let her head fall back against the smooth surface of the spa as the jets hit her back and shoulders. She didn't close her eyes for fear of the images that would come forth when she did.

It had felt so good to be in his arms; his solid frame molded against hers, his hands tangled in her hair, his soft, full lips pressed against hers. For that moment in time, everything seemed perfect in her world. She felt like all the crap she had gone through in the past year never happened, all the horrible cases, the issues with her mother, they all just seemed to disappear. Then, just like it always happened with her, it ended, abruptly and painfully. She should have known better than to believe that this time would be different. It was always the same with Grissom. He'd pull her close then push her away. He'd been doing it for years. So why had this time felt different? He'd never let himself get this close to her before. It just didn't make any sense.

She stayed in the spa for a few more minutes before finally getting out and heading back to the room. By the time she got back to the room she was resigned to the fact that Grissom would never let himself that close to her again. Pity, he was one damn good kisser.

When she stepped into the room, she noticed the shower was running and his clothes were neatly laid out on his bed. For one weak moment she couldn't resist reaching out and running her hand over the soft fabric of his polo shirt. Grumbling at her weakness she pulled her towel tighter around her waist and stepped closer to the window. She could see the lights from the various roller coasters in the park and wondered, not for the first time, if this trip was one giant mistake.

She heard the door to the bathroom open and turned just as Grissom stepped out. His hair was wet, his skin flushed from the steaming water. The towel around his waist hung low on his hips, revealing more skin than she had seen in the pool earlier. She couldn't help but stare for a moment before asking if he was done with the bathroom.

He seemed embarrassed standing in nothing but a towel, his hand holding the towel together clenching and un-clenching.

"Yeah, the bathroom's free." He said not moving from where he stood. "Sara…are you hungry at all?"

She stared at him for a moment, wondering what the hell he was trying to accomplish. "A little I guess."

"I was headed down to the hotel restaurant if you'd like to join me." He said, toying with his belt buckle that was sitting on the bed.

"I'll think about it Griss. I might just order some room service and catch a movie." She said in a voice that wasn't too sure.

He looked somewhat disappointed that she hadn't just agreed to go with him. "Okay. I'll be in the bar if decide to come down."

She couldn't think of anything to say, the tension in the air distracting her from her train of thought.

She walked past him and into the bathroom, softly shutting the door then leaning against it.

Half an hour later she sat on the edge of her bed, her towel still wrapped around her. She had thought about Grissom's dinner invitation, going over the meaning behind it until she finally gave up. She would never know what his reasons were unless she asked him. He was so hard to read, so hard to understand. It was one of his worst qualities and one of the biggest reasons she was attracted to him. He was a puzzle, a mystery that she would gladly spend an eternity solving.

With that in mind, she got dressed and headed downstairs.

As she entered the quiet hotel eatery and bar she looked around for Grissom. She eventually found him where he said he'd be, at the bar nursing a beer. His back was to her; his shoulders slouched as he raised the amber filled mug to his lips.

She let a small smile form as she walked towards him.

A/N: Special thanks goes to Dara, my wonderful Beta reader. Thanx girl.