A/N : So originally I was going to just post a one-shot and sort of call it a day on fanfiction, but I got such amazing and kind reviews that really motivated me to write, so here I am, posting again. This is just a short Christmas one-shot, for the holiday season. I realise a lot of this stuff has been done before, but I just felt the itch to write and pulled this together in a night, so I apologise if the writing leaves a lot to be desired! Again, this doesn't really fit in anywhere, and I'm a little all over the place on the timeline, but I reference season 7, particularly "Monster in a box", so I guess you could place it somewhere in there. Anyway, I'll stop rambling, enjoy y'all, and merry (late) Christmas! Please R&R, reviews feed my soul !
You know the drill, I don't own anything, but wish I did.
My Heart is yours
Victim name : Elizabeth Kamen,
Function within department : police officer,
Medical examiner conducting autopsy : Dr. Albert Robbins,
Manner of death : homicide,
Cause of death : carbon dioxide poisoning,
Time of death : 10.34 p.m.,
Suspect : unknown.
The last word echoed in Grissom's head as he filled in the report on the miniature killer's latest victim. That made four now. Four bodies piled up in the departmental morgue and yet still their killer ran free. The abnormal nature of the miniature crime scenes intrigued him to no end, yet the horrors of them constantly preyed on his mind. When he was awake, he pictured every meticulous, haunting detail, hoping to finally find some tiny clue that he'd missed, and when he slept, he saw the bloodied skull of Ernie Dell, splintered by a bullet shot from his own gun, again and again and again…
Rubbing his eyes in a futile attempt to clear his head of the morbid images that clouded his thoughts, he focused on the task at hand.
CSI on location : Sofia Curtis,
Commanding officer : Capt. Jim Brass,
Linked cases : Dr. Barbara Ta-
Suddenly, the words disappeared and Grissom was blinded.
After a few seconds of mild panic and having made sure he had not, in fact, permanently lost his ability to see, he slowly lifted the fluffy white rim of what seemed to be a Christmas hat. Before he could wonder where the festive accessory had appeared from, a low voice sounded next to his ear.
"Gilbert. It's Christmas. Stop working."
In an instant, all images of murder, crime and gore left his mind, replaced by the grinning face of the woman he loved as she swivelled his chair towards her. Sara swung a leg around his and straddled his lap, hooking her arms around his neck. Grissom smirked at the red and green antlers on her head before retorting,
"Crime doesn't stop for eggnog and gingerbread, dear"
"No, but you do," she answered.
"Is that what smells so good?"
"Hm-hmm, I used your mum's recipe."
His heart warmed in a familiar way as he leaned in, whispering his thanks against her lips and giving her a gentle kiss. Sara snorted as they pulled apart, fingering his spectacles.
"You look like Santa Claus," she said, glancing up at the golden spider stitched into his hat, "but nerdier". He humoured her with a loud belly laugh, clutching his stomach, and smiled as she laughed with him. They sat in silence for a few minutes, her head on his shoulder, simply revelling in each other's company.
"I can shave it off, if you'd like," said Grissom, breaking their blissful silence and rubbing his scruffy beard with his hand. Warning flashed in Sara's eyes as her head snapped up.
"Gilbert Arthur Grissom, don't you even think about it." She enounced, her voice unwavering.
Confusion crossed his features and he furrowed his brow, "but I thought-"
"You thought nothing, shave this off and you can spend Christmas Eve in Hank's bed."
"You wouldn't!" He exclaimed in mock offence, bringing his hand to his heart in a dramatic gesture worthy of the worst soap operas.
"Try me," she challenged, cupping his cheek and kissing the coarse hair on his chin. He knew this was a battle he'd lose- not that he minded losing it, given what Sara was currently doing. She unbuttoned the top buttons of his shirt and slipped her hand inside, sliding it over his chest. Her lips trailed up his jawbone and she nipped at his ear. Hugging her to him tightly, Grissom let out a sigh of contentment. As Sara reached down to his belt, he reluctantly stilled her hands.
"We do have a job to do, Mrs. Claus."
"Does it involve garlands and bows?" She asked suggestively. He quirked an eyebrow and smirked, "you'll get your present later, Miss Sidle"
"Oh I'd better, Doctor Grissom," she said in a husky voice, running her hand through his trimmed beard again.
"You're sure? About the beard, I mean," he inquired, uncertain. Sara leaned in to murmur into his ear, "Gil, it's sexy, it drives me up the walls, every time I see it, all I want to do is pin you down in your office and have my way with you. To hell with Ecklie, to hell with the lab, it makes me want you to scream my name so everyone knows you're mine. Is that what you want to hear?". The entomologist was speechless, his eyes widening in disbelief of the words Sara had uttered. His mouth hung open and she used it to her advantage, kissing him with fervour and suddenly regretting her decision to work on Christmas. She pulled away, her face flushed and her eyes heated; then suddenly a thought crossed her mind.
"Though I have to say, a smooth face would make it less…" she smiled smugly, "...Painful to walk in the morning". Grissom blushed a scarlet red as Sara stood up and sauntered out of the room.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Both CSIs having reluctantly left the comfortable haven of their home, they arrived at the lab- with an appropriate distance between them- and made their way to the break room. Catherine and Greg had organised a small office Christmas party in an attempt to make everyone feel less glum about working a holiday and the typically bleak and barren room was decorated with streamers and a small Christmas tree. Grissom chuckled at the yellow crime scene tape garlands and printing brushes strung to the branches as Sara set down a plate of gingerbread cookies on the table. Quick pleasantries were exchanged between co-workers and an echo of "Merry Christmas"s could be heard around the room. Greg was restlessly bounding in his chair and Catherine rolled her eyes at his boyish amusement as he exclaimed, "Does everyone have their secret Santa?" Everyone pulled out a more or less well wrapped gift- Greg's was a mess of sticky tape and mismatched wrapping paper rolled into a confusing snowball, while Warrick had simply given up on wrapping and bought a gift bag. Grissom and Sara sat down on two adjacent chairs and everyone exchanged gifts. Well, Greg rather launched his at Nick, who barely avoided being whacked in the head with the lab rat's misshapen ball of multicoloured paper.
"Hey, watch it!" Said the Texan.
"Sorry," Greg apologised sheepishly, but the goof was quickly forgotten as Nick cheerily admired his Texas Longhorns edition football. Warrick smiled appreciatively as Catherine handed him a Ps2 game and gifted her a bottle of her favourite perfume, making teasing comments about having to use Lindsey as a spy to know what scent she wore. Sara turned to Greg and laughed as he joyfully tore into his present, finding a yearly subscription to one of his much-loved surfer magazines.
"Thanks, Sar!" He exclaimed excitedly, pulling her into a tight hug.
"You're welcome Greg, it was that or latex," she chuckled. He waggled his eyebrows suggestively and leaned closer to her, a mischievous look on his face.
"Why don't we go find some mistletoe to stand under, huh?" Sara felt Grissom's withering glare and opted to save the lab rat from the wrath he was sure to face if he kept flirting with her. Concealing her smile as best as she could, she retorted, "Nice try, Casanova, give it another shot next year. And hey, at least now you know what to ask Santa for."
"Mistletoe?"
"A girlfriend!" Nick shouted from the opposite side of the room. Greg quickly bent down and balled up whatever wrapping he could find, hurling it at Nick who replied in kind. Dodging the flying scotch tape and having hit Greg square in the mouth with expert aim, the southerner made his way to his supervisor, handing him a neat package with poorly concealed nervosity. He searched Grissom's expression as he pulled out a Chicago Cubs baseball cap.
"I, uh, I wasn't sure if you'd like it, I've got the receipt and the woman in the shop said you could return it-" he stammered.
"Nicky, I love it, thank you." Grissom gave him a warm smile and Nick visibly relaxed, letting out a sigh and adorning a relieved smile. Nodding, he made his way back to Warrick and Greg, hoping to tease them about finding the perfect gift for their boss.
The boss in question was fastening his newly acquired cap on his head, grinning ear-to-ear. He turned to Sara, "How do I look?". She glanced sideways, making sure the others were occupied cracking jokes, and pursed her lips into a cheeky smile, "devilishly handsome" she answered sultrily, sliding her foot up his calf under the table. A blush crept up his cheeks once more and he made a poor attempt at a recovery when Cath plopped into the seat next to Sara, "I, erm, I got you a- a gift, erm, here". He slid over an elegant ruby-red gift with a simple bow on top. She read the name "Sara" on the nametag in his beautiful cursive handwriting. She gave him a thankful smile and delicately unwrapped the parcel, not wanting to rip apart the package that had clearly received such care and attention. She folded open the last flap, revealing Insect Biology: A textbook of Entomology by Howard E. Evans.
"Wow. A book. On bugs. How so very thoughtful and original, Grissom." Catherine commented sarcastically. He shot her an annoyed look before explaining, "It's a first edition, 1984, it took me some tracking down, but I thought maybe this way we could have two insect experts on site."
"Tired of getting called in on your days off for pupae identification?" Sara teased.
He chuckled, "that too". She skimmed her hand over the leather cover, tracing the golden bee embossment engraved on it. Flipping over the cover, careful to turn it away from Catherine's prying eyes, she read the sentiment written on the first page in that same careful handwriting:
To my Sara,
My heart and soul will always be yours.
- Gil
Eyes glittering with unshed tears, she looked up to him and gave him her Sidle smile, seeing in his eyes the love she knew she held in her own.
"Thank you Gil, it's beautiful"
"Merry Christmas, Sara."
They gazed into each others' eyes, forgetting for a few blissful moments the world around them. Catherine, however, held an expression of pure shock at the emotional display before her. Had she called him Gil? Nobody calls him Gil. Hell, he flinches when I do. She had little time to dwell on the thought as a wad of ribbon smashed into her face at full speed, bouncing off onto the floor at her feet. She whipped her head around and grabbed a handful of marshmallows from the bowl in front of her.
"Nicholas Stokes, I'm going to make you sorry you were ever born!"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Brushing icing sugar from the impromptu marshmallow fight a few hours prior off of his trousers, Grissom walked into the open-spaced living room of his townhouse. When the first marshmallow had hit, he had lost complete control of the Christmas-crazed kids that were his employees. The only option had been to take cover, using his now powder-covered baseball cap as an improvised shield. Only when Brass had threatened to take his service weapon to the break room TV had the chaos stopped. Chuckling at the vivid memory of the sheer terror on Greg's face at the prospect of losing his precious video screen, he glanced up at the small Christmas tree in the far corner of the room and did a double take. Walking over to the festive installation, he reached down to examine the small green box with his name scribbled on top.
"I see you found my little surprise, didn't take you long." Sara said casually, walking up behind him and slipping her hands around his waist. He turned in her arms and frowned.
"Sara, you didn't have to, I-"
"I wanted to," she answered, "besides, your gift was so perfect, mine feels a little ridiculous now. Plus, this one doesn't exactly come with a return receipt."
"I won't need one" he said, smiling warmly, "Thank you"
"You're welcome. Now stop stalling and open it."
"Patience, I'm getting to it," he teased, knowing patience was not one of her predominant qualities. She cocked an eyebrow at his nerve, daring him to keep testing her. Deciding he would rather be alive for the new year- and knowing first-hand how well she could hide a body- he quickly brought his focus back to the rectangular parcel in his hands, cautiously unwrapping it. His eyes widened and a gasp escaped his lips as he laid eyes on the brilliant sapphire blue butterfly with black undertones and white spots. Sara chimed in, "It's a blue morpho butterfly, I noticed you didn't have one in your collection. There's a research centre in South America that focuses on them. They gave me a reference to a small camp in Costa Rica, in the Monteverde rainforest. They had a research specimen they were finished with, so they offered to send it to me. It's an amazing setup they have there, the data banks are amazing. Did you know it's one of the largest butterflies in the world? Their wingspans can reach up to eight inches! Oh, and it has over 147 subspe-" she paused, "sorry, I'm overtalking again", she chuckled.
"I love it when you talk bugs, darling", Grissom laughed and said jokingly.
"Good lord, could you imagine the guys' faces if they heard me?" she said, chuckling again.
God, I love it when she laughs. He smiled and gazed at the specimen encased in glass, feeling an etching on the back of the wooden frame. Flipping it over, he read the engraved words:
Gil,
I am yours, and together we will fly.
- S
He looked up at her with adoring eyes, finding his own emotion reflected in them.
"I…It's gorgeous Sara, I love it"
"Really?" she asked, but the passion in his iris answered her question.
"Really." He kissed her passionately, pouring into it all the unsaid words between them. She slid her hands to his neck and pulled him to her as tightly as she could as he grasped her hips. Pulling away, he whispered, "I love you, Sara."
"I love you too." Her swollen lips then curled into a mischievous smile as she murmured lustfully into his ear, "I believe I was promised bows and garlands". He smirked and she placed his spider-adorned Santa hat on his head, removing his thin-framed spectacles.
"I ought to put you on the naughty list, Miss Sidle."
"Oh, I intend on being a whole lot naughtier than this, Doctor Grissom." She drawled in a husky tone. He growled and lifted her up, hooking her legs around his waist and carrying her off to the bedroom, kissing her all the way.
Later, as they laid spent on the large bed, he'd reach into his nightstand to find the velvet box containing the simple silver band with a small diamond, in which were etched the words:
My heart is yours
A/N: Yes, I guess Catherine is always the first one to find out. I'm working on a second chapter for my first story, "Employee Evaluations", but I have absolutely no idea when I'll be able to finish and publish it as classes have been hectic. Thanks for reading everyone! XD