Title: After the Look
Thanks for the reviews! And thanks for joining me in my own fantasy.
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"Brass is holding his own," Nick informed Grissom and Sara as they entered the surgery waiting room. "The nurse asked to speak with you, Grissom, but when she realized we all work with him and you weren't here she told us that the surgery is going as well as could be expected and she would update us in another hour."
Grissom nodded. "Thanks, Nick."
Nick rubbed the back of his neck and exchanged concerned looks with Sara as Grissom retreated to the far side of the room and slid into a seat in one corner.
"We have an id on the vic that was found on the train track," Nick spoke directly to Sara and indirectly to Grissom whom he had no idea was listening or not.
Sara had all but forgotten about the case she and Grissom had been processing. "Oh, shit. Grissom? We left the evidence in the car." Everyones thoughts turned to the last time one of the investigators had left evidence in a car while making a pit stop.
Nick lifted his shoulders and shook his head. "I'm glad that I'm not the one that did that this time."
"Let's go," Grissom brushed past them and walked towards the exit only pausing long enough to speak to Greg. "I would like for you to stay here, Greg and monitor what is going on with Jim. Phone me with any updates, please."
"Gris?" Sara voiced the stunned question of her collegues.
Grissom stopped when she spoke, but he did not turn around. "We can't solve this case by sitting in a waiting room and we can't help Jim by simply sitting here either," he began walking towards the elevators and added beneath his breath, but loud enough for Sara to hear him. "I need to stay busy."
They drove to the lab and spent the next few hours putting the victims story together while Grissom took the hourly phone call from Greg who updated him on Brass's condition.
Warrick had driven Catherine and Lyndsey home and then returned to the lab to give them a hand with what they now referred to as "the corset victim" because of the fact that he had been discovered wearing a corset. The case was bizzarre but they had focused their attentions on it while trying to push images of Brass in the operating room to the back of their minds. They felt fortunate that it wrapped itself up nicely before shift was over and they could put in the solved column.
Grissom was sitting at his desk, his head buried in his hands when a short rap on the door drew his attention. Expecting Sara, he looked up to find Sophia standing in his doorwary and barely hid his disappointment. Recovering quickly, he placed his hands on his desk and said distantly. "Brass is out of surgery and in critical but stable condition."
Frowning slightly, Sophia nodded her head. "The whole department is thinking about him and keeping him in their thoughts," she said with signifcance. She did not need to add the fact that the last time an officer was shot the department had turned their back on him. "His daughter, Ellie, is demanding to know about his pension and how she can collect. Is it okay if I tell her to take a hike? Or better yet, I'll just take her out of town and drop her off."
"Jim knows how Ellie is and he has made his peace with her ways," Grissom sighed and rubbed a hand through his hair, spiking up the short gray strands in a manner that was charming.
"Would you like to grab breakfast?" Sophia asked.
"No thanks, I have plans," Grissom did not hesitate to turn down her invitation and his thoughts shifted to Sara. He hoped that she had not left without finding him, but instinctively knew that she would not have done that.
"Oh," Sophia noted his distraction and wondered who his plans were with, deciding that he was probably heading back to the hospital. "Tell Jim that I said hi."
Puzzlement altered his expression, briefly, before he nodded and decided it was best if she thought he was forgoing breakfast to go back to the hospital. The truth was he wanted to go home to his townhome and forget reality for the next few hours.
He did not realize that Sophia had left until a more welcome voice interrupted his musings.
After typing up the final report on the case, Sara had made her way to Grissom's office to hand deliver the report and check on how he was faring with the stress of the situation.
"Hey, Gris," she said with a wide smile. "I have the final report ready for inspection."
Leaning back in his chair, Grissom relaxed for the first time in hours and drank in Sara's presence. He pushed aside thoughts of Jim lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to IV's with no wife and no family to stand beside him. When Sophia had interrupted his thoughts earlier, Grissom had been pondering the direction of his own life and where it was leading.
He had spent his time running away from life by hiding behind the scenes observing it go past. He knew many things that impressed people and left them marveling at his tremendous amount of knowledge. If someone asked him a question about entomology, he was a book of information. If they wanted to know about a case that happened fifteen years ago he could recall it in detail.
If they asked him about what it was like to curl up next to the same woman night after night he did not have a clue. What would it be like to wake up next to the same woman and vie for the bathroom? Would they have lovers quarrels and make up by making love? What would it be like to curl up in front of the television together and watch the history channel or biography? Somewhere along his thought processes images of Sara kept popping into his mind and he remembered how they could sit for hours in comfortable silence. Sara with a forensic magazine, while he worked on his puzzles. The memory of Sara finishing his explanation on the history of bridesmaids ran through his mind and he smiled.
The report landed on the desk in front of him and his eyes flicked up to devour Sara's blushing face. "I'm hungry," he said suggestively.
"Is this where we continue our earlier exploration?" Sara spoke with the confidence of someone who recognized what his actions had been leading to for the past year. "I'll meet you at your townhome."
Grissom slowly stood up from his desk and spared a quick look at the report she had placed on his desk. "I'll turn this in and then meet you at my car. I'm driving."
His challenge was met with another wide smile as Sara arched her brows and fought back the blush of anticipation. "I still have your keys."
Walking around the desk, Grissom stopped inches from her and spoke barely above a whisper. "Yes, Miss Sidle, you truly do." Without a backwards glance he was out the door and off to deliver the report without even skimming over it. Sara shook her head and decided that to analyze everything that man said would be futile. She would concentrate on his tone and the sexiness of how his breath touched her neck when he spoke.
Settling into the passenger seat of his Denali, Sara pulled out her phone to contact Greg and check on Brass. "You must be tired yourself, Greg, do you need relief?"
"Nope, I'm good. I took naps between the nurses phone calls and feel refreshed now. Grissom told me to go home but I thought that I would stay around her for a little while longer. I'll call you if there is a change."
Grissom opened the door and slid into the seat beside Sara, his eyes flitting over the cellphone that she was replacing in her bag. "Phones and pagers remain in the car, remember?" He started the car and pulled out onto the road towards his townhome.
"How could I forget?" Sara noticed that he left his right hand was relaxed on the seat between them and she took that as an invitation to reach over and lace her own fingers with his. A part of her still tensed with the idea that he would reject her advance, but she soon relaxed as he shot a shy smile in her direction and kept driving.
"The thing is, Gris, what if someone needs to get in touch with you concerning Jim? We should at least have your cellphone inside your house." She wanted to throw all phones and pagers away and forget reality but she could not do that. Not with Jim fighting for his life in the hospital and Grissom trying so desperately to push the situation aside for a few hours.
Grissom did not speak until he had pulled into his parking space. "I gave my main phone number to the nurse that is taking care of Jim this shift. She promised to call me if he wakes up or if his condition changes," he sighed and tugged her towards him. "I need to get my life together, Sara, and every aspect of that process involves you."
She met his lips with a soft touch that quickly turned into a much deeper kiss as he pulled the back of her head towards him and their tongues began the intense duel that grew to a fevered pitch.
"We should take this inside," Grissom groaned against her lips when he was able to pull back with some concentration. "Leave your pager and phone, please."
Trembling with their latest encounter, Sara removed her cellphone and then her pager and placed them in the glove compartment of his car before glancing back over at his observant eyes. "I could get in all kinds of trouble with my supervisor if I don't answer his page."
A twinkle appeared in his eyes and the corner of his mouth tilted up in contemplation. "I'll take care of your supervisor. I won't let him interrupt us again, I assure you."
"He can put a crimp in my plans," Sara said thoughtfully as she closed the car door and walked around the front to join Grissom where he stood looking way to smug and amused.
"What plans would those be, Miss Sidle?"
Running the tips of his fingers across his abdomen she offered him a coy smile. "Take me inside and find out."
All amusement fled as he took her hand and led her forward towards his front door, then inside, where he led her to his bedroom. She took no notice of anything as they passed the foyer, the kitchen, the hallway that led to the bedroom. Her eyes were trained on his strong back and caught up in his purposeful strides. Once inside the bedroom, his intensity did not fade but was redirected on her face.
"This is not a one time fling, Sara, this is everything for me," How did he tell her he was giving her so much of himself without it sounding corny or worse, false to her ears? He lifted her fingers and kissed the tips before placing it over his heart.
"I know, Gris, I feel the same," Sara slid her long fingers over to the middle of his black shirt and began slipping the button from its secure place, before moving to the one below it and finally reaching down to tug the shirt from his pants. He allowed her to slip the shirt from his shoulders before he reached for her own shirt and pulled it over her head before stepping back to let his gaze sweep over her body.
The heat between them practically crackled with electricity and they met in a frenzy of exchanged kisses as Grissom backed her up to the bed and gently lowered her to the surface, following her body until he was supporting his own inches above her by placing his forearms on either side of her breasts. Trailing kisses along her neck, jaw, lower to her clavicle, he paused in his attentions to study the pulse at the base of her neck. Whatever thoughts swam through his mind as he watched her the sweet pulse, was never voiced as his lips pressed into the sensitive area and she moaned with pleasure.
Whatever happened from here on out, Grissom knew that one thing was for certain, reality was much much sweeter than fantasy.
The End and hopefully the beginning for GSR canon!