Poisson D'Avril
PhDelicious
GSR

Disclaimer: I have no actual right to these characters. I'm just borrowing them for a little while. All I get out of this is warm fuzzies from good reviews.

Chapter 3

They woke and prepared for work following their normal routine. It wasn't until they were leaving for the lab that it occurred to Sara that something was different. The flash of a streetlight off her ring caught her eye.

"Crap!"

"What?" Grissom took his eyes off the traffic briefly to glance at her. She stuck her hand out at him. "So?"

"We're driving to work; I'm still wearing my ring and I don't have a necklace to put it on."

"Why would you put it on a necklace?"

"Because I shouldn't wear this at work." Why was Grissom being deliberately obtuse?

"Why not?" He looked back at her. Her look was a combination of annoyance, and worry. Suddenly understanding dawned. "Sara, I don't want you taking my ring off. We're not hiding, remember? I don't care if people figure it out."

"Oh." Her eyes widened and a smile bloomed across her face. Grissom smiled back at her and reached out to grasp her hand, rubbing his thumb over the ring. "Griss, really, it's okay if you don't want to…"

He interrupted her. "Sara…before, the first time, you left thinking I was embarrassed to be with you, but that wasn't really…I was embarrassed by what I knew people would say or think about you even though it wasn't true. I thought you'd end up agreeing with them, and I never wanted you to feel that way. I just, I don't want to screw this up again."

She was silent for a while processing his revelations, after a little while Sara moved to twine their hands together. "Understood, but could you please stop over-compensating? It's making me really nervous."

"I'm not over-compensating." He was practically pouting and it made her smile.

"Grissom, an elaborately staged public proposal? Does that sound like something you'd normally do?"

His mouth quirked, acknowledging the truth of what she was saying. "Are you saying you didn't like it?"

"No, I'm saying I fell in love with you just as you are. You don't have to go out of your way to make a spectacle of this. But thank you for wanting to."

He smiled fully, and raised their joined hands to place a quick kiss on her ring. They held hands for the rest of the car ride. When they got to the lab, early for shift as usual, Grissom headed for his office while Sara headed for the evidence locker to double check some things from her most recent case before signing off on her report. Grissom found her half an hour later as she worked in an evidence room.

"Anything that can't be put off until later? A 419 just got called in and swing's swamped. Would you mind?" He held out an assignment slip.

Sara looked at the evidence bags spread around her. "Nope, I was just about to start boxing everything back up and sign off on the report. "

"How 'bout you sign the report now and I'll finish packing this up for you so you can head out to the crime scene?"

"You're not going to go?" she looked at him questioningly.

"I need to be here to hand out assignments to the rest of the shift. Besides, no bugs."

Sara rolled her eyes at him, flipped to the last page of her report and signed and dated the form.

"Here you go. Have a blast," she said, taking the assignment slip from him. He smiled at her and watched as she sauntered out of the evidence room, an extra spring to her step. He'd missed seeing her with so much energy, and watching it return over the past few months had been extremely gratifying.

csicsicsicsi

By the time Grissom packed up Sara's evidence, returned it to the vault, and collected the new assignment slips, he was almost late for the start of shift. Walking up to the break room he caught the tail end of a conversation between Greg and Nick.

"Wouldn't that be an awesome prank?" asked Greg.

"I don't know Greg. I think you're pushing your luck. You're asking for…"

Nick, who was facing the door, stopped speaking as Grissom rounded the corner into the room. Greg spun around quickly to see who had interrupted and Grissom thought he might have seen a brief flicker of relief on the younger man's face before he launched himself from his chair and bounced over to the coffee pot.

"Coffee?"

"No thanks Greg."

"I'll take some," Catherine said from behind Grissom. Greg pouted slightly but he brought a cup over to where Catherine had seated herself at the conference table. Warrick came in a few moments later and Grissom handed out assignments. He paired himself with Catherine on a double homicide, Greg with Nick on a decomp, and sent Warrick out solo to a smash and grab.

After what he'd heard earlier, he would have followed Greg, who shot out of the break room like a man on a mission after agreeing to meet Nick at the car, but Catherine was radiating impatience. Given how anxious his partner was, Grissom was surprised that she waited until they were in the car to speak.

"So, did she say yes?"

"How did you …"

"I guessed." He looked at her incredulously. She sighed. "All right, after Sara told me where you were going I called the place pretending to be from the jewelers checking to make sure they'd gotten the ring."

"Catherine…" Grissom felt his temper flare at his friend's interference. "Could you just mind your own business for once?"

"I'm happy for you two. Did you remember to turn in the paperwork for my vacation?"

"Yes."

"Good," was all she said.

Grissom was glad when Catherine remained silent for the rest of the ride to their crime scene. Her question had started him thinking, worrying. If it had been that easy for Catherine to figure out, how many other people had guessed the nature of his relationship with Sara? Had they really been so obvious? Wasn't this what he'd told Sara he'd wanted, for everyone to know about them? Why was it weighing so heavily on him now? This train of thought continued to run through the back of his mind as they began to process the crime scene.

csicsicsicsi

Sara returned from her scene, which appeared to be a prank gone bad, shortly after mid-night and headed straight for Trace. Hodges gave her an odd look, but didn't say anything as she placed her samples on the table. Her next stop was the morgue to check in on the autopsy and make sure the official COD agreed with the findings on the scene.

"Ah, Sara, good evening. I hear congratulations are in order." Dr. Robbins greeted her as she entered his domain.

Confused, Sara looked at her hands. She'd already gloved up so her ring wasn't visible, and David hadn't said anything when he'd picked up the body. "Thanks. How did you know?"

"Archie stopped by earlier. Wanted to know if I could confirm the rumor he'd heard from Greg. I told him Gil hadn't said anything to me."

"Oh. I…Greg…Thanks." Unsure of what else to say she stepped up to the table and took in the body before her.

"Cause of death is asphyxiation. There was some bruising in various locations but no major wounds or signs of struggle other than the rope burn on his neck." Dr. Robbins gestured to the college aged man on his table. "I collected some fibers for Trace to compare to the rope found at the scene and sent a blood sample to Tox, but I'd say it's a pretty safe bet that this guy hung himself."

"Accidentally," Sara added. The doctor raised an eyebrow and she continued. "Vega thinks it was an April Fool's Day prank gone wrong."

"That would explain the climbing harness." Robbins gestured to the pile of effects on the next table.

"Yeah, there was a hole in the building where he'd obviously tried to anchor himself, but the plaster around it was cracked. I don't think he counted on the wall crumbling under his weight. His safety line failed and he ended up dead instead of faking it."

"The more elaborate the prank, the more likely it is to backfire. I'll have the final report for you in a little while."

"Thanks Doc." Sara started to pull off her gloves and gown as she left the morgue. A softly voiced request stopped her.

"May I?" She turned back to Robbins, confused. He held out a hand. She placed her hand in his, and the ring glinted under the lights. "Congratulations. Gil is a very lucky man."

"Thanks Doc." On impulse Sara stepped forward and hugged the older man tightly, before heading out of the morgue.

csicsicsicsi

She went looking for Archie, but found Warrick in the A/V lab instead. What appeared to be security camera footage from a convenience store played on the monitor, but Warrick seemed to be staring at his wedding band, pushing it around and around with his thumb. Quietly, she stepped into the lab and pulled the door most of the way shut behind her.

"What's it like?"

Warrick startled and glanced at her sideways.

"Being married…."

Turning back to his ring, he thought about it for a while before answering. "It's harder than I thought it'd be. We don't get to spend that much time together, and sometimes I wish…but it's nice to have someone to go home to, to talk with, even if she doesn't always understand." He looked back at her, paying more attention this time. "Why?"

"You don't seem as happy lately." She shrugged.

His eyes tracked down to her hands, folded in her lap. His eyes widened. "And I bet that ring has nothing to do with it. I didn't really picture you and the bugman going for the whole marriage thing, but congratulations."

"I think I could've been happy without it," she said, lifting her hand to eye level, and twisting the ring back and forth on her finger. "But he asked and there was no way I was going to turn him down."

"So Sanders wasn't pulling an April Fool's prank. Damn, I owe Bobby twenty bucks." Archie's voice sounded loud, after the hushed conversation she'd been having with Warrick and Sara flinched.

She was trying to figure out how to avoid having the conversation she knew was coming; it was getting tiring. She'd only talked to three people since returning to the lab, but it had seemed as though everyone at the crime scene was more interested in her ring than in doing their job. Fortunately, her page went off.

"I'll let you guys get back to work. Hodges has my trace results." She forced a smile and waved as she headed for the Trace lab.

Sara was tempted to take off her ring or at least put on gloves before entering Hodges' domain, but the gloves would have looked out of place and enough people already knew about the ring to ensure that he'd find out eventually. Instead she decided to adopt her normal, strictly business attitude with the annoying tech in hopes of keeping him distracted. Pulling herself together, she breezed into Trace. "You paged me?"

"Ah, Sara. Yes the red-orange smear from your db's shirt was red clay consistent with tiles or pottery. I assume he didn't hang himself from a large urn, so most likely your building has a tile roof."

"No, but the one next to it did. Maybe he tried there first." She pictured the two buildings. The building with the clay tiles had a low, sloped roof whereas the crime scene had a flat roof. The vic had been hanging between the two buildings. "Or maybe he tried to save himself by bellying up onto the other building. Thanks Hodges. I'll go back and check it out."

"Let me know if you need any help. I'd love a chance to get out of the lab for a little while."

Sara rolled her eyes, remembering. "If I recall correctly the last time you were out in the field 'helping' with a roof experiment I ended up taking your place."

CSICSICSICSI

It had been an odd couple of days, working round the clock trying to make sense of the massive amounts of evidence from the shoot out. Sara contemplated the weirdness of it all as she sat, grateful for the small shade provided by the SUV. She was taking a short break before moving to the next area of the crime scene. She'd been shocked to find Sofia in Grissom's office earlier. Of course she felt for the woman. Sitting around wondering if you were responsible for the death of a fellow officer would be awful. Sara never really liked Sofia, but she thought the other woman had a little more sense than to disregard protocol so flagrantly as to seek out the lead investigator. What hadn't surprised her much was the fact that Grissom had just been sitting behind his desk, letting Sofia ramble on around him. It had been clear to her as soon as she entered his office that Grissom was uncomfortable with the situation, but he wasn't the type of man to cause a scene, especially around a distraught woman. He also wasn't smooth enough to have hustled Sofia out of his office and the building without someone noticing.

Sara hadn't wanted to cause a scene either. She still thought that she'd taken an impressively neutral tone in reminding Sofia that this was inappropriate, but that hadn't stopped the defensive reaction. Because she really did understand what it felt like to need to talk to someone, anyone, but without having a person to turn to, she'd tried to take a more conciliatory tone in her response.

"I can recommend a departmental psychologist."

Sofia hadn't seemed thrilled by her suggestion, but at least she hadn't gotten angrier, and she'd left. Sara hoped that Grissom, his perception not colored by self-doubt, had heard her as she'd tried to be, not as Sofia's reactionary mind had interpreted things. But she knew better than to ask him about it, and he hadn't seemed upset with her. She was trying to decide where to begin working next when her eyes landed on Grissom. He looked like a kid in a candy store, wide eyed and happy, as he approached her, balancing a ladder on his shoulder. She had no intention of refusing him, but she couldn't resist teasing him, especially since he appeared to be in such a good mood, and they'd been getting along better recently.

"I thought my top priority, as per the under-sheriff, was finding the bullet that went through Bell."

He seemed to take her comment more seriously than she'd meant it, but he wasn't deterred and she followed him into the alley. Her curiosity increased as Grissom set the ladder up next to a building and climbed up to look at the roof. She knew that one of the suspects had been shot in this alley, but it wasn't the area of the crime scene she was responsible for so she didn't know any of the details. Grissom examined the roof briefly and then asked her to call Hodges.

"Are…you gonna tell me what's going on?"

His response was tantalizingly vague and she started turning over the clues in her mind, while admiring the view as Grissom climbed back down the ladder. He was on the phone with Ortega, talking about Brass, when the pieces clicked. She waited until he hung up before asking.

"This was the vic that the witness said was unarmed?"

"Yes. Hodges found red clay dust, consistent with roofing tiles or pottery embedded in the gun handle."

"So are any of the tiles cracked?" Sara asked. Grissom's look of open admiration surprised her. He was usually more covert, if he gave anything away at all. "If you didn't expect me to figure out what you were doing up there, why am I here?"

"It's always good to have a second set of eyes. Besides I thought you'd appreciate the chance to do something other than pick bullets out of walls." Grissom grinned at her.

"I think you just want me here so that you've got back-up when Hodges starts to complain about not being athletic," she teased as she took a step towards him.

Grissom shrugged and leaned against the ladder. "Maybe he'll surprise you."

"I wouldn't bet on it." She stepped forward again as she spoke. She was encroaching on his personal space and he didn't seem overly uncomfortable so she decided to push her luck. She reached out and brushed her hand over Grissom's shoulder and down his arm, his eyes tracked her movement. "Twenty says I end up handling your guns."

Something in the tone of her voice brought his gaze sweeping up to search her face. Sara gave his arm one final squeeze before pulling her hand away and brushing it against her pants. Grissom looked at her questioningly.

"Clay dust," was her only response as Brass's loud voice could be heard from the alley entrance. Sara stepped back and settled in to watch and wait for her turn as Grissom climbed back up the ladder, getting ready to recreate the scene.

CSICSICSICSI

"Well I'm glad our time together was memorable. Maybe you could take me with you more often."

Apparently her point had been lost on Hodges. She wasn't going to tell him that even though he hadn't formally agreed to take her bet, Grissom had slipped her twenty dollars later that day.

"I'll think about it," Sara said as she turned to leave the lab.

Hodges called out to her as she pushed open the door, "Hey, Sara…I heard a rumor that…"

"Yes, Grissom proposed last night. See I even have the ring to prove it." She cut him off, turning back to flash her hand at him.

"Oh, that wasn't what I…Greg said Warrick wasn't wearing his ring tonight. He asked me if I'd heard anything about a possible divorce. I can't believe he works with you guys and he's coming to me for information."

What had Greg been thinking? She remembered Archie mentioning that he'd thought it was an April Fool's Day prank. Sara fought the urge to smack herself.

"Hodges, today's April 1st. I wouldn't believe anything Greg told you."

"Crap!" The frantic expression on Hodges face and the fact that he practically knocked her down to flee the lab would have amused Sara had she been less irritated with Greg. She caught the lab door as it swung shut behind Hodges and headed out in search of the newest CSI.

TBC…