Chapter 8: The Way You Look Tonight
The showroom was bustling with people in formal wear, some still stumbling about trying to get their sea legs as the boat rocked gently back and forth, chatting and drinking to the soft music playing in the background. While guests were lined up at the second entrance to greet the Captain, a few filtered in through the other door, forgoing the formality of standing in line to get their picture taken with the man.
In a far corner by the first door, Sara, Keri, MaryBeth, and Erika sat, entertaining the young men they'd met for cocktails. Among them was a dashing young Forensic Entomologist who, at Keri's request, was dominating the conversation, attempting to keep Sara's attention. He rambled on about his profession, most of which Sara barely listened to, instead picking up parts of her friend's conversations or staring through the crowd.
"So Sara, where are you from? What do you do? I feel like I've been talking all night!" Danny leaned forward and waited expectantly. While the young man was sweet, and quite dashing in his tuxedo, he held no interest for her.
As her mind kept replaying this morning's events, Sara pushed away her wish that the man in front of her were a different entomologist. She tried to put together a coherent thought to answer the young man. "I work on the Vegas PD as a Forensic Physicist, but mostly I spend my time in collection and research: crime scenes hardly ever call for hard core physics anymore."
"Well, then you must work with one of the men in my group, or at least heard of him: Gil Grissom?" The young man smiled and was excited to be talking about his mentor. Sara smiled back at him.
"Yeah, you could say I know him."
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Grissom straightened his jacket as he walked in the room, his eyes immediately scanning the crowd. There were only a few minutes until the start of dinner, and though Grissom could have just gone straight to the dining room, he preferred to see if he could possibly find Sara. The thought of her even sharing a drink with another man after their...encounter... that morning made him sick. Though he truly wasn't sure what he felt, he knew he couldn't just forget it this time. This week was an opportunity that he had to take.
His eyes were drawn to Danny who was now standing, waving at him to come over. Peering at him over the back of the seat in front of him were two chocolate brown eyes full of desire. She stood as he carefully dodged people and waiters on his way to her, rushing to imprint the picture she made in his mind. Her skin, freshly kissed by the sun, glowed. Her face showed only the slightest hint of make up, but didn't need anymore. Her hair was pulled up so that curls cascaded to the base of her neck, and smooth tendrils framed her face. Her dress was spaghetti strapped black, and floor length, barely hiding the dainty sandals on her feet. It hugged her perfectly, displaying a tantalizing amount of cleavage. Grissom swallowed as he approached them, his tux suddenly suffocating.
Sara smiled broadly as he approached, and Danny reached out and handed him a drink. They exchanged pleasantries and Danny began to talk at full speed again, but Sara and Grissom didn't seem to notice. The only seat available was next to Sara on the sofa-like seat, so she stepped out into the isle to let Grissom in. He looked at her questioningly, but sat at the insisting nod of her head. Sara followed, but only by perching herself precariously on the edge of the seat. Her legs reached out into the isle while she twisted her upper body to be able to look at Danny while he rambled.
Grissom watched in amazement for a moment as she tried to keep her balance on the edge of the seat while keeping her legs closed in a lady like manner. It was now that he could see that her dress sported two extreme slits that ran to the middle of her thigh, but that were practically hidden while she stood. Tearing his eyes from her shapely legs, he saw that she was still struggling to keep herself on the seat while pretending to listen to Danny's inane story.
Without thought, and acting only on feeling, Grissom snaked his right arm out and wrapped it around her waist, pulling her back towards him and closing the tiny gap of personal space she had created for him through her balancing act. He felt her stiffen slightly and then relax in the embrace. A small smile formed on his face as he felt her arm cover his.
Danny, oblivious to the dance playing out before him, continued to talk. Though Grissom felt bad at not truly paying attention to the bright young man, he was infinitely more interested in the delicate curve of Sara's neck and the feel of her body's heat on his.
When the lights began to dim and the ship's entertainment staff took the stage, Danny turned his chair around to watch the festivities. Sara, however, was not interested in such things. She moved her left hand to find Grissom's right one, which was resting on her stomach, almost imperceptibly stroking the material of her dress, and joined her fingers with his. She slowly turned her head to find his face, her bottom lip caught in the anxious trap of her teeth. She could feel the raw desire in her eyes, and was afraid of his rejection.
In his azure reflection she only found a warm, comforting gaze that barely veiled the passion deep within him. His left hand came up to touch the skin of her upper arm, lazily making patterns and eliciting gooseflesh in its path. Their eyes locked, and images from this morning's interrupted moment flooded their minds. Moments passed without their knowledge as their fear at breaking the connection between them overran their motor functions.
The band finished and the lights came up, breaking the spell. Sara cleared her throat and stood, but held onto Grissom's hand as she did, pulling him up beside her. Suddenly feeling like a silly school girl again, she couldn't meet his gaze as she spoke. "Care to escort me to dinner?"
His free hand tipped up her face till he could see her nervous smile. "It would be my honor." He moved her hand to the crook of his arm and, smiling down at her, began to lead her to the back of the ship.
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Throughout most of the five course meal Grissom had been able to subtly keep eye contact with Sara, who was at her table half-way across the dining hall. Her sometimes shy, sometimes sultry glances were threatening to send his heart into palpitations. As the waiters were coming around with coffee, however, he caught Danny's conversation with a colleague, and he could feel his blood pressure rising for the wrong reasons.
Danny's appreciative, if hormone driven, description of Sara seemed like sacrilege to Grissom's ears. He kept his mouth shut, and the happiness that had permeated him was gone, replaced by an empty feeling in his stomach. Doubt saw its opportunity and crept into his mind, invading his every thought and keeping him from finding Sara's gaze again.
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Maybe it was some kind of sick compulsion, Grissom thought as he made his way onto the pool deck for the formal dance. He had watched Danny go up to Sara after dinner and coax her out of the dining room, followed by her friends. Now, here he was, like some sick voyeur in his own mind, trying to catch a glimpse of exactly how close they were.
He spotted them dancing on the small dance floor, fairly close, and laughing. The doubts that had flooded his mind during dinner came back full force, and he could do nothing but resign himself to the fact that Danny was a superior specimen. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he dropped his head and started out for the back of the boat.
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Sara saw Grissom's face fall in defeat, and knew she had somehow caused it. She stared at him, hoping to catch his eye, but he quickly made an exit to the back of the ship. Sara suddenly felt guilty, as if she had cheated on him with his young colleague. She turned back to Danny, who her friends had practically forced her to leave with anyway, and tried to think of a way to let him down easily.
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"Not satisfied with your fillet minion?" Sara crossed her arms over her chest to ward off the chill of the wind as she approached the lone figure leaning on the railing. He turned his head, but didn't move or speak. She slowly inched closer until she was standing right behind him. "Because, you know, for meat, it actually looked pretty good. I was only slightly nauseated by it." She reached her right hand on his left shoulder and let it slide up and down.
When he spoke his words were quiet, and she had to lean in closer to hear him. "'O! how I faint when I of you do write, knowing a better spirit doth use your name, and in the praise thereof spends all his might, to make me tongue-tied speaking of your fame. But since your worth, wide as the ocean is, the humble as the proudest sail doth bear, my saucy bark, inferior far to his, on your broad main doth wilfully appear. Your shallowest help will hold me up afloat, whilst he upon your soundless deep doth ride; or, being wracked, I am a worthless boat, he of tall building, and of goodly pride: then if he thrive and I be cast away, the worst was this, my love was my decay.'"
"Shakespeare?" Sara leaned against the railing, keeping her hand on his shoulder, and trying to catch his sad yet intense gaze, which he tried to keep from her.
"Sonnet number eighty." Grissom's voice was choked, and he stared straight at the sea.
Sara removed her hand and assumed his position, her hands rubbing her own arms to fight the goose bumps. "It's beautiful, but not relevant." Grissom finally turned to look at her, but remained quiet. "I know what you're thinking, but you're wrong."
He turned his gaze back tot he never-ending sea and began to protest, "Sara, I know..."
"No, you don't, Grissom. Yes, he's sweet, and... sweet, but in the end," she turned and faced him, placing a hand under his chin so he was looking at her with hopeful eyes, "in the end, he's not you." She moved her hand from under his chin to cup his cheek. "You need to understand that."
He reached up and grabbed her hand with his, and finally met her gaze. "You're cold."
She smiled broadly and let her head circle away from his eyes before recapturing them. "There's no need for name calling!" As he went to open his mouth to explain, she laughed and cut him off. "I know, it was just a joke. It is a bit chilly out here." She shrugged her shoulders.
When he suddenly pulled away from her she was a afraid that her joke had shattered the last vestiges of trust available to them. But then tears sprung to her eyes as he deftly removed his tux's jacket and draped it over her shoulders. It was arguably the most romantic thing anyone had ever done for her. He stayed behind her and rubbed his hands over her arms as she pulled the edges closer to her.
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to his chest, resting his head on her shoulder. Sara sighed and snuggled closer into his embrace, nuzzling her face up against his.
"Dance with me?" Grissom asked as he nuzzled his nose into her neck and absorbing the scent of a perfume he'd never smelt on her before. Slowly, Sara stepped away and slipped her arms into the sleeves of the jacket before melding her body against Grissom's and drowning in his gaze.
They swayed gently to the soft piano melody that drifted back to them, closing the tiny gap between them and melting into one being. With her head buried in Grissom's neck and her hands roaming his back, she thought the moment couldn't get any more perfect, until she heard a soft murmuring in her ear.
"With each word your tenderness grows, tearing my fear apart...and that laugh that wrinkles your nose, it touches my foolish heart." Sara leaned back and smiled at him in surprise. Her hands moved around his body to rest on his chest. Her eyes were drawn to his lips, the gates from which his velvety baritone tumbled, and suddenly couldn't help herself.
The kiss was soft, chaste, yet electric and cataclysmic. When they pulled apart mere seconds later, they found that the world hadn't ended, civilization hadn't crashed down around them, and the only sight that greeted them was each other.
With another small peck on the lips, Grissom leaned in towards her ear and sang again, "'Cause I love you, just the way you look tonight."
(TBC...)