Disclaimer: Contrary to popular belief, I do not own any of these CSI characters. If I did, I sure wouldn't have them do this, because all of my profits would disappear.
A/N: Sorry it took me so long to get this up. Sometimes, real life sucks.
Catherine was surprised to find that Grissom had decided to take a week of vacation when she arrived at the lab the next night. She walked into the break room to find the rest of the guys sitting at the table, talking quietly amongst themselves. When they noticed her standing there with assignment slips they stopped and looked up questioningly.
"Griss is taking some vacation time. I guess I'll be in charge for a few days, and I'll try to not abuse my power" she said with a wink.
"What? Grissom willingly taking vacation? Maybe he is taking Sara's absence a little harder than we thought. Hey Greg, tell her what Brian said when you called him" Nick said.
Greg looked down before beginning. "Brian said she left him. Sent him a letter via UPS dumping him. He was pretty ticked off, he went on about how she didn't have the cajones to say it to his face, and resorted to mailing him a note and the ring. He ranted for a while, rambled on about how he knew deep down that she loved the "bug guy," he always kind of thought he was her second choice, her habit of leaving the tv on when she went to sleep drove him nuts anyway, he went on and on…Needless to say he wasn't much help in finding out where she went."
Catherine snorted, "Wow, Sara sure does have great choice in men. No offense Greg, but if the guy was that much of an ass about it and not even concerned that she was missing, it's a pretty good thing she broke up with him."
"Wow. Who would have thought?" Nick shook his head before continuing. "Men like him give the rest of us good guys a bad name."
"So, has anyone heard from her yet?" Warrick asked.
"Nope."
"Her cell just gives me a recording when I call."
"Nothing here either."
"Well, lets get on with assignments then, there's only one, DB with suspicious circumstances. Let's head out."
Back at Grissom's townhouse, Grissom hummed to himself as he gathered various items about the house. He had already drawn a hot bath in the garden tub in the master bathroom and filled it with luxurious oils and bubbles. He smiled as he pulled fresh towels out of the dryer where he had them warming up. After folding them carefully, he took them upstairs and into the bathroom.
He went back downstairs to fetch Sara. He smiled to himself; she had been so good the previous day. She had stayed still and quiet like he had told her to, and was keeping her temper in check. He could tell by looking at her that she wasn't pleased with the situation, and had decided to reward her. She bit her lip and frowned slightly when he came back to the kennel, but said nothing as he entered. He noticed her smile slightly after he fished the keys to her collar out of his pocket and opened the lock. She immediately raised her hands to rub the skin that had until recently been covered by the leather.
"I have a surprise for you upstairs, but if you try anything funny you're coming back down here to rot alone for a few days. Understand? Don't forget I'm bigger than you and licensed to carry a firearm."
Sara only nodded in agreement as she allowed herself to be led up the stairs and towards the bathroom. He shut the door behind them as she took in the room. There was a water closet, a separate shower stall and a large filled tub in the corner. He handed her a robe and gestured to the water closet, telling her that she could change in there with privacy. When she came back out he directed her to the tub and averted his eyes until he was certain she had slipped beneath the bubbles.
Grissom pulled a brush out of a drawer in the vanity and started slowly brushing her hair, gently untangling her brown locks and quietly reveling in the pleasant intimacy of the activity. When he was satisfied, he reached behind him and pulled out a large pitcher, filled it with water from the bath before tipping her head back and letting the water run down her hair. He repeated the process until he had soaked her hair before reaching for the shampoo bottle. He squeezed out a large glob of the stuff into his palm, rubbing it between his hands before lathering up her hair and massaging her scalp. He took his time, enjoying every moment before using the pitcher once again to rinse out all of the bubbles.
When he finished with her hair, he grabbed a plush washcloth and dipped it into the water before adding a good sized dollop of lilac scented body wash. He started with her back, running the cloth in gentle circles, moving on to her arms before heading to the other end of the tub and pulling one foot out of the water, washing each leg up to mid thigh before handing her the wash cloth so that she could take care of the more intimate areas herself.
Sara took all of it in quietly, angry with herself for being able to enjoy the pampering. She was initially surprised with the tenderness he was suddenly displaying, knowing that if he would have asked her instead of abducting her it would have been a heavenly experience. She was feeling a little foggy, she assumed that he had slipped something in her tea before taking her up here. Her arms and legs were feeling like lead and her eyelids felt so heavy she could barely keep them opened. Until she figured out how to escape it was best to go along with whatever it was he planned on doing. She willed herself to relax and think about what the plan for escape should be. The previous night after Grissom had retired for the evening she had tried pulling the underwire out of her bra and picking the lock with that, and only succeeded in ruining it and reaffirming her inability to pick locks. She had even tried to use one of the coins in her pocket as a makeshift screwdriver, but the bolts on the kennel were fastened too tightly and she was unable to make any headway.
Her eyes snapped back open as she felt his hand around her ankle once more. She watched as he lathered he calf with cream and began carefully shaving them. By the time he had gotten to the knee on the first leg, the doorbell rang, startling him and causing him to nick her knee slightly. After quickly kissing the wound and apologizing, he stood and dried his hands off with a towel. As he left the room, he warned her against trying to get out of the tub and shut the door behind him.
Catherine rang the doorbell of Grissom's townhouse again impatiently. After sending the boys off on the 419, she had found a couple of papers that required his signature and decided to use that as an excuse to drop by and make sure he was ok. She knew he cared about Sara more than he cared to admit and feared his vacation was merely an excuse to privately drink his memories of her away.
He finally opened the door to her with a gruff "What?"
Her mouth fell open as she took in his appearance. He was wearing jeans and a button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. The entire front of him was soaked, making him look like a very disadvantaged participant in a wet t-shirt contest. Quickly sidestepping him and elbowing her way in, she thrust the paperwork into his hands. She blatantly ignored his attempts to prevent her from going any farther, instead heading straight back to the kitchen to make herself a drink like she always did.
