Hide 'n Seek
Chapter 6 or The Reason Why Al and Judy Robbins Have Separate Vacations
A/N: I think I have figured out the food thing. I'm not a glutton when it comes to food, but I do have a deep appreciation for certain things like cookies, ice cream, and waffles. And that stuff just happens to work well in my fics, so there you go.
Enjoy this chapter and thank you very much for the reviews :)
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Early March 2006
"Is it really necessary to go down every single aisle?"
"Oh, stop your whining Al. And yes it is; I want to make sure we don't forget anything."
"Isn't that what a list is for?"
"Yes, but sometimes there are things I forget to write down."
Al Robbins loved his wife; really he did. But it was moments like this one that reminded him why they took separate vacations.
That morning, Al decided to accompany to his wife, Judy, to the grocery store. What he thought would be a twenty minute trip turned into an hour excursion as Judy steered the cart up and down every aisle. Now he realized why she came home with twenty more items than what was originally on the list.
He sighed in relief as they made their way to produce. That meant only the meat section was left, and then they could finally go home. While picking out some tomatoes, he heard a couple of familiar voices in behind him.
"Here. I got the cans of soup that you forgot."
"Did you check for dents, honey?"
"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that."
Sure enough when Al turned around he saw Grissom and Sara standing two tables away. He blinked his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things, but it looked as if the pair was sharing a cart. They were having a lighthearted argument about selecting oranges.
In the middle of an autopsy about three months ago, Sara had called Grissom, "Gil." Al thought that was odd since only a handful of people called the entomologist by his first name. He didn't think much of the name slip. But seeing them together at the store, made another incident understandable. Grissom had suddenly taken a week off at the beginning of January. When Al asked Catherine if she knew of Grissom's whereabouts, the blonde gave him an unclear answer. He didn't make the connection until now, but that was the same week Sara was sick with the flu.
Smiling to himself, Al chose to leave Grissom and Sara to their time together. As he and Judy started to walk away, his wife took notice of the other couple.
"Isn't that Gil and Sara from the lab?" When Al nodded, she continued, "Why didn't you tell me those two finally got together?"
He simply shrugged. "I wasn't aware there was something between them in the first place."
"Dear, it's been pretty obvious for a while. And I only saw them at Christmas parties and the summer barbeques." She patted him kindly on the shoulder. "I think there's a reason why they're the investigators."
Al scowled at her, but she ignored him as she began to approach Grissom and Sara. "What are you doing?" He frantically asked.
"I'm going to say 'hi'," she replied. He reluctantly followed.
Judy wouldn't just say "hi;" she would try to engage them in a conversation. Al knew with their intensely private natures that it wasn't the best idea to approach Grissom and Sara about their relationship. However, his friendly, extroverted wife didn't understand that.
And it was too late to explain the situation to her because she already greeted them. "Hi Gil! Hi Sara! How are you two doing?"
Both CSIs wore surprised expressions when they looked up to find Al and Judy. Grissom quickly got his bearings back as he said hello and answered, "We're fine. How are you?"
What has Sara done to him? Al wondered. Grissom rarely asked people how they were doing.
Judy smiled at her husband before addressing Grissom again. "We've been good. The kids are doing great."
"And you're still teaching?"
"Yes, I'm doing biology at the high school," she informed him. "My morbid senior students can't wait for Al to come talk to the class."
The chief medical examiner smirked. "And who could blame them?"
Judy rolled her eyes. Then she spoke to Sara, "And I heard you're getting published in one of the forensic journals."
Nodding, she stated, "I'm just doing a little write up on a case we had a few years ago where a boxer was killed in the ring."
"I remembered hearing about that," Judy said. "Didn't the opponent put something in his gloves?"
"Mercury."
"That's right, it was mercury. It was unbelievable that adding a few ounces of metal to the gloves could do that much damage to the other man."
"We did an experiment with two sets of gloves--one without the mercury and one with mercury--and we found the force of punches considerably differently. The gloves without mercury…" And the two women launched into a discussion about the case and Sara's article, while Al and Grissom smiled politely at each other.
Al didn't know what to say to the other man. The two usually found themselves at work or work related functions where they could trade information on cases or enjoy a battle of wits. But now Al had stumbled into a part of Grissom's personal life, and had no idea how on how to congratulate him on his apparently comfortable relationship with Sara. So Al decided to go back to their routine of exchanging odd facts.
"You ever notice women do this in grocery stores, all the time?" Al quietly asked.
"I've only seen this on previous occasions, but I've never experienced it…until now," Grissom pointed out, with that smirking glint in his eye.
It was all Al could do to keep from chuckling out. "Well get used to it," he began, "because it only gets worse from here. The closet taken over by an obscene amount of clothes; your dish cabinets suddenly rearranged; flower pots suddenly appearing on your balcony." He paused before murmuring, "And the inevitable heart attack when the salesman tells you the price of the engagement ring that is perfect for her."
Judging by Grissom's small smile, Al knew his engagement comment wasn't out of line. In fact, he guessed that Grissom would propose to Sara within the next couple of months. The nightshift team might have known about the relationship before him, but Al Robbins was the first to figure out how serious Grissom was about having Sara in his life.
The men were brought back to attention when they heard Judy tell Grissom and Sara, "We don't want to take up any more of your time, but it was nice bumping into you. And if you guys are ever interested, we would love to have you over for dinner sometime."
Al assumed Grissom would turn down the offer. It was a difficult task getting the supervisor to socialize with others. He hoped his wife wouldn't be too disappointed when she heard Grissom's response.
Grissom glanced at Sara as if to ask her permission for his answer. "That sounds nice. We'd like to come over whenever it's convenient for you."
Beaming, Judy exclaimed, "Great! I'll call you next week and we can set something up."
The two couples said goodbye to each other. Al and Judy watched Grissom and Sara walk away; the brunette said something to him with a bright smile and then quickly kissed his cheek.
"You can apologize now," Judy sweetly told her husband.
Al's eyebrows scrunched in disbelief. "For what?"
"For that terrified look on your face earlier. For thinking I was going to harass Gil and Sara. I know those two are quiet people."
How she could read his mind, he would never figure out. As usual he conceded when he was wrong. "You're right. I'm sorry. I should have given you the benefit of the doubt."
She regarded him for a moment. "Good, but not good enough. After we bring the groceries to the piranhas," she said, referring to their three children, "you can come with me to look at lamp shades."
Closing his eyes, Al groaned inwardly. He wondered if it was too late to warn Grissom about more of the drawbacks to female companionship.
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Now you didn't this was the end did you? Pashaw. There's more fun up ahead. Two chapters left so please stick around.
And Nana Olaf's Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Cookies to my beta. But wait you already got those ;)
