Irrefutable
By: Manigault
Thanks for reading this and as always thank you for the reviews! This is a short chapter, but I'll post another one soon.
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Grissom sighed and walked slowly into the kitchen to see what he could put together. He knew that Sara would have left home without eating anything and most likely had eaten little for breakfast.
The townhouse felt empty after spending the past eight months in a home with Sara, building a life that he had never thought he could obtain giving his stage in life and the manner in which he had behaved to her in the years since she had moved to Vegas.
They kept the essentials stocked in case one or both of them needed a place in town to stay on short notice. Today had been short notice. Pulling out a box of frozen bagels he placed two of them in the toaster oven and turned the button. It would suffice. The only time he and Sara had stayed here since moving into their home they had found that the milk had gone sour and the bread molded. Throwing them out, they made the decision that going out for breakfast or dinner would be preferable and in a dire crunch they could always toast a bagel.
He heard the key turn in the front door and inwardly cringed. Losing Sara would be the worst possible outcome of the situation he had found himself immersed in and it was unacceptable.
His heart pounded as she appeared in his view, holding a brown bag in one hand and a tray with two coffees in the other. "Hey, sweetheart." Sara walked up to him and placed a kiss on his lips. Somewhere in the middle of getting dressed and driving towards Vegas, she had decided that whatever Grissom had to tell her would be bearable. They could work it out. She would make sure of that.
Feeling her lips on his own made Grissom's heart leap with relief, if it was only short lived. Would she be so understanding when he filled her in on what he had committed to during the day?
"I brought bagels and coffee," she said and stepped back only far enough to indicate the items before nodding over towards the toaster oven. "I see you thought of that already."
"We left a few in the freezer."
Small talk. The normal talk of a couple who had worked through their frustrations, their hang ups, their issues. Grissom felt like shit for being the one that had to put a wedge in the normalcy of the life they had built away from work.
"We'll eat and then you can tell me what is bothering you," said Sara. She glanced around the townhouse wondering if Grissom was alone, and if not, where was she?
"Sara." Grissom reached for the bag of bagels and took them from her, before taking the coffee tray and placing it on the counter beside the bag.
Taking a deep breath, Sara shook her head. "Let's eat first, Gris. Okay?"
Avoidance. A dance that they had played in the past only too well, usually a role reserved for himself. "Okay." He hoped that they would not be interrupted before he could explain everything, but he also needed for this closeness to continue for as long as possible.
They opted for the couch, placing their coffees on the low table in front of them as they pulled a bagel apart and spread cream cheese along the perimeter of the blueberry flavored bread. As their relationship had grown, they had moved into a routine when doing something as simple as eating bagels or muffins. They shared. It had been so natural for Grissom to spread cream cheese on a bagel and hand it to Sara, encouraging her to eat something with some substance. The first time she had laughingly told him that if he ate half, then she would, and lovingly handed him half of it back. They had shared a smile, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he took a bite and watched as she did the same. So simple. So trivial. And so right.
This had not changed. Not yet. Grissom bit into his half of the bagel and kept his eyes trained on Sara's face as she slowly chewed her own bite of bagel and tried desperately to pretend there was no unknown entity floating between them.
As she took a sip of coffee and Grissom leaned forward to pluck a stray crumb from her lap, she knew the time was ready for the conversation that was inevitable.
"Who was here, Gris? And what could I misinterpret?"
"This should be interesting."
The voice drifted over to the Sara's ears from the hallway that led to the bedrooms. When Sara shifted around on the sofa, she saw a leather clad woman leaning against the doorway that led into the den, her lips turned up in amusement as she took in the scene before her.
Fighting back an urge to gasp, Sara blinked several times and carefully turned back towards Grissom, her eyes demanding an explanation.
Grissom searched for the words that would convince Sara that he could in fact explain everything to her and decided he would have to settle for the truth.
"Heather asked for my help and I agreed."
TBC
