The ride back to the lab was the least stressful conversation he'd had in the last 24 hrs.
Warrick and Nick took one of the SUVs down to PD to go follow up on suspects. Catherine hitched a ride with him and Sara. Catherine did most of the talking, discussing Lindsey's latest shenanigans. Grissom and Sara all too eager to have a conversation that had nothing to do with either of them.
Once they were back at the lab, Sara and Catherine took the evidence down to the layout room to start processing. Grissom withdrew to his office. Longing for a little bit of room to just breathe and think. The weight of knowing she was leaving was tearing him apart. He couldn't imagine walking into the lab and not seeing her every day. He couldn't bring himself to beg her to stay only to have her reject him and say it was too late. It was too late, right?
Sara was in the layout room with Catherine. Processing prints, she reminisced of all the late night shifts she spent in there alone. Everyone thought Sara was a workaholic. It wasn't just about the work, it was about him. He was almost always early, and almost always left late. After shift work was her best chance to work with him without interruption. Other than Hodges, he seemed to also always be around.
Lately Grissom had been more distant, but when she first arrived in Las Vegas, they worked closely a lot. She missed those days. There was one night she was certain she'd made the right call moving out there for him. It was one of those cases that of course she kept too close to the vest. Her gut told her that suspect was guilty. He had shot his wife in the house, wrapped her in a blanket, and threw her out into the woods. But the evidence said otherwise. The evidence gave him an alibi and she just couldn't let it go.
The frustrations of the case got the better of her. She remembered immediately regretting the words as soon as they escaped. Asking Grissom if he wanted to sleep with her. He was clearly confused at the direction of the question. But thinking quick on her feet, she jabbed him with a line to let him know it was not a legitimate offer … at least not at the moment. What she didn't know was that her jab, gave the case momentum, a way forward.
She heard from Brass as she was leaving for the night that Grissom was holed up in a back lot doing an experiment on a pig. Initially irritated that he was working the case without her. She softened when she realized he was trying to help prove her theory. She went out to the back lot with provisions for the late night. The least she could do was join him.
She handed him a blanket and a thermos of hot coffee. She laughed at this little ridiculous luau necklace he was wearing. He should have grabbed a thicker jacket instead. It was freezing out there. Sitting next to him she helped take notes and pictures as they processed the pig through the scheduled intervals. She noticed his hands were starting to shake from the cold.
"You should have brought gloves."
"Yeah, probably. I just wanted to get out here in time after I picked up the pig. It was a running clock. Thank you for the blanket though, it's helping."
"I know of other ways to keep you warm." she said with a smirk and a quick pinch of her lips.
He smiled and dipped his chin. Half considering her proposal. He knew they couldn't, but now that she put the thought in his head, it would be hard to get it back out.
Just being this close to him ignited her body. She was on the verge of sweating off her jacket. Her body longing so desperately to be wrapped with his. They were now sitting close enough that their hips, thighs, knees and lower legs were touching on one side, through the blanket of course.
He looked at her writing the notes for him. His eyes tracing the curves of her face. Admiring her dedication to her work.
"You're hot."
She let out a short chuckle, taken back by what he said.
"Excuse me?"
"Your body. It's hot. I can feel your heat. It feels good. You're keeping me warm."
She looked at his face, lost in his eyes. So seductive and playful. He was trying to be clever. Trying to clear the air from their earlier encounter. She shook her head at him.
"It's not nice is it?" he smirked. Giving her a taste of her own medicine from earlier in the day.
She looked back at his notes while he rearranged their blankets. Taking the ones that each of them had had respectively and put them together combining a double layer to cover them both.
"There." he said. "Now this is science." Their bodies in closer contact now, her heat filling the empty space under the blanket and sending warmth all over his body.
This was a rare side of Grissom she didn't often seen. It was arousing to her. To see the fierce blue pinging in his eyes somehow made up for the times he pushed her away. He wanted her and he wasn't hiding it this time. She loved being able to see that.
"Is it working? The science that is." she asked him.
He watched her lips as she spoke. Wanting to taste her lips. Wanting to feel the warmth of her mouth on his.
"Yeah. I'd say so. If you still wouldn't mind taking the notes for now. My hands are still freezing."
She could feel him fidgeting under the blanket. Rubbing his hands together trying to get them warm. She grabbed his left hand and it was ice cold.
"Here, let me help."
She pulled his hand into both of hers and blew on it softly. Her lips gently grazing the length of his thumb and index finger. She heard a soft gasp come from his mouth as she did it again. With his eyes closed, he swallowed hard. It was turning him on and she could feel his legs shifting under the blanket. She smiled, it pleased her to know she was having this affect on him. She rubbed his hand in between her own. The parts she touched with her lips were warming, but his finger tips were still cold. She took his hand and placed it on her right thigh. Rubbing his hand into her leg. His eyes flew open to catch hers. She was already watching him. Searching his face for permission to kiss him. His finger tips with a mind of their own pressing into the fabric of her jeans pulling themselves closer to her center. She let out a small gasp as his pinky crept closer. His eyes widened, wanting her.
Touching her this way put him at full attention. His erection straining to be let free. He moved his leg again to turn his hips towards her but his foot caught the bottom of the tripod on the camera and it came crashing with a flash. Both of them giving a slight jump, their eyes darting to the camera laying on the ground. They both bursted into laughter.
"Earth to Sara?!"
Sara blinked her eyes and dropped her smile. Not realizing she had missed everything Catherine had said.
"What's that?"
"Where did you go? You just blanked on me. I thought I was going to have to take you to lay down, are you sweating?"
Sara slightly embarrassed she was so intrenched in her thoughts. She grinned and said, "I'm fine. Just really tired I think."
Catherine continued talking about the latent prints she found in the guest room at the Somerland scene. Sara held back her grin as she continued to remember she had that flash picture stashed in her locker. She'd have to make sure she grabbed it. She had told Grissom years ago that she destroyed it. It wasn't revealing in any way. It just showed their shoes showing they were sitting next to each other. But for Sara, that moment was everything. It gave her real hope for a life with him. The hope that was now gone. Her smile faded as she came back into range with Catherine's conversation.
