By the time they arrived at the restaurant the rest of their party were already in their seats. Ironically out of all the trained CSI's at the table it was the cop, Captain Jim Brass, who was the first to notice their arrival. They walked onto the restaurant floor and made their way towards the table the team were seated at, Sara had a serious expression on her face, and it looked like she was chastising Grissom who looked like he was trying hard to suppress a laugh.
"It was so your fault we're late! So you can apologise and explain!" She explained firmly. Grissom knew by now that she was deadly serious, but still he stood by his claim.
"Well if you didn't look so sexy in that dress, none of that would have happened and we'd be here on time." He put it simply; causing her to blush. They reached the table and greeted everyone.
"Sorry we're late everybody, the traffic was terrible." Grissom thought on his feet. But he wasn't fooling anyone, they could tell by the smirk on his face and the ruffled hair follicles on the back of his head that traffic had nothing to do with their late arrival. But only one of them was brave enough to say anything about it.
"Traffic?" She raised an eyebrow at him, "Is that what the kids are calling it these days?"
Her comment evoking chuckles from the entire table, even Sara had to fight hard not to laugh at it. Grissom looked at her as she tried, unsuccessfully, to cover her laugh with a cough. Shaking her head and laughing she stroked his arm.
"Let's just sit down." She was not at all bothered by Catherine's comment and if she wasn't bothered by it then neither was he. He smiled and pulled out her chair for her before sitting himself.
"Alright now come on," Brass intervened to stop the laughter, "Leave them be, we're here to celebrate their engagement after all." He reminded them and the laughing subsided.
"Hey, leave them alone!" Brass intervened on behalf of the couple. "We're here to celebrate their engagement after all." Everyone nodded in agreement.
Soon after their arrival, a smartly dressed and slightly stuffy waiter arrived to take their orders. When everyone had ordered their food Grissom requested that the waiter bring two bottles of the house champagne with the meal. Their food arrived and everyone was relaxing and chatting amongst themselves as they ate. The whole way through the meal, Grissom kept sneaking glances at Sara, delighted by the huge grin that graced her face the entire time. He watched her as she laughed and joked with Greg and Nick, and discussed something at length with Catherine. She looked so happy and that made him happy. Every now and then he would feel her hand squeezing his own or he would catch her eye and she would give him a smile; all these small gestures designed to let him know she was thinking of him, letting him know that he was the reason for her smile.
For once Grissom appeared laid back to, it wasn't often he allowed himself to relax and interact with the team like this, it wasn't often he got the chance too. But tonight he could relax; tonight he could just sit back and not have to think too hard about anything other than savouring the moment.
The group was discussing their college days when Brass's phone rang. At that instant every one froze; all of them terrified that some horrible crime had just been reported that they would have to go and deal with. For a moment Jim looked scared to answer it, but when he checked his caller ID he just smiled and excused himself, evoking raised eyebrows all round as everyone wondered who the mystery caller might be, and how they could make him smile like that.
Upon his return to the dinner table Brass found himself bombarded with curious looks and questions about who his mystery caller was. He seemed slightly flustered under all the attention.
"Uh...Sofia says congratulations and she'll hug you when she gets back." He tried to make it sound like an ordinary thing. Catherine's eyebrows practically met her hairline as she mouthed "Sofia?" across the table to Sara, who widened her eyes and looked back at her with a confused kind of expression. Grissom was also slightly confused by this found himself suddenly unable to control the investigator in him, he probed Brass about the call.
"So Sofia called you...from Miami...to tell you to tell us...congratulations?" He said slowly, everyone at the table looked at Brass, eagerly awaiting his reply, desperate to find out if something was going on.
"Uh...yeah!" He smiled and agreed with Grissom's theory, as far-fetched as it seemed he couldn't think of a better excuse to explain Sofia's phone call to the group. He decided a change in conversation topic was needed, and fast.
"Anyway, that's not important, the important thing tonight is you and Sara and your long overdue engagement." He raised his glass; everyone else followed suite as Grissom's hand dropped from the table to take Sara's and squeeze it. "To the happy couple, congratulations and I hope you have a long and happy life together."
"To the happy couple!" The rest of the table echoed back, drinking their glasses of champagne.
After Jim's toast Grissom stood up to make one of his own. Lifting his glass in his right hand he looked from his bride-to-be to the table filled with their friends.
"I'm not very good with words, I tend to just to use someone else's," He chuckled, "But I just want to say thank you to Sara for agreeing to marry me and therefore making my the happiest man alive," She blushed slightly, looking up at him, he revelled in the love he saw in her eyes. "And I want to say thank you to all you guys, my dear friends, for being here with us this evening to celebrate this occasion, making it that much more special."
He raised his glass then drank from it, finishing off all that was left in it. Everyone else did likewise.
"Now," There was a twinkle in his eye as he spoke, "Who's coming back to our place for drinks?" He asked.
Back at Grissom's townhouse a few bottles of liquor later, the whole team were in high spiritsand completely relaxed in each other's company. This was apparent from the changes in their behaviour. Sara was reclining in Grissom's lap while he sat in his favourite armchair with a scotch in one hand and Sara's hand in the other, surrounded by their friends; he was the happiest man on the planet right now, no doubt about it.
Catherine and Warrick were sitting together on the couch, Warrick not caring to conceal the fact that his arm was around Catherine's shoulder, gently stroking her arm with his thumb and Catherine made no attempt to disguise the fact that her hand was resting idly on Warrick's thigh. Brass sat on the other end of the couch rosy cheeked and with his phone in hand. There was a smile on his face that seemed to be growing with every text message he received from a nameless sender who everyone presumed to be Sofia Curtis.
Nick was perched on the arm of the sofa swaying as though he might fall off it at any moment as he sang with a rather inebriated Greg who was sitting, or rather stuck in Sara's bean bag chair.
"Seriously...seriously, no seriously though," He slurred, looking like he was making an attempt to get up but then gave up. "Grissom...Sara...the Grissoms" He laughed, sounding like a child who'd just seen his parents kissing and was rather amused by it. "Congratulations!" He beamed and then sank back into his beanbag prison.
"Well you know what they say?" Sara commented from Grissom's lap, "It's just not a celebration unless Greggo gets tanked!" They all laughed, even Greg who then stopped after a while when he caught on that the joke had been at his expense.
"Alright well," Catherine said, standing up and stretching, "On that note I think I'm going to head, now as I'm the designated driver, I'm afraid I'm going to have to take all these drunk bastards home with me." She joked. "Come on now!" She instructed the drunken bastards to move out to her car. Warrick was up almost as soon as she was; he seemed pretty keen to go home. Jim stood up too albeit somewhat unsteadily, not making any comment, his thumb was frantically typing his next message.
Nick also got up and tried, in vain, to assist Greg out of his chair; the attempt just ended up with Nick lying on top of Greg in the beanbag, both of them laughing uncontrollably. They looked at each other and simultaneously broke into another verse of song. Catherine rolled her eyes and moved to assist them out of the chair. She grabbed Nick round the waist and pulled his arm around her shoulder. Warrick moved to his other side and helped Catherine lead him to the car.
"Catherine! ... Warrick!" Nick squealed merrily as he tightened his grip on them, he was clearly making an attempt to hug them. "I love you guys!" He drawled, his Texan accent got exceedingly thicker the more alcohol he consumed.
Sara moved in and gripped Greg's hand, pulling him free from his beanbag prison. Once she managed to get him standing, she wrapped her arm around him and walked towards the door. He was still humming faintly but he stopped abruptly and turned to Sara, his eyes wide with shock.
"Oh my God Sara!" He exclaimed, "You're going to be a Grissom!" He fell about laughing, mumbling jokes about her turning into Grissom when they got married. Sara wasn't really listening, she wasn't even sure he was even listening to himself. Once Greg and Nick were safely strapped in the car Catherine climbed into the driver's seat.
"Good luck!" Called Sara from the doorstep as she waved the car off.
"Thanks! Something tells me I'll need it." Catherine shouted back at her, over the top of Greg and Nick singing what sounded like Ring of fire in the backseat.
Sara laughed as she closed the door, turning around to find Grissom standing right behind her. He wrapped his arms around her and planted a kiss on her ruby red lips. Her arms locked behind his head as she leaned into the kiss.
When they broke apart she looked around the wreckage that was the living room. She groaned as she started to lift the empty beer and wine bottles from the table carrying them into the kitchen. She was followed into the kitchen by Grissom who planted another long kiss on her lips after she had deposited the bottles onto the counter top. She pushed him off at the shoulders and went back into the living room, this time carrying an armful of rubbish back with her. Again Grissom pulled her in for a kiss, this one lasted longer than the first two but was ended with a sharp slap to Grissom's chest.
"You're not helping!" She pouted.
"Do you have any idea how cute you are when you pout?" He asked her, moving in and stealing another kiss. She pushed him off but he clung round her waist, Squeezing her tight and kissing her neck.
"Come on honey," He pleaded, " The mess will still be here in the morning I assure you!" He kissed her neck again. She had no choice but to give into him.
"Oh alright!" She sighed. He sat back down in his armchair, pulling her onto his lap and holding her tightly.
"Tonight went well!" He mused, reflecting on the evening.
"Yeah it really did." She agreed. "Brass was totally texting Sofia all night." She giggled as she gossiped about her co-workers. Grissom rolled his eyes; Sara half-expected him to tell her not to gossip, but instead he came out with.
"Did you see Warrick and Catherine? They were practically sitting on top of each other." This surprised Sara and made her laugh. She kissed him and shook her head. "I love you!" She giggled, nestling her head into the crook of his neck. "I love you too sweetie" He said softly, kissing her hair. A few minutes later Grissom noticed how shallow Sara's breathing had became.
"Sara?" He said softly, receiving no reply. He looked at her to find she was fast asleep on his shoulder and she had the most innocent and beautiful smile on her face. At that moment, for the first time in his adult life, Gil Grissom felt like everything was right with the world.