DISCLAIMER:Don't own anything associated with the show… I just like playing with the characters in it.
RATING: T – Teen (language and adult issues)
PAIRINGS: GSR & Yo!Bling pre-established in previous fics of this timeline.
SPOILERS: Sequel to "Displacement" and "Transitions"
SUMMARY: Everything is changing around Nick Stokes. Can he deal with it, and how it will affect him in the end?
A/N: Okay, I know I said this was only slightly GSR... But once I got going, I just couldn't stop myself! LOL Oh yeah, this chapter should make a couple of my readers slightly happy, since I am "sort of" answering their burning question. ;)
REVIEWS: Reviews are the way I know if people are enjoying the work or not. So, if you leave one, THANKS! And if not, I hope you found at least a little something to brighten your day, and thanks for taking the time to read.
Chapter 6
16:00 – 2006.12.05
Grissom/Sidle Home
Sitting cross-legged on the couch, completely surrounded by printouts, brochures, flyers, pictures, folders and a couple of notepads, Sara Sidle tried to make her way through the wealth of information before her. She chewed on the end of a pencil for several minutes as her eyes scanned through the specifics of one location. When that one had been determined inadequate for their needs, she dumped it into the "no" pile within the trash can at the end of the couch, and moved on to the next location.
As her frustration level started to rise she let out a sharp breath before she called out to the room's other inhabitant. "Gil?" She chose not to wait for a verbal acknowledgement and went on, "Are you sure we should be looking in Summerlin? I mean, it's just so, so plain."
Without taking his attention away from the computer screen, he casually called out his answer. "Well, the neighborhoods are safe and the houses have all the amenities we agreed on, so yes, we should."
"Okay, but why aren't we looking outside of town again?" She moved another location into the circular file.
"Because neither of us wanted to spend all of our time commuting into the city every day." He shook his head at her question, but not because of the question itself, only that he had now answered that same question about six times already.
"So, why is it that I am over here doing this by myself again?" The slightly annoyed tone in her voice was crystal clear.
That got his attention and he chuckled as he stood up from the desk. "Because I was just getting my grant letter in order, so that I might give you my undivided attention."
He crossed the room to the couch and found her looking up at him as he leaned down to kiss her tenderly on the lips. "And now that I am here, what would like me to look at?"
She pointed at the small pile on the end of the coffee table near his easy chair, "Those over there are the maybes."
Gil maneuvered around the land mines of piles spread around her to take his seat in the recliner after grabbing up the maybe pile. As he sat back, he noticed a pile sitting under her shoes. "What are those?"
She leaned over the edge of the couch to follow where he was pointing on the floor and noticed the pile of rejects she had placed under her shoes. When she answered her shoulders shrugged, "Those are the asshole realtors I wouldn't buy something from if my life depended on it."
He smirked at her response, but felt a need to remind her of the use of foul language. "Was that really necessary?"
"Yes, it was… If you'd talked to them, you'd understand." She dropped another packet into the "no" pile before adding, "And if you so much as breathe on anything from the Rockford Agency, I'll be looking for an apartment, alone."
He was shocked by her comment and felt compelled to ask, "And this would be for…"
"For telling me not to worry my pretty little head about the asking price and that he would only talk figures with my husband just before he tried to grab my ass in his office."
"Excuse me?" That time it was Gil's tone which was unmistakable; he was beyond angry.
Sara, however, was still dealing with her own anger over the incident. "If I so much as get wind that he's involved in a property we look at, I'm gonna be out of there so fast…"
"Sara, when did this happen?" he spoke through a clenched jaw.
His voice finally pierced through her own rage and she realized he was quickly turning red. "It was this morning, and I've already dealt with it, so don't get all worked up."
"How did you- What did you-" He was struggling to work through his anger and his words would not come out easily. "Who wa-"
He was stopped from saying anything else when he felt her hand underneath his chin as she lifted his gaze up. "I took care of it, and I'm fine."
He was still furious, but the reassurance he found in her eyes helped him to push it aside, for now.
He sat back in the chair and she moved his arm out of the way to take a seat in his lap. "Is this protective thing going to get better or worse when we aren't working together anymore?"
With that simple question, his anger was immediately turned into embarrassment and he dropped his chin to his chest, "Sorry."
She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned her head against his to ask, "Should we talk about this now?"
"I suppose we've put it off long enough," he said as he released the breath he had been holding since being caught. "Unfortunately, I am always going to worry about you."
She smiled and held him a little closer. "And that's what makes you great… I just don't want it to get so bad that it creates problems for us."
"Tell you what… If you can promise me to always be careful and not take unnecessary risks, then I will do my level best not to be an overprotective Neanderthal… Deal?" He could feel the smile spread over her face as she pressed her cheek into his and held him just a little bit tighter.
"I think I can live with those terms… But only if you promise me not to get so caught up in your experiments that you forget I am living in the same house with you."
With that, the battle of the promises was on. "Agreed, but you have to promise that the days of the triple shift are over."
"Okay, but you can't take off on a moment's notice to consult on some bug case without talking to me first."
"Fine, but that means you will be running out of vacation time before the end of each year in order to travel with me from time to time."
"Sounds good to me, but you have to swear that we take at least one real vacation a year; no cases, lectures, experiments or consults involved."
That one concerned him a little and he raised his eyebrow to show his concern. "Does that inclu-"
"No, we can still see bugs, just so long as they aren't on a corpse." Once again, they were thinking on the same wavelength, and he smiled. She took that as the sign that their discussion was over and kissed him on the lips to seal the deal. "All done?"
"With the big stuff," he commented.
His answer did not bring her any comfort and she fixed him with a questioning glare, but his attention seemed to be far off. "Gil? What is it?"
He took in a deep breath and decided that there would probably never be a perfect time to bring up the topic, so he made his choice and forged ahead. "There is one thing we still haven't finished clearing up."
She looked closely at him, trying to figure out what he was referring to, and when she was unable to come up with an answer she asked, "And that would be?"
"Children." For such a simple word, its utterance caused all of the air in the room to stop moving in an instant. Her silence told him what he already knew, she had not thought anymore about the topic since the conversation they had after Stephanie first brought it up to them. "We still haven't resolved that one."
She fought against the shock and the nervousness to find her voice again, but it was not an easy feat. Eventually, she was able to swallow back the lump closing off her throat and managed to squeak out, "I guess not."
He watched as she began to wring her hands and it made his heart sink that he had caused her pain again. Gil wrapped his arms around Sara and pulled her closer to him. "Sara, I'm not just making these changes for me… I'm doing this for us and for our future."
She heaved a deep sigh and said, "I know, and believe me when I tell you how much it's meant to me. It's jus-" Her voice failed her again, and his heart clenched at the sound of the sob she struggled to keep inside.
"I'll drop this, for now… I just need you to promise me one thing."
She nuzzled down into the crook of neck and whispered, "What's that?"
He leaned his head against hers and asked, "That you'll start thinking about it, and we'll talk about it again soon?"
As she rested against his chest, he could feel her tension ease a bit and then she simply said, "Yeah, that's fair enough." And his tension began to melt away with her agreement.
They sat that way for several minutes, until an urgent message from Gil's stomach reverberated throughout the room. "Well, I guess we better figure out something to eat, huh?"
His face warmed with his embarrassment as she slid off of his lap and stood up. "Yeah, so I'll get started on the food…" He looked around the room at the mess and asked, "What should we do with all of this?"
She blew out a full breath of air and then turned to help him out of the chair, "I'll get this cleaned up, and sort through it all later…"
He came to his feet and then wrapped his arms around her. "Are you sure you don't want some help?"
Draping her arms around his neck, she smiled and said, "I've been thinking… Maybe we're doing too much all at once. I mean, what with the new job, my shift change, the holidays, your mother, the wedding and dealing with the team this weekend." She leaned her forehead into his cheek and continued, "I just think we'd be moving beyond the overachiever range and into insanity mode if we try to find a house during all this."
Gil craned his head back to get a good look at her face and then he smiled at her expression. "As seems to be a trend lately, you're probably right." He was rewarded with the sparkle in her eyes and the crooked smirk on her lips. "Besides, once I get back from D.C. next month, I'll have a lot more time to devote for a proper search." He fixed her with a salacious tilt of his eyebrow when he made his next comment, "Among other things."
Her lips pursed, as she tried to suppress the full out smile threatening to emerge. "For some reason, that thought both excites me and scares me to no end."
Gil was having a hard time understanding her comment and his face showed his confusion when he asked, "How is my searching for our house excit-… Oh…" The reason finally made it through his thought process and he blushed at her suggestion.
Deciding that their current line of conversation would likely lead to them being late for work and very hungry, he chose to change the subject quickly. "So, food?"
She inhaled sharply, sensing his decision to calm things down, she kissed him on the cheek and turned out of his arms with her request, "Sounds good… Something light though. I've still gotta make it into that dress in a few weeks."
He gave her a disapproving glare and said, "Sara, I seriously doubt that will ever be an issue for you."
She smirked at his assessment of her dietary habits as she started cleaning up all the real estate information. Sara was actually relieved to be able to shelf the house hunting for the time being, and not just because of the idiot she had dealt with that morning. There were just so many changes coming about in their lives, and she was fairly certain the stress and strain of finding, buying and then moving into a new house was a recipe for disaster by adding it to everything else.
As she was shoveling the last of the brochures into a banker's box she had a question on her mind. She called back into the kitchen, "Hey, Steph wanted to know if we needed anything for Saturday night."
"We still have her serving dishes, so I can't think of anything."
Slapping the lid down on the box, Sara stood up to admire her work and gave a crooked smile. However, the smile was short lived when her mind moved ahead to Saturday night. "So, how do you think everyone will take the news?"
She watched as he blew out a heavy breath in response to her question, and she worked her way toward to kitchen by the time he finally replied. "Well, Catherine already knows about the whole business with Ecklie."
Sara sat down on the stool closest to him and pressed her eyebrows together when she asked, "And how did that go over?"
He shrugged as he turned to toss a few egg shells into the trash. "Better than expected… But I suspect the full impact hasn't hit her yet."
"Do you really think Burdick and the Mayor will take your recommendation?"
"They really don't have a choice with my supposed leave of absence happening at the same time." His hands were vigorously beating the eggs in the bowl as they continued their conversation.
"Did any of them question your decision to take so much time off?" She was chewing on her lip with her nervousness.
"Ecklie has been rather determined to interrogate me on the matter, but I've managed to slip through all of his traps." He had a devilish sneer on his face with his admission, and Sara had to admit that it was also a very sexy look for him.
"Well, my requests have been accepted, too…" She swatted him on the backside playfully, "Thanks to my terribly understanding supervisor."
He gave her a crooked smirk and then asked, "So, did you have any trouble with the new day shift guy?"
"Not at all." She reached onto the cutting board he had brought out and stole one of the mushrooms when his back was turned. "Seems like a real decent guy and he agreed to keep it quiet until the transfer is complete." When she popped the mushroom into her mouth, he gave her a sideways glance and shook his head. "He also said that he already has someone wanting to move to nights, so it came at just the right time. And he has a new person starting the first, so he won't be short-handed while we're gone either."
"Do you ever feel like timing is on our side…for a change?" Sara laughed out loud at his question and he managed a quick chuckle as he worked at chopping up the veggies for their omelets before she stole them all.
"We'll see how we feel about that when you go out to D.C. for a couple weeks without me." She had meant it as a joke, but when she saw him drop the knife to the cutting board and his shoulders drooped, she knew it was weighing heavily on his thoughts.
She stood up from the stool and moved closer to him. Standing directly behind him, she wrapped her arms around his midsection and rested her chin atop his shoulder. "Sorry."
He patted her clasped hands where they rested over his recently shrinking belly and then leaned his head to hers as he spoke, "I suppose I've been trying to forget about that particular aspect of our new life."
She took in a deep breath and blew it out slowly before she said, "Hey, we've gotten all the bigger things sorted out already… This is just one more puzzle for us to figure out…together."
He smiled so broadly she could almost feel it as they stood together in the kitchen, and they both knew everything would be just fine.