A/N: Takes place directly after "Grave Danger."
Summary: My thoughts on how Grissom and Sara might have started their relationship...
Disclaimer: CSI belongs to CBS and no one else... I'm just renting the characters :-)
Note: This is my first fanfic EVAR! Any feedback would be greatly appreciated...
The shaking inside the filtration tank room is almost unbearable. Sara swears she can feel the fillings in her teeth rattling loose. She and Grissom have gotten into protective positions on the floor. She thinks back to earthquake drills in school where the kids had to hide under their desks and cover their eyes and ears with their arms and hands. She is amazed at how quickly she has devolved back into that childhood-ingrained protocol in the face of an unknown danger. There hadn't been an earthquake while she was in school so, despite the mental preparation she's had since childhood, Sara is terrified.
Gil's scared, too, but as always, he puts on a brave face for her. The tremors intensify and Gil grasps her hand as they brace for impact.
It does not disappoint. The two of them are thrown apart as the water tower crashes into the side of the building farthest from them. Shaken and disoriented, Gil manages to stand after a moment. He's instantly relieved when he sees Sara crouching near the ground but beginning to stand as well. He makes eye contact with her and she nods grimly before he can ask if she's okay.
The room looks pretty much the same as it did before the water tower collapsed and he's comforted to know that at least the tank filtration room is still safe for them.
That is, until water starts seeping under the doorway from the stairwell. A lot of water.
Sara notices it as well. "Where's this coming from? The cistern?"
Gil shakes his head and finds his way to the back door again. He takes a deep breath, steels himself, and opens it.
More water washes past him, soaking him to his knees. His stomach falls as he looks at the ceiling. The tank did indeed crash into the building, breaking a huge hole in the roof. Only the tank itself, so old and rusted out, has been damaged as well. The impact opened an even bigger hole in the side of the tank and it's now vacating its contents into the building, which was already flooded.
Sara is right behind him, and she looks to him for guidance as she always does. Everyone seems to think I have all the answers, Gil thinks regretfully. And this time, they'd better be right.
"The tank's too big…" Sara nearly shouts to overcome the sound of rushing water. "It's going to flood out this room completely." She doesn't ask him to tell her what to do, but her implication is obvious.
There's no time to think. The water is already waist level and getting higher by the second. No time to call for help, no time to tell the others what's happening. There's only time to tell her, to save them both, he hopes.
Gil looks at her levelly. "Sara, are you a good swimmer?"
She nods firmly, and he thinks how she can sometimes look so much like a child. She's told him that she never really got to be one, but he swears he can still see vestiges of the little girl still in her wide brown eyes. She's always had trouble trusting people, but now she's going to have to.
Gil puts his hand into her sleeve, winding it around until his grip is tight. She clasps his arm with her hand, fingers tense and gripping tightly. "Do not let go of me," he commands. "When this room fills up, we're going to swim up into the tank. Do you understand?"
"Yes," she says throatily.
As the water moves up around their chests and necks, Gil Grissom pulls Sara into the stairwell and waits.
Catherine paces anxiously outside the established perimeter. When the tank goes down, she nearly loses it. Everyone hits the ground, expecting another explosion. But those are her people in there. The people who are counting on her to get them out of there.
And right now she's failing miserably. Archie is one of the first to get up after the shock of the tank crashing wears off. He continues to examine the transceiver, hoping to find something on it that will help them.
Nick helps Catherine up and the two of them stare in horror at the ruined building. The large exterior tank is at a 45-degree angle against the roof of the building. And it's leaking. Nick shouts into his walkie-talkie, begging Grissom or Sara to respond. He hears nothing but static. "Cath, we gotta do something," he cries. "We can't just let them die in there. We can't…"
"Nick, I know," she says as soothingly as possible. Nick's taking this hard—really hard. But that's hardly surprising. She can't even imagine how he's torturing himself right now. Grissom saved his life and he wants desperately to return the favor.
"Can we send in helicopters? Pull that tank off before it floods the entire building?"
"I don't think so," Archie replies. "Look at these infrared beams." He sprays a light aerosol powder in the air. Suddenly, the red beams are visible, and clearly pointing in every direction, even vertically. "The beams move around, we couldn't be sure that they wouldn't hit a helicopter. Even if it were directly over the tank."
Nick curses and storms away and Archie goes back to his examination. Catherine exhales slowly. Great, she thinks. One of them is getting hysterical and the other one is dissociating. Guess that means I've got to be the level-headed one… She shakes her head at what she believes is terrible miscasting and calls Brass.
When he answers, she fills him in on the situation and asks him for an update.
"Turns out Devon had a backer, who we believe is responsible for the bombs. He's taking us to the guy's place. Maybe we'll get lucky."
"Let's hope so. Keep me posted." She hangs up and helplessly watches the water tank pour death on Gil and Sara.
The water is cold. Damn cold. After a few seconds, Gil and Sara are treading water, floating up towards the ceiling. Once the water fills the room, he plans to swim into the tank…the only place that will have air and where they'll be safe. Until the tank collapses on itself, he thinks quickly, but pushes the thought away. Right now, it's the only chance they have.
He can't stand the thought of looking at her right now. He's terrified of what he'll see. Fear? Hope? Trust? Any of those would be equally distressing to him. He uses his left arm to paddle while his right hand hold onto her. He can't let go of her right now—he needs to know she with him and safe.
Their only source of light is the flashlight Grissom holds in his mouth, which under different circumstances, would be quite hilarious. The flashlight is supposed to be waterproof, and Gil hopes it's more than just advertising.
They reach the ceiling, and the water continues to rise. He takes a deep breath and hears her doing the same before he pulls himself under and swims toward the hole in the ceiling.
In less than a minute, he's found the surface and pants from the exertion. Sara seems to have had a better time of it as she emerges next to him, breathing easily. The water has hit an equilibrium and Gil trusts that there will be no more surprises, at least for a little while.
He's startled when Sara takes the flashlight out of his mouth and shines it on the walls. She's apparently a very good swimmer as she treads water without the use of her arms. Canvassing the sides of the tank doesn't provide either of them with much hope though. It appears that the only hole in the tank is the one they just swam through.
"No going back now," she says, trying to keep her voice even. She shines the narrow beam on a railing that leads up to a platform that would have been at the top of the tank, if the tank weren't halfway on its side. She pauses for a moment and asks, "Is that a door?"
Without a word, they both swim towards the platform, which must have been used for workers to observe and test the water in the tank. Gil manages to climb onto it and helps Sara up as well. It's at an awkward angle, but they manage to scale it up to the doorway. Gil pulls on it—hard—but it doesn't budge. "Figures," he grits. "Rusted closed. We won't be getting out this way."
Sara feels like her legs are going to give out, and sits down quickly to avoid collapsing. Gil calls her name softly and she replies that she's fine in the most unconvincing manner possible. Gil sits next to her, saying nothing. She puts her head on her shoulder and he can feel her sighing, but he's not sure whether it's with sadness or frustration.
The flashlight beam is noticeably dimmer, whether from the water exposure or from overuse, is impossible to say. Sara clicks it off and the darkness consumes them again. After a few minutes, she begins to notice how cold it is. The temperature is dropping steadily and they are both completely saturated.
She's shivering when Gil asks her rhetorically, "You cold?"
"It's got to be getting into the 50s now," she replies through chattering teeth. "There's no way we'll dry off in here with all this water. 'S only gonna get colder."
The shock of her statements hit him at once. It's colder in the tank than it is outside and there's no telling how cold it will get. They're both wet and that makes it worse. He clenches his fists in resentment—they can't have survived this long, made it through all of those dangers, just to die of hypothermia.
He tries the walkie-talkie but isn't at all surprised when it fails to respond. Wet batteries don't work all that well.
Sara's voice winds towards him in the darkness. She says his name quietly and he hears despair in her voice that shakes him out of his own depressing thought patterns. She's afraid and she needs him. He's got to think of something before the cold overtakes them.
"Sara," his voice is deep and strong and it hits her like a thunderbolt. Suddenly the air is full of delicious tension. Her breath catches in her throat and she feels him next to him, aware now of his proximity, the sound of his breathing. He puts his hands on her shoulders and starts pulling off her vest. She makes a questioning noise but he shushes her before she can form words.
"Sara, take your clothes off."
Sorry it took so long for me to post again... I'll try to finish this by the end of the week. Feel free to let me know how I'm doing! Thanks for all your reviews!