Title: Cold as You, part 2
Title: Cold as You, part 2
Author: butterflied4life
Rating: Teen
Pairing: Grissom and Sara, of course
Spoilers: A reference to Play with Fire. Also, Grissom's house is the one off of Strip Strangler, if that helps anyone's visualization.
Summary: My take on a song/karaoke fic using the song 'Cold as You' by Taylor Swift. Somewhat angsty, but a satisfying ending, I promise!
Disclaimer: Yeah, I wish I owned CSI…
A/N: Well, here's the second part to the story. I promised a satisfying ending, so here it is. Again, thanks to Keegan, my beta. I got quite distracted with other story lines while writing this, much to my embarrassment. Without her constant support and suggestions it would have been a lot longer before this was posted.
A/N 2: Many thanks to all the people who wrote reviews for the first part of this story. You guys were so kind and supportive, and even had a couple of suggestions. Thanks so much!
As soon as Sara bolted from the stage, Grissom shoved his chair back and started after her. The others at the table carefully averted their eyes, not wanting to get involved in the emotional mess that would surely ensue. Even Catherine, who was usually so willingly involved in everyone else's business, didn't care to witness the verbal battle.
Grissom, also avoiding everyone's eyes, barreled out of the entrance to the bar, and consequently ran into his quarry, who had stopped right outside the door to try to quit crying. Sara immediately turned her head to see who had run into her. As soon as she recognized Grissom, she bent over and started throwing up four bottles worth of Bud Light into a potted plant.
Grissom stood there watching helplessly, not sure what to do, until she finally stopped retching. Spitting a couple times to rid her mouth of the taste, she straightened and whirled around to glare at Grissom.
"What the fuck do you want?" she demanded.
"I want to talk," came his patient reply.
Sara snorted mirthlessly, pointing back towards the bar. "I think I just said all that I have to say in there."
Grissom pondered this a moment and then asked, "Am I really that . . . cold . . . to you?"
"You have no idea."
"I know I refused your offer of dinner, but what else—"
"Do really you want me to recite the list of grievances? 'I hold these truths to be self-evident' and all that? You know what, I'm not going to do this. I am NOT baring my soul to you just to watch while you recede back into yourself so far you can't see the light of day. Because that's what happens every time. When our relationship takes a tiny step forward, you start running backwards."
"I'm a very private person by nature. I don't tend to talk about myself."
"And I do? Me? 'Miss Close-Mouthed' of the entire lab? No one here even knows where I grew up.
"In a relationship, when one person gives the other person is supposed to give back. I give and give and give, and I never receive anything in return. I can't live this way. I don't have anything left to give. So fuck off." Sara turned and started back into the bar, but Grissom's hand on her arm stopped her. She turned to glare at him.
"Please, Sara. I want to change this. I don't want to keep fighting with you. Can we please talk?"
"Talk then," she snapped. She was just so tired of everything.
"I would prefer not to bare my soul in front of a bar. Can we go somewhere else? My place?" he suggested.
In reply to Grissom's question, Sara folded her arms and started stalking towards his Tahoe. Grissom sighed (whether it was a sigh of relief or of exasperation he really wasn't sure), and followed her. If she wanted him to drive, then he would drive. Before he reached the SUV, however, he remembered the rest of the night shift inside.
"Do you need to get your purse?" he called to Sara, who was already at the vehicle. She shook her head no, patting her pocket.
Grissom nodded to signal he understood, then turned and re-entered the bar. "Sara and I are leaving now," he told Catherine, whom Sara had come with.
Catherine raised her eyebrows.
"Catherine, I can't do this right now. I'll see you later." Grissom didn't wait long enough to see Catherine's reaction before he left.
Grissom and Sara rode to Grissom's townhouse in silence, both staring straight ahead. After Grissom had parked in his driveway and turned the vehicle off, he got out and went around to open Sara's door. She allowed him to open it, but she ignored his proffered hand.
Grissom unlocked the front door of his townhouse and ushered her in. She settled down on the couch while he got two glasses of water. As he started back into the living room, he noticed that Sara was sitting with her arms folded and her head bowed. As he approached she looked up, anguish in her face.
"I am so sorry," she whispered. He quickly crossed the room and sat down beside her, leaving the glasses of water forgotten on the kitchen counter. Sara stared straight ahead, fixated on something Grissom could not see.
A few moments after he had sat down, she started speaking again. "I am so, so selfish. We had a relationship. We were friends, even good friends. Then –then I allowed myself to fall in love with you, and everything changed. I wasn't content with friendship." She looked down at the floor between her feet. "It's all my fault." A sob rose in her throat, as the tears started to fall.
Grissom, not even hesitating, pulled her into his arms and rested his chin on the top of her head. He held her while she cried for the second time that night, gently stroking her arm and whispering tender words of comfort. "Shh, it's alright. It's not your fault. You don't have to be sorry for this. I do. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he said. Again he repeated, " I'm so sorry…"
After her shoulders stopped shaking and she calmed, he pulled her away from him so that he could look into her eyes.
"I have discovered three things tonight, Sara. Number one: you have a lovely voice. Number two: I am a son-of-a-bitch. And number three: this son-of-a-bitch loves you. I am willing to do anything as long as I can have you. I love you, Sara Sidle."
He kissed her then, leaning forward to gently press his lips to hers. Sara, however, wasn't satisfied. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close. Before things could really get heated, Grissom broke their kiss and rested his forehead on hers. Sara whined softly in frustration, making him chuckle.
"Miss Sidle, I am at least taking you out on a proper date before I make love to you. We're both exhausted anyways. Let me take you home." In response, Sara hugged him closer to her again and pulled him down so that they were lying side-by-side on his couch. With her face nestled in his neck and his arms around her shoulders, they slept.
A/N 3: It's up to you guys whether you want an epilogue about the morning after. Press that little purple button and let me know your opinion (both in general and about the epilogue).