Sighing, Grissom pulled off his glasses and rubbed at the area of his forehead between his eyebrows. He reached for the pill bottle that sat at the corner of his desk and leaned back into his chair. Chasing the medication with a gulp of water, he glared tiredly at the stack of forms that lay before him.
Paperwork was by far the least favorite part of his job, and his steadily worsening migraine was only serving to make the process even more aggravating than usual. To add further insult to injury, this was the second consecutive month that his shift's overtime figures refused to make any sense, seeming to be remarkably low.
Frustrated, Grissom pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. Ecklie would have his head if the paperwork wasn't on his desk at the beginning of the next night shift. He sighed again and flipped the file closed without a second thought, deciding that getting some sleep was worth the risk of incurring Ecklie's wrath. He'd deal with finding whatever math error he'd probably made later.
Ready to call it a day, he was just about to lean over and switch off his desk lamp when a voice, or more accurately, a low whistle, came from the hallway outside of his office.
He heard the unmistakable clicking of high heels, followed by the sudden appearance of Sara in his line of vision.
"Fine suit," the voice, which he instantly recognized as Warrick's, said appreciatively. "In fact", he continued, "just plain fine."
Grissom raised an eyebrow. Normally, Greg was the only night shift male who dared comment on Sara's appearance. His harmless crush was well known around the lab, and although Sara didn't return his affections, she inexplicably allowed him to get away with a level of casual flirting that she usually didn't tolerate from anyone else.
As a result, Grissom expected that Warrick was about to receive an earful, or at the very least, a well-aimed glare. What he didn't expect was to see the corners of Sara's mouth turn up in a soft smile, or to hear the tone of amusement that wrapped her response.
"You think so, huh?"
"Yeah" Grissom heard Warrick confirm, his quiet voice warm with affection.
Grissom froze, wishing that he'd left his office door opened further than a crack so that it was more obvious that he was still inside. Normally, he was very fond of the out of the way location of his office, near as it was to only the layout room and a set of bathrooms. His particular hallway hardly ever saw much foot traffic, making his office the perfect place to hideout when he didn't want to be disturbed. He'd forgotten that the area was also an excellent place to have a conversation that you weren't keen on anyone else overhearing.
It sounded as though the exchange had the potential to head into dangerously personal territory, and if there was something romantic going on between the two CSIs, he definitely didn't want to know about it.
To his relief, the next words out of Warrick's mouth were both platonic and completely work related.
"How was court?"
Sara's features turned momentarily serious. "Jury took twenty minutes to convict."
"Slam that jail door."
She nodded her agreement and checked her watch. "It's the middle of the afternoon. What are you still doing here, anyway?"
"Oh, you know, had some things to finish up."
To Grissom's ears, that sounded about as convincing as Greg saying he'd given up listening to Marilyn Manson.
Sara apparently felt the same way, but simply shot Warrick a knowing look.
"Or," he confessed, sounding slightly embarrassed, "I was waiting for you."
If Grissom were a betting man, he'd feel confident in wagering every paycheck he'd ever earned that Sara was unaware of the beautiful grin that lit up her face. Far from the tight-lipped smile that she sometimes used on the job, this was the rare full beam that Greg had long ago christened her "Sidle Smile".
He saw her glance around up and down the hallway to make sure that nobody was watching them. Then, she reached for Warrick's hand.
"Want to buy a fine looking woman lunch?"
Warrick chuckled and gave her hand a tug so that she disappeared from Grissom's view.
"You got it."
Grissom heard them exchange a kiss, but it was Warrick's last statement that caught him completely by surprise.
"Happy anniversary."
As they walked off together, Grissom had a sudden epiphany. Shuffling through the forms until he found the one that confirmed his suspicions, Grissom felt a bitter smile spread across his face. Other than what was required of her, Sara hadn't put in for any extra overtime during the past two months. His mystery was solved.