Behind The Scenes
By: supercsi4
Chapter 30 – Meet Market
SARA:
Between the two or us, I never thought that I'd be the one to break down and pick up the phone first, but I had a horrendous day that reminded me what it's like to be single again and I despised it. So I called Grissom, thanked him for the cocoon stick, told him all about all my cases I've been working, how much I missed him and when he said, "What are you wearing?" we also engaged in our very first phone sex conversation.
But let me start from the beginning…today at work, Warrick and I investigated the death of a woman, Margo Dorton, who was bludgeoned to death with a bottle of champagne, but the weird part of the case was that she had been paying someone for companionship. Yeah, get ready for this. So Warrick and I went to the place where Margo paid for this companionship and let me tell you, I've seen a lot in this city, but this was all new. We walked down a long hallway with rooms on both sides, one of the rooms held a man and a woman sitting at a table, the next room held a larger group of people, and in the next room two women were looking through a binder full of photos of men.
"Is this a restaurant?" I asked Warrick.
"If it is, I'm scared of the menu."
At the end of the hallway, there was a bar with a bartender waiting for us. Warrick left to question the bus boy and I approached the bar.
"Would you like a Meet Book or do you have a steady host?" he asked me.
"Uh, actually, it's my first time. What exactly goes on here?"
"This is a host club, a place where men entertain women. It's the first of its kind in Las Vegas. They started in Japan. Take your pick." He handed me a thick binder, which I took and began looking thru. "Hosts get paid by the bottle. There's a two-bottle minimum. Bottles range from $50 to $5,000."
"What's a $5,000 bottle of champagne taste like?" I asked.
"We only sell one brand of champagne. It's the host attached to the bottle that determines price."
"Oh. Everything is legal in Clark County."
"Miss, we don't sell sex here." Yeah right.
"What do you sell?"
"A relationship. Isn't that what most women want?" Was he kidding me? I thought this was crazy, but I was already at the end of the diving board, so I might as well just jump in.
"I don't know. But I know what I want. I want Jesse." I stopped on a photo of Jesse because he was kinda cute and reminded me of the kid Matt in Nip/Tuck.
"Who doesn't? Let me see if he's available." And with that, he took the binder and went to get Jesse for me. Here goes.
"Ah, just off work, huh?" He's even cuter in person.
"Just on, actually. Sara Sidle, Crime Lab." Let me stop this right now and get down to business before I get into some trouble.
"Oh. What can I do for you?" he asks me.
"Do you know this woman?"
"Ah. Lady Dorton. Yeah, she's one of my relationships."
"Could I ask you a few questions about her?"
"Okay. Um, I don't like to talk about my relationships out here. Let's take it someplace a little more intimate, yeah?"
"Okay." Whatever will get this interview over faster, but he takes my hand and leads me into an empty, private room. Oh no. Quick, back to the questioning, "How did you meet Margo?"
"Uh, she picked me from the Meet Book." Just like me.
"And then what?"
"Uh, she wanted what most women want."
"What's that?" He offers me a drink, but I decline, I just want him to continue.
"The dream."
"And that's you."
"50 G's I make a month says I am. Who doesn't want to be swept off their feet?"
"I am not sure it's something that I would pay for."
"Yeah, but you don't want to spend your whole life waiting for it either. Right here, right now, a woman can have a relationship with a man who only wants to please her -- who can make her laugh, wipe away her tears, give her the confidence to be herself." I miss Grissom.
"And how many of these relationships do you have?"
"I can handle about twenty-five at a time." Jesus, I can barely handle one.
"Is a woman named Cotton Candy one of them?
"Yeah. She's been financially worshipping me for a while."
"Now, she says that she is your fiancée."
"That's good. Means I'm doing my job."
"She told me that she and Margo had a scuffle."
"Yeah. Um…my relationships do get jealous sometimes, especially when one has more money than the other and can monopolize my time. Is that why you're here, because of that little catfight?"
"No. Um, Margo Dorton was…bludgeoned to death with a bottle of champagne."
"Margo was…killed?"
"Yeah."
"And you think Cotton Candy killed Margo?"
"What do you think?"
"Um…I wouldn't know."
"Would you know if Margo took you home the other night?"
"I don't see my relationships outside of here. You know, if it does happen, it marks the end of the relationship. I mean, by having sex with me, a woman's reached her goal. There's nothing more I can give her."
"Did Margo's husband know about you?"
"She told me she was divorced."
"Well, Jesse…I'm, uh, sorry for your loss." And with that, the discussion was over and I left to find Warrick and get out of that place.
In the three weeks that Grissom's been gone, many times when I miss him greatly during the work day I will make my way into his office and just sit down in one of the chairs in front of his desk and do my paperwork, it's quiet and it makes me feel better, like he's kinda there with me.
Anyways, so after the whole Jesse encounter I needed to be in Grissom's office to relax for a bit. But as I walked in, I noticed Keppler looking at the miniature dioramas from our Miniature Crime Scene Killer.
"Hi. What are you doing?" I ask.
"Just looking." Well can you do it later?
"What do you think?"
"Meticulous. Obsessive. Clearly knows his way around a modeling kit." Oh, he thought Grissom made them.
"Grissom didn't make those."
"No? Hmm. Fits the profile. Bugs in bottles, the Darwin desk set."
"He's a bit of a collector of certain things." You should try living with him.
"Yeah, I knew a guy in Philly like that. Kept a case of thumbs in his closet."
"Friend of yours?"
"No, a serial killer."
"Do you miss it?" Am I really carrying on a conversation with this weirdo?
"What?"
"Philly."
"No." And with that he leaves me to my peace and quiet in Grissom's office. His desk is covered in mail and boxes, one huge one particularly, which reminds me of my cocoon present, so I stroll over to the tank where I had placed the stick after I had got it in the mail. I really miss Grissom and at that moment I realize I have to call him after work.
I finish up the case early and head home, I grab a soda and sit down on the couch with my cell phone. I don't know why, but I'm a little nervous about calling Grissom, like we're back in high school or something. He sounds so happy to hear from me, just as happy as I am to just hear his voice. There's no arguing or bickering, we just tell each other how much we miss each other and then we easily descend back into our normal conversation. I told him all about Jesse and I could tell thru the phone that he was a little jealous. I told him all about Keppler and then of course Grissom knew I just had to have something to complain about Catherine. He told me all about how his classes were going and the places he was visiting.
There was a long pause about an hour into our conversation and he said the four words I never thought he'd say, "What are you wearing?" Now, I know where I wanted this conversation to go, but I wasn't sure about him. I was horny as hell and missed him like crazy and if he wanted to do this, then game on. "Give me a second and the answer will be…nothing." He just groaned into the phone, thus beginning our first phone sex conversation. Neither of us had engaged in phone sex before, but we couldn't have been too bad because within five minutes we both had come.
"We are definitely doing that again," I told him before I told him I loved him and I'd call him tomorrow.
GRISSOM:
Well, Sara finally broke down and called me today and thank god she did because I really couldn't take it much longer. What brought upon her phone call was some young, cute guy named Jesse hitting on her during a murder investigation. She said that it reminded her of what it was like being single again, but I think that she just wanted to make me a little jealous. I didn't bring up our terrible goodbye or anything like that because I didn't want to fight, I just wanted to sit there and talk to the love of my life and catch up on the last three weeks I have missed with her.
After a long pause about an hour into our conversation, I don't know what came over me, but I asked her what she was wearing. I cringed a little after saying it, like it may have been a little inappropriate, but then she said, "Give me a second and the answer will be…nothing." Once I knew she was game, my pants were off in seconds.
I had never engaged in phone sex before and neither had Sara, but we both got each other off in a matter of minutes. After she said, "We are definitely doing that again," I knew I'd being called her every night for the remainder of my trip.
After we said our 'I love yous' and 'goodbyes', and after a cold shower, I sat down to write a letter to Sara to truly convey my feelings for her while we are apart. Though I'm not sure I will ever have to balls to mail it, I need to at least get my feelings down onto paper. So I sit down at my desk after our incredible phone conversation.
Sara,
Our parting was awkward. I don't know why I find it so difficult to express my feelings for you…even though we're far apart, I can see you as vividly as if you were here with me…I said I'll miss you, and I do.
Sonnet #47
Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took,
And each doth good turns now unto the other:
When that mine eye is famished for a look,
Or heart in love with sighs himself doth smother,
With my love's picture then my eye doth feast,
And to the painted banquet bids my heart;
Another time mine eye is my heart's guest,
And in his thoughts of love doth share a part:
So, either by thy picture or my love,
Thy self away, art present still with me;
For thou not farther than my thoughts canst move,
And I am still with them, and they with thee;
Or, if they sleep, thy picture in my sight
Awakes my heart, to heart's and eye's delight
I finish the letter, fold it up and put it into an envelope, but I only get half way thru her address before I chicken out and place it on the nightstand and decide not to send it.