Jim stood, waiting for Grissom to crawl out from his stall. As he bided his time, he mulled overthe words he wanted to use when he confronted the man. He knew that he had a thing for Sara,
but never in a million years, did he think that Gil would ever do something like this.Apparently, Jim had been labouring under the delusion that their friendship was important toGil. Jim knew that he took their friendship seriously and this was why Grissom's actions hadhim upset. Out of courtesy and respect, Jim would never approach one of Gil's lady friends andbus her. "Maybe I have more class than he does" Jim thought to himself.
Grissom could hear breathing by the sinks and by the shoes he saw from under his stall door,it was Jim that was standing there. There could be only one reason that Jim would be waiting
for him and the thought of a confrontation scared him more than a bit. After a few minutes ofinactivity, Grissom saw the feet shuffle and heard Jim speak.
"Grissom, I know you're not constipated, so get out here."
Slowly, the door opened and Grissom emerged, head hung low, obviously ashamed of his actions.He steered clear of Jim as he took a sink at the far end of the row. Avoiding eye contact, Gil
washed his hands and when he reached for a paper towel, Jim snatched a couple up and handedthem to him. Confused, Gil looked up at Jim and his face turned red. Quickly, his mind workedovertime, trying to figure out what he should say to his best friend.
"Jim, I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me." Gil said, stammering
"You're not sorry. You asked to see her in private, that indicates premeditation." Jim stated
Busted, Grissom thought to himself. He should have known better than to try and slide his wayout of this. Looking like a child that had just been caught looking at porno mags, he stood
still, awaiting the tongue lashing.
"Gil, out of respect for our friendship, I'm not gonna lay you out, but I swear, if you evertry anything like that again, I'll give you a nice little reminder as to why you should keepyour hands to yourself. Sara and I are happy and I'll be damned if I'm going to let youinterfere with that." Jim said in calm tones
Without waiting for Grissom's response, Jim turned and walked out of the lavatory and down thehall to his office. Gil stood and went over Jim's words, as he tossed the paper towels in the
garbage can and walked towards the hallway. He stopped in the doorway and, looking both waysto make sure the coast was clear, he made a bee-line for his office.
The stall door of the end commode opened and Greg stepped out, not believing what he heard.Grissom has bussed Sara and Jim was none too pleased. This tasty morsel of gossip was worth
gold, he thought to himself as he quickly washed his hands and went in search of Catherine,the Queen of Inter-Office Gossip.
Sitting in the break room, Catherine, Warrick and Nick sat, each engrossed by their ownactivities. Catherine was reading an article about Halloween costumes while Nick and Warrick
were playing Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2.
Hauling ass as though his life depended on it, Greg skidded into the break room and nearlyknocked over Doc Robbins. Stopping and helping the man steady himself, Greg apologizedprofusely.
"I'm sorry, Doc. I should have been walking briskly instead of running."
"That's ok, Greg. Just be more careful next time." Robbins chided
Seeing Catherine, now looking up at him, Greg rushed to her side and dropped into the seat nextto her. Taking her magazine from her and laying it flat on the table, Greg turned to the older
woman and whispered into her ear. Alert from the run in with Robbins, Nick and Warrick pickedup on the secretive nature of Greg's conversation and made their way over to the table and sat
across from Catherine and Greg. Realizing that they weren't going to budge, Greg motioned forthem to lean in. His face was alight as he spilled the details of what he heard.
"I was in the can, minding my own business, when I heard an exchange between Brass and Grissom."he stated
"What happened?" asked Nick
"Apparently, Grissom kissed Sara. Brass was really pissed. I know this because he was very calmand never raised his voice. And for Brass, I know that's a bad sign." Greg continued.
"What did Grissom have to say for himself?" Catherine asked
"He said he didn't mean to do it, but Brass called his bluff, saying that since Grissom hadasked to speak with Sara in private, that it was pre-meditated."
"So, what did Brass say?" Warrick asked
"Brass said that if Grissom ever tried anything like that again, that he would lay him out."Greg said, looking over his shoulder
The four of them sat in silence, digesting what had been said. Brass was definitely not one tobe trifled with and to be on his bad side was truly a bad thing, this, they all knew.
Until the beginning of shift, Grissom was hiding out in his office and whenever someone walkedpast his door, he snapped his head up and his eyes got wide. He could not help but think that
the encounter between he and Jim was not over. Gil was scared, and he didn't scare easily, sothis was relatively new for him.
Looking at his laptop and reading through his e-mails, his gaze was trained to one inparticular; from Sara. He took a deep breath and clicked the message, opening it. As he stared
at the monitor, his brain registered what she had written.
"Grissom, I don't know what you were thinking this afternoon, but your behaviour was completelyand totally out of line. I don't appreciate it at all, not one bit. I'll do you a favour and
not file a sexual harassment complaint. Let this be a reminder to you, I am not for you, I amfor Jim, so, hands off."
Evidently and understandably, Sara was livid, and for this, Grissom was truly regretful. He hadnever had the sudden, overwhelming feeling to kiss anyone before, why should Sara be anydifferent? He contemplated this last thought for a while when he heard a knock at his door.The shades were drawn on both the windows and the door, so he could not see who was calling,but in a split second of rational fear, he jumped out of his seat and cowered under his desk.Again, the caller knocked, and this time, they spoke.
"Gil, this is Catherine." she said, opening the door slowly
From under his desk, Grissom looked out and saw Catherine's shoes. He went to get up, but onlysucceeded in banging his head on the underside of his desk drawer. Catherine heard this and
walked around the back of his desk, pulling the chair out. Bending over and looking down atGrissom, she had to stifle her laughter, she only succeeded in contorting her face a bit.
Looking at Grissom, Catherine could see the sweat beads on his brow and hear his rapidbreathing.
"Gil, get out from under there. You're a grown man, for Christ's sake, act like one."she ordered
Gil crawled out from under his desk and stood in front of Catherine. He was still breathingheavily and Catherine placed her hand on his chest.
"God, Gil, slow down. Slow deep breaths."
Grissom stood and slowly counted to ten, taking slow and even breaths in time. After a fewmoments, he checked his pulse.
"120, from 75. I swear, Catherine, if you wanted to kill me, all you'd have needed to do wasbang a bit harder." he said
Catherine tried to stop from laughing, but could not. Finally, seeing her obvious pleasure athis current discomfort, Grissom eyed her cautiously. The look on her face said it all; she knew
the dirt. Trying to summon up all his courage, Grissom sat back down in his chair and asked the411. Knowing full well that she was nailed, Catherine decided she would spare the ass of Greg
and not disclose his culpability.
"A little birdie told me, and I'll leave it at that." she said
"Only one person is faster than you at distributing office gossip, Catherine, and we bothknow who that is, don't we?" Grissom asked, knowingly
Catherine said nothing to either confirm or deny Grissom's deduction, but just stood stoic andglared at him. Catherine knew that Grissom was in no mood to deal with gossip, so she quicklyexcused herself and headed for Greg's lab.
His butt bouncing happily atop his stool, Greg listened to his latest investment from the CDepot;The Best of Blue Oyster Cult, Joan Crawford. Singing "Joan Crawford has risen from the dead"he was oblivious to the presence of Catherine at his door. Seeing the lab tech in obviousecstasy, Catherine struggled inwardly about whether or not she should disrupt him, but the
thought of Grissom pummeling the lively DNA jockey decided for her. Cautiously, she approachedhim from behind and placed a hand on his shoulder at the same time she lowered her tone and
tried to mimic Grissom's voice.
"Gregory." she said
Scared out of his mind, Greg blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
"I swear, it wasn't me." he shouted as he leapt off his stool and hit the floor
Laughing her ass off, literally, Catherine nearly lost control of her bladder as she took in thetruly frightened sight of her colleague's face. Greg's usual pasty colour had been replaced by
a shade of bright red and his eyes were shifting from side to side as if he were looking forsomeone or something. Helping him up, Catherine whispered.
"Grissom knows it was you. I didn't tell him a thing, but he knows it was you, all the same."she stated
"I never thought I'd die at the age of 28 by the hands of an angry Entomologist." he managed
Catherine realized the truth in Greg's comment and consoled him.
"Hey, if we both play dumb, he has nothing on either of us, got it?" she asked, winking
"Gotcha, Cath." he replied
A week had passed and Grissom was still avoiding Brass as if his life depended on it, which, asfar as he was concerned, it did. Sara was not overtly trying to steer clear of Gil, it just
happened that she hadn't seen him much lately. Grissom had approached Greg about the gossipand the lab tech took Catherine's advice about playing dumb. Both times Gil had questioned him,Greg feigned ignorance. Finally, Grissom tired of this and left the young man alone.
At home, Jim and Sara were happy as they usually were. They had the same days off and they spentthe time mulling over the details of not only the lab's annual Halloween party, which was thenext day, but their wedding ceremony. Both Jim and Sara agreed that it should be a smallservice, and Jim suggested it be held at his place, as his yard was more than large enough.
"It'll be fine, honey. I promise. Besides, how many brides get to go from getting married, tofive minutes later, playing chicken in the pool?" he asked
"Only you would put it that way, Jim." she replied "So, what are you going as tomorrow?"
Rubbing his cheek with an open hand, Jim paused before telling her what his costume was going tobe.
"I'm going as a pig, if you must know." he stated proudly "What are you going as?"
Saying nothing, Sara got up and walked to the kitchen, avoiding Jim's question. Noticing herstall tactic, Jim stood and followed her. Leaning on the breakfast bar, he leaned forward and
asked again. Sara heard him very well, but did not reply. Finally, Jim rounded the bar andcornered her between the fridge and the sink. Her back to the counter and Jim's hands on either
side or her waist, Sara gazed at him. Lost in her eyes, Jim leaned in and whispered into herear.
"Tell me what you're going as or I'll nibble." he said rather seductively
"No, you're not gonna nibble me, Jim. You know I'm sensitive there." she whined
Leaning in even further, Jim took Sara's earlobe between his lips and gently nibbled on it.Sara squirmed as Jim continued to suck and pull on her lobe. After a few moments of this
torture, Sara relented, and she stopped trying to fend Jim off. Sensing this, Jim took onelast suck of her ear and pulled back, grinning.
"What are you grinning at?" Sara asked, slightly annoyed
Jim said nothing, but just took something from his mouth. Handing it to Sara, he smiled.Sara looked in the palm of her hand and saw her earring; Jim had sucked it off. Now, Sara
knew that Jim was talented in the arts of seduction, but she'd never seen anyone remove anearring from someone's ear, backing and all, and hold it in their mouth and re-attach the
backing. Grinning herself, Sara winked at Jim.
"I knew you were talented, but I've never seen anyone do that before." she commented
"Well, I've made that my life's mission; to keep you on your toes, when you're not on your back,that is." he replied
Sara grinned and in an effort to avoid disclosing her Halloween costume, she took Jim's handin hers and lead him towards the bedroom. In her mind, Sara knew that some afternoon sex would
definitely take his mind off of her Halloween costume. As they passed through the doorway,Sara turned to Jim and very seductively wiggled out of her t-shirt. Jim's eyes got wide and by
the sudden growth in the crotch of his jeans, he had forgotten all about Sara's costume.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Jim watched as Sara danced her dance of love. Moving slowly,she shimmied out of her jeans and let them fall to the floor at her feet. His mouth hanging
open from the sight, Jim began to drool as Sara slid her thong down past her knees and to thefloor to join her jeans. Totally naked, she approached Jim and as she moved closer to him, he
leaned back on the bed until he was flat on his back and Sara was straddling his midsection.If his erection was any indication, he was very excited. His eyes twinkled and Sara could see
the ecstasy shimmering back at him and he looked up into her big brown eyes.
Carefully, Sara unbuttoned the fly of his jeans and removed them, tossing them to the floorwith the rest of their clothing. It was hard, to say the least, to miss the tenting action
in his boxer shorts. Smiling wide, Sara leaned forward, and taking the waistband of his shortsin her fingers, she flung them off of him. Wanting to waste no time, Jim wriggled out of his
t-shirt and threw it to the floor. Perched atop Jim's growing erection, Sara gazed down athim and placed a kiss on his chest above his heart.
"My God, you're so beautiful. Do you know that?" he asked
"Only when you tell me ten times a day." she replied, smirking
"Well, its true. You've got to be the most beautiful naked woman I've ever seen." he stated
"And you, Jim, have got to be the best lover I've ever had." Sara commented
"Well, I'm only as good as I am when I'm with you." he said, smiling "Its true, you know."
"What's true?"
"That you can lose yourself, everything, all boundaries, all time. That two bodies can become so mixed up that you don't who's who or what's what, and just when the sweet confusion is so
intense you think you're going to die, you kind of do; leaving you alone in your separate body,but the one you love is still there. That's the miracle; you can go to heaven and come back
alive, and go back anytime you want, with the one you love." Jim explained rather poetically
Caught by the intensity if Jim's words and the meaning behind them, Sara's eyes welled withtears and she began to weep uncontrollably. Looking up from the flat of his back, Jim wonderedwhat he had said to elicit this response from her. Shifting so that he was sitting up againand Sara was held by his warm embrace, he kissed the top of her head and asked her the matter.
"What's wrong, honey? Was it something I said?"
"Oh, Jim, that's the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me. You really do love me,don't you?" she asked
"Of course I do. Why do you ask a question you already know the answer to?" he wondered aloud
" I've just never felt about someone the way I feel about you and now, to hear you say somethingso sweet and wonderful, I just wonder where you've been all my life." she replied
"I've been here all along. I think you've know that. From the first moment I saw you, I knewthat you were very special and that I wanted to share my life with you."
At hearing this, Sara wept more and when she attempted to hide her tears, Jim took her facein his hands and gazed into her eyes. The emotion was evident and he wondered what Gods must
have been smiling down on him the day he met her. As Sara's tears subsided, Jim leaned backon the bed and, lying flat, he guided Sara's head to lay on his chest. His left arm draped
around her shoulder, he closed his eyes and they drifted to sleep. Their afternoon romp inthe sheets had turned into a siesta, instead, but Jim did not mind, as long as Sara wasthere with him, he would gladly go anywhere.
Noon, the following day and the team members were preparing for the early evening's festivities.The celebration would occur at 16:00hrs and last until 19:00hrs; just enough time for the nightshift to change from their costumes into their street clothes.
Greg and Nick had shown up early to set up the party food and liquid refreshment. Grissom hadnot been heard from in regards to whether or not he was going to attend, but everyone assumed
that he would.
15:30hrs and people were beginning to show up, Nick and Warrick were the first to don theircostumes as Count Dracula and Muhammad Ali, respectively. Catherine showed up as the girlfrom "Resident Evil", red dress, thigh holster and all. Greg came as a robot, Jim showedup as a pig and Sara arrived shortly thereafter dressed as Dorothy from "The Wizard of Oz",
blue dress, picnic basket, ruby slippers and all. Together, Jim and Sara made a veryinteresting couple, as did Warrick and Catherine. When the clock struck 16:00hrs, Grissom
wandered through the doors of the break room dressed as Ludwig Van Beethoven. A good timewas to be had by all and Grissom had had his share of the "punch". He sat in a corner of thelounge and watched as his colleagues partied and enjoyed themselves. Seeing Sara and Jimtogether, Gil's blood began to boil and before he knew what was going on, he had stood up
and approached Jim and Sara from behind. Seeing him approach, Sara alerted Jim to Gil'spresence. Turning just in time, Jim watched as Grissom came up to them. Suspicious as to Gil's
intent, Jim just stood as Gil babbled.
"You two are so cute together; the pig and the Miss Priss." he said through slurred speech
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jim asked
"Just as I said, the pig and the priss." Grissom repeated
"For your information, I'm the Holiday Hog." Jim replied
"Like I said, a pig." Grissom repeated, yet again
"Look, I'm the Holiday Hog, so why don't you just EAT ME!" Jim said with raised tones
Warrick and Nick witnessed the exchange between Grissom and Brass and quickly, they were attheir side, ready to intervene. Warrick placed his hand on Grissom's shoulder and watch as
the expression on his boss's face changed from one of antagonism to one of near fright.Warrick escorted Grissom outside to get some fresh air, while back inside, Nick was asking
Brass what the problem was.
"He's bombed, no more to it." Jim stated
"Well, if you need a hand, just let me know, ok?" he offered
"Thanks, man." Jim replied
Outside, Grissom and Warrick were sitting on the concrete wall out front of the lab whenCatherine showed up with a mug of coffee, handing it to Gil.
"Here, drink this. It'll wake you up." she said, extending the mug to Grissom
"I never thought he would do something like this." Gil mumbled
"Like what?" Catherine asked
"Steal Sara from me." he replied
"Gil, Sara was never yours, and besides, the whole time she's been here, you've kept herat arms length, making your intentions well known. You avoid any and every romantic advanceshe's made, so can you blame her for moving on?" Warrick stated
"I just never thought she'd move on with Jim." Gil replied
TBC?