Chapter Eight

Sara arrived at Grissom's 25 minutes later. She used the key Gil had given her and let herself in. She entered to darkness. "Gil?" She continued towards the bedroom, where a faint light was glowing. She entered the room and heard the shower running from his bathroom. She smiled and quickly undressed and headed into the bathroom.

Grissom stood under the hot spray of the shower, letting the warmth sooth his muscles. Sometimes he felt so old. He thought he heard someone, but then continued to lather his hair when he didn't hear anything else. He was under the spray, rinsing his hair, when he heard the shower door open.

"Need help scrubbing your back?" Sara stepped in and wrapped her arms around his middle, gently pressing her breasts into his back. Gil turned in her arms and took her mouth in a passionate kiss.

"Mmmm. I missed you at the party. How was work?"

Gil smiled at her and turned her so she was under the spray of the showerhead and gently lathered shampoo into her hair.

"Work was. Work. Glad it wasn't too involved. I'd much rather be here." He pulled her in for another searing kiss as he rinsed the soap from her hair, placing them both under the spray. Sara pressed herself closer, feeling his erection on her hip. She moved her leg up higher, pressing herself intimately against him.

"Sssara...god, what you do to me." Gil placed kisses along her shoulders as she ground herself against him.

"Hey, let's move this to the bed, huh?" She said low and sultry, turning the shower off.

They exited the shower each grabbing a towel, and then drying the other off with it. Gil led her through the door to the bed, all the while devouring her lips with his lips and tongue. Sara moaned when they reached the bed and pulled him down with her onto the mattress. They were slowly crawling their way up the mattress, kissing and touching in all the places they new pleased the other, when a loud THUD THUD THUD came from the front door.

They both sat up. "Who the HELL would be knocking on your door at 5am, Gil?" Grissom got up and threw on his sleep pants and a robe. "Stay here. My guess is it's someone from the night shift. Who else keeps these hours?"

Sara rolled her eyes and flopped back down onto the mattress. "Well, get rid of whoever it is. I can't promise I'll wait up."

Gil padded to the front door and peered through the peephole. Catherine. Shit! What did she want? Shouldn't she be at home sleeping or cleaning up? He unlocked the deadbolt and opened the door, putting on a fake smile.

"Catherine. To what do I owe the pleasure at 5am?"

"Well, I tried your cell, obviously you didn't hear it."

"Yeah, uh, I was in the shower." Quick thinking Gil!

"Well, I know you probably wanna sleep soon, but I needed to talk to you about something that's been bothering me since the party."

"All right. Uh. Come in. Go ahead and sit on the sofa. Want some coffee? I can make some coffee."

"Yeah. Sure. Sounds good." Catherine looked around, inspecting his townhouse. She'd been here before, but not in the past couple years. It looked pretty much the same. Butterfly displays hung on the walls. Bookshelves filled with books. The sofa was new. And it looked like he had finally painted the walls. It was a bit brighter in the room.

"New sofa?"

"Uh, yeah. The other one was getting old and it wasn't very comfortable." Or as nice to make out on as this one. "I, uh, also hired some guys to paint. Feels brighter don't you think?"Sara had commented on how dark it was in the room.

"Yeah. It's nice." Catherine got up and walked over to the breakfast bar as Gil poured water into the coffee maker.

"So, I take it the party is over. Did it go as well as you had intended?"

"Yeah. I'm glad I did it. It's nice to see everyone outside of work. We don't even go out to breakfast very much anymore it seems."

They stood in silence for a moment watching the last of the coffee drip into the pot. Grissom pulled two cups from the overhead cupboard, making sure to not pull out the one labeled SARA that he had bought for her when they went to an art fair. He turned the name around to face the back, in case Catherine got to snooping. He knew she loved to put her nose into other people's lives. In fact, he had a feeling that was why she was here.

Sara listened at the door, wrapped in her towel, trying to figure out who it was that would be at the door at 5am. When she heard Catherine's voice, she decided to put on her pajama's and crawl into bed. God only knew how long she would bother Gil. She was probably here because of that kiss under the mistletoe. She couldn't help herself with her snooping. Sara got comfortable and quickly fell to sleep.

Gil poured the coffee and carried them into the living room area and placed them on the coffee table in front of the sofa. He sat down and faced Catherine. Ready or not.

"So, Catherine, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well, Gil. I'm actually worried about you. Well, not worried. Concerned."

"About what?" He raised is brow in question.

"Well, for one. That kiss you and Sara shared. And then the look on your face when Sara was singing that song with Greg."

"What look?"

"Well, the look of no look. That unreadable look on your face you get when you are trying to cover up your true emotion."

"I have no idea what you are talking about." He took his cup and sipped the warm liquid, hoping he could make his way through this conversation without slipping up.

"Oh, come on. Don't tell me you weren't the TEENSIEST bit jealous of Greg and Sara tonight!"

"No, Catherine. I wasn't. It was just a song. I think Sara thinks of Greg as her brother, or a close cousin or something like that. Besides, why would I be jealous?"

"Well, you two have some history, I know."

"Well, that's the past. Right now, I am her supervisor and hopefully a friend. Although the past couple years have been rough, I think we get along as well as anyone else on the team."

"Yeah, well, I don't know about that." Catherine just stared at him for a moment then grabbed her cup and sit back in the sofa. "So, uh..." She took a sip. "What about the kiss?"

"What ABOUT it?" Keep your cool, Gil!

"Well, don't even try to deny that you enjoyed it."

"I, uh...Look. Sara is beautiful. And, of course I did! I mean, who wouldn't? Especially an old guy like me."

"SEE! I knew it!" She plunked her coffee cup down, spilling a little on the table. Gil got up and grabbed a paper towel to wipe it up. It gave him time to think of how to respond to her.

"Knew what?" He resumed his position on the sofa.

"Well, that you enjoyed it! And you said she's beautiful."

"I did?" Good one Gil!! Why don't you just go show her that Sara is waiting for you in your bed!

"Yeah." Catherine chuckled. "You did."

"Oh. Well. She is. And so are you?" Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!

"Yeah, yeah. No avoiding the issue, Gil."

"Im not! It was just a kiss under the stupid mistletoe. And I am pretty sure Sara grabbed ME!"

"Well, well." Catherine eyed him suspiciously.

"What the HELL is THAT supposed to mean?" He was losing his cool. Calm down, Gil. Get a grip!

"Just that I hadn't realized you noticed." He raised his brow at her in question. "Realized that Sara has been pining away for you all these years."

"She is not, Catherine. I think you have an overactive imagination." He drained his cup and set it down. Had Sara been pining away after him? If she had, how was it so obvious to Catherine and not to him?

"Well, maybe." She got up and began to wander around the room. She noticed a few books lying on the shelf. One was a crime novel she had seen Sara reading earlier in the week. She smiled to herself. Did she leave it here? Or did he borrow it from her?

"Catherine, its late. Or rather, early. Was there a POINT to this visit, or were you just trying to irritate me?"

"Hey, can I use your bathroom?"

"Yeah, sure." Catherine started towards his bedroom. "OH, NO, NO, NO!" Crap! Did he just yell that out loud?

"What? I can't use it?"

"No, I mean, yes you can..." Think Gil, think. "But, uh, that one is broken right now. So uh.." he got up and walked towards the kitchen. "You can use the half bath that's right through there next to the laundry room."

"Oh. Ok." She eyed him suspiciously as she made her way across the room and into the bathroom. Catherine quietly opened a few drawers and the medicine cabinet. But this bathroom was devoid of personal items. She opened the bottom drawer and smiled. She reached in and pulled out a box of tampons. Now why would a bachelor have these?

SHIT! Sara kept her personal feminine products in there! Ok, uh. How are you going to explain THAT if she asks. My mom? No, she's near seventy, that won't work. Think, Gil!! GOT IT! They were probably there from when his cousin Rita visited last Christmas. He forgot they were even there!! Yeah.

Catherine walked through the kitchen and joined Gil back on the sofa. She smiled at him, but said nothing. Gil let out a sigh of relief when she started to talk about Nick and his date.

"You know, Gil. You aren't getting any younger."

"Thanks. I wasn't aware."

"Oh, come on, you know what I mean. If you like Sara, you should just go for it. Hell, all of us expected you to when she got here. We could keep a secret. Ecklie doesn't need to know everything that goes on in the lab."

"Well, as nice as it is to hear you say THAT to your Supervisor, I think that it's a bad idea. Sara and I are friends. Im her supervisor. End of story."

"Ok. Ok. I was just saying." Catherine got up and headed to the door. "Well, see you on shift tonight. And Gil? Just think about what I said?"

"Good Night, Catherine." He said sternly and opened the door for her. When she had exited and Gil had locked the door, he leaned against it and let out a small groan of frustration. He made his way back into the bedroom to Sara. When he opened the door, he smiled. She must have realized it was Catherine and that it would be a while. She was fast asleep. He took of his robe and crawled under the covers, wrapping his arms around his lover. He smiled to himself as he drifted off to sleep, thinking "If Catherine only knew."

A/N: Well, I hope you like. Please review. I don't wanna beg, but I would love to hear what more than the four or five same people think. Not that I don't want to hear yours!! Please keep reviewing if you usually do, I REALLY appreciate it, but if you have been reading and not reviewing, please take a moment to at least say what you think! Wendy :O)