"Here you go Jackie." Sara said as she handed her a mimosa the following morning as the two women sat at the hotel pool.
"Thanks Sara." Jackie told her as she took the drink.
"I could seriously get used to this." Sara told her as she plopped down in a lounge chair.
"Yeah, me too, the boys can keep their bugs." Jackie joked.
Sara laughed and shook her head in agreement.
After sitting at the pool for a couple hours the two ladies went back to their own hotel rooms and showered and then got ready to go to lunch.
"Hey Sara, I don't want you to take offense to this but I've always wanted to ask you something." Jackie told her as they sat at the restaurant.
"What's that?" Sara asked.
"Do you ever find being a vegetarian limiting, like for instance when you go out to eat? I have several friends who are vegetarians and I've always wondered about that."
"No, not really, nowadays the vast majority of restaurants have choices for vegetarians. I think that is a common misconception though." Sara told her.
"Hmm, that is interesting." Jackie said.
"Why are you thinking about becoming a vegetarian?" Sara asked.
"No, I don't think I could do it." Jackie confessed.
"Can't give up steak?" Sara asked with a grin.
"Actually I wouldn't miss steak, I'm not a huge steak fan, I like it, but it isn't something that I'd die without, but I couldn't go without eating a big fat juicy cheeseburger every once in a while."
Sara laughed.
"Does your husband know you don't like steak, if you tell him that you might be on the same path as Grissom and I." Sara quipped.
"He knows, but he very sweetly looked past that fault." Jackie told her jokingly.
"Honestly I'm not a picky eater though, there are only two things I won't eat, mushrooms and sushi." Jackie told her.
"Nick told me once that your favorite meal was seafood." Sara told her confusedly.
"I love seafood, like shrimp and lobster but I hate sushi, I tried a seaweed and lobster roll once, and that will be the only time." Jackie told her with a shudder.
Sara laughed.
"And I hate mushrooms with a passion, I think it's the texture. Honestly the biggest lie I've ever told Nick throughout our relationship was that I was allergic to mushrooms so he'd never expect me to put them in anything, well that worked fine until one day, about a year and a half into our relationship and we went out to eat and I can't even remember what I ordered now but I ordered it without the mushrooms and they forgot and left them in there and I ate one accidently and Nick wigged out, he thought he'd have to race me to the ER, well I then obviously had to confess my little white lie."
"Was he mad?" Sara asked.
"No, he laughed hysterically for about five minutes." Jackie told her.
Sara laughed.
"So has he ever made you put mushrooms in anything you've ever made him after that?"
"No, and if he ever did want them he knows that I'd never do it, and if I did I wouldn't be eating whatever it was that I cooked."
Sara laughed.
The women finished their lunch and then did some window shopping in the little shops around their hotel.
"The four of us will have to meet up for dinner later." Sara commented later that day after the guys were finished with their conference.
"Yeah sounds good." Nick agreed.
As soon as Grissom and Sara were out of earshot Jackie turned to Nick.
"Hon, let's not go to dinner with them tonight, let's let them have some time alone together maybe they can rekindle something."
"Listen, Mrs. Matchmaker, stay out of it." Nick told her with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm not going to say anything to them, I just think it would do them some good to spend some time one on one." Jackie insisted.
"Well alright, but how are we going to get out of going to dinner with them?" He asked.
"Just let me handle it." Jackie told him.
He didn't know how good of an idea that was but he agreed anyways.
A while later there was a knock on Nick and Jackie's hotel room door.
Jackie peeked through the peephole and saw it was Sara.
"Hey, Gris and I are going to dinner in about a half hour, are you guys going to come?" Sara asked as Jackie opened the door.
"Actually Sara, I think Nick and I are going to sit this one out. Nick has a splitting headache and I'm tired, and I think that's your fault, those two mimosas this morning did me in."
Sara laughed.
"Alright, well I hope Nick feels better, maybe we can all go to breakfast tomorrow?"
"Sure, that sounds great, enjoy dinner."
"Thanks." Sara said with a smile before she turned and walked down the hallway back towards her own room.
A little time passed before Jackie ran down to the small store in the hotel. She bought her and Nick sandwiches and sodas so they could eat.
Grissom and Sara headed to dinner as planned.
It was nice for them both to see each other again.
"I had a nice time tonight." Grissom told her as he walked her back to her hotel room once they were finished with dinner.
"I did too." She told him truthfully.
"Goodnight Sara."
"Goodnight." She responded before disappearing into her hotel room.
As she sat on her bed and thought about the evening she couldn't help but feel at least somewhat disappointed. Sure she had had a nice time but she was hoping things would go a little farther than what they had, to her the evening had felt like a blind date instead of a situation where a formally married couple was trying to get back together.
She sighed, there was nothing she could do about it.
She was just about ready to get into her pajamas when there was a knock on the door. She looked through the peephole and saw Grissom.
She opened the door.
"Hi." He told her.
Her investigative eyes darted towards the two wine glasses and the bottle of wine in his hands.
"I thought maybe we could have a glass of wine and talk, I think we have a lot to talk about, may I come in?"
She smiled and motioned with her hand to come in.
TBC