November 2010

Sara stood in front of the mirror and uncapped her lipstick. Taking a final look at herself before gliding the cream over her lips. She stepped back and checked her hair once more before turning off the light and exiting the room. She chose the blue dress that she knew Grissom liked for this evening. He'd mentioned as much the last time she wore it, at an event in Paris at the end of august.

The thought about the way he stroked the small of her back as his eyes devoured her. And later that evening, when they were finally alone, he traced his fingers over the low-cut neck line, kissing her bare shoulders. She got goosebumps just thinking about it now.

She couldn't wait to see him. It had been months since they last were together. Because in the end, he had to cancel the trip he had originally planned to Vegas for her birthday in September. The Peruvian government had moved up their start date for the project and he'd been there ever since.

Overall it was hard for them to be apart so much. Especially with little to no communication for weeks at a time. But they were both thriving despite it. It afforded them the opportunity to lose themselves in their respective work and maintain the loner habits each were known for, all while still being together, connected, in love.

He was supposed to be here by now, but when she didn't hear from him, she assumed he would just meet her at the event. Perhaps his flight was delayed? She realized she should have asked him for his flight information but their communication had been so finicky since he arrived in Peru. Often in remote areas without access to good cell reception or internet.

So she made her way to the event alone and hoped that she would see him standing there outside of the venue waiting for her. But when she arrived, he was nowhere in view. She entered and followed the sound of the drums.

As she defended the stairs to the main hall she scanned the crowed for a familiar face. Hoping to find Grissom's but also looking for Betty. Her eyes darted around feverishly. Her heart began to pound to the rhythm of the drums as she grew anxious.

The buzzing in her clutch alerted her to a call, seeing it was Grissom she quickly answered.

"Gil! I'm here already, where are you?"

"I'm still in Peru. Are you at the party?"

"Uh, hold on. Hold on Gil." She turned back around to ascend the stairs in hopes of drowning the thick drumming sound. "I can't hear you."

"Sounds like Tiko drums in the background. The deaf love the vibrations. They can feel it on their skin."

"Why are you still in Peru? Is everything okay?"

"We found another mass grave. The government asked if I could stay." His voice began to break up.

"Gil?" She looked at the phone to see the call had been cut short causing her to sigh heavily with disappointment. She took a breath, resigning herself to the idea that she'd be attending this party alone after all.

She wrote out a text, hoping the communication may go through, "I miss you. I'll tell your mother you say hi."

As she replaced her phone in her clutch she noticed the silhouette of two figures behind a door just a few feet from her before a woman with slightly smudged lipstick emerged from the room catching eyes with Sara.

She smirked knowingly and thought about what hidden romance had just been unfolding. If she were honest, she missed that element of the relationship she and Grissom shared early on. Though they had only shared one kiss within their shared workplace. After he had returned from sabbatical. The moment warmed her even now.

As she descended the stairs once more, she caught sight of Betty in the crowd and made her way to her.

"Mrs. Grissom." She smiled warmly and took Betty's hands in hers. She wished she'd studied up on her sign language more before this evening. But Grissom had promised he'd be there to translate.

"Sara, I'd like you to meet someone." Betty signed as she turned to grab a woman's attention. And as the blonde turned around, Sara recognized her immediately as the woman from upstairs that had emerged from a secret make out session.

"Julia Holden." Betty continued as the translator spoke so that Sara could easily follow along, "Head of the department of Deaf Cultural Studies."

Sara picked up the quick shock in Julia's eyes. "Nice to meet you, Professor." Sara smiled and signed as best she could.

"Julia, please." Julia signed back, "My students don't even call me professor."

"Sara is Gil's wife." Betty added.

A curious sort of smile washed over Julia's face, "Ah, the other Mrs. Grissom."

Sara smiled politely in return.

"Sara Sidle." Betty corrected, "She didn't take his name." The underlying sentiment was obvious to all parties. "Julia has been like a daughter to me. I'm so proud of her." The pair embraced in an intimate side hug as Betty continued, "A published author, lecturer, foremost accomplished in deaf culture studies in the country." Betty gushed through Julias accolades as Sara worked hard not to take it too personally. Knowing well that despite being Betty's actual daughter-in-law, she would never view her or treat her with such warmth.

"Ladies, you look beautiful." A man who would then introduce himself as Dr. Lambert joined the trio. But Sara caught the level of discomfort that suddenly washed over Julia as she quickly excused herself from the situation.

"So, where is your son?" Dr. Lambert asked Betty. Betty, in turn, looked over at Sara for the answer.

"Gil is stuck in Peru. He's been doing some consulting work for the government." She looked between Betty and Dr. Lambert as she added, "He's… He's not coming."

"Seems like my son's away from home a lot." Betty signed to Dr. Lambert before glaring at Sara. All Sara could do was smile awkwardly. She didn't know how to navigate this and wished terribly that Grissom had called her an hour earlier so she could bail on the whole thing.

"I know you're disappointed he couldn't make it tonight." Sara signed to Betty after Dr. Lambert excused himself. "I only just found out moments ago myself."

"I see." Was all she said at first. "You two don't talk much."

"The reception isn't great out there." She provided, "But he seems to really love what he's been doing. Archeological entomology. A whole new field he's helping build."

"Yes. We've spoke." She signed cooly in return.

Sara nodded awkwardly. She couldn't win with this woman. But she kept her pokerface intact, trying to win her over with steadiness and warm even if it took every once of energy in her bones to do so. She was't going to let Betty's shots get a rise out of her.

"Betty." Another woman approached, placing a hand on Betty's shoulder to alert her of her presence. "So good to see you! Is Gil here yet?"

Betty shot a look at Sara, "He's not coming." She said again, "Hi, I'm Sara Sidle-Grissom, his wife." She extended a hand to the woman who immediately shot a look at Betty.

"Gil's married?"

"Yes, but they don't live on the same continent."

"I'm going to go get some air." Sara spoke without signing and left the conversation. She could feel her patience running thin and needed to clear her head before she said something she may regret.

The cool Vegas air kissed her bare shoulders. She looked up to the sky and noticed how many stars she could see. Not nearly as many as were visible in the remote areas of Costa Rica that she and Grissom enjoyed together. But, a handful nonetheless. She wondered how many stars Grissom could see tonight.

A ruble in the near distance caught her attention, she turned her gaze away from the sky to see an explosion. A rush of fire balled up into the sky. Immediately she ran toward her, her training causing her to act before thinking.

As she approached she found Julia trying desperately to open the car that was on fire. Sara grabbed Julia and pulled her away just in time before the second explosion took place.

"Are you okay!?" Sara signed once she got Julia far enough away from the car.

Julia simply shook her head in shock, unable to respond.

The rest of the guests began to filter outside, having been alerted of the explosion from the ground shaking.

"Bring my coveralls for me, you're about to be dispatched to Gilbert College." She texted Nick.

"Hey." Sara sighed in relief as she spotted Nick and Ray walking up to the scene. Betty wasn't far away, watching.

"Wait a minute. Did you do something different?" Nick teased at Sara all dolled up.

"Oh my goodness. I almost didn't recognize you." Ray spoke with more astonishment in his voice then he wanted to let on.

"Yeah.. yeah. Did you do something new with your hair?" Nick continued his brotherly jabs.

"Please tell me that you—"

"Yes, we brought your coveralls." Ray handed over the blue department issued jumpsuit to her.

Nick placed his kit down on the ground, "Here's a seat for ya."

Sara sat and carefully slipped her legs into the coveralls, shimmying it up under the dress. She caught Betty roll her eyes as the way Sara was displaying herself but she didn't care anymore. She was in work mode now, where she felt most herself. Most confident.

She pulled the dress up over her head and Nick helped her the rest of the way in the gentlemanly texan manner he always carried. She slipped on her sneakers Ray provided and threw the dress into a bag.

"I'll throw this in the Denali for ya." Nick said as he walked away with Sara's dress and heels.

Now that she was in work mode, she was ready to get started. She turned her attention toward Julia and began asking her some questions.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Sara asked.

Just before Julia was about to respond Betty rushed to her side.

"Mrs. Grissom. I'm sorry—I need you to step back. Julia, her clothing, it's evidence." She assumed Betty would understand about contamination, she was Gil's mother after all.

Betty began to sign something with such speed that Sara could barely make out any of it.

"Wait. wait. I don't understand. It's too fast." Sara spoke and signed slowly in turn.

Betty shot her a sharp disapproving look before very slowly, almost mockingly so, stating, "I'm not leaving her."

Later that shift Sara walked the lab halls with Catherine as she caught her up on the case.

"I'm going to go back and scope the campus to see if Dr. Lambert had any enemies."

"Why don' you just check with your mother-in-law?" Catherine questioned, "She's pretty dialed in there."

Sara forced a smile, "Uh.. yeah… Communication isn't really our strong suit."

"I thought you were learning to sign?"

"I am, I'm improving… It's not really a language barrier, it's just kind of a barrier. She's very hard to get close to. She questions everything and has to be right about everything. She's emotionally unavailable and frankly, not very warm." She stoped speaking at the sight of Catherine smirking and chuckling. "What?"

"I'm sorry." Catherine shook her head trying to stifle her laughter, "You just described Grissom. Like mother like son."

Sara's face dropped at the realization.

"I guess the only difference here is that you were able to break down those walls for Grissom by sleeping with him." Catherine added.

Nick and Sara stood in Julia Holden's office at Gilbert College looking for evidence of bomb-making materials.

"Incoming." Sara spoke through the side of her mouth to Nick as she caught sight of Betty, Julia and the interpreter walking their way.

"What are you doing here?" Julia was angry.

"Well, we're conducting a murder investigation. Sara Spoke calmly as the interpreter signed for her.

"What's going on, Nick?" Betty questioned causing Nick to glance at Sara.

"Mrs. Grissom, we have reason to believe that somebody might have planted a bomb in Dr. Lambert's car."

"You don't think Julia had anything to do with it?" Betty questioned with shocked eyes.

"Julia, you were not being honest with me about where you were when the bomb went off. So, where were you really?"

"I haven't done anything wrong." Julia and Betty shared a glance at one another as the room went silent.

"Okay." Sara steadied herself, "We are executing a search warrant and we will need both of you to wait in the hall. Please." Betty's eyes went wide as the uniformed officer ushered the pair out of the room.

Nick turned to Sara, "You don't seem to be winning any brownie points with your mother-in-law. She really seems to like me though!" Nick smiled playful but quickly wiped it off his face at the sight of Sara's thin lips and furrowed brows, unamused.

Sara sat opposite Julia in the interrogation room along with Brass and a court certified interpreter.

"So Dr. Lambert wasn't the man you were having sex with at the party?" Sara questioned, inciting a scowl from Julia at the accusation.

"I told you I didn't kill him." Julia signed animatedly. She paused briefly before continuing. "Obviously there's a conflict of interest here."

"What is she talking about?" Brass asked the interpreter.

Julia's eyes stayed glued to Sara as she responded. "My history with your husband."

Sara shook her head in disbelief, "What history."

"We were involved. Intimately." Julia held a satisfied look on her face as Sara's obvious naivety became evident. "He din't tell you? I thought married people told each other everything."

Sara breathed in deeply, realizing how much Betty must have been confiding in Julia about Gil. About Betty's perceived shortcomings of their marriage.

"My marriage has nothing to do with this case."

"It does now." Julia sat back with arms crossed.

Sara sat in Catherine's office. "She totally played me. She knew exactly who I was. And knew that I didn't know anything about her and Gil."

"C'mon." Catherine sipped her tea and sat down next to Sara. "For all you know they only went out a couple of times."

"Well they slept together." Sara's voice gave away how uncomfortable the idea made her, "She made that perfectly clear."

Catherine shrugged off the idea, "You never slept with anyone else before Gil?"

Sara looked down bashfully, realizing how silly it was to let this get a rise out of her.

"I just don't like being blindsided. And Julia is like a daughter to Betty, she said as much…. It's just—" She paused for a moment trying to think of a good way to word her feelings, "It feels like I'm always trying to claw my way into her good graces only to find that she almost had the daughter-in-law she always wanted. And instead is stuck with me."

Catherine smiled sadly, understanding the conflicting emotions battling within her colleague. "Sara, you are the only woman he ever lifted his head out of a microscope for long enough to keep his attention. If your mother-in-law can't see what he see's in you, that's her problem. Not yours."

Sara breathed out, it was exactly what she needed to hear. "Yeah, okay."

"Don't let her rattle you." Catherine added as Sara stood to leave, "It's what she's hoping for. And in the end, whatever was between her and Grissom, it ended. She might just be bitter."

Nick and Sara walked through the campus quad after searching the dorm rooms for potential evidence.

"You still like Julia Holden for this."

"I do." Sara responded.

"None of the physical evidence points to her."

"I am not making this personal." He shot her a glance before she added, "Okay maybe a little. You know, it would have been nice if Gil had told me about him and Julia."

"Ah c'mon." Nick laughed it off, "It's ancient history, I'm sure it happened long before you two ever got together."

"She is pretty."

"Yeah…" Nick agreed. "Yeah she's pretty." He shrugged as if it were no big deal, "Okay very pretty. Actually. Hi Mrs. G." Nick waved at the sight of Mrs. Grissom and the interpreter.

"Oh great." Sara spoke through closed teeth, "I'll catch up with you back at the lab." Sara forced a smile and approached her mother-in-law.

"I heard you called Julia in for more questioning."

"Well, yes. She's a suspect in Dr. Lambert's murder." Sara responded matter-of-factly.

"Julia would never hurt anyone. I know her."

"Obviously she's intimately involved with your son." Sara spoke while signing despite the interpreters presence, "Thanks for the heads up, by the way."

"I thought you knew."

Sara shook her head, "No." She responded softly.

"Maybe if you and Gil saw each other more often, you'd know more about each other."

Sara bit back her feelings. She couldn't believe Betty was still at this, an in the midst of something as serious as a murder investigation. She motioned to the bench for the two to sit.

She took a breath and softened herself, "Betty, a man was murdered. Someone you know. If there was something going on between Julia and Dr. Lambert, you have to tell me."

Betty took a beat before responding to her, "Dr. Lambert was a stickler for rules, deadlines. Lately, Julia's been distracted. Late with paperwork. Missing classes."

"Any idea why?"

"I asked her about it. She said everything was fine."

"Thank you." Sara gestured.

Hodges took up a seat next to Sara and opposite Catherine in the break room with results in hand.

"I did find something else on the sheets you collected." Hodges began, "Hair and vaginal contributions. Both belonging to Julia Holden."

"Having sex with one of her students." Catherine raised a brow.

"Maybe Shawn was the one Julia was having sex with in the bathroom." Sara spoke, remembering their paths crossing initially at the beginning of the party.

"Hmm, quite deliberating." Hodges mused out loud, causing Catherine and Sara to both roll their eyes but he continued on regardless, "Not unlike Lady Heather. Clearly, Grissom has a yin for sexually adventurous women whose veracious appetites can only be satisfied by dangerous and unbridles passion."

"Thank you." Sara cut him off, shoving his folder back toward him.

"That is—most of the time." Hodges quickly began to add in a fervent attempt to walk back the hole he dug himself, "Until he realized that even though you can have sexual satisfaction, it doesn't hold a candle to spirted intellectual conversation… Not to say you and Grissom don't have an adequate sex life. I mean—when you happen to be in the same city…"

"Isn't that your phone down the hall?" Catherine cut in.

"Yes it is! Thank you!" Hodges leapt at the change to leave.

Sara turned back toward Catherine once Hodges finally left with his foot squarely in his mouth. The shock and slight levels of humiliation clearly on her face. She hated feeling this vulnerable and this shift was one vulnerable moment after the next.

"Grissom and I have great sex." She said, trying to change the tide of the narrative.

"I'm sure you do." Catherine spoke plainly. Sara engaging in this type of talk with her was beyond anything Catherine could have ever expected from her once very guarded very rough-around-the-edges co-worker.

"Sex with a student is kind of a career-ender for Julia." Catherine paused a moment, "Not to keep bringing it back to this, but, you could understand that. It's the reason you and Grissom hid your relationship for two years, no? A person of authority with a subordinate."

"I wouldn't have killed Ecklie over it." Sara joked.

"No. But maybe Shawn did."

"So not just for the grant money, but for love."

The explosion catapulted Julia, Sara and Ray to the ground. The fire burned hot through Julia's office. And if Sara and Ray hadn't arrived at that moment to talk to her, causing Julia to leave her office and approach them in furry, she would have been dead.

Julia was taken to the hospital. Later on, Sara went to collect evidence from her when she saw Shawn visiting her. She watched the two communicate, and noticed Shawn signing something she did not recognize.

She found Betty at a small table outside the hospital.

"Do you know what this means?" Sara signed the gesture for Betty a few times.

"Oh yes. That means sweet pea in LSQ. Quebec sign language."

"Quebec? Shawn is from England. Why would he be speaking LSQ?"

"Maybe he spent some time there? Picked up on the slang?" Betty offered.

"That's possible." Sara thought a moment and smiled, "When Gil and I first got back from Europe there were a couple phrases that stuck with me too."

"Do you miss it?" Betty asked.

"Europe?"

She shook her head, "Being with your husband." A weighty silence fell between them as Betty's words sunk in. "What kind of marriage do you have? You barely even see each other. You don't even live in the same country."

"We talk every day, cell reception allowing, and we try to see each other once a month—"

Betty cut her off, "That is not a marriage, Sara. I lost my husband too soon. But in all the years that we were married, we never spent one night apart."

"I understand where you're coming from, I do. Gil and I lost our fathers around the same age."

"I did not know this." Betty sighed with a furrowed expression. She suddenly realized that she knew very little and her daughter-in-law other than her profession. A profession she was never too thrilled Gil and taken up in the first place. "And your mother?"

"Lives in San Fransisco." Sara smiled and nodded, knowing that's all she'd give Betty on the subject. "It's unconventional, I know. She continued, "But what Gil and I have… it works. We love each other."

"If you really loved each other, you would find a way to be together."

Sara sighed and shook her head, "Gil and I have something special. We're a family—" She suddenly became so sick of having to explain herself. Trying so desperately to vie for her mother-in-law's approval or respect. And as she said the word family it evoked the feelings she had about Betty's meddling in their future, in their planning for children. It all bubbled up in that moment, "You know what, if you don't want to be a part of it, that's your call." She stood hastily to leave and Betty was left watching her walk away.

"Grissom."

"Dr. Grissom, I have your mother here. She was hoping to get a word with you. Do you mind if I translate?"

"Of course. Is everything alright?" Grissom sat up from his reclined position. He'd just made it back to the city after spending the last week in a remote region of Peru.

The translator began to speak Betty's words, filling him in rapidly about what had been transpiring; the explosion at the party, causing Julia of murder, the disrespect Sara had just displayed toward her.

"Mom." Grissom sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He should have known, despite the murder and explosion, that standing Sara up at this particular event was going to create a problem. He hadn't thought it through like this. Hadn't thought about how his mother would behave toward her, how Julia would be there at the party, how all of these dynamics would play out. "I know you love Julia, but we really didn't have much of a relationship and that was well over a decade ago now."

"You should have given it more effort. I don't understand what happened between you two. You were very good together."

"I didn't love her." Grissom spoke casually.

"And you love Sara?"

"You know I do. With all of my heart. Sara and I have been together for years. We're married. We love each other. I wish you would accept that. I wish you would start treating her the way you treat Julia… like family." He paused a moment before adding, "It's not her fault I'm not home. Please don't take that out on her."

"I see."

"She likes vegetation."

"Excuse me?"

"When you go and apologize. She loves African Violets."

"Gilbert…"

"I love you both very much, mom. But you can both be stubborn at times." He was being generous with his words. In truth, they were both very stubborn all of the time. "Trust me."

"And children? How will that work when you're worlds apart?"

"One hurdle at a time, mom. Let's speak soon."

"Alright, Gilbert. Be safe, son."

Later that evening once the case was fully wrapped and Shawn was implicated, Sara retreated to Catherine's vacant office to speak with Grissom on video call. He'd texted her that he'd be free around this time and she had agreed to call him, having assumed she'd be home by now. But she was not. Though the lab halls were mostly empty now, so she did have privacy.

The computer began to chime with the incoming call.

"Gilber." She smiled widely as his face filled the screen. She felt like she could breathe again fro the first time in days.

"Hello, Dear." He glowed, "I'm so sorry I cousin't make it."

"I understand." She paused briefly, "Tell me about your findings."

"The graves were littered with pupae castings. It looked like somebody dumped a ton of rice crisps on top of a bunch of halloween skeletons." She laughed softly as he continued, "It indicated that it wasn't a proper burial. For the Incas there was no greater punishment. We think it was meat as a warning Don't mess with the Mocking."

"Aha." She smiled.

"Well anyway, how was your week? What have you been up to?"

"Well. I almost got blown up… twice. I accused your ex-girlfriend of murder and, oh, I told off your mother."

"Oh good, you've kept busy."

"Yeah. See what happens when you stand me up?" She smirked knowingly through pursed lips.

"So you met Julia?"

"I did… She's beautiful." Sara's insecurities were transparent despite her best attempts to hide them.

"No." Grissom shook his head, "Julia is pretty. You are belle. L'amour de ma vie."

Sara blushed as she averted her eyes briefly, "Still, you could have given me a heads up. Or your mother could have… I now realize that the only part of your romantic history I am really aware of his the one evening you spent with Heather Kessler. A fact that Hodges had no problem shedding some unsolicited light on."

Grissom laughed at this. A moment of weakness is what he chalked that evening up to. In fact, he had only let himself be seduced by Heather after learning of Sara's relationship with Hank the paramedic.

"No need to harp on the past." He shrugged, "Though perhaps we're even know. You did blindside me with Hank Pedigrew."

"Hank?" Sara gawked, "That was like eight years ago… You weren't even interested in me."

"Contrary." Grissom smiled, "I was so helplessly in love with you that I was still pushing you away."

"I miss you, Gil."

He smiled sadly, "I know. I'm going to try to fly to Vegas next week and stay for a a bit longer. Maybe two weeks."

"This is working right?"

He could see the sadness in her eyes, the hurt, apprehension and vulnerability. And he knew immediately that it was his mother's doing for putting those thoughts in her mind.

Just as he was about to respond, he noticed her attention shift off camera.

"Who's there?" Grissom asked, hearing the knock on the door.

"Uh, it's your mother."

Betty's face light up at the sight of Grissom on the computer screen. She quickly took a seat beside Sara.

"Hi, mom. You never came to the office when I was working there." He signed and spoke at the same time, a normal routine he'd gotten into when it was the three of them in conversation. "I heard you and Sara had an exciting week."

Then, Betty handed Sara the potted plant, "Oh, African Violets. They're beautiful. Thank you." Sara signed.

"I told her you like vegetation."

"I'm sorry too." Sara softened, "Can we start over?"

Grissom was warmed by the sight unfolding before him. "When I come back, the three of us with grab dinner."

"When?" Betty urged.

"Soon." He replied simply, his eyes darting back to make contact with Sara.

"Betty began to sign again, "I know my worrying can be burdensome. But when do you two have a chance to be intimate? You're never together. I worry about your happiness."

"Uh… Your mother is talking about our sex life." Sara spoke through bewildered eyes.

"You know, in the Incan Society, the elders would pass down their knowledge of sexual pleasure to younger generations. Their stories were documented on their pottery. Little ceramic jars called sex pots."

"Sex pots." Sara reiterated and mimicked the sign.

"Gil's father and I—"

Grissom cut her off, "Sometimes too much." He smiled, "I love you both, very much."

"I love you too." Sara spoke warmly, "Bye."

She and Betty signed I love you before the screen went blank.