"Hi." Her small voice drifted into his ears. He looked up with excitement, happy to have an excuse out of reviewing the endless paperwork. He took in her appearance. She'd showered and changed since their last interaction. She even put on some lipstick, he observed.
She stepped in and closed the door behind her. Without another word she walked to the chrysalis and got eye level with it. "There's a little tear in it now. That wasn't there at the start of shift."
Grissom stood and walked over to her, standing just behind her. He breathed in, her scent filling his senses finally. "It's getting ready to come out." His breath kissed her ear. She turned her face to the right, coming within mere centimeters of his. "Within the next couple of days I'd guess." His words were even quieter now.
He leaned in and softly brushed his lips against hers. They'd never kissed within the confines of their shared workplace before. And he knew better. But he didn't care in this moment. It had been nearly five weeks since he'd kissed her. Five weeks since he felt her lips on his. He smiled against her lips now as he felt her begin to kiss him back.
His hand raised to the side of her face, touching her skin, her hair. She broke the kiss first, "You came back early." She breathed, their foreheads and noses still touching.
"I was supposed to stay through the final grading papers but—" His voice trailed off.
"You missed the lab?"
"No." His hand caressed her face, his thumb gently stroked by her ear, cupping her jawline, "I missed you." His words came out like a soft breeze.
Sara's breath caught in her throat, eyes softening. She moved to hug him, tightly nuzzling her head in the nook of his shoulder. "Let's go home." She finally spoke. She felt him nod his head against her.
But the shrill of his phone broke him from the moment. He walked back to his desk and answered the call, "Grissom."
"I just spoke to him," Catherines emotional voice came through the phone, "He sounded like a man with nothing left, nothing to live for. He sounded desperate."
"He is not your priority right now. Find the witness."
"Yeah I know, I just—I wanted to let you know."
"I'll send Sara to there to help." He hung up and looked at her as she nodded.
"Later then." Her fingers traced his beard clad jawline as he nodded through a soft sigh.
A few hours later the case had come to an end and Kepler was dead. Shot by his father-in-law. But the witness he was protecting survived to tell the story.
Sara now walked back through the lab until she saw Grissom standing by his office, talking with Ecklie and Catherine.
"I'm going to clock out." Sara spoke as she approached the trio.
"Thanks for your help tonight, Sara." Catherine spoke with resignation in her voice, working hard to keep emotion at bay.
She nodded in return, "I'm sorry, Catherine. I know you two grew close these last few weeks." She looked between Catherine and Ecklie before letting her eyes rest on Grissom's for a fleeting moment. A look that conveyed a whole conversation without a single word.
As he nodded at her. "Welcome back, Grissom." She spoke cooly, then turned and walked out of the lab to head home.
By the time Sara was stepping out of the shower and toweling off her hair, she heard him entering the bedroom.
"Hey." She spoke sweetly as she exited the bathroom, her silk robe hanging loosely on her body.
"It took me forever to leave." He spoke as he sat on the edge of their bed and rubbed at the back of his neck. "What a mess. IA is going to have a field day with this one." He shook his head a bit, "I guess a lot can happen around here in five weeks."
She took a seat beside him on the edge of their bed, "It was... eventful." She confirmed through a small smile and placed a soft hand on his knee.
His eyes met hers, "You showered again."
She shrugged, "One shower is never really enough after a four hour dumpster dive, you know?"
"Yeah." He smiled knowingly. His eyes started to drift, allowing himself to take her in more fully now. And upon seeing this, she moved her hand from his knee up his thigh.
"I've missed you too." She spoke in response to his statement from much earlier in the night, when the two were stood together alone in his office having just looked on at the chrysalis together.
She leaned in and kissed him in the way she had longed to for weeks. His brows flickered up with excitement as he felt her lips on his. Completely frozen in the sensations that he'd yearned for for weeks. She looked at his face as she pulled back, dopey and delirious with bliss. She smiled at the sight as his eyes fluttered open to see where she had went and smiled sheepishly upon seeing her gaze on him.
She moved her hands to his shirt, unbuttoning it slowly.
When her hands touched his now bare chest, it was like defibrillator paddles bringing him back to life. Her warm touch surged through him and suddenly he was unable to contain his desire. He needed her in that moment like he'd never experienced before. His hands unfroze and moved to the collar of her robe, slipping his fingers beneath the silk fabric to feel her still slightly damp skin. His fingers moved up to her neck until he was cupping her face with one hand. He searched her eyes for a moment before the surge took over. He pulled her to him and kissed her with all the pent up longing and passion that he felt for her over his absence.
She gasped, surprised by the intensity of his movements. Their bodies took charge, desperate for one another. She moaned against him as he took charge.
She looked up into his eyes, bluer and brighter than she'd ever seen them before, "Welcome home, Gilbert." She breathed as he slipped inside her.
The next day Grissom went to the lab early to take care of the paperwork he'd abandoned. Finally, he got to the large box post marked from when he'd first left. To his horror, he opened the box to find another miniature crime scene dated to take place in two days. He hurried into the hallway with the package.
"Catherine! Layout room now." He called out to her, rushing past a girl from janitorial as he sped down the hall. That shift they'd learn that Earnie Dell was not the miniature killer. That killer was still at large. They learned that Dell was most likely taking the wrap to protect someone he loved. And that person, was most likely a foster child.
Addressing the miniature to Grissom made this different. It made it personal. The air in the lab shifted that day. Any relief Grissom had felt upon closing that case before his sabbatical was now gone. The obsession began to creep back in.
At the end of shift, Grissom and Sara sat side-by-side in an AV room going through Dell's home videos. Counting foster kids and trying to think through next steps.
"We reran the video footage several times to get a head count. Assuming that they're all Dell foster kids, there's 13 of them."
"At this birthday party." He responded.
"Yeah. Lionel only remembered first names. Getting DHS records is going to be tough. Judges hate giving them out unless we can demonstrate pressing need and even then… they're spotty at best. You know, a lot of foster kids change their names when they age out."
"Ernie Dell confessed and killed himself to protect someone he loved. And that someone has murdered five people." He paused a moment, turning his head toward her, her eyes were glued to the screen. "Did you?"
"Did I what?"
"Change your name?" He spoke hesitantly.
She turned her head to look at him now, "No." She paused for a moment before continuing, "I did think about it." She confessed, "But my past is part of who I am. Whether I like that or not. And changing my name wasn't going to rewrite my childhood."
He nodded and placed a gentle hand on her back. He was finding it more difficult to withhold affectionate touches since he returned. Especially at this hour when the lab was mostly empty. He constantly craved her touch.
Just the other night they worked a case together near the Trip Wire Bar with a recked red Mustang….
When he had arrived on the scene, he walked up to her and took the department camera from her. His hand leaving feathery touches down her arm as he slipped the camera's strap off her shoulder. She leaned into his touch instinctively but quickly shot him a subtle warning look. He kept finding reasons to touch her. Her back, her shoulder, her hand.
The change in him was not lost on Sara. His boyish tendencies had resurfaced, he was more attentive and communicative. More affectionate. His hobbies were infused with intrigue and energy once more. She loved it.
"I can take lead on the DHS records though. We continue to submit and update requests as we gain more information."
He nodded, "Have Greg help."
"Yeah, okay." She nodded as she jotted down a note about this particular VHS tape. "Henry is still working on enhance two other tapes we found."
"What are the chances that any of these kids kept in touch with each other?"
"Minimal. These kids get shuffled around so much, and at a time before cell phones or internet... I barely remember first names of kids I lived with, ate dinner with every night, shared a room with."
He nodded, "So it's not unreasonable that Lionel doesn't know any of them."
"Absolutely. It would have been a revolving door. And if he was already resentful of their presence in their home... I doubt he would have made any effort to become friendly with any of them."
"Did you? You know... make an effort to..." His voice trailed.
She shook her head, "I think in the second or third home I was in, there was another girl whom I shared a room with. We got along but... no. I was more interested in getting out of the system. Kept my head down and my grades up. Most of the time I was only at the foster homes to sleep. I spent a lot of time at school, the library or with Dave."
"You were in touch with him during those years?"
"Yeah." She smiled through another shrug.
"I'm sorry." Spoke a very small voice causing the pair to turn around. A girl from janitorial, mop in hand.
"No, go ahead, we're done here." Grissom stood and walked out of the room with Sara, his hand resting on the small of her back. "Can you log these VHS's back in evidence and I'll meet you at the car?"
Sara nodded and they walked opposite ways down the hallway, their fingers touching softly before departing. The janitorial onlooker taking it all in.
Her head laid against his bare chest, rising and falling with his breaths. His fingers gently stroking her soft hair as he kissed the top of her head. Her presence warmed him to his core. He sighed at the sound of his phone, reached over to see that it was Brass.
"Grissom."
Sara sat up now, pulling the sheet with her. She was certain he was being called in. And she was right.
"I hate to pull you out of bed on a Saturday these days." Brass spoke into the phone.
"What do we have?"
He listened as Brass gave him the details then hung up and looked over at her.
"I've got to go in. Two high school kids are missing. Favor to the sheriff."
She nodded. "Need help?"
"I'll let you know." He rubbed his face as he stood. "I think I've got to get rid of this thing."
Later that evening after shift was over, Grissom stood in their bathroom, shaving cream lathered over his face. He gazed at the framed butterflies on the wall, neatly pined in a rows 4 by 10. It reminded him that he wanted to pin the eastern coma butterfly he'd sent Sara while on sabbatical once it finally hatches.
"Do you trust me?" Sara turned around to face him, straight razor in hand. His eyes softened as they refocused on her. Looking at her with admiration as he tilted his head for her.
"Intimately." He breathed in at the feeling of her fingers on his neck and closed his eyes to enjoy has she shaved his beard for him.
Afterward, she took a damp cloth and dabbed his face for him, taking off any residue of shaving cream. Then, she leaned in and kissed his lips. Feeling the his soft skin against her lips. "Much better." She smiled.
He brought his hand up to his face and felt is bare jaw, "Thank you, darling." He leaned in and kissed her again allowing himself to feel the new sensations of their skin touching without the barrier of his beard.
"Where'd the fur go?" Catherine questioned immediately as she walked into his office, gesturing to his chin.
"Oh, uh, It was irritating me." He shrugged off her comment.
"You? Or your girlfriend?"
Grissom's bewildered look earned a hearty laugh from Catherine, "I'm just kidding. Anyway, the knife matched the wounds on our vic, but not the DNA. I think we're looking for a twin weapon."
"Check the car too, under the seats."
Catherine nodded. "Is that alive?" She squinted and looked in at the terrarium that held the chrysalis, "I think your friend is hatching."
Grissom looked up quickly with excitement. "Yeah?" He stood to get a better look.
"Is that new?"
"I brought it back from Massachusetts."
"Huh. Alright, well I'll see you in the garage." Catherine walked out.
As soon as Catherine left, Grissom grabbed his phone and quickly dialed.
"Sidle."
"Sara, where are you?"
"In layout. Everything okay?"
"Come to my office."
Sara dropped what she was doing and briskly walked down the hall. She didn't bother knocking as she entered, "What's up?"
"Close the door behind you."
She furrowed her brows as she looked at Grissom's back, he was facing the shelves. "Okay…" Her voice trailed as she closed the door and made her way to him.
"It's hatching, look."
Sara leaned in close to see the orange and brown spotted wings slowing breaking out of the silk wrap. His face brushed against her hair as she leaned in closer to him and the terrarium.
"Wow." She breathed as more of the butterfly came into view.
"Beautiful." He spoke, looking at Sara.
"Well worth the wait." She looked over at him now and smiled. He wasn't the only one capable of speaking in double entendres. He smirked at her knowingly. She had looked up the butterfly in one of their textbooks at home after he'd told her the species. Polygonia Comma. She understood now why he'd been so excited to find it for her. Symbolizing unconditional love and faith, Sara felt overwhelmed now that she was laying eyes on it finally.
The butterfly fully emerged and began to flap it's wings slowly. A warmth took over her as she turned to face him. Very lightly, she touched her lips to his.
"Thank you." She spoke in nearly a whisper, "This may be the most beautiful gift I've ever received." She touched his bare jawline again, rubbing her thumb over his cheek and placing another featherly light kiss against his lips.