Chapter 13

More than one hour had passed since they ordered their first Heineken. Everybody kept talking about all and nothing, which for Grissom is far from being a common occurrence. But he had to admit: he was having fun.

It was easy for him to live by himself. In a way, it was always like that, except for some periods, like when he shared a dorm in college or shared a life with Sara. He had his own routine, his own pace and his own mind to keep him entertained.

And it was definitely good to be with - or at least around - Sara again, sharing a plate of fries, their cold Heinkens and keeping smoothing things up between them with the help of others, even though they didn't have a clue about it.

Or so he thought.

Grissom didn't know exactly what to expect from that. Would he try to be friends with her again? Try to repair their relationship? Try to be closer to her? So many questions… As far as he knew, Sara was fine being where she was, with the people she was working with, living in Vegas in their old condo.

Even though there was no evidence pointing to it, he was sincerely afraid to hear she was with someone else. But, at the same time, wouldn't it be fair to be happy for her? He always said she deserved to be loved and cherished. If it wasn't with him, why can't she be happy with someone else?

He suddenly felt his heart break.

"Hey, I have a curiosity!", Catherine's voice woke him up from his daydream. "When you guys lived in France…"

Oh boy!

He quickly looked at Sara, who was taking a sip from her bottle and raising her eyebrows at him at the same time. Here comes trouble, she seemed to say to him.

"...you spoke in french or in english at home?"

"Uh…", Grissom started.

"A little of both.", Sara started replying, "I knew a little french before moving there, so we tried to practice at home as much as we could".

"We had a tutor for a while", Grissom completed.

"That's so cool!", Morgan said.

"Speak something in French for us!", Catherine asked.

"Quelque chose", Grissom replied without thinking straight, which made Sara laugh and Catherine roll her eyes.

"C'mon, both of you, say some sentences in french", Catherine demanded, "we won't have any idea of what you are talking about, but I wanna hear the sound of it".

Sara blinked a few times before taking the first step.

"Uh… Parfois, j'ai envie de manger cet éclair que nous avons mangé à Courtalain."

That made Grissom's eyes shine. The city was in his thoughts not so long ago. He was taking a look at his old files, when he discovered a folder full of photos from their trip to Courtalain. The small city, to say the best, had their hearts in a heartbeat. With much less than a thousand habitants, the place was beautiful, charming and had, indeed, a wonderful éclair.

Maybe because he was sure no one would understand them, or maybe because he was caught in surprise by her memory, or maybe because suddenly he was so full of love for her, he didn't care about thinking in a proper answer. He just replied:

"Nous pouvons y retourner quand tu veux."

Sara was taken aback, but took another sip of her beer to not let the others notice her surprise by his answer. Fuck! What this man still does to her is incredible.

"So, it's enough, right?" Sara asked the others when she returned her bottle to the table.

"I think I got éclair, but I don't know, it was too fast. Anyway, Sara, way to go! It's definitely sexy as hell", Greg said, blinking an eye to her, which made Grissom take a sip from his beer.

"You see, that's why I never got married again", Catherine said.

"Because lots of men don't speak french?", Brass asked nudging at her arm.

"No, because of comments like that", Catherine replied.

"Yeah, it's hard to find someone that has the whole package, you know.", Morgan agreed, "Smart, handsome, mature, and…"

"That knows what to say at the right time", Catherine completed, making Morgan laugh.

"It's part of Greg's charm", Sara said.

"Thank you, Sara, I always knew you had my back", Greg said smiling.

"Well, Sara doesn't count", Catherine smirked.

"Oh, well, may I ask you why?", Greg asked her.

"Because she married Grissom", Brass replied quickly, making everybody, except for Gil and Sara, laugh out loud.

Sara and Gil looked at each other, and replied in unison to the others: "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Sorry, buddy, but you were never the type of guy that knew what was best to say", Brass said between laughs. "I mean, you're a scholar, but, well…"

Although Grissom knew they were all joking around, and he could actually laugh about himself and his lack of proper communication, that remark made an impression on him. He was never a regular guy, and he was at peace with it. But was it that made him get to the point where he was, trying hard to express his wishes and failing miserably? Hasn't he learned nothing?

"But, sure, Sara can say it better than anyone else here.", Brass teased. "Although, judging by her silence…"

A chorus of "uhhhhh" and taps against the table's wood were made around the ground.

Sara smiled and replied: "Well, actually, I couldn't disagree more. Sure Gil has his moments, a great deal of moments, but-uh…"

"But…?", Catherine encouraged.

"But…", Sara continued, waving to the waiter, "but his words saved me lots of times, as I'm sure saved a bunch of us here a lot of times, so… I guess we have to be fair with the guy".

At that moment, Gil felt more than even that he wasn't ready to say good-bye.

TBC

I won't even try to apologize for the time I've abandoned this story, but please know that I'm sad I had left it the way I did. I love to read complete stories and often I feel frustrated about some that were never completed. And yet… Here am I making the same thing. Life's a bitch, right? But, well, what I can promise is that it's really close to an end and I will finish it as fast as I can.

My French is Duolingo-based, so I'm sorry if I committed some huge mistake. The translations are:

Quelque chose = something

"Uh… Parfois, j'ai envie de manger cet éclair que nous avons mangé à Courtalain." = "Uh… Sometimes, I feel like eating that éclair we had in Courtalain."

"Nous pouvons y retourner quand tu veux." = "We can go back there whenever you want."

And Courtalain is a small small small city about 2 hours by car from Paris. It looks so charming!