In A Song: All I Ask Of You

All I Ask of You pt 10

Note: Character thoughts are enclosed in *

The morning sun shining in her eyes woke Sara from her slumber. Grissom didn’t make as soft a pillow as people might think, but she was comfortable all the same. The steady thump of his heart and the weight of his arms around her were comforting. She stretched and her hand grazed his side. The hitch in his breathing told her he was awake, and he was ticklish. She sighed and snuggled closer when she felt his hand stroking her hair and he kissed her head.

“How long have you been awake?”

Grissom glanced over at the clock beside the bed. “About an hour.”

Sara rolled onto her stomach and leaned up on an elbow. “And just what have you been doing all this time?”

“Watching you sleep. Well that and I was trying to figure out what I did to get to be so lucky. All this time I had myself convinced that there was no way you could love me.”

“How could I not? You really don’t have any idea just how attractive you are, do you? I don’t mean just physically attractive, but it’s everything about you.”

“I’ll take your word for it, sweetheart.”

Sara’s smile faded and she laid her head back on his chest, holding him tight. “I know what you’re doing Sara. You can stop worrying about it. Everything will be fine.”

“How can you know that?”

“Because I have a plan. When we get back, we go to work like nothing has changed. After a couple of weeks, then we go to Ecklie and tell him up front about us. By then he’ll be able to see that we can keep our relationship out of work, so he shouldn’t have a problem with it.”

“And if he does?”

“One thing at a time honey.”

Later that afternoon they were sitting on a plane heading back to Las Vegas. Sara had thought about Grissom’s plan ever since that morning and she was uneasy about it. Logically she knew it was a good plan, to prove they could be together and not let it interfere with work. But in the back of her mind her insecurities took hold and she began to wonder if he really wanted to be with her. *Maybe keeping it quiet is his way of backing out. That way the time to tell Ecklie would never happen.* The seat belt light went off and Sara got up to go to the restroom. Grissom watched her walk to the back of the plane and he was immediately concerned. He had noticed Sara fidgeting nervously since that morning. Thinking back, the only thing that stood out in his mind was their conversation about how to handle work. *She must think I’m not serious about us. By not wanting to tell people right away, I’m just feeding her insecurities. The sad part is I created them. How can she love me after all I’ve put her through?* He needed to make sure she was all right, and needed to assure her that he wanted to be with her. He finally knew what to do about “this” and he wasn’t going to blow it.

After some calming breaths and splashing some water on her face she felt better. Sara unlocked the restroom door and was pushed back into the small room as she opened the door. He latched the door behind him and had her backed against the small counter with a devious grin on his face.

“Grissom! What are you doing?”

“Experimenting.” His hands found her ass pulling her to him as he kissed her and left her breathless. His hands unfastened her pants while he looked into her eyes. “If you want me to stop just..” He never got to finish the thought before Sara kissed him and had her fingers tangled in his hair.

Later a flight attendant noticed a slightly flushed Sara walking rather unsteadily to her seat. She smiled and went over to help Sara to her seat before she fell over. A younger flight attendant brought some water over and her older co-worker sent her back to work quickly. “She’ll be fine. Air sickness, panic attacks, it happens sometimes.” She watched her young friend return to the other end of the cabin and noticed that the passengers around Sara were no longer paying attention to her. She leaned down and whispered “I’ll make sure he’s in better shape before he comes out.” Sara’s eyes grew wide and she blushed. The attendant patted her arm. “Honey there isn’t much I haven’t seen on flights, but I’ll tell you one thing. That man loves you dearly. I could see it in his eyes when he asked me to run interference for you two.”

Grissom returned a few minutes later looking cool and collected. Nothing about his appearance would have had anyone guessing that he just had sex in the restroom. Sara smiled and leaned over to him whispering, “You had a flight attendant run interference?”

Grissom smiled at her and began to look for something in his briefcase. He found his magazine and settled back to read it now that he knew Sara didn’t doubt him or their new relationship. Sara noticed the magazine and did a double take before she couldn’t contain her laughter. Grissom looked at her puzzled and she pointed to the magazine. He glanced at the cover and smiled at the memory her laughter brought out. A businessman behind them was curious about the joke, so he stole a peek at the cover of the magazine. *Applied Psychodynamics in Forensic Science? It would figure. Geek humor.*

McCarran was the usual bustle of tourists coming and going, reminding Grissom they were back to the real world. He and Sara collected their bags and started out to catch a cab home. On the way out Sara saw a familiar face and her stomach dropped. She felt Grissom’s hand on her back and she drew his attention to the person walking toward them. She was surprised when he didn’t remove his hand as their friend walked toward them. Grissom smiled at the slightly shocked look in Sara’s eyes when he didn’t pull away from her. He had known Jim Brass for years and had trusted him with his life on several occasions. Brass was the only person in the department who knew exactly what Sara meant to Grissom. Everyone suspected he cared for her, but Brass had been in the room during his exhausted ramblings to Dr. Laurie and heard it all. While Grissom never mentioned a name it didn’t take a detective to figure out that Sara was the young, beautiful woman who offered him a life, a life that Grissom couldn’t take the risk for. Brass had been the one to haul the exhausted scientist home that night, and he had been the one who had sat and listened to Grissom’s drunken confessions all about Sara in the weeks following that frustrating case. Through all that Brass hadn’t judged him and hadn’t told anyone. Not even when it could have really helped Sara to hear it.

Brass noticed who Grissom was touching Sara as they made their way through the crowded airport. It looked like an innocent gesture, but Brass knew what it really was. Grissom was staking his claim. He said nothing about it, but watched the two of them interact as they loaded their bags into his car and rode over to Sara’s apartment. By the time they were getting Sara’s bags out of the car he knew, there was definitely something going on between her and Grissom. There wasn’t anything obvious but for a detective who knew them both, he could see it. On the way over to Grissom’s townhouse he couldn’t hold back anymore.

“So Gil, what’s up with you and Sara?”

He chuckled when Grissom choked on his water and looked at him like he had two heads. “Don’t look so innocent. There is something going on with you two. I can see it when you look at her. You’ve always had a certain look with Sara that makes people suspect you care about her, but you’ve always been a little sad too. After the Laurie case I knew why. But this is a new look. This look says you’re in love with her and you’re happy. So something is going on with the two of you.”

Grissom smiled at his friend. “Damn Jim, nothing gets by you does it? All right, there is something there. And I know I don’t have to tell you to keep it quiet, but we’re not ready to broadcast it yet.”

“Well it’s about damn time you made a move. Do you have any idea how frustrating it was to watch the two of you dance around each other? It was obvious that you were both miserable, and neither one of you would do anything about it. So what is it that’s going on?”

“Dating. We’re working things out to deal with the possible Ecklie problems later.”

Brass watched his friend start watching the scenery and knew this conversation was just about over. But Brass had a few other things to say first. “So while you had her out of town, did you fuck her?” Grissom’s eyes flashed with anger when his faced Brass again. If Brass hadn’t been driving, he was sure he would have been punched. “Ok that was out of line even for me. I’m sorry. She means a lot to you and you want to protect her. I get that. But you know when you guys do go public there is going to be backlash and people are going to say things about Sara, probably worse than that. If you can’t handle it, do us all a favor and get out now. Be honest and you can both move on. But if you let this thing between you two get far enough to go public and then you bail on her, that’s gonna hurt her worse than anything else you’ve ever done. Gil you’re my friend so that’s why I feel I can say this to you. If you ever, EVER, hurt her, I will hurt you in ways even your crack team wont be able to figure out how I did it.”

“Jim I ever hurt her, you wont have to. Nick and Warrick will probably beat you to it.”

Brass pulled up in front of Grissom’s townhouse and he watched his friend walk inside. *No Gil, I don’t think it’s Nick and Warrick who will beat me to it. If you ever hurt Sara, I think you’ll do more damage to yourself than anyone else ever could.*

Sara finished putting away the last of her things from her trip when there was a knock at her door. Looking through the peephole she was surprised to see Grissom. He looked up when the door opened and practically lunged at Sara taking her into his arms. Brass had struck a nerve with him. He knew people would talk about them, he knew they would think terrible things about both him and Sara, and he knew he had to protect her.

Brass had just been wrong on one thing. When he told Grissom to get out before it was too late, he didn’t know it was already too late. It hit him when he walked into his empty townhouse. He couldn’t stand being alone anymore, and now that he knew Sara loved him, he didn’t have to be. Everything else would be worked out later but for now he had Sara, and that’s all he could ask.