Unbelievably Unbearable

Chapter 7

After handing out assignments, Grissom went back to his office. He
tried to get some paperwork done but his mind kept drifting to Sara.
Maybe she wouldn't be as closed off to some of his sexual fantasies
as he had originally thought. Images of him taping Sara up entered
his mind. She had trusted him enough then to let him bind her wrists
together. Another case came to mind. "Pin me down," she had said
in that husky voice he loved so much. It had been hard to control himself
when she had said it. Thank God he had been at work. It was the only
thing that allowed him to remain so detached. He began to think about
the events from her apartment the other morning. He had come close
to taking her there. He had told her that they had to do something and
he had been sincere. Something had to give. He thought about what she
had said to him regarding being tickled. Grissom thought that this was probably
the best place to start. Now, if he could only get her to agree to a date on
Tuesday night.

Greg and Sophia returned from their crime scene around 2:00 a.m. Greg decided
to take a quick break before he joined Sophia in the morgue. He had promised
Judy he would try to keep their relationship as quiet as possible, but he just had
to see her. It was odd he thought that he had never really paid her any attention
before. Heck, he thought, if he hadn't seen her at the Bowling for Soup concert, he
still wouldn't know what he had been missing. She had been standing in line to
buy a beer when his buddy Clint accidently pushed him into her. He apologized
profusely to the cute chick. It wasn't until she said, "It's alright Greg," that he
even realized who she was. The Judy out of the office was not the same meek
girl everyone encountered day in and day out. No, his Judy let her hair down,
opted for contacts instead of glasses and knew how to party. Greg was instantly
smitten. He talked Clint into trading seats with Judy and the romance had kindled from
there. Surely she wouldn't get too upset if he stopped by her desk to see if he had
any messages.

Judy was jotting a memo down when Greg approached. "Hey, Judy, I got any
messages?"
"Greg, when do you ever have any messages?"
"I don't know, I just thought I would check, you never know," he answered.
"He's just paranoid that his date is going to cancel," Sara joked as she poked
Greg in the ribs.
"Hey, stop it," Greg whined.
"Baby," Sara sassed back and stuck out her tongue.
Judy rolled her eyes at the two CSI's who were acting more like toddlers than
grown adults. Sara turned her attention to Judy, "Judy, is Grissom in his office?"
"He was earlier and he hasn't been called out tonight, so the safe bet is yeah, but
you know him," the receptionist answered.
"Yeah, he could be off conducting one of his experiments. But I'll check his office
first. Thanks Judy. Oh and Greg, if your date cancels I am not trading back with you."


She hovered in his doorway for a few seconds before making her presence known.
She loved to watch him. He was so beautiful. She noticed the grey around his temples
and desparately wanted to ask him to quit dying his hair. She had always thought that
the natural color of his hair had brought out the blue in his eyes more. She cleared her
throat, "Hmmm, you wanted to see me?"
"Sara, yes, can you come on in and close the door, please?"
He saw a strange look cross her face and it occurred to him that she thought he was going
to reprimand her for something. He supposed it was a fair assumption on her part considering
he was not one to really engage in heart to heart talks in the office. He decided to set her
fears to rest. "Sara, you aren't in any trouble."
"Good, cause it couldn't think of what I had done to piss you off now."
He chuckled. "Nothing, how were things at the Stratosphere?"
"Great, I rode all the rides and you would be proud of me."
He knew she was joking but he decided to play along, "Oh and pray tell why is that, my dear?"
"I didn't throw up."
"Do coasters normally make you sick?"
"No, normally," she empasized the word 'normally' , "I don't ride coasters."
"Oh really?" he asked wondering if she were afraid of him. He thought that would be
really odd for Sara considering she wasn't afraid of many things. Not to mention she
had been a physics major in college and coasters were really just fun science.
"Really, And before you ask, no they don't scare me, it's just that theme parks
are expensive and well, I'm kinda cheap."
"Cheap or frugal?" He asked.
"Frugal would be the better word, I suppose. I spend money on some things. Things
that are important to me."
They sat in silence for a moment as Grissom thought about Sara's bathroom and the
assortment of products that she had splurged on. He came to the conclusion that
she enjoyed being pampered even if she would never admit to it. Sara realized that
Grissom was reflecting on something and she thought it was best to give him the time
he needed. She usually just bolted whenever he became non-verbal but decided that
that method had never gotten her anywhere. Finally, he shook his head almost imperceptibly
and looked into her eyes, "So really, how's the case going?"
"Fine, waiting on prints to id the vic, hopefully. Found some hairs that didn't match the vics
on one of the pillows but you know how that goes with hotel rooms. Sent semen samples to
DNA but once again, hotel room. So basically, just waiting for Brass to get back to me
regarding the interviews. The victim wasn't the registered guest, Mr. Walker. He is the one
who found the body. Says he had been gambling in the casino and found her dead in his
room. Claims to have never seen her before in his life."
"Sounds like you've got it under control," he praised, "but if you need any help you know
to ask,"
"Okay, is that all you needed?" She hated to cut this meeting short. She had been having a
good time just sitting and talking with Grissom but her stomach was beginning to growl.
"No, actually I wanted to talk to you about us."
That got her attention. He had said, 'us.' She was hoping that after the events in her
apartment that maybe they could begin to move forward. But if she had been honest with
herself, as much as she hoped to move forward, she hadn't really expected him to want to
move forward. Her little insecure devil decided at that moment to remind her that just because
he wanted to talk about it didn't necessarily mean that he wanted to move forward. No, in fact
he could be trying to tell her that he wanted to forget everything they had talked about at her
apartment. She remembered the feel of him underneath her when she had rubbed his back.
God, how she hoped she would get the chance to be alone with him like that again.
"Us?" she asked.
"Yes, Sara, look, I know this might not be the proper place to discuss this. I probably should
have just called your home phone and left a message. But to be honest you mean more to
me than that and if you are going to reject my offer then I owe you the right to do it to my face."
"Offer?" Her hopes were soaring.
"Sara, would you have dinner with me, Tuesday evening?"
She didn't even have to think about the answer, "Yes."
She burst into a fit of giggles. The kind you can't control. The kind that are the result of
pent up emotions bursting forth. It was either laugh or cry and she knew he hated tears.
"Is something funny," he queried.
"No, not at all, I'm just so," she couldn't find the right word.
So he found it for her,"Happy?" he questioned.
"Yes, happy," she confirmed.

TBC