Retreat

“See, look there is a silver lining to every grey day!” The word trickled out of Sara Sidle’s mouth like they had been magically placed there.

Grissom looked over at her, his partner, his bedmate and completely agreed with her. Partner, he loved thought of her being his partner when not too many months ago they were still playing their drawn out game of cat and mouse.

“Yes, Sara, there is isn’t there!” He looked up and gave her a soft kiss on her cheek.

She snuggled up and begged for more, her thoughts drifted back to those days before they were so happy…

“Sara, you have a 419 at the Rampart, take Nicky. Cath, you and Warrick have a DB in Lake Mead, and Greggo, you are with me, we are gonna see a body about some bugs!”

“Damnit!” Sara said loud enough for a sound to be heard but not recognized as a word.

“Did you say something, Sara?” Grissom asked.

“Nope!” She left the room before she said anything else incriminating. He always did this to her. It had been months since she got to work with Grissom on a case. He had showed a hint of interest after the lab explosion when hlledlled her honey, but then she had to go and ask him out, he refused her and it made their work life even harder. Then he had to pick up the pieces of her shattered life when she got pulled over for a DUI. It was just one stupid thing after another and he was talking it out on her. It was so not her fault, not completely anyway! She put a semi smile on her face and went to meet Nicky to go to their case. Sara veered back to reality.

“Griss, you awake?” she asked. When she got no answer, she snuggled back into her place and went black to sleep. Grissom’s mind began to wander.

Sara had been trying hard to get him to notice her. He picked up on it and found it very hard to concentrate when she was around that is why he stopped pairing him with her on crime scenes, he did not want to jeopardise evidence over raging hormones. He knew it pissed Sara off, but he knew it was for her own good, or so he thought.

His heart damn near skipped a beat when she showed up at his experiment with the dead pig wrapped in a blanket with a blanket and some hot coffee. She even swore off meat after that night and the he went and made her deal with a hamburger bullet. He was an insensitive oaf, yes and oaf, he thought.

It was just before the lab explosion when she had asked him out, she put him on the spot and he said ‘no’. He thought it would make things too complicated, like they weren’t complicated now. There was so much she didn’t know, and that he could never tell her.

The night of the lab explosion his feelings came crashing down and he showed it in true manner. Greg got injured badly, Sara got glass in her hand and feelings got in the way and I called her honey, call it a slip of the tongue, I meant it, but she didn’t need to know that.

Grissom returned to present day. He looked down at his sleeping bedmate and decided that she needed to be awaken, he was in need of some assistance.

“Sara, you awake?” He tapped her shoulder. She didn’t move. He tried again, no avail. He thought that if nothing else failed, he could get her awake.

He squirmed his way down until he was positioned right between her legs. He inhaled her sweet scent and dove in to her flesh. He began gently kissing her, and experiencing the like that is Sara. He began to caress her a bit faster and she began to buck under his touch. She came with a force and he gently kissed his way back up to her lips.

“Good morning to you too,” she said as she stole a kiss from him and tasted herself on his lips. “I would love to wake up like that every day!” Sara was grinning ear to ear.

“Why did you wake me up at,” she looked over at the clock, “3:38 am?”

“I’m used to being up, and so is my little buddy here, “He said pointing to his hard erection.

“Aah, so you woke me to take care of that, egh?”

“Something like that, yes!”

She straddled him and began to move herself up and down. He reached up and began fondling her breasts, first with his hands and then his mouth, he bit hard when he was reaching climax.

“Ouch Griss!” Sara Screamed.

Grissom looked up and realized what he had done, “Sara, I’m so sorry!” he said looking down at the teeth marks visible on her breast.

“I enjoy being bit and all, but Griss, not there!” she chuckled and Grm fem felt better about it.

They continued on their mission, not breaking their stride and they tumbled into each other’s arms as a tangled mess of sex.

“If I had known what I was missing, I would have done this long ago!” Grissom leaned over and kissed her forehead.

“I tried with no avail, Griss, you wouldn’t give into my advances, and you were more inclined to hide in your office, behind your paperwork than to spend time with me.” Sara smirked.

“I had to hide in my office, I was hiding due to embarrassment!” Grissom was blushing.Omj“Embarrassment, whatarraarrassment is that?” Sara prodded.

He went silent. He didn’t like talking about it, it made things worse, but he knew that she wouldn’t let him be silent about it.

“Sara,” he began, “Every time I was near you, you …err…um..”
“Spit it out Griss!”

“You err….um…lets just say, you aroused me!”

“Aroused you, egh!”

“Yup, all the time, you didn’t even have to be near me, just a mere thought of you and it was desk duty for me!”

“So is that why you stopped working with me?”

“That is one of the reasons, the other being that I didn’t want things to get complicated, too late for that now!”

Sara leaned over and kissed him again, and pressed her naked body against his, he quickly became aroused and she got up and walked to the bathroom slowly, so he would notice her.

“You are cruel!” He spat.

“Takes one to know one! “ and she shut the door.

Grissom thought to himself again. Jesus Gil, what took you so long? You could have been this happy so long ago. What was wrong with you? You haven’t enjoyed something this much since …since…have you ever enjoyed something this much. His thoughts wandered to Catherine. He had to remember to thank her when they got back.

“Hey guys, I think we should go to this!” Catherine said as she approached Grissom.

“Go to what?” he asked.

“There is this weeklong retreat in the mountains for law enforcement personnel, form the brochure it looks like fun!”

Catherine handed the pamphlet to Grissom.

“Whom do you mean by we?” he asked.

“Well, all of us, don’t you think it would Gil? We work hard enough, don’t you think we need a break?”

“What does the group think of this?”

They all nodded in agreement, they thought it was a great idea. Unbenounced to them, Catherine had ulterior motives for this trip. She had already talked to everyone and they knew their roles. That was everyone with the etiontion of Grissom and Sara. They were going to make this work if it killed them.

Catherine had it all figured out, she was going to get everyone booked into the retreat and then at the last minute everyone jam out leaving Grissom and Sara to go alone. It was foolproof. Warrick had an appointment he couldn’t get out of; Catherine had things to do with Lindsey. Nicky had a angry girl he was trying to pursue and Greg had a gal pal in town only for a short time. It was all fig out out.

Grissom thought to himself, she was a genius, how did she know this would work? She had known him for years; she was one of his oldest friends. She knew him better than he knew himself some days, the only one who knew him better than Catherine was Sara. I guess she got tired of the lagged game of cat and mouse, was it really that obvious? They were trained investigators; of course they would have seen what was going on. He really had to compliment them on their investigating skills when he got back.

Sara stepped out of the bathroom and approached the bed, still naked. “So what do you want to do today?”

“You, all day!” he smirked.

“Jeez Griss, what am I, your love slave?”

He reached out and grabbed her and pulled her towards him and began placing soft sensual kisses all over her.

“Well if you put it that way, how can I refuse?”

Sara fell in and ravelled in the anomaly that was Grissom.

“What did you do while I was gone?”

“I thought…about some things, like thanking Catherine for being a nosy meddler, and compliment my CSI’s on their wonderful investigating skills.” He smiled.“It “It is too bad you weren’t gifted enough to know what everyone else did.”

“It wasn’t that I didn’t know, it was that I was afraid to do anything about it.”

“I wasn’t kidding when I asked you what you wanted to do today. It is beautiful outside, don’t you want to enjoy it, and we only have a few days left.”

“You mean I have to get dressed!” he smirked.

“Yes, mister, you and me both!”

They got dressed and left the confines of their room. There were planned activities for the retreat, but they didn’t want to join anything like that. They opted for a quiet walk on the beach, hand in hand to watch the interaction with everyone. They were still in a euphoric state. They only noticed themselves. They walked until they found a small cove, it was abandoned. He got an idea in his head. He was feeling very randy and he decided that he needed to see if she was feeling the same way.

He reached over and leaned in for a kiss. He gently moved his lips to her ear “are you up for it?” He whispered.

“What? Now” HERE?”

“We are alone, we are isolated, I know how I’m feeling, I don’t know about you!”

Sara thought, why not! Who was going to see them out here?

He laid his jacket down on the ground and gently lowerer oer on to it. He began to kiss and coddle her and slowly remove her clothes.

“Burr!” she stated

“You won’t be cold for long, not once I get my hands on you!”

She reached down and began to remove his clothes. She was kissing him gently and they were in sync when he entered her and began to thrust, she enjoyed every minute of it, as did he, they were read to climax when they heard noises. They stopped abruptly and tried to gain their composure. They looked up and saw what was before them. BUSTED!

“I am so sorry, we.” They were just as embarrassed as the naked lovers on the grass. The couple walked away quickly.

They got dressed and hurried back to the hotel. They decided that no matter what all their bedroom activities would be none in the bedroom.

There was only one day left of the retreat and then they had to go back to the real world. Sara thought she would make the best of it with hopes that he wouldn’t run from her when they got back.

“Griss, we need to talk about…us!”

“I know Sara, but I’m not sure what we should do.”

“I know what we shouldn’t do, we shouldn’t be too far from each other, I’m not sure if I can handle it.”

“I don’t ever want this to end!” He leaned in to kiss her.

“Me either!”

They had to eventually get up and pack. They certainly didn’t have to do much to Sara’s room, they were never in there, but for work reasons they needed separate rooms if if they never used it.

They packed up everything and put it in the truck. They headed home to seal their fate.

Sara broke the silence, “So Griss, what are we gonna do, what are we gonna tell them?”

“Personally, I would like to shout it from the roof tops, but I’m not sure that’s appropriate.”

“So we need to go talk to Ecklie?”

“Yeah, I guess so!”

“Sara, as far as rules go, we aren’t breaking any, I have checked and rechecked the manual. There are no provisions for such a thing, so therefore it isn’t taboo. It is not suggested, but not forbidden either.”

“So you have looked into this?”

“Lets just say I have given it careful consideration.” He was smirking.

“So MR Grissom, do we go together, or alone?”

“Personally, I think that me being the more dominant here, and by that I mean at work and no where else, “Grissom was becoming a bit embarrassed, “I should probably be the one who goes to see Conrad. He already doesn’t like me so it is not as if I mana mna make the situation worse!”

“No, but I’m involved in this too, you know, it is gonna affect me too!”

“Well, what do you think we should do?”

“I think that we should go see Ecklie together, that way we both get wrath that is Ecklie and not just one of us. Griss, I want this as much as you do so why can’t I go too?”

“Alright, Sara, you win, you can go too, but until we see him, I think we should keep this to ourselves, agreed?”

“Agreed!”

Before they knew it, they saw the sign that said, Welcome to Las Vegas! And they knew they were almost home.

Grissom droppeda ofa off at her apartment and proceeded to leave for his own. He had promised Sara he would be back after he put some things away and took a shower. He wondered if this was gonna be alright, he didn’t want to hurt Sara anymore, but he wasn’t sure what Ecklie would say, but he was sure he wouldn’t condone it.

Sara ran into her apartment and put her bags down on her bed. She was still in a semi-euphoric state. She was so happy, yes, she was happy! She kept saying to herself. Then her thoughts centered on Ecklie. She knew in her heart that he would never go for this. She had to do a bit of research so that he couldn’t refuse it. She knew just what to do!

Sara reached for her address book and looked for the number of the lab in Frisco. She used to know it by heart, but after nearly five years in Vegas, she forgot. She quickly dialled the number and waited for an answer.

“San Francisco Crime Lab, Cindy speaking, how would you like your call directed?”

“Hey Cindy, this is Sara Sidle.”

“Sara, how are ya doing Hun?”

“Alright, but could I please talk to Danby?”

“Sure, Sara, but can I tell him the reason for your call?”

“Policy and Procedures!”

Gerald Danby was Sara’s supervisor in Frisco. He was a wonderful man, and he knew the policy and procedure manual inside and out, it probably had something to do with the fact that he had been a CSI for nearly thirty years, and a supervisor for nearly twenty. If anyone would know, it would be him.

Sara hoped that Grissom would be alright with her telling him about them, it was for their own good.

“Sara Sidle!” the voice rang from within the phone. “How the hell have ya been?”

“Good thanks, and you?”

“You can’t be too good if you are calling me!” He laughed.

“That’s just it, I am gowondwonderful, even amazing and I am afraid I will lose it due to policies and procedures!”

“Alright, Sara, talk to me, we do go way back. I know the policy manual like the back of my hand!” he laughed again.

“Well, you see, I am dating someone that I work with!” She was silent.

“Ok, so who is it?”

“That’s just it, that is what makes this so complicated. You are never gonna believe if I tell you who it is.”

“C’mon Sara, let it out, just tell me already!”

“Gil Grissom! There I said it!”

“Gil Grissom, as in your supervisor?” he asked.

“Yup, the one and only!”

“Oh my Sara, no wonder you called.”

“So, what kinda trouble are we gonna be in, break it to me gently.”

“Well as far as rules goes, there are absolutely none regarding this.”

“That’s what Grissom said too!”

“So he has done some research, good for him, other than that, know you are gonna get a bit of flack from the other people. Something like this happened here, we were alright with it for the most part, but that is here, I’m not sure about Vegas, how is your relationship with the Director up there? And with your crew?”

“Ecklie, he just doesn’t like Grissom mostly, so I fear that is gonna cause us some troubles, as far as my crew, they did all they could to get us together, so I can’t imagine they would make it hard for us.”

“Worse case scenario, one of you will have to leave the lab, I know that is not what you want to hear, but it may come down to that. I could see about getting you two on here if you would like?”

“Maybe we will save that for later, I need to discuss that with Grissom first. What did you say about the couple that was there, what happened with them?”

“They got married, have a few kids, they work side by side, we have never had a problem with them.”

“Could you send me something about that, send it to the lab in care of me, I gotta go, I think Grissom is at the door.”

“Sure, Sara, but if you have more questions, don’t hesitate to call.” And with that he hung up.

Sara ran over to the door, expecting to see Grissom, but instead she saw Catherine.

“So, Sara, how did it go?”

“I am not at liberty to say!” Sara was grinning ear to ear.

“I thought so!” was all Catherine said and left.

“See you tomorrow night!” and Sara shut the door.

The doorbell rang almost immediately. “Jeez Cath, did you forget..” She looked up and saw Grissom.

“Oh sorry, I thought you were Catherine returning, she was just here to rub it in.”

“Would you like me to leave?” he asked coyly.

She pulled him into an embrace and closed the door behind them. “Are you crazy?”

“Crazy in love!” he said as he kissed her.

“Have you thought about the Ecklie thing?”

“I have been tossing it around for a few, yes, does it show?”

“No! So have I, to the extent that I called my old supervisor in Frisco for ad. H. He knows that manual like his life. He said there are no regulations, they actually have some people married there, and it is fine. He offered to transfer us to Frisco, if we would like.”

“I hope it doesn’t come down to that, but if it does, we have a few options; I could go back to CSI Level 3 and then we would be equivalent, one of us could transfer elsewhere, we have a few options.”

“I don’t want to jeopardize your job, Griss!”

“If it means we can be together, so be it! Besides, I don’t really like it, even you can say I’m not the best supervisor you have ever had.”

“That’s not true, you are good, in your own way!” Sara was smirking. “C’mon I’ll show you how good you are!” And she led him to the bedroom.

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They got up, showered and headed to work, in separate vehicles, so no one would be suspicious.

Everyone at work wanted to know what was going on, but they wouldn’t budge. They didn’t want the bells and whistles to go off before they had it handled with Ecklie. Sara got her package from Frisco; she gave it to Grissom to look at in the confines of his office. Sara was tired, so was Grissom, they weren’t used to working nights because of the retreat. The night was slow so they all just helped to finish up open cases. Nearing the end of shift, Grissom had a thought. He reached for his pager and sent a page to Sara.

Marry me!

Sara looked down at the small screen and didn’t know what to think. Suddenly a second page came through.

Come to my office, now! ~G~

Sara stopped what she was doing and went to Grissom’s office. She stood in the doorway before she went in and shut the door behind her.

“What was this about?” She asked looking at the pager.

“Well, based on my findings form this stuff from Frisco, if we get married, they cannot fire us, we are under different rules, so what do you say, wanna marry me before we go to Ecklie?”

“Are you serious?”

“Completely!”

“Then YES!”

She bent down and placed a kiss on his lips and jerked back up, “Oops, sorry, forgot where I was for a minute!”

“Hey, I’m not complaining!”

“So when are we doing this, where, are we gonna tell the others?”

“I think it should be private for now, the fewer to know the better, then after the dust settles we will do it again, and this that time it will be right! What do you think?”
“Sounds good, so when?”

“It’s Vegas, Sara, how about when we finish shift?”

“That soon?”

“Are you having second thoughts?”

“No, just a lot to take in. So I will see you after shift?”

“You betcha!” And with that Sara left, she had to try to work, who was she kidding she couldn’t work now.

Sara had a permanent smile on her face and began to draw attention to herself.

“What’s up with you Sar?” asked Nick.

“Nothing much, just in a good mood!” And she left it at that; Nick wasn’t buying it though.

The shift flew buy and before she knew it, it was over. They had decided to take separate cars home and meet at his place to go to their appointment. Sara went home and showered, searched in her closet for something nice to wear and finally settled on a short flowy skirt and a nice tank top to match. She kept telling herself this was real, she still couldn’t believe it.

She got in her truck and drove over to Grissom’s. She approached the step and he opened the door.

“Jeez, did your Saradar go off?”

“Yup, my antennas were tingling the minute you left your apartment, by the way, you look breathtaking!” He leaned in for a kiss.

“You don’t look so bad yourself!” He was wearing nice navy pants, a light blue shirt and a navy sport jacket; the blue really accentuated his eyes.

“Are we ready for this?” he asked.

“Ready as I will ever be!” She replied.

The drive to the chapel was short; Sara began to get butterflies in her stomach, why was she nervous, this was all her dreams come true. They got out of the truck and headed inside. Inside the building they found a man dressed like Elvis who was performing the ceremony. Only in Vegas! Sara thought.

“We will do this righxt txt time, Sara, I promise.”

“I believe you, Griss!”
The ceremony began, Grissom had managed to get his hands on wedding bands in the middle in the night, thank god for Vegas, and all stores were open all hours, including jewellery stores. Sara looked down at the ring on her left finger; she couldn’t believe that this was actually happening. She fought off the image to pinch herself to see if she was dreaming. They shared a kiss and they were husband and wife. Grissom gathered up his wife and went home.

They got to the door of the townhouse and could barely keep their hands off each other. They were married now, it didn’t matter, right? Grissom reached for the lock, unlocked the door and picked Sara up to carry her over the threshold. It was tradition. He carried her and placed her on the big bed in his bedroom. He was so gently. Sara thought she was so lucky.

They finished consummating their marriage and Grissom leaned over to give her a post sex kiss and Sara just lay there with a grin.

“Sara, take your ring off for a second.” He asked.

“Why Griss?”

“I had it inscribed for you, I want you to read it.”

Sara removed the ring from her finger and read the inscription:

To have and to hold forever ~G

Sara had trouble choking back the tears, she was speechless. She leaned down and gave him a kiss and snuggled in to go to sleep.

When they woke up, Grissom called Ecklie and made an appointment for them to see him.

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Their appointment was at three in the afternoon with Ecklie; Sara was getting nervous, as was Grissom. They walked towards Ecklie’s office to meet their maker. They opened the door and walked in and sat down.

“Gil, Sara, what brings you before me today?”

“We have some news.” He spoke up quickly.

“Ok, care to share it?”

“Well, Conrad, it is like this, Sara and I are married!”

“You are what?” he spat “I knew something fishy was going on on your shift, I have had Sophia check into a few things for me, but I never expected this!”

“What?” Grissom’s voice was getting louder “Why would you investigate us?”
“To calm my suspicions, which, might I add, were right!”

“That’s not fair Conrad!”

“It is within my rights to investigate my employees!”

“Well as fa I a I am concerned, you both can’t work here anymore, one of you has to go!”

Sara Spoke up, “There are no rules against this Conrad, in fact, there is a case back in Frisco where two people got married, they work together still!”

“That’s Frisco, this is Vegas and I am in control here! I expect a resignation from one of you before the weeks end!”

With that Grissom and Sara left.

“Now what Griss?” Sara asked.

“Do you think the offer still stands for Frisco?”

“Would you really move?”

“If it meant we could be together, then yes!”

“I will go call Danby and find out!” Sara was smiling.

The call with Danby went well, there were a few positions to be filled there, he faxed the paperwork to Vegas for Grissom and Sara. Their next hurdle was to tell the rest of the crew.

“You what?” was the consensus of the break room.

“You sly dawg!” said Nick. “Why didn’t you tell us? We could have helped!”

“We didn’t want to complicate things, apparently it is too late for that!” Grissom added in.

“One of us has to resign, so we have decided that we will both leave, we are going to Frisco, they are faxing the paperwork as we speak.” Sara was a bit upset and it was obvious.

“What, you can’t leave!” Catherine chimed in.

“It is not my choice, blame it on Ecklie!” Grissom added.

“Can’t you go over his head?” Warrick asked.

“Why bother, he is already investigating me for some odd reason, so I think it is easier if we just leave.”

“So Frisco, egh? What about the wedding, how come we didn’t get an invite?”

“It was spur of the moment, once we get settled in Frisco, we will do it right, you all will be invited.”

“’We better be!”

A fax rang through the fax machine and they looked down and swallowed hard. It was the paperwork they had requested from Danby. They sat down and filled it out along with the forms for their two-week notice and took it back up to Ecklie.

“What is the meaning of this Gil?” Conrad Ecklie asked looking down at the paperwork before him.

“If one of us has to go, we both go!” and with that they left the office and went back to work.

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San Francisco was a fairly big town, but nothing like Vegas but it had its own charms. Both of them had been here before. They walked through Golden Gate Park hand in hand, never happier. They sold the townhouse in Vegas and bought a small house with some amazing Victorian Architecture. It was beautiful. The lab was different than in Vegas, but most people remembered Sara from when she lived here before, and everyone in the CSI realm knew Grissom, or at least knew of him, his reputation preceded him.

They had been in Frisco for nearly two months when they decided to renew their vows. They had an intimate ceremony in their back yard, just friends and family.

They were happy in their new retreat.