In A Song: All I Ask Of You

In A Song: All I Ask of You

First Installment in the "In A Song" series.

Disclaimer: Follow the evidence. If I owned this stuff this would be on CBS instead of the Internet. In other words, I dont own them and dont make a penny from doing this.

“No Grissom. Forget it. There is no way I’m doing it.”

Catherine poured her coffee and turned to face him. “And you can stop with the lost puppy eyes because it won’t work. Lindsey tries that one too.”

“Come on Catherine. I need you on this.”

Nick and Greg turned into the break room and Greg had to grin at his supervisor. “I usually find that begging doesn’t get me anywhere with women.” Grissom glared at him and the young man wisely kept the rest of his comments to himself.

“Catherine this is a huge seminar. There is no way I can do it alone.”

“Well then I guess you’ll have to find someone else to take with you. How about Greg? He’s never been to one of these so it would be good for him.”

“If I needed someone to assist Greg would be perfect, but he’s not nearly as well versed in blood spatter analysis to field questions. I need a co-presenter Cath.”

Nick stood up from getting his lunch from the refrigerator. “Well Griss we all know for blood spatter who to call for the best analysis. Catherine is great at it, but come on. Who can look at the spatter and not only come up with the science end, but make it speak to her?”

Grissom inwardly cringed at the thought of taking her to the seminar, but he knew what Nick was saying. If he wanted the best possible person to co-present with him, it was Sara. She was due in court the next morning, so he would have to wait until the end of shift to talk to her. With no cases needing his attention, he retreated to his office presumably to do paperwork.

“Damn budget cuts.”

“You know talking to yourself is never a good sign Gil.”

Grissom looked up from the memo to see Catherine walking in to sit across from him. “What did Conrad do this time? Cancel your trip?”

“No worse. The seminar is three days long, and our oh so budget conscious AD discovered that he could save some money by booking a longer trip. So he has it set for us to fly out two days before on a Wednesday and stay for two weeks.”

Catherine shook her head. “You know why he’s doing this don’t you? He wants to keep you out of the lab as long as possible. There’s a big law enforcement conference coming into town right after your seminar ends, and you know with the lab’s success rate there will be people wanting to take a look and talk to staff. With you here he thinks he’ll look bad.”

“So not having the entomologist here will make him look good?”

“No, but since the nationally renowned entomologist who is on staff here will be lecturing at a seminar at the Cyril H. Wecht Institute of Forensic Science and Law, the only institute of it’s kind in the nation, yeah that will make him look good. One of the staff from this lab presenting at the same seminar that Dr. Henry Lee is presenting at? Ecklie couldn’t buy that kind of PR. Now what’s really bothering you? That Ecklie pulled an underhanded trick to keep out away from the lab, or that you’ll be away from the lab with Sara?”

He should have known that Catherine would see what the real issue was. He had known her for over 15 years and she knew him better than anyone. At times she knew him better than he knew himself. She had once come to the conclusion that he had been badly burned in a relationship, without any hard evidence to work with. He had been too shocked at the time to admit how right she had been. “Catherine this has nothing to do with Sara. I don’t even know if she’ll agree to go.”

“Go where?” Sara had overheard her name as she walked by on her way to the locker room to retrieve her book she had left there.

Catherine grinned at Gil and then looked back at Sara. “Grissom has a conference in Pennsylvania and needs a co-presenter.”

“Cool. What’s the topic?” Grissom smirked. It was so much like the Sara he met at Berkley. “Blood spatter Analysis. This conference is in Pennsylvania and we’ll be presenting along with Dr. Henry Lee.”

“Sweet. Sure I’ll do it. We will have a chance so sit in on Dr. Lee’s seminar, right?”

Catherine laughed and started to leave. “I’ll leave you two science geeks to hash out the details. Gil don’t forget to tell her the bad news.”

“What did she mean by bad news?” “Ecklie cut corners on the travel arrangements. So we’ll be there a total of two weeks.”

“Two weeks? How long is the conference?”

“Three days.”

“So what do we do the rest of the time?” Grissom shrugged. “I have no idea.”
Two weeks later Grissom and Sara were arriving in Pittsburgh for their conference. After collecting their rental car they drove into the city to locate their hotel, and promptly got lost. They found themselves in an area they would be more likely to find a crime scene than a hotel. Sara was getting frustrated and Grissom was the target as well as the cause for once.

“Will you stop being such a man and just ask someone where we are?”

After listening to her for the past hour, even he had to admit that sounded like a good idea. He pulled into a lot beside what appeared to be the only operational business on the block, a bar. Inside they found a dimly lit room with an unlikely mix of people at the bar. Being from a place where bars and clubs catered to one crowd or another, seeing the mix of old, young, blue collar and white collar people sitting together was a bit odd.

“Excuse me.” Most of the bar looked over at Grissom and Sara, but it was the bartender who spoke.

“wah do yinz need?”

“We’re trying to get to someplace called Station Square.”

“Station Square n'at. Oakel-Doakel wah yinz need to do is head dahn do road and make a left where Amaco usetto be. Git on da parkway west and you'll see da signs to follow to Station Square. Yinz can't miss it.”

“Hey dat’s priddy good Bill n'at. Usually yinzes directions go by way of Altoona.”

Sara looked at Grissom puzzled. “Is this even English?”

A man in a suit at the end of the bar laughed. “Yinz aren't from arahnd here are you?”

That Sara understood. “No we’re from Las Vegas.”

“Woll that explains it. Picksburgh has an unusal dialect. It takes some getting used to but once you do, it’s a can of corn.” Seeing their puzzled expressions a younger man jumped in “He means it’s easy. Hey you’re Dr. Grissom ain’t ya?”

Grissom was stunned “How did you know?”

The young man laughed “Evidence. You’re from Vegas, don’t know your way arahnd Da’Burgh, and the forensics conference is at Duquesne this weekend. Sides the committee that put the thing together has had pictures of you and Lee everywhere. Oh before you go, one thing about the directions. You wont find signs for parkway west. Look for I-376 west and you’re good.”

Grissom thanked everyone and they left to attempt the directions they had been given. Ten minutes later they arrived at the Sheraton at Station Square to check in, only to find that once again penny pincher Ecklie had struck once more and booked a suite instead of two separate rooms for them. Once in their suite Sara was fuming and Ecklie was lucky he was in Vegas. Grissom wasn’t quite as lucky but he tried to make the best of it.

“It’ll be fine Sara. Actually it works out better for us so we can get the work for the conference done. Can we just try and make the best of it?”

Sara wouldn’t have minded being in a hotel with Grissom away from the lab under different circumstances, but over the past few years she had come to realize that Grissom wasn’t interested in her as anything more than a friend. It broke her heart, but she dealt with it as best she could. Now she was stuck in a hotel room with the one man she wanted more than anything and had no place to retreat. “Fine. I’ll try.”

Grissom grinned at her. “That’s all I ask.”

The days before the conference flew by with Grissom and Sara working on organizing notes and slides for the presentation. The conference itself was wonderful. Sara sat in on the seminar by Dr. Henry Lee and talked with some other specialists. Her presentation with Grissom went very well and even the public who had come to listen found it interesting. The two of them worked together like they had been doing it forever.

Afterwards Sara felt she like was ready to collapse as they returned to the hotel. The past five days and the long flight had taken their toll on her. “Do these always feel like you’ve been put through a wringer?” Grissom chuckled. “Most of the time. Between presenting and the stress that involves, and the sitting in on other presentations it gets to be draining. How about we just order in room service and get some sleep? Tomorrow I’m sure we can find something to do in this town.”

“That sounds good. I might have an idea anyway. I was talking to some of the students and there are a lot of things to do that could keep us occupied for a few days. They even mentioned a park nearby with roller coasters.”

Grissom looked up and grinned. “I know. Kennywood has some of the best around. I haven’t been there in years though. Not since I set the marathon record for the Steel Phantom.”

Sara smiled “Oh so you haven’t ridden the newer ones they have?”

Now Grissom was interested and impressed. It was no secret around the lab that he loved roller coasters, but for Sara to research the local ones enough to bring them up and know one was fairly new was a change. “New ones? What new one?”

Sara laughed. “You’re just an overgrown kid aren’t you with your bugs and roller coasters? Well your Steel Phantom isn’t there anymore. They took it out and brought in one they call Phantom’s Revenge, which I guess is supposed to be pretty good. And I was told they have one roller coaster that is totally in the dark. Here’s the website and you can look. I’m hitting the shower.”

Grissom closed his eyes as he heard the bathroom door close. “She had to say it didn’t she. As if I don’t have enough of a problem keeping myself from attacking her, she had to mention a shower didn’t she?” Grissom set the slip of paper with the web address on top of his laptop and walked into his bedroom. “The last thing Sara needs is to come out of the shower and find me sitting there with a hard on.” He stretched out on the bed and tried to relax, but it was difficult with his rigid length straining against his fly. Taking a deep breath he started on his usual cure for such a situation: reciting the periodic table. “Hydrogen, Helium, Lithium, Beryllium, Boron, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen…..that’s what I need every time I’m around her. Wait, not helping Gil. Fluorine, Neon, Sodium, Magnesium, Aluminum, Silicone….not that Sara would need any. God the woman is perfect just the way she is.” Grissom groaned and listened. Sara was still in the shower so he had some time.

He stripped off his clothes and leaned back against the pillows to indulge in one of his favorite fantasies. Closing his eyes he imagined Sara walking into the room, dripping from her shower, wearing nothing but a towel. She smiled at him and ran her hands along his thighs. He lightly stroked his length imagining that it was her hand on him, stroking and squeezing him into a mind-blowing climax.

Sara walked into the living room of the suite and noticed Grissom was gone. She walked to her room to get her cell to call him when she heard something coming from Grissom’s room. She paused outside his door and heard the muffled but distinctive sounds. The thought of Grissom alone in his room getting off was a little embarrassing, and became more so when she heard him groan her name. Her face flushed and her heart leapt at the sound. Perhaps she had judged him a bit too soon. She quietly went back to the bathroom and waited a few minutes, then made a noisy exit.

“Hey Griss! Shower’s free if you want it.”

Grissom was wiping off the evidence of his activities when he heard Sara exit the bathroom. “Thanks. Why don’t you call and order dinner for us while I shower?” He heard her stop just outside his room and heard her voice just outside his door.

“Ok. Anything special you want?”

“Surprise me. As long as it’s not eggplant, I’ll be fine.”

Sara smiled as she walked into the living room of the suite and heard the bathroom door close behind Grissom. Maybe she was wrong about him, and now she had nine days with him to figure it out.