January 30, 1995

            The engagement party for Ike and Katie was still going strong at 1 a.m. in the morning, although the older guest had quickly begun dropping off after the stroke of midnight and the ancient ones hours before that. Still, it was easy to see that the joyful revelers had steam to spare as a loud chorus of whoops went up as Ike bent his bride-to-be back and kissed her at the end of a slow dance number.

            Sara chuckled at the pair and the boisterous crowd as she slowly made her way from the dance floor to their table. She was amazed at the effervescent happiness that glowed with her chest, she was certain she had never felt this much joy and beyond certain that she had never smiled as much as she had in the past twenty-four hours. Sara felt alive on a cosmic level and it was a high like no other, she was already addicted to it and knew the source was the man who had gone off to get her a drink.

            Seeking him out and finding him at the bar gazing back at her, Sara’s smile grew and a tiny giggle escaped her, the happiness bubbling out. She watched as Grissom ducked his head, trying to control the crooked smile that was plainly evident, before turning to the bartender. And with an un-Sara like gesture, Sara sighed loudly and happily, almost swooning at the enormity of her feelings. Hearing herself, Sara nearly broke down in laughter before getting control of herself.

            “Well, you must be feeling better.”

            Sara recognized the voice immediately and expertly maintained her facial expression. “Hi, Mike,” Sara greeted, a slight unease slipping into her general happiness. “I didn’t think you were going to make the party.”

            Mike Olson saddled up alongside her, splitting his gaze between Sara and the people on the dance floor. “I was on shift until midnight but…here I am,” he announced with a flourish, his hands spreading wide. “I left a message on your machine to let you know I would be here tonight.”

            Sara noted the hidden note of rebuke in Mike’s voice but chose to ignore it. She was willing to give the man a little leeway, seeing as how she had cut their “date” short the night before. Sara had worried about this very moment when she had given in and said yes to Mike Olson’s request to escort her to the Sheriff’s Ball several months earlier. Somehow she knew that he would assume there was something more permanent to their relationship and expect more.

            “I actually forgot to check my machine today,” Sara answered truthfully. “Sorry.”

            After reluctantly leaving Grissom in the late afternoon, Sara had gotten back to her apartment, endured some serious razzing by her roommates before falling face first into her pillow for some much needed rest. The man had proven himself quite capable to living up to his claims of being a voracious lover. I’m just glad I’m not walking bowlegged, Sara thought, a flushed tint creeping on to her cheeks as unbidden pictures of the previous night danced exotically through her head.

            “That’s alright,” Mike said, making a brushing motion with his hand. “I just didn’t want you to think I had forgotten about you.”

            Sara gave the man a perplexed look. “Well, aside from amnesia I didn’t think you would,” she said, her tone quizzical with a hint of accusation. She had feared that Mike would assume too much but had given him the benefit of the doubt, maybe she shouldn’t have.

            Noticing the slight frown on Sara’s face, Mike chuckled and tried to explain himself. “Yea, well, when Katie said you weren’t feeling good and had taken a cab home I wanted to check in on you.”

            Sara’s brows arched in surprise as she glanced over at Katie. This is going to be tricky, Sara thought unhappily. This was the exact reason why she had not wanted Katie to make an excuse for her to Mike. She had no idea what Katie had said, so she was unable to go along with lie and secondly Sara Sidle didn’t enjoy lying. Noticing Sara’s curious look and Mike Olson’s arrival, Sara watched as Katie excused herself from a group of well-wishers and began making her way over to Sara.

            “Plus, I didn’t want you to think I had forgotten about this shindig,” he motioned to the ballroom.

            Sara wanted to put the man straight as quickly and has delicately as possible. “Look, Mike…I’m fine, alright. I didn’t think you had forgotten me because we hadn’t planned to come to the party together. I appreciate your concern and I’m sorry about last night but-“

            “Hi, Mike,” Katie cut in, placing her hand on his shoulder as she did so. “I’m glad you made it, thought I heard you were on shift.”

            “Got off about an hour ago and wanted to swing by,” he explained. “Besides, I didn’t want Sara to be all…”

            Mike’s words trailed off quickly as he saw Grissom hand Sara a drink before leaning in to whisper something quickly in her ear, a smile on his face. Sara gave the man a short nod, the eager glint that flashed in her eyes hard to miss.

            “Mike,” Sara began by way of introductions, “I don’t know if you’ve met… this is Dr. Gil Grissom. Gil, this is Sergeant Mike Olson from the San Francisco Police Department.”

            The tension was heavy as Mike sized the other man up, the situation becoming readily apparent. “No,” Mike answered, slowly extending his hand to take Grissom’s proffered one in a handshake. “You’re Ike’s buddy, right?”

            Grissom smiled politely. “Yea,” he answered with single nod as he tried desperately not to embarrass Sara and go all caveman on her.

            Grissom wanted nothing more than to pull Sara up against him and plant a steamy kiss upon her lips, marking her as his own in front of the man before them. You had your chance, pal. She’s mine! Grissom’s primitive side bellowed possessively.

            “Some sort of bug specialist?” Mike squinted his eyes and gave Sara a bemused smirk, his tone held a hint of ridicule.

            Sara’s eyes widened, worried that Grissom would take Mike’s bait but to his credit Gil simply chuckled and shook his head, which only caused Sara to smile wider. Grissom was all man but he wasn’t stupid enough to be lured into a simpleminded fisticuffs, he’d let Mike Olson take the pawn, Grissom would have the queen and the board.

            “Yea, well someone has to be,” Grissom said, not the least bit phased by the man.

            “Actually, Gill holds a Doctorate in Biology from U.C.L.A.,” Katie said, insulted by Mike’s not-so-hidden slight of her longtime friend. “He was teaching part-time when I started medical school, he’s how I came to meet Ike.”

            Katie smiled at Grissom, interlocking her arm with his in a sign of solidarity. “I told him he should have gotten a medical degree but…not enough of a challenge I suppose,” she patted his shoulder with her free hand, before giving him a playful wink.

            “You had the medicine thing covered,” Grissom told her, a grin twisting at the corner of his lips.

            Seeing that he wasn’t going to make any headway against Grissom with Katie at his side, Olson decided to ease off. Looking around the ballroom, he asked where Ike was. “I better go congratulate him or warn if off matrimony, which ever comes first,” he joked, ignoring the stern eye Katie gave him as he chuckled and walked away.

            “Keep him out of trouble,” Katie said to Sara as she followed Olson, leaving Grissom to huff at her accusation.

            “What did I do?” He asked, a playful grin barely hidden under his look of mock indignation.

            Sara shook her head and took his free hand, leading him towards the veranda door. She wanted some fresh air but more than that she wanted Gil to herself, even if it was only for a few moments. “Do you care if we get some fresh air?”

            Pursing his lips in a smirk that lay somewhere between naughty and amused, Grissom shook his head. He’d follow her where ever she wanted to lead him.

            The air was damp and cool and clung to Sara’s bare arms, causing a slight chill to race across her skin. Folding her arms across her chest, Sara tried to warm herself by rubbing her hands up and down her arms. Before she realized it, Grissom had shrugged out of his suit coat and wrapped it around her shoulders. Sara pulled the lapels tightly across her chest, dipping her head to breathe deeply of his clean, masculine scent.

            “We could go back inside if you are too cold,” Grissom whispered in her ear as he pulled her back against his chest in a deep embrace.

            Sara shook her head but abruptly stopped when she felt his lips grazing her neck, the shiver coursing through her having nothing to do with the weather. “Or,” he continued, his voice husky and raw, “we could leave?”

            Sara didn’t even hesitate. “Yes,” she purred, rolling her head to the side to give him greater access to her neck.

            Grissom suckled teasingly at her pulse-point, his hands rounding her hips to travel along her lower abdomen. “I’ll get our things and make our goodbyes,” he told her, his words hot against her ear. “Meet you in the foyer.”

            Sara turned to see him move with cat like grace through the veranda doors and across the ballroom. Eager to leave, she quickly made her way from the ballroom to the foyer of the building. Her mile wide smile slipping quickly when a harsh voice and a painful grip interrupted her reverie, looking to the owner of the hand, Sara was startled to see Mike Olson angrily guiding her out the large mahogany doors.

            It took Sara a few moments to get over the shock at Mike’s behavior but once she did she let the man know he had pissed her off. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Sara spat as she yanked her arm angrily from his grip.

            “We need to talk,” Olson told her, his eyes searching the vicinity to make sure they had not made a scene.

            Sara had made numerous friends in the time she had been working for Ike in the CSI laboratories and Olson didn’t want to make any new enemies. He had big plans for his career and the last thing he needed was some lab rat making him look bad.  

            “Really? Well, if you wanted to talk to me all you had to do is ask,” Sara barked, crossing her arms across her chest in an attempt not to punch the presumptuous man.

            “Listen, I don’t know what’s going on between you and that geek, bug guy but-“

            Sara put up a single hand to stop him. “It’s none of your business what is or isn’t going on between me and Grissom,” Sara stated adamantly. “I agreed to go to the Winter Ball with you and I did. I told you it was just as friends and I’m sorry I left the party without you but I spent more time talking to others and sitting by myself then with you.”

            “I asked if you wanted to leave early,” Olson said defensively.

            “Oh, come on, Mike!” Sara shook her head in angry disbelief. “We both know what you were offering and it wasn’t an early night.”

            Olson shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he tried to come up with an argument to her correct assumption. He had been trying to ply her with alcohol for most of the party before he was distracted by several of his buddies from the narcotics department. He’d only realized she was gone after Katie had come by and informed him of Sara’s departure.

            “Alright, maybe I was looking for more but you’ve always known that,” he argued.

            “And you’ve always known where I’ve stood on that,” Sara countered, some of her ire diminishing. “Look, Mike…you’re a fun guy but we just wouldn’t work out-“

            Olson took a hold of Sara’s arms and ushered her back towards the stone banister that separated the handsomely manicured landscape from the wide stone-stepped entry. Sara batted his hands from her arms irritably, she was losing her patience with the police sergeant and wasn’t too keen on being shoved into partial shadows.

            “I think you’re wrong,” Olson told her, slipping in to her personal space, his intentions suddenly clear.

            “Mike,” Sara put her palms against his chest in an attempt to keep her unwanted suitor at arms length, “don’t!”

            Sara was prepared to use force to make her point if need be but didn’t want to have to resort to it yet. She attempted to step to the side in hopes of creating an avenue of escape but Olson had foreseen this and blocked Sara in decisively between the exterior of the building and the stone banister. She had two recourses: leap the banister or put the hurt on Mike Olson.

            Shoving him with all her might, Sara whirled expertly out of his trap and began to back away from Olson. “Come on Sara,” he chided her like an unreasonable child.

            “I said no, Mike.”

            “Sounded more like a… maybe to me,” he said, trying to give her his most charming smile.

            To Sara he looked like a snake slithering up on his prey. Well, I’m no victim, Sara thought. “I’m warning you, Mike.”

            Olson chuckled, thinking Sara’s flash of bravado endearing. He changed his mind quickly, when Sara’s fist slammed into the side of his face, his head rolling with the impact.

            “DAMN IT!” Olson spat, his left hand going to his injured cheek while his right one shot out and grabbed Sara’s wrist. “What did ya do that for?” He yanked on her arm roughly.

            “I warned you.” Sara tried to pull her arm free several times. “Now let me go!”

            “You’re being a bitch,” Olson accused, trying to pull her back into the dimly lit area.

            “Let her go!” The words were spoken softly but with such deadly intent that both Sara and Olson jumped back, their gazes quickly centering on Grissom.

            Sara would have never considered Gil a violent man but the cold, menacing glare he directed at Olson caused a shiver to course down her spine and had her reevaluating Gil’s ability to cause physical harm to another. Grissom was a contradiction in terms. His face was eerily blank accept for the deadly glint of his blue eyes. He stood still but underneath the thin veneer of calm was a hum of coiled tension, like a Cobra just before it would strike.

            Sara took Olson’s momentary surprise as her chance to escape his grasp, stepping away quickly.

            “Look this has nothin’ to do with you,” Olson jabbed his index finger in the air at Grissom.

            Grissom took Sara’s arm. Gently but firmly he pulled her to stand just behind his left shoulder. “It has everything to do with me,” he stated deliberately, the danger in his voice like a low frequency causing a tremor in the air around them.

            “Sara?” Olson stepped forward, only to be cut off by Grissom.

            The tension crackled like static electricity in the air. Sara, desperate to ward off any fight between the two men, pulled on Grissom’s arm.

            “Hey guys what’s going on?”

            Ike Munro smiled as he took in the picture before him but his eyes were wary the instant he saw the look in Grissom’s eyes. He’d only seen that look once before and it hadn’t been pretty either. Gil wasn’t the kind of guy to get into fights, he used his mind to outwit his adversaries and was damn good at it but there were a few things that got under his skin and of those there were less than a handful that would cause the man to do damage. Mike Olson had apparently found one of those few things.

            The guarded group was joined by two of Ike’s investigators and Katie. “Sara?” Katie asked, worried for her friend.

            Sara shook her head. She was fine, just worried that Gil was going to end up arrested for fighting in public, with an off-duty cop no less. “Gil,” Sara whispered softly at his shoulder, hugging his arm in an attempt to keep him with her. “Let’s go…please.”

            At Sara’s plea, Grissom turned his gaze to look at her, his eyes searching her face. “I’m okay,” she answered his silent question. “Please, let’s go.”

            Ike patted his friend on the shoulder. “Yea, Gris, why don’t you take Sara home.” With an added wink he let Grissom know he had his back.

            With a look that dared Olson to try and touch Sara again, Grissom turned and took her hand, leading her away from the arrogant bastard. If it wasn’t for Sara’s long legs she would not have been able to keep up with his quick pace as they made their way through the parking lot to Ike’s Firebird. Reaching the car, Grissom turned and pulled Sara into his embrace.

            “I’m sorry,” he expelled on a shuddered breath. “I should have...if I’d been quicker, I…”

            Sara was completely amazed at the man planting tiny kisses at her temple. He was blaming himself? For what?

            “Gil, I’m fine,” she said, trying to reassure him even as he pulled away and examined her wrists and arms. “Really.”

            Cupping her face with one hand, Grissom looked into her eyes, seeking the validity of her words. Sara smiled at him warmly. Her knight in shining armor was upset because he thought he had not charged to her rescue soon enough. Leaning forward, Sara kissed him, giving him the assurance he needed.

            With a heavy sigh of relief he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back. “You’re sure you’re okay,” he asked, once they had parted.

            Sara giggled. “Yes, hell, I decked him in the face.”

            Grissom shook his head. He had no doubt that Sara was quite capable of clocking the bastard upside the head. “I bet you did,” he told her as he opened her car door.

            “So?” Sara asked once Grissom got into the driver’s seat and started the engine.

            Grissom’s eyes darted between Sara and the parking lot. Even though they had spent most of the night and day with one another in the most intimate of circumstances, there were times where their footing seemed less than sure. “So,” Grissom repeated.

            “I suppose I should go home,” Sara’s voice seemed less than committed to this idea. “Unless there is something you want to do?”

            Grissom couldn’t help but catch the hopeful lilt to her voice. With a daring that only Sara seemed to bring out in him, Grissom said, “I just want to be with you.”

            The smile that permeated Sara’s features could power the Bay Area for months with its brilliance. “Yes,” she agreed, giggling when he took her hand and kissed it firmly before putting the car in drive and leaving the parking lot.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

            The notoriously dubbed Strip Strangler case had gone from bad to worse when a philandering husband had attempted to use the killer’s signature to do away with a wife he no longer wanted. A piece of distinctive leather gave him away but even without, Grissom had already been suspicious. Signature killers had a natural evolvement but going from ground level, single occupancy apartments to high-rise hotels in one pass didn’t seem to mesh well for the CSI Supervisor.

            There were other tells that spoke to Grissom, told him that the man Agent Rick Culpepper was trying to finger for the Strip Strangler murders wasn’t their guy. Sure he was a murderer and needed to be put away for the death of his wife but Grissom knew the bigger danger still hunted the women of Las Vegas. He couldn’t get the picture of Sara in the Supermarket out of his head and that added with the fact that he was terrible at playing political games was how he had ended up on a forced two week vacation.

            Sheriff Brian Mobley had decided to remove Grissom from the case but his team had not, knowing that their boss was the one sure fire way they were going to catch the vicious killer. Sara had not been comfortable with Mobley’s fawning over Catherine, had not liked the implications for Grissom and his job but Sara had to give Catherine credit. She played the Sheriff masterfully. Declining his offer in such away that the man never felt slighted for his proposition and Catherine still garnered a promise for a supervisory role at a later date.

            Catherine was, if nothing else, Gil’s friend and Sara had never been more thankful for that then when she had gone to Sid Goggles apartment complex and saved his life.

            “Thank you, Catherine,” Sara had said softly as the two women watched the Sheriff speak with Grissom.

            It was damage control time for the prickly Sheriff. The last thing he wanted or needed was for his monumental error to be brought out into the light, not to mention explaining to Carvallo and other higher ups how he had lost one of their best CSIs. Grissom wasn’t going to go anywhere for the time being but there was a certain amount of cosmic justice to witness Mobley sweating it out.

            Catherine turned to look at Sara. In Catherine’s mind there was nothing to thank her for. She wasn’t about to let Goggles murder again, especially her best friend. Seeing the anxious worry barely contained on Sara’s face, Catherine realized something. It wasn’t just Grissom who still harbored feelings in his and Sara’s crazy relationship. She still loves him, Catherine thought, looking back at Grissom as he headed towards them.

            “Maybe you could take him to get that arm checked out,” Catherine said by way of a proverbial olive branch.

            She wasn’t about to confess that she might have been wrong about Sara Sidle but she was willing to concede to herself that she might need to reevaluate her opinion of the woman. I suppose she can’t be all bad since Gil loves her, Catherine thought bemusedly as she watched the heated glances between the two former lovers and spouses.

            “Sara’s going to take you to get your arm checked out ANDDD don’t argue,” Catherine said, seeing he was about to object. Turning to leave, Catherine threw over her shoulder, “Besides, it’s the least you can do considering all the paperwork I have to fill out for saving your butt.” With a backwards wave, Catherine left the two alone.
 
They watched until Catherine had driven off in her Tahoe. Turning to Grissom, Sara couldn’t decide whether she wanted to yell at him or kiss him. Considering that there were still FBI agents and the coroner nearby Sara opted for a third choice and quietly reprimanded him.

            “What the hell were you thinking, Gil,” she demanded, skewering him with a unyielding gaze. “You could have been killed.”

            Grissom blinked in astonishment, his mouth falling open as if he was about to say something only to close it when he didn’t know what to say.  “I…just wanted to talk to him,” Grissom finally said by way of an explanation.

            “Yea, well, you talked to him and he almost took your head off,” Sara said as she reached out for his good arm and steered him towards her Tahoe. “Back up, Gris, back up!”

            “I came in my car,” Grissom said, looking over his shoulder in the direction of his vehicle.

            “The only way I am going to get you to check your arm out is to take you to the hospital myself,” she informed him, the look on her face told him it was pointless to argue with her.

            Settling into the driver’s seat, Sara sighed heavily. Looking at Grissom she finally said, “Don’t ever do that to me again.”

            Grissom was startled to see the glint of unshed tears in her eyes before Sara turned to start up the truck and leave the scene. It hadn’t been his intent to worry her but at that moment he felt guilty as hell for doing so. “Sure, Sara,” he softly said before turning to watch the streets of Las Vegas go by.

            * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

January 31, 1995

            All Grissom could do was watch their intertwined hands held lovingly between him and Sara. It was too hard to look into her eyes and see the tears that had valiantly refused to fall. Her sadness gripped his heart and clenched it tightly or maybe it was his own melancholy as he heard the call to board for his flight.

            “That’s me,” he warned Sara. He would wait until the last call to board, wanting every last second with Sara he could have.

            Sara leaned forward, placing her head on his shoulder. “I know.”

            Grissom had never been comfortable with open displays of public affection but he needed to hold Sara, to comfort her. “Sara,” he sighed, leaning his head against hers. “I…” God! He never thought leaving her would be this difficult.

            “Gil…will you come back,” Sara hesitated, not wanting to said as needy as she felt, “to see me?”

            Grissom jerked away to look Sara in the eye. “Yes, God, yes!” He exclaimed softly. “Sara, I meant everything I said to you this weekend. I…do love you.”

            Sara smiled and kissed him. “I love you too,” she told him in between kisses.

            The last call crackled over the overhead speakers. Grissom and Sara both glanced regretfully at his gate. “You’d better call me tonight or you’ll be sorry,” Sara teased, arching a single brow as a dare.

            Grissom twisted his lips in an attempt to hide the smirk that inevitably found its way to his handsome face. “I’ll call…but I’m wondering what the punishment is before I completely commit.

            Sara leaned in and kissed Grissom thoroughly before whispering in his ear. “I won’t make breakfast with you again,” Sara threatened, referring to their joint efforts to make waffles during the morning that had broken down into something more primal but just as delicious.

            Grissom groaned. Snatching his duffel style bag from the ground at his feet, he took a few steps towards the gate before rushing back to steal one more kiss from Sara. “I have to go,” he lamented, rushing for the gate. “I’ll call!”

            Sara smiled at Grissom as he disappeared through the loading gate. Heading to the large windows that overlooked the tarmac, Sara watched the plane until it taxied to its runway.

            “Don’t worry, sweetie.”

            Sara turned to see antediluvian woman with white thinning hair that nearly matched her pale complexion. The frail woman had to be ninety if she was a day but from the sparkle in her gray-blue eyes Sara could see she was young at heart.

            “Excuse me?” Sara wasn’t certain if the old woman was talking to her but since she was the only one near she figured it was a good bet.

            “Don’t worry, your sweetheart will call you,” the old woman explained, pointing a boney finger at the gate where Grissom had gone through. “I’ve seen thousands of sweethearts part, the worst is during war, sad, oh, so sad…Some mean it, some don’t but your man is hooked, honey. Don’t you doubt it.”

            Sara’s smile grew wider as she said her goodbye’s to the woman. If Grissom was hooked than she was hooked, washed and ready to be served. With a giggle, Sara picked up her pace. She hated to admit it but she would be going home and waiting eagerly for a phone call from one very sexy entomologist!