They actually mine. Ugh, who am I kidding …
This is a response to two challenges. One of them being the one that Laura Katharine and I came up with. G and S and their first kiss. Someplace weird or different - not on a case - not in the lab - not on a date. The second challenge is the Unbound challenge for this week. First and last lines provided. Since I did two challenges, I can double the word limit, right?
Thanks to Nessa for her beta work - she's great! Her and LK also help me through several brain farts yesterday and I'm so grateful for them! Not many people would still be friends with someone who is a confessed loon! I blame my kids and that I recently removed coffee from my diet and … well, do you really need another reason?
Man's Treasure
"What the heck is that doing here!" Grissom demanded as he walked into his office, gesturing to the new piece of furniture.
Catherine kept her back to him, and finished off filling the last drawer. "Ecklie ordered these cabinets weeks ago, Gil. You were off – he wanted it done." She turned around and greeted him with an expectant smile and her hands on her hips. "You’re welcome, by the way."
Grissom cocked his brow and made his way to the filing cabinet to inspect her work.
"Don’t worry. Your filing system, however confusing, was not disrupted. Everything is exactly how it was in the old one."
"Where is the old one?" he asked, closing one drawer and opening another.
"They really didn’t want it down in storage and they tossed the other old ones already, so Warrick drove it to Goodwill earlier today."
"Wait a minute." He got to the last drawer and noticed that things were missing. "There were some things in the bottom drawer – where are they?"
"You mean this stuff?" She handed him a cardboard box with a few letters, books and an old baseball in it. "I didn’t look through it all – I know it’s your stuff."
"There was a blue folder."
"Yeah, that got taken out with the cabinet, I meant to tell Warrick to trash it."
He could literally feel his face drop. "What?"
"Gil, it was a ratty folder with an even rattier old diner menu in it. It was trash."
"That was not trash. It’s still in the cabinet?"
"Yeah, I think so."
"Which Goodwill did he take it to?"
He was halfway out the door at the time of her reply. "The one on North Nellis, I think."
Catherine shook her head, wondering once again when she’ll have him figured out.
Sara poked her head in the break room to find only one occupant, but not the one she was looking for.
"Have you seen Grissom around? I paged him over an hour ago – our missing person is no longer missing."
Catherine looked up from her file and gave Sara a tired frown. "And neither is your boss - he’s at Goodwill."
"What’s he doing there?"
"I threw something away when we changed out his cabinet and he went to there to retrieve it," she replied, waving her hand with exasperation.
Things were still uncomfortable between the two women but they exchanged a smile and an eye roll at Grissom’s idiosyncrasies.
"What did you do - throw out one of his bugs?"
"You would have thought. No, it was an old menu from some place in California. And I doubt that we’re in their delivery area." Catherine swiped an errant strand of hair from her eyes and barked out a laugh. "I don’t know, maybe that Opera Diner makes a great burger."
Sara’s smile faded and for a second she forgot how to breathe. "Max’s Opera Café?" she asked, as she looked down at her hands and toyed with her hangnail.
"That’s the one."
"Oh." She looked up to see Catherine regard her with a curiosity that then turned into understanding. Sara didn't know if it was the show of a great investigator or if it was a moment of woman's intuition but either way, she wasn't willing to share. Her past with Grissom was theirs and theirs alone – besides, there was not much to tell. It was then that her smile returned, albeit a little forced, and she excused herself.
On her way out the door Catherine’s voice rang clear, "The one on North Nellis."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
She found him in the back of the building, sitting on a washing machine with his head hung low. When she approached, he looked up and gave her a wry smile that held not an ounce of surprise.
"Hey, pull up a dryer and sit down."
Sara ignored his invitation and chose to stand in front of him instead. The building was dark but the light from the parking lot gave the space a gentle glow that was oddly serene.
"Sara, how did you get in here?"
"That was going to be my question to you until I saw the manager out on the corner grabbing a smoke. She wanted me to ask you if you were done ‘processing’ your evidence because she would like to get back into bed."
He shook his head and turned it to the side. "The cabinet is over there." He pointed to the row of various cabinets and bookshelves behind him. "It’s empty."
This was the Grissom that tore at her heartstrings – the defeated Grissom. She wanted to cup his face as she did once before, but she refrained. They were no longer in that place.
"I didn’t know that you swiped a menu from Max’s." The fact that he kept a token from a moment, time, and place that she thought of almost daily touched her greatly. She wondered if he knew that on that day she’d let her heart start to get away from her head.
"It was from a very special time. So much has changed since then." He looked at her with intensity that made her warm yet uncomfortable and she averted her eyes.
"Yeah, it has."
"You ate meat then. You cared for me then, tooThat was the only thing I had of … and now I don’t have it anymore. I feel like I’m losing every connection I have to you."
Anger rose through her and it burned. Sara couldn’t believe what she was hearing. What she first thought of as sweet she now thought of as another act of a blind man. She stepped back while she could still control the urge to strangle him.
"That was not all you had. I’m here, Grissom! I’m here in Vegas – I’m right here in front of you, in the middle of shift, at Goodwill. You didn’t lose me. You just didn’t want me enough."
"I wanted you –"
"I know," she interrupted, "but not enough. And that’s fine, but don’t act as though things spun out of your control!" She turned around then and dropped to her knees, digging through the bin of books behind her.
"What are you doing?" he asked, hopping off of the washing machine and heading towards her.
"I’m looking for the damn menu. I’m looking for your piece of me or … of us – whatever. It could have gotten mixed in with some other stuff."
Grissom stood by as she flipped through the books in search of that piece of paper that he dreamed his ‘what ifs’ on. A piece of paper that was his past but not his present or future. Unlike Sara.
"Sara, it’s not there. It probably got thrown out."
"What about their garbage receptacle?"
"I’ve already been out there." What he didn’t tell her was that he had spent the better part of an hour out in their receptacle searching for what he lost. "Please Sara, get up." He reached down and helped her to her feet, but when met with her face he was surprised at the sign of tears.
"What’s wrong?"
"Don’t you understand?" She shook her head and eased her way out of his grasp. "I was willing to give so much, Griss."
"Was?" He hoped that his voice didn’t sound as small as he felt. His mouth opened and closed a couple of time before he posed the question he really didn’t want the answer to. "Does that mean that you’ve moved on?"
He shook his head and turned it to the side. "The cabinet is over there." He pointed to the row of various cabinets and bookshelves behind him. "It’s empty."
This was the Grissom that tore at her heartstrings – the defeated Grissom. She wanted to cup his face as she did once before, but she refrained. They were no longer in that place.
"I didn’t know that you swiped a menu from Max’s." The fact that he kept a token from a moment, time, and place that she thought of almost daily touched her greatly. She wondered if he knew that on that day she’d let her heart start to get away from her head.
"It was from a very special time. So much has changed since then." He looked at her with intensity that made her warm yet uncomfortable and she averted her eyes.
"Yeah, it has."
"You ate meat then. You cared for me then, tooThat was the only thing I had of … and now I don’t have it anymore. I feel like I’m losing every connection I have to you."
Anger rose through her and it burned. Sara couldn’t believe what she was hearing. What she first thought of as sweet she now thought of as another act of a blind man. She stepped back while she could still control the urge to strangle him.
"That was not all you had. I’m here, Grissom! I’m here in Vegas – I’m right here in front of you, in the middle of shift, at Goodwill. You didn’t lose me. You just didn’t want me enough."
"I wanted you –"
"I know," she interrupted, "but not enough. And that’s fine, but don’t act as though things spun out of your control!" She turned around then and dropped to her knees, digging through the bin of books behind her.
"What are you doing?" he asked, hopping off of the washing machine and heading towards her.
"I’m looking for the damn menu. I’m looking for your piece of me or … of us – whatever. It could have gotten mixed in with some other stuff."
Grissom stood by as she flipped through the books in search of that piece of paper that he dreamed his ‘what ifs’ on. A piece of paper that was his past but not his present or future. Unlike Sara.
"Sara, it’s not there. It probably got thrown out."
"What about their garbage receptacle?"
"I’ve already been out there." What he didn’t tell her was that he had spent the better part of an hour out in their receptacle searching for what he lost. "Please Sara, get up." He reached down and helped her to her feet, but when met with her face he was surprised at the sign of tears.
"What’s wrong?"
"Don’t you understand?" She shook her head and eased her way out of his grasp. "I was willing to give so much, Griss."
"Was?" He hoped that his voice didn’t sound as small as he felt. His mouth opened and closed a couple of time before he posed the question he really didn’t want the answer to. "Does that mean that you’ve moved on?"
He shook his head. "No."
"Then why do you think I have? You think that my heart wasn’t as vested?" She backed away again and placed her hand over her chest, rubbing as if to relieve a pain deep inside. "I don’t know exactly what you thought this was – what you thought I was feeling. I have given up but I am far from moved on and, as I have come to find out, they are two totally different things."
"I don’t want you to do either."
"Well, you could have fooled me."
Unsure of what to do next, they stood in silence looking everywhere but at each other. They both waited for the other to speak and silently acknowledged that they never had made it this far. She didn’t walk away and he didn’t back down … but what next?
Sara could feel that his gaze shifted and was now directed towards her. When she looked up she saw the face of a man she hadn’t seen in ages. Something changed tonight and no matter the outcome, she felt relieved that he wasn’t ignoring this.
"Do you know what I want, Sara?"
"No, but God, if you would tell me that would be great," she tiredly replied, inwardly cringing at the sarcasm she wasn’t able to conceal.
Taking a deep breath, he flexed his hands and took those last two steps into her personal space. "I want to be able to take every bad thing I have ever said or done back. I want for you to look at me – smile at me again with the openness that you had that day at the café. I don’t want reminders of you to be pieces of paper telling me what the blue-plate special cost eight years ago. I want them to be a pile of your dirty laundry on the bathroom floor or some tofu in the fridge."
Grissom raised his hand to cup her face but stopped just short of touching her. His hands were dirty from digging up the past. "I want to be able to touch you."
He could see Sara’s indecision but then she closed her eyes and let out a quiet sob as she slowly moved into his embrace. The relief that he felt when she wrapped her arms around his waist was indescribable. They were holding each other among one man’s garbage, one man’s memories, one man’s future - and it was perfect.
He began to trace her ear with his nose and slowly brushed his cheek along hers – mimicking what his hands would do. She shuddered when he breathed her name, and when it vibrated through him he could not contain his smile or the wild beating of his heart.
Sara began to pull back and he reluctantly loosened his hold on her. Her eyes gleamed and, not for the first time, he lost his breath.
"We can have that." Her whisper was soft but held a strong unvoiced question that only he could answer. Can we have that?
"We can have that," he repeated, almost in disbelief and for the first time he felt as though they really could do this. They may have given up on each other at times, but maybe their love had never given up on them.
His eyes closed as her fingers worked their way across his jaw and behind his ears. The sensations of her touch and the promise of her sweet mouth were too much to bear so he pulled her closer, capturing her lips with his own.
The long languid strokes of their tongues were the cause of several pleased moans and eager grunts. Taking their time, they let their mouths bridge the gap to each other’s soul.
Her zeal and the inner softness of her mouth amazed him.
His gentleness and the brush of his beard excited her.
Slowing down to soft pecks, Grissom nuzzled her cheek and held her a little bit tighter than before. He knew that he needed to give her something more than a list of wants and needs. He brushed his lips against her forehead before pulling back to look her in the eyes.
"We will have that, Sara."
He gave her a promise.
She grinned, and he took it as a sign to kiss her again.
The End
