Title: Away
Author: IrishDachsie

Pairing: Grissom/Sara
Rating: PG13
Disclaimer: The author does not own CSI. No profit is being made from this story.

"Dammit Grissom! You just don’t get it, do you?" And with that, she stormed off, leaving him in a confused state.

Catherine walked over to Grissom, who was still standing in the same position, staring blankly where Sara once stood. "What the hell was that about?"

Still not moving, Grissom quietly replied "Nothing." Slowly he walked off, in the opposite direction that Sara had taken.

"Where are you going?"

Still walking, he called over his shoulder. "Away, Catherine. Away."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

She stormed into her apartment, furious at him. She had stayed in Vegas for him. If it hadn’t been for that damn plant, she would’ve been gone months ago. But no, he had to get all sweet and she fell even harder. "Damn him!"

She started packing a suitcase. She had to get out of here for a couple of days. She was quickly losing control of her heart and had been beginning to realize that she would look forward to work because of him. Not because of her job. She couldn’t wait to get to work at night, the one place she KNEW he would be. She had to get away. She wasn’t sure where she was going, but she was getting out of town for a couple of days.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He opened the door to his townhouse and quietly walked in, turning the stereo on as he passed through the living room. Opening the refrigerator, he pulled out a bottle of water. Looking farther back on the shelves, he put the water back, and reached for a beer.

With "Dark Side of the Moon" playing at a moderate volume, he sat down on the couch to drink and reflect. After two beers, he still wasn’t getting anywhere. Her last words to him were haunting him. ‘You just don’t get it, do you?’ No, he didn’t.

He wasn’t trying to be obtuse…he honestly didn’t understand. He wanted to understand. Where Sara was concerned, it seemed that he did everything wrong. His thoughts were interrupted by the doorbell.

Deciding he’d rather be alone, he chose not to answer the door. The bell was replaced by a pounding fist.

"Grissom, I know you’re in there. I hear Floyd!"

With a heavy sigh, he stood and walked to the door. Opening it, he found a rather irritated Catherine. "Look, Grissom. I don’t know what happened, but Sara just called in for the next couple of days."

A look of concern crossed his face. "She did?"

"Yeah, you wanna explain the situation to me?"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"From Grissom"

She turned the card in her hand, over and over. "From Grissom" she quietly said aloud.

As angry as she was with him at this moment, she still loved him. She loved him for him, not because he was handsome, no--gorgeous, she corrected herself. His quirkiness drew her to him. She loved how passionate he was about his work, his experiments, his bugs.

But how could he not see what was going on between them? Surely, he didn’t actually believe that she was wiping dust from his face that night. There was no way that anyone could miss the way she looked at him…not even him.

She picked up the phone with intentions to call him. Then decided that it could make a bad situation worse. Carefully, she laid the phone down and said to herself "Just a couple of days away. That’s all."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Catherine, I don’t know what happened. All I know is that I told her she looked nice."

"She looked nice?"

"Yeah. She did, you know."

"Griss, what else did you say?"

Thinking for a moment, he shrugged his shoulders. "Just that it wasn’t her fault…or his…that we had to go to court."

Catherine sighed lightly. "Uh-huh, what else?"

Grissom looked at her with a puzzled look on his face. "What else?"

Catherine nodded.

Replaying the conversation in his head, Grissom looked at her and said, "You deserve to have a life."

"What?"

"That’s what I said to her. And then she blew up."

"You deserve to have a life? You actually said that to her??"

"Well…yeah, I did. Why?"

"Dammit Grissom! You really don’t get it, do you?"

"Get what?"

Catherine was shaking her head in disbelief. "Everyone can see it except for you. Or is it that you don’t want to see it?"

"See what?" He was thoroughly confused by this point.

Taking hold of his hand and looking into his eyes, she smiled. "Grissom…Sara’s in love with you."

"What?" Surely, he misunderstood what Catherine had just said.

Seeing the question in his eyes, she grinned and nodded at him. "Yeah, she loves you Grissom. And when you told her that she ‘deserves to have a life’, she took that as you being…."

"Being what, Catherine?"

"Well, you know…she took that as you not caring for her…in the way she cares for you."

"Catherine…"

"Don’t deny it Gil…not to me. I know you. I see the way you look at her when you think no one is watching." Grissom turned his gaze to the floor. "And I see the puppy dog look in your eyes when she smiles at you. I know that you love her too."

"You’re right Catherine." He was still staring at the floor. "I do love her. But, when I found out about…him…I lost it. I thought that if she wanted to be with him, then she had no feelings for me. I was trying to help her." He looked up into Catherine’s eyes. "I fucked up, didn’t I?"

Catherine, surprised at his sudden choice of words, smiled. "Maybe not. Go talk to her."

Grissom searched Catherine’s eyes for any evidence of untruth. Seeing only truth, he grabbed his keys and walked out the door. "Lock up behind you, Catherine."

With a grin on her face, she watched him leave. "Sure thing, Gil."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He screeched to a halt in her driveway, barely waiting for the car to stop before opening the door and running up her front steps. Ringing the doorbell, he stood there…waiting for her to open the door. Suddenly the door swung open, and he could still see the anger in her eyes.

"What are you doing here, Grissom?"

Looking past her, at the suitcases, he chose to ask his own question. "Where are you going?"

Taking a step to her left, she let him enter her apartment. "Away for a couple of days. I need a vacation."

"Oh. You’re coming back though, right?"

Sensing the tone in his question, she repeated her first one. "What are you doing here Grissom?"

"Um…could I get something to drink?"

Rolling her eyes, she walked into the kitchen…with him following. "Water, juice, diet Coke, tea, wine, beer…."

"Beer, please."

She thought that was a little odd. She had seen Grissom drink wine…but never a beer. She handed him the bottle and he quickly twisted the lid and took a big gulp of the alcohol.

"Grissom? You okay?"

"Why?"

"Well, it’s just…well…I’ve never seen you drink a beer before."

Grissom took another gulp from the bottle and quietly said, "You’ve never seen a lot of things before."

"Huh?" She was becoming more confused by the minute. "Like what?"

Nervously playing with the label on the bottle, he stammered. "Um…like…well…uh...the...the…way that I…I look at…the way that I look at you…when no one is watching."

She didn’t say a word, she just smiled and waited for him to continue.

"And…uh…the way my eyes light up…when…you smile at me." He was pulling at the corner of the label. He was so nervous, and that touched her heart.
"And…how it…hurts…to hear about you going…out with…with…him."

He finally looked into her eyes. He saw the tears forming in them. He reached over to her and brushed her hair behind her ear, letting his hand rest on the side of her neck. He slowly pulled her to him, licked his lips, and said, "I get it, Sara…I get it."

With those words, he took her into his arms and kissed her with more passion than she had ever felt.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Catherine’s cell phone was ringing. "Willows."

"Catherine, it’s Gil."

"Everything okay?" She was trying to hide the smile in her voice.

Ignoring her question, he simply said, "The shift is yours for the next few days. I’m taking a couple of days off."

"With Sara?"

He was very quiet for a few minutes. "I get it, Cat."

She could hear him smiling. "Where are the two of you going?"

"Away, Catherine…away."

~ End

Return to Index