"The cop read Melissa her rights, right there in the hospital room." a small pause. "You think you know someone..." she said quietly.

He pulled a book from his locker. "I never think that."

She looked at him. "Ever?" They looked at each other and Grissom was the first to look away, then continued to get another book from his locker. Sara turned her eyes back to the lockers in front of her. "When I was a kid, I was playing hide and seek one day and found a plastic bag under my brothers bed. I thought it was a bag of dirt, so I took it to my mom, but it turned out to be his stash of weed."

His eyes were on her and as he closed his locker, he said. "The best intentions are thwart with disappointment." and then he turned to the door.

"Emerson?" she asked as she looked up at him.

He turned to her. "Grissom." he shrugged and gave a small smile.

She smirked and looked away as he turned back to the door. He looked back once more before leaving. She let out a disappointed breath and hung her head.

-

Just as she was climbing into her car, she heard someone call her name.

"Sara."

She turned and watched him approach with his eyes wondering the parking lot. He stopped a distance from her, but finally looked directly at her.

"Yeah?" she said.

"Would you like to go somewhere?" he asked with a slight stammer.

She looked down at her keys and thought about the offer for only a second. "Where?"

He smiled. "It's a surprise."

She looked up and searched his eyes for any kind of misdirection, but found none. "I suppose." she said weakly and re-locked her car.

"I'll need more than 'I suppose'. You want to come or not?" he asked somewhat disappointed by her reaction, but he knew she was upset and didn't expect her to be jumping up and down. "I tell you what. I'll buy breakfast and take you somewhere."

She pursed her lips and put her sunglasses on. "Okay. But I hate surprises, Grissom."

He smirked. "So? Come on."

She couldn't help the smile at his eagerness. She'd never seen him like this outside work. Come to think about it, she rarely saw him like this at work. As of late, that is.

-

Sara sat in the passenger seat of Grissom's car, wondering where they were going. It was her bedtime and she was exhausted. She wanted to go home and sleep. She leaned her head against the window one-minute and when she opened them, the car was parked somewhere and no Grissom was to be seen. Oh great, he abandoned me.

"I'm sorry. I should have known you'd be tired."

She jumped at the sound of his voice. She turned to look out the window and saw Grissom standing a few feet away with his sunglasses on and his hands stuffed in his pants pockets. He was wearing his white shirt but the sleeves were rolled up to the elbows. He looked too sexy and when he shyly turned his head, he cleared his throat. Sara suddenly realised that she had been staring.

"Where are we?" She asked, stumbling out the door. She shrugged off her jacket and slid on her sunglasses.

Grissom turned to look at the sign behind him. "I thought you could do with a change." he said, glancing at her as she came to a stop next to him.

Sara furrowed her brows at the large black letters. "Not much of a change." she said bluntly.

Raising a curious eyebrow, he sighed, "I thought you wanted to come here?"

Seeing his disappointment, she smiled genuinely. "I did. I mean, I do. I just never thought I would have time to actually come here. Not much of a social life, so I'm told." she whispered the last bit and kicked at the dirt.

"You don't even need a social life to come to the Body Farm, Sara. And the best bit is, you get me to show you around." he smiled shyly and motioned for her to walk with him.

Looking around as they moved further into the reserve, Sara noticed several bodies in different stages of discomposition. "It's quite unnerving to know these are real bodies, and that someone would give permission for some scientist to experiment with their corpse."

Grissom stopped and stared at her. "Some scientist? Sara?"

Just before he could continue, Sara started laughing. "The look on your face. Like I would question something that aids science. I am a scientist too you know."

He couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. "You are cruel Sara Sidle."

She just continued to laugh as she walked further into the woods. "Ahh yes, but you still love me." she giggled for a minute longer before suddenly realising what she had said. She turned quickly with a horrified look on her face. Grissom was staring at her in shock. She started to stammer and recover or come up with some whitty comeback. "I mean. I didn't. I'm." she rubbed her face and turned away as she failed to verbalise anything remotely intellegent enough. "Sorry." she mumbled regretfully.

Grissom touched her shoulder, only for her to pull away. "Sara? It's okay, you know... I understand what you were saying." he tried desperately to reassure her.

Sara shook her head and walked back towards the car. "Just a slip. Didn't mean to make you or me uncomfortable. Just my mouth getting ahead of me." she explained. "As per usual."

Grissom watched her from where he stood. She tried to pull on the door handle, but it wouldn't budge. She looked at him expectantly. He just shook his head and turned away.

"Grissom?" she stared at him in confusion.

"I want to look around." he was quick to change the subject completely and he walked further into the wood. "Come look at this!" he shouted moments later.

Sara sighed and slowly made her way back to him. Her mind was buzzing at his strangeness. He's not running away and this was thoroughly confusing. Usually he would run a mile, but he's acutally making sure SHE stays. Taking a deep breath, she stopped at the sudden thought. 'I'm running?' Faintly grinning at the odd notion, she continued her approach.

Grissom was leaning over the lakes water edge, looking at something. Sara was about to step closer, when her foot slipped on a wet plank of wood. Grissom turned quickly and reached for her flaying arms. He grabbed her wrists, but she went down like a bag of sand with Grissom along with her. Soon they both found themselves in a very compromising position, as you do when something unpredictable like this happens.

Grissom lay sprawlled across Sara with his hands clutching her left side and hip. Sara's hand's were gripping Grissom's jacket tightly.

"Sorry." she whispered breathlessly.

Shifting to straighten up, Grissom's bright blue eyes seemed to darken in a nanosecond as they looked into hers. He didn't dare move any further. His face was so close, that when she spoke her apology, her breath fluttered against his lips. Both parties seemed to be getting progressively worse. Their breathing accelerated and the air seemed to thin.

"You-" he cleared his throat with a chesty rattle of nervousness and watched as her eyes closed at the vibrations passing through him to her. He tried again and her eyes slowly opened. "You okay?"

"Nope." she smiled shyly.

Grissom tried to move, but Sara didn't let go. He raised a single eyebrow in question, to which she only shrugged. "I need my jacket." he gruffly informed her, his words spoken against her cheek.

"Oh. Sorry." she eventually released his jacket and waited while he got to his feet and brushed himself down. Sara moved, but winced at the sudden pain.

"Sara?" Grissom knelt helped her sit up.

"My ankle hurts, that's all. Nothing broken I'm sure. " she answered, reaching down to rub the injury.

Grissom's hand flew out to grab hers. They both stared at their hands and slowly let them go at the same time. "Uh, I was. erm. Let me." he lifted her foot and carefully removed her shoe. Pulling at the sock, he looked up as she whimpered. "Sorry."

Sara shook her head and looked at his hands as they pulled the sock completely off and his warm hands touched her ankle. "It's probably a sprain. Nothing that will stop me working." she carefully rotated her affect joint.

Looking at her ankle, Grissom could see it starting to swell. "Well, it looks like its about to get bad. Its bound to hurt more and is going to be swelling unless we get some ice on it. You're right. It looks like a sprain. Let's get back to the car and I'll take you home."

"No. Grissom, just drive me back to the lab and I'll drive home. No need to go all out. I- "

"Sara." he said her name and her ramblings stopped.

She looked up from her inspection of the ground, to lock onto his eyes. "Yeah?"

He smiled. "Shut up."

She gaped at him slightly, which quickly broke out into a large grin. "Sorry."

He slipped her sock back on and handed the shoe to her. "Hold that." he scooped her up effortlessly and started for the car. "You're heavier than you look." he chuckled as Sara smacked the back of his head lightly. He laughed. "Don't do that or I'm likely to drop you."

"Done enough of making a fool of myself for one evening, thank you very much." she mumbled, staring at his jacket collar as her fingers absently played with the hem.

Grissom turned his head slightly and his cheek brushed her fingers. She stopped playing with the jacket and her eyes travelled up his cheek to his ear, sideburn and then down his face until she stopped at his lips. When he spoke, Sara quickly looked away. "You didn't make a fool in front of anyone, Sara. Not me or the dead."

"That makes me a whole lot better." she replied dryly.

Grissom looked at her as he stopped beside the car. "What would make you feel better?" he asked sincerely.

Sara's eyes locked with his in an instant. She didn't know what to say. She was speechless. His eyes held hers as he gently lowered her to stand on her good foot. She leaned against the rear passenger door while he waited a few seconds. Breaking eye contact, he unlocked the door and offered his hand.

Taking his hand, Sara climbed into the car. Grissom closed the door and walked around to the driver side. Before he got in, he stopped. His hand on the handle and his eyes looking towards where they had just come from. His heart was pounding in his chest. His breathing still a little erratic. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and climbed in. Looking across, he saw Sara's eyes were closed with her head pressed back against the headrest. All he could think of at that moment was what it would feel like to kiss her.

Breaking his thoughts with a shake of his head. He turned the ignition and turned the car around to head back down the track. "How you feeling?" he asked the silence. Not getting a reply, Grissom looked at Sara and furrowed his brows. He reached out and squeezed her hand. "Sara?"

She jumped and turned her head. "Huh?"

Smiling, he squeezed her hand. "I asked how you were feeling?"

"Tired." was the only response. Her eyes lowered when she felt him holding her hand. When he didn't let go, she looked up.

Grissom had turned back to the road and sensed her question. "You want me to let go?" he asked quietly.

Sara was quiet for a second before answering. "No." she whispered.

He squeezed her hand again. "I'll take you home. We need to get some ice on that ankle. The swelling will go down then and the pain should ease off. You might not be able to walk on it till later, possibly tomorrow."

Sara nodded and looked out the window. With him holding her hand, it was all she could think about. His fingers were wrapped around hers and the warmth and roughness was really comforting. It was a strange feeling when you thought about it. He was holding her hand. He took her to the body farm. They nearly end up arguing, once again, but this time he just would not let her leave. Then they both fell and he was on top of her, with all the heat of his body pressed against hers. His breath on her face and his hands holding her waist. God! Then, he picked her up and said those words. Was he just toying with her like always, or was there something else going on here?

She closed her eyes and when she opened then again, they were parking outside her apartment. She was shocked he even knew where she lived. He'd never been here before. She opened her door and was immediately greeted by Grissom. He slipped his arm around her waist and she slipped her arm around his shoulder. Hobbling up the small path, Grissom unlocked the door with the key she past to him.

Sara sat on the couch and elevated her ankle on the couch arm. Grissom found the freezer and pulled out some peas. He wrapped it in a towel and walked back into the lounge. "Here you go." he said as he sat on the edge of the couch. Before placing the ice on her ankle, he removed her sock. "You sure you're okay?" he asked again.

"Yeah. I'll be fine." she watched as he gently applied the make-shift ice-pack and held her foot in one hand, with the frozen peas in the other. "Thanks Grissom. You didn't need to do this "

He looked up and smiled shyly. Shrugging slightly, he lifted her foot and slid onto the couch. He lowered her foot to his thigh and looked around the room. "Nice place." he offered conversationally.

"Thanks. It's still a mess, but I might eventually get around to unpacking the last few boxes." she laughed at the look he gave her. "I live at the lab, remember?"

"Ah." he nodded. "Three years and you're still living out of boxes?" he chuckled and shook his head. "Maybe I'll say no to overtime for you, so you can sort what you need out here." he suggested.

Sara nodded and leaned her head against the couch arm. "It's just books. I'll get to them sometime."

Grissom looked around some more and when he got no reply from his question about the entertainment system, his eyes turned to her sleeping form. He smiled and moved from the couch. Pulling the blanket from the back of the couch, he covered her. Pulling out a pen from his jacket pocket, he wrote her a note before leaving her to sleep.

Sara woke that evening in the same place. The ice having fallen away during her fidgeting, but the swelling had gone down. Looking around as she sat up, she saw a piece of paper on the coffee table. Picking it up, she smiled.

I'll pick you up before work. You rudely fell asleep on me, but I love you anyway.

Grissom

Maybe his surprise was a master of all surprises after all.

- The End.