Author: Moggie
Status: Complete
Summary: [GSR] Have you ever got to that part during the evening, when you can't place a number on your beer?
Genre: Angst & Bad Drunken Humour
Disclaimer: I do not own CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Pushing the beer towards him, she smiled. He just took the beer and drank it. She picked her own beer up and downed it. Nick, Catherine and Warrick were cheering them on.

A conversation about drinking the other under the table, ended up with a bet and an experiment. Grissom surprised them by placing $50 on the table.

“You can’t be serious?” Catherine laughed, but saw the determination in Grissom’s face and turned to the others. “He’s serious.”

Warrick got out his wallet, but shook his head. “Sorry guys.”

Sara leaned against the young man and smiled. “You’re the best War.” Warrick hugged her and turned to Nick.

Nick looked from money to everyone else. “I suppose it’s a good thing I’m driving.” He chortled and place $50 on the table, then Catherine placed hers.

“Ok, who’s the competitor.” Catherine asked.

Grissom shook his head and pointed. “She started it, so finish it.”

Sara glared at him. “Fine.” She sat up and placed her money on the table. “Understand that it takes a lot to get me drunk.”

Grissom smiled. “And bear in mind that I’ve been drinking a lot longer.”

She just shook her head and sat back, waiting for the first round.

God knows what round they were on now, but both were swaying and the other’s were grinning widely. They had a second bet on the pair. ‘Who’s gonna spew first?’

Sara didn’t look affected, but she was unfocused and swaying. Grissom was the same and had to remove his glasses, they weren’t helping any matters.

“Ok, I think this is the tenth round.” Nick announced, placing the glasses in front of them.

Sara looked at the glass and giggled. “You think. It’s the twelfth Nicky.”

Grissom lazily raised his eyebrows at her. Nick and the other’s looked at each other and Catherine agreed. “Keep up guys. Who’s drunk here?” Grissom chuckled.

“He’s drunk.” Sara shot back and started drinking her beer.

Grissom wrapped his hand around the glass and sighed. “I hate alcohol.” He mumbled.

Sara spat out a bit of beer and burst out laughing. “You!”

He chuckled and finished his drink. “I give in. No more.”

Sara nodded and finished her drink. “I agree, I need sleep and a stomach pump. In any orders fine.” She grinned at her opponent.

Catherine shook her head frantically. “No way. Who wins the bet? Drink until you can both drink no more.” She cried out and got more beers.

Grissom frowned at the blonde and turned to Sara. “You win.” He surrendered.

Sara smiled and turned to Nick and Warrick. “You here that boys?” They nodded and finished there own drinks.

Catherine set the beers down. “One last one and that’s it.” She pleaded. “Money, guys, come on.”

Sara and Grissom looked down at the forgotten $200 and sighed. Grissom looked up and shrugged. “I’m not drinking it.”

“Then you forfeit?” Nick said. “Or you do something else.” He smiled. Catherine whispered something into Warrick’s ear and he past it to Nick. He looked at Grissom, then at Sara. “Challenge?”

Sara looked at Grissom and Grissom looked at Sara. “Challenge.” They both said. They grinned at each other and turned towards the other’s.

Catherine patted Nick’s shoulder, giving him the signal to tell them their challenge. “Grissom dyes his hair blue and Sara dyes hers red, for two days.”

They looked at each other and started giggling. “That it.” They shouted out.

Nick shook his head. “No. You have to be handcuffed together for shift tonight.”

The laughter stopped and the heads swung around to their amused co-workers. “NO WAY!” They both objected.

“Take it or keep drinking.” Catherine offered with a huge grin plastered across her face.

Sara looked at Nick, unsteadily. “Starting from when?” She hesitated asking.

“Now!” They all answered.

Grissom was staring at the table, staring into the drink, then at his hands. Catherine watched him closely, Warrick followed her sight and smiled.

“Ok.”

Sara’s head whipped round and giggled. “Funny.”

He shook his head slowly. “Nope, Starting now.”

Sara moved closer to him and whispered. “You realise what you’re saying Griss?”

He looked at her briefly, before turning to Nick. “Starting now.” He said seriously and pushed his full glass away.

Nick and Warrick rushed out the bar. They needed handcuffs and hair dye. If they didn’t do this now, they might change their minds. They couldn’t have that before they sobered.

Catherine sat and looked nervously at the two staring at the tabletop. They hadn’t said a word since Nick and Warrick left and that was ten minutes ago. She was starting to worry, not about them changing their minds, but about the situation they just put themselves in. What if they woke up in the morning and not remember a thing? What if they regret it and end up avoiding each other even more than before she invited them to have drinks with her and the boys?

Sara reached for her pint that had been sitting there, she couldn’t take the waiting. Just before she got within an inch of the glass, a hand grasped her wrist. She looked up surprised at Grissom, He shook his head slowly. She nodded and slumped back in her seat. Deciding she needed the little girls room rapidly, she stood and excused herself. Before Catherine objected, Sara turned back and said she wasn’t gonna puke. Catherine smiled and muttered something about another bet against them. That didn’t make Grissom or Sara any better.

After ten minutes, Catherine went in search of Sara. She found her staring at the mirror in the bathroom. “That’s not the best thing to do when drunk Sara.” She said softly and held up a red hair dye box. “The boys are getting Grissom ready.”

Sara nodded and let Catherine get on with it. She wasn’t going to back out, but it didn’t mean she couldn’t be enormously petrified that this was all one big, gigantic mistake.

“What are you thinking about Sara?” Catherine’s voice broke through her thoughts.

She looked up at the blonde woman and shrugged. “Nothing.”

Catherine smiled softly. “You’ll be fine. It’s a bit of fun. Not like you two have feelings for each other, is there?”

Sara knew what Catherine was trying to do and she wasn’t going to fall for it. “No.” She said quietly.

“Then there’s nothing wrong with being handcuffed to your supervisor for a night.” Catherine smiled and ran the towel through Sara’s hair again. “Ok, done.”

Sara ran a brush through her hair and giggled. “I can’t believe this.”

“Believe it, red suits you.” Catherine joined in with her laughter as they made there way back to the others.

Grissom sitting with Nick and Warrick, talking about something the girls couldn’t hear. As they sat down, Nick grabbed Sara’s right wrist and Grissom’s left. Before either could second think the challenge, he snapped the handcuffs on and stood. Warrick and Catherine had gone to the bar to talk and drink a well deserved coffee. Nick joined them when both Grissom and Sara didn’t look up from their handcuffed wrists.

“I’m second thinking this, please tell you are too.” Sara said quietly.

Grissom nodded slowly, before speaking he cleared his throat. “Sure.”

She looked up and watched as his eyes moved up from her hands to her eyes. He was just as scared as she was. They both shared a small smile. Sara wrapped her hand around Grissom’s reassuringly. “We can do this.”

“Yup.” He said quickly. Sara shyly smiled and released his hand, but Grissom squeezed her fingers and stood. “Maybe we should go before the hangover sets in. It’s nearly afternoon.” And it was. They finished their shift and were invited to the bar by the rest of the gang. They thought that because the two most dedicated workaholics of the lab, hadn’t been out in a while, they should come out for one drink, which of course ended up as many more than one and a bet. Grissom stood and pulled Sara with him.

They walked towards Nick and Sara tapped him on the shoulder. “Please take us home.” She pleaded and raised hand to grab a handful of Nicks shirt.

Grissom quickly reached out and grabbed her hand as he whispered into her ear. The others didn’t hear over the light music playing in the background and just watched as Sara nodded. Grissom turned to Nick and pointed to the door. Nick nodded and walked with them. Catherine and Warrick said they’d wait for Nick.

Nick drove while Grissom and Sara sat in the back. Sara had fallen asleep. Her head was pressed against the cool glass of the window. Grissom just stared out the window and tried not to watch the trees and lines on the road rush by. He kept closing his eyes against the dizziness and turned his head away from the sun and the rest of the world. He felt like he was going to be sick, but he knew he couldn’t. It wasn’t going to happen in front of Sara, let alone handcuffed to her.

Nick was closing in on taking Sara home and Grissom suddenly thought about what was going to happen next. Sara was starting to metabolise the alcohol she had consumed and he was just in the first stages of not quite remembering what happened to get them into this. Then another though hit him, but was soon forgotten when Nick parked outside Sara’s apartment. What were they going to do at work? The hair, the handcuffs, cases? He groaned inwardly and waited for Nick to open Sara’s door. Grissom took a deep breath and watched as Sara woke just enough to scoot out the door. Nick held her up and smiled down at her.

“How’s this gonna work Griss?” He asked the older man cheerily.

Grissom sighed. “Pick us up an hour after shift starts.” Nick looked confused, but nodded. Grissom wanted time for both to recovered and fit in some sleep, but to leave room if they needed to talk about calling this off or one of them freaked out when the alcohol wore off. Nick watched as Grissom slipped his hand into Sara’s and gently bent her arm behind so he could hold her waist.

“See you tonight guys.” Nick shouted and drove off.

Sara woke up a little and leaned against Grissom. “Tired.” She mumbled.

“I know, me too. You got your keys Sara?” She nodded and pulled them out of her pocket. She squeezed his hand behind her back and leaned more against him as they made their way up the path to her apartment door. Grissom unlocked it and after shuffling both tired bodies inside, he closed and locked it. “How are we doing this Sara?” He whispered, turning her to face him.

“Not a clue, but I’m tired and if I don’t sleep, I’m going to pass out at your feet.” She giggle slightly and waited for Grissom to get a grip of the situation.

“Ok.” He chuckled. “Can’t have that.” He pulled on her hand as they made their way in the general direction of her room.

They kicked off their shoes as they reached the bed. Sara turned very confused eyes on him. He smiled and knew what she was thinking. “How are we going to do this?”

Grissom pulled her close, which shocked them both and fell onto the bed. “Like this.” He laughed.

Sara burst out laughing with him and held onto him as they scooted up the bed. Once Grissom had his head on a pillow he looked down at Sara, resting her head on his chest. “Griss?”

“Mmm?”

She scrunched up his shirt in her hand and sighed. “Do you have memory loss after getting drunk?”

Grissom chuckled. “Not that I know of.” He closed his eyes and dropped his head into the softness of the pillow. He breathed in deeply and smiled at the overwhelming smell of Sara invading his senses.

“Griss?”

His smile grew at the sound of her tired voice. “Yeah?”

“I like you.”

He tightened his arm around her. “I like you too.” He mumbled sleepily.

-

Grissom woke later that evening and groaned as an incessant beat propelled itself through his skull. Trying to move, he found he was weighted down. Breathing deeply, he recognised the smell. His eyes snapped open as the morning came flooding back to him. Sara was still using his chest as a pillow and her arm was wrapped tightly around his midsection. Swallowing hard, he tried to keep his breathing normal, but the remembering exactly what she said the afternoon before didn’t help matters and his heart started beating wildly and his chest started to heave up and down.

Sara shifted a little and moved her legs. Grissom felt her legs tangled with his and quickly looked down to see if he could slip from beneath her without waking her up. His hand was on her hip, so he gently removed it and tried to move his other hand. Snapping his head in the direction of his suddenly immobile hand, he stared at the metal that mockingly laughed at him. He was handcuffed to Sara, no. He shook his head and dropped it back to the pillow. He was handcuffed to a beautiful sexy woman who happened to work for him and he had no idea what was going on.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to remember more of the morning. Right, They came through the door and went to bed. He nodded as he remembered that bit. Thinking harder, he went back to before they got to the house. Nick dropped them off, nope back up more. Bar, pints, bet, Catherine... oh shit. Grissom quickly ran his hand through his hair and looked at the collar of his shirt. It was blue. He sighed and squeezed his eyes shut. “I’m never getting drunk again.” He mumbled.

Sara moaned and lifted her head. “What?” She asked groggily.

Grissom’s eyes locked onto hers as she looked at him mortified. “Nothing.” He answered, scared witless.

Staring into his blue eyes, Sara tried to move, but couldn’t. She looked down at her hand handcuffed to him, then back at his eyes. She then remember part of the morning she thought was a dream and suddenly couldn’t meet his eyes. Grissom continued to look at her as she tried to piece together what was going on.

Silently, they moved to sit up, feet on the ground. Grissom rubbed his eyes and pinched his nose as he tried to push the headache into submission. Sara sat and stared at the floor. Suddenly, she broke the silence, making Grissom jump. “We should call Catherine.”

He hesitated briefly before nodding. “Yeah.”

Sara reached across him and picked up the phone. Thinking for a minute, she dialled the number. Grissom continued to rub his head with his eyes closed. Sara waited patiently for Catherine to pick up and when she did, she didn’t really know what to say. “Hey Cath.”

“Sara? Hey, how’s the head?”

“Hurts.” She said quietly.

“I bet.”

Sara looked up at her words and nodded to no one. “Exactly what I was calling for-”

She heard Catherine sigh. “I knew this would happen.”

“What?” Sara asked confused. The hangover clouding her mind still.

“I’ll be there in 15 minutes Sara. Just tell Gil to relax.”

Sara stared at the phone and narrowed her eyes at it. “Erm.” She started, confused and dropped the phone on the bed. “Catherine will be 15 minutes and she said to say to you, relax.”

Grissom looked up briefly and nodded. “Thanks.”

They didn’t move from the bed the whole 15 minutes. Sara looked across to Grissom at the sound of the doorbell and they stood slowly, both wondering if they shouldn’t just stay still for a few hours. Walking to the door in a complete daze, Sara opened the door and squinted at the porch light.

“Bet’s off.” Catherine stated as she held up the key.

Sara didn’t answer and neither did Grissom, they just held out their hands at the same time. Catherine sighed and unlocked the cuffs. “Thanks.” They both said.

“Fine. I’ll give you a lift home Gil.” Catherine turned and headed for her car.

Grissom walked a few steps out the door, before stopping and turning around. He looked at Sara, but she kept her eyes on the floor. He inwardly screamed for her to look at him, but just nodded sadly and followed Catherine to her car.

Sara finally looked up as Catherine drove away. She rubbed her eyes, but not from sleep… the wetness began to build and she wasn’t sure why.

Nick knocked on Sara’s door an hour after shift, just like Grissom asked. Sara opened the door and stared at him for a long time. Nick grinned, but then something hit him. “Where’s Grissom?”

She turned and grabbed her coat. “Working. I take it you’re driving me to work?”

“Yeah, sure. We arranged it this morning, you not remember?” Nick clicked his fingers in thought and sighed. “That’s right. You passed out in the car.” He looked at Sara’s blank expression. “You don’t remember anything?”

Sara nodded. “I do.” She closed her door and walked down the path to his car.

Greg waited expectantly outside his lab for Sara and Grissom. He heard about the bet and was wondering when they’d arrive. Grissom came out of his office, which surprised Greg. He was alone. Greg walked towards the break room and found Warrick and Catherine. “I thought you said they would be handcuffed?”

Catherine nodded. “I did, but that was after the bet was made. They woke up with a hangover and called off the bet.”

Warrick sighed. “It was a good idea at first.”

“I know, but we didn’t know what the outcome would be and we still don’t. Nick should be here soon with Sara.” Catherine said as she leaned back in her chair and looked up at Greg, then across at Warrick.

Greg sat down. “I see Grissom’s hair is blue though.”

Catherine smiled. “Ah, yes. There seems to be a slight problem with trying to wash it out. It’s going to take a few washes before it goes back to its original colour. He seems fine with it though.”

Warrick chuckled. “Yeah, so does Sara.”

Everyone looked towards the door as Sara and Nick walked through it. Sara’s red hair was looking great in the neon lights as she made her way towards the coffee pot. Nick sat down at the table next to Catherine. He shrugged and shook his head. Catherine nodded and looked up as Grissom walked in.

“Ok, this is what we have.” Grissom handed out assignments. Three cases. Catherine and Nick, Warrick and Grissom, leaving Sara solo. Everyone looked at her expectantly. She just took her case slip and left the room with her coffee in hand.

Grissom looked up from his paperwork as people walked past his open office door. Catherine and Warrick were laughing and joking with Nick as they headed towards the locker room to head home. Greg bounced out of his lab and landed on Sara. She seemed to scowl at him before smiling tightly and walking away from him. Greg brushed it off and ran into the locker room. Sara continued to walked down the hallway, away from Grissom’s office, away from the exit of the building and towards the back of the lab were the reconstruction rooms were.

After a few hours of paperwork and reading through the nights cases, he made his way to the locker room. Pulling out his coat, he noticed Sara’s coat on the bench. She must have forgotten it. Picking it up, he grabbed his keys and left the room. The last time he’d seen her was walking toward the reconstruction labs.

Sara sat down on a wooden table as she looked around the room. She’d been reconstructing her case for the last two hours. She looked down at the floor and watched the blood from the dummy, spread across the large plastic sheet. She didn’t feel like having to clean the mess, so decided on a plastic sheet for easy clean up. Watching the blood some more, she noted it’s journey as it streamed from the dummy’s wounds that the vic had.

“This is the suspicious circs suicide?” Grissom asked quietly as he closed the door behind him and walked across the room towards the dummy sprawled across the floor.

Sara flinched at the sound of his voice, but returned to her notes quickly. “Yeah. Apparently she was missing for 2 hours, but from what the evidence tells me, she was dead a lot longer than 2 hours. Doc Robbins estimates to about 2 days. Someone had to have known the difference between 2 hours and 2 days.”

Grissom walked around the plastic sheet and examined the reconstruction carefully. “Blunt force trauma?”

Sara shook her head and jumped off the table. She crouched down beside the dummy, out of the bloods path and pointed at the head and chest simultaneously. “No, the head wound was something sharp, but the chest was a bit of both. Blunt and sharp. Like a handsaw.” Standing up, she turned back to the table and picked up two enlarged photo’s. “When Doc Robbins examined the wounds closely, he found traces of metal fragments and flecks. I traced them, but nothing came back. So far I have no exact weapon or a suspect. She was found alone by the landlord. She works at a local shop and a friend last saw her 2 hours before her death. Which, according to time of death, is not possible.”

“Alibi?” Grissom asked, moving to stand beside her and look at the photo’s

“Yes. He was at work and last saw the vic walking around, high as life 2 hours before she was found. But what doesn’t get me is that the estimated time of death was 2 days ago.” She shook her head and looked at the dummy. “Either he’s stuck in a time warp or I’m missing something.”

Grissom looked over the photo’s and couldn’t see anything. His eyes caught movement as Sara moved towards the dummy. She knelt down next the blood pattern. “Got something?” He asked.

Sara pulled a pair of gloves from her pocket and snapped them on. She reached out and traced the trail of blood with a black pen. “I’m just going to make an adjustment.” She said quietly and stood up slowly. “I hate hangovers.” She mumbled, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

Grissom smirked. “I know what you mean.” Sara looked up with a small smile before turning back to the dummy.

Watching her intently as she bent down to pick up the dummy by it’s shoulders, he couldn’t help himself when his eyes fell to her bare flesh that peeked from between her shirt and pants. His eyes travelled lower without his consent until they landed on her ass. He couldn’t pry his eyes from her as she lifted the dummy and pulled it along the plastic sheeting. Grissom managed to look away before Sara turned to him.

“I don’t know why, but what if the vic was moved?” She asked and straightened up. She stepped back and pulled a blue pen from her pocket. She knelt against and traced the outline of the extended blood pattern.

Grissom’s head snapped down at the photo’s in his hands. “By George I think you got it.” He grinned.

Sara laughed and stood up. “Well. I don’t know what it means, but I guess the eye witness needs questioning again and asked if he moved the body.”

Leaving the reconstruction and pulling off her gloves, she picked up her cell and keys. She turned to leave when Grissom reached out his hand. “Sara?”

She looked over her shoulder at him. “Yeah?”

He didn’t say anything for a few seconds as he dropped his head slightly, then lifted it back up. “Erm, you left this in the locker room.” He held up her coat. She smiled and took it. She pulled it on and started walking away, when he cleared his throat softly. “Sara?”

“Grissom.” She turned to see him walking towards her. “Just say it please.” She begged him.

He stood at a safe distance and nodded slowly. “I’m sorry about this morning. I should have done something.”

Sara dipped her head and looked at the floor. “Don’t worry. We were drunk. I should have said something to Catherine and stopped it.”

Grissom shook his head and took a small step closer. “No, not the bar. I mean after that. I should have done something.” He closed his eyes and sighed. “I should have gone through with the bet.”

Smiling briefly, Sara nodded and shrugged. “Perhaps, but we were drunk. People do stupid things when they’re drunk.”

He nodded. “Perhaps, but perhaps not.” He looked at her and she locked with his eyes as he took another step closer.

“You remember?” She asked hesitantly.

“I do.” He grinned and reached out for her hand. “Sara. I’m not good at this sort of thing.” He confessed.

Sara looked down at his hand covering hers. “I’m not either.”

Grissom looked down at their hands and gently rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. “I guess I should say, that since the beginning of shift, I remember everything that happened. Including how good it felt to fall asleep with you in my arms.”

She smiled shyly and looked at him as he closed the short distance to stand directly in front of her. His chest almost touching hers. “I remember too.” She took and small breath. “Griss?”

Her eyes closed as he leaned his head inwards, his breath bouncing off her lips. His eyes closed slowly as his name registered. “Yes?”

“Wanna place a bet?” She smiled against his mouth as he growled and chuckled.

“All bets are off.” He covered her mouth softly with his and kissed her with such tenderness, she felt weak at the knees and had to grasp onto his waist as he leaned into her more and pulled her body closer to him.

- The End.