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Sara was sitting across from Grissom's desk, reading her case file
when Grissom set his pen down and looked up. "Do you want to do
anything for Thanksgiving?" he asked.
Sara marked her place in the file and looked up. "Well, I don't really eat turkey," she started.
"No kidding," Grissom deadpanned.
Sara smiled. "Griss, if you want to do something, I have no problem with that. It's just that I've been by myself for most of the other years and I always worked."
"Well, you're not by yourself anymore," Grissom smiled, happy that she smiled back, "would you like to go to my mother's house for Thanksgiving?"
"I'd like that," she spoke, "I've never met your mother."
"I know, and I thought it might be nice if you got to meet her before the wedding."
Sara subconsciously twirled her engagement ring around her finger. "Can we get Thanksgiving off?"
"Well, I'm working out the schedule right now. I can swing the Wednesday and Thursday, but we're going to have to come back for the Friday."
"I guess that's better than nothing," Sara picked up her papers, "I'm going to go down to trace and see if they found out what that substance was on the gun."
"Alright Sara, we'll talk about plans later."
Sara nodded and exited his office.
When they got home that morning, Grissom and Sara shared French toast. "I called my mother back, she said she'd be glad to see us for Thanksgiving."
Sara smiled. "That's good," she said, pushing the remainder of her French toast around on her plate.
"What's the matter, you're not hungry?" he asked, noticing that she didn't seem to be eating.
"I guess not," Sara stated, "I'm kind of tired."
"You've been working too much."
"No, not really."
"Back to back doubles last week."
"But then I rested on the weekend."
"I wouldn't exactly call what we did resting."
Sara pushed away from the table and got up. "I'm going to lay down," she stated and walked off toward the bedroom.
Well, at least she went to lay down. I know she's not getting enough rest, but she just keeps pushing herself. Maybe having Thanksgiving off is what we really need.
When Grissom awoke later that afternoon, he noticed that Sara wasn't laying next to him. This is the third time this week. Grissom
walked out into the living room and found Sara curled up with a
magazine on the couch. "What are you looking at?" he asked.
Sara jumped at the sound of his voice, but relaxed when he came closer. "You startled me," Sara spoke, turning the magazine back to its cover, "it's a bridal magazine."
Grissom raised an eyebrow but said nothing. "I know I'm not too interested in all of the picky details of our wedding, but I thought it might be nice if I was wearing a dress."
Sara set the magazine down on the table and allowed Grissom to get behind her on the couch. "I think you would look just fine in nothing," he teased, whispering in her ear.
"I think your mother would object, as would many other people," Sara grinned.
"Have you looked at anything as far as colors for the wedding yet?" Grissom asked.
Sara sighed. "Gil, this is the first time I have picked up a catalog to look for a dress. I wouldn't even know where to start with all of that other stuff. Frankly, I don't even care as long as you're there."
Grissom chuckled. "Aren't women supposed to like to do these things?"
"Do I strike you as a typical woman?"
"No, that's why I love you so much," he said, squeezing her very tight, "you're beautiful, smart, witty..."
"Sure, now you're trying to sweet talk me," Sara joked.
Grissom kissed the top of her head. "Honey, the wedding is in March, it's going to be here before you know it. C'mon, let's get one thing set right now. Pick a color."
"Why are you so concerned about this all of a sudden?"
"Quit stalling. I don't want to see you going crazy as the wedding gets closer. Pick a color."
"What color do you want?"
"I don't care, as long as you're happy with the choice."
Sara sighed again. "Well, I like blue..."
"Blue it is then," Grissom cut her off before she could try to back out of making a decision.
"Griss, I would be just as happy if we went down to the courthouse right now and made it official. I don't need a fancy wedding."
"It's not going to be fancy," he reinstated, "it'll just be a nice formal gathering with our friends and family."
"That's the part I'm worried about," Sara mumbled.
Grissom sat up and turned Sara around on the couch. "What's really bothering you?" he asked, clutching her chin so she couldn't look away.
"I don't want my parents to be there," she whispered, trying to look away.
"Sara..." he started, but she cut him off.
"They ruined so many other parts of my life, and I won't let them ruin this too. I won't them ruin what we have Griss, I need you too much."
Grissom pulled her tight to his chest, shushing her to try and calm her down. "Sara, nothing can ruin us, you know that. However, you're right, we don't have to talk about this now. Why don't you come back to bed and try and get some more sleep before we have to go to work?"
Sara nodded and allowed Grissom to lead her back to bed.
Only half an hour into her sleep, Sara started tossing and turning on her side of the bed, amidst a nightmare. She rolled off the side of the bed and hit the floor hard. "Damn it!" she exclaimed when she woke up.
Grissom was around the bed in an instant to try and comfort her. He reached for her shoulder, but she growled before he could touch her. "Don't touch me."
Grissom's hand snapped back when the words bit him. "Sara..." he started.
"Don't," she barked, scrambling to get to her feet to retreat to the bathroom.
Sara slammed the door and leaned against it. Sobs racked her body as she doubled over from the fear of her nightmare.
Grissom sat on the bed, gazing toward the closed bathroom door. What did I do? Grissom put his head in his hands and hoped she wasn't collapsing inward once again.
After about twenty minutes, Grissom got up and knocked on the door. "Honey, can I come in?" he spoke in a concerned tone.
Sara got up from the floor and opened the door. Grissom immediately took in her tear-stained cheeks and her bloodshot eyes. He was unsure if she would accept his comfort, but was reassured when she reached out her arms toward him. He was by her side in a second, wrapping his arms tightly around her. "I'm sorry," she began to sob again.
Grissom continued to hold her tight and rubbed her back to comfort her. "Damn it," she cursed, angry with herself, "why do I keep pushing you away? You're not the monster."
Grissom tried to get to the root of the problem. "Who is the monster?"
"My past," she hedged, "so many things have happened."
"I know, and they have just made you stronger."
Sara's crying subsided and she relaxed in his arms. "I know you're going to fight me on this, Sara, but you need to get more sleep."
Sara separated one of her arms from his and brushed her hair back. "I know, but I keep waking up just a little while after I get to sleep."
"What's on your mind?" he led her over to sit down on the bed.
"At first I kept thinking about all of the different details of the wedding, and now, I'm still worried about the wedding, but it's focused more on how it will turn out."
"So you do care about some of the details," Grissom smiled and nudged her side.
The corner of Sara's mouth turned up. "Yeah, but I want you to help decide some of the things, I don't want to do everything myself."
Grissom wrapped his arm around her. "Sara, if you want to go to some of the stores and start picking out some items, we can go. You know you can ask me about some of these things."
Sara shook her head. "I don't want to worry about any of the plans right now. Let's get done with Thanksgiving and visiting your mother before we even start to think about the wedding."
Grissom pulled her closer and kissed her forehead. "Stop worrying so much," he smiled, but then got more serious, "remember, wake me up if you can't sleep and you need me. I hate to see you put in so much extra time at work and end up so tired because you can't sleep when you're at home. It's not good for you."
"I think I just need to decompress," Sara admitted, "there are so many things going on right now that whenever I try to sleep everything is circling through my head."
Grissom guided Sara back into bed and pulled the covers up to her chin. Grissom wrapped his arms around her as soon as he got in the other side of the bed. "There are just two more weeks until Thanksgiving. Hopefully we won't get too piled up before then."
Sara snuggled into Grissom's chest, and after a few minutes, both of them had fallen back asleep.
The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, there was an abundance of petty crimes to go and investigate. Sara had just gotten back from an interrogation with Brass. The suspect had been incredibly obnoxious, and the drone of his voice had prompted a migraine to kick in. Getting back to the lab, Sara swallowed some of her migraine medication with water, and she sat with her head down in the break room. "Long shift?" Catherine asked, retrieving a bottle of water from the refrigerator.
Sara looked up. "You could say that," she answered, "the suspect we were interrogating had a motor mouth."
Catherine smiled. "You alright, you look kind of pale?"
Sara shrugged. "Migraine. I'm trying to kick it so I can start filling out some reports."
"There are just two hours left in the shift. Why don't you get the boss to let you go home?" Catherine joked.
"The paperwork needs to be finished before we leave for Thanksgiving."
"Ahh. Where are you and Griss off to anyway?"
"His mother's house in Marina Del Ray. We're flying out a couple hours after shift ends."
"Did you start making any plans for the wedding yet?"
Sara groaned and leaned against the arm of the chair. "I looked at one magazine, does that count?"
"Sara, when you get back, you definitely need to get started with the planning. If you want, I can help you go shopping and find some of the things that you need."
"I'd like that Cath. I honestly haven't picked out anything yet. Oh, except a color."
"What color are you thinking about?"
"Blue."
"That'll be nice. Next time we both have off I'll have to take you shopping."
"Okay Cath, but remember, I don't want anything fancy."
Catherine nodded and Sara got up to leave the break room. "If I don't see you before the end of shift, have a good time at Grissom's mom's house," Catherine stated.
"Thanks. You have a good Thanksgiving too."
Sara left the break room and went to the lab to start filling out her paperwork.
"Sara, you almost ready?" Grissom called through the bathroom door.
"Yeah, give me a minute and I'll be right out."
Grissom carried both of their bags out to the car and went back inside the house to wait for Sara. Sara emerged from the bathroom, looking quite tired. "I'm ready," she stated, walking toward Grissom.
Grissom escorted her out the door and locked the door behind him. He started up the car and pulled away from the house. Grissom was holding onto Sara's hand, and Sara was leaning against the window. "Migraine still bothering you?" he asked, squeezing her hand.
"Yeah," she spoke, "that idiot never shut up. I took my medication, but I can't seem to get it to go away."
"Well, maybe you can get some sleep during the flight."
"The flight isn't that long."
"I know, but maybe even a little bit will help."
Sara squeezed his hand back and they continued on in companionable silence.
Grissom glanced at Sara as the flight attendant announced their arrival. "Sara, we're here," Grissom kissed her cheek and whispered in her ear.
Sara turned over and opened her eyes. "That wasn't nearly long enough," Sara complained, stretching her arms.
They got out of their seats, grabbed their carry-on bags and exited the plane. Grissom kept his arm around Sara as they meandered the airport. "Let's go rent a car, and then we'll head over to mom's house."
Sara nodded and leaned further into his side. "You feel any better?" he asked, smoothing her hair behind her ear.
"Eh, I'm alright," she stated, "I think I need some more sleep."
"Well, we can get settled in at mom's, and then we can take a nap."
"Just as long as we don't sleep too long, I want to be able to sleep at night for a change."
Grissom nodded and they continued on their journey to the rental car booth.