Disclaimer : While it's rather frustrating to say so, I have to admit that the main characters in this silly fiction aren't mine. They belong to CBS and other entities. I obviously didn't creatively invent Cinderella either; I got the Perrault version of the lovely fairy-tale from the internet.

A/N : Terima kasih Sylvie, your help means a lot. And yes, I do realize that winning from your student doesn't get counted in any book ;) I bow low to the angst-master/professional drabble-guesser.

CINDERELLA AND THE TICKING CLOCK

One day the Prince invited all the young ladies in the land to a ball so he could choose a wife. As Cinderella's two Stepsisters were invited, they gleefully planned their wardrobes. Although Cinderella assisted them and dreamed of going to the dance, they taunted her by saying a maid could never attend a ball.

PART 1, LAST VEGAS, A VERY LONG, LONG TIME AGO:

It was 11:48.

The digital clock atop the bedside table told her so. Sara Sidle had been counting the glaring red digital numbers since…. she didn't know, since she awoke startled from her recurring dream of being ship-wrecked, unable to keep a hold of the life raft floating in the endless sea.

11:49.

He was snoring, lightly, a sound that resembled a purr that somehow calmed her down. A kitten purr, she giddily catalogued.

11:50.

The bedroom was too dark for her liking. Maybe, next time, she would talk him into keeping the blinds open a little bit.

Oh who was she kidding? There wasn't going to be a next time.

He would wake up, startled and probably politely ask why she was in his bed, naked.

Then she would explain and he would say sorry, then she would feel more than sorry. Then… oh how she hated the word "then", the four letters seemed to force her to think about what would happen next. She didn't want to think about next, she liked what was happening now, or what had happened four hours ago for that matter.

11:53.

He had told her that he always woke up around twelve on his day off. This was his day off, her day off too. So there were only seven minutes left to indulge in this dream of a romance.

As the sisters swept away to the ball, Cinderella cried in despair. Her Fairy Godmother magically appeared and vowed to assist Cinderella in attending the ball. She turned a pumpkin into a coach, mice into horses, a rat into a coachman, and lizards into footmen. She then turned Cinderella's rags into a beautiful gown, complete with a delicate pair of glassslippers. The Godmother told her to enjoy the ball, but return before midnight for the spells would be broken.

She was a Cinderella now, with seven, no, six minutes left before the spell would be broken.

11:55.

Maybe she should leave. She could pretend that this was an accident, something as simple as a one night stand. She could clock in for her shift tomorrow, all smiling and laughing, waiting for him to say something cryptic about what had happened the previous night. He was the master of cryptic words after all.

But she could not leave just like that, could she? What if the prince somehow possessed magical powers to keep spells unbroken? What if the fairy Godmother had cast the wrong spell? What if, instead of the temporary spell, fairy Godmother had cast a spell that would allow Cinderella to stay forever and live happily ever after, right then and there?

She could picture it in her mind. Grissom would wake up, all nude and sweaty, tug her back into his arms while whispering something like. "I love you; I want you to stay forever. Don't go, be my wife."

She chuckled at her own thoughts. The world needed to end first before the entomologist would say something so straightforward like that.

11:57.

He stirred, thanks to her chuckle.

She moved, tried to get out of the bed. If she was a Cinderella, she needed to run unnoticed. Oh no, the sheets were tangled around her feet.

"Sara…"

Damn sheets.

She turned around slowly as his blue eyes fluttered open.

"Where are you going?" He yawned and propped himself up on one elbow.

Somewhere where I could sit in the cinders, beat myself for this vain life of mine; she thought but mouthed the word bathroom instead.

11:58.

"Oh…," He stretched out, displaying all his gorgeousness to her hungry eyes.

11:59.

12:00.

This was it; he was standing beside the bed already, maybe readying himself to say the word goodbye.

"I'm hungry."

What? No question of how she had ended up in his bed, naked?

He came closer, wrapped an arm around her waist, and nuzzled her neck. "Let's take a shower and then find something to eat."

She glanced at the clock, it was one minute pass twelve and she hadn't seen a single sign of a broken spell.

"God, you smell so good." He had brought her hands to his lips, kissed them with such a passion she had only witnessed once; four hours ago, while they were making love on the king-size bed, if she needed to be exact.

Was she a Cinderella dancing with a Prince, waiting for the clock to tick faster, waiting for the prince to dissolve into an unreachable dream?

"G…Grissom… It's already five pass twelve." She muttered. It was time for him to break the charm, for the coach to turn into pumpkin. It was time for him to ask her to leave.

The man scratched his chin and yawned again. "Yeah, come on, shower." He passed her, heading to the bathroom, bare ass and all.

God, wasn't he adorable?

"Okay…" She followed, still baffled.

At the threshold, he spun around, so quickly his shoulder bumped into hers.

"Ouch…"

"Sorry…" He grinned childishly, sending her somewhere beyond surprised, "I guess I get too excited."

She couldn't help the upward turn of her lips as he kissed her deeply.

"God, I could wake every day to this." Those were surprisingly his words, not hers. She opened her mouth, only to close it again. Did he just say that he wants this to continue; their impromptu, over too much wine, supposed to be a one night stand, relationship?

"Every... day…?"

"Yeah, come on, I'll cook us some lasagna after this." He was already turning the shower on.

12:10.

It was ten pass twelve, and she was still dancing with the prince. And hopefully, the spell would never be broken.

PART 2, COSTA RICA, NOT TOO LONG AGO.

When another ball was held the next evening, Cinderella again attended with her Godmother's help. The Prince became even more entranced. However, this evening she lost track of time and left only at the final stroke of midnight, losing one of her glass slippers on the steps of the palace in her haste.

11:41.

He checked the camera once more, making sure that everything was the way it was supposed to be. He had replaced the memory card with a new one, hoping that the incident with the memory card wouldn't happen again. The last thing he wanted was Sara nagging him for having to delete some important pictures due to lack of preparation on his side.

Sara. The name brought a smile to his lips. Two weeks into his arrival in this part of the rainforest and he was starting to feel at home. Home is wherever my heart is, and my heart is in her hands, a fact that I had almost taken for granted, he mused.

11:43.

Everything was set. If tonight was the night of Tetrisia Florigera's appearance, the camera would be ready to capture every moment.

If tonight was also the night for the plan he had been arranging for months to finally take place, he was also ready; beyond ready.

11:44.

Her footsteps echoed in the cold air of the night. He turned around ready for the magical vision he forever would love to see. Sara came into view, graciously, beautifully.

Either in her LVPD vests or in a plain shirt, in a cocktail gown or in a pair of cargo pants and sweater, Sara Sidle never failed to entrance him.

"Hi, did you get it?" She was already at his side, checking the camera. "Yesterday the infra red didn't really work; we need to ask Victor to check this baby tomorrow."

Her sweater was too tight for his sanity, he was to busy drooling over the curve of her waist to compose a better answer than "uh".

"Gil," His name, when uttered by her lips, sent shivers down his spine. "I asked you if you got the picture of your beloved rare moths. And… my face is up here and not down there." She gestured at her face, an amused grin tugging at her lips.

"Yeah, ummm, no, no luck yet. We need to keep observing."

"I'm the one who needs to keep observing. You go and catch some sleep." She playfully shoved him away.

"Am I not allowed to accompany you?"

"Well,No. The goal of scheduling shift is so we each can get a proper amount of sleep."

"I can sleep here."

She sighed but finally smiled as she helped him stretch out the sleeping bag. His plan was beginning to fall into place.

The Prince chased her, but outside the palace, the guards had seen only a simple country wench leave. The Prince pocketed the slipper and vowed to find and marry the girl to whom it belonged.

11:50.

He felt giddy as he laid there on top of the earth cocooned within the parachute bag. It felt like the clock was ticking too slowly. The night didn't shift fast enough.

11:51.

He had met many women in his life, many alluring and some even got the chance to stay in his heart temporarily. But all of them were nothing compared to the woman sitting in front of him. She was currently gazing across the river, probably searching for signs of the moth. The moon lit up her short air and highlighted her slender fingers wrapped around the infra-red binoculars.

God, wasn't she beautiful?

The Prince tried the slipper on all the young women in the land. When the Prince arrived at Cinderella's villa, the Stepsisters tried in vain. When Cinderella asked if she might try, the Stepsisters taunted her. Naturally, the slipper fit perfectly, and Cinderella produced the other slipper for good measure.

11:55.

He would like to reach out for the silvery moon, move it to the center of the night sky, right above the shadows of the mountains in the horizon.

The scientist in him had calculated this plan meticulously, checking out weather report and all. He even had chosen the perfect sonnet for this. Every visual detail of this moment had been created and replayed in his mind, over and over. If only he could fast forward them both to the middle of the night.

11:56.

"Psssst… why are you so restless?" came her whisper and glare.

He could only shrug.

"Is it the mosquitoes?" She stretched out her palm, revealing a tube of bug-repellent lotion.

He shook his head no.

"You should get back to camp." She stood and narrowed her eyes at him. "I'll be fine."

He shook his head again and pretended to close his eyes, feigning sleep while his heart thundered in his chest.

11:58.

He rose up silently while peeking at his wristwatch. Two more minutes; this was it!

The stage was just perfect; the smooth breeze of the wind, the sound of the water flowing through the river, the bright rounded moon. Sara was standing by the edge of the river, too busy aiming the camera to notice him. He stealthily came behind her, reaching out for the velvet box inside his pocket.

"Gil!" Sadly, the heroine of the play turned around abruptly. "I got it… I got the picture…" Sara hissed her excitement.

"Sara…" He lifted his hand to her chin, tilting her face up toward his.

"There are two or three of them, look!" Sara moved forward, valiantly ruining Grissom's scenario, as she shoved the binoculars into Grissom's hand and returned her attention to the camera.

"Sara, listen, I…" He tried again and then followed her, stepping onto a formation of rock edging into the river.

"There, at the cave! Can you see them?" She exclaimed, her finger rapidly tapping the shutter of the camera.

12:00.

He sighed, so much for exact timing. "Sara…" He stepped up to another rock reaching for her arm.

But the goddess of fortune was sleeping on Gilbert Grissom that night. He misplaced his footing, tripping over his own step, falling face first into the cold water.

There was a shriek, obviously coming from Sara, then a muffled growl under the water, which was obviously his. He tried to reach for the closest rock, but it was too slippery to hold. He could feel Sara's hand tugging his sleeve but the current dragged him far into the depth of the river, forcing him to swallow water.

After a moment of frantic movement, his head finally came into contact with much needed air. He coughed hard, arms flailing, feet kicking.

"Grissom! Gil!"

"Elp!" He gulped hard.

"Gil!" Sara was standing at the river bank, shining her torchlight toward him.

He tried to swim forward, following the light, and after a while got to the shallow part of the river. Although the mud beneath his feet shifted as he moved, he fatefully managed to make it to the river bank.

Sara, after throwing the torchlight to the ground, helped him pull himself out of the water. "Oh God, are you okay?" She waited for him to be seated on higher grounds, crouched down to his level and pulled him into a tight, relieved hug.

"I'm…" he coughed, "okay." Still heaving from his previous accidental water sport, Grissom checked out his watch. "Damn it! It's already ten past twelve."

Sara looked at him questioningly. He took a deep shuddering breath while worriedly patting his pocket for the velvet box. His clothes clung to his skin and the cold night air bit into his flesh, but he ignored it, he had something more important than warming up to do.

His pocket was empty. "For God's sake! Give me the torchlight!" He scrambled onto his feet, reaching for the torchlight and aimed its white beam at the flowing water.

"Honey… Gil… what's wrong?" Sara probably thinking that he had bumped his head or something stood close to him and reached for his free hand.

"There!" He finally spotted the velvet box, half drowning and swaying away with the current. "Hold this!" he handed the torchlight to a still-baffled Sara, unceremoniously peeling off his shirt in his wake, ready to jump back into the water.

"Gil! Stop!"

"I need to get the box back!" He had taken off one of his shoes; bringing his foot into the water.

"Gilbert…" A gentle tug of his arm and the chuckle in her voice brought him out of his trance. He turned and saw her smiling. "Come up here, there's a waterfall at that end."

"The box… The ring…" He looked down to the drifting velvet box, containing a diamond ring he would have used to pursue his dream, and looked up to Sara, the sole purpose of his dream. His shoulders slumped and he slowly came up to dry land.

"It's okay." She sat beside him and rubbed his bare arms as he sat dejectedly on the ground.

"I had this planned to the last detail; I was going to get down on my knees and all." He mumbled and shivered at once, kicking out his shoe.

She brought the torchlight up; the beam illuminated the river as they watched the box slowly drowning into the dark water.

12.25.

He sighed sadly, not only because of the one thousand dollars that had sunk to the bottom of the river but also because he had lost his chance to present Sara with something romantic, something she was worthy of.

"Hey, it's okay." She tilted his chin upward, forcing him to look at her. "Ring or no ring, I'd say yes anyway."

It was like hearing praise from angels, he looked up at her expectantly as she nodded and lowered her head to kiss him. "Sara…would… you… marry… me?" He asked between kisses and trembling lips.

Her chuckle vibrated against his bare chest as she deftly unfastened his belt. "God yes. Now let's save you from hypothermia."

Cinderella returned to the palace where she married the Prince.

He closed his eyes as he let Sara push him flat on the grassy earth, feeling every bit of a prince winning his princess.

And they live happily ever after.

END

Thank you for taking time to read this, I had fun writing it. If you don't mind, leave me a word or two in review:)