Disclaimer: 'CSI' and all its characters belong to Anthony Zuiker, CBS and Alliance Atlantis. No copyright infringement is intended.

Spoilers: Up to Season 10.

A/N: Over the years, I wrote several stories (or beginnings of stories) that I never published. I was looking for a pre-Vegas story I started writing a long time ago because I want to use a part of it in my current fic, Love, Play, Eat, and I came across this short piece that I didn't even remember writing. In retrospect, I thought it was cute enough to publish. I hope you enjoy it.

INTERROGATION INTO A LOVE AFFAIR

"Some guy over in trace told me that Grissom gave her a better evaluation because of their history," Nick said, fidgeting a bit as he spoke into the camera. The spotlight tended to make him sweat. Poor guy rarely left a courtroom without having to hit the showers. "To tell you the truth, I was floored. I couldn't believe I hadn't heard the rumors, but even if I had, I'd have dismissed them, you know? There's no way Grissom would ever cross that line." After a moment of reflection, he added, "Warrick suspected that she had a thing him. When I mentioned what the guy in trace said, he told me that he'd made a comment to Sara once about not liking other women around Grissom, and she told him she was going to pretend he hadn't said that. But Warrick knew he'd hit the nail on the head."

"So after all that, you still didn't believe it?" the voice behind the camera asked.

"I believed that she thought she was special to him. She liked to point out that she'd been handpicked by Grissom. But that's cool. I would have bragged too if he'd handpicked me. Look, maybe I did know about her. Sara wears her heart on her sleeve. But Grissom…he's an enigma, you know? He's a puzzle in a riddle. Or is it a riddle in a puzzle? Whatever. It never occurred to me that their thing was personal."

Catherine laughed as she flipped her hair back over her shoulder. She always looked like she knew something no one else knew. Probably because she did. "Of course it was personal. They never fooled me. Gil always had this…painfully obsessive…thing for Sara. And she…well, the best way to describe her around him was doe-eyed. But whatever he felt or she felt, he wasn't comfortable with it for the longest time, and I knew that."

"Did it interfere with his ability to be her boss?"

"In some ways it did." Catherine looked up, eyes wide. "You know, come to think of it, in many ways it did. I think he went out of his way to ignore her sometimes, and it backfired. She asked him for a leave of absence once, and he pretended it was nothing until I made him realize he was in denial. He called a florist and ordered a plant for her as an apology for whatever he'd done." Catherine chuckled. "Not flowers because she likes vegetation. It was so sweet, but what was sweeter was when the florist asked for the sentiment for the card. Talk about a deer caught in the headlights!"

"What do you mean?"

"He had no clue what to say. He eventually stammered, 'From Grissom'. I still wonder what Sara thought when she got that message. But the important thing is that it worked. She didn't leave."

Greg wasn't normally a shy guy, but when questioned about the love affair between a woman he'd once had the hots for and a man he held in the highest regard, being forthcoming about their relationship seemed to make him uncomfortable. He was red to the tips of his ears. "No offense to Grissom, but I don't get why she fell for him and not me."

"Did you know how she felt about him?"

"Not at first, obviously, or I wouldn't have wasted so much Sanders charm on trying to get her to go out with me."

"When did you know?"

"That she had eyes only for Grissom or that he had a thing for her?"

"Either."

"Well, you know how a guy knows that he's stepping on another guy's turf? It's something you sense. And as a scientist I experimented."

"What did you do?"

"I flirted with her in front of him to test his reaction. I once told her I had erotic dreams about her. He hit me in the head with a mannequin."

"Excuse me?"

"Long story. Take it from one who knows. He didn't like me fantasizing about Sara."

Hodges smiled that all-knowing smile of his. "It was inevitable. Guys of superior intellect such as Gil and I are like catnip to women. Gil actually took some of the pressure off me. When I was in L.A. the ladies were—"

Doc leaned heavily on his cane. "What do you want me to say? That I caught them making out in the morgue? I rarely saw them together," he groused. And then, he leaned closer to the camera and said: "To Gil, this is what I have to say?" He broke out in his own rendition of a Sinatra song. "Hey, you're a lucky fellow, Gil Grissom to be able to live as you do, And to have that swell Miss Sidle gal carrying the torch for you…"

Greg gave a goofy smile. "She's hot."

"Sara's not like anybody," Nick drawled. "I guess I can understand why Grissom chose her. He likes different."

"Who knows what went on behind closed doors," Catherine said, and then winked. "I suppose we do now."

Ecklie was clearly uncomfortable. "I'm not going to say that the lab supported this affair. The ramifications were potentially disastrous. But I'm a much nicer guy than people give me credit for, and I wasn't about to stand in the way of his love life."

Brass was sitting behind his desk, lounging really; in his hand was a high-ball glass filled three-quarters up with amber liquid. In a voice softened by a wistful sigh, he said: "Gil, Gil, Gil. You never did listen to my advice about buying a sports car." He smiled and raised his glass to the camera. "This time, my friend, I'm glad you didn't. Take good care of our girl."

The image moved haphazardly down and over Brass's desk. Archie's voice could be heard behind the scenes. "Okay guys, this is it."

For a moment the screen went black, and then the video came back with a shot of all their friends, holding up Champagne flutes. "Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Grissom," they said in unison, and then Doc added: "Wish we were there."

"Doe-eyed—"

"—painfully obsessive!" Gil and Sara said at the same time. "And you don't like other women around me?"

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that." Sara turned off the television and put the remote on the night table. "I miss them," she said as she leaned back against Gil in the big luxurious bed in the Paris hotel suite he had booked for their honeymoon.

Gil wrapped his arm around her and slipped his hand under her short nightgown. He teased a nipple with the tip of his thumb. "Anything I can do to take your mind off them?"

Sara tipped her head up and smiled. "Off who?"

THE END