Title:
The Invitation
Author:
Tyria
Rating:
T - Teen
Pairing:
GSR
Disclaimer:
Nope, still not mine.
Summary:
A note from Grissom changes the atmosphere of the lab. Sequel to “An Ordinary Day”
Author
Notes: I know I left the last fic
hanging a little
(believe me my beta definitely let me know). This
took longer than I thought. Of course I
knew if I didn’t get it finished well before last weekend, there was no way I
was getting to it until
after
the big game Saturday (WOOHOO! GO
BUCKS!). Course
if I let this hang any longer than I did, my beta would have killed me when I
see her in
Oh,
and please give me feedback. It’s what
lets me know if
my writing is hitting the mark or not.
_______________________________________________________________________________
The Invitation
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
Dr.
Gilbert Grissom
respectfully
requests the pleasure of your
company
for
a formal affair
on
Saturday, the
fourteenth of August
at
six o’clock
at
the Bally’s
Hotel and Casino
Please
present this card to the front
desk for entry.
Your
admittance is guaranteed by this card and your silence…
Any
violation of your silence regarding this event shall result in the revocation
of your admittance into this
private affair
NO
EXCEPTIONS
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
Catherine
looks over the heavy paper, taking in its style and weight, and reads the words
again. “What the hell are you up to,
Gil?” Without a second thought, she
reaches over and picks up her cell phone, unconsciously pushing the correct
buttons while still concentrating on the mysterious invitation in her hand.
“Somehow,
I knew you would be the first to call.”
She can actually hear the laughter in Grissom’s voice as he answers the
phone.
“You
can’t keep women in the dark like this, Gil.
It drives us crazy. What-“
“No
questions, Catherine,” he interrupts. “And
remember, no sharing either. You won’t
want to miss this. Trust me.”
“But-“
“Look,
you just have to wait for the weekend. I
could have sent the invitations out earlier and made you ponder this for weeks.”
“You are
an evil, evil man.”
He laughs
at that and ends the call with, “We’ll see.”
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Curiosity
regarding the event itself won out over any curiosity about who else had received
an invitation, and the atmosphere at the crime lab during the graveyard shift became
incredibly tense. No one wanted to make
a wrong step and lose the privileges of attending the event and finding out exactly
why Grissom had issued the invitation through the mail, instead of
unceremoniously mentioning it during shift.
Of course, who could really understand Grissom anyway?
Coffee in
the break room went from being a relaxed affair with joking and laughter to a
suspicious atmosphere, where they constantly watched one another. Every comment made was heavily examined and
scrutinized. Small talk was out of the
question, because what would they say if someone asked them what they were
doing on the weekend?
There was
a slip up a time or two. Mandy and Nick
had been getting closer, and she bugged him about doing something that weekend.
He was thinking things through out loud,
so he started talking without realizing what he was saying. He mentioned something about Saturday being
out of the question. When Mandy pushed
him for the reason, his eyes widened in shock and he quickly made some excuse
about getting together with college buddies; a guy’s night out. Mandy pouted, but said she understood, so
they made plans for another day.
Crime
scenes were just as hard; one-on-one with usually just one other person. Solo’s were a
Godsend. Although it had been happening
more and more often, Catherine also noticed Grissom was pairing himself almost
exclusively with Sara. She would have
liked to spend some time with the other woman on their team, and working with Warrick and Nick was pure torture. They had always been open and honest with her
before, but with the warning hanging over the heads of everyone, conversation
was stilted and forced. Greg even went
so far as to start working with headphones almost glued to his ears to drown
out the atmosphere of the lab.
When
Saturday finally arrives, Catherine is the first one to walk into Bally’s. She instantly makes a beeline for the front
desk. The suspense and silence has taken
its toll and she needed to get there to find out what’s been going on as soon
as possible, because, as everyone knows, curiosity kills the Cat.
As she is
walking to the desk, she sees Gil dressed in a tux and talking to the person
behind the front desk. She doesn’t hear
all that is said, but is able to get close enough before he finishes speaking
to catch, “…room. I do not want her
around the others. Everyone else gets
escorted directly into the banquet hall.”
“Not a
problem, sir.”
Catherine
clears her throat causing Grissom to turn around and see the confused look on
her face. His eyes widen for a second,
but he quickly hides his shock beneath his cool veneer. “Catherine.
I wasn’t expecting you here quite so early.”
“Well,
you know how I am about figuring out mysteries when someone is purposely hiding
the pertinent details. And that goes
double when it’s you.”
“That I
do,” he says with a smirk. “But I’m
afraid there isn’t much time for you to grill me today. I am sorry, I would love to escort you
myself, but I have other details to attend to.
If you’ll excuse me?” He turns to the man at the service
counter. “Would you be so kind, as to
have someone escort Miss Willows to the banquet hall, please?”
“Right away, Dr. Grissom.”
Grissom nods
at Catherine and simply walks away, leaving her more frustrated than ever. She hears a polite “Excuse me,” coming from
beside her, and turns to find someone waiting to take her to the room.
Finding
the room empty is not a surprise for Catherine, considering Grissom hadn’t
expected anyone to be there yet. She
sits down in one of the six chairs surrounding a circular table and takes an
appraising look around. Almost more of a
conference room than a banquet hall, with four tables like the one at which she
is seated, along with a small rectangular table on one side of the room, and
three larger rectangular tables at the other end. There were warmers set up on the larger
tables. That along with the fact that
Grissom asked for her to be escorted to the banquet hall, leads her to assume
those tables will be holding food.
She hears
the door open and watches as Warrick is escorted into
the room. Seeing Catherine, he immediately
walks towards her, taking in the room as he makes his way over.
Catherine
wolf whistles, causing his attention to shift back to her. “Lookin’
good, Brown.”
“Lookin’ pretty hot yourself, Cath.” He takes one more sweeping look around the
room before asking, “Any idea what’s goin’ down, yet?”
“Not a
clue. I saw Grissom earlier, but he still
wouldn’t say a word.”
A few more
people are shown into the room during their conversation. Since Catherine and Warrick
are already seated, the others choose different tables at which to take their
seats. Before long, waiters appear with
appetizers, and people start asking questions of each other. It appears no one has any clue what is going
on.
“Have you
noticed that the majority of the people here work graves at CSI?” Nick asks as
he joins the people around Catherine’s table.
“Well,
who else does Gil really know,” Brass responds.
“Think about it. He spends all
his time at the lab. Who else would he
invite?”
“Sure,” Warrick agrees.
“Then who are the rest of these people.
I swear I don’t recognize anyone else.”
They all
look around and observe the other people in the room. David sees Doc Robbins enter, and is about to
call him over, however, he is apparently not the only one with that idea, as
Robbins is called over to another table by an overly cheerful voice. “Al!
Over here!”
Robbins
talks to the other man for a while, and then makes his way over to the table
housing the people from graves.
“Who was
that you were speaking to, Dr. Robbins?” David asks.
Robbins
laughs. “A real
character that’s who. He’s the
retired chief coroner from LA county, Travis Baer. I’m sure Gil worked with him when he was a coroner. Always a practical joker
that one.”
Catherine
spoke up, “What did he think of that invitation?”
“Actually,”
Robbins frowns, “his didn’t end like ours.”
“Well,
isn’t that just rich.” Nick looks around
at the rest of the group. “He doesn’t trust
us.”
“With Cath in the group, can you really blame him?” Brass remarks
with a smirk.
Catherine
looks outraged, but quickly forgets Brass’s comment when Greg suddenly
exclaims, “Where’s Sara?”
Chagrined
that no one realized it before, they all scan the room for the tall brunette.
“Ok,
there is definitely something fishy going on around here,” Catherine muses out
loud.
At about
five ‘til six, the door opens and everyone’s attention turns as Grissom walks
into the room. He is immediately
bombarded by questions from the entire assembly. He holds up his hands for silence and waits
patiently until everyone is quiet. “Thank
you all for coming. We-…I mean, I am
excited and happy that you all have chosen to be here for this occasion. Do not worry, all will be made clear very
soon. There are still a few others on
their way, and then we can get started.
In the meantime, help yourselves to the appetizers, I highly recommend
the chocolate covered grasshoppers.” He
winks and then makes his way over to the table his coworkers have taken over.
However,
their anticipation grows when he is intercepted by a man from the hotel who quickly
takes Grissom aside to discuss something of importance. He’s close enough to the table that they can
hear Grissom, but not the other man.
“Wonderful. Can you stay with her
for now, and tell her I’ll be there shortly?”
The other man nods and leaves the room.
He gets
stopped a few times by other people, but he eventually makes his way to the
table.
“Well, if
it isn’t the big mystery man,” Brass remarks.
Grissom
purses his mouth and shakes his head at him in reply.
“Alright,
you got us all here. Now
what?”
“Actually,
Sa-I need some help. Would you please come
with me, Catherine?”
In unison,
they all turn and look at Catherine, her face in utter shock. “Umm, sure.” She gets up and goes to follow him, not
willing to miss out on what he has cooking, but then Grissom stops and turns
back to the group. “Ah, I need Brass,
too.” Once again, the group looks at the
person being addressed. Brass simply raises
an eyebrow, gets up and follows the duo out of the room.
Once the
three have cleared the doors of the banquet room, Catherine’s curiosity compels
her to ask, “So, does this mean you’re finally gonna
tell us what this is all about?”
“Tell? No…But I’m fairly confident that your
observational skills will allow you to answer the question yourselves.”
They
follow him down the hall into the room next door, where he quickly enters and
closes the door behind them. There are two
people already in the room, along with a quietly tuning string quartet. One is the man Catherine recognizes from when
he talked to Grissom earlier, and the other is an older woman, anxiously
waiting in one of the rows of chairs.
Grissom politely dismisses the man, and begins gesturing to the seated
woman. Unable to understand what is
being said, Catherine lets her gaze wander around the room. Chairs placed in rows with a center aisle,
two bouquets of flowers placed at the front of the room, and the quartet
sitting on a dais in the corner. What kind of party is this?
Her
attention turns back to Grissom when he calls her name. “Catherine,” she walks forward at his
welcoming gesture, “Jim, this is my mother.”
He signs while talking, including everyone in the conversation. “Mom, these are my coworkers, Catherine and
Jim.” He tells them as an aside, “She has
the ability to read lips, as well as speak, so you should be able to understand
one another.”
Mrs.
Grissom extends her hand and Catherine instinctively places her own within its
grasp. “Nice to meet you both and to put
faces to names. How is your daughter,
Catherine?”
This seems to be a day of
surprises, Cath thinks after being caught off-guard by his mother’s
question. “She’s doing great, thank
you. Right now she’s over at a friend’s
house.”
Grissom
turns his attention to Brass while the women talk. “I need you to stay here while I take
Catherine and my Mother to another room.
I’ll be back momentarily.”
Brass
nods and Grissom leads the women out of the room and to another door. When he arrives at the door, he pauses, sighs
and faces Catherine. “Once you pass
through this door, all will become clear.”
He then turns towards his mother, speaking and signing at the same
time. “I need you two to stay in the
room and help keep the woman inside calm.
She’s been in here all by herself, so I am sure she’s getting a little anxious.”
When he
walks back the way they came, Catherine calls out, “Hey!” He turns and finds her looking at him
strangely. “You’re not going to come in with
us?”
“I
can’t. I’m not allowed.” He turns back around and continues down the
hall. After just a few steps, he hears
the beginnings of a scream, but the noise is quickly muffled. He chuckles and shakes his head.
Upon
entering the second room, Grissom sees Brass looking dumbfounded into his
hands. He walks closer and sees that Brass
is holding a velvet bag in one hand which is turned upside down over the palm
of his second hand. Laying
in that palm is two rings. Grissom
clears his throat, and Brass slowly raises his head to look at him, still bearing
a shocked look on his face. “Remember
how I said I needed some help?”
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
People are
eating and making small talk while they wait for Grissom to come back: all
except for the CSI’s. They wonder what Grissom would need Catherine
and Brass for and agonize a while longer as they wait for Grissom to come back
and tell them what is going on.
Five
minutes after the hour, Grissom and the man from the hotel enter the room. “Please excuse the delay, but everyone is now
present, and it is time to begin. If you
would please enter the next room and sit down, we will start.”
While he
is speaking, the barrier separating the two rooms, which was thought to be a
wall, is opened and the delicate music of a string quartet can be heard. A few silent comments are made as people look
around and make their way into the next room.
Brass and
Catherine are standing at the front of the room and conversing with another man
wearing a black suit who has his back to the room. Greg starts towards the trio. Catherine, seeing him headed their way, waves
him back as she mouths that he needs to find a seat. Greg frowns in confusion, but follows her
directions.
Once
everyone is seated, Grissom, who was waiting behind everyone, walks up to the
quartet and whispers something to one of the violinists. The piece they were playing comes to a quick
resolution and they begin on another. The
door in the back of the room opens allowing Mrs. Grissom to enter the
room. Grissom quickly makes his way to
escort his mother to her chair in the front.
Nick listens
to the achingly familiar tune and looks confused until Greg leans over and
says, “Cannon in D. Very popular piece
that is played for many occasions especially…”
He trails off and takes a look around, his eyes widening in disbelief.
“Especially
what, Greg,” Nick asks.
Grissom
joins the group up front and Nick promptly forgets his question as the man in
the black suit turns to face the crowd; his white tab-collar contrasting
sharply against his very distinctive black, clerical shirt. The group turns to look over the crowd as the
door in the back audibly opens again causing everyone’s attention to shift to the
woman entering.
Greg
realizes his train of thought was correct as Sara stands at the door for a
second before slowly making her way to the front of the room, and Grissom. He can’t help but notice how beautiful she
looks in the ivory colored dress with a halter top reaching down to the
floor. Not surprisingly, the dress is
almost completely unadorned, except for the small amount of lace circling the
bottom. Just like Sara, Greg thinks, always
ready to do the job and almost considered one of the guys, but her subtle
femininity is always able to shine through by the bits she allows to show.
The
crowd, realizing exactly what her appearance and presence represents, scrambles
to their feet and follows her procession down the aisle.
As Sara
passes, Warrick looks at the front of the room and
sees something he thought he would never see.
Grissom is standing at the front of the room, his eyes riveted to Sara
and his love shining through for all to see in the small tears that escape. Catherine looks at Sara and is moved by the
fact that once the woman stepped through the door, she hadn’t taken her eyes
off of Grissom; a wide and infectious grin on her face.
Sara
arrives at the front, and the priest calls for everyone to be seated and begins
the ceremony. It’s a simple ceremony
with all the essential items said. Neither
of them being overly traditional, they had chosen to make their own vows. They hold onto each other’s hands while
speaking from the heart. Sara takes a
deep breath and begins…
“Never in
my wildest dreams would I have imagined that going to a forensics lecture would
change my life. Having been told you
were a boring speaker, I expected a much older gentleman and made sure I
brought a case to work on to pass the time.
And then you walked up to that podium…Your eyes and physical presence
made it impossible to look away. But
what really blew me away was the knowledge you expressed as you spoke; opening
new worlds of possibility to me. I found
myself taking a million notes and thinking of just as many questions. Once the lecture was over, you were patient and
charming, giving me the answers I needed but still longing for more. You had my respect and admiration from the
start, and that has never changed. Over
the years our relationship has suffered through happiness and pain, allowing us
to build and strengthen our bond. We’ve
already made it through so much, and now, when I think of the future, I cannot imagine
living the rest of my life without you in it.
I love you, Gil.”
Returning
her soft smile, he amends his vows in his head to interconnect with hers and
releases her hands to speak and sign…
“Sara,
you were not the only one affected at that lecture. After that first day I was completely amazed
at the insight you showed with your questions, and my mind replayed our conversation
over and over. I was compelled to stay
in contact with this brilliant and beautiful young criminalist. Through a cruel twist of fate, you came to
‘Why is it that
people get married?
Because we need a witness to our lives.
There’s a billion people on the planet.
What does any one life really mean?
But in a marriage, you’re promising to care about everything…
The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things,
All of it… all the time, every day.
You’re saying “Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it.
Your life will not go unwitnessed - because I will be
your witness.’
I knew I
wanted to be your witness and I needed you to be mine. Forever mine.”
After
they are pronounced husband and wife and kiss (with the resultant wolf whistles
from the LA coroner), Gil turns to the crowd with his arm around his wife and
directs everyone to the next room which is being opened again (no one noticed
the partition closing earlier because their attention was focused elsewhere)
for the banquet that is laid out and ready.
Gil and
Sara slip out with the help of the hotel staff for a few minutes alone. Once everyone notices they are gone, they all
migrate to enjoy the food causing the wonderful aromas.
Everyone
is seated with food by the time Sara and Grissom enter the banquet room. Loud applause and wolf whistles coming from
every corner of the room greet them as they walk to their table; Mrs. Grissom,
Catherine and Brass the only other occupants.
The hotel staff instantly converges on the couple to serve them their
food with one waiter standing by, ready to meet any need at a moment’s notice.
Once they
both have taken a bite of food, the ever popular and tastelessly antagonizing tradition
sounds; the ringing of crystal as silverware is tapped against it. All turn to find the LA coroner behind the
act, once again. He stops for a second
and says, “What? Like you all weren’t
dying to do that.”
Suddenly
the noise begins again from another part of the room. Grissom turns and gives a betrayed look to
Brass. “He’s right you know.”
Grissom
shakes his head and turns to Sara. She
looks at him and shrugs, “Why not?”
They
exchange a peck on the lips, and a groan is heard from the coroner. “You really think that will appease us?”
Grissom
stands. “Fine. One kiss. But if I hear that noise one more time, I’ll
have the staff take away all of the glasses and you’ll have to go the rest of
the night without anything to drink.”
The
clatter of silverware is heard as the coroner instantly drops his fork.
Grissom
turns back to Sara. “You ready to put on
a show?” He sees the reluctance in her
eyes. “Just one, that’s all. Trust me, Travis will leave us alone the rest
of the night with that threat hanging over his head.” Sara smiles and begins to get up to stand
next to Grissom, but he places a hand on her shoulder keeping her in place. He then leans down, closes his eyes, and
kisses her passionately, causing her to bend over the back of her chair. After a few seconds, they mutually end the
kiss and he straightens up raising an eyebrow in the direction of Travis.
The
coroner stands and bows. “The jester has
been placated.” Everyone laughs and
returns to their eating.
Catherine,
thinking about how assignments were handed out this week, decides to confront
Sara and see if her suspicions are correct. “You know, I thought it was strange how after
the invitation came in the mail, you seemed to be paired with Gil almost all
the time this week. Is this the reason why?”
“Yes, but
it wasn’t because he didn’t want you bugging him.” After a nudge from her husband she smiles and
looks over at him. “Well, it wasn’t
completely because he didn’t want you bugging him.” She turns her attention back to Catherine. “If I had to work an entire shift with any of
you, the way you all were acting, I would have lost it. It was all I could do not to smirk or laugh
at you guys when we were at the lab. I
waited until the door was closed behind me at home before I allowed myself to
give in. It took me a solid hour of
laughing every day after shift just to make up for it. It had been hard enough keeping the fact that
we were in a relationship and living together from the great investigators, but
keeping an engagement secret? That would
have been impossible.”
“So, Gil
is completely to blame for all this?”
“No!”
Grissom answers emphatically. “I’ll take
the blame for the engagement and the assignments. But the invitation and this day, those were
concocted entirely by Sara.”
Catherine
turns in shock and outrage to Sara.
Sara smiles from the corner of her
mouth. “Just because I couldn’t keep the
engagement from you guys didn’t mean I wasn’t going to have a little fun with
it.”
_____________________________________________________________________________
Beta’s Note: And it’s my fault it took several more days to get
it uploaded. Having OCD and ADD is not a good combination.