The Loophole

Chapter 5

The break room was empty, and Nick sighed with relief. He and Warrick had just wrapped up a triple homicide and were looking for a place to unwind. "It's clear, man, set it up."

Warrick hauled in his PlayStation2, hooking it up to the television set and popping in Grand Theft Auto 3. "You're going down, bro."

"Bring it on," Nick challenged, and soon they were engrossed in the game, throwing taunts at each other while their thumbs flew across the controls.

"Guys! Thank god you're here!" Greg ran into the room, panting, and Warrick stifled a groan. "You will not believe what I just heard!"

"Not now." Nick squinted at the screen. "Aw, man, SWAT just showed up."

"Go for the cop car!" Warrick hooted in appreciation as Nick made a smooth getaway.

"No, guys, listen!" Greg insisted. "I was just in the locker room, about to get out of the shower-"

"Yeah, I thought you smelled fruity," Warrick mumbled. Nick laughed, dodging a pizza delivery van.

"It's strawberry shampoo, the ladies go crazy over it," Greg retorted. "Anyway, Grissom and Sara were in there talking, and they didn't know I was in the shower stall. And Sara told Grissom - are you listening?"

"Sweet move, War! Uh, yeah, Greg, we're listening."

"Sara told Grissom that she had trouble falling asleep this morning, and that she decided to try holding 'Ugly,' and the second she had Ugly in her arms she fell right to sleep." Greg gave them a significant glance. "You know what Ugly must be."

Nick shrugged. "Where were you this morning? Helping Sara fall asleep?"

"Very funny. No. I think Ugly is Sara's pet name for Grissom's. you know."

"What? His tarantula?" Warrick swore as he missed a jump and crashed into a store window.

"No." Greg raised his voice. "I think it's her pet name for his thingy."

Nick and Warrick both turned to him in horror, their controls falling from their slack hands. "You're not serious," Nick whispered.

"My god." Warrick looked pale.

Greg nodded, glad they understood the gravity of the situation.

"Warrick." Nick's eyes were wide. "Do you think he has a name for her ta-tas?"

"Or her hoo-ha?" Warrick managed to keep a straight face as Nick threw back his head, laughing out loud.

"Man, I haven't heard hoo-ha since junior high. And I think I stopped saying thingy when I was, uh." He thought back. "Yeah, I never said thingy."

"Fine, his penis! I'm talking about Grissom's penis!" Greg yelled, embarrassed.

"Wow, I walked in at the wrong moment." The men swiveled around to see Sofia standing behind them, her arms folded and her expression bland. "Why exactly are you talking about Grissom's penis, Greg?"

He shot a desperate glance at Nick and Warrick, but they'd turned their attention back to the game. "I overheard Sara mentioning something named 'Ugly,' and I think it was. you know. Grissom's thingy."

She fought a smirk. "Well, you're an investigator now, Greg. How do you plan on finding out what this Ugly is?"

"I could try using the word in conversation and seeing if Sara cracks," he speculated. "Or I could say that I slept with Ugly last night and see how she reacts."

Sofia nodded. "Yeah, those are options."

Sara breezed into the break room. "Grand Theft Auto 3, nice," she grinned, helping herself to some coffee.

"Hey Sara?" Sofia called.

"Yeah?"

"Did you give something the nickname Ugly?"

"Yeah, a stuffed animal that Grissom won for me at one of those shooting galleries." Her brow furrowed. "How'd you know about that?"

Sofia cocked her head toward Greg, winking at Sara.

"Aww, thanks a lot," he whined. "Get me in trouble, why don't you?"

Sara looked back and forth between them. "I'm lost."

"Greg overheard you talking about it, and thought that Ugly was your nickname for Grissom's thingy," Sofia explained, shrugging in sympathy and walking out.

Sara turned to look at Greg, aghast. "Oh my god."

He hung his head, waiting for the onslaught.

She shook her head in disbelief. "I can't believe she just said thingy. What is she, five?"

Greg nodded quickly. "I know, right? Who says that?"

Grissom was hunched over at his desk, sighing as he rifled through a stack of papers. He was so engrossed that he didn't notice Sara standing in the doorway.

She watched the way he twirled the pen between his fingers when he was thinking, and her heart swelled. It was in the quiet moments that she loved him most.

"Got a second?"

He looked up and smiled. "For you, I've got two."

"Lots of paperwork," she noted, sitting across from him and setting her bag on the floor.

"Yeah." He rubbed his eyes. "It never stops. I'll be here for hours."

"Why don't we postpone our brunch date, then?"

"No, no, it's okay," he assured her. "I'll just. come back here afterwards, work straight through. I've done it before."

"Griss, let's just postpone it," she said insistently. "I'd like to work late too. I want to go through the Missing Persons files and see if I can find that vic from the desert. Larry and I ran the bone structure through a facial reconstruction program, and we think we've got a pretty good mock-up."

He leaned back in his chair, shaking his head. "This is sad, Sara. We've been married a week and already work is taking precedence."

"I don't find it sad."

"No?"

"No. Our dedication to the job is one of the things that we found attractive about each other in the first place. I mean, yeah, we're in a relationship now, but should our work suffer because of it?"

"Of course not," he replied reluctantly. "You're right, let's postpone it. I'll call and cancel the reservation."

"Good." Sara shifted in her seat. "Um. here. I was going to give you this at brunch." She pulled a small wrapped gift out of her bag and placed it on the desk.

He looked up in alarm. "What is this?"

"A present."

"For what?" His neck was growing red.

She shrugged, embarrassed. "It's our one-week anniversary."

"So? Sara, you shouldn't have gotten me anything."

"Oh, just open it."

He picked up the gift, scowling slightly, then put it back down. "Well, if I'm going to open this, then you should open this." Opening his desk drawer, he pulled out a small wrapped box and handed it to her.

"What happened to not getting gifts?" she teased, secretly pleased.

Grissom sighed. "I just. I wanted to make a romantic gesture."

"Me too."

"But it's not as romantic if we both do it," he argued, sulking. "I wanted to make up for the fact that we practically got married at a drive-through window."

She tried not to smile. "You don't have to make up for anything. Now open your gift and stop pouting."

He stuck his bottom lip out a little further in response as he unwrapped the small package. Opening the box, he sat up in surprise. "Oh, wow!"

"You like it?"

"I didn't even know they made these!" He pulled out a glass frame, in which a tiny ladybug had been mounted.

"They don't, actually," she said. "I got Sam to do it for me."

"My Sam, who does my butterflies?"

She nodded.

"Wow. Sara. this is great, thank you." He studied it closely, forgetting to sulk.

"Should I open mine?"

"Oh, yes. Sorry." He carefully placed the frame to the side of his desk. "Go ahead."

She tore off the wrapping paper and opened the flat jewelry box. "Griss," she breathed. Inside was a delicate silver ladybug pendant on a black silk ribbon. "It's."

"Wait." He crossed over to her side of the table, leaning over her. "Watch." He took the pendant between his thumb and index finger, pressing down gently on the top. The ladybug's wings popped open, revealing a wedding photo of Grissom and Sara, snapped as they ran down the aisle hand-in-hand. "It's a locket," he supplied.

"It's perfect.Help me put it on?" She pulled her hair up as he tied the ribbon around her neck. "How does it look?"

Her eyes shone at him, and he couldn't speak. Leaning down, he kissed her forehead gently.

"Hey Gris-oh, sorry." Greg stood in the doorway, frozen. "I didn't realize the missus was in here too."

Grissom gave him a stern look, but when he spoke his voice was mild. "Give us a couple of minutes, Greg."

"Yeah," Sara threw over her shoulder as Greg started to walk away. "I want to stroke Harry a few times before I go." Greg's eyes widened, and he turned and ran down the hall toward the break room.

"Harry?" Grissom was puzzled. "You want to pet my tarantula?"

"Naw, I'm just yanking Greg's chain," she laughed. "Happy anniversary, Grissom."

"Happy anniversary."

She stood and started to walk out, then stopped in his doorway. "You know, it wasn't really a drive-through window."

"I know." He sat back down heavily.

"It was quick, yeah. But it was also very sweet," she admitted. "And you managed to find the only insect-themed chapel in Vegas."

"Which is surprising, when you think about how many interesting kinds of insects there are in the world," he replied earnestly.

She smiled. "My point is. it was unexpected, and it was unusual, and it was ours."

He let out a breath, smiling as she walked away. The smile quickly faded as he looked down at the stacks of paperwork. Picking up his pen, he dove in. As the hours flew by,the stacks grew slightly shorter.

"You dog." Brass stood in the doorway with his arms folded, grinning like a fool.

"Jim!" Grissom looked up, relieved at the interruption. "How was Florida?"

"Six days of sunshine and oranges. Then I come back here and there's some rumor floating around that you and Sara Sidle got married last week."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh." Brass shook his head. "What'd you do, throw her in the back of your car and drive her to one of those all-night chapels?"

Grissom smiled sheepishly. "Well, funny you should say that, Jim."