At First Sight

Title: At First Sight
Author: Carie75
Rating: General
Pairing: Grissom/Sara
Disclaimer: No money changed hands. Does this count as charity? I need another deduction!

A/N: Thanks as always to my good friend Daphne for her beta services. I don't know how she puts up with me! I was in a bit of a slump, so she gave me "at first sight" as a prompt. This story is what came to mind. Thanks also to CSIBuckeye for all of her help and support. I hope everyone enjoys.

“Social services found me under my parent’s deck.” Sara pulled back the deep blue comforter to slide into bed next to Grissom. Her head lowered, she reached out to him with words, knowing her eyes and face would reveal far more than she was prepared to share.

Circling her waist, Grissom pulled Sara close to his chest, hoping his arms would provide adequate shelter from her dark memories. He welcomed the rare glimpse into her childhood he sensed was to come. Placing a gentle kiss atop her head, he licked the cool dampness of her freshly showered curls from his lips before kissing the ridge of her ear.

“The little girl we found today. You saw yourself in her, didn’t you?” Grissom said, understanding the unexpected collision of her past and present somehow accounted for her sudden disappearance from the crime scene.

Sara nodded, huddling in the warmth between the bedspread and Grissom. She pressed her weight against him, a silent request to tighten their embrace.

“When my parents fought, my brother and I would hide under the deck in our backyard. Sometimes we would be there for hours waiting for the dust to settle.” She sighed, staring through the bedroom door as though it was a gateway to her past. “Tim made up a game he called “at first sight” to distract me, and probably himself, from what was going on inside the house. He would give me something to look for, like a lighting bug or a constellation. If I saw it, he would promise me a gift of some kind. Usually it was candy or a book.”

Grissom rubbed the goose bumps from her arms, quieting her shivers with the heat of his touch. A lone tear fell from her cheek onto his arm. He left it there to soak into his skin, wishing he could also absorb her pain.

“Did Social Services take your brother too?” Grissom kissed the back of her neck before setting his chin on her shoulder.

“No,” Sara shook her head. “He ran away to San Francisco three days before my father was killed.”

“He left you alone?” He said unable to hide the anger in his voice.

“Yes.” Sara said, her voice cracking as the tears began to flow freely. She fought Grissom’s attempts to turn her in his arms; scared acceptance of his comfort would steal what remained of the inner strength she had relied upon for so long.

Grissom relented to her stubbornness, instead massaging the tension from her shoulders. He blinked back his own tears, struggling to remain strong in the wake of her vulnerability. Love seemed an insufficient offering to dispel her grief, but it was all he had to give. Vowing to be the rock she would deny she needed, he swallowed the bitter taste of anxiety surfacing from the pit of his stomach. Although it was his greatest fear, failing Sara was not an option.

“Why San Francisco?” he said, breaking a long period of silence, the intensity in the air all but gone.

“What?” Sara said turning to see the heartbreak in his eyes. Intertwining her fingers in his, she squeezed his hand.

Grissom traced the outline of her face, noticing a calm in her features had returned. “Why did your brother run away to San Francisco?”

“The zoo.” Her eyelids fluttered, heavy with sleep. “When I was six and Tim was nine, my Dad took us to the San Francisco zoo. Tim loved it there.”

“Did you love it?” Grissom said.

“Yes. I loved the zoo and city.” Sara smiled, resting her head on his chest and closing her eyes. “It’s where I met you.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sara threw her keys on the coffee table as she walked into the kitchen of the townhouse, shedding her jacket along the way. A ribbon-wrapped box on the counter caught her attention. Opening it carefully, she removed a small gorilla. She gasped; noticing the stuffed animal held two plane tickets to San Francisco and two tickets to the zoo. Trembling, she read the note.

At first sight, you won my heart.