DATE: June 2006
TITLE: Relaxed
AUTHOR: LosingInTranslation (AKA Jennifer, losingntrnslatn)
DISCLAIMER: Don’t own it… Don’t make any
money on it… Don’t have any money for anyone to sue for… I just like playing
with them from time to time. :D
SUMMARY: Post Season 6 Finale – A little
piece of fluff that I wrote to prepare myself for the angst hell I have planned
next. GSR to the MAX!
RATING: T for Teen – Not really anything
in here to offend most, but just to be safe I cranked it up a notch.
A/N: This one is all me (after that
last one, the betas needed a vacation)… I was in the mood for some fluff and I
hadn’t done any post-ep fics
yet, so I decided this just might be fun… Yeah, it was fun :D
Relaxed
Days like
the one she had just completed required extra effort to remain sane, but they
also served to provide her with a glimmer of hope. They had solved their case,
and their friend was on the mend. Despite the stress, strain and turmoil,
things were actually looking up.
Her side trip
to Jim’s place had been an interesting experience. She had gone over there to
retrieve some personal items for the man, but what she found had made her
understand so much more. There was wood paneling and leather over anything that
would stand still for it, and scattered throughout the place were pictures of
his daughter and various items of memorabilia from his career in law
enforcement. Apparently, Jim was the sentimental type. She had mentioned that
to him when she dropped off the items at the hospital and he had only shrugged
in response. The only comment he had made, was that he was surprised she had
gone over there, since he had asked Grissom to do it for him the night
before. She was able to cover that easily
enough, by telling him that Grissom had gotten tied up at work, and asked for a
volunteer to run the errand. She then told him that she was the only one with a
closed case last night. He only nodded and thanked her for picking up the
things for him, because had really never been much of an exhibitionist and
those gowns were murder on his complexion. When she left the hospital, she
remarked to herself that she was terribly glad nothing had happened to the
man’s sense of humor during the ordeal, because that truly would have been a
tragedy.
However,
she was finally home after a long day, and an even longer week. She wanted
nothing more than to curl up in the darkened bedroom and sleep for the next two
days. But first, she wanted to take a bath, in the worst way. It was not often
that she felt the need for a bath, but after something like she had been
through over the last week, it was certainly one of those times.
Almost
without a sound, her key slipped into the lock and turned the tumblers to allow
her entry into her home. She hung up her purse and jacket on the peg and then
walked to the refrigerator for a cold drink. She was in luck, because on the
inside of the door to the fridge she had one Amberbock
left, grabbing it from the door she reached up and took the bottle opener down
to pop the cap. When the bottle gasped from its pressure release she inhaled
sharply over the bottle top and then took a satisfying draw from it. It was
both smooth and cool as it slid down her throat and gave her a little piece of
comfort in its rich taste.
She was about
to take another long drink when she felt a weighted warmth wrap itself around
her from behind, “Is there another one of those for me?” His voice vibrated
across her ear as his equally warm breath blew over her skin.
She
leaned back into his grasp and sighed a little before taking sip from the
bottle and said, “Nope… Last one.” He turned her slightly in his arms, just so
that he could get a glimpse of her impish grin. “But I might be convinced to
share.” He leaned his head down and captured her mouth in a slow moving and
deeply sensory kiss. When he finally pulled back, her eyes had closed of their
own accord and she was practically purring.
As she
opened her eyes, she found that silly half grin of his plastered over his face
and he said, “I could get used to sharing like that.”
She
finished turning around in his arms and laid her arms over his shoulders
(careful not to spill the beer). “Oh yeah?” It was
more of a challenge than a question, and he met it full on. Their lips pressed
tightly together, he plied his tongue past the gates of her mouth to duel with
hers as their kisses deepened into a very comfortable passion.
As much
as she was enjoying their playful, physical banter, she truly was exhausted and
eventually she slumped over his chest and he held her just a little closer. “That good, huh?” He asked as he began to stroke her hair
with one of his hands.
“I’m
sorry, the heart is willing, but the body is about to collapse.” She spoke in
the crook of his neck where she rested her head.
“Ah, but aren’t
you glad I had anticipated this?” She looked up into his eyes after his
question and gave him a puzzled glare. “This way, Madame.”
He turned out of her embrace and took her free hand in his tenderly, guiding
her to follow him
As he
gently drug her down the hallway, she had finally
recognized what he was wearing. “Why are you dressed like that?” Her giggle was
unmistakable, but she was unable to resist it after seeing him dressed in those
baggy cargo shorts and the equally baggy Hawaiian shirt.
He turned
and looked down at himself, bare feet and all. “You told me to go home and
relax. This is comfortable.” He shrugged his shoulders and continued pulling
her along.
“Yeah, but we aren’t at the lake, and this is definitely not the
beach, Panama Jack.” She enjoyed teasing him about his wardrobe choices when they took
those precious days away from the lab, but if truth be told, she loved seeing
him dress casually. She had even begun to enjoy his penchant for large straw
hats to fight the
When he
looked into her eyes again, he had a mock pout on his lips and asked, “But I
thought you liked this shirt?”
She chose
that interruption as her opportunity to move close to him and she put her empty
hand around his waist, pulling him closer. “I like two things about that
shirt.” He kissed her tenderly on the mouth with her gesture.
“And those
would be?” His eyes danced over her features, and it only endeared him to her
even more.
“One, that color does wonders for those bedroom eyes of
yours.” She kissed at the line of his beard where it touched his neck. “And
two, because it comes off really fast, without having to sew the buttons back
on.” He laughed at her joke and she kissed him in the space below his ear lobe.
He pulled
the shirt open a bit more at the top with a snap, “That’s because it has faux
buttons, my dear. I learned my lesson from the first shirt, and I’m still
finding those buttons with the vacuum cleaner.”
She
tilted her head to the side and said, “Well, THAT was an ugly shirt, so no great loss there.” She snuggled into
his chest with her declaration and he reveled in the feeling until a loud,
shrill whistle filled the air.
The
whistle sounded almost like a tea… “Kettle’s ready… C’mon.” He ushered her into
the bedroom and then pulled her into their bathroom. Once inside, she found
that he had dimmed the lights, lit the candle on the vanity and run a bath for
her. “Wait here for a just a second… I need to grab the kettle from lab.”
She
watched in amusement as he scuttled out of the room, only to return in a flash,
carrying the offending kettle with an oven mitt. He quickly slid past her and
began to pour the water from the large tea kettle into the tub. “I turned the
hotplate on as soon as I heard you come in… Figured it would
be the best way to get the water back to the right temperature.”
She shook
her head in confusion and put her hand on his back as he was leaned over the
tub. “But how’d you kno-…”
“Jim
called me when you left to hospital to thank me for sending you over.” When he
stood upright again, it was his turn to look confused, “For some reason, he
thought I was still at work. Why would he think that?”
She
blushed at the question and told him the reason, “Well, he wanted to know why I
was doing your errands, so I had to come up with something believable, didn’t
I?” When he started belly laughing at her she adopted a defensive posture and
sulked, “I don’t know why that’s so funny… It’s not like we’re tel-…”
“No,
honey…” He wrapped her up, sulking posture, pouting lip and all, into his arm,
hugging her to him, “It’s just that I thought you knew… Jim knows all about us…
Has for months.” She stiffened against him, but only
for a moment.
When she sighed and relaxed against him, he put the kettle down on the
vanity. “Well,
you could have told me. Now I feel like an idiot.”
“If it
makes it any better… You are an astoundingly beautiful idiot.” She elbowed him
in the ribs and he just laughed again. “That’s okay; he made me suffer for it,
too. Spent two days trying to invite himself on our first
trip to
“Well, if
we’re putting the confessions on the table, so to speak, then you should know…”
He held her away from him to look into her face as she revealed, “Nick knows,
too.”
His face
turned into a mass of surprise and frustration, “That little weasel!” She was
shocked at his response and she guessed the look on her face told him he needed
to explain. “He’s been trying to trade schedules with you for the last month.
Kept asking me why you always got the good schedule. Actually
trying to make me feel guilty!” It was her turn to laugh again, because
she could also picture Nick giving him the good old boy charm and whine to
tease him. “How long?”
She smiled
and looked down, “You remember that wedding case? When his truck got stolen and
ah, vandalized?” He nodded at her
that he remembered and she continued, “Yeah, well, he had my keys so he could
use my car to get somewhere and uh, I had gotten home and back to the lab,
without my car, and gotten into my apartment without my keys.”
“Well,
that’s because we used my-…” The understanding finally dawned on him and he
threw his head back at the revelation, hanging it there for a moment. “Damn!
Aren’t we supposed to be better at this?”
She
giggled at his reaction and answered, “Apparently not.”
He held
her close again and kissed the crown of her head, “Oh well… We knew it would
only be a matter of time.” He exhaled through his nose and into her hair, which
gave her a little tickle. “I was just hoping to keep you all to myself a while
longer.”
She
kissed the side of his neck and said, a devilish tone in her voice, “Well, we
don’t have to let on that we know about them, and we could use it to torture
them back a little… You know, before everyone else figures it out.”
He
squinted at her suggestion and pulled her away from him to look into her eyes,
“But if they know, who’s to say the other-…”
“Oh
please! Like if Catherine knew she wouldn’t have been the first to call you to
the carpet on it?” He had to begrudge her that analysis, because Catherine
would never have been able to resist an “I told you so” lecture. “And Warrick? Well, he’s dealing with his own drama right
now, so I’m not sure he can see much beyond his own nose. And
Greg? Well, he’s, ya know-…”
“Greg,
right… Anyone else in the lab catching on?” He was not
only asking her, but himself as she watched him contemplate that question.
“Come to
think of it… Doc Robbins did something kind of odd last week.” Her face was
trying to process what she had experienced as she spoke the words to him. “He
was looking for you to give you a report and left it with me. Said something
about knowing I could get it to you.”
He mulled
that over a bit in his mind and then disregarded it as nothing, “No, I’m pretty
sure he would have said something to me… Plus, it doesn’t really gel with the
conversation he and I had last week, so it was probably nothing.” She was not
entirely sure that he was right, but decided to let it drop anyway when he
slackened his arms and leaned over the tub to check the water. “Tsk… I’m going to heat up some more water… Be right back.”
He grabbed the kettle from behind her and then filled it up with water from the
tub before disappearing into the hall.
She
kicked off her shoes and let them rest at the doorway. She then grabbed her
hair brush from the vanity and ran it through her disheveled hair a few times.
She had showered before leaving on her errand to pick up Jim’s things, so she
was really not in need of bathing. It was the soak she was looking for, more
than anything. She removed her watch and the chain around her neck to place
them in the dish beside the sink. She was about to unbutton her pants when the
sound of the kettle startled her. In a flash, he had appeared in the doorway,
kettle in hand, and a full pout descending over his mouth, “What are you
doing?”
She
looked from him to herself and back again, then said, “Getting ready to take a
bath… Remember?”
The sad
look on his face was enough to pull at her heart strings, but his words
finished the pull completely. “But I wanted to do that.”
She
smiled and walked to him to wrap her arms around his waist, and he lifted the
kettle up high to avoid its proximity as she pulled him in tight. “I’m sorry…
Should I put them back on?”
He smiled
again and gently shook his head, “No… It’s just that you’ve been taking such
wonderful care of me for the last week, and I was kind of hoping to return the
favor… In some small way.”
She smiled
in that sly and seductive manner she knew he liked and said, “Babe… With you,
nothing is small.”
He raised
his eyebrow and responded with, “Was that a crack about my weight?”
She
squeezed him tighter around the middle and said with a giggle, “Not hardly… Besides, if you keep slimming down like this,
I’m gonna have to start beating them off you again.”
“Again?”
His somewhat confused expression caused her to blush and she had to stifle the
giggle that was threatening to emerge.
“Well,
let’s just say that the animosity between me and a certain blonde had nothing
to do with work.” She demurred as she vaguely explained her remark.
He
continued to look at her with a puzzled face until the clue struck him full
force and he smirked as he shook his head. “You never had a thing to worry
about,” and then he kissed the tip of her nose.
“Well,
I’m not the only one that has noticed your return to health… Catherine even
made a comment the other day.” She squeezed him around his shrinking waist a
little tighter.
“My
doctor actually congratulated me on finally taking his advice to get some
regular exercise.” He was flashing her with that sideways smirk of his.
With her
eyebrow raised in a suggestive manner she asked, “Is that what we’re calling it
now?”
She knew
what he was going to say even before it came off his lips, because she had
unwittingly set him up perfectly to deliver the line. “Feel the burn.” She
still giggled and buried her forehead into his chest, because it really was one
of the things she found undeniably attractive about the man. One of the many things.
He
reached behind him and took her hands apart so that he could, once again, dump
the hot water into the tub to warm it up. As he deposited the kettle back on
the vanity, she watched his every movement, as though it were a delicate
ballet. He grabbed the big, baby blue bath sheet from the linen closet and took
out a royal blue towel as well. Setting them down on the edge of the tub he
took one last survey of the scene and tested the water temperature. “Perfect,”
he declared and then spun around to face her again. “Well, almost perfect… I am
still in need of the bathing beauty.” When he leaned down to gently press his
lips into hers, she could feel that he was fumbling around in the vanity drawer
behind her for something. As his hands trailed their way up her back, over her
shoulders and painfully slow along the back of her neck, she was thrilled to
feel his hands in her hair as he pulled it up and placed it into the hair clip
he had found in the drawer. “I can still smell your shampoo, so I guess we’ll
have to save that for another time.” His voice was like warm honey the way it
caressed her ears, and she closed her eyes to enjoy its soothing melody.
Before
she could open her eyes again, she felt his lips pressed tenderly to hers and
she exhaled softly into him, as the sensation truly was wonderful. When the air
touched her shoulders, she realized he had been distracting her so that he
could remove her blouse unnoticed. “Mmmm… You really
are getting good at that.”
He did
not answer her with words, but with his lips trailing down her neck. When she
inhaled sharply, in response to his warm lips reaching her shoulder, she felt
her bra fall away. God, is he getting good at this. Her only
regret in that delicious moment was that she was likely to fall asleep the
moment she sat down in the tub. She was just so exhausted and was certain she
would not be able to participate in anything beyond falling asleep.
And,
almost as though he was reading her thoughts, he said, “Don’t worry, this is
all about letting you unwind and relax.” Her shoulders slumped just a little
with his warm and tender words, and he knew that she understood him.
Slowly, he
nudged her towards the tub with her back to it. When she felt it resting
against her calves, he held her hands and motioned for her to sit on the edge.
That was when she realized he had already unfastened her pants and had them, as
well as her panties pushed down. Either
I’m a lot more tired than I realized, or he’s been planning this one.
He
brought the clothes all the way down and then tossed them at the hamper. Under
normal circumstances, she would have reminded him not to make such a mess, but
she was unbearably tired and he was doing such an amazing job of tending to
her, so she just went with the flow. There would be time later to deal with her
neat freak tendencies. “Don’t worry; I’ll clean up when you go to sleep.” She
looked down with the embarrassment of having been caught rising in her cheeks
and shook her head. “I’m getting used to it.” He took her hands in his and
kissed the fingertips gently.
When he
stood back up, her hands still in his grasp, he led her to stand as well. Once
up from the tub, she leaned in to him and they kissed once more. She has
assumed that those kisses would eventually lose their power to make her weak in
the knees, but so far, that had yet to be the case. But I don’t mind being wrong about that one.
He guided
her to step into the tub, and when she did, she found that he had gotten the
water just right: warm enough to be soothing, but not hot enough to pink her
skin too badly. As she sunk down into the water, she realized that he had also
put in some bath salts when her skin immediately began to absorb the moisture
and the scent rose into her nostrils. He may not have believed in perfumes or
colognes, but his one weakness was the flowery bath salts that he had brought
into her life. This time it was a very subtle lavender:
perfect for lulling her to sleep. When the purr escaped her throat, she did not
have to keep her eyes open to know that he was smiling at her response.
The bath
had only just begun, but she was already in heaven with the warm, scented water
lazily lapping at her sides. Her eyes were closed, but she could tell that he
had dimmed the lights a little bit more, so when she opened them again, she
could not help but giggle. “Gil, what are you doing?”
“You
don’t like it?” It may have been dark in there, save for the flickering
candles, but she could see his pout. “I’m just trying to make it easier for you
to relax.” He came closer to her and sat down on the edge of the tub.
She
reached up out of the water and took his hand, “But how am I supposed to see
you in the dark?”
He leaned
over and kissed her forehead before softly saying, “All you need to do is hear
my voice, and feel my touch… Just keep your eyes closed.” His voice was so warm
in her eyes, and his soft breath washed over her face in a caress.
“I’ll be
asleep in no time, if you keep that up.” She teased him, but she also knew that
it was not far from the truth as well.
She had gotten stuck on a hot case, and they had worked it straight
through for close to thirty six hours. Nick had been right there with her the
whole time, and she had driven him home, since he was unable to keep his eyes
open as Det. Vega had taken their suspect away to be processed. She had no idea
what it was that kept her going when everyone else was falling down, but she
had always been that way. However, she now had a reason to go home after every
shift, and so her days of the triple triple week were
behind her. Now, when they came up, they wore her out completely.
Her
thoughts were interrupted by his thick fingers reaching for the skin of her
back and urging her to lean forward, so she complied. She felt the soapy,
natural sponge slide over her shoulders and down onto her back in lazy circles.
The worries of the day were being washed away with every swipe of the sponge as
it was pressed into her skin.
Before
her whole mind was wiped away by the sponge, she felt his hand grip her
shoulder and guiding her to lie back once again. Then he reached down and took
her right arm into his hands as he worked the sponge down the outside of the
arm and back up the inside. When he brought the sponge down her ribs and across
her diaphragm, below the right breast, around and over the breast, and then he
made sure to gently scrub her whole chest, she was completely lost in the
comfort of the act. Her eyes were closed and her body was no longer her own.
She merely drifted on the warm, scented water as he paid tribute to her skin.
She
inhaled a lazy and full breath of air, feeling the warm moisture rising from
the tub and once again she was filled with the relaxing aroma of the lavender.
The gears that ran her mind like a well oiled machine were gradually coming to
a halt. With each pass of the sponge over her skin the world seemed to get
farther and farther away. Soon, the only thing that was registering to her was
the feel of his touch over her body and soft hum that was coming from his
mouth. It was nothing short of an intimate symphony that seemed to exist only
between the two of them.
At one
time, they only experienced that kind of complimentary symbiosis in their work,
but at some point it began to flow across every aspect of their lives. Anymore,
it seemed that he was handing her a tissue at the very moment she was about to
sneeze, and she always seemed to know exactly when he needed a moment to
breathe. She would miss working with him so closely, but they both knew it
would have to end once their relationship was made public. She sighed with that
knowledge and continued to drift in the comfort of the water and gentleness of
his caresses.
This
moment, probably more than any other, demonstrated to her that her life; her
world was finally at peace. Her work and her personal life were coexisting in a
way they never had before, and she was beyond grateful for it. Her demons were
slowly losing their grip over her heart and her thoughts no longer drifted
straight to them again. She knew they would never go away, but now she could
use them to her advantage instead of allowing them to consume her. And it was
that ability that had finally given her the chance to find happiness. Putting
aside those demons from her past had given her more comfort and confidence in
everything she did, both in her work and her life. She had grown in that time
and she had finally found the ability to be happy without having to resort to
outside influences. That was when it happened.
Their
comfort level had begun to return, very gradually at first, but before she even
knew what was happening, they were talking again. The first time they met for breakfast
after shift, she was shocked to find out how easy it was for them to talk. They
discussed recent journal articles, the Rubens exhibit coming to the Guggenheim
Hermitage, the Mayor’s latest public relations stunt, the spring training
projections (though admittedly, she only listened in those instances), and
about their friends. As their breakfasts increased, and their conversations
progressed she had failed to notice that they were becoming friendlier and that
the topics had begun to take on a personal nature. So, the first time he took
her hand, she had to ask herself what had happened that would have caused him
to comfort her. When he smiled at her confusion she was drawn to smile back,
and then they both laughed at the humor of the situation. It was their shared
laughter that started it all.
Relationship
was probably not the best word to use when describing those early days, but it
certainly turned into one. It was not without pitfalls, however, and they had
various periods of time where they barely tolerated one another. They bristled
at different stages of the relationship as they progressed, and it sometimes
took a concerted effort to get past those milestones. They seemed to sail
through the big issues, but always got hung up on the little things. If we could agree on the death penalty, why
was it such a struggle to decide on a dish soap? In
the end, they both decided that the only thing that mattered was that they
agreed it was worth it to keep trying. And as her thoughts continued to swirl
in and out of focus, she knew more than anything that it was most certainly
worth every heated debate over which radio station to listen to in the car if
it meant they always got there together.
When she
sighed again, feeling completely relaxed, and warm, and dry, her eyes popped
open. She could feel his warmth under her cheek and the weight of his arms
around her and the softness of the bath sheet that wrapped her up. Looking
around, she realized that she was lying atop him in their bed. The sudden urge
to stretch overcame her and so she gave in to the sensation with her arms and
legs reaching and her back arching out and then in. When the low moan came from
her throat with the satisfaction that yawning stretch had provided she felt
more than she heard his chuckle and she lifted her head to see his face. His
gentle half smile was the first thing to greet her and when he slowly opened
his eyes she blushed under his gaze. He looked at her more openly now, but it
still managed to send shivers down her spine and brought a blush to her cheeks
every time. “You must have been more tired than you let on.” He brushed a lock
of hair away from her eyes and added, “Just how long had you been up, anyway?”
She
huffed out a breath through her nose as she tried to come up with the answer
and then said, “When was the last time we were here?” He shook his head at her
answer within a question and then kissed her forehead. She felt the warmth that
passed between them in that simple gesture and then laid her head back down in
the crook of his neck. “I think we both still need to work on that one, huh?”
He pulled
her in a little tighter and reached down to draw the blanket back up onto her
shoulders again. “Yes, well, we were starting from a significant disadvantage
in that area, so I suppose improvement needs to be measured accordingly.”
She
laughed at his analysis of their sleep patterns, because like their
relationship, all progress was indeed relative. “Well, if you put it that way…
We’re good.” She snuggled in a little closer and realized that he was still
wearing his clothes. “You know what?”
He
trailed a finger down the side of her face before he answered. “I’m at a loss…
Something is distracting my concentration.”
She
smiled at his playfulness, but she had her own agenda. “Well, I think the shirt
is starting to grow on me.” He laughed at her comment and she continued, “But I
think it’s missing something.”
“And what
might that be?” She instantly scrambled out of the bed and rushed to the closet
as she held the towel around her. As she scrounged around on the shelf, his
curiosity got the better of him and he called out, “What are you doing?”
She
turned back to fix him with an impish expression. “You’ll find out soon
enough.” His laughter filled her ears as she continued to search for the item.
When her hand finally came into contact with it, she let out a sound that
nearly could have been described as a gleeful shriek, but Sara Sidle did not
shriek.
She
turned on a dime and stashed the item behind her back in a flash, forcing him
to crane his neck around in an attempt to spy just what it was she was hiding.
“What have you got there?”
Stalking
back towards the bed, she grinned at him with all the devilish intent she could
muster. “Just the perfect thing to complete that outfit.”
When she was within his reach, he pulled her in closer by her hips. She leaned
down to kiss him and as their lips met she dropped something onto his head and
then stood back up to admire her handiwork. At first sight of him; his legs
crossed at the ankles, atop the bed, in his baggy shorts and that ridiculous
Hawaiian shirt, she could not help but begin to giggle at the straw planter’s
hat sitting rakishly on his head. However, when he pulled the hat down and
cocked it to the side just a bit, her laughter became hysterical. When he added
that salacious, crooked smile of his she had to say something. “Are these the
kinds of wardrobe choices I’m going to be looking forward to in the future?”
He smiled
with an almost wistful expression on his face and she frowned
a little as she tried to figure out what he was thinking with that expression.
She sat down beside him on the bed and took his hand, “What is it?”
His
fingers began to twine with hers and he stared down at their joined hand for a
moment before he finally spoke. “I guess it just hit me.” He looked up and into
her eyes, holding her tender gaze for another silent moment. “I actually have a
future… with you.”
She
smiled and blushed a little at his heady suggestion, but then she knew that he
was being deeply sincere, and not for the first time, she fell further into
love with the man that held her hand in such a tender gesture of adoration.
With her other hand she cupped his cheek and then leaned in to brush her lips
up to his as she said, “Only if you keep the shirt.” They both smiled at her
joke, but as their kiss deepened there were no doubts as to the sincerity of
their commitment to one another. Their future held the promises of bath salts,
shared beers, funky shirts, intertwined fingers, tender caresses, passionate
kisses, and the hours spent helping each other to relax and to forget about the
world in which they lived and worked.