Summer Sizzler '06 - SEASHELL

Title: Lost, But Not Forgotten
Author: Jess - isntsheclever
Rating: R - pointedly implied smut.
Pairing: GSR, kthnx.
Prompt: Seashell.
Summary: She...finds seashells by the seashore.
Author's Notes: Love and thanks and M&Ms to Kass for her beta'ing when I was in no good state to do so myself.



They had nothing but time ahead of them for a full week. How they managed it was a feat of ingenuity involving many hours of coordinating stories and telling convincing little white lies. Grissom was going to Boston on a conference and Sara was tying up estate issues in California. They met somewhere in between with their tales. She packed the cooler and he loaded their luggage. He google-mapped the quickest route and she selected the CDs to take on their road trip. By the time Friday evening was falling, Las Vegas was far behind them. At least for a little while, but that was all they needed.

Santa Cruz welcomed them both home to California and they enjoyed the sea, the beach, the weather and each other in as many ways as they could. One afternoon in the middle of the week, when ocean water wasn't the only moisture collecting on their skin, Sara paused her intent mapping of his neck with her tongue and informed him -- "There's something under me."

Grissom had always been, and was especially these days, particularly skilled at interpreting Sara-isms, so the left field comment was not as left field as it might have been. He wordlessly cradled her figure away from the soft towel that protected them from the sand and his hand disappeared underneath it, sought for a moment, before returning to their view with an unexpectedly beautiful sight.

Neither of them could correctly identify the exact type of small seashell it was that had been harassing Sara's back, but they both agreed it was lovely and set it aside to take home to Vegas as a token of their illicit seaside vacation. They gave the sentiment a few moments further contemplation before their bodies, already deeply immersed in a heat that had nothing to do with temperature or the beating sun, demanded their attention be returned to more sensual pursuits.

When they returned home a handful of days later, tanned, sated and thoroughly re-enamored of each other, Sara searched every nook and cranny of her suitcase, but the delicate pearlescent shell was nowhere to be found. She mourned it's loss for a few moments, wished she'd taken better care of the little marvel of nature, and resigned herself to the fact that there was nothing to be done for it now.

On the evening of their first official anniversary, Grissom casually asked her whatever had become of the little shell that was meant to have been a reminder of their first vacation together. Sara blushed and admitted it had liberated itself from her possession. Grissom pursed his lips and nodded shortly, and Sara worried she'd upset him with her negligence. She worried through dinner and most of the way home from the elegant Greek restaurant. His hand was on her knee as usual when it wasn't tangled up in her own, but she still worried.

It occupied Sara's mind even as they took their sweet time undressing each other in the dark haven of his bedroom with the fans working overtime to cool the scorching nighttime breeze that came along with the heat wave Vegas was experiencing. Finally, with his fingers coaxing soft moans out of her, she felt obliged to make it right.

"I'm sorry." Sara blurted, lifting her flushed face off his shoulder. Brown eyes met blue ones in the near-perfect darkness, and his fingers slowed, tracing his question softly across her belly. 'For what', they asked.

"About the shell..." she explained, flustered and out of breath. "I'm sorry I lost it."

Grissom huffed a chuckle in the dark and she could faintly make out his patient smile. "Honey...is that what's been on your mind all night?" He asked, his free hand brushing damp curls off her forehead. Sara nodded sullenly.

He laughed again and lifted his weight off her gently. Sara sighed and wiped her temples free of sweat while he reached for the bedside dresser and she contemplated what kind of response to her confessed guilt that was. She let her eyes fall shut, which was just as well in Grissom's opinion -- she wouldn't realize right away what was going on.

The uniquely cool texture that touched Sara's clavicle in the darkness was not at all what she expected, which brought about the curious frown Grissom scarcely grew tired of watching. She opened her eyes to the sight of the little shell, all cleaned up and carefully drilled, dangling from a delicate silver chain. He watched her gaze widen with a deep sense of satisfaction for both her appreciation of the moment and the fact that he'd managed to pull something over on Sara Sidle.

"I promise I won't lose it this time," Sara murmured seriously, lifting her head so he could fasten the clasp around her neck.

"You didn't lose it in the first place," he reminded her, pressing a reassuring kiss just below where the little, meaningful seashell came to rest upon her breastbone, it's creamy color almost blending seamlessly on to her skin.

That necklace was all she wore for the rest of the night.