(Untitled)

[a_halliwell]

Who: EVERYONE!!!
Where: Angie's house.
When: After shift.

Angie had gotten to thinking after her conversation with Greg, how far apart everyone at the labs had grown. She was going to try her best to get everyone together, call her house neutral ground and perhaps everyone could get along, at least for one night. With everything that they dealt

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[csi__grissom]

Grissom leaned his head back as was ordered. She applied first aid to his bloody nose, and to his soul, but not the way he'd expected. It shifted from Grissom vs Nick to Everyone vs Grissom in the matter of his big mouth flapping.

"I wasn't your supervisor after I agreed to stay for the party. I was staying as a friend. As your supervisor, I would have left as soon as your work-related request was heard. I wasn't a supervisor when I helped out Greg. I wasn't your supervisor that night we shared. I wasn't Nick's supervisor when I defended my decision to help Greg. I was jealous of what they have, therefore as human and equal as they were on all levels." He stopped for a moment, taking the towel from her hand, holding it to his own throbbing nose. He shifted so he could get a better look at Angie.

"I wish everyone could get past my job title and realize that I'm so much more than that. I thought you would have understood that." Gil's tone was quiet, hurt. No one knew him. Not even Sara. One of these days he'd learn not to care, but it wasn't today.

[a_halliwell]

"I'm sorry, Grissom. That was uncalled for, I'm just... floored. You are my friend, even though you just screwed up big time. It makes it easier for me to call you my supervisior, it's easier to distance myself from you that way." She sighed, looking at him, glassy eyed. "I don't know why everything has to be so screwed up with all of us. I don't understand Gil, you hit the nail dead on right there. I don't understand any of this."

She looked at him, her eyes questioning, she threw her hands up, "I don't understand why Nick and Greg couldn't have just stayed the perfect couple. I don't understand why David and me can't work. I don't understand why you and Sara can't work." She looked off, her voice catching with each word, she had to hold back tears. "I don't understand why I fell in love with you. I don't understand anything anymore Grissom."

Angie didn't realize what she'd said, she just sat on her kitchen floor her head hung, shaking her head as she tried to hold back tears.

[csi__grissom]

Grissom couldn't believe what he just heard. He knew about Nick and Greg, and himself and Sara, but he didn't think that She really wasn't going to stick with Hodges. He'd become almost...friendly...since he'd started seeing Angie. He hadn't quite made it past that point. Grissom was still in a lot of pain, and he answered before the full impact of what she said hit him.

"None of this is your fault, and you have to believe it. If I hadn't felt cornered I probably wouldn't have told Nick off like that. You can't possibly predict the behaviors of others. Myself included." Gil shifted again, the floor suddenly awfully hard beneath his padded posterior. His ass was beginning to ache from the position, but if he stood up the nose bleed may start again.

Realization dawned on him, and his jaw went slack. "Come again? Fell in love with me?" That couldn't possibly be right. His hearing was going again. "I guess that's what it takes to find love these days, a case of verbal diarrhea and a fist fight." Grissom quipped, and then regretted it. "Non oris causa modo homines aequom fuit sibi habere speculum, sed qui perspicere possent cor sapientiae."

[a_halliwell]

Angie realized what she'd said a few moments after she'd spoken. She tried to play it down, maybe she could get him in his buzzed and broken state to forget she'd said it. It wasn't something she'd meant to blurt out.

"I know it wasn't my fault, but I sure didn't help it any." She sighed as he then spit out a long line of Latin. "I need the English version, Gris. I know my bugs, but that's it." This managed to get a small smile from her.

[csi__grissom]

Grissom returned her smile, though it was a lot crooked and he winced doing it. "A Man needs a good mirror to scrutinize his heart as well as his face. ~Plautus." Grissom wished he had something else to drink. Tonight had been full of strange occurences, and the last few minutes proved to be the icing on the cake. It just happened the cake went bad, but the icing was still mostly good. He had strong feelings for Angie, but he needed a little time to examine them. But using Sara as an excuse was beneath him. Sara! Where was she? She should have called or something. Panic started to set in.

"We still have a serious problem...Sara. I still have no idea where She is, she never returned my call. Usually, she'd have paged me or called me a half dozen or more times since I left work. I don't know if she's coming here, or...what." He didn't want to think about the other possibilities.

[a_halliwell]

Angie nodded, contemplating what he had said. She'd have to take time later to reflect on it, but she was ready to take on the problem of Sara not showing up.

"You aren't in any shape to drive home." Angie stated, trying to gently let him know she wasn't letting him leave unless she was driving.

"I'll give you a ride home, if she isn't there, I'll drive you to her house if you want. You might want to give her a few calls so she doesn't show up here and we've left."

[csi__grissom]

Grissom shook his head. "If she's not at the townhouse, then she wouldn't be at her place, we sold her condo. She lives with me full time. I think I'll just stay here. She might still come." If she got the message, if she wasn't pissed at him, if she felt like socializing. There were a lot of if's.

"Is there anything else to drink? It might take my mind off my nose." His nose felt really sore, but not like it would be if Nick had broken it. It would be lovely shades of purple and blue in the morning, and if he wasn't lucky, he'd have the raccoon effect to go with it. "Come to think of it, I'm hungry too. I'm sorry for ruining your party." Grissom felt miserable about the chaos that he'd helped to create.

[___greggo]

Dragging his sneakers slightly, his head hung and his hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans, Greg shuffled back into Angie's place, looking annoyed and depressed and above all, exhausted. He bit his lip, massaging his eyelids with his fingertips, and he heard voices floating into the hall from the kitchen area, so he wandered over there.

"Hi." He said, a bleak smile on his face as he leaned on the doorframe, and there was a flicker of concern on his face as he took in the damage done to Gil's nose. "You okay?" He asked, his voice croaking a bit after practically screaming at Nick outside.

[a_halliwell]

Angie nodded, slowly contemplating what he'd said. "Still have beer, but nothing stronger. Why don't you go sit in the living room? I'll get you something to eat, no need to let the food go to waste." She said, momentarily ignoring the apology while she stood up and cleared the counter behind Grissom so he could use it to get up as she wasn't sure just her hand could help.

"It's okay. I'm sorry too if I said anything out of line earlier." Angie spoke softly. "I just hope we can all get past this, I don't this tension between us all."

She glanced up as Greg entered the room, she felt an odd sense of relief seeing the slightly older man there. Angie had to resist the urge to run over to him, hug him and thank him for being there to help keep the peace. However, she restrained herself and managed a small wave and a sincere smile.

"All isn't lost, party isn't ruined, we can still have a nice dinner." Angie offered with a smile.

[csi__grissom]

Grissom was about to ask what thing she had said that was out of line. Was it the thing about loving him? He hoped not. If Angie still cared about him, he could get through this thing with Sara. If worst came to worst, he could always divorce Sara and let her live her life, and he could have custody, or they could have joint custoday. Whatever she wanted.

His mouth was open and about to ask, when Greg came back in. He looked like Grissom felt, but without the nose and the potential black eyes. Angie was being such a good hostess, Gil felt really out of place. She was so gracious, and he pushed himself up from the floor, and rinsed out the wash cloth she'd given him for his nose. A nice dinner...with Greg, Angie and himself. He felt blessed to have such good friends. "Can I help?"

[a_halliwell]

Angie shook her head, "No, no. I'm alright, you just go sit down and relax. You too, Greg." She smiled over her shoulder, it was still possible to save the night. Turn that frown upside down... She wasn't sure if that's how the saying went, but that's what she was trying to do.

Angie made her way to her freezer, grabbing a few cubes of ice and wrapping them in the wash cloth. "Here, keep that on it and go relax. If you're in dire need of something to do, keep Lizzy company." She smiled and handed him the ice filled cloth.

[___greggo]

Greg had been lost in thought, staring at his feet again, somewhat dejectedly, and he was about to offer his own aid when Angie beat him to the punch, and he smiled weakly at her, moving instead to help Grissom over to the nearest chair. He sat down next to him, putting his chin in his palms and turning a bit to look at his boss.

"Did he break it?" He asked quietly, for lack of anything better to say, nodding slightly in the direction of Gil's bloody nose.

[csi__grissom]

Grissom looked up at Greg dejectedly. "No, he didn't break it. I'd feel a little better if he did. He didn't need to hear about It that way. We could have done without the theatrics." Gil still felt bad about breaking Nick's little comfort bubble, but it wasn't fair to assume that Grissom was totally the bad guy in their little indiscretion.

Gil pressed the ice to his nose, and hissed as he hit it a little too hard. "I'm still sorry Greg. What are you going to do now?"

[___greggo]

Greg winced slightly as Gil hissed from the shock of the ice, shooting him a concerned look before sighing and looking down at his hands in his lap. "It's not your fault... well, it's not your fault entirely. Everyone's to blame in this."

He bit his lip, and he tried to remember a time when he had felt this emotionally exhausted before. Nothing was coming up. So instead, he considered Grissom's question for a while. "I... I don't know." He replied quietly. "I tried to talk to him outside but it didn't really go over well. I think we both just need some time to cool down and we'll see what happens after that..." He trailed off, trying to sound sure of himself but failing miserably.

[csi__grissom]

"The infamous cooling off period. I hope he didn't say he needed his space, or that he needed time to himself. Those are never good signs." Gil didn't think he was helping matters, but at this point, he really couldn't screw up any worse. "I feel horrible that this had to happen here. She doesn't need this crap too, on top of all she's had to put up with."

Angie had survived through a lot, and to have her new friends blow up at each other at what was supposed to be a nice get together. It wasn't fair. He wanted to get up and help her, but she'd already shooed him out of the kitchen, and he thought that she needed the time to figure a few things out, like he did.

[___greggo]

Greg was smiling bleakly again. "Nope. Haven't gotten the 'alone time' excuse yet. But tomorrow is a brand new day filled with tons of possibilities." He finished sarcastically, and he was filled with a burst of nerves. He really wasn't sure how Nick would be feeling about all of this by tomorrow morning. Nor did he really want to think about it.

And the nerves quickly transformed into guilt when Gil mentioned Angie, and Greg let out a bitter laugh. "Believe me, that was one of the first things I addressed on my long list of stuff-to-yell-at-Nick when we were outside." The laugh quickly faded away, leaving him looking sad again.