disclaimer: I do not own CSI, I only play with the characters, because I love to play with them : )

short info: I already wrote a story based on the same plot. But that was almost a year ago and calling my english and writing skillsa torture back then was an understatement. So I decided to re-write this story. It had never been posted on but had been available on my homepage for a couple of months. I changed a lot of things, but please don't think that I stole the storyline from somewhere. At least I do only know about this one old fiction written by me that had a similar plot, if there are others excisting, I'm sorry for that.

So what is going to happen in here? This is going to be a piece in that you will be able to find really almost everything. It will be funny and serious, happy and sad, cheerful and angsty...

summary: Grissom's mother comes to Vegas, unexpected...and now Grissom has to deal with something he hoped he would never have to deal with...but he is not the only one who has to deal with a lot of things.

AN: For those who do know me...yes, I couldn't help it...I needed to write about this time of the year.

okay now lets finally start with the story...

the favor

chapter 1

Sara slowly walked through the hallway, she had just closed her case and was now heading to the break room to get a coffee. Suddenly a woman in Grissom's office caught her attention. Sara stopped for a second, wondering what this woman was doing in there. She observed the woman, hoping she wouldn't get caught by anyone by doing so.

The woman sat on one of the chairs in front of Grissom's desk, she just sat there not really doing anything, but then she stood up, walking through the room, taking a close look on some of Grissom's butterflies, bugs and other insects in glasses and frames.

Sara wondered if Grissom actually knew that this woman was waiting in his office. The one minute that Sara had planned to watch that woman had turned into 10 already, and Grissom hadn't shown up so far. Sara knew that he had been at a new crime scene in Henderson for the first half of the shift and she didn't know if he had returned yet.

She decided to disrupt that woman from what she was doing.

Sara knocked on the door and entered. The woman didn't react. Sara cleared her throat. No reaction. "Miss, can I help you somehow?", Sara asked softly. Again, no reaction. "Hello? Ma'am can I help you somehow? Dr. Grissom is not at the lab at the moment and…"

The woman didn't even turn around.

Sara sighed, slowly walking over to her. Sara leaned against the shelf, tilting her head to the right. "Can I help you?"

The woman's eyes widened. But she didn't say anything, she only raised her index finger, symbolising Sara to wait for a second.

Sara raised an eyebrow, wondering who this woman was, why wasn't she talking with her? Why didn't she react to her words?

The woman slowly scribbled something on a notepad and handed it to Sara.

/I'm searching for my son, he's the nightshift supervisor. Could you please tell me where I can find him/

This woman was Grissom's mother? Now when she knew it Sara could really see some similarities. It took her a while until she had picked up her courage again. "He…" No wait, she's deaf…I should have meditated that… Sara took another pencil from Grissom's desk. /As far as I know he's still at a crime scene, I will call him for you. Is there something that you want me to relay to him/

Sara handed the pad over to Grissom's mother. /Calling him would be really nice. Could you tell him that I will go to my hotel now? He can come over after shift and visit me there. I'm sleeping in the Bellagio./

Sara nodded, she dialled Grissom's number and waited for him to answer the call. Nothing. His mother looked at her, big blue eyes, friendly eyes… Sara softly smiled at her. /He doesn't answer his cell…I will call him again later. Do you want me to bring you to your hotel? I'm on brake, I think he wouldn't want you to go there by cab./ Sara offered.

Grissom's mother smiled back brightly. /Thanks a lot, that would be really kind. My name is Gretchen by the way./

Sara grinned softly. /I'm Sara./

/Sidle/

Huh? How does she know that? Grissom didn't tell her about me, did he? Sara nodded softly, when she realized that Gretchen Grissom was throwing an asking loot at her.

Gretchen smiled even brighter. And Sara wondered why. But she didn't ask. She signalised Grissom's mother to follow her to the parking lot.

DURING the ride Sara wondered if Grissom did actually know that his mother was in Vegas, because if he would know, why was his mother sleeping in a hotel? Sara didn't know a lot about dealing with family visits, the only time that her mother had ever visited her home was almost 13 years ago when she had still been living in San Francisco, her brother had never visited her, according to the fact that he had also been living in San Francisco …and he still hadn't visited her in Vegas. But she knew, that if he or her mother would visit her, even if their relationships weren't the bests, she would at least offer them that they could stay at her apartment for a couple of nights…and Grissom had a house, and it wasn't that small at all, he must have a guestroom. So why was his mother sleeping at the hotel? Especially at this time of the year, when most families were close together, loved it to be together, were preparing their celebrations together…

Sara hadn't celebrated Christmas with her relatives since she had left home for college...and what they had done at Christmas had never really deserved to be called a celebration. It had never been the way that other families had celebrated Christmas. She could remember everything her friends in College had always told her about their parties, the dinner parties, where all the family members, even the great grandmothers, usually more than 15 people sometimes up to 30, were coming to and they had fun and on the next morning they were all giving their presents to each other…Sara didn't even know the name of any of her relatives except for her parents and her brother.

Sara felt a strange feeling rising up in her stomach, she had always tried to push these thoughts away, had always told herself not to think about the Christmas that other families celebrated, had always told herself that she didn't need all this bits and pieces, that there wasn't the need for a special day in the year where people were staying with their loved ones…when people wanted to be together they could do that on every day of the year…why was this day so special for so many people?

For Sara this day had meant, staying in her dorm at college, each year pretending that something else had happened in her family…once she had told her roommate that her parents were in Europe, celebrating in Genf with some of their rich friends…Sara had never told anyone the truth about her family. And she hadn't told anyone that she just hadn't been able to afford the money for the flight, she hadn't told anyone that her mother didn't have money to visit her because she always invested it into alcohol…

And still today, for Sara, Christmas meant working double shifts at the lab because every shift was short staffed and everyone was thankful for every helping hand.

Sara was grateful when they had finally reached the hotel. Finally she could distract herself from those thoughts. She stopped near to the entrance, leaving the car to open the door for Gretchen. She helped her out and escorted her to the entrance.

/Do you already have a room/ She scribbled on the notepad.

Gretchen nodded. /Thanks for taking me here./

Sara smiled brightly. /Have a nice day in Vegas. I'll tell Gil that you are here. In case that we're not meeting again before, merry Christmas./

/I'm sure we will meet again before. I'm really glad that my son finally found such a wonderful woman to share his life with./ Gretchen wrote down, handing the notepad over to Sara, smiling friendly.

HUH? Sara threw an asking look at her.

SARA hadn't been able to get it out of her head, the whole ride back to the lab one question was haunting her. What had Grissom told his mother?

Her feet couldn't get her fast enough to his office. She prayed that he was finally back at the lab. But he wasn't in his office. Sara felt as if she would explode, there was a question that she needed to ask him, a question to which she needed to know the answer, now.

And then she could hear his voice in the hallway. She waited. Waited impatiently. When he had finally reached her she grabbed his arm and dragged him into his office, closing the door behind them.

The expression on his face showed how astonished he was about her sudden actions. He opened his mouth to say something, but before the words left his lips Sara had already broken the silence.

"Why does you mother think that I am your girlfriend?"

TBC

okay, that was a short chapter, but I do prefer writing short chapters, so I can update faster : ) and according to the fact that I am now writing two WIP it's really better to write short chaps, so I can uodate both stories once or twice a week.