THE FORTUNE COOKIE

disclaimer: I don't own anything except my sanity that is slowly fading.

Can't eat, can't sleep, can't think straight. So I go through the drawer in the kitchen looking for a pen at 3am... I found a fortune cookie instead. And here we are hours later.

Comestible(noun)- Something fit to be eaten....and it wasn't the fortune cookie that I found...

My pager buzzes. I take it off it's holder and grin at the message.

I sign the report that is in front of me and leave it on top of my desk. I'll finish my work later, there's something more important to do right now.

I head off to the break room and find Greg slowly taking out styrofoam containers from the plastic bags and setting them on the table. He looks up at me with a smile, "hey, Catherine."

"That's a new one for you, Greg. Sending the text, 'Comestible'." I hold up my pager to him.

"I though I'd get colorful with the message." He flashes his pearly teeth, "I wonder if Nick understands that word?"

"What word?" Nick pops his head in the room, "oh, good! food's here!"

I sigh in amusement, "the text Greg sent, did you understand what it meant?'"

Nick takes out his pager, squints and reads slowly, "come...estible." He looks up at me with a grin, "of course I understand it. Short for 'come to the table.' The 'i' should've been an 'a' for table. Why?"

Greg shrugs and glances at me, "told ya!" I shake my head and chuckle lightly.

"What?" Nick says as he sits down.

Warrick strides in the break room. He holds his pager up. "Very funny, Greg! I had to google the word up!"

Nick looks up from where he was comfortably sitting. "What's to google with the short cut for the word 'come to the table? Geez, Warrick, 'comestible'? Come on now! It's common sense!"

Warrick opens his mouth to say something as he sits next to him. I stop him, "don't bother, War. He's a redneck Texan, they short cut everything."

"Now what?" Nick says as he grabs a fork.

I smile softly when I see Sara breeze in the room. She looks at the table. "Oh, good. Got my veggie tofu?" She sits next me and grabs the container that reads 'veg t'.

Grissom walks in slowly and smiles at Greg. "That's a new one even for you, Greg."

"Thesaurus." Greg replies proudly as he slides a set of plastic utensils across the table to him.

Nick digs in a fork and twirls it around his lomein and pops it in his mouth. "WhatamImissinghere?" He asks in between swallowing while wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Nothing!" Me, Greg and Warrick say in unison.

It's practically tradition now. We order out on slow nights like this. And were lucky to have a Chinese restaurant that delivers till four in the morning. Occasions are rare where we all can get together, sit in one table, eat and relax. Our conversations are always animated. We talk about the good movies we've seen or the movies we want to watch. Greg keeps us updated on the latest news and scandals happening in Hollywood. Sometimes I worry what he does on his free time. Probably glued watching Entertainment Tonight on TV or writing blogs for the movie world. Soon Greg, Nick and Warrick start to argue who can score higher playing Guitar Hero, and the bets are back on. Men and their toys.

Grissom leans closer and updates me and Sara about the latest current events he reads on line. We talk in hush tones because it seems like we were the only legitimate adults in the room. He's telling us about a country I have no idea where and leader whose name I cannot pronounce. I'm half listening anyway. I'm only picking up political comments he's making just in case he asks my opinion. Maybe I'll say, 'I concur with you, Gil,' to avoid an argument. Right now I am more concerned about the brunette beside me whose elbow is touching mine. Somehow I dare not move at all. How often can I get this close to her without being so obvious?

We treat our break time like it's really our break time. We rarely talk about the cases we're on. We usually share jokes and tease each other. This is where we let our guard down and be ourselves. I glance up at Warrick, Greg and Nick sitting across us who are still arguing about the songs in Guitar Hero. And I think to myself, how can three good looking, intelligent men act like total idiots over a game?

Grissom looks at his watch, the hour is almost up. "Guys,"he announces to no one in particular, "few minutes more then back to the real world."

"...of dead bodies, slime, blood and other body fluids unimaginable that we break down and examine one by one!"Greg proudly adds.

Nick leans back on his chair. He burps loudly and pats his stomach. "Man, that was a good comestible!"

I take a quick glance sideways at Sara and try to hide my grin when I see her shake her head and smiles in amusement.

Warrick murmurs, "at least he knows how to use it in a sentence..."

Grissom lifts an eyebrow at his comment. "Am I...missing something here?"

Greg volunteers. "It's Nick and his comestible."

Grissom looks at him quizzically. "Don't even bother, Gil." I say as I stretch my arms up deliberately brushing up against Sara's hair. She looks at me and smiles as I whisper, "sorry!"

"What did I do know?" Nick says in his perfect Texan drawl.

Greg stand up and shakes the plastic bag, "fortune cookies everyone!" He holds it out. We all reach simultaneously and grab a cookie. This is one of the fun parts of our dinner, the reading of our so called fortunes.

I felt Sara's hand gently grab my fingers. "Oops," she says as she slowly lets go and pulls out a cookie. I mumble something incoherently even I don't understand. I dare not look up because it would be obvious I'm blushing. It always makes me wonder how her innocent touch makes my pulse react.

Greg cracks open his cookie and frowns. He reads it aloud, "Do not mistake temptation for opportunity." He mumbles and reads it again, "what the hell...?"

"I think it's talking about the date you had with that cute lab tech the other night." Warrick smiles in amusement, "tried getting to first base but she called a foul on you. Guess she brought her bunsen burners with her, man."

Greg's eyes widen and and his cheeks turn scarlet.

'You mean," Nick leans forward as he pulls out his fortune, "you lied when you said you scored? Shudda stand on the pitcher's mound and..."

I sigh. "Go read your fortune, Nicky before this turns into a boy's sport's section on how to score points with girls!"

He grin covers his whole face. "Mine reads, 'Flattery will go far tonight'." He turns and kneels next to Sara and with his boyish charm, "you know something, Sara? Your chocolate eyes are so..."

Sara pushes him away laughing. "Put a lid on it, Nicky!"

Once again, the sound of her laughter keeps me mesmerized. God, she is so beautiful. So perfect. So intelligent. So sexy. So...

Warrick interrupts my thoughts and reads his proudly, "Plan for many pleasures ahead." He places the paper in his shirt pocket and pats it, "Hey, Grissom, can I go home early? I need to plan to pleasure my wife with..."

"Child in room! Child in room!" Mocks Greg covering his ears with his hands.

Warrick shoots an evil look at him. "Maybe if you listen to some tips you might actually survive first base. Might even go into extra innings..."

"Oh, for the love of..." I stand up clutching my fortune cookie I picked, "Warrick! don't put any ideas in the little boy's head." I stand next to Greg and put an arm around him, "let him get the feel of his bat and ball first!"

"Score!" Nick says triumphantly as he claps his hands. "Good one, Catherine!"

"Catherine Willows!" Greg steps away from me in shock. Laughter was all over the room.

Grissom stands up smiling. "Okay guys, break it up now. Back to work."

"Hey, Gil. What did yours say?" I tease him, "Long life? A rolling stone gathers no moss?"

He looks at me in amusement as he walks closer to the door. He stops and turns towards us and reads the tiny paper in his hand, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Lao Tzu."

"Always theatrical..." I murmur.

Sara adds, "he always get the deep ones."

"Hey, boss!" Greg calls out, "hope you got thick rubber soles on your shoes for the thousand mile journey!"

We all pause for a split second and burst into laughter.

"Kids..."Grissom shakes his head as he walks out the door.

We start to clear up the table. Greg asks Sara, "what does your say?"

She straightens up her back and does something she does unconsciously that I find very sexy. She tucks one hand in her back pocket. Tonight Sara's wearing a dark body hugging tee, black jeans and her signature boots. All she needs is a long black trench coat and she could be one of the characters in 'The Matrix.' She can come into my cyber world anytime she wants and save me from the dark forces of evil as she jumps from one building to the other and not have a single hair out of place when she lands.

I think she notices my ogling because she clears her throat before she reads her fortune. "Ehem...A secret admirer will soon send you a sign of affection." Her eyes meet mine I could feel my ears burn. I turn around and grab the paper towel Warrick was holding, and furiously wiping the table again.

Warrick looks at me curiously. "Uh, I already did that, Cath."

"Well, I'm doing it again!" I snap. Okay, that was uncalled for. "I'm sorry, Warrick. It's a mother thing. You know, cleaning after someone cleans up?" I hope that excuse holds.

"No problem, Cath." He puts his hand on my shoulder, "you haven't met MY mother-in-law yet. Sheesh!"

"Seriously?" Greg asks Sara, "that's what your fortune say?" She holds it up for him to see. "It's so...icky sweet! I wonder who your secret admirer is? Maybe you'll get flowers...or a box of chocolates." He scratches his chin thinking, "Hmmm. It could be that officer who hoovers around the lab who checks you out everytime he sees you. You two would look good together, you know..."

Okay, I can't handle the thought of Sara with someone! "Well, back to paperwork, " I say taking big strides and heading out the door.

Nick shouts, "Hey, Catherine! What did yours say?"

"A penny earned, a penny saved." I call back.

I walk quickly to my office closing the door behind me and I lean by the wall. I pull out the paper from my pocket and read it slowly.

"Love will come knocking at your door." If only! I don't believe in magic, fortune tellers, palm readers, let alone fortune cookies! But this one I'm hoping will come tr...

Suddenly there's a light knock on my door and it opens, a head pops in. "Hey, Catherine. do you want to go out for breakfast later?"

My heart quickens when I see her. "Uhmm...sure. Where do they want to go this time?" Oh, god. Can she hear the beating of my heart? She did knock...

"No," she closes the door behind her and steps up in front of me. "No boys this time. We've had enough of them for one night." She looks at me shyly, "just... me and you? Like...a breakfast...uhm...d-date?"

I open my mouth but no words come out. So I clamp back up. She leans closer, cups my face in her hands and kisses me lightly on the lips.

She whispers. "This is your forever secret admirer who has been watching you for so many months, having finally the guts to send you a sign of affection."

I think I lost all blood supply to my head, because I suddenly feel dizzy.

She chuckles lightly as her hands go to my hips steadying me. "A simple nod would suffice."

I nod my head and finally found my voice that was three pitches higher than usual, "definitely a 'yes', Sara. Yes, yes, yes!"

Her response is in the form of the most beautiful smile I have ever seen on her. "Wow! If I knew it wouldn't be that hard, I would've asked months ago!"

Her smile is contagious. "Hey," I joke, "didn't want you to think I was easy!"

"I'm sorry I kissed you before hearing your answer." She says quietly, "I couldn't take the chance of you saying no."

This time I reach and pull her down for another kiss. Our lips lock instantly. Her hands still on my hips pulling me closer to her while my fingers found it's way around her neck and eventually running them through her hair. A few seconds seem like an eternity and I don't ever want it to stop.

But we're only human, and the need for oxygen is a necessity. Besides, I'm really hoping we will be kissing more often now that we're on our second kiss. So we stand there in my office clinging to each other for several minutes.

"So?" She whispers.

"Sooo...?" I ask.

She rests her forehead on mine. "Your fortune. What did your fortune cookie really say?"

I couldn't help laughing as I take her hand and drop it in her palm. She reads it and her expression is priceless. Her eyes widen and her jaw drops.

"WOW! Oh, WOW!" Is the only sentence she says several times in a span of fifteen seconds.

I laugh. "Thank god, we ordered Chinese tonight!"

Oh, I am definitely going to laminate our little two strips of paper together and hang it on the wall in my office.

Come to think of it, there is magic in those funny little cookies after all!

reviews welcomed :)