A Grissom Feast

by kyrdwyn

Rating: PG (if only for the food descriptions)

Spoiler (in order): Strip Strangler; Table Stakes; Sex, Lies, & Larvae; Justice is Served

Synopsis: The CSI group has dinner at Grissom's house. Shouldn't they know better after seeing his office?

Disclaimer: CSI, the characters, the places, and etc are the property of Anthony Zuiker, CBS and Alliance Atlantis. They did not condone this fic, and I am not getting paid for it - I write it because I enjoy it. Hope you all do too. You can contact me at toxicrev@yahoo.com.

A Grissom Feast

by kyrdwyn

Gil Grissom looked around his town home anxiously. This really wasn't his sort of thing at all - it was more Catherine's forte. She'd hosted the last one for Brass. But she'd insisted that this time he do it - he was the supervisor now. He'd grumbled and debated ordering her, but she'd walked away before he could.

He really hated having people in his home, probably because it happened so rarely and he liked the solitude and peace his home provided, a startling contrast to the noise of the lab and the demands of superiors and subordinates alike. The gathering at his house during the Strip Strangler case had been one thing - that was work, so he could accept that. Tonight, well, according to Catherine tonight was supposed to be fun. Fun for who, he wondered.

Since she had insisted he host this gathering, Gil decided to live up to his nickname of "Gruesome Grissom". Maybe Catherine will think twice about having me host the next one, he thought with a wry smile as he surveyed the food arrayed on the tables.

Chocolate covered grasshoppers and ants were set out as appetizers, along with artichoke hearts. He'd also decided to dye some cheese fondue blood red and had some hard breadsticks that almost looked like finger bones for dipping.

He'd called up his favorite meat supply company, who provided all the pigs for the lab experiments, and had them deliver a nice small hog for the main course. He had it cooking on the grill he'd rented and put on his back porch. He'd sliced up some garlic into tiny pieces and browned them so that they resembled the bugs he'd found on Kaye Shelton's body after it had been in the desert for 5 days. He planned to sprinkle them over the meat before serving.

Warrick had mentioned that Sara had pretty much turned vegetarian after Grissom's last experiments with pigs and bugs - for the Kaye Shelton case - so he had picked up some sushi for her, figuring that raw fish fit in with the gruesome theme after the way Portia Richmond's body had been disposed of. Too bad he couldn't have gotten piranha sushi, but the man at the store had looked at him like he was nuts, so he let it be.

He had made up a pitcher of Bloody Marys and set out the booze for a shooter known as 'Red Death' that Nicky had told him about - apparently a favorite of the frat boys at A&M. He'd gone to one of the mall specialty stores that sold all sorts of weird items and had gotten goblets with gargoyles and skeletons to serve the drinks in.

Dessert was something he'd gotten out of an old cookbook that someone had given him as a gag gift years ago. He couldn't wait to see the look on everyone's face when it was served.

The doorbell announced the arrival of his guests. Sara, Catherine, Warrick, Nick, and Jim Brass were gratifyingly turned off by the presentation of food, though they remained good sports about it. Catherine shot him a look that clearly said, "I know what you're up to." He just looked back at her innocently and smiled.

The roast pig was a hit, though the sight of the garlic maggots caused Catherine to shudder in revulsion. Nick just shook his head and downed another Red Death before digging in. Sara seemed to enjoy her sushi. Brass went back for seconds on the "Maggot Feast", as he called it. Warrick kept tossing the garlic maggots at Sara to tease her. She retaliated by dropping a few in Warrick's glass when he wasn't looking. He'd taken a sip before noticing them and dropping the glass on the floor. Grissom rolled his eyes.

They all helped clean up from dinner. They spent some time sitting around, drinking and talking before Sara finally asked the question that had apparently been on her mind all night.

"All right, Grissom. You hate having people in your house, so why the party?"

The rest of the team hid smiles as Grissom got up and retrieved dessert from the fridge. On top of a white platter and paper doily was an opaque pink, heart-shaped gelatin dessert. Written on it in red was "Happy Anniversary Sara".

"Congratulations Sara. You've officially survived a full year in the Las Vegas Crime Lab," Grissom announced. Sara looked a little stunned as Nick slapped her on the back. Grissom solemnly handed her a knife to cut into the dessert.

"You actually let people into your house for me?"

"Of course." He sounded surprised that she would ask.

Catherine gave him a dirty look and turned to Sara, "It took a little persuading."

Brass laughed, "Let me guess, you threatened to invite the sheriff if he made you hold it at your place?"

"Worse, she was going to invite Eckley," Grissom said with a grimace.

"Oh man, that was cold." Warrick commented.

Catherine smiled, "Yeah, but it worked."

Sara took aim at the heart of the heart and stabbed the knife in, slicing it open. Grissom watched expectantly as his friends suddenly realized that the heart was bleeding onto the platter, staining the doily red. He smiled at their appalled faces and calmly handed Sara a plate to put the slice on. He spooned some of the 'blood' onto it before handing it to Catherine.

"You are a sick man, Gil Grissom," she said as she took the plate from him. Sara cut slices for everyone and he passed them around, then they all toasted Sara before digging in.

"This is pretty good, for something that bleeds," Brass noted.

"Thanks. I found the recipe in Dr. Hillridge's notes."

Nick and Warrick choked. Sara and Catherine stared at their plates with trepidation. Brass turned green.

"Relax, guys. I got it from a much more reputable source than that. No human beings were harmed in the making of this dessert." He took a bite.

Sara gamely picked up her fork and took another bite. "So what is this and where did you get the recipe?"

Grissom swallowed before answering, "It's called a Bleeding Heart Jell-O Pie, and I got it from one of my favorite cookbooks. 'Penn and Teller's How to Play with Your Food'."

The entire table burst into laughter and Grissom smiled. Maybe having the team get together more often outside of the job wasn't a bad idea. Of course, next time, Catherine would probably insist she do the hosting, to prevent another Gruesome Grissom feast.

END