AN: Thanks to Rhee for beta reading all my works, you're the best!
Disclaimer: I do not own CSI, if I did there would be TONS of geekbabies
Spoilers: 804
Summary: oh the ring the ring the ring...post 804 engagement. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
The Ring Sara let herself drop down on the couch next to him, leaning back into his embrace. Then she reached for one of his hands. "Here." She said softly, handing him a golden ring.
"What's that?" He asked, sounding worried.
"Your grandmother's engagement ring." She stated nonchalantly.
"I, I know that but why are you giving it to me?" He sounded desperate now, scared that she'd leave him.
"Well," She tilted her head, noticing that his eyes had started to fill up with tears. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"Why? Sara, why are you doing this?" His hands started to shake and he accidentally dropped the ring.
She swallowed hard, realizing that he was thinking she was going to end their relationship. "Oh my God, Baby, this is not what you think it is." She wrapped her arms around him. "I'm not breaking up with you."
"But why are you giving me the ring back?" He asked confused.
"Well, remember when you gave it to me?" She caressed his cheek and tried to meet his eyes.
"Of course I do, it was about one and a half years ago, shortly after my Mom died." He still sounded worried.
Sara gave him a soft smile, hoping he'd stop being afraid of losing her. "Exactly, one and a half years ago. Remember why you gave it to me?"
"Sure I do." He let his fingers run through her hair.
"You gave it to me because I said I liked it." She continued. "We were going through the boxes from your Mom's house and it was in her jewelry box. I saw it and I said it was pretty and you told me I could keep it."
"Well actually," He tried to correct her but she wouldn't let him interrupt her.
"But I don't want this ring just because I think it is pretty. It's an engagement ring, your family tradition." She bent down and picked up the ring. "I don't want it to be just a ring for me."
"But then what do you want?" He asked, now really confused.
She rolled her eyes, how could someone be so stubborn about his cluelessness? "Gil, I want this to be my engagement ring."
"Oh," he was obviously relieved now. "That's... okay." He gave her a soft smile, letting out the breath he'd been holding.
"Okay?" She returned his smile.
"Yeah. And it's pretty cute too." He chuckled, tightening his embrace around her.
She leaned her head back against his shoulder and kissed his neck. Then she let her right hand slip up to his cheek and turned his face to hers so their lips could meet. After sharing a couple of soft kisses she pulled away from him, handing him the ring one more time. "Ask me," She nudged his arm with her elbow.
A cute smile flashed over his lips, then he got up from the couch, leaning over to her to kiss her one more time. Then he got down on his knees, taking her hands into his. His hands were shaking and Sara couldn't help but find it incredibly adorable that he was nervous about proposing to her again. After all he knew her answer would be yes, no matter what. She gave him a reassuring smile and squeezed his hands softly.
Grissom took a deep breath. "Sara," He started but then he seemed to have no idea how to continue. He had no idea how to pull through one of these super romantic proposals that you see in the movies, he was bad with words. He had never thought that Sara would want this, at least not like this. But the way she was looking at him right now – he knew he had to do this right. She had never lived up to the cliché of anything, but this seemed to be special to her no matter what, so he'd give the best he could to make it something she'd never forget.
"I did not give this ring to you because you thought it was pretty." He confessed. "When my mother died, you and I were seeing each other for almost half a year but I had never told you how much I loved you. You helped me so much through my pain; you were pretty much the only thing that kept me going. Never, in all my life has anybody cared for me the way you did. Then my uncle sent over all these boxes from my mother's apartment. I remember it like it was yesterday, we had been working triple shifts because Nick's truck had been stolen at the diner, after we'd been working that case where the mother of the groom had been tied to the car during the wedding."
Sara grimaced remembering that case. The groom's mother had been a horrible person and had definitely been one of the victims that she did not pity as much as the others.
"That day Nick said you were anti marriage, you corrected him but it was pretty obvious that you were not very thrilled about weddings and all the traditions connected with it. So when we were going through the boxes and you found the ring, I thought of the... let's call it 'higher purpose' of the ring. It's not just an engagement ring, it's more than that. It's a promise. It's the promise that the man – meaning me – who gives it to the woman he loves – you – is planning to spend the rest of his life with her and promises to be with her through good and bad. So, thinking that you'd never want to get married, but knowing that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you no matter what, I thought that you should have it."
Tears started to rise up in her eyes, she tried to swallow them but she didn't succeed. She had never expected that he'd been so sure about 'them' for such a long time; she had always been scared that one day he might just get up and leave – actually she'd been scared of that until the day that she woke up in the helicopter, his hand holding on to hers while the paramedics were trying to rehydrate her. The look on his face had told her how scared he had been of losing her and his eyes were telling her how much he loved her and how glad he was that she hadn't left him.
He reached up for her face to wipe away her tears. Then he gave her a soft smile. "I have always loved you, Sara. Always. It just took me a while to realize that what I was feeling for you was love. It's hard to tell that you love someone when you have never loved anyone before. I know I put you through a lot of heartache, but I hope that I was able to make it up to you."
Now she was crying harder so he pulled her into his arms. "I'm sorry." She sobbed and then she started to laugh. "Gosh, I am such a wimp."
He chuckled and kissed her gently on her forehead. "You're the strongest person I know, Honey." He brushed a strand of hair back behind her ear. "That's one of the things I love so much about you."
Now they both smiled at each other. They remained in silence for a while until Grissom remembered what he had been doing. He got back on his knees and squeezed her hands. "I love you more than anything in the world Sara and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife? Will you marry me?"
She was so filled up with emotions that she could barely choke out a 'yes' before she crushed his lips with hers. After slipping the ring on her finger he wrapped his arms around her tightly, not planning on letting her go anytime soon.
THE END