Disclaimer: Characters contained within do not belong to me.

Author's Notes: Oh, how I wanted to write this on Thursday night. But I had no computer. Now, however, I do, and what better way to christen my new laptop than with my first post-OTG story. Thank you to Lisa for beta-ing, and thank you to Jack of Spade for asking for this--I'm sorry it took so long! Enjoy:)

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In Reality Begins the Dream

by Kristen Elizabeth

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The dream was always running ahead of me. To catch up, to live for a moment in unison with it, that was the miracle. - Anais Nin

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In Vegas, Sara had woken to the sounds of the city. Helicopters circling in the skies, monitoring rush hour traffic, neighbors arriving home after a long day of work, banging doors, slamming dinner together. Her alarm had been the final push she'd needed to get out of bed, but if that still hadn't worked, Hank's wet tongue on her face had always done the trick.

And the first thing she would see after pushing the dog away was a pair of laughing blue eyes looking down at her.

But in Costa Rica, Sara woke with the jungle. Birds cawing, monkeys howling, rain falling...she needed no alarm clock here. In some ways, the rain forest was louder than the Strip. She was used to waking on her own in her solitary tent. No dog. No blue stare.

So when she opened her eyes and saw Gil looking down at her, Sara was convinced she was still dreaming.

Until he kissed her.

It was just a brush of his lips across hers, but it felt too real to be a dream. His beard tickled her face and he smelled like healthy perspiration mixed with the faintest trace of scented bug repellent. Some women might have been repelled, wanting their men clean-shaven with a splash of expensive colonge. Not her. She only wanted a rumpled, sweaty entomologist in her bed.

Sara moaned in protest when he drew back. "I want you, Gil." Her hands reached for him, guiding him back down for a longer, deeper kiss. "Now..."

Apparently she was a horny slut; she already felt more than ready for him. Running like a fountain might have been a better, if cruder, way of putting it. Kissing him madly, she let her knees fall apart. Grissom didn't miss a beat, sliding his hot, hard length into her with one fluid thrust of his hips.

"Oh my god," Sara groaned. Her nails dug into his back as he withdrew only to thrust once more, somehow managing to go even deeper. "Fuck me...please...harder!"

Their bodies slammed into each other over and over again. His mouth found her nipples, tugging and suckling like she'd always loved him to do while he was inside her. When she had dreamed of this during the lonely months apart from him, it was usually at this point that she would wake up. She half expected him to disappear at any moment, leaving her writhing on her lonely cot, her fingers acting as a poor substitute for his cock.

"Gil..." Sara grasped the sides of his head, pulling him away from her breast in order to see his face. Holding himself up over her, his hips never stopped rocking between her thighs. "Don't leave me," she told him. Begged him.

His voice, so familiar, so powerful and gentle at the same time, so breathless with the same passion that coursed through her veins, brought tears to her eyes. "Never, Sara," Grissom promised her. His body shuddered above hers. "God...honey!" With one final thrust, he spilled into her, a warm rush that filled her in so many ways.

He collapsed against her. "I'm sorry...so sorry, Sara," he panted into her hair. "Couldn't hold back...I'm sorry."

She stroked the back of his head, scratching her nails through his curls. "I love you, Gil," she told him. She closed her eyes but it was too late to keep her tears at bay.

Some of his weight lifted off her, like he'd raised his head to look down at her. "Honey? What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

Sara shook her head against the pillow. "I left you," she sobbed. "Twice. I must have broken your heart because I sure as hell broke mine." She opened her wet eyes. "Why did you come all this way...leave everything behind...just for me?"

"Sara." His concerned frown melted into a soft smile. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Maybe." She bit her lower lip. "I'm hallucinating?"

A low chuckle made Grissom's chest rumble against her breasts. "You're not, dear." He kissed her again, his tongue dipping into her mouth like it was his to explore. "You're very much awake and aware," he assured her. "And I'm not going anywhere." He pressed his lips to hers as he slipped out of her. "I love you, too."

His fingers found the slick warmth at the center of her body. Experience had taught him exactly what to do to, precisely what would drive her over the edge. Only minutes later, the world exploded and she tried to cry out his name, but his lips covered hers just in time, muffling the sound of her pleasure. He kept her coming for as long as possible until it became too much and she pushed at his shoulders, urging him to stop.

As she lay there, trying to catch her breath, Sara's mind kept going over and over the previous day. It had started out normal enough, at least by her new standards of normality. A monkey had braved its way into camp and she'd had to grab her camera for a few photographs. She remembered that there'd been very little movement in the jungle around her, yet somehow she'd known she was being watched.

She'd turned around and everything had changed.

Lying beside her now, in the very naked flesh, no longer just a subconscious desire, Grissom smoothed hair off her flushed forehead. "I've missed you so much," he whispered.

Sara swallowed back a choked sob. "Gil..."

"Tell me I'm not too late, Sara. Tell me you still want..." Borrowing a phrase from their past, he pointed back and forth between them. "...this."

"I left you," she reluctantly reminded him.

Grissom kissed the corner of her mouth softly. "I pushed you away."

Sara returned the slow kiss, loving the taste, touch, sound and smell of him. He was real. He was here. And she was never letting him go again. "Not really. I never stopped dreaming."

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Fin