A/N: Thank you to the person or people who nominated my stories for the Fan Fiction Awards! I'm so excited about it!

Thanks to all of you for reading and reviewing. I hope you like this chapter, and that you think I've done this moment in Grissom's and Sara's lives justice.

I don't own CSI. Some inspiration and dialogue are taken from episode 804, "The Case of the Cross-Dressing Carp."

Tomorrow

"Finally!"

Grissom laughed at the look of child-like glee on Sara's face. "You won't miss the sling?" he teased.

"Are you kidding?" She laughed with him. "This little brace is definitely doable."

"Just for a week to ten days," Dr. Rogers promised. "Then you'll be back to normal."

"I'm not sure I remember normal at this point," Sara said with a sigh.

Grissom grinned. "It'll come back."

Sara looked at him, coaxing forth a smile to keep the smile on his face. How could she tell him that she was terrified she'd never feel normal again? That she didn't like her new normal? That she wanted the old normal back more than anything?

"Okay," Dr. Rogers said, interrupting her thoughts. "I think we're done here for today. I'll see you next week."

"Great," Sara said, hopping off the table. "Thanks, Doctor."

"You're welcome." He looked past Sara to Grissom. "Take good care of her."

Grissom grinned. "I will if she'll let me."

After so many months of treatment, Dr. Rogers knew Sara well enough to understand what Grissom meant. He rolled his eyes. "Sara, let him take care of you."

She smiled. "I'll try."

"Better than nothing," the doctor said with a shrug. "Good luck, Dr. Grissom."

Laughing, Grissom took Sara's hand to lead her away. "Thanks."

After making Sara's final appointment, they got into the car. Sara frowned in confusion when Grissom turned the opposite way from their path home.

"Where are we going?"

"We're going out for lunch," Grissom said. "We're going to celebrate your new mobility."

Sara grinned. "Where are we going?" she asked again.

"That will have to be a surprise until we get there."

Knowing that she'd never get more than that out of him, Sara settled back in her seat to wait out the ride to their mystery destination.

"Lake Mead?" Sara asked in surprise as Grissom pulled into a parking space.

"You expected something else?"

"I didn't know what to expect," Sara admitted as they climbed out of the car.

Grissom smiled and reached into the backseat for a bag that Sara had not noticed before.

"What's that?"

"A surprise."

She smiled and shook her head. "You're just full of surprises today, aren't you?"

"I wouldn't want you to get bored, my dear." He took her hand to lead her to the restaurant he had chosen. "Come on. This place has the best calamari you'll ever eat."

They had their calamari, along with a bottle of white wine. Grissom raised his glass and smiled at Sara.

"To you and your recovery," he said. "You never cease to amaze me, Sara. You are the strongest person I've ever had the privilege to know. My life is richer for having you in it."

Sara flushed at the compliment as she touched her glass to his and took a sip of her wine.

"And, I have something for you," Grissom said, putting his glass back down. He reached into the bag at his feet and took out a large, wrapped package.

"What's the occasion?" Sara asked.

"An afternoon spent together," Grissom replied.

Sara smiled sadly. Those were few and far between since her move to swing shift.

"Open it," Grissom encouraged.

Sara unwrapped the package and opened the box. She looked at the contents for a moment, then looked at Grissom in confusion.

"Um … I feel stupid for even asking, but what is this?"

Grissom smiled nervously. "A beekeeper suit. I was hoping …"

Sara grinned, realizing what he was offering. "You want me to visit your friends?"

"Only if you want to," he said quickly. "I'll understand if you –"

"Gil," she interrupted, "I'll be there."

He smiled, his relief obvious. "Really?"

"Really."

Grissom smiled as she repacked the box. He thought of the other item in his bag, but decided to save it for later. He didn't want to overwhelm her with too many surprises at once … particularly not surprises like the one he wanted to give her.

Within twenty-four hours, Grissom and Sara both found themselves buried in work. Grissom was working his case with the help of nearly his entire team, which gave him some flexibility, but Sara was working with Ronnie and a very obliging Greg. Ronnie required a great deal of guidance, and Sara had a feeling that Greg was only involved in her case because it involved Vegas history – they were investigating the death of a body found under the ruins of Sam Braun's recently-imploded casino.

Sara was completely baffled by her case. While Greg was having the time of his life exploring everything he knew about old Vegas, Sara searched for their victim's identity. They were able to determine that he had been killed in 1964, but a search of people who had gone missing that year didn't yield her the results she wanted. Only four were still unaccounted for, and none could have been their victim.

"God, this is maddening," Sara said. "How can we move forward with this? We don't know anything!"

"Okay, I have an idea," Ronnie said.

Sara looked up. Although Ronnie's ideas to date had not been the most impressive, she was willing to listen.

"It's all dependent upon how good our trace lab is," Ronnie said uncertainly.

"Talk to Hodges," Greg said with a grin. "He can do anything."

"Well, in that case, this could work. We need to get him to identify the isotopes in the bone. That will tell us where our victim was from – or, at least where he spent the last few years of his life." She shrugged. "I know it's not much, but it might help."

"It might," Sara agreed. "Ronnie, that's a great idea."

"Really?"

"Really," Sara said with a grin, pleased to see her young colleague's face light up. "I'll go talk to Hodges right now."

"Awesome! Let me know what he says."

"I will."

Grabbing a sample of bone from the table, Sara left for Hodges' lab. She found him looking into a microscope.

"Hodges," she said as she walked into the lab, "here's the problem."

"You know, that's what Mom says when all I ask is to come home for Thanksgiving."

Ignoring Hodges' plea for sympathy, Sara began describing her own problem. "My John Doe is from 1964."

"Well, to quote Sherlock Sanders, this town was built on dead bodies," Hodges replied.

Sara knew Hodges well enough to ignore his slight mistreatment of Greg. "The national missing persons database only lists four persons in '64, none of which are a match. It might help if we knew where he was from …"

"Do I look like the ghost whisperer?" Hodges bent over his microscope again.

Sara ignored him yet again. "Every geographical area has specific levels of oxygen isotopes due to rainfall, climate and vegetation … And, you can identify those isotopes in bones."

Hodges abandoned his microscope. She had piqued his interest. "You do know those isotopes will only tell you where he spent the last three years or so of his life."

Sara put the bottle containing the bone down on the table and slid it toward him. "I'll take it. It's more than we have now."

Hodges drew a deep breath as he thought it over. "If this works, I write the paper for the forensics journal. Sole credit."

He agreed to do the time-consuming test and she didn't have to write the paper? Sara felt like jumping up and down, but held a straight face.

"Deal."

She turned and left without waiting for an answer. She felt slightly giddy as she walked down the hall. If Ronnie's idea worked, they could finally have the break they needed. And, until she had results from Hodges, she had some much-needed free time.

Deciding what to do with her free time was easy. After a week of seeing her boyfriend for little more than a few minutes at a time, Sara knew there was nothing she'd rather do than spend time with him. But first, she needed to make sure Ronnie was busy. She found her in the break room.

"Hey," she said as she walked in.

"Hi," Ronnie replied, looking up from her lunch. "Have you eaten? I'm just finishing, but I'll stay and keep you company if you want. I probably should have waited for you, but I wasn't sure how long you'd be with Hodges."

"Um, no, I'm fine," Sara said. "Actually, I was hoping you'd start sifting through everything we brought back from the crime scene.

"Oh, sure," Ronnie said, collecting the wrappers from her lunch to throw away.

Sara looked around. "Where did Greg go?"

"Something about discovering history," Ronnie said. "He's fun, isn't he?"

"Yeah, he's great," Sara said. "Okay, if we don't know where he is, I'll catch up with him later. You'll be okay on your own?"

"Sure."

"Okay," Sara said. "Page me if you need me."

"I will."

With Ronnie occupied, Sara went to Grissom's office. The door was open, but he wasn't there. Frowning, she began walking through the lab in search of him. She paused for a moment as she passed the layout room; Ronnie and Greg were working together. Smiling at the sight of Greg playing mentor, she walked on, continuing her mission.

Finally giving up, she went to the front desk.

"Hey, Judy," she said as she approached. "Have you seen Grissom?"

"He's out checking on his bees," Judy said. "Do you want me to page him for you? He said I could if anyone needed him."

"Oh, no, thanks," Sara said. "It's not that important."

"Okay," Judy agreed.

Sara turned from the desk and bit her lip. Maybe it was time to take Grissom up on his offer.

She went to the locker room and opened her locker. Feeling only slightly apprehensive, she took out the box that had been there for a week. Smiling at the thought of what she was about to do, she carried it outside to change. She didn't want to walk through the halls of the lab in a bee suit. Everyone would think she had lost it – even Grissom didn't dress like that in the building.

Once she was appropriately attired, Sara opened the door to Grissom's bee habitat. He was inside, as she expected, playing with his friends. He looked up as she walked in; his eyes lit up at the sight of her.

"Oh, I love it when you dress up."

Sara giggled. "Well, you know, whatever it takes to get some time with you." She followed him around the area. "How's the study going? Any sign of colony collapse disorder?"

"Nope. So far it's healthy," he said, using the canister in his hands to pump smoke around the box full of bees in front of them.

Sara cleared her throat and waved some of the smoke away from her face. "Nothing too healthy about smoking," she said, giving him a smile.

"The scent confuses the guard bees," Grissom explained. "They won't emit the pheromone that tells the colony there's an intruder."

"Oh, don't worry, he's harmless," Sara said, leaning over to look at the bees as he opened the box.

Grissom smiled, pulling out some bees to show her.

"Who's who?" Sara asked.

"These are the workers," Grissom said. "Infertile females."

"They don't sting?" Sara asked, looking at his gloveless hands.

"Well, not unless you swat one," Grissom said. "Or close one up in your hand, or freak out."

Sara grinned.

"Go ahead, take off your glove," Grissom encouraged.

"Eh," Sara said, not entirely convinced. "All right. I trust you."

She pulled off the glove and held out her hand. Almost immediately, a bee landed on it.

"See? It's cool."

Sara giggled as it crawled across her hand, tickling her.

"The worker bees defend the hive, procure the pollen, make the honey, nurture the larvae and pupae in each of these brood cells."

Sara nodded, never taking her eyes from the bee on her hand. She smiled as she watched it, amazed that she was actually letting a bee crawl all over her. Grissom looked at the bee, too. After watching its progress around her fingers for a moment, he looked up at her. Sara expression of happiness sent a jolt of anticipation through him. She was calm, relaxed … for once, work wasn't distracting them … maybe now …

Do it, Gil. Just do it.

"You know, maybe we should get married."

The words were spoken to the bees, not to Sara. He wanted to smack himself. Smooth, Grissom. How could you not look at her at a time like this?

Sara's whole body jerked in surprise. She had not expected – she had never – Grissom looked at her, his eyes meeting hers –

"Ouch!"

The bee crawling across her hand was obviously less than pleased by the clenching her of fingers.

"Sorry," Grissom said quickly. He pumped more smoke around the bees, sending them away before they decided to attack Sara.

Sara rubbed at her palm with her gloved hand, giggling. Did he really just …?

"Don't pick it out," Grissom cautioned. "It makes it worse. Releases the venom into the blood stream. It's better to scrape it."

Sara stared at him, feeling tears fill her eyes. She fought for control as he took her hand in his and scraped the stinger out.

"So, um … what do you think? You know, about –"

"Yes," Sara interrupted him, ducking her head to meet his eyes as he bent over her hand.

Grissom looked up at her in wonder.

"Let's do it!" Sara gave him a beaming smile along with the words.

"Yeah?"

She nodded, giggling again. Grissom smiled at her, and leaned in to kiss her. Sara leaned forward to meet him halfway; their protective helmets knocked together. They halting pulled back, looking down, then up at each other again. They both started laughing.

"Let me put these guys away," Grissom said.

"Yeah," Sara said. "I'll go … change."

Grissom smiled, and Sara hurried back out of the enclosure. Grissom joined her only a moment later, quickly shedding his own protective clothing.

Once back inside the lab, Grissom and Sara nearly ran down the hall to Grissom's office. They struggled not to look at each other, knowing that eye contact would have them blowing their very thin cover.

They made it into the office; Grissom closed and locked the door behind them. He grabbed Sara to him, lifting her up and twirling her around. Sara giggled, her giddiness bubbling over. He set her back on her feet and kissed her.

"We're really going to do this, aren't we?" he asked as he pulled back. He grinned at her. He was suddenly sure he'd never stop smiling again.

Sara nodded, her eyes shining. "We're getting married."

Grissom hugged her tightly again. "I love you so much."

"I love you," Sara replied. She pulled back from his embrace enough to kiss him. "I can't wait to be your wife."

"My wife," he whispered, smiling at her. "I like that." He kissed her again.

"Mm," Sara hummed against his lips. "Me, too."

Grissom released her from his embrace and took her hand, leading her to his desk. "I have something for you," he said. "I was going to give it to you the other day when we went out for lunch, but I didn't think the time was right. But, now …"

He opened a desk drawer and pulled out a black velvet box. "My mother made me get this back once before," he said. "For the past year, she's been asking me when I was planning to give it away." He cracked the box open and lifted the diamond ring out of it. "My grandmother wore this from the day she agreed to marry my grandfather until the day she died. Now, I'd be honored if you'd wear it."

Tears slid down Sara's cheeks as Grissom slid the ring onto her finger. It met with resistance as it encountered the brace that she was still required to wear for another three days. Even if it had settled back as far as it should, it still wouldn't have stayed in place. She closed her fingers into a fist to keep the ring from slipping off.

"We can have it sized," Grissom said, realizing it was too big. "If … I mean, if you'd rather have a different –"

His voice died as her lips covered hers.

"I love it," she said as she broke the kiss. "I love it, and I love you. I'm honored to wear your grandmother's ring."

"So, then, we should take it to the jeweler after work?"

Sara giggled. "Yeah. I think that's a good idea. I don't want to lose it." She took the ring off and slid it into her pocket.

Grissom lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss against her ring finger. "Will that do for now?"

A fresh bout of tears slid down her cheeks as she nodded, throwing her arms around his neck.

"God, Gil," she whispered. "You make me so happy."

He pulled back enough to look into her eyes. "Socrates said, 'One word frees us of all the weight and pain in life; that word is love.' When I'm with you, that's how I feel."

Completely speechless, Sara gave him a beaming smile, then captured his lips in a loving kiss.

Her new normal was suddenly wonderful.