A/N - I was honestly overwhelmed by the response to the last chapter. Thank you so much for the reviews, it's a lovely boost to the ego--urm, it's a great way to see how well the story is working. This is sadly the next to last chapter, and I've really enjoyed writing this little AU story of mine. And thanks to GSFanatic, who might as well be a co-author with all the fantastic ideas she's had for the story.

As for the rest, well, remember that one time when Grissom and Sara kissed? I have to hand it to Jorja Fox, she can do some kissin'. I'd like to thank her for aiding me in the writing of this chapter. It's true. It's a bit smutty (well, a lot smutty) so that's why I changed the rating to M.

Sara knocked on Grissom's door, pissed off and nervous and happy about what she was about do. Fuck it, she thought. This is going to happen, and it's about fucking time.

He answered the door looking tired but awake. He'd taken his jacket and tie off and looked like he was getting ready to sit down to watch some Discovery channel. Still, he smiled when he saw it was her, even if it was a confused smile.

"Sara? Are you okay? What's going on--"

She silenced him with a kiss. A long, never-ending kiss. He held on to her tightly, and she sank into him, finally allowing herself to give into this dance they'd been doing for way too long.

When she finally released him from this kiss, she started pacing. "I hate men. I mean, I really just don't like them. I'm sick of it, Grissom. I'm tired of you guys wanting what you can't have, and then when you do have it, you treat it like shit! I'm fucking tired of it, and I want to know where I can find someone who doesn't want anything from me. I just want to exist. Is that possible?"

"I don't think so," Grissom said. "What happened, Sara? Did that son of a bitch cheat on you?"

"Worse," she said angrily. "He took my fucking promotion."


Sara read the email 3 times before she called her husband. She just couldn't believe it. The nerve of that man!

The letter was from Jack.

Dear friends,

I'd like you to join me in welcoming Robert Williamson as the new supervisor for Day shift. He's been a CSI 3 on Graveyard for many years now, and when he expressed interest in the position, I found him to be the best candidate for the job. I feel better about retiring knowing that I'm leaving him in charge. If you see him, make sure to give him hearty congratulations, because he's earned it.

- Jack

Sara suspected, in the back of her mind, that her husband had been hiding something from her. She just figured it was an affair, not taking the position she'd worked so hard to get for many, many years. It was just so weird that he would go behind her back and take this chance from her. Just a few weeks ago, she called Jack and asked him if she could have a month or two more before she came back, and he assured her he was going to stay for at least 3 or 4 months longer. It didn't make her mad that he changed his mind; it made her mad that her husband took advantage of the fact Jack changed his mind.

So she called Robert. She had some things she wanted to discuss with him.

"Happy New Year!" Robert answered cheerfully. Sara groaned.

"Congratulations," she said coarsely.

"On what?"

"What the hell do you think, on what? Congratulations on your well-deserved promotion, Robert, that's what."

Robert snorted.

"Jesus, Sara, why the hell do you care? Are you even coming back from that black hole of the desert?"

"I had planned to, yes," she said, knowing that she didn't sound very confident in that fact. "I told you, and I told Jack, that I would be back to take the promotion. I've worked hard for it, Robert. I've worked my ass off for that promotion, and Jack wanted me to have it. I've been a CSI 3 longer than you, anyway. How did you even convince him to let you have it?"

Sara wouldn't tell anyone this, but she thought she was a much better CSI than her husband. She'd always thought that, from the very beginning. He was definitely good, but she cared more, and that gave her an edge. She wanted to find the bastards that did it; Robert seemed to only want to advance in his career. Plus, she worked harder than him. She did more overtime, more paperwork, talked to more people. It was a huge dividing line between them, and was the biggest instigator of many of their fights.

Robert chuckled. "I told him you were staying. He wanted to call you, but I told him you were working on a really tough case in Vegas and didn't want to take any calls. Honestly, I think he just wanted out. I don't think he really cared who took his job--me, you, or the janitor--as long as he could retire."

Sara obviously underestimated what a prick Robert could be. She always knew he had a dark side. Apparently, she had no idea how dark.

"Why'd you do it?" She asked him.

"Why? Because I'm pissed, Sara. You're out there in Vegas, probably screwing your brains out with some old man you met once for a few days, and I'm stuck here cleaning up your messes. We're married. We had a life together, and maybe it wasn't terribly exciting, but it wasn't bad, right? And you run off the second that man calls you."

"I'm not screwing him," she said bitterly. She didn't know what to say to the rest of what he said.

"Tell me this, Sara. Tell me you haven't done something to feel guilty about. Tell me you haven't thought about having an affair. Tell me you haven't wished you were single so you could be with him. Tell me you haven't thought about kissing him or actually did kiss him. Tell me you didn't think about leaving me for him. If you can, I'll step aside, and you can come home and have this promotion."

Sara was quiet.

After a while, Robert chuckled again. "God, Sara. I really thought we were going to make this work. And you know what? I'm sorry it didn't. I loved you. I still do love you. I wanted to have a family with you. But if this man, the man that has always come between us in this marriage whether you know it or not, can promise what I've promised you, which I very much doubt, go for it. But know that I tried."

"I tried too, Robert. We did have good times. I don't think I'm ready to give up on us yet."

"Are you sure about that?" He asked her. "If you're not ready to give up, come home. Come home in the next 24 hours, and work this out with me. We'll figure out the promotion. Come back, Sara."

Sara bit her lip. What the hell was she supposed to say? And what the hell did she want to do? She could go to San Francisco, where she was constantly haunted by ghosts of her childhood, and be with the man who made a promise to love her for the rest of their lives. Or she could stay in Las Vegas with a man she wasn't sure would give her anything she wanted, but she couldn't resist, a man that she never stopped thinking about, a man that she was starting to love more than she ever could have thought. It was a new year, and it was a chance for a new life, a new start, and maybe that's what she needed.

"You know what I'm going to pick," she finally said. And he sighed, because he did know, and he probably knew the whole time.

"Yeah, I know. I've known since the beginning, but I thought if I showed you a nice life, if I showed you how it feels for a man to really, truly love you, you'd get over it. And you didn't, so I guess it's over. Come get your shit next week; I'll be out of town."

"Don't sound so cocky about it, Robert. What the hell did you show me, anyway? That working hard and then going home to watch a basketball game is an awesome way to go through life? You said you were going to spoil me, and how did you do that? By letting me watch TV with you after a long, hard day at work?"

"What was I supposed to do, hold your hand and tell you about my day? Tell you about another dead body, another victim that none of us could help?"

"Yes," she said, feeling the tears coming but trying as hard as she could not to let them. "Yes, that's what I wanted, what I needed. Whenever I'd try to talk about anything like that, you'd change the subject. Sometimes I just want to talk, Robert. About my dad, about anything. You know, my dad would say--"

"Your dad was an abusive jackass, so don't even bother, Sara. Look, it's over, okay? Go find that old man of yours and do what you have to do, because I'm done. I tried, and I failed."

"Yes, you did. And so did I."

"Later, Sara."

"Bye," she said, and hung up. And then she stared at her phone and wondered what the hell she was going to do. For approximately 17 seconds, she mourned what was left of her marriage. Then she threw her phone at the wall, watching it shatter. And then she calmly collected her keys, opened her door, locked the door, and then drove to the house of the man she loved.

Grissom listened to her talk and nodded in the right places. He wasn't exactly sure what she was saying, but the gist was that she was leaving her husband, and it was because of some kind of promotion.

"You're leaving him because he took your job?" He asked when she stopped talking.

She sighed and shook her head. They were sitting on his sofa, and not close enough. He moved closer to her, and held her hand. She put her head on his shoulder, and he stroked her hair. God, he wanted her so bad. She was still wearing that blue dress, that dress that made everything a little more interesting. He wanted to take it off of her. He wanted to see her naked and wet. He wanted to touch her, every part of her, and claim it as his own. But he couldn't do that yet. She was far too vulnerable.

"No, I didn't exactly leave him. It's more like he left me. But it's not because of the promotion. It's a lot more than that. And frankly, it's a good thing. It should have ended years ago when I woke up and realized I'd never love him as much...well, it should have ended years ago."

Grissom wanted to ask, "As much as what?" But he had a better question in mind.

"If you were unhappy, why didn't you leave?"

Sara sighed. He kissed her forehead. She leaned up and kissed his lips. He wasn't sure what to do, but he knew he didn't want to stop. So they kissed. A lot. But before he let his hands do the walking, he broke the kiss.

"Tell me, Sara. I want to know. Before we...before I can kiss you like that again, I want to know what's going on. I have to know."

"Okay. I owe you that," she said. "There has never been a man in my life who has loved me like Robert has. He pursued me. He never let me doubt that I was the one for him. And even though I wasn't completely in love with him, I married him because I didn't think I'd ever find anyone else who loved me like that. And, Grissom...even my father couldn't love me like that. Even he left me. He left me and my mom when I was 8. He came back over and over again, and my mom, well, stabbed him when he said he was leaving for the last time. I've never told anybody that, but it's true. He even had another girlfriend and a 3-year-old daughter at that time. It's just...men keep leaving me, Griss. And he promised he never would, and I wanted that. It was a stable life, and I thought that was what I wanted."

Gil's heart broke for this woman. What could he say to make her understand? What could he possibly say?

Before he could say anything, Sara arranged herself so she could look in his eyes. He loved when she looked at him like that. He felt like he was something, something more than he ever thought he was capable of being.

"You know, this is weird, but I think about what would have happened if it had been me under that car instead of Holly. What if things were different, Griss? What if you hired me instead of Holly? What if Natalie took me instead? I do wonder about that. It makes me think about everything that's happened in my life since then. About how I married Robert on the basis that I could grow to love him. And the truth is, he never even had a chance. Because I loved someone else, someone I couldn't have, way more than I could have ever loved him."

"Sara...Robert is not the only man in your life who has loved you enough to want to marry you," he told her. She smiled sadly.

"I wasn't lying when I said if I hadn't been married, if I didn't have a daughter, things would have been much different. And frankly, that husband of yours is an idiot if he let you go. Because if you give me the chance, I never will. Never. I have waited too long for this opportunity to come by again, and if you're giving it to me, I'm taking it."

"You love me?" She asked him, grinning in a way that gave him some very naughty thoughts.

"Like you wouldn't believe," he said.

"Then take me into that bedroom and show me how much," she said wickedly. "Make love to me, Gilbert Grissom."

"Okay," he said. He didn't need to be told twice.

He took her hand, and led her down the hallway to his bedroom. When they got to the bedroom, they both turned to look at each other, and then the bed. The king sized bed waited for them to consummate their love, finally, after trying to deprive themselves of it for so very long.

Sara wanted to throw Gil Grissom down on that bed, straddle him, and do very, very bad things to him. Grissom, however, wanted to take his time, and she let him, because God, it just felt so good. The way he reached under her dress and touched her instead of taking the dress off. The way he caressed her stomach, lightly stroking it, making all kinds of stimulating sensations reverberate through her body. The way his fingers slowly traveled to her nipples, taking his time, measuring the beat of his moves to the way she moaned.

By the time he stuck a finger inside her panties, she was wet. Very, very wet and very, very ready. He stroked her, made her arch her back in complete ecstasy, both of them taking some time to enjoy the moment. But he was still only teasing her. He was giving her a preview of what was going to happen until she couldn't possibly stand it any longer.

When she was on the brink of not being able to take it anymore, she said, "Please. Please, I want you inside of me. I want to feel you on top of me, inside of me, and soon. Now, preferably."

He grinned. Instead of doing as she requested, he reached into a bedside drawer, and came out with 2 silk scarves.

"These were a gag gift from Catherine once upon a time. Never used them, never wanted to until now. Do you trust me?"

She smiled dangerously. "Intimately."

Before he did anything, he slowly peeled that damn blue dress off of her. She felt awesomely exposed as he took the scarves and tied her hands to the bedpost. When he was done, he took a minute to look her up and down. Even in the darkness of the night, she could feel his eyes on her, taking in every little detail about her body, memorizing it for later use. She liked this. It made her feel dirty.

Grissom set about the task of body exploration. First, it was her lips. They kissed until their lips were raw. He could have multi tasked during this part of the mission, exploring the other parts of her body with his hands, but it seemed like his ultimate goal was to tease her, and it was working. It was so frustrating for her to not be able to touch him while he was kissing her. But she'd get a chance for that later. She'd make sure of that.

Finally, his mouth drifted away from hers. He nibbled on her ear. He kissed her neck gently. He made a trail down her collarbone, her sternum, until he found a nipple. He wrapped his mouth around it and teased it with his tongue, which elicited a sharp gasp from her that made him very, very anxious to keep traveling. More kissing; another nipple, her stomach, her belly button. He gently parted her legs, looking at his newly found treasure in only the light of the moon. He stuck a finger inside of her, feeling how dripping wet she was, feeling how anxious she was for him to be inside of her.

But before he gave into her wishes, he wanted a taste. All he could think about was what she tasted like, so he found out for himself. He found out until she came with ferocity he'd never even seen before, and it made him want to be inside of her like nothing he'd ever wanted in his entire life.

"Do you want me?" He whispered in her ear.

"I want you," she said in her throaty, seductive tone.

"What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to fuck me," she said.

So he did. He slid inside of her, causing them both to moan deliciously.

"I've wanted this since the day I met you," he told her as he made love to her. "Ever since I saw you sitting in the front row. Ever since you asked me about the body farm. Ever since I knew there was a woman in this world who was capable of making me feel the way you do."

She couldn't speak; all she could do was moan. He couldn't believe how good it felt to be inside of this woman he loved in a way that was completely foreign to him. It wasn't the way he loved his ex-wife; he never loved her the way he loved Sara Sidle. And that was a relief, because the way he loved Sara took every single bone in his body, and it was exhausting. Exhausting and supremely satisfying.

When it was over, and it was not over quickly, he untied her and she collapsed against him, exhausted and supremely satisfied. Well, almost. She had some plans for him in mind later; devious plans that would make him suffer the way he made her suffer with his silk scarves. Payback was a bitch.

He looked over at the alarm clock. It was 3:19 in the morning, New Year's Day.

"Happy New Year," he told her, kissing her sweaty forehead.

"Yes, it is," she said.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

They fell asleep, the first time of many that they would fall asleep together. When they woke up, at 1:00 in the afternoon no less, Sara got her payback when she showed him what it was like to be teased. And finally, everything was the way it was supposed to be.