A/N: This chapter contains a shout-out to my college roommates, even though they don't watch CSI or read fanfic, so they'll never know it was there. They were truly the inspiration for the Ikea-related scenes in Sara's apartment.

Thanks for reading and reviewing! Happy Earth Day!

I don't own CSI, Target or Ikea.

Togetherness

Jerked from a dream, Sara spent ten seconds completely disoriented and unsure of why she was awake.

Both questions were answered almost immediately. Grissom was sitting up in their hotel bed, coughing violently.

"Are you okay?" Sara asked, sitting up with him.

He nodded, and waved off her concern. Any verbal answer he would have given was cut off by another coughing spasm.

"No, you're not," Sara said. She climbed out of bed to get him a glass of water.

"Thanks," he said in a raspy voice, taking the water from her.

"Do you feel all right?"

"Yeah, I think," he said.

"You think?"

He rolled his eyes. "I just spent a good five minutes coughing. It's going to take me a moment to do a full health assessment."

Sara sighed. "We should stay in tomorrow … today … what time is it?"

"Four," he replied. "It's today."

"Okay. We'll stay in today."

"I hate to make you stay in when you have so much to do."

They had spent nearly a week running around town, accumulating all the things Sara would need for her new apartment. She was, through a stroke of luck, able to move in immediately, so they were able to take everything directly to the apartment. As of yet, they had not stayed the night – Sara didn't want to live there before she had everything she needed.

"I can take care of it when you're well," Sara said, touching her palm to his face. "Gil! You've got a fever!"

"I'm fine," he insisted.

Sara shook her head. "You feel warm."

"I've been under all these blankets with you all night. Of course I feel warm."

Sara sighed, realizing that she was not going to be able to convince him that he was sick. "Whatever. Will you try to sleep a little more?"

"Will you stay in bed with me?"

She grinned. "Yeah."

Grissom put his empty glass on the nightstand and lay back down on his back. Sara lay down with him, snuggling close.

"You'll tell me if you feel worse, right?"

"I promise."

"Good." She leaned up to kiss his cheek. "Sleep well."

"You, too, my dear."

Sara awoke before Grissom as the sun streaked into their room. He looked content enough; she did her best to get out of bed without waking him.

After taking a shower and dressing, Sara went to the hotel restaurant to get them breakfast. Asking the hostess to wrap it up to go, she took the food back to the room.

When she arrived, Grissom was sitting up in bed. She grinned at the sight of his wild hair, but the flush in his cheeks concerned her.

"How do you feel?" she asked.

"Okay," he replied. He indicated the bag in her hands. "What do you have?"

"Breakfast," she said triumphantly. She set the bag on the room's one table, and began pulling out her purchases one by one.

"We could have gone out for breakfast," Grissom protested.

"Are you saying you don't want to have breakfast in bed?" she asked.

Grissom smiled at that. "Well, when you put it that way …"

Sara grinned and brought his coffee to him. "I thought so."

Grissom took the offered mug from her and carefully placed it on the nightstand. Before she had time to move away from him, he grabbed her arm and pulled her down onto the bed with him.

"Hey!" Sara laughed. "What are you doing?"

"I only want breakfast in bed if it's breakfast in bed with you." He rolled over so that she was pinned beneath him.

Sara laughed again. "Well, right now it's just me. Let me up so I can get the breakfast part of that equation."

Grissom smiled down at her. "I think it's fine the way it is."

He leaned down and kissed her, making her moan in the back of her throat.

"Griss," she gasped, breaking the kiss. "You're going to get me sick."

"I'm not sick." He kissed her again.

Sara's cell phone rang, interrupting Grissom's kisses. Sara pulled away from him.

"I need to get that."

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do."

Grissom held her down, but, laughing, Sara stretched out to grab her phone from the nightstand. Grissom conceded defeat, and rolled off her.

"You and those long arms," he sighed.

"I haven't heard you complain about my limbs before," Sara said as she flipped her phone open. "Hello?"

"What in the world did I interrupt?" Mary asked.

"Classified," Sara said with a grin.

"Ugh, enough said," Mary said, struggling not to laugh. "So, I'm guessing I didn't wake you?"

"No, we're just about to have breakfast," Sara replied.

"Good. What are your after-breakfast plans?"

"We haven't made any yet," Sara said, watching as Grissom added cream to his coffee.

"How would you like to take Josie skating? It's too pretty to stay inside today, and Tom suggested it."

"Yeah, I think we could do that," Sara said, thinking that it would, if nothing else, be a short activity. Josie played out quickly.

"Great! We'll meet you at the rink at eleven, okay?"

"The same rink we went to before?"

"Yes."

"Okay. We'll see you then."

"See you," Mary echoed. "Bye, Sara."

"Bye."

Sara closed her phone and looked at Grissom.

"Mary?" he asked.

"Yeah," Sara said. She smiled. "How do you feel about ice skating?"

Grissom raised an eyebrow. "What happened to staying in for my health?"

"Fresh air is good for your health, too. And, last I recall, you were refusing to admit that you were sick."

Grissom smiled. "What time do we need to leave?"

"We have to meet them at eleven." Sara grinned. "This is going to be so much fun."

"If you say so," Grissom said uncertainly.

Sara laughed. "What now?"

"I'm … not a good skater."

Sara frowned in a bemused way. "Didn't you live in Minnesota?"

"Yes."

"Aren't they all about outdoor winter sports there?"

"Yes."

"And …?"

He sighed. "It was a long time ago, Sara. That was the last time I went skating … and, it wasn't exactly something I did every day."

She grinned. "I'll bet you took all the pretty girls skating."

He blushed. "I may have done that once or twice."

"It was romantic, wasn't it?" Sara teased, wrapping her arms around him. "Holding their hands so they wouldn't fall … cuddling up because you were cold … looking at all those stars …"

"Okay, fine, I'll take you skating," he conceded. "But, you'll be holding me up, not the other way around."

Sara laughed. "I'll take what I can get."

Grissom and Sara were just climbing out of their car in the ice skating rink's parking lot when Tom pulled to a stop next to them.

"Hi!" Mary said as she climbed out and opened the back door to help Josie out of her car seat. "Are you ready for this?"

"I'm excited," Sara said.

Grissom looked at Tom. "Should I be worried?"

"Nope," Tom said with a grin. He held up his camera. "I've already volunteered us to be the photographers for the trip. The ladies can skate with the baby."

"Works for me," Grissom said, his relief apparent.

Sara laughed, but made a face at Tom. "I was looking forward to getting Grissom out on the ice."

"Another time," Tom promised for him. He looked at Mary, who was setting Josie on her feet. "Are we ready to go?"

"Yes," Mary said, holding tightly to Josie's hand.

Once they had paid their admission and rented skates for Sara, Mary and Josie, Grissom and Tom went out to the rink. They selected a spot leaning against the rail to watch the ladies skate.

They only had to wait a moment before Sara and Mary appeared, each holding one of Josie's hands. She giggled as her feet touched the ice and she started to slip. Sara and Mary both tightened their grip, struggling to keep her on her feet.

"She's a natural," Sara said with a laugh.

Mary laughed with her. "She'll get better. We've got to keep her out here if we want her to have a shot at Olympic gold."

Sara raised her eyebrows. "She's expressed a desire to be an Olympic skater?"

"We all have dreams for our children, Sara."

Sara laughed again. "We'd better start teaching her to do triple axels if that's what you want for her."

"She can start smaller – like with staying on her feet without us holding her up."

Sara laughed again. "What do you think, Josie? Do you want to be in the Olympics?"

"Olympics!"

"I'll take that as a yes," Sara said, still laughing. "You'd better find her a coach as soon as we're done today."

Mary laughed with her. "I'm on it."

Grissom stood with Tom, watching the laughing Sara and Mary hold Josie's hands as they skated slowly around the rink. Tom lowered his camera to show Grissom his latest shot. Although Josie was the main subject, her face lit up with excitement, Grissom's attention was captured by Sara. She looked so incredibly happy.

"Thank you for doing this," Grissom said without preamble.

Tom frowned slightly. "For showing you a picture?"

"No," Grissom clarified. "For offering Sara a job."

Tom smiled. "No thanks are necessary. I didn't do it for anything other than a purely selfish motive. I want to have Sara working with me. She's a fantastic scientist."

Grissom nodded. "That she is."

"I should really thank you," Tom said.

"Why?"

"You're letting her stay here to work with me."

Grissom smiled. "I'm certainly not in any position to let her do anything. I doubt anyone has been for quite some time."

"That's true," Tom said. "Our Sara doesn't let anyone tell her what to do."

They watched as Sara caught Josie just before she fell, and righted her on the ice. Tom smiled as he snapped a picture of the two of them.

"I'll say this, too: I'm also glad she's staying for Mary. Maybe even more than for my lab."

"They're close," Grissom agreed.

"Like sisters," Tom said, shaking his head. "I've never seen two friends as committed to each other as those two are. It's amazing."

Grissom smiled wistfully. "It's Sara."

Tom looked at him for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah," he said slowly. "I guess it is."

Sara's eyes opened as she felt Grissom's fingers playing with her hair. She smiled up at him.

"Hi," she said, her voice raspy with sleep.

"Hi," he replied.

"Shouldn't you still be asleep?"

He shook his head. "It's morning."

Sara looked at the weak sunshine trying to get past their shades. "So it is. How are you feeling?"

"Fine."

She raised an eyebrow.

"I'm fine, Sara."

She smiled. "Which means you feel like crap, but you won't admit it."

He rolled his eyes. "Why must you make everything a battle?"

She grinned and caught the hand that was playing with her hair, drawing it to her lips so she could kiss it. "Are you up to working today?"

"You have a crime we need to solve?"

She shook her head. "I have some furniture that needs to be arranged."

He smiled. "Okay."

After a stop at Target to pick up a few items that Sara was missing, they arrived at her apartment. Grissom looked at the boxes, then at Sara.

"Um … where do we start?"

"Well …" She smiled apologetically. "We have to put the furniture together."

Grissom sighed. "Of course. Ikea."

"Let's start … in the bedroom."

He smiled. "I like that idea."

"Down, boy. We have to put the bed together."

He shook his head. "Right. Ikea."

"Stop hating on my store!" Sara couldn't stop the laughter that followed her entreaty.

"Come on," Grissom said, taking her hand. "Let's go put that bed together … and pray we don't break it later."

An hour later, they were still struggling with the bed. Sara clutched her hair back from her face in frustration.

"You'd think that two scientists would be able to figure this out!"

"We're American scientists, love, not Swedish scientists. We can't read the instructions," Grissom said absently. "I think this goes … here."

He managed to put the last piece in place to get the headboard together. Sara nearly cried in relief.

"You did it!"

"Yeah … but, we still need to attach it to the bed."

Sara closed her eyes. "We're going to be here all day."

"Don't think of it that way," Grissom said. "Think of it as … putting the evidence together."

"Yeah," Sara said. "This is the type of evidence I've been shoving off on Greg for several years now."

Grissom chuckled. "Look on the bright side. Once we get this done, we'll only have the nightstands, dresser and the rest of the house to go."

Sara threw the instructions at him. "Your absolute calm over this is truly unnerving. You know that, right?"

"I'm just basking the silence of I told you so," he said with a cheeky grin.

Sara's mouth dropped open. She closed it as her eyes narrowed. "It doesn't count as silence if you talk about it," she grumbled.

Grissom laughed again. "Enough whining. Back to work."

Grissom's smug, practiced coolness with the process made it through the bedroom, but cracked in the living room. While the entertainment center went together easily enough, the coffee table was another story entirely.

"This is ridiculous," he said, gritting his teeth in frustration. "We have tried every possible way to put this together, and it won't happen!" He shook the coffee table's legs angrily. "What is wrong with you?"

"Okay," Sara said, sitting back on her heels. "Let's take a break."

Grissom looked at her and blinked.

"We're getting nowhere but angry," she said. "Let's go … have dinner. Then, when we get back, we can put everything away in the kitchen. We can worry about the coffee table tomorrow."

"You're sure?" Grissom asked uncertainly, knowing that Sara was not one to give up on the task at hand.

"Yes," she said firmly. "You're yelling at the coffee table now, but it's only a matter of time before you're yelling at me instead." She smiled and touched his cheek. "Neither of us wants that, right?"

He couldn't help but smile back at her. "Right."

"So … let's go have dinner."

He smiled again. "Okay."

After a quick dinner, they returned to the apartment. Grissom took off his coat and watched Sara turning on the lights. His eyes fell on the pieces of the coffee table, and he sighed, feeling all the strength and energy drain from his body.

"Honey …"

Sara turned to look at him. "Yeah?"

He shook his head. "I can't do this anymore. Not tonight."

Sara crossed to where he stood by the door, noticing for the first time how pale he looked. She ran her hand over his forehead. "Are you feeling all right?"

"Just … tired."

She hugged him, pillowing her head against his shoulder. "I'm sorry, baby. I've made you work way too hard, and you're not feeling well to begin with …"

He folded his arms around her and kissed her hair. "I want to help you."

"I know you do, and that's very sweet of you, but I'd rather you be healthy."

He smiled. "Do you know what would make me feel better?"

She pulled back to look at him. "Tylenol?"

He shook his head. "Breaking in your new bed."

Sara laughed. "You're trying to get me sick again!"

"Nope. Just trying to get you into bed while I still can."

Sara stopped laughing and looked down. "I don't want to talk about it."

Grissom tipped her chin up to look into her eyes. "We knew it was coming."

"Yeah," Sara agreed. "I just … I wish you didn't have to leave."

"You know I have to go back to work."

She nodded. "Not for two more days, though."

Grissom raised an eyebrow. "Is that a no on breaking in the new bed?"

Sara giggled. "Yeah, right! I'll race you."

Laughing, they chased each other to the bedroom.