'Thanks for letting me stay at yours,' Sara said slightly awkwardly.

Grissom and Sara arrived earlier that morning at McCarran Airport, after a short layover at LA.

'Of course,' Grissom replied. The tone of his voice gave away a similar uncertainty to Sara's. 'Coffee?' without waiting for a reply he walked over to his coffee machine and paused there for a second.

Sara raised an eyebrow. 'Are you okay?' she asked.

'Yeah sure, just… ehm, yeah right,' he answered as his hand hovered over the handle of one of the kitchen cabinets.

Sara got up and walked over to him. 'Here,' she indicated, opening the cabinet right next to one Grissom was standing in front and took out an unopened bag of coffee beans.

Grissom embarrassedly rubbed a hand on his neck while taking the bag of beans from Sara. 'Yes, thanks.'

She moved aside to let him operate the coffee machine, not trying to intervene or making him feel even more uncomfortable. Leaning against the dining table, she looked around the all too familiar kitchen. 'It hasn't changed one bit in here,' she noted, her eyes pinned to a picture of the two of them together on the refrigerator.

Grissom's attention shifted to her. 'Did you think it would have?'

She shrugged. 'I don't know actually. After I left you that video message I guess I expected you to remove all memories of… me… of us together. Not that I'd blame you!' she quickly added.

After the final sounds of the coffee grinding had sounded, Grissom picked up the two mugs he'd prepared and put them on the kitchen table. 'Here you go,' he said, inviting Sara to sit down with him.

She pushed back the chair and wrapped her hands around the mug in front of her.

'I've never stopped loving you Sara,' Grissom started to explain. 'Your message was clear and I respected your wishes. I was happy for you, really happy that you were finally where you wanted to be. However… I don't think I was there yet. I wasn't ready to let you go. It sounds stupid, I know, but I figured as long as I kept our memories alive, there would still be a slight change that you would come back to me.' He cleared his throat and Sara saw the sadness in his eyes.

She took his hands and softly rubbed her thumb and index finger over the back of his hand. 'We had grown apart. We both had different priorities, different things we wanted in life. A long distance relationship wouldn't work in the long haul. At least not for me.'

'Yet, you're here now.'

'Yes, I'm here now and not planning to go anywhere.'

'Listen Sara,' he pulled away from her touch and folded his hands in front of him on the table top. 'The last thing I want is to be in the way of you living your life the way you want to. I don't want you to put everything in your life on hold just because I happen to be sick. Life's too short for that.'

Sara wasn't sure whether to feel offended or flattered by that comment. 'Gil, I… what happened in Costa Rica has taught me a thing or two.'

'Never trust a fellow environmentalist?' Grissom guessed, trying to lighten the mood.

Sara laughed. 'Well, there's that. But what I'm trying to say here is that it's important to do what you love most, but it's even more important to be together with the person you love most. Like you said, life's too short.' She took a deep breath. 'Long story short, here with you, is exactly where I want to be.'

Grissom bowed his head. 'I'm glad to hear that. That's exactly how I feel as well.'

Sara looked at him and showed her famous wide smile. 'Good, at least we're both clear on that.'

'All joking aside though,' Grissom's tone changed to a far more serious one, 'there are some things we need to talk about concerning… well, my situation and everything.'

Sara pressed her fingers to his lips to silence him. 'Not now. We'll talk about that later.' She simply didn't want the good mood to be ruined. There would be another day to worry about everything tomorrow. She lifted her fingers of his lips and replaced them by her lips which softly touched his. Then, slowly she got up from her chair and beckoned him to follow her into the bedroom.

There it is. The final chapter of Costa Rica. Thanks so much for following along on this emotional rollercoaster ride. Please do leave a final review, always love to read those.