A/N Thanks for your patience between chapters. many thanks as always to piccolina789 for the great beta and also to my reviewers. You are always very much appreciated. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be ready, but i hope you continue to enjoy the journey.

Sara watched Grissom, with a bemused expression on her face as he fed the tarantula a few live crickets.

They'd headed to the lab a good two hours before the start of their first shift back to work, stopping off on the way to get the crickets.

She'd noticed Grissom glancing surreptitiously around him as they made their way to his office, both aware that their absence wouldn't have gone unnoticed. Rumours would have soon followed, thanks to Ecklie's investigation. It was with a sense of relieve that no one seemed to be watching them.

The blinds were drawn when they entered Grissom's office and Sara almost laughed at the horrified expression that crossed his face as he saw the amount of paperwork and mail left messily on his desk.

With a heavy sigh and a shake of his head, he reminded himself that twenty-four hours ago, he'd faced the prospect of never setting foot in this office again. A few hours of paperwork wasn't going to hurt – when he eventually got around to it that was.

Sara did her best to help, arranging the clutter into workable piles. He could really have used a good system, but Sara knew that was unlikely to happen. He loathed paperwork and if he could avoid it, he would for as long as possible.

When she was finished, she perched on the corner of his desk, watching him clear out the small fridge where he kept his experiments. Most of them were useless now after almost two weeks of neglect.

Finally he rose to his feet, and crossed over to where Sara was perched on his desk. As he leaned over to put his automatic in the top drawer his hand brushed against her bare arm lightly, sending ripples through her body. She inhaled sharply. His touch was enough to reignite the passion they had quelled an hour and a half before.

"Are you okay?" he asked, watching her as he stepped into the small gap between her feet.

With a hum, she nodded and ran her hands up his shirtfront, leaning forward slightly and kissing the corner of his mouth.

Grissom's eyes darted to the closed office door, recalling only too vividly the last time they hadn't been so cautious. Sara drew back, her hands playing with his hair behind his ear.

"It's locked," she assured him as his gaze returned to hers, his eyes mirroring the rising desire he saw reflected in her eyes.

He leaned in a little more, raising his hand to caress her cheek with his thumb before giving her a slow and lingering kiss.

She responded immediately to his touch, unable to hide how much he excited her. When she felt well enough to make love, the pregnancy had only increased the sensations he invoked.

She moaned against his lips, her hands buried in his hair.

Grissom broke the kiss, before things got to the point of no return. As much as he wanted to make love to her again, he loved and respected her far too much to do so in his office. She deserved far better than that.

"I love you," he said suddenly, his voice barely above a whisper. "I know I don't say it often enough…"

She silenced him with a kiss.

"I love you too, baby," she said, stroking his hair. "I don't need to hear it often, to know you love me. It's there, in the little things that you do."

"Any news on how Griss and Sara are?" asked Nick as Catherine walked into the break room, followed by Warrick and Greg, ten minutes before the start of shift.

He glanced at the two chairs they often chose, and felt the familiar anger at Ecklie's treatment of them resurface. He felt he should have done more for them, than just make a statement.

Catherine helped herself to some coffee.

"Nothing so far," she replied, before taking a sip of the beverage. "I was thinking of stopping by their place later, to keep them updated. Is there anything you want me to pass on?"

"Yeah," said Nick, his Texan drawl more pronounced in his anger. "Ecklie's investigation is nothing more than political BS. If I could do more for Griss, I would."

Catherine smiled over her mug.

"He knows that, Nicky. We all do. We just have to bide our time, and hope Ecklie sees reason, and reinstates them both."

Nick shook his head in disgust, knowing the others felt exactly the same. The lab just hadn't been the same without Grissom and Sara.

The small talk continued around Nick as Catherine moved over to take a seat by Greg and Warrick. Nick tuned out the conversation, allowing himself to get lost in his thoughts until he felt the sharp dig in his ribs from Warrick. Nick looked up as the break room grew quiet.

Grissom and Sara stood framed in the doorway, an air of nervousness surrounding them as they faced their colleagues for the first time since their relationship had been revealed.

They looked good.

Grissom had lost a little weight since they'd last seen him, but he looked good for it.

Sara hadn't changed that much, although there seemed to be a glow around her that hadn't been there before. The t-shirt she was wearing emphasised the slight roundness of her stomach that also hadn't been there before. It was the first indication of the baby she now carried. Her slim figure made it all the more noticeable.

Despite their nervousness, they looked happy. They stood slightly apart, but it was now painfully obvious they were a couple, and had been for some time.

An aura seemed to surround them, and Nick wondered why none of them had never noticed before.

Nick couldn't hide the delighted grin that formed on his face, which was also mirrored on everyone else's faces.

Nick pushed back from his chair, rose to his feet and swept Sara into a massive hug.

"When did Ecklie reinstate you?" he asked, as he glanced at Grissom, still embracing Sara.

"Yesterday morning," answered Grissom, watching as the team took turns in hugging Sara in welcome.

"It's great to see you both back," said Nick. "The lab's not been the same without you. Ecklie had no reason to suspend you…"

Grissom shook his head.

"Nicky, he had every reason," he replied quietly and everyone became quiet as he talked. "It means a lot to Sara and I, to have your support, especially as we kept this from all of you."

It wasn't often he spoke so openly, but he wanted them to know that he appreciated what all of them had done for himself and Sara.

"It's also true that Sara is pregnant," Grissom continued. He glanced at Catherine as he continued, who dipped her head in acknowledgement, a smile on her face. "Although Catherine did let the cat out of the bag a little prematurely."

"I'll organise the baby shower to make up for it," Catherine promised.

"Oh no! No!" said Sara, refusing outright, shaking her head as colour flushed her cheeks at being the centre of attention. "No baby shower!"

"A baby shower would be great, for Cricket," said Nick, thinking out loud.

"Cricket?" asked Sara and Grissom in unison.

Nick grinned mischievously.

"Sure, " he said with shrug. "Why not, since Grissom's into bugs?"

He paused for a second as another thought came to him, and his grin widened.

"The Love Bugs and Cricket."

Grissom shook his head in mock disbelief. He'd missed the camaraderie of the grave shift, more than he'd realised.

"Maybe you should focus on some work, instead of nicknames, Nicky," suggested Grissom, after allowing the good-natured ribbing to continue for a few minutes longer.

"Sure thing, Boss," said Nick growing serious, as Grissom handed him his assignment.

"Take Warrick with you," Grissom added.

"It's really good to have you back, Grissom," Warrick said, with a nod of the head.

Grissom nodded slightly in acknowledgement, as he watched them head towards the car park.

He handed Catherine her assignment, before handing the last one out to Greg and Sara.

Catherine fiddled with her coffee, delaying her departure, as Grissom watched Greg and Sara walk out the door, arguing about who would drive.

"It really is good to have you back, Gil," said Catherine with a smile as Grissom turned back to face her. "I still can't quite picture you with the suburban house, with a white picket fence and two-point-four children."

Grissom shrugged non-committedely.

"Neither did I," he admitted, pursing his lips. "Until now."

"So, do you think you and Grissom will get married?" Greg asked, breaking the silence as Sara drove them to their crime scene.

Sara concentrated on driving.

"It's never come up," she said, after giving it some thought. "We're happy as we are."

"But with a baby…"

"That's not a reason to get married, Greg," Sara responded. "You don't have to be married to have kids together."

"You just don't like weddings," Greg teased.

Sara shook her head.

"No, I just don't think you have to follow tradition, just because you have kids."

Greg grinned. "So if Grissom did ask you to marry him, you'd turn him down?"

Sara shook her head, a smirk on her face.

"I didn't say that either."

She turned to face him.

"He's never asked," she said deciding to leave it at that.

She could feel Greg's eyes on her.

"You love him right?"

"Yeah, I do," she said without any hesitation.

At the end of shift, Grissom signed the last report with a sigh, managing to surprise himself by getting through all the paperwork that had accumulated over the last two weeks.

Sara had texted him earlier that night that the guys and Catherine wanted to treat them to breakfast at IHOP, so Grissom quickly filed away the last of the reports.

As he was leaving the office, Sara met up with him as she came from the locker room. He could see the traces of weariness starting to creep across her face, which was confirmed seconds later by a stifled yawn.

"All done?" she asked, just managing to resist the urge to link arms with him. "I'm in the mood for pancakes."

Her stomach growled with hunger. She was ravenous.

"Then we'd better you get those pancakes," suggested Grissom, as he placed a hand on the small of her back as they headed toward reception and PD.

A shout alerted them to a fleeing prisoner heading in their direction. Grissom barely had time to move Sara out of his path before Officer Mitchell and Officer Clark managed to take him down.

"Mike Garrett you're under arrest for assaulting a police officer in the course of her duty and fleeing police custody," Clark informed him as he hauled the man to his feet.

Mike struggled vainly against the handcuffs.

"The bitch deserved it!" he yelled as he was dragged away, still struggling.

Grissom felt Sara wriggle uncomfortably against him and he looked down to see that he'd managed to pin her against the wall, his elbow in her stomach. In his haste, he hadn't been aware of what he'd done to get her out of the way.

He immediately moved, freeing her from her uncomfortable position against the wall.

"Honey, I'm so sorry, are you alright?" he asked, the endearment coming so naturally that he wasn't even aware he'd said it. At the same time, he rested his hand on her stomach, protecting the precious cargo within.

"Is the baby okay? Maybe we should see Doc Robbins and get you checked out?"

Sara puffed out her cheeks, rubbing at the spot where Grissom had inadvertently elbowed her.

"I'm fine," she nodded. "There's no need to see Doc Robbins, either."

Sara turned to face Mitch who had remained behind to make sure that Sara was okay.

"What was that all about?" she asked.

"Mike Garrett, he's a nasty piece of work," Mitch replied. "He'd pick a fight with you soon as look at you. Hates cops, and thinks the rules don't apply to him. He took a swing at the arresting officer."

Mitch turned in the direction Clark had headed, with Garrett in tow.

"It won't be too long before he's back in here. Unfortunately it never is."