Disclaimer: I dont' own.

A/N: So, for those of you getting discouraged, I'm very, very sorry. I hope you can stick it out, because I do promise a GSR happy ending. I will say, though, that whether she marries Jace or not, it's a long time in coming. I'm sorry about that, but gsrmania has demanded lots of 'hot hot hot gsr sex' before the end, and who I am to disappoint? I promise, I'll make it worth your while in the end. :) Lol.

This chapter... is sad. Very sad. I'm sorry about that also. :( Still, it has something everyone's been waiting for, so... read it anyway. Hehe.

Thanks for the reviews (angry though some of them were ;) ) and I hope you enjoy!

Chapter Twenty Eight:

My last lecture had been on Thursday, and though I toyed with the idea of attending some on Friday, just to be on campus and chance running into her, I didn't. I forced myself to take my time with everything—I stayed in bed late, took a long shower, took my time dressing and packing and double-checking the room to be certain I had not left anything behind. I double-checked my wallet, making sure I had Sara's information, though I sincerely didn't want to feel the need to do so.

But eventually I could not redo another thing, and checked out of the hotel, upset to glance at my watch and realize that though I had thought I'd stalled long enough to waste most of the morning, it wasn't yet ten o'clock. I figured I could go to the airport, although the flight I was hoping to catch wasn't until early evening… but somehow, instead, I ended up on campus, sitting on the bench in which she had cried in my arms. It was the closest I had ever been to her… the most I'd ever been allowed to touch her.

Maybe I'd been foolish. Maybe I shouldn't have decided to be the bigger person. Would she have cried like that, if she really would never have left him? I mean, she wasn't acting like she ever would… she was acting like she was just confused, and would marry him either way. The only thing in my control was whether she was happy with that decision.

But maybe not. She had confronted me, called me a liar, and told me she'd only said she had every intention of marrying Jace regardless of having met me was because she wanted to hurt me as much as I'd hurt her, telling her I was still in love with someone else.

When she plopped onto the bench beside me, I was half convinced I was hallucinating her presence there. She tilted her head. "Hi."

I swallowed. "Hi."

"I… thought your flight left today."

"It does. This… evening."

She nodded, slowly. "Are you… here for a lecture?" I shook my head, sadly, lacking the strength to even lie to her at this point. To my surprise, she nodded like she understood. "Yeah… me neither."

I glanced at her in surprise, and she shrugged. "…The in-laws?"

She smirked. "They're a handful. I'm meeting with everyone for lunch but… I just wanted some time alone, this morning."

That single statement, so small… expressed so off-handedly… it gave me a strength of will I had not had a moment before. I turned to her in desperation. "Sara… Sara, I lied to you. I lied when I said I was still in love with her and that I thought you should marry Jace. I didn't think you would leave him, either way, so… I just wanted you to feel happy with the decision. You were right, when you accused me and—"

Her hand fell on my arm and I stopped, breathing heavily, watching her with anxious eyes. "Dr. Grissom… Gil." She said, and my heart leapt into my throat. "…I don't think you really know what you want."

"No, Sara, I—"

"No, you… you can't keep doing this to me. I… I know you never meant to but… this back and forth. How can I not marry a man in order to be with someone who changes his mind about me hourly?"

I shook my head and blinked back tears, hating that they were distracting me from what was quite possibly the most important moment of my life. "Sara, I… I haven't changed. I've wanted you since the very moment I laid eyes on you. Sara, I… I think I fell in love with you, in that single second I saw you in the bar, covered in lifesavers and condoms and just a little bit tipsy. Sara, I… I dream about your bellybutton, sweetheart, and about you surfing the world and as Little Red Riding Hood and…"

She stood up, and there were tears in her eyes as well. "Stop." She half-whispered, her voice tremulous. "This isn't fair… You have to stop. I… I have to stop this."

She turned to walk away from me but I could not just let her go so easily. I couldn't. I leapt to my feet and ran around the bench, catching her before she could move out of the little grouping of climbing trees here. I didn't think about it, and I didn't stop to consider the repercussions… I pressed her back against the trunk of the tree, gently but quickly, and caught her lips in mine with an urgent need. I framed her face in my hands and slid them back to take in the texture of her hair and though her hands remained at her sides, her lips kissed me back. There were tears running down her cheeks, making the kiss wet and salty, and not a little sad, but it filled me up in a way such as I have never known.

I broke the kiss, regretfully, a moment later, and watched her deep brown eyes flutter open, our heavy breathing filling up the space between us. She stared at me for a long moment, and then shook her head, softly. "I… I can't."

She tried to slip away, but I stopped her gently again, cradling her face. She must have thought I meant to kiss her again, because in the softest, most pleading voice I had ever heard, she said, "Please don't…" I swallowed, taking in a deep breath, trying to gather my thoughts, because this was my very last chance.

"Sara… I love you. I love you more than I have ever loved anyone, my whole life long. I am always going to love you. …Don't walk down that aisle, honey. Don't marry him. …Marry me."

And as soon as the words were out of my mouth, I had dropped to one knee, clutching at her left hand like a lifeline. "Sara Sidle… please, honey… Do me the honor of becoming my wife."

She looked down at me in surprise and… what could only be described as horror. I hoped that was just because I'd confused her again, and not because the idea of marrying me inspired horror. The kiss, in my mind, had been… life-changing. I couldn't believe that she hadn't felt at least some of that. She tugged on my hand, using her right to wipe away tears. "Stand up, Gil. Please…"

I stood, hesitantly, and refused to release her hand. I didn't want this to be over… I didn't want her to tell me no. I couldn't stand the idea of her marrying someone else, no matter how nice he might be. She wiped her eyes again, and swallowed. "I… I just can't do this, right now. I… You can't keep doing this!" She insisted, stomping her foot and looking very much like a child. I wanted to pull her back into my arms and kiss the tears from her face and laugh softly into her hair at how sweet and yet how silly she was. "I… I have to go, Gil. I'm sorry."

She pulled from me, turning and beginning to walk away. "Sara…" She glanced behind herself, almost hesitantly, like she was afraid of what I had to say. "I… I'll be here… until you say 'I do.' I… I love you."

She faced forward again, her back to me, but I heard her response all the same. "…You fly out tonight."

I shook my head, despite her being unable to see it. "No. I… was going to take a standby if I could get it. My original flight is for tomorrow evening. I… I'll be there, tomorrow, at the church… I'm waiting for you, honey, until… the very last moment." My voice broke over the last few words and I breathed in deeply, trying to control myself.

She stood there silently for a long moment in time, punctuated only by my attempts to control my emotion, and then, like watching something terrible about to happen in slow motion, I watched the hesitant and weary shake of her head. "…Don't. …Get on the standby, Dr. Grissom. I… I'm marrying Jace."

She walked away and the force of her words hit me like a blow to the stomach. I fell to my knees with it, hand coming out to brace myself on the tree against which I'd just kissed her, feeling an ache within me so acute that I thought I must surely be dying. This could not be normal… this amount of pain. My heart must be failing.

But my heart did not fail, despite my wishing that it do so and end the pain. Eventually I realized that while there wasn't anyone close by, the campus was still quite populated, and I had enough self-awareness to realize how strange I looked, kneeling with a hand on a tree, sobbing. I rose, trudged to my car, and drove around the city, getting myself lost several times.

I stopped for a peach muffin and coffee at the coffee shop we'd stopped at, and played a game of chess against myself on the pier. I went to the bar, in the middle of the day, but simply sat in the parking lot because it wasn't open yet. And when the time came in which a decision had to be made, I listened to her words. I had laid everything out for her, my feelings raw and exposed in a way they had not been since I was a child, and she had told me without any uncertainty exactly what she intended.

Why put myself through the torture of watching her marry another man?

I returned my rental car, I went through security, I checked my luggage, I bought a new book to read on the plane, and I waited. And as if God were throwing me a proverbial bone, there was one seat on the plane. They called me up for it first… and I sat, still and silent, while the lady at the desk called my name over the speaker… and I couldn't do it. I stood and walked away with only a carry on to get me through the next day. I had said I would wait until the last moment, and I would.

Distantly, I heard my name being announced with the words, 'last call for…' and then another name ringing out.