I love that feeling you have when you're just waking up. You know the one where you're not quite awake, but not really asleep still? I don't get to enjoy that feeling very often because usually my alarm clock intrudes on whatever dream I'm having. Not this afternoon. I smile when I think about the dream I had about him. I wonder if he's still sleeping. I glance over at the clock and grin. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's still sleeping.

There was a time a few months ago when I hardly slept at all. Of course, that was also when I would have dropped everything if Gil Grissom had asked me to dinner. Of course, up to that point I had pretty much dropped my entire life if he so much as glanced at me with the hint of a smile. Then I asked him to dinner. I think it was a last ditch effort. When he turned me down, I told him that if he waited too long to figure it out, that it might just be too late. I don't think that he realized that the timeframe would expire so soon.

In fact, if I was truly honest with myself, I would have to say that it had probably expired even before I had asked him out to dinner. I think I was trying to be methodical and thorough about the situation. You know, so I couldn't look back at some point in the future and wonder if things would have been different if I had done something differently.

I know now that he had a lot going on in his life that none of us really knew about. I mean, none of us but Catherine knew until after he'd had surgery that he even had a hearing problem. I think that crystallized a lot of things for me. It made me realize that I was done waiting for someone who couldn't trust me with the really important things in his life. And as things crystallized, I was surprised at how fast other things fell into place.

Case in point. Him. How I managed to not notice how amazing he is escapes me. Ok, so I had a little tunnel vision. It's just that he was right under my nose, and it took me three years to notice him. I laugh about it now, but really, how dumb can a girl be?

I glance at the clock. I really want to wake him up. I love how his voice sounds when he is sleepy and he pretends he's not. Mmmm. I love the luxury of just laying here, but I really want to hear his voice. So I reach over and pick up the phone and then lay back into my pillow. I can have the best of both worlds this way. I dial the familiar number and grin as I hear him answer the phone.

"Hello." I can tell by his voice that I have in fact woken him up.

"Hey, baby. Did I wake you up?" A grin overtakes my face.

I can tell he's yawning. "Yeah. You did. But that's ok. I can't think of anyone I'd rather be woken up by."

I chuckle.

"Did you sleep well, babe?" He's got concern in his voice. He knows how hard it was for me to process that crime scene last night.

"Yeah. In fact, I haven't actually gotten up, I'm just kind of laying here enjoying the fact that I can." I love this cozy feeling of just laying here and talking to him over the phone.

He chuckles.

"What are you going to do until you come over?" I know I probably sound like a teenage girl talking to her first boyfriend.

He chuckles again. "You mean besides thinking about you?"

I giggle. He and I are pathetic. I'm sure if someone were to listen in on our conversations when we're alone, they'd swear we were two love struck teenagers. Of course, no one would think to listen in on our conversations since no one we know has a clue that we're even together. We've been friends so long, and we've always gotten together outside of work that no one would suspect that things have gone a bit beyond friendship between us.

He lets out a deep sigh and I can tell that he's stretching and thinking about getting out of bed. "I was thinking about going to the driving range and hitting a bucket or two of balls. Then I should have enough time to come home and take a shower before I come over to see you, my dear."

I consider that for a moment. I really would like to go with him, but I have a few things I need to do before I see him.

I must be quiet too long, because I hear him chuckle. "You want to come don't you?"

I chuckle. "You know me too well. But I need to do some stuff before you come over." I'm sure I sound like I'm pouting.

He chuckles. "You know, you could come hit a bucket with me and then go do what you need to before I come over. I could just come over a little later."

I'm sure that he can hear the grin in my voice. "Ok."

He laughs. "I suppose that means that we both have to get up."

I chuckle. "Yeah, I guess we would."

"Ok, I'll meet you there in about half an hour?" I can tell he's grinning.

"Sounds good. Can't wait to see you." I've got a huge smile on my face.

"Can't wait to see you. Bye." He sounds so damn sexy.

"Bye." I hang up the phone reluctantly.

I pull myself out of bed and just throw on a pair of faded blue jeans and an LVPD T-shirt. I glance in the mirror and decide that maybe my hair will be ok if I just put a cap on. On goes another piece of LVPD paraphernalia. The thought occurs to me that if someone we know sees us, I've just put a billboard on myself to draw attention to us. But like I said before, we've always gotten together outside of work, so no one would really raise an eyebrow. Part of the reason for that is because we've made a point to not show affection in public. At least not until we're ready to go public, and right now were talking about it, but haven't made any firm decisions.

I grab my car keys and my purse and walk out to my Tahoe and climb in. I grin as I turn on the radio. We both really like this song and I softly sing along as I make my way to the driving range, which isn't that far from my apartment.

I see him leaning against his Tahoe as I pull in. I have to laugh. He's also sporting an LVPD T-shirt and cap. I guess great minds think alike.

He raises an eyebrow at me as I descend from my Tahoe and he catches a glimpse of what I'm wearing. "Nice outfit."

I chuckle. "If you were a girl, this could be a problem. We'd both have to go home and change."

He chuckles. "Well it's a good thing I'm not or I wouldn't be with you now would I?"

I just grin and swat at him. "Let's go hit some balls."

"Whatever the lady wants, the lady gets." He chuckles again and we make our way to the booth to purchase a couple of buckets and rent a couple of drivers.

I can't believe how long it takes to go through a bucket of balls. Of course I probably could have gotten through it faster if I hadn't been ogling his ass. And of course, he knew that I was because every once in a while he'd glance back and grin at me and do this little swivel thing with his hips which would just make me laugh.

We both decide to leave after I finally finish hitting my single bucket of balls. He's hit two buckets in that amount of time. As we walk out to the parking lot we keep grinning at each other like a couple of idiots. I know it's because he wants to kiss me as much as I want to kiss him, but until we tell everyone at work that we're together and figure out where this is going, we don't want to risk getting caught.

I'll see him a couple of hours though, and I'm looking forward to spending some quality time alone with him. You see, we both have the night off.