The truth

(Gil Grissom & Sara Sidle)

By Dany

Summary: The developments through their eyes culminating in a little surprise party.

A/N: Sorry this became so confusing, but I can actually picture them buying a house together better than I can see them getting married. It's too institutionalized for them, especially in Vegas. But that's just my opinion.
Anyway, this is the final part of the 'Alliterations' series. It follows. "Revelations & Robbins"
Thanks to ITB and CSIReader!

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI.

xxxxx

Grissom and Sara knew when each one of them found out.

As investigators they were trained to notice every chance, even it was only minimal.

They did nothing to provoke a reaction, but they had set their goal on creating a relationship that was as normal as possible. A weekend, hiding from everyone, 'never going out' type of affair would not do. There was more trust and closeness to be rebuilt between them to risk it by neglecting and negating it.

Their love was too important to play with.

xxxxx

The first one to find out was Doc Robbins.

They had been dating for not quite three weeks when the coroner noticed it.

When he looked up from the microscope he knew instantly that Robbins was onto something. His eyes were glittering with the excitement of a new discovery.

Back then he had not been able to figure out where they had been too obvious and it was only in the safety of his home having gone through that night time and time again when he realized Robbins had not known until they were reading the report. Only then, his eyes had shown true recognition.

The thought that they were already discovered scared him, but he had always been able to rely on Albert Robbins as a trusted friend so he forced himself to stay calm.

xxxxx

He was far more scared when Catherine found out.

Admitted, she was a good friend, but unfortunately she was not exactly known for her tight-lipped-persona. That made him more than a little wary.

Sara was more angry than nervous at their oversights. How could they have been so careless?

They had just been getting comfortable in their relationship and had not been thinking of the consequences of a stupid wine glass left on the mantelpiece or a book on the couch.

Grissom had seen the look Catherine had given him for the rest of the evening, but had focused on Lindsey to divert her attention.

He had tried to comfort her, telling her it would be ok, that Catherine wouldn't do anything to hurt them.

His trust was not misplaced and Catherine never told.

xxxxx

A while later, there was proof that eyes actually got better with age – or was it experience. This time it was pure luck that they were discovered.

As they sat in the car, still trying to process that they had just made a bid on a house, they had spotted the car.

Well, Sara had and when they recognized Brass they didn't know what to do. When it became apparent that Brass was not going to confront them they drove back to Grissom's condo.

Later that night, even at their short encounters at work, they had still been discussing whether it would be better to come clean or not.

In the end they had agreed that it wasn't the right time yet and they needed to put their focus on them and not on others.

They trusted Brass as much as they did Robbins so they weren't too concerned about him.

xxxxx

After their scare with Brass it took a while longer for one of the others to find out and it was not without a 'strike' of luck that Warrick found out.

Entering the baseball stadium they had seen him hand over the tickets to the cashier.

Grissom had wanted to leave, but Sara had argued that it was a huge complex and if they weren't seated right beside them, why waste her anniversary present. It was their big day and it would be a shame leaving before the game had even started.

Their seats were not even close to Warrick's, but in the sixth inning they got careless.

Reveling in their celebration, enjoying his favorite sport he threw caution in the wind and took Sara in his arms letting his lips fall on hers.

They didn't notice one of the cameras trained on them while the feelings coursed through them. Only when a seat neighbor told them that they had just made a big appearance their cheeks reddened and their minds started racing.

It was then that they made the decision to let it go and see what happened. Three of their friends already knew and no one had revealed their secret yet. What was one more?

xxxxx

The fifth accessory came as unexpected as the others, but with more humor.

The way Nick had tried to hit on Sara in the bookstore was hilarious – if you weren't Nick – but also worrying if you were Grissom. He knew Nick wasn't the only one who found Sara attractive, but he pushed that back in his mind, telling himself he trusted her.

Later, when he drove to a crime scene with Nick he knew the younger man had seen the travel books lying on the backseat. When he announced that he would be taking a vacation at the same time as Sara he could see that Nick had drawn the right conclusion. It was written all over his face that he knew.

Their vacation was the first big test – for them and the team. They all had to know that they spent their trip together, but nothing happened. The team was better at keeping a secret than they had given them credit for.

Their relationship had survived the vacation and even more, came out stronger than before.

xxxxx

Greg was – sadly - the last to find out.

They had expected him to do better, but made a vow to help him work on his observation skills. Although, maybe it had just been some bad luck. They had been seriously thinking about coming clean, making an appointment with the director and the sheriff, when Greg found out.

And… he discovered something the others had no clue about.

When they met him in the queue at the movie theater Sara had been wearing her ring.

Grissom had proposed very traditionally at dinner 10 days ago – complete with knee fall and all – and Sara wore her ring proudly, except at work. They didn't want to draw more attention to them until they had a talk with the 'bosses'.

Greg didn't need to be reminded to keep it to himself, he was too scared of Grissom and even Sara to tell anyone that there would be wedding bells in the near future.

xxxxx

The appointment with the sheriff and the director went rather well. No one would be transferred unless they started acting unprofessionally. Since they had managed that so far the 'big bosses' were too afraid to lose two of the best CSIs they had.

Sara and Grissom planned to make the big announcement the following evening. He had invited everyone to a small intimate restaurant for dinner, catching them all by surprise. All of them guessed that it was about their relationship, but no one knew all of it.

So when, after dinner, Grissom pulled Sara up to stand right beside him no one saw it coming. They only thought they did.

"We have an announcement to make," Grissom declared looking into smiling faces.

Catherine seemed especially bouncy so he asked her, "Cath, is there something you want to share with the rest of us?"

Her smile widened. "I don't want to ruin it."

"You won't, so go ahead." Grissom's arm tightened around Sara assuring her silently that everything was going according to plan.

Catherine could not hold back the happy smile. "If I look around the table here, I guess everyone knows that you finally got your head out of the microscope and made a certain CSI very happy with that."

"Which is a very long description for 'You're a couple'," Warrick added with a small smirk.

Grissom nodded and motioned for Brass, "Anything to add?"

"They bought a house together!" He delivered this as if it was nothing exceptional, but his eyes belied his tone, showing nothing but happiness.

The eyes of the others almost bulged out of their heads not quite believing that Grissom and Sara had gotten this far.

"Greg?" Sara's voice held a teasing note as she shook the lab tech out of his trance to reveal his secret.

"Didn't any of you have a look at Sara's hand," he burst out, happy that he had known something the other investigators hadn't.

The silence that followed Greg's little outburst was almost overwhelming. Neither knew what to say. This little sentence had shocked them beyond measure. They had been so sure that they had known and not been detected and now it seemed they had been had.

To celebrate their victory Sara pulled her future husband closer and put him in a lasting lip-lock, still smiling with pure happiness.

The end