Disclaimer: CBS is just being stingy now. They won't even answer my asking if I can have CSI except to laugh at me. Okay, so I made that up. I never wrote them a letter. But you can imagine they would react that way if I did. At any rate, I don't own CSI and recieve no profit from producing this story.

Help Me

Chapter 11

Sara woke up pretty early the next morning. She stretched out in the bed and realized that she was not at home. She sat up and looked around the cabin bedroom. She remembered that it might have snowed the night before and she jumped up to see if it had. She hadn't seen snow in a long time. She threw back the curtains to find that if it had snowed, it was already gone. Sara was a little disappointed that it hadn't snowed, but was also glad that they could try their hike again today. She got quickly dressed and went to see if Grissom was awake yet.

"Good morning, Sara," Grissom was already eating a bowl of cereal.

"Good morning, Gil," Sara remembered to use his first name.

"Did you sleep well?" Grissom asked.

"Yes I did, how about you?" Sara returned.

"I slept great. Looks like we pretty much missed the snowstorm. The peaks in the distance got dusted, but we are still dry here," Grissom explained.

"Yeah, first thing I did was look out the window. I was almost a little disappointed. I guess I was hoping it would snow because I don't even remember the last time I saw it snow," Sara said.

"There's still a chance for it to snow again tonight, I watched the weather this morning. It's supposed to be a little chilly today, but good weather for a hike," Grissom smiled.

"But first we were going to make a trip down to the store right?" Sara asked.

"Good idea, we should get that out of the way," Grissom agreed.

"Let me just grab something to eat and we can go," Sara searched the cupboards for something quick to eat. She settled on having a piece of toast and a peach from the fruit basket.

They drove to the main office and asked for the nearest grocery store. The old man, Harold, directed them to take the road back a few miles to the little town they passed on their way in. They had a small market where they could buy whatever it was they needed. Grissom thanked the man and then got back in the car.

"How far is it?" Sara asked, as he slid into the driver's seat.

"It's just back down the road a few miles, that little town we passed on our way up here," Grissom explained.

"I don't remember seeing any stores," Sara furrowed her eyebrows.

"The old man said there was a little market," Grissom said, "I'm inclined to believe since he's lived here for a long time."

"I believe him, I just don't remember seeing one," Sara started, "what was the name of the little town anyway?"

"Aspen Valley, according to the old man," Grissom supplied.

"Well that man is just a fountain of knowledge isn't he," Sara joked.

"I think when you spend a good portion of your life somewhere, you tend to be a good source of information," Grissom smiled.

"Wow, there was an elk running through the trees over there, too bad I didn't have the camera ready," Sara said.

"I have heard there is a lot of wildlife in Rocky Mountain National Park. So we're pretty close to it and we're bound to see some here too," Grissom commented.

"I know, it's just that we don't get that kind of wildlife in Vegas, the stuff we see there is of an entirely different breed," Sara shook her head at the thought of some of the crazy people she'd met in her time in Vegas.

"Let's take a picnic lunch with us," Sara suggested as they were preparing to go on their hike, "according to the map there's a spot about halfway along the trail that has picnic tables."

"Okay, that's a good idea actually," Grissom headed for the kitchen to make sandwiches.

"I don't think I've ever been on a picnic," Sara laughed, "how about you?"

"You know, I don't think I have either," Grissom said.

"Well I'd say having one for the first time together is perfect then," Sara smiled brightly.

"I wouldn't want to with anyone else," Grissom agreed.

"Me either," Sara continued to smile.

Grissom felt lost in the moment. Sara was so beautiful standing there in front of him, smiling. He felt like pinching himself to make sure that this was real. Sara's brown eyes caught his and she gave him a questioning look.

"I'm sorry," Grissom broke her stare, "I was just admiring you. Sara, you are so beautiful."

Sara's jaw nearly dropped, she couldn't believe he had just said those words. She wasn't sure what to do, so she just stood there dumbly staring at him. Her mind tried to tell her to say something, anything to break the awkward silence, but her mouth would not obey.

Grissom was having a hard time believing his words himself. He moved closer to Sara and put his hands gently on either side of her face. He searched her eyes and then tenderly pulled her into a kiss. To his great relief, she didn't freak out or pull away, but rather returned the kiss. When they parted Grissom smiled at Sara who looked mildly surprised.

"I can't believe I just did that," Grissom whispered.

"Neither can I," Sara almost laughed, "but I'm glad you did. It felt...I don't know, right."

"It did," Grissom agreed softly, "I've never acted this way before. I keep surprising myself. The only thing I can think of to explain it is love. I think, I mean I, uh...I love you Sara."

Sara was so nervous herself she had to fight not to laugh at his nervousness, "I love you too, Gil."

Grissom let out the breath he wasn't aware that he had been holding. It felt so good to hear those words. He never risked saying something like that for fear of it not being said back to him. Sara turned away with a slight smile on her face to finish packing their lunch and hiking gear. Grissom felt almost like he was floating when she was near him. He knew for a fact now that he was in love. The idea of being in love with Sara suddenly didn't frighten him, it just felt like it was meant to be. Of course he was not the type to believe in cosmic destiny or anything like that, but he was pretty sure love was beginning to cloud his otherwise entirely logical mind.

"Ready to go?" Sara asked, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"Yes I am," Grissom took the offered hand and they set off down the trail.

A/N: I don't know if that was necessarily where I planned to end this chapter, but I figured with Fall Break coming up next week I may not have time to get up any chapters for a while. Also with the site being read-only for a few days, I thought I should get up a quick chapter first.