When Sara woke up the next morning, she reached over to put her arm around Grissom, but all that met her was a cold sheet. She turned over and opened her eyes. Gazing across the room, Sara found Grissom sitting in a chair near the window. She got out of bed and padded over to where he was sitting, loosely draping her arms around his neck from behind. Grissom reached up and took her hands in his. "Good morning sleepyhead," he said, kissing her hand.

Sara yawned and rested her head against his. "You alright?" Sara asked.

"Yeah, I was just thinking."

"Ummhmm," she mumbled, kissing his temple.

Grissom let go of Sara's hands and reached around to pull her into his lap. "Do you feel okay?" he asked, stroking her leg, "You slept for a pretty long time."

"Really? What time is it?" she asked, pulling at his wrist.

"About ten," Grissom replied at the same time she looked at his watch.

"Wow, I guess I was tired," Sara said in disbelief.

"You never sleep that long," Grissom stated, brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

Sara shrugged, and Grissom changed the subject. "I ordered room service," Grissom stated, turning her toward the door, "we can have breakfast in bed if you want."

"I'd like that," Sara spoke, making no move to get up.

"It only got here about half an hour ago, it should still be pretty warm," he said, nudging her a little bit.

Sara got up from Grissom's lap and headed toward the room service cart. "Sara, why don't you get back in bed, I'll get your breakfast."

"Griss, I got it," Sara continued toward the cart.

"Sara, just let me do this," he said, catching up to her and putting his hand on her arm.

Sara was surprised that Grissom was so adamant about putting her breakfast together. Sara nodded and made her way back into the bed, fluffing up the pillows and leaning against the headboard. A few minutes later, Grissom sat beside her and handed her a plate of food. "Thanks," she said, taking the plate from him.

The two ate breakfast, barely speaking to each other the entire time.

Grissom and Sara spent the rest of the morning making phone calls and lounging in the hotel. Around noon, Grissom went into the bathroom to start getting ready for the wake. When Sara finished getting ready, she walked over to the bathroom door. "Honey, I'm going to go downstairs and talk to the front desk about getting the packages mailed home. I'll be right back," she said through the door.

"Are you ready to leave?" he called back.

"Yeah."

"When you're done just stay down there, I'll be down in a few minutes."

"Okay."

Sara exited the hotel room, leaving Grissom to finish getting ready.

Grissom looked in the mirror as he combed his hair. He noticed the dark circles beginning to form under his eyes and realized how tired he felt. This week has been torture, I just need to hold it together enough to make it through the rest of today and tomorrow.

Grissom took one more look in the mirror and straightened his tie before exiting the bathroom. Grissom picked up his suit jacket off of the back of the chair and headed for the lobby.

When Grissom entered the lobby, he found Sara sitting in a chair near the door. "Are you ready?" Sara asked, getting up from the chair.

"Yes," he said, draping an arm around her waist and leading her out to the car.

"They're going to ship out the packages tomorrow," Sara spoke one they had started their drive to the funeral home.

Grissom nodded and kept driving. His hands were gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles began to turn white. He had been silent most of the drive, and although Sara understood his silence, she didn't like the fact that he was cutting off the circulation to his hands. "Gil," she said, looking over at him in concern, "give me your hand."

Grissom glanced over and complied. Sara took his hand in hers and squeezed it, massaging his fingers. Some of the tension left Grissom's body, and they drove the rest of the way in comfortable silence.

At the wake, Sara stood by as she watched various people give their condolences. Grissom did not appear to recognize many of the people, and a stoic look remained on his face as the mourners passed through. As it neared six o'clock, the last people finally departed, and the funeral director rolled the coffin back into the back room, out of sight. Sara was left alone with Grissom in the viewing room. Grissom stood staring at the door that the funeral director had disappeared through moments ago. Sara walked up behind him and rested her hand on his hip. "What can I do?" she asked.

Grissom turned away from her. "I need to get out of here," he practically whispered.

"Okay," she spoke, directing him out of the funeral home.

Once they got outside, Grissom started to move toward the car. "Gil, give me the keys, I'll drive," Sara spoke, touching his arm.

Grissom relinquished the keys and got into the passenger seat. Sara started to drive back to the hotel, but Grissom spoke. "I don't want to go back just yet, follow my directions."

Sara nodded in assent, and all that could be heard the rest of the ride were various directional commands.

Grissom's directions led them to a beach not far from where his mother's house was. Grissom got out of the car and headed down onto the sand. Sara stayed in the car, regrouping for a few moments, before she joined Grissom on the beach. Sara linked her arm through his and leaned against his shoulder. "We should have gone back to the hotel and changed first," Sara spoke.

"I don't want to stay long," Grissom reasoned, "I just want to look at the view."

Grissom pulled Sara in front of him and linked his hands with hers. "When I was a kid I used to come here all of the time," he reminisced, "there are plenty of specimens lurking in the water."

Sara smiled and leaned into him. "The view is beautiful," Sara spoke.

"Hmm," Grissom mumbled, "I remember waiting for things to wash up on the beach so I could go and study them. I spent more time here than I spent with humans."

"Now that doesn't surprise me."

Grissom kissed the top of her head and sighed. "I'm getting older Sara," he stated.

"So am I Griss, what's your point?"

"We don't live forever."

Sara turned around in his arms and looked him in the eye. "We can't worry about that, or we'll never live."

Grissom reached up and cupped her cheek. "I worry about leaving you behind. The years just keep creeping up on me."

Sara looked away as tears formed in her eyes. "Gil, you're the only one I love, you know that. I'm not going to sacrifice that just because you're getting older. Keep in mind that I have a clock that's ticking away too."

"I think about that too."

Sara grabbed Grissom's arm and started pulling him toward the car. "I'm taking you back to the hotel," she spoke, dragging him, "I'm not going to let you start drowning in what if's."

Grissom was at a loss for words, so he just got into the car. He could see that Sara was tense and upset, but he didn't know what to say to clear things up. When they got back to the hotel, Grissom entered the bathroom. Grissom stripped down to his t-shirt and boxers and turned the water on in the bathtub. When he exited the bathroom, he found Sara sitting on the bed, still fully clothed, tear streaks on her face. "You okay?" he asked, sitting beside her.

"Yeah," Sara let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.

"That's why you're sitting here in the most uncomfortable clothes possible."

Sara shrugged. "I'm sorry," he spoke, rubbing her back, "I've got a lot of things on my mind right now."

"I just thought you were over all of that."

"I know that I love you, and you love me, but that still doesn't change time."

"I just prefer not to think about it I guess."

"Then what were you thinking about just now?"

"Things."

"Very descriptive Ms. Sidle."

A hint of a smile crossed Sara's face. "Come on, I started a bath for you," Grissom spoke, "I want you to get comfortable and relax."

"You're joining me," Sara spoke.

"No, I thought you'd want some me time."

"Nah, come on, you could benefit from some relaxation too. You go get in and I'll be right there."

Grissom nodded and went to get into the tub.

Sara entered the bathroom with a robe wrapped around her. After taking it off and setting it on the side, Sara lowered herself into the tub across from Grissom. Grissom picked up her foot and started to massage it. "Mmm," Sara moaned, relishing in his touch, "that feels good."

"Good," Grissom said, continuing his ministrations.

Sara sunk lower into the tub and closed her eyes. When Grissom stopped massaging her feet, she looked up. "Come here," he spoke, reaching out his arms.

Sara turned around in the tub and leaned up against his chest, stroking small circles against his side. "Thank you for being there," Grissom spoke, kissing the top of her head.

"I'd like to think you'd do the same for me."

"I would. I want you to know that it was comforting knowing you were there."

Sara nodded and pressed a few kisses to his chest. Grissom started to stroke her hair while thoughts ran through his head. "Do you ever think about death?" Grissom hesitated.

"There are things worse than death, and I've been through enough of them."

When she answered, he figured that she might not mind talking about his thoughts. "You didn't answer my question."

"Griss, we deal with death every day, I don't want to talk about this. You shouldn't be thinking about this either."

Grissom reached down and wrapped his arms around her. "Please, hear me out, we've never talked about this. Though all of this has been so hard, I felt better knowing that I knew what mom's last wishes were, and that got me thinking. In our line of work, we take a lot of risks every day. If something were to happen to you, I think I would feel better knowing what your wishes were and how you wanted them carried out."

Sara stiffened in Grissom's embrace and started to pull away. "Gil," her voice caught in her throat, "I can't do this here."

Sara struggled to stand upright and ended up slipping on the bottom of the tub. Grissom was quick to reach his arms out to catch her before she could hit her head against the edge of the tub. "Are you okay?" he asked, easing her back into the tub.

Sara nodded as tears started to stream down her face. Grissom helped her out of the tub and wrapped a towel around her before grabbing a towel of his own. Sara leaned against the wall and tried to slow her breathing, feeling a panic attack start to set in. Grissom wrapped his arm around her and led her out to the bed. Sara immediately dropped her head between her knees and struggled to regain control of her breathing. "Sara, you have to listen to me," Grissom spoke, putting his hands on her knees, "you need to breathe slower, take deep breaths."

Sara continued to hyperventilate, and Grissom tried to get her to concentrate. "Sara, you're safe, I'm here. Focus on my voice, you've got to calm down."

After another minute of Grissom's coaxing, Sara's quick breaths turned into normal ones with intermittent coughs. Sara started to shiver and continued to keep her head down. "I need to get changed," she managed to get out.

Grissom grabbed her pajamas and helped her to change into them. He slid her under the covers and got into the bed next to her, pulling her into his arms. A few tears still streamed down her face, and she occasionally sniffled. "I want to be cremated," she sniffled, burying her head in his chest, "I know too much about death from this job, and your insects are not pleasant with it. There is no way anyone is putting me in a box in the ground to be bug food."

Grissom emitted a soft chuckle and kissed the top of her head. "If I'd have known I was going to upset you, I wouldn't have brought it up. I'm sorry."

"It's not that," Sara sighed, "there's just so many things going on, and I don't understand how you can just go and talk about things like nothing has happened. I don't like thinking about the prospect of waking up one day and you not being there."

"Sara, I'm not going anywhere, and I do have feelings."

"I know Gil," Sara spoke, stroking his chest, "but you have your own insecurities, and they start to bother me too. You're so much better at containing your emotions than I am."

"We'll see what you say about that after tomorrow."

Sara pulled him into a tight hug. "Gil, you've been so strong through all of this. I know I couldn't do what you've done."

Grissom nodded and kissed her lips. When Sara pulled away she spoke. "How about you?"

"What?"

"What are your wishes?"

"I want to be buried in a simple biodegradable pine box."

Sara nodded and sighed. "I'm a mess, aren't I?" she said, reaching up to brush her tears away.

"No, you're beautiful," Grissom kissed her again.

Grissom put his hands on Sara's waist and deepened the kiss. Sara ran her hands up Grissom's sides and dangled them up in his hair. Sara moaned when one of Grissom's hands drifted lower and teased with the waistband of her panties. Moments later one of his hands drifted higher, bringing her pajama top with it. Grissom momentarily pulled away from the kiss to look Sara in the eye. "Are you okay with this?" Grissom asked, unsure of her current mood.

"Since when have you had to ask," Sara said, flipping him onto his back.

Their current problems pushed to the backs of their minds, Grissom and Sara reaffirmed their love for each other.