A/N: Again, thanks for all the great reviews. I know a lot of people were irritated that Ecklie didn't get fired, but there was just no way I could realistically fire him. Firing him for what he did would make about as much sense as firing Grissom and Sara for what they did. Sure, it might be grounds for a letter of reprimand, professional censure, or even demotion (as in the story), but it would take something REALLY big to get him fired. At any rate, I just wanted to let you guys know why I did what I did.

Dedication: To my baby sister Laura. Ok, so she's 22. But still, she absolutely rocks. This girl and her fiancé dragged their butts to every bookstore, calendar kiosk, and specialty shop in the greater Chattanooga area for TWO WEEKS before Christmas—all in their vain effort to find me the CSI calendar I so desperately wanted (and which apparently does not exist). It was just the absolute sweetest thing, how hard they tried. So on Christmas morning, I open up a small box with a $30 gift card to Outback. She looks at me and says, "Well, it's no CSI calendar, but hey, you can just take the cast out to dinner at Outback. Or…you can go on a Thursday night and sit at the bar and ask the bartender to turn CSI on." Ok, so it was hella funny when she said it (the girl is hysterically funny), and not so much when written, but you get the picture. Anyway.

The next few weeks passed relatively uneventfully for Grissom and Sara. They had their first fight, which was born of total exhaustion on the parts of both parties, and it was resolved in under five minutes, with Sara breaking down in tears of anger, frustration, and total weariness. At the sight of her in such a fragile state, Grissom's anger melted away and he pulled her into his arms and held her tightly as he whispered soothing words into her ear. After a moment, she pulled away, sniffling and embarrassed. "Sorry," she muttered. "It's just that this case…it was so damn hard, and then when you pulled rank on me like that—I just…I just lost it. I'm sorry. I know you were only doing your job."

Grissom closed his eyes as he pulled her close again and placed his chin atop her head. "Shhh, Baby," he soothed. "I'm sorry, too. I could have handled it a lot better. I need to work on my people skills," he chuckled, eliciting a snotty giggle from Sara.

"Hey," she said. "I think we just had our first fight." He nodded. "That sucked," she said firmly.

"I agree. Let's not do that again." She giggled at his impossible request.

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Grissom had to admit that the issue of being involved with a subordinate was every bit as complicated as he had always feared, and he admitted as much to Sara. As the words left his mouth, she looked down in fear and sadness. Was he having second thoughts?

Reading her expression, he quickly said, "No, Sar. That's not what I meant at all. I'm finding it every bit as difficult as I thought I would, but the odd thing is, I don't really care like I thought I would." She smiled at him, surprised by his statement. He continued. "It's hard, but it's absolutely worth it. In fact, I'm still berating myself on a daily basis for not doing this years ago," he finished quietly.

Finally, in a rare fit of frustration over how to treat everyone fairly, he decided to just openly address it to his team. Gathering them in the break room at the start of shift, he grabbed a chair and sat down across from them.

He blew out a heavy sigh, then began, "Guys…" He stopped and pinched the flesh between his eyes, trying to decide what to say. "Aw, hell," he said, rolling his eyes. "I'm just going to say exactly what's on my mind here. I'm really stressing myself out in an attempt to make sure I don't treat Sara any differently now than I would have before," he said, referring to their relationship. "I don't want to play favorites, but on the other hand, I don't want to stick her with every trick roll and decomp that comes our way, just to prove that I'm not playing favorites. It doesn't really seem fair to her to punish her for having a relationship with me," he stressed. "So here's the deal. We're all pretty close friends, right?" Seeing the nods, he continued. "So I'm going to do my best to hand out assignments exactly as I would have before, and I'm going to trust you guys to feel comfortable enough with me to call me on it if you think I'm being unfair in any way. You don't need to worry about negative repercussions or getting fired or anything ridiculous like that. Having been on the other side of that, I can tell you it's no picnic, so don't worry about it." He looked around at the group. "Can I trust you to tell me if you think something's not right?" Everyone except Greg nodded confidently. "Greg?" he questioned.

"Uh," Greg said, looking nervously around. He ducked his head and sheepishly said, "I guess I'm still…uh, young and new and a little scared of the bossman." A faint blush was creeping up his face as he made his admission.

Grissom's face softened at Greg's obvious discomfort. In a move that surprised everyone, Sara included, he lowered his voice and said, "I'm only hard on you because you have so much potential. You are a very valuable member of this team, Greg, and I want you to feel comfortable enough to come to me if you have any issues at all. Ok?"

Greg's eyes widened at Grissom's openness, and he tested the waters by saying, "Man, what has Sara done to you?"

Everyone else in the room was thinking the exact same thing, and they cackled at Greg's bravery in voicing the thought aloud. When Grissom's face broke into a wide grin and he joined in the laughter, Greg relaxed visibly. "Ok, Boss, you got it," he said amiably. "I'll let you know if something doesn't seem right."

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As Grissom and Sara neared the two month mark in their relationship, he began to realize that once again, he was going to need Catherine's help in a very important matter. On a night when Sara was out in the field, Grissom called Catherine into his office.

"Shut the door," he instructed.

She did as told, waiting patiently.

He leaned back in his chair and blew out a big sigh. He was staring at the ceiling with his hands tented over his stomach. Catherine grew curious. Something was obviously weighing quite heavily on his mind.

"Gil?" she prodded.

He looked at her. "Catherine," he began slowly. "May I request your help in yet another personal matter?"

Oh, yes, her curiosity was definitely piqued now. She leaned forward. "Of course, Gil. Name it."

He let out a breath. "I…need you to find out what size ring Sara wears."

Catherine's eyes became huge. "Are you…going to—"

"Yes."

Catherine gave a shriek like that of an overly excited twelve year-old and rushed around his desk to give him a bear hug. He chuckled as she almost knocked him over. When she pulled back, her eyes were shining with excitement. "Oh, this is the best news I've had all year!" she gushed. "Ok, tell me exactly what you need me to do."

"Well, obviously, the first thing is to find out what size ring she wears. Then I need you to find out what kind of ring she wants. I want to make her happy," he said softly.

Catherine gave him a smile. "I know you do."

"But you have to be extremely cautious," he warned. "I don't want her to suspect a thing. It's got to be a surprise because of the way I'm doing it."

Catherine's smile grew wider. "Tell, tell!"

As Grissom shared his ingenuous plan with Catherine, her smile grew until she was sure her face would crack. "Gil…" she said when he had finished, "that is just…amazing. That is brilliant. She's going to love it."

"That's the idea," he said, grinning.

Catherine thought for a moment. "Why don't you just go through her jewelry box and find a ring that she wears on that finger and find out what size it is?"

He shook his head. "She never wears a ring on her left ring finger. I've checked."

Catherine pursed her lips in thought. "I think I have an idea, ok? But give me a few days, at least, so I don't make her suspicious."

Grissom nodded. "Take all the time you need."