A/N: I have decided that I am now officially an old married fart. Wanna know what I did for New Year's Eve? I stayed home, drank wine, wrote fanfiction, and watched TV and movies with my husband. That's just…hot, y'all. I mean, really. On the other hand, my best friend growing up (who now lives in NYC) came over for dinner last night and we got pretty well trashed. It was beautiful.

Oh, yeah, just for good measure, wanna know what I did for New Year's Eve last year? I went to bed at TEN o'clock. I woke up on the morning of New Year's Eve with my first ever case of pink eye (which sucked goat balls, I assure you), and I was in so much pain that by ten that night, I just had to hit the hay. That was like the first time since I was probably four years old that I have not stayed up to watch the ball drop. I'm a total loser. So my kickass little sister (yeah, the 22 year old, not so little sister) and her fiancé and my husband decided that next year, we're all going to Gatlinburg for New Year's Eve. For once in my life, I'm not going to be an old married fart. And if you don't know what Gatlinburg is, let's just say it's a major Smoky Mountain tourist destination about 2 hours from where I live.

Grissom drove as quickly as possible through the streets of Las Vegas, trying to get to his destination before Sara got carsick. After only a few minutes, he arrived at their destination—a large, elegant stone house. He rushed around to the side of the truck to usher her carefully out, blindfold still in place. As he led her slowly inside the house, he felt her almost palpable curiosity, but she held her tongue and didn't ask what he was doing.

Once inside, he led her to a particular spot in the great room. He placed a gentle kiss atop her head, and then positioned her so that her back was toward him. He backed away and said, "You may remove the blindfold now."

She reached up and gingerly tugged at the tie holding the cloth in place around her eyes. As it fell from its place, she squinted at the sudden light. When her eyes adjusted, she saw the stone fireplace in front of her, then, looking up, she saw what was sitting atop the mantle. Yet another piece of elegantly written calligraphy, only this time it was framed. Sara read the words in the frame once, twice, three times.

My dear Sara,

Spend your life with me?

Gil

Stunned, she whirled around to face him. Where his head should have been, there was but empty space. Looking down, she saw him. He was kneeling on one knee, an elegant box of black velvet in his hands.

Her hands flew to her mouth. Everything after that seemed to happen in slow motion.

She watched him as if she was having an out-of-body experience. He slowly opened the box to reveal the most exquisite ring she had ever seen. With tears in his eyes, he looked up at her, speaking the words she had been almost sure she would never hear.

"Sara Sidle…Will you marry me?"

She gasped for air as tears involuntarily flooded her eyes. Completely unaware of the significance of her surroundings, she dropped to her knees in front of him in shock.

Hands still covering her mouth, she whispered, "Yes. Yes, I will be your wife, Gil."

Most men would not have been able to decipher the mumblings that emanated from behind her hands, but Gil Grissom heard all he needed to hear. The love of his life had just agreed to marry him. Tears filled his eyes as he slipped the ring from its box and slid it gently onto her finger. When it was safely in place, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him, holding her tightly. He whispered, "Thank you," lightly into her ear as they laughed and cried together.

Slipping from their embrace, he stood up and tugged her to her feet before planting a soft, sensual kiss against her lips. They stood like that for a moment, nose to nose, foreheads touching, before Sara leaned back and wiped her eyes. Suddenly, she looked around at the empty house they were standing in. Confusion clouded her eyes as she said, "Gil, I don't understand. Where are we?"

A happy smile spread across his face as he looked around and looked back at his fiancée. "Our new home," he said simply.

Sara gasped. "You…bought this house?"

A nod.

"Aughhh!" Sara shrieked happily, jumping into his arms.

He threw his head back and laughed as he held onto the woman who currently had her legs wrapped around his. She was laughing and breathing heavily in her excitement. Grissom gently set her down and said, "Would you like to explore?"

His answer came in the form of a nearly-dislocated shoulder as she grabbed his hand and yanked him forward.

As he led her through the kitchen and toward the master bedroom, he started rattling off statistics. "3500 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 3 and a half baths, formal dining room, two fireplaces, and a pool."

"A pool?!" Sara practically shrieked before nearly knocking him down in another bone-crushing hug.

"Oompf, yes, a pool," Grissom gasped. "Did I mention the two fireplaces?" he asked slyly as he pushed open the door of the master bedroom, revealing a large expanse of space with a stone fireplace on one wall. He glanced over at Sara, who had simply resorted to jumping up and down in glee. "Now let's go check out the master bathroom, which I'm quite sure you will enjoy." He walked through a small hallway on the other side of the room. The hallway had three doors—two on either wall, each leading to a walk-in closet ("You get the bigger one, of course," he conceded), and another door at the end of the little hall, which he pushed open to reveal a large and elegant master bathroom. Sara gasped when she saw the luxuriously-appointed space. His-and-hers vanities, complete with ample storage space, took up one wall, a large glass shower with dual shower-heads occupied a corner, and a huge white Jacuzzi sat directly across from her. A separate water closet housed the toilet. The room even contained a small linen closet.

"Damn," Sara breathed. "This is…wow," she said simply.

"Come on," Grissom winked as he took her hand and led to explore the rest of the house.

By the time they had finished inspecting every nook and cranny, Sara was in total shock. "Can…can we…afford this?" she said skeptically.

Grissom nodded at the validity of her question. "Yes, I think so. I took out a loan, obviously, but the sale of the townhouse should cover about a quarter of the total cost of this house, and our combined salaries will be more than ample to cover the remaining mortgage." He paused. "If it ever becomes necessary, I have enough in savings and investments to pay it off, but I wasn't comfortable with the idea of raiding my entire savings right now, not to mention my investments. This isn't really a good time to pull everything I have out of the stock market," he explained. Then, worriedly, "Is this okay with you? I mean, I know I should have consulted you, but I really wanted to surprise you. I've been mentally cataloguing everything you've said you wanted in a house, and when this one came on the market…" he trailed off, truly concerned.

His fears were quickly allayed by her soft voice. "No, this is absolutely perfect. It's everything I could ever dream of…" She looked down at the ring on her hand, really seeing it for the first time. She gasped. "The ring! It's exactly what I wanted! How did you know?" She looked up at him in awe.

He smirked. "Catherine," he said simply.

Her jaw fell open and her eyes narrowed as she figured out that she'd been played. "Why…that sneaky little…" she said playfully. "She's good," she said, shaking her head in wonder. "She gave me some story about her sister sending her a ring, and she gave it to me, then she watched as I put it on my left hand and looked at it, then she grilled me about what I wanted in an engagement ring, and I never suspected a thing! Some investigator I am," she snorted in amusement. Looking down at the ring once more, she said, "Grissom…I can't even imagine what this cost. This is…thank you," she finished simply as her eyes filled with tears again.

He pulled her into a hug, commenting, "You're absolutely worth every penny. Do you want to know about the ring?" He felt her nod. He pulled back and took her hand so that he could explain properly. "Catherine and I picked it out together. We bought loose stones and had them set in the ring. The setting is platinum," he began, "and the center stone is 1.92 carats. The flanking stones are 1.2 carats each. The clarity of all three stones is IF—internally flawless. The color grade of all three stones is E—they're colorless."

Sara's eyebrows rose. "Uh, ok, wow. First of all, the information you just gave me tells me that this ring cost a fortune, and I'll now be terrified to wear it anywhere, so you better tell me it's insured. Second of all, I had no idea you knew so much about diamonds."

Grissom smiled. "I didn't. I didn't even know what emerald-cut meant when I started. So I did a little research. And it is insured, so you don't need to worry about that."

Sara snorted. Leave it to a man like Grissom to go from being completely ignorant to being practically an expert on a given subject in no time flat.

Inspecting the ring once again, she shook her head and said, "This is just…exquisite, Gil. Thank you so much."

"A perfect ring for a perfect woman," he murmured.

----------

When Grissom had locked up their new house and started up the truck, he turned to Sara and got down to business. "Any ideas on a date?"

She thought. "Well…I don't think we really need to do a huge ceremony, do you?"

"It's absolutely up to you. Whatever you want, you can have."

She smiled. "Well, what do you think? Four or five months, maybe?"

"Sounds good to me."

After talking it over for a bit longer, they set a date in March. It was also decided that the townhouse would go on the market immediately, and they would go ahead and move into the new house. "And," Grissom had added enticingly, "that much space means we'll have to do a lot of furniture shopping…" He grinned at Sara's excited reaction.

Suddenly, she turned to him with bright, excited eyes. "Gil?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we stop by the lab and see everybody? I want to break the news and show off my ring!" She stopped. "Or has Catherine already taken the liberty…?"

"No," he spoke quickly. "She has not. The news is ours to tell, and she understands that. Of course we'll stop by."

Ten minutes later, Grissom and Sara were walking into the building, hand in hand. Shift was just starting, and if they were lucky, they could catch the team as they gathered to receive assignments.

They were in luck. Grissom and Sara strode into the break room, grinning madly, as Catherine, Warrick, Nick, and Greg looked up at them. Catherine quickly added a grin of her own.

Nick spoke first. "I thought you two were off tonight," he drawled.

Grissom replied. "We are. But we just stopped by to make a little announcement." He looked at Sara and she nodded at him, indicating that he could say it. "Just a few minutes ago, I took Sara to a house I have just purchased and asked her to marry me. She said yes," he grinned, holding out her hand so the others could see the glittering engagement ring she sported.

For a moment, no one spoke, and then all at once, everyone went nuts.

Nick: "Oh my God! This is amazing! Grissom, you better make her happy." Pointing at Warrick, "I win again! HA! Hand it over, Bro!"

Warrick: "Hot damn, look at the size of that thing!" Rolling his eyes at Nick as he dug his wallet out, "Griss, could you not have waited a couple more months? Your boy Nick is killing me here."

Greg: "So does this mean Sara's definitely off the market?"

A resounding "Shut up, Greg!" filled the room as Catherine stepped forward to hug the newly-engaged couple.

"Damn, I'm good," she said in amazement as she took the ring in.

"Thanks for all your help, Cath," Sara said sincerely.

"Hey," Catherine replied. "Anything to make the old guy stop brooding."

"Well," Grissom said, taking Sara's hand once again, "we only stopped by to say hello. We don't want to keep you guys all night."

"Yeah," Catherine spoke up. "Besides, you two probably have a little…uh, celebrating to do, right?"

As Grissom and Sara grinned wildly, Warrick, Nick, and Greg whined at Catherine about how disgusting that idea was.

"What?" Grissom deadpanned. "You guys don't think I'd be hot in bed?"

Additional A/N: I didn't just pull the proposal out of my ass. I know a man who proposed to his wife in this very manner. He bought a huge, gorgeous house on top of Missionary Ridge, one of Chattanooga's most prestigious historic districts. He took his girlfriend there one day after he bought it, saying that he was curious because it was an "open house" day. When he took her inside, he led her over to the fireplace, where there was a framed note that said, "Linda, will you marry me?" When she turned around, he was on his knee holding the ring. Then he told her the house was theirs. To this day, the framed note hangs in their foyer. I have always thought this was one of the most romantic proposals I have ever heard of, so I "borrowed" it for Grissom to use!