A/N: Sorry 'bout the huge delay in getting this chapter up. Work is killing me. My energy is just constantly zapped.
On the bright side, we got a quarter inch of ice last night, so the trees look like a winter wonderland here.
Leslie, babydoll, hope this isn't too vomit-inducing for you.
Sara's face was killing her. She couldn't stop grinning, and the muscles in her cheeks were beginning to protest. Loudly. The last dance had just ended, and she had wandered over to where Lindsey was standing, watching Catherine and Warrick giggle and act like lovestruck teenagers. Sara eyed the couple, then slid her glance back to Lindsey.
"So what do you think of that?" she asked, nodding toward Catherine and Warrick.
Lindsey rolled her eyes. "It's about time. Even I could see that they had it bad for each other. I'm kind of worried about them being all drunk, though. At this rate, I'm going to have to drive them home."
Sara giggled. "I'd like to see that. No, wait, scratch that. Don't go getting any ideas. I'll have Griss call them a cab. Will that work for you?"
Lindsey wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, that'll be fine." She tilted her head and looked at them with an appraising eye. "They do sorta look cute together, I guess. God, I just hope they don't start having sleepovers." Lindsey looked like she might gag at the thought.
Sara snorted. "Well, just remember—a sleepover for them means during the day, and you'll be at school…" Sara left the thought unfinished.
Lindsey looked horrified. "Sa-ra!" she whined.
----------
Sara had already said goodbye to Elizabeth and was now standing with Ashley, saying her farewell. Ashley hugged her for the fifth time and told her she was beautiful. "I can't believe you're taking his name. I mean, that's fine—I don't have a problem with it—it just doesn't seem like you, that's all."
Sara smiled and nodded. "From the time I was twelve years old, I never had any consistency in my life. Traditional things were out the window, and there was no such thing as a constant. I may be a feminist, but I'm also a product of my past. I want to do this. I want to take his name and have a real family—the kind I never had."
----------
Grissom and Sara stood leaning against each other in the elevator, on their way up to the suite where Catherine and Brass had already deposited their bags.. They were exhausted, but happy and content. Sara buried her head in Grissom's neck as the elevator's doors closed, only to pull it back a second later when she felt him move.
She watched as he pulled a keycard out of his pocket and placed it in the slot next to the button reading "36." He turned to her and gave her a gentle smile.
"You didn't," she said.
"I did."
"You got 'our' suite? The one we spent our first night together in?"
"I did."
Sara let out a squeal and launched herself into his arms, burying her face in his neck. "That is quite possibly the most thoughtful thing you've ever done for me. Which is saying a lot."
After a moment, the elevator doors opened and Grissom took Sara's hand and led her out into the hallway. When they reached the doorway, Grissom slid the keycard in and opened the door. He turned to her with a gentle smile, bent, and swept her up into his arms, carrying her over the threshold. It registered in Sara's mind that both times she had entered this room with Grissom, he had carried her. Only this time, he didn't put her down in the foyer. He carried her all the way to the bedroom, depositing her gently on the bed.
He bent her backwards on the comforter, kissing her hungrily, until she laughed and pushed him away. "No, sir. Not yet. I have something special to put on for you—if I can figure out where my bag is." She stood up and headed toward the bathroom. "Aha," Grissom heard her say.
Inside the bathroom, Saraopened her duffel bag and pulled out the box labeled "La Perla." She set it on the counter as she slipped out of her Vera Wang and hung it up in the closet. She rid herself of her shoes and panties, but left her second garter in place. That was his to remove.
Finally, she slipped the lid off of the La Perla box and pulled the black garment from beneath the tissue paper. It was a silky black teddy, one that she knew Grissom would love. She carefully slipped into it, and checked her reflection in the mirror before leaving the bathroom.
Grissom was lying in bed on his side, right hand propping up his head. When she emerged, his mouth fell open and his eyes widened considerably.
Sara laughed, a deep, luscious sound that aroused him even more. "I take it you like what you see, then?" she inquired lustily.
"Damn…" was all he could muster.
Sara laughed again and walked toward him. When she reached the bed, she crawled up and pushed him to his back, straddling him. Her fingers worried with his bowtie, finally untying it and tossing it aside haphazardly. He reached up and pulled her face to him, kissing her passionately.
After a moment, she sat back up. She pointed at the garter that was still on her leg and looked back up at him. "This one is yours to keep. To remember this night."
He looked at it, slipping two fingers beneath it. Meeting her eyes, he began to pull on it, slipping it lazily down her leg. When it reached her ankle, he slipped it off and placed it reverently on the nightstand. Then he attacked her with a great deal of urgency.
She began pulling his clothes off as he mumbled in her ear how happy he was, how much he loved her, how he couldn't wait to wake up next to her every day for the rest of their lives, how badly he wanted to father her children.
After only a moment, she had him naked beneath her. He was still running his fingers along the silky surface of her lingerie, torturing himself—and her—by not divesting her of it quite yet. Just when she thought she could stand it no longer, he began pulling it off of her—oh-so-slowly.
When she was finally naked, he maneuvered so that she was underneath him. As she lay looking up into his beautifully bare face and those clear blue eyes, she wondered for a moment how she ended up so fortunate.
As if reading her mind, he said, "How did I get so damn lucky?" His voice was thick with emotion.
Sara just shook her head, unable to voice any sort of coherent thought. Her body was wild with desire, fatigue, unbridled joy, and pure wonderment.
As he entered her and began to move, he said only one thing. "I love you, Sara Grissom."
----------
Their honeymoon was the definition of bliss—and far too short. Sara had never been to Hawaii before, and she found herself savoring every second of the experience. She and Grissom did everything, ranging from the mundane to the spectacular. Hanging out lazily by the pool, sipping pina coladas? Check. Scuba diving? Check. Snorkeling? Check. Attempting to surf? Check. Succeeding at it? Not so much. Boating? Check. Parasailing? Check. Trip to local butterfly habitat? Check. Lots and lots of lovemaking? Most definitely check.
On their last day, Grissom woke up and snuggled into Sara's back. He could tell by her breathing that she was already awake. "So what do you want to do today, Hon?" he asked.
"Mmm," she replied lazily. "I want to do everything! I don't want to leave!" she whined. "Vacation is so nice."
"Well, it's not like you're not getting another one soon. We take Lindsey to Utah in a week."
"I can't swim in the ocean in Utah!" Sara complained.
"I hear there's a big salt lake there. Isn't that close enough?"
Sara reached back and smacked him.
"There is one thing I sort of wanted to do while we were here…" she said uncertainly.
"What is it?" he encouraged.
"I don't know how you'll react. You might think I'm nuts," she said.
"You're telling this to a guy who puts red ants on his eggs," he deadpanned.
"Good call. Ok, here goes. I designed a tattoo, and I want to get it while we're here."
Grissom looked surprised. "Why would I think you're nuts?"
"You haven't seen the design yet."
----------
Four hours later, Grissom was nursing the sore skin on the back of his right shoulder.
Sara looked at him in awe. "I can't believe you did it. I honestly can't. We are so toast if anybody back at work finds out we got matching tattoos."
When Sara had revealed the design she had made, Grissom had stood for a moment, speechless. He was beyond moved by the love and creativity she had put into her design. "In physics," she had said, "the Greek letter sigma is used to represent summation—the total you get when you add everything together. In my mind, it represents us," she said simply. "We were two separate people, but now we are one—forever." She shrugged and looked down at the symbols written on the paper.
ΣGS ∞
"It would be read, 'the summation of G and S'—that's Gil and Sara," she teased, "'equals infinity.'"
"It's beautiful," Grissom breathed. "Where are you going to put it?"
"I was thinking of doing it right in the small of my back. What do you think?"
"I think it sounds perfect. Um…if I was to do it, too, where would you suggest I do it?"
Sara raised an eyebrow at him, quite sure he was joking. "Right smack in the middle of your forehead."
"Sara, I'm serious."
"You're not."
"I am. Where?"
Sara shook her head slowly, taking it in. He was going to get a tattoo? For her? Surely he was kidding.
"Umm…if I were you, I'd probably put on the back of one of your shoulders, above the shoulder blade."
And here they were, a few hours later, both freshly tattooed and a little sore. Sara's back was a little raw, but it was dulled somewhat by the endorphin rush she had experienced when she realized that Grissom was indeed going to go through with it. The tattoo artist had been quick and good, and sent them on their way after advising them to keep lotion on the tats until they healed, and by all means, keep the sunlight off of them!
Grissom reached for Sara's hand and caressed it as they strolled toward a sidewalk café to get some lunch. He was nervous. He wanted to bring up a delicate topic and had absolutely no idea how to do so.
They were seated quickly, and the waitress blessedly took their orders after only a brief delay. As Sara was sitting, staring out toward the ocean, he decided to just jump in with both feet. "May I talk to you about something rather important?" he asked timidly.
Her head snapped back toward him. "Of course," she said mildly.
"Umm…I was wondering, uh, well, how you felt about, uh, starting a family soon." Her shocked look pushed him forward, and he rambled ahead before she could stop him. "See, it's just that I keep thinking about my age, and I know you don't care about it and all that, but I want to be able to pick my kids up and play with them, and well, I'm not getting any younger, and I just sort of thought that the sooner we got started, the better it would be for them, and I don't know how you feel about it, but—"
"Grissom," she said as she delicately laid her hand atop his. "Shut up."
He looked down at his lap, embarrassed, and she rolled her eyes. "Look at me," she commanded. He obeyed. "I don't know why you were so nervous about bringing this up, Gil. We already talked about it once. If you want to start now, that's fine. I have no objections." She sat back in her chair, satisfied.
Grissom looked at her with a stupid look on his face. "Really?" he croaked.
Sara couldn't help the little laugh that escaped her. "Really," she said.
Additional A/N: In the tattoo design, there is supposed to be an "equals" sign between the S and the infinity sign, but you know how won't let you use certain symbols for whatever reason. So just use your little imaginations and picture it there.