Chapter 94

Ring

It was good to be home, stepping into the comfortable confines of his townhouse with Sara at his back, her hand tenderly touching the small of his back in an almost innocent but affectionate gesture.

Gil heard Sara yawn, and looked over his shoulder to see her stifling it against the back of her hand, her eyes momentarily closed, lashes caressing her cheeks.

"God, I think I could sleep for a year," Sara grumbled, she moved away from him to slip off her jacket and hang it on the peg on the wall in the small hallway.hung his jacket up too, "I know the feeling. Wait 'til you get to my age, then you'll know what real exhaustion is. Some days the trek from this hall to my car is enough to drain me," he smirked.

Sara nudged him playfully and headed towards the living room.

"Do you want any breakfast before we go to bed?" Gil offered as he followed her.

"Nah," Sara responded, she took her keys and cell phone out of her pocket and placed them on the kitchen counter.

Gil walked across the living room absently, sifting through the pile of mail he'd brought in from the mailbox outside, "bill, bill, bill, readers digest…bill. Oh look, I've already won ten thousand dollars…" he shoved her the junk mail envelope announcing the fact with a wry smile on his face.

Sara grinned, "great, that'll go towards redecorating this place."

He raised his head and looked at her strangely, "why would we need to redecorate this place?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Too much white and gray. Not enough colour," Sara shrugged, "It's not homey, it's…" she trailed off, looking for the right words.

"Austere?"

"I was going to say clinical," Sara smirked.

Gil smiled slightly, "you never let it bother you before," he placed the pile of mail on the counter and moved up behind her wrapping his arms around her tenderly, "but since you're talking about wanting to add colour into my house, I can only assume you've made a decision about moving in?" he asked hopefully and kissed her ear.

Sara moved away from him with a laugh, "not so fast. I haven't made any decision, I'm simply thinking ahead in case I do."

"Would you want to redecorate if we were living together alternatively like we originally arranged?" Gil asked, he leaned on the counter and looked at her curiously.

"I don't know," Sara said.

"What would you do to this place?" he asked with a grin.

"Get rid of some of the god awful furniture. Paint the walls…I don't know, deep red…burgundy maybe. Less harsh lighting, more candles," she looked around the large room, he could already see her envisioning in her head how it was going to look.

"Get rid of my furniture?" he pretended to look hurt.

"Oh come on, I've sat on cold metal park benches that are more comfortable than your couch. Your bed is like sleeping on the floor. The end tables in your bedroom are so old fashioned…"
"So?"

"So…" Sara shrugged, "sorry, no, I have no right to say that," she sighed, "this is your house, not mines."

"If you move in with me…" he smiled slyly, "this could all be yours," he gestured a hand towards the room as if he were trying to sell the place to her.

"Tempting," Sara laughed, she gave another yawn.

"Go to bed. I'm gonna check online quickly and pay some of these bills," he picked up the pile of mail. "I'll be fifteen minutes, tops."

"Should I wait up?" Sara asked, she gave a coy smile as she headed towards the bedroom.

"Wasn't the shower enough for you, woman?"

"Woman?" Sara snorted in laughter, "see, we're not even living together and you're already going all caveman on me," she opened the bedroom door, "got something for me to wear to bed?"

"Should be some clean t-shirts in my dresser, second drawer," he said, tearing envelopes open.

He sat down at the dining table, opened his laptop, and logged online, it barely took five minutes for him to pay two of the bills he'd received that morning. The rest, he decided, could wait. Exhaustion was pulling at him, and his mind was threatening to shut down at any moment.

Gil logged off, closed his laptop, and made his way to the bedroom, expecting Sara would probably already be changed into one of his t-shirts and sleeping soundly in his bed. The thought of curling up to her warm body and sleeping deeply for a full eight hours was sheer bliss.

Sara had left the bedroom door open, and he stopped at the door to gaze in, finding her standing at the dresser in her underwear – he took note of the burgundy lace underwear set she was wearing. She must have changed into that at work, it definitely didn't have that on yesterday, he thought with a smirk, wondering if perhaps even in his exhaustion he could find it in himself to make love to her before falling asleep.

In fact, just staring at her, he no longer felt tired. He found his thoughts changing when he noted she wasn't standing idle, but she was distracted by something- it took a moment for him to realize what it was she was doing.

Gil had somewhat forgotten all about the velvet ring box containing the engagement ring he'd bought her. He hadn't forgotten about the proposal, or being shot down, but he definitely had forgotten about the ring itself. It had been in that drawer of his dresser since returning to Vegas. It wasn't like he'd hidden it there, but he didn't like it out in plain view all the same. The box was open and sitting on top of the dresser now, and Sara was holding the ring, examining the glimmer of the diamond in the light.

She was fascinated in a way he'd never seen before. He hadn't seen her quite look at the ring like that the first time she'd seen it on the plane. In fact, he was sure she might have been so stunned, that she hadn't really seen the ring at all, perhaps all she'd seen was the vague sparkle of a diamond.

He wanted to smile, but somehow forced it back and just continued watching her. Sara was so completely oblivious to his presence, standing there in her underwear with the ring between her thumb and her forefinger. It glimmered in the beams of light coming from the blind slats over the window. Tiny flickers of colour sparkled magnificently, mesmerizing them both for several moments.

That diamond ring was the second most beautiful thing in the bedroom. Gil smiled, and decided that Sara was most definitely the first.

God, he inwardly sighed, if she hadn't turned down that proposal on the plane, where would be now? Would we be already married? This is Vegas after all, we could have been married overnight if we'd wanted, he mused. He shook his head at himself. No…maybe I was thinking too far ahead then. We haven't lived together properly, we still have occasional blowouts at each other…maybe it's a good thing she rejected the proposal. Still hurts though.

Then, Sara did something he never expected her to do. After a moment of hesitation, she slipped the band onto her ring finger and held her hand out, admiring it, the expression in her eyes dazed.

Gil felt his heart almost stop right in his chest.

Sara smiled fondly, and shifted her hand to watch the ring catch the light.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Gil finally managed in a nervous breath. Stop being nervous. The time for shyness is over.

Sara gasped and turned around, she seemed more exposed than she ever had, and it wasn't from lack of clothing. Her expression was full of guilt and her cheeks flushed bright pink.

"I couldn't quite see you in gold," Gil moved over slowly, "I don't think I've ever seen you wear gold in all the years we've known each other," he took her hand and twisted the band around her finger to check how it fit. "So I decided on platinum…" he stared down at the glimmering ring. "Diamond is bezel mounted, so that it wouldn't cut your latex gloves if you should happen to wear it at work. Twenty-five caret diamond…catches the light so wonderfully."

Sara sucked in a breath, "I never…really looked at it properly. Has it been here all this time?"

"Yeah…just waiting for right woman to claim it," he raised his eyes to hers hoping she'd be looking at him, but she was staring down at the ring.

"How did you know my ring size?" Sara asked.

"Lucky guess…" he answered, and he stared at her. His heart was thudding hard in his chest. The question over and over in his mind was screaming to know what it meant that she'd slipped the ring on. Was she curious, or…was she accepting? He wasn't sure anymore. He tried to search her eyes but she wouldn't look at him.

He reached out and cupped her cheek with his free hand, and made her look at him, keeping his eyes pinned on her, trying to search the truth out of her. Unsure, he thought broken-heartedly. She looks unsure.

Sara took her hand away from his slowly, and slipped the ring off, twisting it a little so it came off easier. She took his hand and placed the ring in it, she closed his fingers around it gently as if she thought it might break in his grasp.

"You have good taste, Gil," she said softly.

And there it is. She's handed the ring back. She's not ready to wear it yet, he thought unhappily.

Gil tried to force back the heartache of yet another proposal rejection – although this was unofficially a proposal since he hadn't uttered the words 'will you marry me' yet. Maybe I should have, maybe I should have fell to my knees right there and begged for her hand in marriage the second she handed me the ring.

"I…I like to think so," he managed, trying to hide the emotion in his voice.

Without so much as another word, Sara turned her back, slipped out of her bra, grabbed the first t-shirt she could find in the open drawer, and slipped it on.

Grissom held the ring and looked down at it sadly. He shook his head at himself for feeling so foolish as to have momentarily had his hopes up that she might have wanted to be his wife. He placed the ring back in the box dropped it in the drawer where it belongs.

She knows where it is if she wants to wear it, he decided, but even the voice in his head seemed angry and hurt.

For the second time in two days, they went to bed together in silence, not fighting, but not speaking to each other. And for the second time in two days, they turned their backs to each other. Grissom found himself wondering if this was to be yet another sleepless day.

This makes, what, his third rejection now? LOL. Ouch, that's gotta stinggggggggggg.

As per usual, thanks to the following people for reviewing my story:

Bernadette, Upright8Infinity, csi-ds9, Casswhole, Veronica, princessklutz04, UnspokenLoves, Silence89, Mystical Panther, jtbwriter, lilegyptiangoddess, Aidrianna, Marbs, Phoenix38133, CSIfreak92, leddy, csishewolf, juwist, SarahMakinson, princesspink, djkittycat

Hope I didn't forget anyone. Hope no one is going to send me hatemail because Sara returned the ring to him, lol. Aaaaaaaaaaah, I'm gonna go hide just in case.

Ash