Chapter 98

Flowers and Thank You's

Gil had worried about how he might sleep again that morning, but when he and Sara finally did slip beneath the sheets, naked and warm, he was asleep before his head had even hit the pillow.

His sleep felt long, and dreamless, and he woke up still slightly sleepy, tangled in the covers, with Sara's head upon his chest, her hair in his face. He smirked a little and kissed her hair affectionately, sliding his arms around her.

"You're finally awake," Sara murmured, she sounded just as tired as he felt.

"Mmm, yeah. Don't think I've slept so good in a while," he confessed.

"Me either," Sara curled closer against him, she had one leg tangled with his, he felt her breast against his ribs. "I always sleep so good after amazing sex."

"Amazing?" he chuckled, "I wouldn't go that far," he stroked her back idly, breathing in the scent of her rosehip shampoo and sighing happily.

"No?" she asked.

"Okay, so it was amazing…" he admitted.

A comfortable silence fell between them, Sara gave a slight yawn, then broke it by speaking, "when can I move my stuff in?"

"Give it another few days," Gil suggested, "I need to find somewhere to shift all the stuff that's now in the living room. We'll need to talk about which furniture you're going to let me keep," he added.

Sara sat up, stretching, "None of it," she teased.

Gil ran his fingers down her bare back, "None of it?"

"You can keep the fridge. It's so much better than mines. Anything else we can throw away. Oh, or better yet, we could switch the furniture from here to my apartment and my brother can have it all."

Gil sat up slowly, "hey…have you told your brother, yet?"

"Not yet. But…uh, I can't see him having a problem with it. He'll have somewhere he can be on his own. It'll be like you said, it'll give him some responsibility. And at least I'll know where I can find him."

"You can't see him having a problem with it? The fact you're moving in with ME might be a problem for him," Gil reminded.

Sara shrugged, "I suppose I'll need to take the good with the bad. Besides, once he gets to know you, he'll be fine…" she lay back and stretched, not ready to really get out of bed yet. She smoothed down the t-shirt she'd worn to bed – another one of Gil's.

"Why is it you wear my clothes more than I do?" he asked, "when we move your stuff here will you still be stealing my t-shirts?" Gil asked casually, he gazed down at her, admiring the vision of her stretched out half beneath the covers, clad in his grey t-shirt.

"Yup," she smirked, "and just so you're prepared, I'll tell you now that I'll probably also be stealing your razors."

"Oh?" Gil lay on his side, propping his elbow on the pillows and pressing his cheek to his closed fist. "So I'll go to shave and be mutilating myself with dull razors."

"Hey, a dull razor is a price to pay for your woman to have smooth legs," she assured.

Gil gave a soft laugh.

"This is the first time in a while we've woke up in a good mood," Sara said after a moment of reflection.

Just when I'd forgotten, he thought darkly. "I know…" he managed, trying to force away the oppressive build up of emotion that threatened to turn his mood sour.

Sara looked at him, seeming to sense she'd said something wrong. As if in an attempt at a silent apology she leaned over and kissed his jaw tenderly, shivering at the feel of the bristles of his beard. "What time is it anyway?" she mumbled, she kissed the sensitive spot just under his left ear.

"Five," he craned his neck to see the alarm clock over her shoulder.

"Three hours 'til we have to be at work," she chuckled, and her breath tickled his neck before she applied a chain of tender kisses from there to his bare shoulder.

"I can count," he teased, "but won't you need those three hours to go home and talk to your brother about moving in with me?"

"Do I have to?" she sighed.

"You'll need to get some clothes from home," he reminded, "unless you plan on living the rest of your days stealing my shirts, and wearing my sweatpants."

Sara sat up slowly, "I just…I'm not looking forward to telling Andrew."

"He has to know," Gil reminded.

"I know."

"Look, I'll go with you…" he offered.

"No…that's okay," she shook her head, "I have to do this myself."

Gil sat up suddenly, "How can you expect me to let you go alone when he shoved you like he did? What if he gets more violent…"

"He won't. Trust me. He's NEVER hit me. He's shoved me, he's pinned me down until I've calmed down and stopped swinging at him, but he's never ever hit me," she assured.

"Sara…" Gil began in concern.

"Trust me, okay?" she asked and smiled, she got on her knees and kissed his forehead affectionately.

He pulled his arms tightly around her and held onto her for several minutes before letting her go so she could get dressed and head off to her apartment. He smiled when she left, and pulled himself up to take a shower, get dressed, and start moving some of his stuff to make room for hers.

oooooooooooooooooooooo

It was strange going to work and not being a supervisor anymore. His old identification card – which had 'supervisor' in bold black writing - had been taken from him that morning and replaced with a senior CSI level 3 identity card. The new photo of him on it was less appealing than the old had been.

He had himself convinced that the new card was lighter than the old one had been, but of course, he knew the only weight that had changed was the weight of burden.

Gil's first instincts upon stepping through the door was to retrieve the assignments for the day, and had to remind himself that he no longer needed to care. That was Catherine's job now.

Yup. Catherine's responsibility now. I never need to worry about that again. Never need to worry about doing evaluations again, never need to listen to complaints about my employees. No listening to Ecklie whining when my paperwork isn't handed in on time.

Gil grinned to himself as he walked through the halls at work with a bouquet of flowers dangling from one hand. He was already heading for his old office, mostly out of force of habit, and only slightly in the hope of finding Catherine there.

Just as he'd hoped, Catherine was in her new office, already changing the décor slightly to match her personality. A painting Lindsey had done was pinned up on one of the walls. A few personal knickknacks and trinkets were on the shelves and the desk.

Gil knocked on the door – which was hanging open already – and Catherine turned from where she was standing, pinning up a colourful calendar. "Hey," she said, she flicked her hair away from her face.

"I wanted to give you these," he held up the bouquet to her.

"What's this? A peace offering?" she asked with a smirk, looking at the flowers, but not accepting them just yet.

"Just to show there's no hard feelings that you were picked to take over," he smirked. "To show you that I am fine, and that I congratulate you on your promotion," he stepped in, closing the door behind himself. "And last, but not least, to thank you for everything."

"To thank me?" Catherine sounded dumbfounded.

"These last few months have been tough," he stood holding the flowers out to her, "You've stood by me through everything, even when we were at odds…"

"Any friend would do that," Catherine shrugged.

"And I don't appreciate you enough for it. Congratulations, Catherine, and thank you for everything," Gil handed her the flowers, and for the first time since he'd known her, he leaned over and pressed his lips quickly to her cheek in a friendly kiss, he felt her stiffen, not quite knowing what to do with the contact from him just yet.

She laughed, "you're in a good mood," she mused, she wiped her cheek.

"Sara is moving in with me," he said, unable to contain the excitement in his voice.

"Not alternatively?" Catherine asked.

"Not alternatively, but fully moving in with me, twenty-four-seven, three-hundred-and-sixfty-five. She's even talking about wanting to share the costs of living," he watched Catherine sniff the bouquet.

"Serious," Catherine nodded, impressed.

"The most serious I think my life has ever become," Gil nodded, then his expression saddened for a bit, he fell into his thoughts of how serious things could have been if only she'd chosen to keep on the engagement ring.

I should be happy. Doesn't matter if she rejected my proposal, because we're still moving forward anyway, he told himself. Somehow, it wasn't solace enough.

"Something wrong?"

"Do you think...I'd be good husband material?"

Catherine frowned, not understanding why he was asking, "uh…I don't know. I definitely wouldn't want to be married to you," she teased. "Why you asking?"

"I just…I don't know," he shook his head at himself, "doesn't matter."

"You brought it up. Obviously matters," Catherine placed the bouquet down on the desk for a moment, "Gil…is this about her turning you down?"

"I asked her to marry me twice – in a round about way – and she rejected me. But that was a while back, and I had mostly gotten it out of my mind. But then…yesterday…I caught her trying the ring on…"

"And?"

"She took it off again. Rejection number three."

"You think she's just going to start wearing it suddenly?" Catherine gave a strange laugh. "It doesn't really work that way."

"So…what should I do?" he asked in concern.

"I don't know, do whatever…seems right," Catherine shrugged, "get down on one knee. Ask her properly…and make it as romantic as you can. How could she say no? I mean, god, you asked her on a plane on the way to Vegas, and from what you told me, you blundered it. The second time? What happened the second time?"

"I asked why she wouldn't marry me."

"Jesus, Grissom," Catherine rolled her eyes, "nothing romantic about that."

"Y'know," Gil shoved his hands in his pockets, "Sara doesn't seem like the kind of woman who…wants to be asked in the traditional manner."

"Then find some untraditional way to ask her. Rent a plane and write in the sky or something, just…do something."

"And if she rejects me again?" Gil asked.

"Then…I don't know," Catherine responded, "hey, shift is about to start, the team are all probably in the break room by now. Time for me to hand out assignments."

Ah, up to 98 already, and btw, 99 is ALREADY finished and coming, lol. So I have1 more chapter to write, and I have to say, I'm kinda sad about it, kinda happy.Hopefully, you all will be too.

Thanks to the following people for reviewing:

csi-ds9, csmit99, Marbs, Sara Bishop, UnspokenLoves, Upright8Infinity, leddy, jtbwriter, silence89, lilegyptiangoddess, Veronica, Casswhole, and Aidrianna.

I'm truly going to miss seeing the regular reviewers on every chapter once I finish this story. Ahhh...brings a tear to the eye, lol.

Ash