POV Grissom

Perfect.

I looked with pride at the guest room I had prepared for Sara. I wanted her to be comfortable, but I do admit I am going a tad bit overboard.

I had gotten new sheets for the guest bed to make it look a little more inviting. The walls were still pale green from the previous tenant of my large apartment, and I decided that crisp, sage colored sheets with a dragonfly pattern would match well for a woman to sleep in. I got all of my butterfly and moth and dragonfly shadowboxes out and hung them on the wall. I wheeled my old TV out of the closet and hooked it up, which wasn't hard, because the last person who lived here already had a cable run through the walls into this room.

I left Sara's new room, and I filled the fridge with all the food I bought for her. Lots of fruit, lots of vegetables, and a ton of soy meats and things.

I straightened everything up, and vacuumed the whole place.

I went into Sara's room again and cleaned out the closet, which I had been using for storage. I moved all that into the hall closet.

I went into the bathroom and cleaned out the shower and sink. Nothing to put in there, I had nothing to hide, just some soap, generic shampoo, toothbrush and toothpaste. I restocked the medicine cabinet with Ibuprofen and extra toothpaste.

I got fabric softener and dryer sheets from the store also, and put them in my laundry room.

I moved some lamps around to brighten the whole place up a bit also, because my place was always dim.

"Surprise!", I said only slightly enthusiastically when Sara came through the front door. " I cleaned and straightened up the whole place for your stay."

"Wow.", said Sara appreciatively."You did too much already!"

"Then you'll hate this", I said showing her the door to her new room." This is where you will be sleeping. I put all my 'pretty' bugs in here for you. That way you won't have to wake up with the tarantulas. The fish tank was already in here, though. This door is your closet, and this door is the bathroom."

"Gil! You are going to spoil me aren't you?", she said, obviously happy with the room. She stared at me with genuine thankfulness.

"Yes. And I stocked the fridge with plenty of healthy foods for you. You are going to be as healthy as possible, recovering from this."

"Wow. I appreciate this all so much, Gil. You're a real friend. I am going to unpack, you wanna eat something afterwards though? I'm hungry."

"Yes. You unpack, I am going to make you a surprise meal. And don't worry, no meat." I said to her with a grin. Friend. That's perfect. She isn't thinking of me as her boss right now.

After about an hour of cooking and unpacking, Sara and I sat down to a meal of meat-free stir-fry and fruit salad for dessert.

She was quiet throughout dinner, but being inept in the art of emotions, I couldn't figure out why. She wasn't frowning, angry or sad, she just looked deep in thought.

I said, "If I did something, I am sorry. I know this might seem weird, me being your boss, but I worry about all my CSI's. You are the only family I have, and you all really do feel like family."

"No, it's not that. I just thought that you meant something by it.", she said to me, pushing the food on her plate around as she stared at it, mesmerized.

"By what?"

"Asking me to stay at your place. I thought it meant, I don't know.", she said, as if she regretted even bringing it up.

"Oh, I'm sorry if I led you on to think I felt, I don't really know. Obligated, I guess, I wanted to be sure that when I went to sleep at night, I could be sure that you were safe. I needed to be sure of that."

"Oh. I'm sorry I mentioned it. Again, I am over-talking around you."