A/N - here we go, last chapter just to tie up the loose ends.

Chapter Twenty-Nine – Closing the lid.

Greg was busy pouring himself a coffee in the break room whilst humming some obscure rock tune to himself that he couldn't quite name but equally couldn't get out of his head. He started to think about Harriet. Truth be told, he was thinking about her constantly. He had only paused from his daydreaming to pour himself the coffee and ponder the name of the melody that wouldn't stop bugging him. But then she was back, at the front of his mind. His night off couldn't have fallen at a more convenient time and they had spent most of it talking about everything, really getting to know each other. He was now very confident that he could name her favourite film and that she didn't have any more little surprises up her sleeve.

As he replaced the pot in the coffee machine, he felt some hands on his waist and someone place a kiss on the back of his neck. He straightened up and smiled to himself.

'How many times do I have to tell you Sara, I'm not interested,' he quipped, grinning broadly.

'That's reassuring seeing as I'm not Sara and I think Nick would have something to say about it if you were,' Harriet said.

Greg turned around and after doing a quick scan of the room to make sure no one was around, or could see, her gave her a kiss. She pulled away, smiling, and took his coffee from him.

'Thank you, how did you know I was thirsty?' she asked, taking a seat on the sofa.

Greg frowned and then turned back to pour himself another coffee. Warrick and Catherine came in, preparing for the team briefing before the shift would start properly. Warrick looked slightly hung over and Catherine looked stressed, a case file under her arm.

'Thanks Greg, do you mind?' she asked, taking his second attempt at getting a caffeine fix from him.

Greg sighed and looked to Warrick, he knew he was going to ask for a mug too. He lifted his eyebrows questioningly and Warrick nodded.

'Thanks, dude,' he said as Greg filled a third mug and handed it to him.

Maybe I can finally get my own in peace now, Greg thought, looking across at Harriet who smiled over the top of her mug. He knew she was finding this very humorous or she could be smiling because Warrick and Catherine had no knowledge of their newly blossoming relationship. He gave her a crafty wink and then poured himself a new drink. Fourth time lucky, he thought to himself and then decided he had spoken too soon as Grissom came shuffling into the break room and took the coffee from him without a word. Greg threw his hands up in exasperation and looked at Harriet who grinned at him like a Cheshire cat.

'Should I ask you who's bed you woke up in this morning?' Sara asked her as she and Nick strolled confidently into the break room.

Greg suppressed a laugh as he saw Harriet choke on her drink. They hadn't discussed whether they would tell anyone else at work yet but, as Nick and Sara already knew, it was only going to be a matter of time.

'Don't ask her,' Nick said, a sly grin creeping across his face. 'Ask Greg instead.'

Greg coughed awkwardly and tried to avoid eye contact with the pair. Unfortunately he ended up looking at Grissom who looked back at him nonplussed. Greg realised he must have been looking like he was asking for help with the teasing.

'What's going on?' Grissom asked, putting his paperwork down.

'Nothing,' Harriet said. 'Nothing at all. You're looking rather dashing today by the way boss.'

'Oh, that is weak,' Nick said.

'Yeah, brown nosing the boss is never a good thing,' Greg said, looking at her with a smirk.

'Will someone please explain to me what is going on?' Grissom asked.

'Why don't you ask Sanders?' Sara said, looking at Greg and grinning from ear to ear.

Greg looked desperately at Harriet for help. She shrugged her shoulders as if to say 'might as well.' He took a deep breath and realised he couldn't find the words to explain to his supervisor that he had got it together with the lab tech.

'Oh for crying out loud,' Sara said. 'Ask them how the circus was yesterday.'

'How was the circus?' Warrick asked. He and Catherine looked rather interested in this banter that was suddenly going on.

'See for yourself,' Nick said, opening his phone and passing it to Catherine.

She looked at it open-mouthed for a second and then looked up at Greg with a smile.

'Ooh Greg, you stud,' she said and passed the phone to Warrick who let out a mixture of a cheer and a laugh.

'Damn good work Nicky,' said.

Grissom slammed his hands down on the table.

'I don't want to make you lot think that the suspense is killing me or anything but can we get on with this so we can get to doing some proper work?' he asked almost sulkily.

'Greg and Harriet are shall we say…' Nick began.

'A little more than friends,' Sara finished for him looking pleased with herself at being the one who owned this piece of gossip.

Grissom rolled his eyes and looked down at the assignment slips he had in his hands, ready to give to his team. He was reading them over. Hadn't reacted to this information at all. Greg smiled as he saw Sara's face fall and she looked a little annoyed.

'Well?' she said.

'Well what?' Grissom asked.

Sara sighed frustratedly. Grissom looked at Harriet and then at Greg.

'Oh those two?' He asked. 'It's about time, those two have been eyeing each other up since the day they met.'

He looked back down at his paperwork.

'We have not!' Greg and Harriet both exclaimed at the same time.'

'Whatever you say, I just saw it before you did that's all. Greg close your mouth and sit down before you swallow an innocent fly,' Grissom ordered.

Greg quickly scuttled over to the sofa and sat down next to Harriet, trying to ignore the soppy looks Catherine was giving them. Grissom went through the evenings cases, handing assignment slips to the CSI's. The room was silent as this went on. Greg was a little embarrassed that Grissom had seen chemistry between Harriet and himself before they had even become friends. He was also a little amused at how annoyed Harriet looked about it.

'Harriet, you never answered Sara's question. Who's bed did you wake up in this morning?' Grissom asked.

Greg snorted as Harriet choked on her coffee for the second time in ten minutes. They had slept in Greg's room last night but not in the way everyone else was thinking. They hadn't even discussed anything like that yet. Although Greg knew they weren't teenagers and it wasn't a big deal, neither of them were new to that, they had just been more interested in talking and the sharing of the bed had been completely innocent especially given that Jake had joined them after having a nightmare. He looked at Harriet; she had gone bright red and looked like she was incredibly embarrassed.

'Firstly, Grissom, that's extremely inappropriate and secondly I don't think Sara should be asking those kind of questions unless she is prepared to answer them herself.' Greg said, trying to save Harriet any further embarrassment.

He looked at Sara and Nick and smirked at them. Their faces were a picture. They looked like they had been enjoying having one over on Greg and Harriet so much that they had forgotten about their own secret.

'No way,' Warrick said, the proverbial penny had obviously dropped, having known his friends for so long the ability to read their expressions must have been like a sixth sense for him.

'What? Sara and Nick?' Catherine asked in disbelief.

'Now that one I didn't pick up on,' Grissom said, standing up to leave the room.

'Sara and Nick have been working together a lot longer than us and you didn't pick up on that?' Harriet asked, sounding like she wasn't convinced.

'No, mind you I was spending a lot of time, wondering when you two were going to stop biting each other's heads off enough to see what was in front of your eyes,' Grissom said. 'Why do you think I suggested the living arrangements?'

Greg's jaw dropped. He was seeing a very new side to his boss. He didn't have him down as much of a people person and certainly not a romantic. He didn't know whether to be impressed or disturbed. He watched as Grissom looked at Harriet and quickly exited the room, taking his cue from Harriet's stony glare.

'Well, that's enough excitement for me for one day,' Catherine said, standing. 'Let's get this show on the road. Greg you're with me,' she said.

Greg sighed contentedly to himself and got up off the sofa. Harriet did the same and the three of them walked down the corridor. As they got to Harriet's lab and were about to go their separate ways, Greg put a hand on her waist and pulled her to him placing a long kiss on her lips.

'Seeya later,' he said, coyly.

'Oh purr-lease,' Catherine groaned, taking his arm and dragging him away from her.

Harriet smiled to herself as she sat down in her chair and switched on the CD Player that had inhabited her lab since day one. She spun around happily on the chair and looked at Monty who was standing in his tank, not moving. To the untrained eye he would have looked dead but she knew he was just sleeping.

'Ah Monty, I wonder if he'll ever let me take you home, eh?' she said, smiling and began to swivel around on her chair again.

'I won't be a minute Cat, I just have to do something,' Greg said, taking a detour towards the men's locker room.

'How many more times must I ask you not to call me that? I am not a feline,' Catherine muttered scoldingly as she continued on her way to the parking lot almost as if she herself felt that her request would always be in vain and that Greg would never ceasethe irritating usage of a nickname she had never asked for.

Greg smiled to himself and wandered down to his locker. He paused for a moment before taking out his key and opening it up. The smiled faded from his face and he sighed as he looked at what he had come for. Gingerly, he lifted his hand to the small shelf at the top of his locker and took out the small book.

His eyes stung with distant tears as he thought back to the events of the past few weeks. To say it had been a roller coaster of a time would be an understatement but as he couldn't conjure up any other cliché free analogy, that one would have to do.

Harriet stopped mid-swivel and looked at the box that was still in the corner of her lab. The lid lay beside it. Some of the evidence was missing out of the box as Nick had needed it for Jake's kidnapping case but the file with all the details of her mother's death and the case she never solved were still in there. She sighed and picked up the lid, thinking back to the letter Rick had left her yesterday.

Leaving Jake with you, is one of the hardest things I have ever done but he needs his mother as much as you need your son and I know you can take care of him. I will visit as often as I can, I have already explained this to Jake and I think he understood.

I'm sorry to leave without saying goodbye properly but I was afraid you wouldn't take the opportunity I know you have with Greg if I was still hanging around. Greg seems like a great guy and I want the both of you to be happy. I will always have a special place for you in my heart (yeah, I know, that's corny) you have given me the most amazing son I could ever wish for and I know that soon you will be back to that happy, girl genius Imet four and a half years ago.

Harriet smiled as she remembered what it had been like when she had Rick had met. The attraction had been mutual and almost instantaneous, nothing like her and Greg. She was glad Rick had said something the other night. If he hadn't, she might never have plucked up the courage to finally let Greg in. Rick was probably right, maybe she needed to move on but it seemed like she had spent so much time mulling it all over that she would never be able to let go.

Greg smiled to himself as he sat on the bench in the locker room. All he could hear was the distant dripping of one of the taps that obviously needed the washer replacing. Not that he was enough of a DIY guy to know anything about that. He slowly turned the pages of the book, taking in the words and the brightly coloured pictures. It still filled him with sadness when he thought of the reason why he had this book in his possession but something in the way Harriet had looked at him today had made him realise something. She made him feel strong again. He still couldn't believe how much he had hated her when they first met; it was like they were different people but still the same. He knew that didn't make any sense; scientist or no scientist.

Greg sighed and stood up again, closing the book. He slammed his locker door shut and wandered back down to the break room, realising that he didn't have much time before Catherine would start calling his phone in an attempt to get him to move his ass. Jake was laid on the break room sofa; he seemed to be asleep. Harriet had felt uncomfortable finding another babysitter so soon and Emily was reluctant to take up the job again, not that he blamed her. Greg crouched down by the side of the sofa and smiled at the little boy. He placed the book next to him and exhaled happily.

'Take good care of it little guy,' he said and left the break room feeling like a great weight had finally lifted from his shoulders. Another clichéd analogy but he didn't care. It was a good analogy.

Harriet flicked through the case file, her stomach still turning at the photographs of her mother. This wasn't the way to remember her. But it was so hard not to think about it. The case was solved, maybe she hadn't done it but the case was solved. She stopped flicking when she came across a slip of paper in place of Jenkins DNA results from the murder.

'Information removed for Samuels kidnapping case file, CSI Sanders.'

Harriet didn't know whether to laugh or cry as it hit her that Greg Sanders, the guy she couldn't abide when she first entered the Las Vegas crime lab, had solved her mother's murder. The irony was…well…ironic. Greg was the best thing that had happened for a very long time. She closed the file and threw it back into the box as the end of Rick's letter resonated in her mind.

Just promise me you will move on. It's time that you started thinking about all the things you have and all the things you have achieved and have yet to achieve instead of dwelling on what you're missing and what you haven't done.

Remember, you can't solve them all.

Harriet smiled to herself. She had Jake. She had Greg. She finally felt like someone who belonged instead of an infamous university statistic or a workaholic. Harriet looked at the box in front of her and smiled, sadly. She was a mother now, had her own child to think about.

'Rest in peace, mum' she said and replaced the lid on the box.

THE END

Final A/N - there you go, my first fully completed CSI fic. I hope you enjoyed it. You must have if you got this far. I did start on a sequel to this but decided it was pointless and quit.

I did startanother Greg fic, set at Christmas time but Icouldn't decide what to do with it and I ended up writing a completely different really short random Greg fic set at Christmas with the ever so original title of 'Christams Shopping' Its posted on here so check it out. Please feel free to review this story I know in previous chapters I said I wasn't looking for reviews (mainly because I am scared that they will be bad ones) but please review anyway if you like. I have an idea for a third story but I'm not going to start it until I know how well this one has gone.

Thankyou and good night/day/evening/whatever time of day you are reading this!