For Granted

A fanfiction by Lyrael

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from CSI. But I like to borrow them and have fun. It's like playing with Barbies.

When he opened his eyes he had an irrational thought that he'd lost his hearing. There was a fuzziness over his consciousness that disappeared within a few seconds of stirring from sleep, and he blinked a few times, feeling a sharp rush in his chest. It sat there for a minute or so, and then lifted as his pulse went back down.

Gil listened, and listened hard, narrowing his eyes and straining to make sure he could hear even the tiniest sound. Then the house sighed, and he let out a breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

For some reason, he would sometimes wake up scared to death and trembling, fearing that his hearing had fled – but as always, he was completely fine. The fear always stayed with him for a day or two after this happened, but then it would vanish, and he would forget about it until the next time he woke up drenched in a cold sweat.

The sun streamed in through a gap in the curtains, and out of the corner of his eye he saw millions of dust particles drifting, drifting, floating on the air. He glanced at his clock. Five o'clock pm. Then he remembered that he'd fallen asleep at seven that morning, after… after…

With a start he realized that he'd forgotten all about the other person in his bed, the soft lines hiding beneath the sheets. She had her back turned towards him, with her hand tucked under the pillow and her frame moved slowly, evenly, with deep breaths. Absentmindedly he kissed her bare shoulder, right next to the strap of her tank top, and sat himself up a little more, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms. He felt rested and rather sated, so comfortable and warm despite waking up scared out of his mind.

She stirred and made a soft "mmm" noise, and he felt his heart squeeze a little at that. Gil reached out and stroked the hair back from her face, tucking thin brown strands behind her ears, her perfect, wonderful ears. He kept doing this, pausing every so often to let his fingertips dance across her cheek. A few minutes passed and then she turned her head slightly to look at him, puzzled and content at the same time.

"S'wrong?" she murmured sleepily, and she opened her eyes and he wanted to tip forward and drown in the flecked depths of her brown irises.

"Nothing," he replied softly, and shifted from a sitting position so that he was almost hovering over her. He pressed a soft, tickling kiss to her cheek and she giggled very quietly. She rolled over a little bit and pressed her palms to his broad chest, applying gentle force with her fingernails and dragging them down a little bit.

"Tell me," she whispered, her eyes searching his and he gave in after a moment.

"I had a dream," he responded loftily, but he knew that she could see the receding fear in his eyes. She reached up and cupped his face and he leaned into it, much like he almost had four years ago. "Then, I woke up and I thought… I thought I couldn't hear anything."

"Oh." Her voice was barely there, like mist on a spring morning. He'd told her about his surgery a short while ago, only to find out, to his slight surprise, that she had known about it all along. Nothing escaped her intuitiveness and he loved her for that and so many other things too. He stared down at her, at Sara, and tilted his head slightly. Her expression was nearly unreadable.

There was silence for a beat, and then she moved herself so that she was sitting up more, and he was still over her, protectively and warmly. She was eye-level with him now and he wasn't sure what she was going to do until she leaned forward and brushed his lips with hers. Then she held his face in her hands. "Gil… it's probably because you're still afraid of it… Just remember that I'll learn sign language for you if it ever does happen." She smiled along with the last part of her sentence and he found himself smiling back.

"I know." He licked his lower lip, and added, "I love you."

"I love you too." Her hands left his face and she pushed some of her more unruly hair away from her face, her lips pursed half in thought and sleep respectively and he couldn't help himself. Gil sat back on his knees and leaned forward, gathering her into his arms and kissing the corner of her mouth.

Her eyes were bright and more awake and she grinned at him. "We have work soon, you know."

He paused in mock deliberation and then shrugged. "So?"

Sara laughed and peeled off her pajamas; he did the same and they kissed again, and he realized how much he would miss his hearing if it ever backfired on him and disappeared, because he wouldn't be able to hear her smoky, beautiful voice, her moans and sighs of pleasure, her words…

He kissed her ears, nipped her earlobe, whispered to her and he told her how much he'd miss her voice if he went deaf, and she then told him that she'd never again talk if that happened. When he asked her why, she just tightened her legs around him to get closer and he made a deep appreciative noise in his throat, and she laughed and told him that was why; because she'd never hear the expression in his voice anymore. A few more thrusts and she was reduced to moaning and he partially delighted in how he made her feel.

She let go of her inhibitions then and cried out loudly when she came, and he realized that his fears would never become reality because he'd never let them if he could help it.

"I love you," he said after their breathing slowed and their hearts stopped racing. He let his fingers trail over her side. "I love your skin, I love your legs," his hand dipped to her stomach and came back up, cupping the underside of her breast. "I love these," he said teasingly and she gave him a look of amusement. His fingertips ran up to her shoulder, across the smooth expanse of her collarbone, skimmed across her throat and ended at her ear. She had her eyes closed as he did this and he pecked her cheek gently.

"And I love your ears," he whispered softly, letting his warm breath stir her eyelashes. Her lips twitched upwards in the beginnings of a devilish smile, and before he knew it, she'd rolled herself over so that she was straddling him.

"So you're saying that out of everything you could be, that you're an ear man?" She threw back her head a little and laughed and he used the opportunity to grasp her thighs softly, pushing up against her a bit. That got her attention and her eyes were lit up when she looked down at him, a few rogue sunbeams poking through the drapes and casting themselves across her pale skin, her chocolate hair.

He gave her a mock-frown. "Well, you'd have to be me to understand. It was a horrible thing to learn that my hearing was going. I'm glad Robbins pushed me to do something about it; there are too many things that I can't take for granted in my life, anyways." Sara stared down at him, eyes glittering, and he grinned up at her, albeit a little sadly. Then he took her by surprise when he flipped her over in an equally fast retaliation to what she'd done, a low growl escaping him.

"Well, Gil," she whispered, adding her own little seductive twist to his given name, "you can take me for granted. And my ears, too." She kissed him for good measure, letting it deepen for a few moments, indulging in the contrasting soft and bristly sensations of his kisses.

He gazed down at her, pupils dilated and hair mussed. "…That's it. That's why I'd be miserable if I couldn't hear you," he said when they broke apart, more for oxygen than anything else. She gave him a questioning look and he laughed softly.

"Why, exactly?" she queried, glancing over at the clock and dimly realizing that shift was in less than two hours. He pursed his lips and scratched his beard, a small, shy smile gracing his lips.

"Because of how you say my name."

Author's Notes: Second fanfiction for CSI. I was bored, and to me... I always thought Grissom would have a soft spot for ears. That's just my opinion though. Hope you liked it.