Ok- Here is the second to last chapter. These are going to be short so I should be done quickly- PLEASE keep reviewing- I Heart encouragement!

There was a knock on Grissom's door. He swung it open without even checking, he figured it was Sara coming back for her tape.

"Did you forget-" Grissom's words died on his lips when he was met with the barrel of a gun in his face, and just beyond that, the hateful cold stare of Chase Gregory.

Chapter 9

Grissom's eyes widened as he was nudged back inside his home. One side of Chase's mouth hitched up in a devious smirk, but his eyes screamed rage with such passion it made Grissom shiver.

"What the hell do you think you are doing with her? She is MINE! MY fiancé. She belongs to me. You stay the hell away from her." Chase snarled

Grissom closed his eyes for a brief moment and breathed in deeply.

"She is NOT yours, she can see whomever she likes."

Chase growled and brought back his arm.

"SHE IS MINE!"

He brought his hand back and pistol-whipped Grissom right across the face. Grissom felt the blood coming from his mouth and nose. He stumbled and steadied himself on his counter. He shook his head to try to clear away the fogginess that seemed to be overtaking his mind.

Chase stood regarding him for a long while, gun still aimed directly at his head.

"Do you think she loves you, old man? Do you think she will care when your brains are plastered all over these walls? She doesn't, and she won't. She loves ME. That little whore is just playing with you."

Grissom's eyes flared with anger and he brought himself to stand at full height.

"Sara is NOT a whore."

He slammed his body into Chase's chest and managed to get a few good punches in before he felt the gun pound repeatedly into the side of his head, knocking him to the floor. Chase stood over him, resetting the aim at Grissom's head.

"Why are you doing this? She DOESN'T. LOVE. YOU. Get with it man. You don't know her like I do. No one does. She would be dead if it wasn't for me. I SAVED her. She would be NOTHING without me."

Chase stared at Grissom for a while, he was slumped on the floor against his counter, struggling to remain conscious. Chase laughed.

"How strange to finally meet you. The 'great' Gil Grissom. Sara would talk about you for hours if she could after that class you taught at her stupid school. Only way to get her to shut up was to shove a sock in her mouth and bang her til' she passed out."

Grissom could feel his pulse climbing to dangerous heights. He was nauseous from his injury and from the thought of Chase touching Sara that way. He tried to get up again but was swiftly met with Chase's combat boot crashing against his ribs.

Chase cocked the gun and sneered at Grissom.

"It's over old man. She belongs to ME."

The sound of the gunshot was deafening and the smell of the powder made Grissom's stomach churn…

"…Wait…" Grissom thought "If I can smell than…"

He looked up to see Chase with a look of utter shock and pain written across his face. He looked down at his chest to see blood beginning to seep through his dirty white tee shirt. As he dropped his gun and fell to his knees, the top of Sara's body and the gun she held in her extended hands came into Grissom's view.

She walked over in front of Chase pointed her gun at his head.

"I BELONG to myself." She said through gritted teeth.

Another shot rang out and Chase's body fell to the floor and a pool of blood began forming around him.

Sara put down her gun and turned to look at Grissom. Her expression panicked she dropped to the floor in front of him her hands on his head, trying to stopped the vast bleeding there.

"Oh my God, Gil! Are you alright?"

Grissom tried to respond but found that it was all he could do to just keep his head up and looking at her. Sara ripped a piece of Chase's shirt off and pressed it to Grissom's head with one hand. With the other she took out her cell phone and called for an ambulance.

As soon as she was off the phone she returned her attention to Grissom.

"Gil, I am so sorry. I should have known that he would come after you. I'm sorry, I didn't- I couldn't- You just, you're going to be okay I promise, the ambulance is going to be here any minute, okay?"

Grissom just looked at her and raised her hand slowly up to his face, He pressed her palm to his lips and kissed it just before his eyes closed and he passed out.

Sara just held him as the EMT's came through the open door. They almost had to pry her off of him. After they had taken him down to the ambulance, Brass came in to find her. She wanted to go to the hospital immediately but he insisted that there was nothing she could do there yet. He convinced her to go home and get cleaned up. He'd send someone with her and they would take her to the hospital when she was done.

Brass decided that he could wait until later to get her statement and find out exactly what happened with Chase. Although he was pretty sure he already knew. He knew it was a good shooting. Nevertheless everything had to be documented and processed exactly by the book.

Sara went home and went straight to the shower after the officer assured her he'd be waiting outside her apartment door. She stood for a moment before undressing and stared at herself in the mirror.

She was a sight.

He clothes were all tousled and she had Grissom's blood on her hands, and arms, and spray from Chase on her clothing and her neck. She quickly stripped and put the clothes in a pile in the corner. She knew Jim would want them later.

She jumped into the shower and scrubbed at her skin until all the blood was gone but she was red and raw. She sat down under the spray and let it pound on her back for a few moments, trying to compose herself.

She still didn't know what these bits of memory she had of Gil meant. She couldn't understand why she could not remember him. She did understand how she could have these feelings. That she was able to kill another human being- regardless that it was Chase, for a man that she couldn't recall. She could only imagine the depth of feeling that she had for this man before she was attacked.

Suddenly the need to see him was overpowering. She got out of the shower and hurriedly got dressed and only half dried her hair. If it wasn't chilly outside she wouldn't have bothered at all.

On her way out she stopped when she saw the huge orchid sitting on her hallway table. All of a sudden her mind was filled with sounds and images.

"Grissom? Come tie me up?"

"Cite your source."

"Oh, now you wanna go down that route?"

"Yeah"

"Ahh No, uh uh."

"YOU started it!"

"Since when have you been interested in beauty?"
"Since I met you."

"What's your pulse at now?"

"Sara, I don't know what to do about this."

"I do."

"Pin me down."

"The only time we touch other people is when we are wearing our latex gloves."

"I haven't seen you in a while, have I?"

"You see me everyday."

Sara fell to her knees and braced her hands on the carpeted floor in front of her. The barrage of images wouldn't stop; neither would the flow of tears down her cheeks. It was so intense, it felt like her head was filled up to much. But she didn't want it to stop. Everything was clicking into place finally. And for the first time in a month, she didn't feel lost. Everything made sense.

When her mind finally stopped whirling she stood immediately, dried her eyes, and strode out of her apartment. She needed to see Grissom NOW.

The drive to the hospital was short and, mercifully, the young officer didn't try to speak with her, he just told her what room Grissom was in now and let her out at the door closest to it.

Sara practically ran to room number 13-04. Grissom lay motionless and pale against the dull sheets. She sat in the chair next to him and took his hand gently in hers. It was warm and heavy. Sara laid her head on his chest, her ear over his heart, listening to the strong beat and to the constant beep of the heart monitor.

She released his hand and draped her arm over his mid section, just to feel his body rise and fall with each breath. She heard him move and take in a breath deeper than before. She sat up a bit and saw him open his eyes and turn to look at her. She didn't bother to swipe away the few tears that escaped from her eyes.

"Hey, How you feeling?" She asked quietly.

Grissom looked at her and cocked his head a little to the side his eyebrows furrowed in a way that made Sara nervous. What he said next nearly made her pass out. In a strained voice, he whispered-

"Who are you?"

Sara blinked hard and felt her heart drop to the very pit of her stomach. She kept her eyes on Grissom and saw the corner of his mouth twitch up just the slightest bit.

He was joking.

Sara let out a half sob half laugh as more tears escaped.

"God, Don't do that to me, Grissom"

Grissom silently mouthed 'I'm sorry' and grasped her hand. After a few minutes Sara found her voice and looked up at him to find him staring at her intently with a knowing smile on his face.

"What?"

"You called me Grissom just then."

Sara was confused for only a moment before realizing that he knew she remembered him. She told him about the plant and about how all of it came rushing back and that she could now recall every wonderful, terrible moment of her life.

"Grissom, I wanted to thank you for being so wonderful this past month. You were a great friend. I will never forget that. Chase ruined my life twice, you, you gave me the strength to stop him from doing it a third time and I love you for that."

Sara stopped abruptly and looked at Grissom. She expected there to be shock and fear in his eyes. She expected to literally see the doors around him slam shut and have him pretend like he never heard that.

'Grissom' and 'love' in the same sentence was not something Sara was used to saying out loud. But to her surprise, he just looked right back at her, just looking a little confused, and grasped her hand tighter.

"You love me."

It was as much a question as it was a statement. Sara laughed and shook her head.

"You know, for such brilliant man, you are quite dense Gil Grissom."

She took a deep breath before she dove in.

"Yes, I love you. Even when I didn't remember you and my world was upside down, everything was a mess and I still loved you. What do you say to that?"

Grissom paused, clearly readying himself for what he was about to do.

"I… I love you… Sara. And… I'm sorry for everything I have done to hurt you, I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you from Chase, and I'm sorry I was a stupid ass and pretended I knew what was best for you. So, when I get out of here… would you… be interested in having dinner with me?"

Sara took his hand and slowly kissed the palm of it just as he had done to hers.

"Yes."

And finally, after a month, Grissom saw the full out Sara Sidle 100 megawatt smile that he fell in love with so many years ago.

TBC

OK- After this there is just one more chapter- it's pretty much an epilogue but COME ON- They haven't even kissed yet and I just can't leave it at that. I know the end of this chapter is a little OOC but I honestly have no idea how they could admit they love each other. So I just guessed. Hope it wasn't too bad. REVIEW PLEASEEEEEEEEE!

And if that waking up moment seemed a little familiar it's because I kinda stole it from the X-Files… :Sigh: I miss that show… At least THEY got together at the end:)