Well, this is it. I hope very much that Marlou enjoyed this since I wrote it for her. Thanks to Kirsten for the beta and Lauren for the... yeah. Usual.

"No."

"Sara…"

"No!"

"Sara, you really need to –"

"Nuuuuuuuuuuuuh…"

"That's not even a word!" Grissom exclaimed, his palm, full and warm, dipping along the curve of her spine.

"Mmm, sore," she muttered into the pillow, her arms going up and under it to squeeze her face deeper. "So sore."

For a moment, his face balled up in a moment of panic, he wondered if he'd done anything to hurt her that morning. He then realized that he too was sore, quite sore, especially in his thighs. Maybe she'd been as completely (and utterly) celibate as he had been. "God, hurts…" she moaned, a little sheepishly, "But so gooooood."

A smile–devious, sexy, strong–lit up his face in all the right places and his lips took the place of his hand. Next to nothing, that's all it took for him to sink into her, to stoop to her glorious graces, just next to nothing. Had he known that, it might not have taken so long to acquiesce to her beautiful lines, the pliant words she had to offer.

He knew, like any man would, that there were more gorgeous women around; women who'd be more than eager to help ruffle his bed sheets. But there wasn't anyone, anywhere (and of this he was entirely sure) who was so perfect for him. They'd fight, they'd scream, they'd be at each other's throats but it all stemmed from passion, from the fight they were willing to endure to be. And not just to be, to be together.

Sara slowly turned over, body still gloriously bare, patches of skin screaming red where his mouth had taken to her too hard. "We didn't even get up to… much. And I'm so, really through." He kissed her shoulder, simply because he could, simply because he wanted to. "Really though, it was… great." She spread her thighs beneath the sheets and he watched as she did so, nearly salivating. "And I –"

"Sara, stop talking."

The stars in her eyes were as bright as the stars in the sky when she finally looked up at him. "No, I wanna tell you how –"

But he kissed her to keep her from continuing. He was getting better at being with someone, but he wasn't sure he was quite ready to relive the night blow by blow with her. "You, mmm," Sara pulled back just as his hand was about to skate up and trace the outline of her breast. "You taste like syrup."

"Had to test it."

"Huh?"

"I went out and got these strawberry crepe things… had to test the syrup." Sara lifted a brow at him. "Okay, so maybe I ate one." Grissom chuckled and sat up, tracing invisible patterns across her stomach. "But you were asleep and a man has an appetite."

Sara pressed herself up onto her palms. "Is that so?"

A slight twitch of his lips and he was smiling. "Perhaps later we can find out." And with that, he pushed himself up off of the bed and disappeared from the room. What a thing to say, what a thing. What a deliciously devilish, severely palpable promise that she was aching to take him up on…in more ways than one.

Sara fell back against the pillows and, like a girl with a dirty little secret, giggled to herself. Giddy–she'd never felt such a way before-with all the wonderful feelings flowing through her, she got out of bed wearing nothing but a tee-shirt, and sauntered into the kitchen.

He was busy pulling out plates from the cupboard, but when he turned around the look on his face was enough to send her into another fit of laughter. "My god, woman. Do you want to give me a heart attack?"

She walked briskly over to him and slung her arms around his waist. "Now why would I want that?" She placed a kiss on his clothed chest. "Huh?"

"You're still naked under there," he whispered as he dipped his lips to hers. "Why… are you still naked?" They kissed briefly until she pulled away from him and tore off the shirt, tossing it onto the floor.

"If it bothers you," she began to back off, offering him once more a spectacular view of her toned torso. She was gorgeous, breathtaking, flawed and amazing and although kissing every inch of her skin wouldn't make him happy forever, he could still try.

"No! No, no." A sinister smile came up on his lips as he encircled her waist with strong arms, bringing her back and forth as he did so. "I… like… all of this." And holding her, simply holding her, solidified something so primal, down inside of his soul that he felt somehow lighter, somehow able to let go of the littler things.

"All of this?" she laughed as he spun her around a bit. Oh, only one time and he was infatuated with how her body moved, how it molded to the shape of his hands. Eyes dark, he moved his hands up and over her arms.

"Uh huh, all of this." Grissom began to ravish her neck again and she went right on laughing because… that's what people did when they were fantastically, over the moon happy. She knew the elation of the day wouldn't last forever, but she wondered for a moment if it was wrong if she decided to steal away the rest of the day entirely for herself.

She bet not because, well… that was exactly what Grissom intended on doing.

They fell right back into bed, quick kisses, each holding on as tightly as they could. When he came in her, hot and thick, she heard him whisper 'I love you' and she swore to herself that she'd tell him the same every single solitary day that she drew breath.

"How is it that now," Grissom whispered into her hair once he had regained some of his breath, "that I have you, it hurts more than ever."

"Huh?"

"Before, when, you know, you were at arm's distance," he kissed her again, harder this time, right below her right ear, "It was easier before, you know? It hurt, but less."

Sara smiled shyly at him and buried her head beneath his chin. "Hmm, yeah."

Grissom swallowed and looked out the window at the sun that was beginning to peek just over the horizon. "I just find now, the prospect of losing you… is there. More than it was before."

"You're really sweet, you know." And she pulled her head from beneath his chin. "And you're scaring the hell out of me."

"Sorry."

"No it's just… all encompassing, hearing you… and all of… this…" A finger tracing down over his bicep, a moment that would have been better placed amongst the moonlight but found itself caught in a ray of sunshine. "I…just want to practice saying all of this out loud… tell you how much I love you as much as I can, you know?"

"Wasted years…."

"Mmm," she agreed and felt a strange bubble of grief well up in her. "Make up for them all, every… singleone." Sara said quickly, blending her words together, pressing desperate, open-mouthed kisses over his chest.

"This is a lot for the first day…" Grissom drawled, eyes droopy once more.

"Yeah," Sara yawned. "But think about all that time we're making up."

Very Much The End