Disclaimer: I do not own CSI

AN: Thousand thanks to Rhee for beta reading, thank you so much!

This is a post Gum Drops chapter :) sadly the ep didn't air how it was planned, but maybe it was a bit like this after Sara returned ;) who knows...

Chapter 22

This had been a tough case, she definitely was glad to be back in Vegas again. At least the girl would make it, she had told herself, but still, what a senseless tragedy had this been? She couldn't imagine how people could do this to each other.

The case had really been hard on Nick, he had been so stressed out, Sara really had been worried. He hadn't even taken a break to get some rest or to sleep.

Sara hadn't been able to sleep either, but for other reasons. Since the crime had been committed in a small town almost three hours away from Vegas they hadn't been able to drive back to the city to sleep. So they had spent their break in a motel. Grissom had stayed in Vegas because he was teaching a seminar and Sara was not used to sleeping without him. She couldn't believe how used she had gotten to falling asleep in his arms. In the last months they hadn't spent one night apart from each other, not one single night. They had spent so many years apart and all alone, always - even if it had only been subconsciously - missing the other one, so that now - once they had made the experience of waking up in each other's arms - they really didn't want to do without it anymore.

She had spent the six hours -which Nick had allowed them all as a break to recover -lying in the motel bed, trying to sleep. But she had been missing the warm body that was usually lying next to her, the warm chest that she usually snuggled up to, the arm that embraced her, the hand that caressed her and his slow and steady breathing which had become a comforting lullaby to her. She had thought about calling him but she had been afraid that she might wake him up.

Slowly she unlocked the door and entered his house. She let her bag drop down onto the armchair next to the sofa, her jacket followed. She sighed and slipped out of her shoes and took off her socks. She loved walking barefoot, even over the cold flagstones in his living room. He always told her she'd catch the flu but she ignored it. She opened her bag and rummaged through it for her sleeping clothes. Eventually she found them and pulled her shirt over her head to replace it with a clean spaghetti strap top. Then she slid out of her jeans and slipped into a pair of cotton sport pants.

She walked down the hall to the bedroom and quietly entered. The familiar feeling of the pillowy carpet under the soles of her feet made her smile.

Grissom was sleeping, his breathing was not as slow and steady as it usually was though. She slowly sat down on the mattress and reached out for his shoulder. She softly ran her hand over it, not wanting to wake him up but the need to touch him was just too unbearable. Then she slipped under the blanket and snuggled up to his chest.

He sighed and wrapped his arm around her, nestling his face against her neck.

"Hey." She whispered softly.

"Hey." He replied hoarsely.

Finally being close to him again felt so good. She had missed him even more than she thought she had.

He began kissing her neck, mumbling something indefinable. She buried her fingers into his hair and moaned softly.

He chuckled and then turned her onto her back so that he could lean over her. "I missed you." He told her softly and let his lips meet hers.

"I missed you too." She let her hand run over his chest, loving the fact that he slept shirtless.

A passionate kiss followed as he slipped his hands under her shirt. She moaned into his mouth when he started to caress the soft skin with his fingers. Then he broke the kiss and brought his one hand up to her face. He brushed a strand of hair back behind her ear and she could see him smile in the semi-darkness of the room.

"How was the seminar?" She asked and stifled a yawn.

"It was good." He rolled onto his back and dragged her with him so that she was now lying on her side again.

She rested her head on his chest and slipped her arm around his torso.

"How was the case?" He asked while he brushed his hand through her hair.

"Depressing." She sighed. "I felt so sorry for the little girl. Getting abducted after your whole family was killed. No one deserves to have to go through something like this."

He ran his fingertips over her spine which let little showers of sensations run through her. She snuggled closer against him. "Nick didn't take it very well… he was really stressed out."

"I think even though he hides it, he didn't manage to get over his abduction yet." Grissom sighed. "Did he ever talk about it with you?"

She slightly shook her head. "No, he alwayschanges the subject as soon as it comes to this theme."

"That's not good." He fell silent for a while. "Maybe I should try to talk with him."

"Well, talking with you always helped me." She told him smirking, remembering how thankful she had been for all the comfort he had spent her after her suspension.

He chuckled softly. "But that is different I guess, I'm afraid I will not be able to comfort him by pulling him into my arms when he starts crying."

She softly brushed her lips over his chest. "You were really good at that."

"I have a lot of hidden qualities." He let his hand slip over her shoulder and then over her arm to her hand, entwining his fingers with hers.

"Yes, you do." She whispered softly.

They remained in silence for a while, simply enjoying that they were together again. She cuddled up against him as close as she could and he embraced her with both his arms, holding her as if he planned to never let go of her again.

"Move in with me." He suddenly whispered.

She leaned up, unbelieving staring down at him. Had he just asked her to… move in with him? Had he really? Her mind and heart began to race.

He loosened his embrace around her and placed his one hand on her cheek. He let his thumb trace the contours of her lips and smiled at her. "Move in with me." He repeated this time with more confidence in his voice.

"You mean as in living here and having all my stuff here? And when I say all my stuff I mean all my stuff, not only this having each other's keys arrangement." She stammered unbelieving.

"You know, see it from a rational point of view. We spend all our time away from work together anyway, why should we pay for two places when we could share one. Plus we wouldn't have to own everything twice anymore, for example two toothbrushes or two bathrobes or whatever." Then he smirked. "And when you see it from a romantic point of view, and yes I mean romantic, as startling as it might sound to you, living together would just be…" His voice turned softer. "I just really want to share my life with you and the thought of having all your stuff here,... sharing my closet with you or having all that woman's stuff in the bathroom, that would make my life become part of yours and vice versa."

She was speechless, and moved to tears. He really meant this, he really wanted this. Not even in her dreams she had dared to imagine that he would ever want her to move in with him.

"So, what do you think?"

TBC

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