Disclaimer: Not mine.

A/N: Hey y'all. Let me apologise for taking so long to get this up. I've been dealing with school, and getting diagnosed with moderate depression, and needing to get a therapist, and a whole hell of a lot of other issues, that y'all really probably don't want to hear about. But in short, I wasn't feeling up to writing. I'm feeling better though, and finished this up finally. Enjoy.

Dancing With the Law

Chapter Twelve: In Which They Roar

"So, where to first?" Greg asked as they climbed out of the car and began walking alongside of Sara towards the entrance.

"Why don't we just wander? See what we come to, and what all we feel like, though I definitely want to see the ape house," Sara suggested.

"Works for me," Greg snuck a look at Sara, than hesitantly reached a hand out and interlaced his fingers with hers. He couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face when she made no move to pull away, instead giving his hand a small squeeze.

"Ooh, look, the giraffes and elephants," Sara exclaimed as they entered the park. "They're giving a demonstration, let's go watch!"

"Sure. I like the elephants. Always reminds me of in Aladdin when Abu gets turned into one," Greg laughed.

"I knew you had to be one of those kids who was obsessed with Disney movies," Sara laughed.

"How could I not! Walt Disney was an absolute genius. And almost every Disney movie is a work of absolute brilliance. Except for some of the more recent ones. I don't know what the animators are thinking for some of them. Like Atlantis for example. It was a good movie, but all the characters are way too angular looking; I mean their fingers are square tips for heaven's sake!"

"You know, I think that's my cue to just smile and walk away," Sara raised an eyebrow at his vehemence in discussing the films. "Though I'll agree with you."

"Ah-Ha! I knew you liked them too!"

"No, but I've seen commercials on TV, and it just looks like they're starting to grab at anything that seems like a semi-decent idea, and some that aren't. Like The Emperor's New Groove; that movie looked stupid. Disney hasn't been coming up with any good ideas lately. Except for maybe Lilo and Stitch, which I'll admit I saw while babysitting for one of my neighbors a while back. That's a cute movie, with a great soundtrack."

"I know, Elvis totally rocks!" Greg agreed. "Too bad there's no hula in the dance competition, cause we'd so rock at it. Not to mention I'd love to get leid."

"Ha ha, very funny," Sara rolled her eyes at his bad pun that referred to the flower necklaces sometimes bestowed upon tourists.

"Glad you thought so too! Now come on, I want to see what other fantastic creatures we can find on our safari!"

"Pretty much the same as at any other zoo," Sara answered with a smile as they began to make their way down the path that would lead to the seals and sea lions exhibits.

"Maybe so, but I've never been to this zoo, so it's different," he responded with a smile before they turned their attention to the sea lions that were diving in and out of the water and just playing in general. They spent the next few hours walking around the lower end of the park, before finally stopping to grab some lunch; French fries and ice cream. Not exactly a healthy lunch, but a fun one. They found a bench close to the outdoor gorilla yard, and watched the primates as they ate. They were Sara's favourite, as she loved to see the similarities between them and humans, and how they loved each other and interacted with each other.

Greg couldn't help but smile as he watched her. She had a hint of a smile playing lightly about her lips as she watched two gorillas playing around on the ropes. She had pulled her hair back and clipped it up, and he had to fight with himself to keep from grabbing that clip and letting her hair down. Dressed simply in jeans and a red tank top, he thought she had never looked more beautiful. He laughed silently at his line of thought. Not that it was funny, but he was amazed by how hard he was falling for her. He had always liked her, ever since she had first started working there, but she hadn't even really paid him any serious attention till the dance competition. Something, he had to admit, that he was glad he was tricked into doing, as it had brought him Sara.

But he was scared; something he wouldn't admit out loud. He was falling hard for her. She was the first thing on his mind when he woke up, and the last thing he saw at night, as cliché as that might be. He knew without a doubt that he was falling in love with her, but the scary thing about falling was that he wasn't sure if he could stop himself and climb back up. Sara wouldn't intentionally hurt him he didn't think, but she might not be able to help it. She didn't trust easily, and while he knew he had her trust, he knew gaining her heart would be much harder.

"You okay? You looked about a million miles away," Sara said softly, interrupting his thoughts.

"I never left your side," he replied, just as softly. "Just thinking about how pretty you are."

Sara didn't say anything, but the light blush and shy smile belied her pleasure at his off-hand compliment. He grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze before turning back to watch the gorillas. They sat there for a few more minutes before deciding to move on to Cat Mountain; a large hill divided up into three sections. One contained the lions, another the tigers, and a third contained a white tiger. All of which were being completely lazy and sleeping in the fading sunlight.

"You know, I think it's gonna rain," Greg said, looking up at the rapidly gathering clouds.

"Yeah," Sara agreed after also looking up. "Well I guess we can head back to the car. Let's just take a quick run through the gift store. I want to pick up a postcard or two."

"Sure, but why postcards?" Greg swung their arms back and forth playfully as they headed to the gift store.

"I collect them, put them into albums and all. It's a cheap way of having a little memento of all the places I go," Sara shrugged as they entered the gift store. She headed for the spinning rack of postcards, while Greg amused himself with looking at the stuffed animals. Spotting a small gorilla, he laughed and picked it up and walked over to the cashier to pay for it quickly before Sara could notice. After the cashier had tucked it into a bag, he stuffed it into his backpack just as Sara walked over to pay for her postcards.

"What are you doing?"

"Just checking to see if I had an umbrella," he improvised smoothly as he finished zipping it shut before slinging it back onto his back. "Guess we're out of luck if it starts to rain. You ready to go?"

"Yeah," Sara nodded as she took her bag and change from the cashier. "Let's go."

"After you, my fair lady," he bowed her out the door. The stood beneath the overhang, looking at what appeared to be a tremendous cloudburst.

"Looks like we'll have to wait for it to let up," Sara sighed as they stared out at the heavy rainfall. They weren't alone; other zoo-goers were gathered in the nearby store and cafeteria style restaurant, or standing under the overhand, waiting for the rain to stop.

"A little rain never hurt anyone. Come on Sara, let's go dance in the rain," Greg grabbed her hand impulsively and before she could protest, he had pulled her out into the rain.

Sara protested, but it was a half-hearted effort, as she was laughing too hard to do much else. She loved Greg's child-like enthusiasm, and his willingness to simply embrace life. As the rain drenched their skin, Greg pulled her into their waltz routine, humming the music as they danced. As they gracefully went through the moves, they were ignorant of the stares of people around them. They also didn't realise that as they were dancing, the rain started to lessen. Almost too perfectly a coincidence, just as they took their final spin and went into their bow and curtsy respectively, rays of sunlight broke through the clouds, spotlighting them in a way.

"Thank you," Greg beamed as the people watching applauded. He also had to fight back a laugh as one little girl came running up to Sara and asked her for an autograph.

"Why do you want my autograph?" Sara smiled quizzically as she bent down to the little girls level. She couldn't have been more than five or six.

"Because you're a really good dancer, and that's what I want to be when I grow up," she said proudly, holding out a piece of notebook paper and a purple marker. "And you're really pretty too."

"Well thank you," Sara blushed slightly, asking the girl's name before writing out a short message and signing her name. She then reached into her purse and pulled out a sheet of paper from the small notebook she kept there in case she needed it for notes. "Now may I have your autograph?"

"Why?" It was the little girl's turn to look confused.

"Because you're the first person to ever ask for my autograph, and one day when you're a famous dancer, I'll have it to remember you by," Sara handed her the paper, smiling as the little girl slowly, and in large shaky letters, spelt her name, before handing it back to Sara with a shy smile. With a wave, she turned around and ran back to her parents, waving the piece of paper excitedly. The parents smiled their thanks to Sara before gently guiding the little girl in the direction of the parking lot.

"Thank you," Greg smiled, taking her hand again and tugging her close to his side before kissing her temple.

"For what?"

"Going out with me, dancing in the rain, being so nice to that munchkin," he shrugged. "Take your pick. That was pretty cool what you just did with her."

"She reminded me of me, when I was little and wanted to be a ballerina. Though I didn't really have anyone to encourage me."

"Well you do now. Why don't you take some ballet classes at the community center or one of the dance centres in town? I'm sure some of them offer adult classes," Greg offered as they headed towards the car. When she didn't say anything, he turned to find her look at him curiously, almost evaluating him. "What?"

"You're really sweet, did you know that?" She narrowed her eyes a bit. "Not that that's a bad thing at all, I mean, I rather like this side of you. It just takes some getting used to. I guess I'm just so used to the quirky lab-rat persona you had."

"Sorry," he coloured slightly, looking down.

"There's nothing to be sorry for. I just want to make sure you're not trying to change for me, and become someone who you're not," Sara stopped, forcing him to look at her. "Remember that whole soul-mates thing you told me about, and being completely yourself? That's what I like about you Greg; you're you, and you don't need to be anyone else."

"I know, and I'm not," he grinned a bit bashfully. "You just bring out the best in me, and make me want to be a better person. Always have."

"Good," Sara smiled, than paused slightly as Greg turned to continue walking.

"Something else?"

"Thank you," she smiled again, then surprising him, leaned in and casually gave him a kiss.

"PDA baby, I love it," he sighed dramatically in a dreamy fashion, pretending to swoon.

Sara laughed and slugged him playfully in the shoulder as they continued to the car. They continued their playful banter on the ride back to Sara's place. Once in Sara's apartment, Greg just crashed on the couch while Sara took to her bed. A few hours sleep and several cups of coffee later, they headed off to dance practice. As they were nearing the competition time, Madame Parajanov had upped their lessons to five days a week.

Madame Parajanov smiled as she observed the dynamic between the two of them running through their rumba routine. Something had changed between the two of them; and for the better she was happy to observe. They had danced the routine beautifully before, but now there was that undeniable element of realised chemistry between the two of them. Every time their eyes met you could see them blaze. Every touch, every turn, now had a flare of passion and romance, exactly what the dance was known for.

"Wonderful," she nodded slightly as they came to a stop, breathing hard, but with smiles on their faces. Her compliments were far and few, and thus meant all the more when she did give one. "Now, we have only three weeks to do the cha-cha, but it's fun and easy. And as it won't be graded, perfecting it isn't as important as was perfecting the rumba and waltz. Now, for the basic closed position…"

They spent the rest of their lesson working on the cha-cha, and working on stepping to the beat of the music. The dance committee that was in charge of the competition had already selected their music; Smooth, by Carlos Santana. Just a light-hearted and fun song, and Madame Parajanov was making sure that their dance routine would be the same; flirty, light-hearted, and above all, fun. So after wiping off and changing, they walked over to the café as was usual.

"I want to tell everyone tonight, about us, I mean," Sara said suddenly, not long after the waitress brought them their coffee.

"Great," Greg nodded. He was cool with whatever Sara wanted to do, though he had to admit he couldn't wait for everyone to know he and Sara were dating.

"Yeah," Sara's lips quirked, and her eyes twinkled as she met his gaze.

"Well what are we waiting for, let's go!" Greg stood up, grabbed her hand, and dragged her out to the car after throwing some money on the table. He drove to the lab, and once there, again took her hand and pulled her through the front door.

"Hey Judy," he greeted the receptionist. "Sara and I are dating. Okay, see ya later!"

Oh my gosh Greg," Sara laughed at the look of bewildered shock on Judy's face as he pulled her in the direction of the morgue. "You can't just tell people like that."

"Why not?" He grinned broadly as he dragged her down the steps.

Greg repeated the process several more times with Doc Robbins, Bobby, Jacqui, Archie, and Hodges, as well as any other personnel they passed in the halls. And each time he simply grinned at them and pulled Sara along behind him before they could say anything. Finally making their way to the break-room, they saw that everyone was there, talking.

"Hey hey everyone, I'm Sara's mystery boyfriend," he stated bluntly, than fell back on the couch, Sara calmly seating herself next to him, laughing.

"Very funny Greg," Grissom rolled his eyes slightly. Since Sara was laughing, no one took him seriously.

"Actually he is," Sara spoke up, pulling out the pictures from their symphony date that showed her and Greg together. "And what is it you always say Gris- the evidence never lies?"

"You're serious?" Nick stared from the pictures to them in surprise. "You two are really together?"

"Yeah, we're really together," Sara parroted his words, fighting back a laugh.

"Well congratulations then," Warrick gave her a smile.

"I knew there was something more to those coffee dates than you let on!" Catherine glared playfully at them.

"Not at first. They really were just for going over cases and procedures, but recently, yes, they've been added in as unofficial dates, so you're only half-right," Greg teased, draping his arm over Sara's shoulders, pulling her against him.

"Just don't let it interfere with your work," Grissom warned, drawing everyone's attention back to work matters. "And before I hand out assignments, Ecklie gave notice of some Dancing with the Law fund-raiser that the LVPD is sponsoring? Anyways, the show is on August first, and we're all expected to attend in support of our fellow LVPD co-workers. And make sure to dress nicely, it's a black-tie affair, and the Mayor's coming, so Ecklie wants us to keep up the good impression we've had on him in the past. Now, cases."

Grissom handed them out. Unfortunately for Sara, she was stuck with Catherine and Nick on a double homicide, while Warrick and Greg went solo on B & E's. So the rest of Sara's evening was spent trying to ignore the two, who continuously questioned her about the relationship. The only good thing was that Sara had the new dance steps to run over in her mind, helping her to block them out.

OooOooOooOooOooOooOooOooOooOooO

A/N: Okay, there it is. Next chapter will probably be the last. No sequel, no epilogues, just a nice, clean-cut finish. Hopefully it'll be up in two weeks or so, but again, no promises.