Disclaimer: Not mine.

Authors Note: Thank you again to those of you who have sent reviews. You guys are awesome. This is my first fanfic so they meant a lot. Please let me know what you think of this chapter. Thank you! Happy reading.

Brass sat back down and waited for Sara to speak. Her eyes were fixated on Grissom's sleeping form. He gently whispered to her, not wanting to startle her. He could see she was in deep thought. "Sara."

"Hmm? Oh, sorry."

"It's okay. You must be exhausted. I really can come back lat-"

She interrupted him, suddenly remembering why she had asked him to stay. "He asked me to move in with him."

Brass was shocked, to say the least. "Wow." He looked over to Grissom. "Boy, he really has come a long way. I never thought I'd see that day." He turned back to meet Sara's eyes. "Except, you guys are pretty much already living together anyway, aren't you?"

"Yeah. Kind of, I guess." Brass noticed the uncertainty in her voice and the tears that started to form, then fall.

"Sara? Hey, what's wrong?" He grabbed a tissue and blotted her face. She closed her eyes. He spoke softly. "Hey. It's just me here. What's going on?"

"I'm just…so scared." She opened her eyes to see Brass' concerned look, and took a deep breath. "Scared that if we do live together, I may do or say something wrong that will make him run. Everything is good right now, well, before this mess happened." She took a deep breath. "Yeah, we spend almost every day with each other, but at least he has that out if he needs it. You know?" She sniffled. "I don't know. I guess I just feel like I'd be pressing my luck."

Brass laughed and shook his head, which pissed her off. Noticing the glare that was directed toward him he decided to explain. He grabbed her hand and held it tightly. "Sara, after having front row seats to the events of the last 24 hours, I can honestly say, you are getting yourself worked up over nothing. Interesting tidbit I think you should know, in all the years I've known Gil, I have never seen him shed one tear. That is, until last night. And believe me there was a lot more than just one. You know what that is Sara? It's love. You've managed to break through the great wall of Gil Grissom. I don't think any of us thought that would be possible."

He chuckled and she looked to him sweetly while wiping her eyes. "Thank you Jim. I…I guess I needed to hear that." She looked back to Grissom. "I started to accept that he was my unattainable dream. Then when we started seeing each other I just kept waiting for it to end."

"Sara, you need to quit thinking like that."

"No, I know. I do. I just…it's so surreal."

He squeezed her hand. "I know. You guys have something that's extremely special. You'll be okay. You just let me know if he gets out of line at all. I'll send the guys after him." He winked at her.

She put a hand to her head. "Oh God, the guys. Everyone knows now huh? Are they upset?"

"Relax Sara. It's okay. They were a little stunned, to say the least. But they're all happy for you guys." He looked to his watch. "Look, if you're going to be okay, I better get going. You should try to get some rest because they'll be coming by to see you later."

"Okay. Thank you, Jim. I knew I could talk to you."

"Anytime kiddo. Get some rest." He stood and kissed her on her forehead then pointed over to Grissom with his thumb. "Tell that guy I'll talk to him later."

"Okay." She watched him leave the room then her eyes fell onto Grissom. His back was to her the whole time. Little did she or Brass know, he had been wide awake. He waited a few minutes before repositioning, pretending that he was just waking. He looked over to Sara and locked eyes with her.

They gazed at each other until Sara spoke. "Hey."

"Hi."

She laughed as they fell back to their fixation. "How you feeling?"

He moved to sit up and groaned. "I'm fine. You're the one who got shot." He winced as he remembered why they were there. "By the way, I'm sorry about that. How are you?"

"It's not your fault. I should have gotten down. And…I'm good."

He shook his head to protest. But as he stood, he became dizzy and grabbed for her bed. "Grissom, you okay?"

Thankful her bed was there, he still stood leaning on it. He blinked repeatedly then stopped when the dizziness was gone. "Whoa. Yeah, just a little dizzy. I'm okay."

She scooted over as much as she could to her right, wincing at the pain. "Come here."

"Sara-"

"I said come here. There's plenty of room and…I need you to hold me." He couldn't resist her puppy dog eyes. He knew, that alone, was going to lose him a lot of arguments in the future.

He moved to lay down beside her, shaking a finger at her. "Fine, but if we get in trouble, I'm going to tell them it was your idea."

"What are they going to do, kick us out?"

"Good point." He winked at her as he tried to maneuver on the bed without hurting her. Once he got settled, he kissed the top of her head.

"You're right. This is good."

She chuckled softly, eyes closed, as her head rested on his chest. "The doctor couldn't have prescribed a better medicine." They laid there soaking in each other's warmth. "Griss, can we talk?"

He knew exactly what she wanted to talk about and thought it could wait. She needed her rest. "Later honey, later. I want you to get some sleep. I'll be right here."

She turned her head to kiss his chest. "Okay." He rubbed the back of her hand in lazy circles with his thumb and rested his cheek on her head. Between the movements of his sweet caress and the sound of his heartbeat, she fell quickly into a deep slumber. He soon succumbed to sleep as well.

The nurse had come in to take Sara's vitals. She stirred a little but didn't wake. The nurse knew it was against hospital policy but she didn't have the heart to tell anyone. As she was leaving, Catherine and Nick were walking in. They stopped when they saw the pair. The nurse smiled. "They've been sleeping so soundly. They are a sweet couple aren't they?"

Catherine was speechless and Nick blushed. "Yeah, yeah, they are. Thank you ma'am."

They were about to follow the nurse out when they heard Grissom. "Hey, guys. Come on in." He was trying to free his arm from Sara's hold as they walked over to the bed.

"It's okay Gil, stay there. You shouldn't be moving much either." His body was incredibly sore, so he decided to take Catherine's advice.

Nick sat to the right of Sara's bed and Catherine to the left. An uncomfortable silence filled the room. "So, how you guys doing?"

Grissom grinned at Nick's approach to breaking the awkwardness. "Better. I want to talk to her doctor and see when we can get her home."

Nick stood and grinned. "Stay put, I'm on it."

Catherine chuckled. "Gil, the clean up crew finished your place. It's all ready, for the most part."

He shook his head and frowned. "No, I don't want to spend another night there. We'll go back to Sara's." At her confused expression he continued. "I almost lost her there Catherine. Once I get her settled at her place, I'm going to call my realtor and sell the townhouse."

"Wow, okay. Well, let us know if we can help."

"Thank you Cat. You've been great. I've been hit with several realizations over the last couple of days. One of those being how much of a family we've all become." She patted his leg and started to tear.

She wiped her eyes. "You're welcome. Now let's change the subject. No more crying."

He laughed softly. "You're on. How's everybody at the lab doing? I should be back-"

"No way buster. You're not coming back for at least a week." He started to protest. "NO. We are doing fine. You're not going to be any help to us until you are completely better. I don't want to hear anymore about it. I'll handle Ecklie."

"Yes ma'am."

"Well, that was easier than I thought it was going to be."

Sara started to stir, wincing from the pain. She turned her head so her cheek was resting on Grissom's chest. It took her a moment to focus on Catherine and the two smiled at each other. "Hey Cat."

"Hey Sara. How you feeling?"

"Good, considering." She looked up to Grissom's adoring eyes. "Have we seen the doctor yet?"

He began to rub her arm. "Nick went to look for him."

"Good. I want to get out of here. I can't wait to get back home." Catherine read the 'can we have a minute alone' look from Grissom's face.

"I'll uh; I'll go see what's keeping Nick."

As they watched the door close, Sara spoke with a chuckle. "I'm surprised at her. Usually she's smoother than that. What's going on Gil?"

"You just never cease to amaze me." He kissed the top of her head. "Catherine was telling me that my townhouse has been cleaned up. And…I uh…I told her that it doesn't matter. That we'll go back to your place. Is that okay?"

"Absolutely. Griss, I've decided that I want to move in with you, if the offer still stands."

He squeezed her hand. "Of course it still stands. But…"

She moved her head so she could read his eyes. "What babe?"

"I just…it'll be more like me moving in with you until I can buy a new house. I don't want to go back there Sara. I…it-"

"It's okay Griss. You don't have to. Besides, it'll be nice to have a fresh start. Equal territory, nothing that's been your place or my place."

He leaned down and kissed her lightly on the lips. "Exactly. I love you Sara. We'll make this work, I promise. Besides, the great wall of Gil Grissom is gone." He smiled brightly at her shocked face.

"You heard all of that?"

He didn't answer her, just went back to kissing her lips.

TBC?