"Jesus!" a high-pitched shriek came from the direction of his kitchen and he nearly fell off of the sofa. "Get over here you little bastard!"

Grissom was just beginning to unwind from the case that he and Sara had just processed. The sheer volume of evidence had left them high strung and on edge and they both had to rely on copious amounts of caffeine to make it through shift.

A shriek resounded and Grissom's eyes finally popped open in alarm.

From his position in the living room, he couldn't see much, he could just hear. Towards the right of his field of vision, Sara suddenly straightened, hair askew, eyes blazing, rolled up papers in hand; she was even sweating a bit. Naughty thoughts filtered up through him, but he suppressed them when she began to heave loud breaths in anger.

Quickly she glanced at it, tossing loose chunks of hair out of her face, "Just, just gimme a second here, I gotta... just give me a second." With that, she disappeared from his line of sight once more.

There was a thump and a squeak and then he heard Sara string together words that she only uttered in the bedroom but this time, they were said with such distain that it shocked him. "You goddamned-" and then she was off running, the expletives coming in droves.

Grissom finally abandoned his warm little nook on the couch. "What in heaven's name are you doing?" he asked, rounding the divider to find Sara on hands and knees on the linoleum floor, shoe in hand. The overall picture of her, disheveled and annoyed was rather adorable to him but he reined in the smile that threatened to take over his face; she wouldn't find his amusement... amusing.

Meaning to toss her hair over her shoulder and look up at him, she only managed to whack her forehead on the overhang of his makeshift kitchen table.

"Oh, honey," he stepped over and gently smoothed his thumb over the red mark, "Get off the floor, what are you doing?"

Pouting, she shifted out into the light. "I was trying to kill that, that... bug." Her face twisted a bit in disgust.

Grissom's face went slightly aghast; she had anticipated it. "Kill it? You don't like them?"

"Babe," she said, picking herself up and plunking herself down in a chair next to where he stood. "I sleep in a room that houses a very large, furry, intimidating tarantula." Smiling, he too sat down, running a hand through his hair trying to wrap his mind around why Sara would want to kill an insect; he didn't think she had it in her. "Bugs are fine... bugs OUT of their habitats or terrariums or WHATEVER do not belong amongst us humans, they do not belong crawling around the kitchen where we eat." Again, she glanced down, eyes shifting about attempting to find the elusive creature.

"I don't think you're threatened of Larry," Grissom said off-handedly and she grinned. Fingers thrummed on the table as he asked, "But uh…well, what..." he glanced down at the floor, trying very hard not to seem too interested. As if he wasn't interested... "What kinda bug was it?"

Sara slapped a palm down on that table, nearly belying her agitation at the insect by giving in to his inquisition and smiling. "Grissom, they're dirty." Reigning in her delight at the interest etched on his face, she set her mock-stony gaze on him.

"But that only implies that I love dirty things..." He reasoned innocently, licking his lips in the process.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she replied, "Oh, I know you do but that's not the point." A few moments passed, Sara watching Grissom's backside as he crawled along the floor.

"What uh, what's the point here?"

"The point is, I don't want insects to have the chance to crawl into my MOUTH while I sleep," she spoke vehemently.

Grissom chuckled and got down on his hands and knees much like she had been before. "Well, you certainly snore loud enough, so your mouth is open pretty wide..." Grissom hadn't thought that through and she shifted her leg and kicked him in the ribs. "I didn't mean that..."

He saw her feet move on the floor as she made her way to the fridge. A moment later a hand appeared, a can of iced tea in it. "No thank you," he replied and she moved off to put the can back. A crack resounded in the otherwise-quiet kitchen as she opened her beverage. Grissom's hands slid along the floor as he scoured.

"Oh great, this is disgusting. Grissom, it's on the damn blender!"

The fact that Grissom even had a blender frightened her a bit (no man had a blender, not before they were married), but when she saw the scuttling brown thing on the appliance, she fought the urge to jump up onto a chair. She wasn't scared of insects, really, she wasn't... she just didn't want them crawling on her... or near her. "The roach is over there!"

Grissom stood up too fast and whacked his head just as she had. "Shit! Where? A roach?" Grissom scrambled to the counter but found no bug. "You were gonna kill a cockroach?" His eyes went wide, palms open at his sides. "How could you?"

Scoffing, she hopped up onto the table, planting her tush down on the sports page. "Yeah, let's redirect the real issue to be me not loving the creepy crawlies. Real mature of you."

Sara placed her Parade magazine weapon down on the table. "Oh god," she said, eyes still trained on the strong lines of his back, his thighs as they held him up. "This means we-I uh, you, this means you have roaches, doesn't it?"

"No, I don't, which is why I'm wondering how he got… in… here…couldn'ta escaped…" Again, Grissom ducked his head to look for the bug that had eluded Sara; it had to have been incredibly fast in order to escape her.

The tiny brown thing sped across the back of the sink. "Damn, you're fast, c'mere..." Grissom spoke to it. Briefly, he glanced back at Sara, whose expression was darkening by the second. "Don't make this a thing," he begged, sharp eyes glancing around.

"I... Jesus Gil, I'm not making this anything! It's a-ON THE LEDGE! THE LEDGE!" Sara pointed excitedly at the opposite wall where the roach was sitting, possibly shaking its tiny little insect butt at them. "Gil, there, there, get it!"

Griss whipped around and knocked several dishes out of the drainer. They smashed on the floor and the tiny thing ran away again.

Taking a sip from her can, Sara sputtered, "You're too damn slow, just whack it with a newspaper and be done with it!"

Gil shook his head hard, bending down, searching the floor again. "That bug could be the ticket, you saw how fast he was!"

"You're kidding me! You're going to keep him?" Rolling the magazine back up, she sat alert, on watch.

Licking his lips in a way that stirred something in her (it always stirred something in her, who was she kidding?) he tip toed across the floor. "Of course." He said it matter of factly, like really... she should have known that. "What else would I do?" Grissom turned to grin at her, "I'm not like you Sara."

"Nice, say that to the vegetarian."

As he was laughing he leapt across the kitchen and sank to his knees quickly, a dull popping reminding him of the years that he had lived. Sara watched as he reached out and scooped something into his hands, no doubt the thing that had run so fast from her.

And he held his hand out, the cockroach resting in his palm but her eyes were trained on his face. So boyish, so awash with delicate delight that she had to smile as he presented her with the treasure. "Aptera fusca," he said breathlessly.

Before she could say anything, before she could grab him and just kiss, kiss, kiss him... he got up and scrambled towards the back of the townhouse, cooing to his new friend.

When he returned she was waiting for him, weight leaning on her left leg. "This is why I keep falling in love with you," she huffed, as if agitated. "Just stop it!" But she slung her arms over his shoulders anyway. "Stop it, kay?" God, she hated getting wrapped up in those tender moments, the moment when it felt as if everything was made of cotton candy or fluffy bunnies or other sweet things that she normally couldn't stand.

But Grissom was sweet, and she adored that about him.

"And if I said no?"

Sara gripped his shoulders hard. "If you say no then... oh I don't care." He chuckled against her lips as he kissed her. She wound her hands around his neck and allowed her eyes to flutter back open to settle on... the blender.

"Damn it!" she swore, glancing over his shoulder towards the appliances, seeing the bowl of fresh fruit placed in front of it. "And I wanted to make smoothies!"

Grissom chuckled and cradled her head against his shoulder, swaying slowly. Finally, the pressure in his chest bubbled up, released in laughter. "Sorry," she whispered into the softness of his shirt.

Grissom smiled against her hair; she could feel it. "And we, ours," he spoke to her scalp.

"Huh?"

Lifting her chin, they gazed at each other, mirth and confusion in hers, simple delight in his. "This place. My place… is ours, for future reference… and if you want it to be."

On a sigh she placed her cheek back on his shoulder and smiled. "What are we going to name our new pet?"