Growing Together

Part 13

Summary: The planning begins.

A/N: Special thanks to jtbwriter and microgirl. Your reviews really help me to keep writing this. The same goes of course for Ace.

xxxxx

The next day, Grissom and Sara shared some downtime at his place. Grissom was sitting on the couch reading, while Sara was only pretending to be engrossed in a magazine. She couldn't focus on the article in front of her. Her thoughts were circling around something else.

She couldn't stop thinking about living with Grissom, but the 'how' was still fuzzy. Maybe it was because she was thinking about a home that was both of them. They would have to enter the discussion about the specifics sooner or later; why not know?

Although she felt like pacing to work off some excess energy and tension, she just turned to face him. She grabbed his hand to get his attention. He looked up, and when he saw the look on her face, he put the book away. This was important, her expression told him that.

"Can we talk about moving in together?"

Grissom nodded, swallowing hard. It wasn't that he knew they were taking extremely small steps in the execution, always pausing longer than necessary in between. Maybe they should have talked yesterday, but he had just wanted to enjoy them being together her saying yes.

"Can you remember what you said when you asked me? You already came up with different options. One, my apartment. Two, your house. Three, something new."

He remained silent, although he nodded once more. Sara guessed that he had already made a decision about that but he wanted to leave the final decision to her. She couldn't let him do that; it was their future.

"Grissom, you've got to tell me what you want. This is not going to work if just one of us makes the decision."

His eyes showed her he had retreated, thinking about it, but she couldn't let him retreat completely. He had to be there. He had to take part in this.

"What do you want?"

He looked at her and she could see the wheels turning in his head. "I want…I want to make a fresh start."

After a shaky beginning, Grissom's voice gained confidence when Sara listened without rejecting what he said. "I think if we do this, the best thing would be to start new on common ground. We spent too much time alone in our apartments. I don't want to be alone anymore."

Relief flooded her. Not only had Grissom told her what he wanted; he wanted the same things she did. It really seemed as if they were finally on the right track. "Good, let's go from there. A place for us - that's what I want too. To move forward, we need to leave some of the baggage behind. If we leave our homes, we can sort through our stuff – and I don't just mean material – and decide whether we take it with us."

Thinking of her list, Sara smiled. She was back at point eight and back to explaining it to Grissom.

"Remember? It's the same principle as redecorating, just bigger." Enthusiasm was rising, strengthening her resolve.

"Do you think we can find a place for us to live?" Sara realized she had taken over the planning again and cursed herself silently. Grissom needed to be involved.

"That will be a problem."

Sara was worried for a second, but when Grissom smiled, she wondered where this was going. "Will we be living alone?"

'What?' her mind screamed in shock before she realized what he was talking about. "We will find a place. You don't have to leave them behind, don't worry."

She smiled at him, wondering if she was crazy that she found his plea incredibly adorable. Grissom grinned back at her, and with renewed courage, he summed up the state of things. "So, we're going to look for a new place with enough space for both of us…and my pets. We will see this as an opportunity to move forward, be together, and clean out our lives."

"That sounds about right."

xxxxx

"Are you ready?" Grissom was leaning against a locker as he watched Sara stuff the last of her things in her bag.

It was the end of shift and they had an appointment with a real-estate agent. After looking though hundreds of ads, they had found two that sounded promising. Unfortunately, the only time that was available was right after shift, and they had to risk being seen together…which they were when Greg entered the locker room. He stopped short and watched with fascination as Grissom's eyes were focused on Sara.

"Uhm, Sara…" Nothing but stumbled words came out.

Sara looked up, surprised to see Greg. It took her only a second to realize that Greg had noticed Grissom's intense stare. Had he also seen what she had? "Hey, Greg."

Grissom was still struggling to find the right words, so she had to avoid disaster. The young man opened and closed his mouth without making a sound.

Sara stood up, ripping Grissom out of his trance. "Bye Greg," he called and left the room without looking back.

Sara knew that he would be waiting for her outside, leaving her to deal with Greg. "I have to go. Grissom's driving me home."

She tried to stay casual, aiming for a certain reaction. After a renewed shock moment for Greg, he began to sputter. "Grissom? Grissom's driving you home?"

"Yeah, my car wouldn't start and he's my driver for today." Casual, she reminded herself.

"Why…why didn't you ask me?"

Poor Greg. He was still hoping and she felt a bit bad for lying. "What? I'm not driving with you! You drive worse than I do."

She walked past him before turning around again. "Sorry, Greg. But I want to be able to work next shift."

He looked a bit hurt, but she smiled at him and his mood seemed to lighten. "See you."

xxxxx

Sara soothed Grissom's worries with a smile when she walked towards his car. He nodded, letting her know that he understood, and put the car into gear when she had taken her seat. The ride was silent, Grissom doing his best to stay focused on the road, while Sara was deep in thoughts.

She knew Greg was easy. He would take everything she said with a smile and he had too much respect for Grissom to question him. They would have had a really big problem if it had been anyone else. Nick's suspicion would grow again, Catherine wouldn't let up until she found out what it was really about, and Warrick…he would know.

He would take one look and know that they had finally done it. At the same time, as dangerous as Warrick was, she was sure he would never say anything to anyone else. He might confront them and ask how serious this was and if they were sure, but he wouldn't tell.

No, it was still Nick and Catherine she was worried about, or one of the gossip-loving lab techs. She knew the issue would come up again and again until they finally spilled the beans, and that was a day she was afraid of. Ultimately, they were risking their jobs. To her it was worth it; she had been waiting so long for this.

"You are worth it."

Startled, she looked up and found Grissom's gaze on her. He was solely focused on her now. How had he known what she was thinking? As if he had seen her question, he answered. "I've been thinking about the consequences. And so were you by the look in your eyes."

He reached over and took her hand, bringing it up to kiss it. "Together."

"Together."

She leaned over, taking her hand from his grip and cradled his face in her hands.

"Together," she whispered and kissed him.

Seconds later, they pulled back with regret, but as Grissom was able to focus on something other than Sara again, he realized that they were not unobserved. "Let's go and see the real-estate agent."

TBC