Author's Note: Thank you all so much for sticking with this collection of one-shots! One of my sons has been experiencing a mental health crisis that has been affecting his happiness, his physical health, and level of exhaustion. This has, in turn, traumatized my husband and me. I feel like we've been living in a "fight or flight" stage of existence for six weeks now, and it is beyond exhausting, both mentally and physically. I am not good at journaling about my days and feelings, as I'm supposed to be doing as a stress-relieving activity, so instead, I returned to fanfiction. I've enjoyed writing these tales; they've taken me out of real life to a fantasy world I enjoy. This is the last installment. I tried to use the name of an actual dating site, but it only published as " ." so I've tried to replace all of those spots with my now made-up site " " We'll see if that works. Anyway, this installment digs deeper than the other four stories. It's quite long. Toward the end, I make reference to the season 7 episode, Ending Happy. I hope you enjoy it, and please review!

Busted! Greg Sanders Discovers GSR

It was 10:00 on a random Tuesday morning, when most Las Vegas residents were only an hour into their 9 hour daytime shifts at work. For Sara and Greg, they had just come off shift an hour ago. They had each gone to their own apartments to shower. Greg had dressed, grabbed a box of microwave popcorn from a kitchen cupboard, and headed over to Sara's so the two of them could have movie "night" before they headed their separate ways to sleep while the rest of the world was awake.

Sara was in her kitchen filling up her water bottle when she heard Greg's knock on her door. She smiled widely as she opened the door and invited Greg in.

"Hey, Sara! You are SO going to love my movie selection today!"

Sara laughed, "Yeah, I'm already regretting letting it be your choice today; based on the amount of bounce in your step, I'm pretty sure we're watching something ancient, aren't we?"

"Ancient!?" Greg headed to Sara's kitchen to start microwaving the popcorn. "It's from 1956- practically modern!"

Sara joined Greg in the kitchen and pulled out a big bowl for Greg to dump the popcorn into. "1956?"

"Mmm hmm, 1956. Good old 'Meet Me in Las Vegas'." Greg pulled the DVD from his jacket pocket with a dramatic flourish and waved it in Sara's general direction. "You're gonna love it!"

"I bet," Sara deadpanned with a raised eyebrow. "Hey, uh, I don't need this place smelling like burnt popcorn for a week because you were too busy geeking out over a casino movie from the 50s to pay attention to the microwave!" Sara laughed as Greg dramatically yanked open the microwave and removed the bag of freshly popped popcorn, acting like he was getting burned the entire time. Greg grinned happily as he dumped the popcorn into the bowl, and headed to Sara's living room, snack and DVD in tow. "Come on, Sar, you don't want to miss this!"

Sara followed Greg, shaking her head slightly and smiling in response to Greg's never-ending enthusiasm. "Give me that." Sara held out her hand for the DVD.

Greg dramatically pulled the DVD further from Sara. "No way! I can't risk you hurting such a priceless piece of theater history! I will do the honors, thank you very much."

Sighing dramatically, Sara handed Greg the remote he'd need and settled into her cozy armchair, resigning herself to watching a movie featuring casinos and Vegas love affairs, both of which she saw enough of in real life.

Once Greg had the movie playing, he plopped down on Sara's couch, immediately resting his feet on the coffee table, right next to the bowl of popcorn.

"I take it you want to hog all the popcorn for yourself? I'm not touching that stuff if it's been near your feet!"

Greg dramatically grabbed his chest as though having a heart attack. "I take offense, Sara. I'll have you know these puppies were just thoroughly washed less than an hour ago!"

Sara laughed and replied, "Uh huh. Said feet have also been inside those nasty Converses you chucked on my rug. Over there." Sara unnecessarily pointed. "See? Gross. I rest my case."

"Fine, fine, fine, I give up. I'll go make you fresh popcorn, mi'lady." Greg bowed subserviently at Sara as he got up.

As usual, Greg's antics had Sara smiling. Once Greg had returned to the couch with fresh, never-been-near-feet-before popcorn, which Sara gladly accepted, the previews were ending and the movie began.

Within 15 minutes, Greg had pulled out his phone and was busy scrolling through something. Sara noticed, of course, and asked, "Already bored with your movie of choice?"

"Nah, of course not! How could you even suggest such a thing?! I'm just very good at multitasking. I'm good at watching movies while checking my potentials on ."

"Uh huh, sure." Sara turned her attention back to the screen for about two seconds before her brain registered the fact that Greg had said ' '. She immediately turned back toward Greg. "MeetMyDate? You're using a dating site?" Sara smiled incredulously at him.

"Why shouldn't I? I've got some interesting options here! Take a look." Greg scooted to the end of the couch nearest Sara's armchair so Sara could see his phone. Heads together, they looked into Greg's potential matches.

"There we go! Look at this one! Felicity," Greg said in a low, sultry voice. "I like the sound of that."

"Greg, she has four kids."

"Oh."

Greg kept scrolling. "Ah-ha! Check out this one! Marguerite," he again intoned in his hilarious sexy voice, "sounds French. I love me a nice foreign girl! What could be better than a lovely Parisian woman- Paris is the City of Love, is it not, mon cherie?"

Sara laughed. "Sure, Greg, if you're really looking for a cougar. She's- what did I read? There- see, she's 56!"

"Wow, I need her secrets! She's still smokin' hot for being an older woman." Greg waggled his eyebrows up and down with a silly suggestive smile on his face and continued, "You never know, Sar, a mature woman might be just what I need- I bet she could teach me a thing or two in bed."

Sara beaned Greg on the head with a throw pillow, declared him ridiculous, and announced that she was heading to the bathroom and would be back in a minute. Greg threw the pillow after her retreating form, but missed his target. Sara laughed and disappeared into the bathroom. Greg looked back down at his phone and continued scrolling.

Just as Greg was starting to read info about an attractive blond named Jessica, he heard a knock at Sara's door. Curious as to who it could be since he didn't recall Sara ordering pizza, Greg hopped up and opened the door to the apartment without even bothering to look through the peephole to see who had knocked.

As he swung the door open, Greg's jaw dropped. "Grissom!"

At just the same time, Grissom, who was equally surprised to see Greg as Greg was to see him, said, "Greg?" in a clearly confused voice.

Unsure what to do about his boss showing up at Sara's apartment, and curious as to why Grissom seemed to have quickly hidden something behind his back, Greg opened the door all the way and stepped aside to give Grissom space to enter. Grissom crossed the threshold, clearly uncomfortable and awkwardly keeping a view of his backside from Greg.

No less uncomfortable than Grissom, Greg cleared his throat and bounced back and forth a bit on the balls of his shoe-less feet. Grissom commented, "Comfy here, Greg?" with a nod to his Kermit the Frog socks.

"Yeah, sure, aren't you?" Greg hesitatingly answered. Where was Sara? "Kick your shoes off and join us for the movie!"

Grissom's eyes turned toward the living room and immediately recognized the scene on the screen. "'Meet Me in Las Vegas', Greg? I take it you chose the movie?"

"How'd you guess?"

With that, Sara reappeared. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the two men awkwardly standing together by the door. A little confused, she queried, "Gil?!" Greg did not miss the use of "Gil" over "Grissom."

Grissom offered a pained smile and somewhat apologetically replied, "Yeah." As soon as he had seen Sara emerge from her bathroom, Grissom had remembered that this morning was movie "night" with Greg. He had forgotten. Grissom kept staring at Sara, silently communicating to her that he needed her to rescue him from this situation.

Sara offered a somewhat amused half-smile in response and cheerfully said, "I'm so glad you came! I never expected you to take me up on the offer!" To Greg, she lied, adding, "He overheard us talking about it in the layout room, so I invited him."

"Great," replied Greg, clearly unsure whether this was actually great or not.

"Um, Sara," Grissom said, nodding his head ever so slightly in the direction of the kitchen, trying to communicate that he wanted to go put whatever was behind his back in there, "Can I, uh…"

Sara took pity on Grissom and said, "I could share my popcorn with you, you know, but sure, why don't you go to the kitchen and make your own popcorn while Greg goes back to cue the movie to where he wants it. Popcorn is in the cabinet next to the microwave."

Grissom's tense shoulders sagged in obvious relief, which Sara found highly entertaining, and while she wanted to continue to watch him struggle, she tugged on Greg's shoulder to get him to move back to the couch and let Grissom escape to the kitchen alone. She was wondering how they could pull this off- could they keep Greg in the dark or was their cover already blown? In the past two and a half years, Grissom had NEVER forgotten a time Sara told him not to show up at her apartment. "C'mon, Greg, let's get back to the movie. What did I miss?"

Still wondering about Sara calling the boss "Gil," Greg followed. He cued the DVD back a few scenes and sat down in the same spot he was in before. Sara promptly made him scoot to the other end of the couch and sat down next to him. She explained that Grissom would be weird about sharing a couch with either of them, so they'd let him have the armchair, and she'd sit between them. Sara and Greg made themselves comfy, Greg with his feet on the coffee table again, Sara with her legs folded beneath her, snuggled up in a plush blanket. Each munched happily on popcorn and watched the movie for a few minutes, and then Greg was back on MeetMyDate. Sara immediately leaned over, her shoulder now touching Greg's, and began perusing potential matches with him again.

Within moments, the movie was nothing more than background noise as Sara and Greg laughed and argued over all the women on Greg's screen.

"Okay, Sara, not even you can find something wrong with THIS one! C'mon, she's a hottie!"

"Greg, her list of likes includes glitter and latex!"

"And? I see no problem with that!" Greg looked at Sara in mock indignation. "I also happen to like glitter and latex! You know that!"

They laughed again as Sara replied, "I just don't know that you can handle a woman who is just like you- can you imagine?! All I know is that I wouldn't want to be your neighbor!"

"That'd be your loss, you know," Greg said in mock seriousness. "My Nana Olaf's Cardamom-Almond Tart is to DIE for, and I've got the recipe. I think my neighbors would be able to handle a little bit of fun noise here and there coming from me and this gal here…" Greg jabbed his finger at the picture on his phone's screen "...if they knew they'd get a tart as an apology."

"You really are impossible, you know?" Sara and Greg carried on in the same vein for several more minutes until Sara remembered Grissom was there. Somewhere. She looked up to search for him with her eyes; it only took her a second to find him, standing just a couple yards away, popcorn in hand, watching her and Greg. He looked rather far away, very lost in thought.

Concerned, Sara called out, "Grissom, I saved you the best spot!" She patted the seat of the armchair right next to her. "I have no idea what this movie is about, but you have got to come weigh in on these girls Greg wants to date!" When Grissom didn't move, Sara tilted her head a bit and furrowed her eyebrows, as if to ask if he was okay. Grissom seemed to pull himself back to reality, mumbled something, and then took the proffered spot on the armchair.

Greg seemed momentarily startled by the prospect of having his boss check out girls with him, but if Sara didn't think it was weird, then whatever. Grissom had seen him dancing around the lab in a massive showgirl headdress, after all, and he did also already know many of his proclivities toward glitter, latex, bondage, foam, and particularly beautiful DNA strains. Greg and Sara soon settled back into their cozy positions and continued scrolling through .

Sara, ever aware of Grissom near her, felt his discomfort. She slid a foot over to his just to make some physical contact to try to let him know that he could relax. When she glanced in his direction, Sara noticed Grissom was sitting rigidly and was wearing that odd, far-off look again. She decided she needed a minute alone with him, so Sara poked Greg and asked him to go get them a few beers from the fridge. He dutifully hopped up and said he was going to use the bathroom first and would come back with beer in a minute.

Sara immediately turned toward Grissom and grabbed his hands in hers. "Gil, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. Nothing's wrong." Grissom smiled an awkward fake smile that Sara didn't buy for one second.

"Greg doesn't know. Relax and make it look like it's normal for you to come over to watch a movie." Sara let go of Grissom's hands, knowing she didn't want Greg to catch her holding them. She gestured toward the kitchen and said, "I can hide us from him, but probably not if you keep acting like you're terrified to be here. Got it?" Sara gave him a frustrated look.

Grissom nodded slowly in response to Sara's demand to act normally, but then his eyes suddenly became huge with fear. "Sara-" he squeaked out, "Greg, in your kitchen, I-"

"You what?" Sara was genuinely concerned with Grissom's sudden change in demeanor. She looked toward the kitchen. She heard a gentle clinking noise as several beer bottles lightly bumped into each other as Greg pulled them from the fridge.

Grissom caught Sara's attention again by saying, "Sara, I put-"

The words died in his mouth as he heard Greg say, "Whoa! What the heck, no wonder he, holy shit, that's why, that explains-" Greg's volume as he spoke to himself had greatly decreased after "Whoa!" but Sara and Grissom both still heard him.

Sara looked questioningly at Gil, who looked afraid, even nauseous. "Gil, what-"

"I brought something for you," Grissom whispered. "It's just a plant, but there's a note…" His voice trailed off as he looked toward the kitchen, panicking about Greg's return to the couch. "I'm sorry, Sara, I forgot you said Greg was coming over. I wouldn't have, I just, I'm sorry."

Sara was bewildered. "Listen, Gil, whatever you're talking about, we can trust Greg. You know we can. Let's just get whatever this is over with, okay?" She squeezed his hand with one of hers, stood up, and tugged at his hand, so he dutifully stood up, too, though he seemed a bit shaky on his feet. Sara led them into the kitchen and said, "Greg, uh, what were you just freaking out about? We heard you out there, and I have no idea what could have been in my fridge to cause such an outburst…"

She let her sentence die out as she noticed the small potted Hoya Kerrii, a heart-shaped succulent, on her countertop, with a small card stuck in it that read, "'To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.' Sara, thank you for making me believe in all the tomorrows with you."

Sara's heart melted a bit. Grissom had such a hard time expressing himself to her, but the little things like this said all she needed to know. Gosh, he was endearing. Bringing herself back to the moment at hand, Sara almost laughed at the two men in her kitchen. Both Greg and Grissom looked as though they'd never be able to speak again, and a speechless Greg? That was a big deal.

Sara sighed and dove in. "Okay, Greg, here's the deal. Grissom and I-"

Greg cut her off, regaining the use of his voice. In an uncharacteristically quiet voice, almost sounding awe-struck, he asked, "You did it, huh?"

Confused, Sara replied, "Did what?"

"You got Grissom." It hadn't taken long after starting as the DNA tech on the LVPD's grave shift lab team for Greg to know that his flirting with Sara was pointless, as her heart already belonged to someone else. He wasn't entirely sure how he knew that, but he would have bet his life's savings on it anyway. Going back to levity, Greg teased, "So, Grissom, can Sara tell me what your likes would be on your profile? What gets you going? Latex? Opera? Bugs? Maybe some S&M? I bet Sara would be a wicked good dominatrix!"

Sara dissolved into a fit of the giggles, but tried very hard to shut Greg up before Grissom died of embarrassment or shock. "Greg! You can't ask those questions! Leave him alone!" She continued laughing, grabbed Grissom's arm and wrapped herself between it and his chest, facing out at Greg. "But wouldn't you like to know?" She gave Greg a wicked smile, and both were laughing again. Grissom was just stiff and awkward.

Sara took pity on him again and calmed herself down. Nodding toward the plant, Sara looked up at Grissom's face and said, "Thank you. I really do love it. Now, relax, Greg won't blow our secret. Right, Greg?"

"Nope. Love you too much to get you kicked off my shift!" Greg said in all seriousness. "Plus, Bugman here would probably fire me if I blabbed, and even though the hours suck and the pay's bad, I really don't want to leave."

Greg looked at Grissom, who seemed to be trying hard to look less mortified than he clearly felt. Now Greg decided to take pity on him. "Look, Grissom, I'm sorry I found out. I kinda couldn't help it. You, uh, didn't do the best job hiding that little cactus thingy," Greg said with a nod of his head toward the secret-spilling succulent. He continued, "I know I don't need to warn you to take care of her or you'll have to deal with me, but I think it's in the guy code of honor somewhere that I have to say that, so, yeah, take care of her." He smiled and winked cheekily, but Grissom was still struggling to school any expression on his face other than the uncomfortable he was currently wearing, so Greg continued, "I'm just gonna head home to bed. Sara, I expect my DVD returned scratch-free, got it?" Sara laughed appreciatively at Greg's efforts to keep this whole experience at least slightly less awkward than it could otherwise be. With that, Greg slid his Converse sneakers on, said his thanks for the invite, and escaped.

Once the door had closed behind Greg, Grissom's stiff posture relaxed some. He turned Sara around in his arms to face him and then pulled her tightly to his chest. He whispered, "I'm sorry, Sara. I screwed up."

Sara lifted her head from his shoulder and looked him in the eye. "You have nothing to be sorry for. I'm not upset. Someone was bound to find out sooner or later. It's been two and a half years, you know- I think we've done pretty darn well hiding ourselves! And you know, at least it's Greg. I'm not worried about him knowing. You?"

"I'm not necessarily worried that he'll spread the truth through the rumor mill, but I'm still worried. We've protected ourselves for so long, and I just blew it. I'm sorry."

"Seriously, Gil, stop being sorry. Really, I'm not upset. Come on." Sara grabbed his hand and marched him back to the living room, where she plopped into the armchair and gestured for him to sit at the end of the couch. Once he sat, he scooted forward enough so that their knees were touching. Sara leaned over and kissed his forehead gently. She watched his face for a few more moments, noticing that he seemed far away again.

"Gil, what's bothering you? I mean, what's bothering you besides Greg finding out? Something's been on your mind this whole time." Sara gently took one of Grissom's hands and rubbed circles around the back of his hand with her thumb.

Grissom watched Sara's thumb progress over his hand for a long moment, and then replied, in a dejected-sounding voice, "I'm just sorry."

"For what?"

"For, I don't know… for being me?" Was he telling or asking? He sounded so desperately unsure of himself.

"I don't understand." Sara said, unabashedly staring at his face, a face contorted with some deep emotion she just wasn't able to name. "Gil?"

Grissom looked down at the floor, staring at an escaped piece of popcorn. So quietly she almost couldn't hear him, Grissom asked Sara, "Why didn't you choose him?"

Sara was running all of this through her head, trying to understand. Then it dawned on her. Emphatically, she exclaimed, "Gil, are you asking me why I didn't pick Greg over you? Why would you ask such a thing!" She was quite offended, but Grissom was still looking so forlorn that Sara couldn't be angry at him. Why had he asked something so ridiculous?!

Grissom, still resolutely staring at the stray piece of popcorn, said, "Yes. That's what I'm asking. Why did you choose me when you could have had Greg?"

"How could you ask such a ridiculous question?! I just don't- Gil, LOOK at me!"

Startled by the ferocity in her voice, Grissom looked in her eyes. He saw concern, confusion, maybe anger? staring into his eyes.

"Gil… why?" Sara queried.

Unable to keep his eyes focused on Sara, Grissom lowered his gaze again and quietly said, "You were just so happy with him. You laughed so much. You love to laugh with Greg and you seem so genuinely happy in his company."

Still baffled and now irritated that Gil could be questioning her fidelity, her morality, her character, Sara firmly stated, "I AM genuinely happy in Greg's company. But Gil, that's not something new. Are you really asking me if I'm having an affair with him, because if you-"

Gil quickly cut her off. "No! No, Sara, I am NOT questioning your fidelity or trustworthiness. Please, believe me, Sara, that's not what I meant. I would never not trust you, I just, it's just- Sara, I have spent so much time over so many years knowing that I shouldn't have taken you. It's just not fair to you- I'm old, I'm quiet, esoteric, grouchy, I don't know… I have always felt like you deserve more than I can offer you. I can't offer you everything you deserve… you deserve young and energetic, adventurousness to match yours, laughter, affection, strength… and I'm sorry that I can't be all the things I'd like to be for you."

Sara's anger and irritation abated. Grissom was not acting so strangely out of jealousy or suspicion of infidelity; he seemed legitimately concerned that he wasn't Greg. How could she make him see that she never wanted Greg or any other man who wasn't him, not once, ever, since she had met him. She sat silently for a few minutes, trying to put her thoughts together. Grissom did not break the silence. He looked exhausted.

Sara reached a hand to Grissom's chin and gently lifted it up, forcing his eyes to meet hers. Her eyes were glistening with tears, but she did not shed them. "Gil, look at me. I want you to listen to me. Really listen to me, okay?"

Grissom nodded. Sara continued, "You always tell me you're not good at expressing your feelings for me; right now, I have no idea how to express what I want to say to you. I feel like I can't possibly get it right, but I'll try." Sara paused for a long moment, trying to get her words just right.

"Gil, before I met you, I absolutely scoffed at the idea of love at first sight. It just made no sense. Even when I met you, I dismissed the idea that I somehow randomly ended up falling in love during a forensics lecture while listening to you explain blood spatter analysis." She smiled fondly at the memory. "I asked you to grab coffee with me the last day of that seminar because I wanted to show myself that I was stupid- that you weren't worth the silly 'puppy love' feeling I had every time I sat in that lecture hall listening to you. I guess I wanted to prove my heart wrong. All I did was prove my heart right."

Gil made to interrupt, but Sara stilled him, smiled affectionately, and continued, "Three coffee dates later, you went back to Vegas. I assumed I'd forget about you the same way I'd forgotten about a couple other random guys who had come in and quickly walked out of my life. But, Gil, I didn't forget about you. I do think I had myself convinced at one point that you were only calling me as a friend to talk about cases you were working. I told myself you just needed me as an outlet for getting your frustration or anger or sadness or whatever out, and that I always answered your calls because I was your friend, your one friend outside of work who understood your work. I dated a few guys between the time we met and the time you asked me to come to Vegas. I liked them okay, but I always found myself mentally comparing them to you. When you called and asked me to come to you, I didn't think twice."

Sara was getting tired of her recitation, but if Grissom was really questioning his worth in her life, he needed to have this all laid out in front of him. Gil was watching her, still with the far-away, somewhat sad expression on his face. He asked, "But why, Sara, why didn't you hate me when I rejected you all those times? I can't think about those times I hurt you without hating myself for it. Why do you not hate me for it?"

"I tried to, Gil- I wanted to hate you. I had thought you were bringing me to Vegas because you finally had an excuse to do so. You finally needed someone outside your lab to help you. You were finally able to get me to you. I learned I was wrong, that maybe you only brought me because I was the only option you had. I was heart-broken, but I couldn't leave. I was still drawn to you like a moth to a flame. I couldn't help it. Gil, do you really think I haven't asked myself why I didn't just choose to be happy with Greg or with someone else I could surely have found?" Sara stared deeply into Grissom's eyes and continued, "There were times I hated myself for wanting you. I hated myself for clinging to your every little compliment as though your praise was my life-line. I hated myself for secretly hoping for a case with you at the start of every shift, for being jealous of anyone who did get to work with you, for feeling jealousy when Catherine spoke to you more familiarly than I ever thought I could get away with. I hated myself a little bit more every time I asked you, yet again, to offer me your heart, only so I could hear you reject me another time. It was exhausting loving you."

They locked eyes. After a long moment of silence, Grissom gave voice again to his biggest fear- not being worthy of Sara's love. "Then why, Sara?"

Sighing quietly, Sara squeezed his hand and responded, "Because my love was not unrequited."

Gil's simple response was, "No, it wasn't." The couple sat in silence, looking into each other's hearts through their eyes.

"But Sara, I-" Gil tried to continue. Sara cut him off, wearily.

"Gil, please, stop. We've been through all of this. I know all the whys. I've asked those questions. I've accepted your answers. I know why you were scared for us to be together. We're here now, let's please stop, okay?" Sara again forced Grissom to look her in the eyes. "You were worth waiting for. YOU make me happy." She leaned in and gently kissed Gil, trying to stop him from rebutting.

He kissed her back, but that didn't stop him from asking, "How?" There was a small smile playing on his lips now, though.

"Giiiiil," Sara whined, exasperatedly, "Haven't I poured my heart out enough for one day?"

Grissom gave her a small smile, but his eyes were clearly still begging for an answer, an answer Sara felt he shouldn't need to hear. Assuaging Grissom's fears wasn't always easy; the scientist in him needed data, verifiable facts that didn't always exist in matters of the heart.

"Gilbert Michael Grissom," Sara sternly intoned, "you make me happy in a lot of ways. This particular moment, you're making me frustrated; I just don't understand how you could ever think you don't make me happy or you don't deserve me or you aren't everything I've ever wanted. YOU make me feel valued. YOU make me feel safe. YOU make me feel part of something bigger than myself. YOU make me laugh. YOU make me feel intelligent. YOU make me feel beautiful. YOU share your hurts and fears and dreams with me, and I share those things with you. Do you think I've ever shared half of what you know about me with anyone else on this planet- Greg included? YOU comfort me, calm me when I'm upset." After a moment's thought, Sara added, "YOU are the only human on this planet I've been comfortable being vulnerable with. YOU listen to me. YOU know me. YOU give me strength and courage. With YOU, I am free to be me. Can't you understand that?"

Grissom sat silently, staring at the amazing woman in front of him. He really didn't deserve her, but God, he was glad she disagreed. A tear slipped from Sara's eye; Grissom's brow furrowed in concern. He wiped the tear from her cheek. "Don't cry, Sara."

Sara laughed. "You are hopeless, you know. I pour my heart out to you, voicing my deepest feelings for the better part of a half hour here, and all you can say is 'Don't cry'?"

Grissom's eyes widened. "Sara!" he admonished, "No, that's not all I can say, but you probably are right about the me being hopeless part." He smiled affectionately at her and she returned the smile.

"So?..." Sara queried.

"No." Grissom smiled.

"No?! What do you mean, 'No'? You can't possibly refuse to say anything after all that!" Sara was a bit incredulous.

Grissom chuckled and pulled Sara from the armchair to him. After kissing her thoroughly, he said, "No, Sara, I don't want to tell you how much I love you. There's no possible way anything I could say could come close to what you just said, but that doesn't mean I don't feel it. How about I just show it?" He looked at her with desire in his eyes.

"I might be amenable to that idea," Sara groaned quietly as Grissom pinned her down on the couch and his beard began to tickle her neck. She snuck out from under him and beckoned saucily for him to follow her to the bedroom. He got the hint. As they moved the short distance between the couch and Sara's bedroom, Sara walked backward, staring at Grissom the entire time while discarding first her sweatshirt, then her t-shirt, and finally her bra, and watching his face as he enjoyed watching her. "You know, Gil," she said, in all seriousness, "The only man I have ever been comfortable naked around is you. You're the only man who has ever made me feel unashamed and uninhibited."

Sara moved back toward Grissom, again enjoying the way he watched her body, and slowly divested him of his button-down shirt. As she undid the last button and began to slide the sleeves down his arms, Sara looked him in the eyes and said, "Some wise guy I know once said to me that 'Sex without love is pointless. It makes you sad.' This," Sara said as she closed the space between their chests and skin touched skin, "this is NOT pointless, and it definitely doesn't make me sad. It's YOU I love, Gil, you know that, right?"

Grissom looked at Sara with such an intense, reverent expression that Sara almost had to look away. He whispered, "Yes, I do, and Sara, you make me happy." He enveloped her in a tight embrace. "Thank you."

"Stop thanking me and start closing the distance between here and my bed," Sara teased. She gave Gil one of her attractive half smiles and backed away from him, beckoning for him to follow. He dutifully followed and took his time using his body to show Sara just how much sex with her was definitely NOT pointless or sad; he still had no idea why he deserved such a woman, but knew that she really did make him genuinely, sometimes even painfully, happy.