AN: Thanks for the continued support, here is the next chapter. Warning: Slight mention of Violence.

Chapter 5: Official?

1 Month later

December, 2004

It was two weeks before Christmas and it was a one of those rare occasion that the whole swing shift team, Nick, Warrick and Sara, was eating with the whole night shift team, Grissom, Greg, Carly, and Sofia, and they had been talking about memories of their first Christmas or just one of their favorite Christmas memories, and as they were finishing breakfast, the team members were getting tired by the minute, so one by one the group slowly departed until there was only Sara and Grissom left at the table, and when she caught him looking at her, she asked with curiosity. "What's up?"

"It's just I didn't get hear your first memory of Christmas."

She gave him a little smile and shook her head. "What's the point? It was all basically the same thing, one had their first sight of snow, their first toy, their..."

He cuts her off. "Yeah, but they had their own uniqueness to it, so what was so unique about yours?"

She spoke softly as she looked down at her coffee mug that was almost empty. "It doesn't matter."

He leaned forward and placed his hand top of hers as he whispered. "It matters to me."

Talking about her childhood was a very sore subject for Sara, so she never did, always finding ways to avoid it and/or thanking whatever distraction came up that would change the subject, which was why Grissom had never known what went on during her younger years, and this was certainly not the time or place to be talking about this, so she shook her head again as she looked into those caring blue eyes, almost making her want to cry, but she held strong and replied. "Please, just drop it."

Now concern entered the picture.

"Sara..."

But she cuts him off as she slipped her hand out from under his. "If we are still getting your tree today, we better do it now."

Grissom wanted to get a tree, and had asked Sara if she would like to go, so since spending time with him one on one doesn't happen much these days, outside of their breakfast time, she agreed to go with him.

Knowing there wasn't much he could do to make her talk, especially here, he just nodded before they started to get up from their seats, then after placing money on the table, they headed towards the door, and as they walked outside, Grissom spoke. "I'll just follow you to your place so there will be only one vehicle then I can drive you home later, if you want?"

Sara nodded with a smile. "Yeah, that's ok."

He nodded in return before they go their own vehicles.

By the time they got to the lot where they were selling Christmas tress, Grissom taking his time on finding the perfect one, which Sara couldn't help but smile at his boyish look, especially when he finally found the one, going back to his place, setting it up and putting it in the best place in the living room, two hours had passed.

Now they were currently sitting on his couch drinking some water as they looked at the bare tree, and while Grissom was imagining it with decorations, Sara's thoughts, which were darker, took her to when she was a little girl and her dad would yell at her if she was placing the decorations too close together, then her mom would get hit trying to come between them, and before she knew it they were at the hospital...

Sara's thoughts get interrupted when she felt Grissom's hand on her arm, making her jump, and when they looked at each other, he asked softly. "Sara, are you ok?"

She nodded before clearing her throat. "Yeah, I'm sorry."

Still keeping his hand on hers, which she didn't seem to mind, he continued. "It's ok, you just seemed too deep in thought, you want to talk about it?"

She sighed and shook her head. "No."

With a little sadness in his tone, he nodded his head as he started to take his hand off hers. "Ok."

But she placed her hand on top of his to stop his movements before replying. "However, when you told me about your hearing, I imagine it was hard for you, and the whole point of us starting over was to get to really know one another, and in order for you to get to really know me, is to tell you."

He took a breath, feeling the tense air around her, and nodded while squeezing her hand lightly. "You can tell me anything, I'm right here."

She nodded before looking over at the tree, then spoke after a moments pause. "My first solid memory happened to be on Christmas, and you know where I was?" She looked over at him and replied with tears in her eyes, making Grissom's heart break. "The hospital. And after that day, I always thought that the fights, the yelling, and trips to the hospital was the way that everybody lived." She wiped a tear away, not able to stop it from coming out before finishing. "When my mother killed my father, I found out that it wasn't." She couldn't help what happened next, the floodgates opened and she started sobbing.

With thoughts of only comforting her, he tugged on her hand so she would come closer to him, and once she was, he moved his hand off of hers only to wrap his arms around her shoulders so she could be in his arms as she continued to talk about her childhood, not able to stop herself now, even if she wanted to.

After awhile, once she told him her childhood, she started to pull back while sniffling. "I'm sorry to throw all of that at you at once."

He shook his head and cupped her cheek without thinking and wiped a few tears off her cheek with his thumb while speaking with comfort. "Don't be, while I'm sadden that you had that type of childhood, I'm glad you told me." He then gave her a little smile as he finished. "Now I'm starting to feel like I'm putting the Sara Sidle puzzle together."

She gave him a small smile in return, remembering she had said the same thing a month ago. "Not the prettiest piece, is it?"

"No." He admitted. "But, it is a part of you, and what you went through gives you a better understanding and greater compassion for the victims of the same crime, which that's one of the reasons why it makes you a great CSI, and I just couldn't be more amazed by you."

Sara shyly smiled before lowing her head. "Grissom, I'm nothing spec..."

He lifted her chin up with his free hand instantly while cutting her off softly with a look of passion in his eyes that made her heart jump, in a very good way, a few extra beats. "You are to me, don't ever forget or doubt that."

All Sara could do was nod as she swallowed while they stared deeply into each other's eyes, then after a moment, he started to move forward, but before he could come too close, she got out of her dazed state and places her hand on his chest before whispering. "Wait, Griss."

He stopped his movements with a hurt look in his eyes that he tried to hide as he pulled back. "Right, I'm sor..."

She cuts him off this time as she placed a finger to his lips. "I'm not rejecting you, I promise. Just the timing of it, I don't want our first kiss like this."

He really looked into her eyes and could see the truth in her words, so he started to ease his tension a little, while he nodded with a smile before taking her hand that had the finger to his lips. "Ok, I understand."

She smiled with her eyes a little brighter than they had been all day. "Good, because believe me, that was one of the hardest things I ever had to do." He shyly smiled while she moved her hand out of his and cupped his bearded cheek while continuing. "It's just when I envisioned our first kiss, it wasn't this type of setting."

He raised an eyebrow a second later before asking in a somewhat shocked tone. "You've envisioned our first kiss?"

This time she shyly smiled. "Of course, and don't lie and tell me you haven't."

With a twinkle in his eyes, he softly whispered. "Maybe." Making her chucked a little, which the sound went right to his heart as he removed her hand off his cheek and slipped his fingers through hers while asking with a smile back on his face. "Well, Ms. Sidle, so what does our first kiss entail?"

As she looked at their clasped hands, she spoke again with a casual yet heartfelt tone. "Nothing big has to be going on around us, just a simple, quiet moment."

He smirked as he lightly ran his thumb along her knuckles. "So, no big grand gesture that involves balloons, candles, flowers, or fireworks up in the sky." She chuckled again while shaking her head.

When she calmed down, she spoke in a serious tone as their eyes met. "No, just you and me will do." His eyes continued to sparkle as she asked. "So, how did you think of it, anything special going on in your mind?"

He didn't even hesitate when he replied with the truth. "Nope, because kissing you will be special enough."

Sara looked down shyly while shaking her head once again, with a groan this time. "Grissom."

He innocently asked with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

She looked at him again before moving her other hand so she could cup his cheek again, something she'll love to get use to. "You're killing me with this whole new side of yours."

"What, you don't like it?"

She smiled brightly. "I like it a lot, just something I'm going to have to get use to."

He smiled in return. "Good, because I don't want to stop."

Still having eye contact, she whispered. "And I don't want you to stop."

After smiling at one another for a few more seconds in silence, she then asked, somewhat confused. "Ok, wait, just so we are clear here, are we, did we just become..."

Grissom cuts her off with another raised eyebrow. "Boyfriend and Girlfriend?" Sara chuckled with a nod, making him chuckle for a few seconds before he spoke again after sigh. "It's been a long time since I've been referred to somebody's boyfriend."

Sara did a sigh of her own with a nod. "Yeah, me too...well, you know what I mean."

After he nodded in understanding, he continued. "You can refer me to anything that you want, just know that I want you to be my only one."

Understanding he wants them to be exclusive, which she had no problem with that whatsoever, she nodded with another smile. "And you'll be my only one,." He started to smile again as she finished with a smirk. "Boyfriend."

He chuckled a little before squeezing her hand. "That's good to know, Girlfriend."

With a smile still on her face, she removed her hand from his cheek to get in a better position so she could lay her head against his shoulder with their other hands still clasped together.

Eventually they'll talk about how they were going to go about this new dynamic in their relationship, but right now they just wanted to enjoy the moment, a moment that, at one point, neither one thought would ever happen.

AN: Hope you liked it, more to come. Thanks for reading and please review.