Tuesday

It wasn't like Sara was nervous or impatient but she had to admit she waited not as relaxed as usual for Sofia's return home. Why did her lover take her time today? Was it necessary to talk to this guest for such a long time after she finished the last diving course? Three minutes and twenty-seven seconds! You need not more than ten seconds to say goodbye, wish the client a good night and get his answer. The rest of the time should be used to get home ASAP. Like she did. In a new record time with her kayak. Why was she faster than Sofia with a motorboat?

"You wasted a lot of time talking to this guy!" Sara greeted Sofia at the beach.

"Huh?" Sofia looked puzzled. She tied her boat to the small dock.

"Mister bright red swim shorts."

"Oh. Don't tell me you're jealous because I talked to him. He's a client who is here for the fifth time. Plus there's really no reason to be jealous, he's gay and married to his partner. You can relax, no danger. Besides nobody can be a danger because I love only you and won't let anybody else close to me."

"I wasn't jealous – but it's good to know all these things." Sara smiled, pulled Sofia in her arms and kissed her. "And he's much more simpatico now that he's gay."

"He's a nice guy, gay or not. Are you telling me you're impatient? Couldn't wait for me to come home because of the dive?"

"Yes."

"I should be offended. You're supposed to look forward to see me, miss me, want me and not wait for a dive."

"Your own fault, my dear. You let them pull the wreck in front of our home, you taught me how to dive and you promised me we'll have an excursion to the wreck today. The expert said it's safe, you let it secure with four ropes, there are no reasons not to dive."

"Plus you suffer from gold rush."

"I want to find expensive jewelry, give it to you and admire my girlfriend with her one million dollar necklace. Of course you'll look much better than the necklace but…"

Sofia stopped Sara's babbling with a kiss. She understood. The brunette had been waiting for this dive since Saturday night. Like a child the last few days before Christmas Day she had been checking on the weather, their gear and work schedule to make sure nothing came in their way.

"Why don't I put on my wetsuit and we start our tour?"

"I've got it here."

"Sara, do you want me to change here? Where everybody can see me?" She cocked a brow.

"Well…no…no! You're mine and I don't want to share you." Sara kissed her. "I give you a minute."

"A whole minute? Wow." Sofia chuckled and went into the bungalow. It took her a little bit longer than a minute to come back. Meanwhile Sara had prepared everything so that Sofia only had to put on her gear and follow her excited girlfriend into the water.

The wreck was around thirty yards away from the shore. Side by side they swam above it before they put on their masks. Time to dive and discover the wreck. Sara hoped they didn't lose anything when the wreck was pulled to here. What an awful idea, the gold left somewhere on the ground of the ocean, buried under sand, never been found. Why again had she this gold rush?

Having at least a little bit of a scientist left in herself and being organized she made a copy of the photo she took of the wreck. They had been in the cabin the last time, this time they could have a look at something else. And now that the wreck wasn't that deep under water they had more time to explore it. Her plan was to examine yard by yard of the wreck. Maybe they found something, maybe not.

Sofia followed Sara to the wreck. She knew her girlfriend wanted to have a very close look and it they did the dive Sara's way they would stay down there for the rest of the evening. So Sofia's job was to make sure they didn't get carried away by looking for some gold or other treasure. The biggest treasure was next to her, Sara. No matter what this wreck hid, even if it's hull was filled with gold, her girlfriend was worth more than ten times.

Sara's found a hook. The way to go below? The way to the gold? To other treasures? To nothing? Or maybe to a collection of bodies of people who couldn't get out fast enough. Not what she was after. She had seen enough bodies for the rest of her life. With a sign she made it obvious to Sofia that she wanted to have a look at the hook.

Together they pulled the hook, opened the hatchway and were greeted by darkness. With stronger torches than the last time they made their way down. Sofia checked her watch. Another half an hour. Enough time to explore the wreck.

Sara took a look around. Nothing. There was nothing. No treasure chest, no gold, no jewelry. Only fishes and mussels. Not what they were looking for. A little disappointed Sara let the light of her torch run through the room. Maybe they hid the gold. Maybe they had to look closer and…follow the evidence. Oh god, she was back in the CSI mode. Some things never change.

Nothing. A room filled with nothing. Except water. Why would they have an empty room? Was it a kind of bedroom without beds? Didn't they sleep in hammocks back in the days? So there had to be a third room. Or…a hidden door! Yes, of course the gold had to be in a hidden room. She had to find the door. Slowly she started to touch every inch of the wall. Probably she had to press the right point and the hidden door would open.

Lost in her search she flinched when Sofia touched her shoulder. Time to get up again. Could it be that half an hour was over? It felt like five minutes top. Sad that the fun was over and she didn't find anything at all she followed Sofia. Maybe they would find something the next time.

"Are you all right?" Sofia asked when they sat on the beach and put off their gear.

"Yes."

"You don't look too happy."

"We didn't find a pirate's treasure. The plan was to find some expensive jewelry and give it to you."

"Why don't you give me a kiss instead? That might not shine as nice as gold but it tastes much better and I love you more than any jewelry."

Sara pulled Sofia in her arms and kissed her. "I love you."

"More than gold?"

"More than anything…what do you think of having a little swim over to Rhys?"

"For some more stories?"

Sara stuck her tongue out.

"I take that as a yes. There was a time when my girlfriend was happy with me, now she needs stories about gold and treasures. That makes her happy and not me."

"Liar." With one jump was Sara on Sofia's lap, wrapped her arms around the blonde's neck and kissed her passionately. There was nothing more important to her than Sofia and she knew that.

"What did you find?" Rhys leant back and watched Sara and Sofia. "Any gold? Jewelries? Pirates?"

"No." Sara sighed.

"She's disappointed that she's not a pirate's bride. I wonder if she is with me because of me or because of the wreck."

"Have you ever met a woman who's jealous because of a hobby?" Sara chuckled.

"No. There's no reason to worry she loves you and she knows you love you. That you're into the pirate's stories and like to discover the wreck makes you cute to her. You're enthusiastic and she enjoys that. You're even more beautiful when you're happy. These dreamy brown eyes of you turn into whiskey brown and she drowns in them like you drown in a good bottle of whiskey."

"You're cute." Sara kissed Rhys. Another evening he didn't work and was with them. It was a lot of fun to sit at the bar with him but it was also nice to have him over.

"There! First she thinks of nothing else than gold and now she kisses somebody else!" Sofia held her heart. "She cheats on me with gold and a man…a golden man."

"I think I'm not really golden." Rhys looked at his dark skin. "No, I might be black gold but not golden gold. Besides you're the Golden Treasure."

"You're priceless, Rhys. Is there any voodoo magic to make Sofia uses her brain again?"

"Somebody told me there are no such things like voodoo." Rhys grinned.

"Maybe it excises and works only for certain people…like diving instructors."

"But not for former scientists?"

"Uhm…They can enjoy your stories."

"Without believing they're true."

"Well…that's not the topic."

"She loves to be the center of attention." Sofia pulled Sara in her arms. "Come here baby, I want you in my arms while Rhys tells us some stories. Tell her about the 'Keeper' Rhys. She was so sad when we didn't find anything today. Tell her where to find the gold."

"I can't tell you if there's any gold at all." Rhys laughed. "Just because they might have robbed the boat of the rich Spanish guy it doesn't mean the gold was with them. They could have hidden it somewhere before their boats sank."

"I've my personal treasure so I'm happy." Sara kissed the tip of Sofia's nose. "Which doesn't mean I'll stop looking for gold in the wreck. Rhys, where would they hide the gold? We looked in the cabin and in an empty room. Do you believe they had hidden doors?"

"If they were smart. This way you can't steal it, you need to find it. But don't tell me you'll get an ax and destroy the wreck to find gold."

"No! Of course not."

"She searched every inch of the room we were in today."

"We have to start somewhere."

"Don't you think you should start in the cabin of the captain? He was in charge, he wanted to make sure none of his men made long fingers and took a handful of gold home. I doubt the gold is somewhere everybody could get to it. Even if nobody knew about the door he needed a place he was alone to enter the hidden room."

"True. Sofia, we need to have another look at the cabin."

"Can we do that tomorrow?"

"Yes, I won't force you to dive with me in the night."

"It would be easier if the wreck was above sea level."

"Rhys, you're a landlubber of course you want it above sea level. The Beauty and me are diver, we want to discover the wreck under water. That's where wrecks belong. That's where you get the thrill. Maybe it's more complicated doing it this way but the fun is also more."

"Sofia is right, we need to discover the gold under water."

"Imagine what you can do with it on the beach. Your own boat. You can have a barbecue on it, your hammocks and enjoy a special time out area."

"When we have the wreck here on the island we'll have a lot of tourists here as well. So far there weren't many who ended up here but when they see the wreck there'll be more. People are curious and don't care about private property. Right Sara?"

"Bite me." Sara grinned. It hadn't been her intention to end up on the island it was an accident that almost ended deadly. "If I hadn't end up here, hadn't been caught in the current, you never had a change to rescue me and I wouldn't be here with you. Or do you think I had fallen for you without having you saving my life?"

"Yes."

"No way! And don't smirk this smug!"

"Whenever I'm right and she's wrong she gets cranky. Women."

"You love her anyway." Rhys laughed.

"I do. And I won't let her chase me away, I've been waiting for five years to call her mine, now that she is mine I'll never give her away."

"You didn't want me for five years." Sara protested.

"I did."

"You had enough other lovers, inclusive a Mister Universe."

"Marcus was a stopgap because I was lonely, thought I'd never see you again and never have a chance to make you mine. I never loved him. No Sara, from the moment I met you I knew I want you. Unfortunately I didn't even manage to be your friend."

"You hit on Grissom."

"No. I had dinner with him as I had with other friends. I was never interested in him. I wanted his girlfriend who couldn't stand me."

"Just because I didn't invite you over to dinner it doesn't mean I couldn't stand you."

"Sara." Sofia cocked her head. "You were absolutely fine not having me around after work. It's okay, it's over."

"That are wise words, Golden Treasure. Stop arguing about the past when you have a present and future together. Use your energy for new diving plans and make sure you'll be at the bar tomorrow night. It's my treat for dinner."

"Dinner like real dinner?" Sofia asked.

"Yes."

"We always get real dinner there." Sara wondered.

"That depends on what you call a real dinner. As a vegetarian you're happy with salad. Me as a meat lover I call a proper dinner something with meat. A steak, a sausage, anything like that. When Rhys promises me a real dinner I expect meat on my plate."

"You'll get your meat Sofia." Rhys promised. He knew the blonde wanted meat for dinner. A salad wasn't a real dinner for her and he could understand her.

The feeling of Sofia's skin on her own skin was something that still felt very special to Sara and she hoped it would be like that for the rest of her life. There couldn't be a better feeling than the two of them naked in bed with fresh sheets, after a shower and with the moonlight giving the room a romantic touch.

"Have your really been in love with me since we first met?" Sara couldn't get this thought out of her head. How could she not have been aware of the feelings of the other woman? She had been so sure Sofia was after Grissom when she changed to graveyard shift. They had dinner together, she tried to impress him, worked a lot with him.

"Let's say I had a crush on you first. I felt I wanted to work with you all the time, wanted to be close to you. That I was in love with you was something I realized when I was a detective."

"I never noticed. You…it really looked like you were after Grissom."

"No. I like him, working with him was amazing but I was never sexual interested in him. He was a friend, a colleague, nothing more. It was obvious you had a crush on him so I thought if I'm close to him I might get closer to you. After all you made it clear you weren't a fan of me. I hoped that would change when you found out your crush thought I'm not that bad."

"Wrong thought. Women don't like the woman their crush is close to. They're potential enemies."

"If I was an enemy I was his enemy because I wanted you."

"When did you find out? That you wanted me."

"The werewolf case. When you let me wait for hours I was really mad. First I thought it's because you let me wait so long then I realized it was because I wasn't important enough for you to rush over. That gave me the conclusion that if I can't get your attention with a case I won't get it at all. So far work had been the only thing that connected us. It hurt, it made me sad and was the evidence I needed to understand I wanted more than a work relationship. And realized I had no relationship with you at all."

"I didn't let you wait on purpose. And I was with Grissom at that time."

"Really? I mean we all didn't know until the night Nathalie abducted you…when he said she did that to hurt him, to take away the only one he ever loved…I shouldn't tell you this about your ex, maybe you want him back when I say things like that. Forget what I said, stupid me will shut up now."

Sara kissed Sofia softly. "I don't want him back, I want you. No matter what you tell me about him, he's the past, you're the present and future. Besides I know he said that, he told me later. The new angle to this story is you. It must have been hard for you that I was gone. And finding out I was with Grissom."

"I was a punch in the guts, yes. I knew I had lost you. Well I never had you but when he said the two of you were a couple I knew I had no chance to get you. I think that was the point when I made in my subconscious the decision to leave Vegas. All I wanted was get you back safe and leave. I couldn't imagine to work with LVPD any longer. Seeing you and him together made me feel sick. Pushing the thoughts of you away with a lot of work and overtime didn't work out so there was only one thing left to do: I quit and left."

"Didn't you tell me you left because of burn-out?"

"Maybe that wasn't the main reason but the best reason I could give you at that time." Sofia smiled. When they talked the first time about Sofia's reasons for leaving the entire truth hadn't been a good idea.

"Maybe. You left and became a diving instructor in paradise. Not the worst change."

"If somebody had offered me to be with you in Vegas I would have left Magical Beach right away. I was away from Vegas but that didn't mean I had you out of my head. You were still on my mind the whole time and that didn't change when I tried to distract me with somebody else. A Mister Universe is nothing compared to you."

"He was on a poster on Times Square."

"So what?"

"So he's famous and apparently very good looking. While I'm only…I'm nothing of these things."

Sofia furrowed her brows. "I need to give you a lesson in self-esteem. Or you have to visit an ophthalmologist. You're the most beautiful person I've ever seen. Just because he was on a poster on Times Square it doesn't mean he is better looking than you. Leave alone the thing that really matters: the personality."

"I bet when you ask the guests on the island they'll tell you he looks better than me and they don't care about his character. A poster doesn't show character."

"Does it matter to you what a bunch of goofy girls think or what your girlfriend thinks?"

"Stupid question." Sara kissed Sofia. "You're the one who matters."

"For me you're the most beautiful and amazing person in the world. There's nobody else I want here with me. You're my everything."

"I try to remember that, thanks. And I'm sorry I acted like an idiot years ago."

"You didn't know what I felt for you."

"Even if I had I doubt I were nicer."

"You were in love with Grissom."

"Yes…he was the one who was supposed to be the right one for me. He was a scientist and I was sure I need a scientist to be happy. Somebody who concentrates on facts and not feelings. Maybe I was so rude to you because some parts of me realized you fit much better to me but I couldn't allow that because it was wrong in my head. And I was a head person, still am."

"No, you're not a head person anymore. You listen much more to your feelings and do things that have nothing to do with science and facts. Looking for gold for example."

Sara laughed. "I've to admit I'm a little bit childish when it comes to the wreck, it's like a huge playground. I've never been to playgrounds when I was a child, this is the chance to do something new, something I missed out."

"I'm glad I can be with you when you do that."

"You made that possible."

"Even better. I like to make you happy."

"Believe me I've never been as happy as I'm now." Sara snuggled into Sofia's arms and pulled her as close as possible.

"What does your stone say? Does it still get warm when you think of me? When we're close?"

"No. I think it's happy now that I'm where I belong. I'm sure Rhys gave it to me so I had some help to find out what I want, whom I belong to. After I did that its job was done and it's only a stone now." Sara took the stone in her hands. Yes, it looked like any other stone. But she knew it was special, it had helped her to become Sofia's girlfriend. No matter if warm or cold it was their symbol of love.

THE END

Note of author: Thanks for reading and reviewing. I hope you enjoyed the story :-)