A/N: Hello there! Now how may of you are rubbing your eyes and staring in disbelief that this story has finally been updated lol I owe you an apology for the extreme delay and complete absence of updates on my stuff but I've been busy and my life's been changing - but all for good so it's great! Anyway I decided 2 weeks ago to start writing again and finish this - then of course as fate would have it my laptop broke so I had to wait for a new charger and eventually I got round to writing. I wanted to post something as soom as I started writing just to get me back into the way of it so it is now 4 am where I am....I got out of work at 2.30am and have been holding my eyes open to get this chapter finished.

I doubt it's my best work, I'm a little rusty and I forgot how many flippin' ships I was trying to sail in this story lol so please bear with me!

Please review to encourage me and if you do review please be gentle! =]

The next morning broke far too brightly for any of their liking. The majority of the penthouse suite's occupants lay sprawled on the couches in the living room with the curtains drawn participating in a communal hangover that can usually only be found in college dorms the day after a big frat party.

"Is this really all we're going to do today?" Warrick asked with a sigh.

"I sure hope not." Nick replied. "I don't want to waste my vacation time lying around feeling sorry for myself."

"Does anyone have any ideas?" Brass added, a question he would soon come to regret asking.

"Well I know what always makes me feel better when I have a hangover...a little retail therapy." Catherine grinned devilishly. Sofia's ears pricked up at the thought of shopping, while Sara rolled her eyes.

"Aw man. Do we have to?" Nick groaned.

"Well do you have a better idea Nicky?" Catherine asked with a raised eyebrow. Nick tried to think of something, anything, and fast but it was no use, his brain was still trying to recover from last night's cocktails. "Well that settles it then, we're going shopping." She smiled.

-

The noise outside pulled Greg from his alcohol induced sleep awakening him to the tremendous pain he was in. The sunlight shining through the curtains of his bedroom stung all the way through to the back of his brain. He groaned like a man three times his age as he got up, wrapped his blanket around his shoulders and made his way to the door. He really didn't want to face the group yet but unfortunately they were between him and the coffee that he so desperately needed right now.

"Good morning Greggo!" They cried in their loudest, forced happy voices. They might be feeling rough but Greg had to be feeling worse, and how could they resist a chance to torture him. Greg grimaced; every syllable was causing him pain. He could only grunt in reply as he moved towards the coffee supply. Dropping down onto the couch beside Nick the Texan man threw his arm around his young friend.

"Boy have I got good news for buddy!" Nick forced a huge grin. "We are going shopping today!" He faked cheered. Greg looked positively panic-stricken.

"Seriously?" He groaned. "And I thought after waking up in this misery my day couldn't get any worse."

"Well I'm going to have to buy a hat if I want to look good for the wedding." Catherine grinned.

"Wedding? What wedding?" Greg's faced screwed up in confusion.

"Your wedding silly." Sara answered.

"My wedding?" Greg's head hurt, he couldn't think much less understand what the hell they were talking about.

"You don't remember much of what happened last night do you stud?" Nick chuckled.

"Yeah I do." Greg replied defensively. "You embarrassed yourself singing karaoke." He sneered. "Then we had some drinks and some laughs and came home."

"Oh yeah, well then how did you get home then?" Nick questioned.

"I took the elevator." Greg said snidely.

"Yeah that's right you did...after I dragged you away from that cute little bar tender, but not before you asked her to marry you."

Greg closed his eyes as the memory of the previous night came flooding back to him. He hung his head as a rosy pink blush crept over his face. "I didn't!" He grimaced.

"Oh yes you did." Nick laughed.

"Cheer up Greggo. These shopping complexes are huge I'll bet there's a Starbucks on every floor. Or at least the Cape Town equivalent of Starbucks." Sara tried to console him. He was her little CSI protégé and one of her dear friends and she could tell he was suffering enough without the constant teasing from everyone else. Greg shrugged and gave a weak half smile. That would probably be the only positive part of his day.

"Great, well now that's settled, when do you want to leave? Soon?" Sofia encouraged, already looking forward to spending all of her hard earned money in this retail paradise.

"Yes soon!" Catherine seconded. She could already imagine herself trying on that well deserved pair of shoes and matching handbag she was going to treat herself to. "What do you say we go get freshened up and be here ready to go in an hour?"

They all nodded their agreement, some more excitedly than others.

"Sara you should probably go wake Gil and tell him about the super fun day Catherine has planned for him." Brass chuckled as they made their way slowly from the couches.

"Yeah." Sara said as she pushed herself from her seat. "He must have had a lot to drink last night; he never usually sleeps this late." She said absent-mindedly, not realising she was thinking out loud. Her words did not go unnoticed by the group, who were now looking around at each other making sure they had just heard her correctly. Thinking about their plan to tease their friends with clues before telling them about their relationship Sara never looked back and walked into their room.

"Uh, usually?" Warrick voiced the question running through all of their minds right now.

-

"Morning sleepy head." Sara said softly as Grissom stirred when she closed the door behind her.

"Morning." He smiled; his voice was husky with sleep. "What time is it?"

"It's just a little before 12." She told him, sitting on the bed beside him and planting a kiss on his cheek.

"Really? I can't believe I slept so late." He sat up and stretched.

"I know, neither could I. In fact I was so surprised I inadvertently gave the guys their first big clue that there's something going on between us." She smiled and gave him another kiss.

"What was the clue?" He asked, returning her kiss.

"I just said that you don't usually sleep this late." She chuckled. "That's ok isn't it?"

"Of course, why wouldn't it be?" He looked confused.

"I don't know maybe you wanted to be there with me when we dropped hints and gave clues." She shrugged.

"It's your plan." He shrugged and gave her another kiss.

"Ok then." She smiled and kissed him one last time before making her way towards their en suite. "Oh by the way we're going shopping today, you have to be ready in an hour." She called back over her shoulder.

"Let me guess Catherine's idea?" He muttered to himself as he threw the covers back and got up.

-

Forty five minutes later Catherine and Sofia were waiting impatiently in the living room with Nick and Warrick for the rest of the group to appear. They were taking it in turns to stare down to doors in the hopes that their mind power would penetrate the wood and get the people inside the rooms to hurry the hell up. Sofia sighed heavily for what seemed like the millionth time in the past five minutes. Warrick and Nick shared half amused half frightened looks.

"Maybe we should go check if their ready." Catherine tried to make it sound like she was merely making a friendly suggestion but it was clear she had just gotten fed up of waiting.

"Good idea!" Sofia had jumped out of her seat before Catherine had even finished her sentence and was making her way towards her room to find out what was taking Jim so long. As Sofia walked into her room, Sara and Grissom exited theirs.

"Finally!" Catherine sighed when she saw them. Grissom and Sara looked at each other and then at Warrick who was shaking his head telling them to ignore it. He knew what Catherine was like when she was ready to shop and people were holding her back.

"I'll go get Greg." Nick offered.

-

"What is taking so long Jim?" Sofia demanded when she entered the room.

"I can't find my sunglasses." Brass stood in the middle of the room at a loss as to where they possibly could be.

"Uh!" Sofia huffed. "Where did you leave them? Because I can guarantee that they are probably still there."

"I thought I left them on the dresser but they're not there. Did you maybe move them when you were getting dressed this morning?"

"No I did not move them!" She sighed.

"Well then I don't know where they are." He huffed and dropped down on the bed. Spying the missing sunglasses on his nightstand Sofia moved across the room and picked them up.

"You know it's a good thing you're not a CSI Jim." She chuckled as she handed them to him.

"Would you look at that." He chuckled, blushing slightly behind his ears. "I must be getting old, my eyesight is going."

"You're not old!" She slapped his arm. "How does that saying go, 'you're only as old as the person you're feeling'" She poked her tongue out at him causing him to blush even more. "Now come on I want to go shopping." She grabbed his arm and pulled him from the bed. He pulled her back into his arms and gave her a long, passionate kiss.

"Ok let's go!" He said, moving towards the door leaving her behind him catching her breath.

-

"Greg!" Nick knocked the door before opening it. "Man, I hope you're ready because Catherine's about to come in here and maul you if you don't get your ass out there." Nick couldn't help but laugh when he seen Greg. He was lying face down his bed almost sideways as though he had just toppled over.

"At least you're dressed." Nick shrugged and rolled his friend over. "Ready?"

"No." Greg groaned then inhaled melodramatically. "I can't do it Nicky. I...I'm not going to make it! Go on without me!" His head rolled to the side as he finished his lament.

"Oh no you don't! If I have to endure this pain then you have to as well." Nick smiled. "I need you there to get me through it."

"But..." Greg began to protest again but he knew there was no point. "OK." He said sorrowfully accepting his fate.

"Come on buddy, I'll buy you one of those fancy coffees you love so much." Nick said as he took Greg's hand and helped him to his feet.

-

At precisely the arranged time, which had proved to be about 15 minutes later than Catherine wanted, everyone was ready to go. They left their room and headed downstairs to the lobby. Sara was happy to see that the receptionist who had been flirting with Grissom was off duty and had been replaced by a twenty-something year old man who was more than happy to arrange a taxi to take them to the malls.