Jim woke the next morning to an empty tent. He craned his head around, looking for Sara, butdid not see her. He crawled out of the tent and saw that she had already taken care of the
fire and that there was already coffee made. He looked around the camp and noticed her bootswere gone. He looked down at the dirt/sand mixture and saw a series of footprints in different
positions. It looked as if she had done some stretching, judging by the footprints and thenshe had taken off running, again judging by the distance between footprints. He rarely realized
how much he had learned from working with Grissom and his crew, the footprint bit, being justanother example.
Jim was sitting on the log when he heard what sounded like a herd of stampeding buffalo comingtoward him from behind. He quickly turned his head and saw Sara come running right toward him full steam. She stopped right in front of him and checked her watch. She was out of breath andher chest was heaving. She looked at him and spoke.
"1 hour and fifteen minutes." She said gasping for air
"To get from here to where?" Jim asked
"From here to the truck and back, at full speed." She responded
Jim rose from his seat and retrieved a water bottle from her pack and twisted the top off andhanded it to her. She drank like a person walking out of the desert. She set the bottle down
and leaned forward, placing her hands on her knees and tried to catch her breath. Jim gentlyrubbed her back with the palm of his hand and she turned her head to him and smiled. Her smile
made him melt, he was beginning to have serious feelings for her; he could feel it. This was afirst for him, he hardly knew her and he was falling in love with her. This would be difficult,
he knew. What if she didn't have the same feelings for him, what then? He tried not to thinkof it as he continued to rub her back.
Sara regained her composure and thanked Jim with a firmly planted kiss on the cheek. He blushedas she looked at him, searching his face for any hint of feeling or emotion. He managed asmile in return as he sat on the log. She sat beside him and placed her hand on his knee. Helooked down and then up at her face. She took a breath and began to speak.
"Jim, I've been doing some thinking this morning."
"Really, what about?" he asked, half knowing the answer
"About us." She said simply
"Is there an, us?" he asked, again, half knowing the answer
"Would you like there to be?" she asked seriously
Her question had him floored. He didn't know what to say. He knew what he wanted to say, but thewords simply would not produce themselves. He stammered and managed a hearty,
"Its up to you." That wasn't what he wanted to say, but was all he could manage.
She looked at him and thought for a minute before he began speaking again, this time with moreassertiveness.
"Sara, you're new here and I would hate for you to tie yourself down to the first guy you met.I like you. I like you a lot, but I'm no prize. You're still young and have your entire lifeahead of you. I'm getting up there in age and wouldn't wish you be with someone you didn't wanta serious relationship with. That's the only way I date, seriously. Commitment, you know, I'm
not afraid of it, I want it." He said followed by a very deep breath.
Sara sat still and digested Jim's speech. She pondered his words like they had come from Godhimself, not that she was comparing Jim to God, but the words obviously held so much meaningto him, she decided to seriously consider them. After a few minutes he looked at her, worried.Had he scared her with the "C" word? She turned to him and looked into his eyes.
"I have no problem with commitment, Jim." She said
"That's why I don't date much; most men are not commitment oriented. They just want somethingcasual and something that would leave them an "out" when and if they need it."
Jim was stunned to hear such mature and serious words come from someone that could not be a dayover 27. If it were possible, he loved her more than he had a few minutes ago, before the startof their conversation. He looked at her and could see the sincerity in her eyes. How could hedeny her when he could see the sincerity in her eyes? He spoke.
"Well, since we're both looking for commitment and there does seem to be a certain amount ofspark between us, why don't we give it a shot and see where this takes us. I warn you, I give
100 to a relationship, and I would expect no less from my partner. If that is something youcan handle, I am willing and able to consider you, but if it is too much for you, then, I am
sorry, but I don't like having my heart trampled on."
Sara looked at Jim as if she were about to cry. Her eyes began to redden with the threat oftears. Jim saw this and offered no real apology, he stood by his words. She slid closer to him
and wrapped her arms around him. He looked at her, surprised. She looked deep into his eyes,hisblue eyes, and as she saw the sincerity behind his words, she kissed him. She kissed him
hard and passionately. He was shocked, to say the least. He had met a woman at work and within24hrs he had her camping, and 24hrs later he had a commitment from her. This was all happeningin record time, he thought to himself. This had to be some sort of record setting event.
Lunch time was approaching and they broke out the ration bars and washed them down with someGatorade he had brought. He figured after her run this morning, Sara would need some. Sara
thought to herself that this must be the world's most considerate man. First the chairs, thenthe opting out of taking advantage of her and now the declaration of commitment. In her eyes hewas the perfect man, so what if he was older and not in peak physical condition, who was inthis day and age? She had found herself a man that was willing to commit and expected the samefrom her. She felt like the luckiest woman in the world. She was so elated that she could notcontain herself. She jumped up from the log and grabbed both Jim's hands and enveloped him inan embrace that the Gods on high from Mount Olympus could not break apart. They clung to eachother as if their lives depended on it.
Their embrace was however, broken by Jim's need to relieve himself. He tore himself away fromSara just long enough to trod into the woods, pee and come back. When he returned he found hersitting on a rock beside the creek with her feet dangling in the water. He sat beside her andwatched the water as he saw little fish gather cautiously around her feet and as she wiggledher toes they scurried away; this series of actions made Jim laugh. Sara looked at Jim andlaughed.
The sun was beginning to set in the sky and Jim walked over to the fire that had been dyingdown and added some wood to it. They both sat on the log and reveled in their decision of
earlier. Jim felt like a truly lucky man and Sara knew she was right when she had read Jim'sprofile before coming to Vegas. Jim reached into his pack and pulled out the whiskey bottle
from the two previous nights and took a pull from it. He handed it to Sara and she did thesame. After about an hour of talking and drinking she had become a bit loose lipped and let
slip the fact that she had spent hours going over his profile before coming to Vegas. She alsolet slip that she had done more research on him, than on any other member of the team. She
told him that when she saw his photo in his profile, she had fallen in love. Jim was slightlyclear headed as he heard her drunken confessions. He did not know whether to feel honored orscared. She had spent so much time learning about him and she had set her sights on him beforeeven coming to Vegas; he chalked this up to determination. She surely was a determined soul,to think that she had been interested in him even before meeting him.
When it came time to turn in for the evening, they both wobbled their way into the tent andcollapsed onto their bags, this had been a very busy day; emotionally they were both exhausted.
Jim lay flat on his back and Sara snuggled up to him and rested her head on his chest andwithin minutes she was asleep. He lay awake, rubbing her back and running his fingers through
her hair. As he soaked in her aura, he truly felt a lucky man. There was nowhere he wouldrather be than with her, now. He was in heaven.