Hey, I'm back! (For now)

Just so you know, I haven't forgotten this story. It's one of the first ones I completed and the first crossover I've ever done on paper. I'm just editing and making it better. So thanks to my readers for sticking with me!

Here's the next part. Hope you enjoy!

Fixing Home

Bahocean

Summary: Sara has a choice to make...

It was three days after their first date. Sara had been busy working on some things she had been putting off because of work...namely pampering herself into another plain of existence. She had been neglecting herself for so long she had forgotten that the body needed care if the mind was to do well. She had learned that lesson very well this vacation, and would not let herself forget again.

Grissom and Giles had finished up their assignment and Grissom at least had scheduled a flight out in two days.

It was his hope that Sara would be going with him.

In the three days, they had enjoyed the Roman version of a carnival, riding a coaster and generally acting like the teenagers they hadn't been in a very long time.

Tonight they were simply out walking, enjoying each other's company. Gil was nervous, though the average person would never have been able to tell. Sara, who had a PhD in Gil Grissom, could read him well.

"I'm not the only person who has to move past the hurt, Griss."

He was jolted from his thoughts by her voice. "Sorry?"

"I'm not the only one who's been hurt in this relationship. I hurt you too."

"How?" Grissom was puzzled. He wasn't really sure what she was talking about.

"You can't tell me all the times I said something and walked away before you could answer didn't hurt? That the comment I made about you not feeling anything, or the one about me looking for validation in inappropriate places, didn't sting? A comment which wasn't deliberately directed at you, by the way. I meant validation from any source other than myself.

"But that's not the point. The point is, I learned a lot about myself and who I want to be from those counseling sessions. And what I was doing to you as well. I'm not the only one who has something to forgive here."

"Sara..." He stopped, waiting for something, Sara to speak or some words he couldn't find. Sara didn't rush to fill the silence this time though. She waited, comfortable with the quiet. She had finally learned that he would speak in his own time and way, learned that she would find an answer she sought in the silence that echoed loud and long.

"Have you made a decision yet?"

"I made the decision long ago, Gil. I just wasn't sure what yours would be."

"Anything that involves you and me together is a decision I want to make."

He leaned toward her, but was stopped by her finger on his lips. "Let me finish, please. It won't be easy. You hurt me with your unwillingness to try and with dating Sofia. I hurt you with my unwillingness to hear you out and my impatience. We'll have to forgive each other and move on from this point. I want to take it slow. I want it to last, and be real. I can wait." She dropped her finger, moving her hand to his beard and cheek. "At least now I'm willing to try. Are you?"

End Fixing Home