AN: Thank you for the continuing support. Here is your next chapter, hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 8: Outside feelings are settled

Hours later

Grissom was in the summer-house sitting on the couch with Sara's head on his shoulder and his arm around her shoulders.

They hear footsteps and talking from the deck, so Sara lifts her head up, looks in his eyes and asked. "Do we want them to know?"

He looks into her eyes and replied. "Do you?" She looks away from him and he puts his finger to her chin and brings her head back to him. "It's up to you." He wanted to do anything that will make her happy and if telling the team was what she wanted then he will do it.

He got his answer a few seconds later when she nodded and responded. "I do. We can trust them. I know we haven't really talked about what's going to happen with work but I think it would be ok for the team to know. They are our friends and they will be on our side."

Grissom nods and kisses her on the forehead, then brings her head back to his shoulder and puts his arm over her shoulders again.

A few seconds later the back door opens and Greg walks in first seeing Grissom sitting on the couch, so he asked. "Hey Griss, where is Sara?"

By then everybody was in the house and Sara lifts her head up from Grissom's shoulder and they both look back.

They see their shocked faces and Sara asked like nothing was out of the ordinary. "You were looking for me?" She smirks.

After a few minutes of shocked silence Grissom breaks it. "What's the matter a cat caught your tongues?"

They blinked a few times then when the shock finally wore off, or at least enough to give them a proper response.

Catherine smiles, walks over to them and said congratulations.

Sara and Grissom get up from the couch and received hugs from her, then the rest of the gang followed suit.

When Warrick, which was the last person to finish the hugging, Greg looked at Sara and asked. "So which guy was your admirer?" They were all thinking the same thing since they noticed Peter wasn't on the boat.

Sara and Grissom look at each other, then she turns back to the gang and speaks. "The only thing you guys need to know is that the only admirer that I want is standing right here." She then slips her fingers through Grissom's.

Sara and Grissom look back at each other and smile, then they look back at the gang and they were smiling too.

Even though their question wasn't answered they were ok with it because all they cared about was the smiling faces of the two of them.

After a few seconds of silence Nick speaks. "So Tony and his friends asked if we wanted to have a little party and watch the fireworks with them. Are you in?"

Sara looks at Grissom and asked. "What do you think?"

As much as he wanted to stay inside and be alone with her he wasn't going to shut her out of world so he nods and said. "It's ok."

She smiles then looks at everybody and answered. "Alright we're in. When are we going over there?"

Warrick speaks. "In a few hours."

Grissom and Sara nod then walk back to the couch and sat down, getting in the same position they were before the gang showed up.

Grissom was feeling eyes on him, so he looks at them and asked. "What?"

They shake their heads and Greg replied. "Seeing you two like this is just a little weird. It will take some time getting use to."

Sara lifts her head up from Grissom's shoulder again, looks at Greg then said. "Then you better start Greggo because this sight will happen a lot. Especially while we are still here." She smiles and puts her head back on Grissom's shoulder and goes back to watching TV with her smile getting bigger by the second. Grissom looks at them and smiles too, then goes back to the TV.

The gang looked at each other and smiled for them especially for their boss.

They all silently agreed that they will keep their relationship a secret if that's what would be asked of them then they left the living room to change clothes for the party.

Two hours later

They all left the summer-house to go to Tony's rented summer-house and this time Sara got to hold hands with Grissom and nobody could find two happier people.

Once they got to the house and on the deck, the back door opened and they were greeted by some of Tony friends.

They walked in the house and besides not having a side door this place had the same style as the one they're staying in, but had less expensive items in it.

There was music playing and a baseball game on mute on the big screen TV.

Grissom and Sara went in the living room to watch the game, Warrick and BreAnna went to talk to the only other married couple there and Nick, Catherine, Amanda and Greg went to where the dancers were and started dancing.

Later in the party Amanda started to get thirsty so she told Greg that she was going to the table to get some punch and he just nodded. She smiled at him and walked away.

She gets to the table and grabs a plastic cup, and as she was pouring the drink she hears. "Hi Amanda."

She looks to her right and said. "Hi Tony, how are you?"

He smiles, gets his drink then said. "I am good, How are you?"

"I'm fine."

They both take a drink and it was a few minutes of silence, then Greg comes to the table, looks at both of them and said hi to Tony before looking at Amanda and said. "Ready to dance again?"

"I'll be right there." He smiles, kisses her cheek and goes back to the crowd.

Amanda looks at Tony and said. "I had a feeling you want to say something."

Tony nodded and spoke. "You love him?"

Amanda looks over at Greg and he was dancing funny, whether he was meaning to or not it was unclear but it made Amanda laugh. She looks back at Tony and replied. "I do. People might think we don't have much in common and my other friends probably wonder why I am with him, but my love for him trumps all that negativity." Tony nods and takes a drink, when he pulls the cup down Amanda continues while looking at him. "I do want to be honest with you though. We both know that there is something between with us but I want you to understand nothing could ever happen at least romantically."

He puts a hand on her shoulder and replied. "I do understand I just hope we can be friends."

She raises an eyebrow and asked. "Really? you can do just friends. You don't strike me as the kind of guy to be 'just friends' with somebody."

Tony found it amazing that Amanda picked up on that, Greg's skills must have been rubbing off on her.

He nods after a second of hesitation. "You're right I don't normally have 'just friends' but in this case with you, I can make an exception. That is if you want to."

Amanda nods with a smile and said. "I do. So friends?" She holds out her hand and looks into his eyes, he looks into hers, smiles, nods and they do a hand shake. They pull back slowly and after one more look she turns and goes back to dancing with Greg.

He sighs while losing his smile then hears. "Didn't work out very well did it?"

He looks behind him and talks to Peter. "Nope. And I take it my plan didn't work for you?"

They didn't have time to talk when Tony and his friends came back from boating so this was the first time today that they got to catch up.

He shook his head, shrugged his shoulders then said. "It just wasn't meant to be with Sara. They love each other so much nothing is going to stand in their way. I am just glad to have another friend." Peter looks at Tony and he gives him a sympathetic look, then Peter continues. "And I guess you have to get use the fact that you and Amanda are going to be just friends now, right?"

Tony shook his head and said. "Now don't count me out yet."

Peter gets a worried look and asked. "You're not going to do anything stupid are you?"

"No of course not. I'm not gong to stir anything up if that's what your thinking. All I am saying is it's not over until they say 'I do.'"

Peter was going to say something but Tony had already patted him on the back and left with a smile on his face. He watches Tony walk away, then shakes his head. Deep down he knew Tony wasn't a danger to Greg and Amanda's relationship, but hoping he would just let it go because it would only end in heartbreak whether Tony would admit it or not.

His own thoughts were interrupted when he heard. "Are you ok Peter?"

Peter turns his head to look across the table and replied. "Yeah Sara I'm fine, it's just Tony." He stops then shook his head again and replied. "Never mind."

Sara just nods and reaches for two plastic cups, looks at him and asked. "This punch isn't spiked is it?"

Peter chuckles and replied. "No." She smiled and poured the drinks.

Peter got himself something to drink, then looked at Sara and asked. "So how are you? I saw you and Grissom come in together holding hands, I take it everything worked out?" Sara got a huge smile and that confirmed it for him so he replies. "Congratulations."

Sara nodded and said. "I'm sorry that.."

He cuts her off. "No don't be. But I do hope he makes you happy."

Sara smiles again and replied. "He does and you will find that happiness too, just keep looking." Peter nodded, then Sara picked up both cups, told him she will see him later and left the table.

He watches her leave, then sighs sadly. He will probably always wish something could have happened between them but he will not ruin her happiness. He sighs again then goes and joins in the fun.

Sara walked in the living room and saw that Grissom wasn't sitting on the couch anymore, so she used her observation skills looking around but when she couldn't see him she turns around, walks through the crowd, then goes outside on the deck, looks to her left and sees him sitting down in a wicker chair.

She walks up to him and said. "Here."

He looks at her, grabs the cup from her and said. "Thanks Sara."

She nodded and sits down on the other wicker chair as he speaks again. "I felt so out-of-place in there. As you can tell I am not the youngest person in there in fact I am the oldest." He sighs takes a drink and looks away from her.

She sets her cup down on the deck, gets up from the chair, walks up to him, bends down in front of him, takes his hand, which makes him look down at her and talks again before she could. "I don't want to put you through this. I will more than likely feel out-of-place most of time, especially in this kind of environment and I will probably always be the oldest one in places like this. You shouldn't have to come out here and be with me when you could be in there having fu…." He gets cut off when she gets up and puts a finger to his lips.

She moves her finger, takes his drink and sets it on the deck, then sits in his lap sideways, looks into his eyes and replied. "I feel out-of-place in there too. In fact the only place I feel comfortable is when I am at work, with you and sometimes at home. I don't need to go to these parties to have fun. I don't need big crowds, I just need you. And there is no way that after I got a glimpse on how it it's going to be with you that I am just going to let you push me out of your life again. You're just going to have to deal with me in your life because I am not going anywhere." She smiles at him then finishes with. "And besides I am not really in my twenties anymore either so we can be old together." Sara smiles again.

Grissom shook his head and chuckles a little, puts his hand on her cheek and said seriously. "Well Sara my dear, you are far from being old." He stops and she was going to speak but when she could see Grissom wanted to continue she waited, and after a minute he did. "I just don't want you to be missing out on anything or make you feel old at a young age because of my awkwardness around big crowds."

Sara thinks about that for a minute then said. "Then how about we make a deal."

He raises an eyebrow and said. "What kind of deal?"

"How about when we have time we get out of the house and got to a club, a bar or anywhere for that matter so you won't feel bad about me missing out on anything and we both can be out-of-place together, ok?"

Clubs and bars weren't really her scene either but it was the best compromise she could come up with that would ensure him that he wasn't holding her back on anything.

"Ok it's a deal."

Like he thought earlier, he would try to do anything for her. Even as far as going way out of his comfort zone, heck he was already doing that by starting this relationship with her.

She smiles and replies. "Good."

They look into each other's eyes and he gets serious again. "I do love you. You know how much?"

She smiles again and replied. "You love me as much as I love you and that's pretty huge."

He smiles and they lean toward each other and let their lips touch.

They kissed for a few minutes but was interrupted when Greg said. "Oh, do we have to see this every time you two are alone?"

Sara and Grissom pull back, look at Greg and Grissom asked. "You have a problem with me kissing my girlfriend?" Sara smiles at the word and so does Grissom.

Greg shook his head and spoke without thinking. "As long as I don't lose my food." The moment those words came out of his mouth he shut it.

Sara gets off of Grissom and asked. "Greg, you think me kissing my boyfriend is sickening?"

Greg watches Grissom get up and he goes behind Nick and Warrick, those two shook their heads and Nick said. "No Sara he doesn't think that at all, do you Greggo?"

Still behind them Greg says. "No, Sara I don't."

Sara nodded and said. "Good, now that we got that covered what's going on?"

Catherine answers that. "The fireworks are about to start and I think we should get the best seats."

They all nodded and started walking to the grass.

When they sat down the men sat down behind their women and each of them had their back to their men's chest, and once those arms wrapped around them they all felt safe, protected and warm.

A few minutes later when the rest of the people were out, the fireworks started going off and they had a wonderful time watching them.

When the grand finale was done they got up from the ground and the gang said their thanks and started walking back to the house, except Catherine.

She looked at Nick and said. "I'll met you at the house ok?"

He could tell she needed to talk to Ryan so he nodded then asked. "Are you sure you don't want me to wait?" She nodded, he kisses her on the cheek and walks with the gang. Catherine watches him for a second then looks at Ryan.

She smiles at him and said. "Listen Ryan I…."

Ryan shook his head. "You don't need to say anything. I know I never had a shot with you it is very obvious that you love Nick."

"I do. He is the most wonderful man I know and I know that you won't have any trouble finding a wonderful woman yourself."

Ryan smiles and replied. "Thank you Catherine, I hope we can continue to be friends." She nods and brings Ryan in to a friendly hug.

When they pulled back she responded. "I would be honored to be your friend. You take care Ryan and good luck in the future."

Ryan smiles and replied. "You too." She smiles again, steps back, then turns around and started walking back to the house.

He watches her leave, then sighs and gets startled when he feels a pat on the shoulder, he looks at Tony, and Tony said. "We'll it looks like none of us got our girls."

They nodded and sighed, then Ryan replied. "What is it with those men? How did they get so lucky?"

They shrug their shoulders and Peter replied. "I don't know but when you figure it out let me know ok?" Then he turns and walks in the house.

Ryan looks at Tony and said. "Do you think we will see them again?"

Tony shock his head and said "I am not sure." He didn't really know if he would ever see Amanda again but he was hoping he did.

Tony and Ryan both walked back to the house with their thoughts on the same thing, their vacation took an unexpected turn.

After Grissom and company got in the house they changed into their sleeping clothes, then they all sat down in the living room and talked about work and how it was going to be. Grissom said he was not going to play favorites just because he is dating Sara and nothing was going to be kept a secret because he was going to take care of the lab director and Ecklie himself when they got back. When they got done with that conversation everybody told Sara and Grissom about their day.

After a few more hours of just talking they called it a night and everybody headed for the bedroom's, well except Catherine and Nick since they were already in the room they were sleeping in.

Grissom walked Sara to her bedroom, kissed her goodnight then she went into the room while he went to his.

Two Hours later

When there was a knock on Grissom's bedroom door, he puts a book marker in his book and said. "Come in."

The door opened, Sara peaks her head in and said. "I can't sleep."

He smiles while putting his book on the nightstand and said. "Come here." She smiles back at him.

While he takes off his glasses and puts them on top of his book, she walks in the room and shuts the door behind her, then she walks up to the bed, lifts the blankets up and crawls in and lays down with her back to him. He shuts off the lamp, lays down behind her while wrapping his arms around her from behind. He kissed her head and lays his head down.

She snuggles in his arms and both sighed in content, feeling like they have done this a long time.

They said their I love you's, closed their eyes and fell right to sleep in each other's arms, just like they have been wishing for.

AN: Next Chapter: Last full day at the summer-house. Please Review.