A/N: I really need to extend a huge apology for this update taking so long. I have had a lot going on in RL, it took over a bit as RL often does. I had such a clear vision for this chapter that I actually thought I had wrote it already. After searching every notebook I own I realised my vision was just that, a vision and I then had to get the vision into print so that I could share it with you. I am sorry if I have lost you, I'll try not to take this long again but inspiration is sometimes just as evasive as time can be when RL gets crazy. If you are still her then I love you! I am glad you are reading and enjoying this and I have brought you what you were all waiting for: GSR
Read.
Enjoy.
Review.

Thank you xx

Today is Sara's birthday.

She is 34 years old.

The sound of her door closing for the last time made her heart skip a beat. It was the end of an era in her life, a full stop at the end of a sentence, the end.

She stood for a long moment with her hand resting on the cool wooden exterior. She couldn't claim to have made fond memories inside her tiny apartment but she had made a home there and for someone like Sara, a home was a big deal.

Her mind shot back to the first time she had laid eyes on this little box. She had been on a tight budget and an even tighter time scale, the landlord ushered her inside the tiny whitewashed space and lingered in the doorway like a shadow while she looked around. It had no personality back then, no soul, but she saw something in the space that no one else had. She saw her home.

She had filled it with plants and photographs, late night phone calls and early morning dinners. It had assumed her personality, as most homes did and if she was really honest with herself she was genuinely scared about leaving it behind.

She hardly spent any time here anymore and it made sense both financially and socially that she should give it up but it had become somewhat of a security blanket for her. A place she could go when it all fell apart. She hadn't had to use it yet but that was beside the point. Experience had taught Sara that happiness was short lived and shadows were always lurking in the corners.

There was even a name for it; Cherophobia - the fear of being too happy because you think something tragic will happen. Sad to think that being happy was something to fear but it had actually served her well. Expecting sorrow and disappointment made it less of a shock when she was proved right.

With an exaggerated breath she stepped away from the door and turned her back on her 'old life'. Her footsteps echoed off the walls as she made her way down the stairwell, she knew this place like the back of her hand. She knew every crack and smudge on the bricks, she knew where every plant was placed and where everyone left their bicycles, she knew every one of her neighbours and their routines. She was going to miss it.

Still, she recognised it was time to move on and it hadn't been a decision she had taken lightly. Far from it in fact, she had spent an inordinate length of time tossing the idea around in her brain. The scientist in her wanted to be sure she looked at it from every angle before she made her final decision and even then it had been several weeks before she had finally accepted that her future was in a different place, in a different home than she had expected.

Life had a way of bringing her the unexpected. She couldn't claim to have expected the moment when Grissom had took her hand and looked deep into her eyes to confess his true feelings for her. It had taken her so off guard she still found herself feeling breathless when she thought about it. She would never have dared to dream of moving in with him, it was a huge step and neither of them were known for diving into things. Yet, here she was driving across town with a trunk full of her belongings and a completely irrepressible smile on her face.

It was frightening, daunting and outrageous to think of herself and Grissom actively sharing a home but it was also something she longed to make a reality and she knew she would cherish for years to come.

His townhouse stood proud against the backdrop of the city, autumn turning the leaves from green to brilliant reds and oranges. She had spent many evenings here, and many mornings whiling away the hours between shifts just reading in the garden or watching Grissom cook. He was a talented chef, something she had genuinely found surprising about him and something that was undeniably attractive. The place had been a duplicate of his office at first. Piles of books and paperwork filling every surface, bugs and oddities scattered on the shelves, butterflies adorning the walls beside anatomy drawings and unusual plants. A person who didn't know Grissom would think it an odd place to be. A person who wasn't used to his eccentricities would find it uncomfortable when told that 'Steve' was out for a wander again but Sara embraced the things that made Grissom so terribly Grissom-like.

Nobody else in the world could mix cooking with entomology quite as easily as he could, nobody could serve up a fresh home cooked meal while discussing decapitated bodies in grim detail and still set the table like they were waiting for the queen to arrive. Nobody understood the enigma that was Grissom quite like she did, and even she had to admit that sometimes he evaded even her understanding.

She stood for a moment between the sidewalk and her new home taking stock of the situation. The sounds of the city formed the soundtrack of her next chapter and she realised there was no turning back. As soon as she walked through that door they would be an official couple. The closest to an official couple she had ever been in, perhaps that was the root of her fear.

Her footsteps had never sounded so loud. Each and every movement assumed a life of its own as nerves continued to take hold of her body and her mind. By the time she arrived at the door her hands trembled uncontrollably and then she had a sudden moment of clarity through her murky thoughts.

She thought of a time when she had felt genuinely happy, or at least, as happy as she figured she would ever get to be; Her body stretched out in the cocoon of sheets wrapped around them, her toes pointing south like a ballerina standing en piste. She could touch the edge of the bed like this; the cold would bite at her toes to remind her of the grim reality lying out with their sanctuary.

Her head rested in the crook of his arm, a natural place for her to nestle. She fit there, much like it was where she had always belonged and coincidentally that's exactly how she felt. In this position the entire length of her body was touching his, she could hear the melodious sound of his Heartbeat pumping away. A testimony to the life running through his veins and she thought about how much she adored the sound, she could almost feel his blood rushing through his extremities if she thought about it hard enough. Grissom's left arm wrapped around her body, tracing invisible patterns on the pale white skin of her back as they lay there.

He always slept on the right; she had pondered the reasons for this many times coming to the eventual realisation that it was simply an inexplicable habit. This was her happy place. Nestled in his arms in the bedroom that was about to become theirs, closed off from reality. She felt safe for the first time in years and allowed herself that moment of sheer happiness because of that. One thing she knew for certain about Gil Grissom is that he would do anything he could to protect her from harm.

This thought and this thought alone is what brought her through the door that day. The thought of her happy place and the sound of that heartbeat in her ears drew her into her home with a much stronger pull than the fear.

Love conquers all they say, and as she stepped into their home her heart swelled with the clarity of someone who knew beyond any doubt that they were in love.

The door creaked open slowly and revealed the brightness of the room. Her eyes strained in the light, focussing on the veritable jungle of books arranged in high towers around the room. In the centre sat the shape of Grissom, hunched over a book with his glasses perched on the end of his nose and a look of fascination on his face.

Sara couldn't supress the half-smile blossoming on her lips. He was incredibly endearing, even when it was not at all appropriate for him to be considered so. She took a step into the room but he didn't look up. Whatever he was reading it had captured his attention that was for sure. Sara's playful inner child sparked up, picturing this like some sort of forbidden pleasure she shouldn't have been privy to she cleared her throat a little and waited till he acknowledged her presence.

"Should I leave you alone?" She smirked.

Grissom, so taken aback by her apparent surprise arrival that they had been planning for weeks, stumbled to his feet sending 3 of the towers cascading to the ground in a waterfall of pages.

"I…was trying to make room for you" He explained.

Sara cast her eyes around the room. The previously empty floor space was filled with books of every description; Classic novels, textbooks, reference sources, journals, encyclopaedia's. He had done everything but create more space.

"Job well done" She responded with a raised eyebrow.

Grissom met her smile with one of his own and took the box from her hands, placing a gentle kiss on her cheek by way of a greeting. She hadn't expected him to be nervous too, he was usually so in control and while frustratingly mysterious on the surface was usually meticulously organised underneath.

He placed the box carefully on the dining table almost as if it contained the crown jewels. A book sat on the sheer surface, a beam of light shining directly onto the cover and drawing her attention. It was one she recognised immediately. Grissom followed her eyes and placed his hand on the cover before picking it up and turning it over several times.

"I found something belonging to you" He remarked before handing it to her "I thought you might want to have it back now"

Sara felt the weight of the book in her hands, a frown formed on her brow as she let the memories of the last time she had held it in her hands wash over her. She studied the cover, the spine, the blurb and Grissom studied her just as intently.

'Plato's Republic'

She carefully flicked the pages like a fan, wondering if there was a letter or note pushed between the pages but nothing came until she noticed a tiny scratched G in the corner by her thumb. Her breath hitched in her chest as she opened the book to the page and saw the endearment. So subtle, so miniscule, that she had missed it the first time and yet, so perfectly Grissom that she cherished it more than anything she ever had.