A/N: A new chapter...continues on the research ship. (For clarity, in Chapter 1, the children were one; in Chapters 2, 3 and 4, a couple of years have passed, so kids are 4 years old. Sorry for confusion!)

After Effects

Chapter 3

Sara's foot touched the floor first; she scooted upright managing to keep her bottom on the edge of the bed before placing both feet on the cool floor. Glancing over her shoulder, she got out of bed. After she rearranged bed covers over three little bodies, heads nearly touching in the center of the bed and legs radiating out in different directions, she wandered into the next room.

Moonlight from a small window illuminated tangled covers on narrow beds along two walls but the bed underneath the window showed a long bump. She turned to an empty bed, moving to smooth covers, and in the process, a soft toy hit her foot.

She gasped, barely audible, before realizing what it was.

A quiet mumble caused her to giggle. Sara whispered, "I thought you'd be asleep. How long have you been in here?"

"A while," came a low voice.

In three steps, she was beside the bed, lifting the lightweight blanket as her husband moved to make room. And in that moment, she knew she wanted his hands to touch her, intimately. A flush of warmth enveloped her body as the thought of sex flashed from brain to toes.

A few seconds passed as she pushed her pajama pants to her ankles and climbed into the bed.

Another soft mumble that translated to her ears as "you're feet are cold" brought another giggle.

Moving her hips against his, she whispered, "Well, you can warm my feet up right along with the rest of me."

Half a second, if that long, passed before Gil Grissom responded to her request. Hands moved over her butt, gentle, caressing, pulling her against him. The low light from the moon reflected a glowing warmth in his eyes, a smile worked at the corners of his lips. His white shirt was open at the throat revealing a glimpse of his skin. She kissed that triangular hollow at the base of it and let her tongue play across it.

Immediately, his warm fingers touched her cheek, guiding her face to his. The tip of his thumb slid over her chin. Softly, he said, "I've wanted you all day."

Sara smiled, saying, "We've been so busy—four days already and I catch a glimpse of you at dinner."

"I—I…"

She covered his mouth and kissed him. When she broke from the kiss, she said, "I love what we are doing—the kids love it." Her mouth explored his face, pausing to add, "and everyone seems to love them." Softly, she laughed, "They get their charisma from their father."

The smell of her skin was intoxicating to him with every breath. His palm smoothed along her spine under her shirt and as quickly as she'd dropped her pants, she pulled her arms down and pushed the shirt over her head.

"Dear God, woman, you'll drive me to madness!"

Her hands moved to remove his shirt and as soon as their bodies touched, she felt the hardness between her thighs. A caressing murmur of "Got to get these off" made her tug at the band of his boxers. Then his dark form moved beside hers, his hand moving to her back while stroking fingers down the front of her body.

An aching excitement penetrated every cell of her body. A quiet moan escaped her lips as he gathered her against his chest. His hand moved to her butt, cupping, caressing, creating waves of intense pleasure as his fingers knew where to touch.

He kissed her slowly, deeply, moving his tongue into the silky recesses of her mouth until she groaned with expectation. Moving lips along her shoulder, to her breasts, to the valley between them, he touched, kissed, made fleeting strokes of his tongue, he coaxed and courted her as if she wasn't already flushed, trembling, and awash with desire.

When his fingers grazed over the wet, intricately masked peak of her sex with gossamer-light touches, her body trembled in response. Both were aroused and an urgency shifted them into deeper physical intimacy. He pushed her knees up a little, entering her slowly, so hard, above her, inside her; instinctively, she tightened as his thrusts became easy, deeper with tenderness. Every movement drew pleasure as her climax approached.

Sara clenched around him, contracting as she drew him deeper inside her body until she heard a deep growl. At that moment, she reached her own peak of pleasure and, a few seconds later, all either knew was the ecstasy of intense sexual pleasure.

When Sara opened her eyes, moonlight had evaporated and the pearly haze before sunrise had began to brighten the corners of the room. Threading fingers through her husband's hair, she kissed his forehead.

"I never tire of this," she whispered.

She felt Grissom's chest move in a low laugh. "Maybe we should sleep here and give the big bed to the kids."

"They would still find us—'I'm cold' or 'I lost my bunny'—or as Gray does, just crawl in bed without a word."

He rose on an elbow and tucked the sheet around her shoulders. He said, "You're having fun, right? I—I spend the day on the rear deck washing bird poop from buoys while you are…"

Sara broke in before he finished, saying, "playing. We've seen pods of porpoises and sharks, a few turtles—much excitement about sharks! Then we filled a plastic pool with sea water and one of the researchers doing sampling put tiny shrimp in it. And it took several hours to name all the shrimp. They run around on the bow—which is larger than the deck at home—just as happy as kids on a playground."

"Everyone seems to enjoy having the kids around."

"I think they do. Captain Jake said kids on a ship made a happier place—and your kids are happy as long as the freezer is full of ice cream and popsicles."

Grissom folded his arms around her, saying, "If we look out the window, we can watch the sun rise." He would never suggest leaving their sleeping kids for a short walk to the deck.

Opening up the sheet so they were wrapped together, they pulled to their knees and watched as the white light became gold that bled into the ocean like fire. Gradually a defined circle appeared, lost its focus, and flashed a mosaic of jewels across the ocean.

Sara and Grissom remained at the window until the sun was well clear of the horizon. The ocean was calm; the sky an unclouded blue.

"Another beautiful day," Sara said.

Grissom kissed her cheek. "I'll go get coffee and pastries for us—you—you…" He grinned and kissed her again, removing the sheet from his shoulders and getting out of bed. "Sleep for awhile. I'll put your coffee in an insulated cup so it stays hot."

Sara got out of bed as he did. "I'll get back in with the kids. They might sleep longer."

Quietly, Grissom dressed, left the room and made his way to the dining room where a few people were working at tables with laptops and a few more he could see in the kitchen. Mostly crew members, acknowledging him with a nod of head or uplifted chin, before returning to their private time. He waited for a tray of pastries to appear, light as clouds, filled with fruit and cream, and placed four on a tray before filling two tall cups with hot, aromatic coffee.

As he made his way back to their cabin, his feet seemed to float as he remembered the early morning love-making. Smiling at his thoughts, he decided he had a renewed appreciation for early coffee and freshly-made pastries. And sex...with Sara.

A/N: Thank you for reading. We also appreciate hearing from you...hoping to keep GSR alive!