A/N Thankyou for all the wonderful reviews and the words of encouragement. I hope you enjoy this next chapter.
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Quiet Intimacy
The following days passed relatively quickly. Some days there was either physiotherapy or one of the mandatory psychology sessions to attend. On the days Sara attended physio, they usually tried to meet up with one or all of her co-workers for lunch.
There was also the occasional day when Grissom worked. When he had first been approached by Rod to help them out with a bug covered body he had hesitated. After all he was not in Washington to work, but to be with Sara. But after she had told him in no uncertain terms that it would be good for him and laughingly told him it would stop him from getting lazy he acquiesced and had thoroughly enjoyed himself.
To prevent boredom on those days when there were no appointments, and Grissom wasn't out 'messing with his bugs' as Sara called it, they spent time checking out the sights that the nation's capitol had to offer or relaxing together in the quiet of Sara's apartment.
Those quiet days were the ones that Grissom came to love the most. On those days, he had Sara completely to himself and he revelled in the relaxed intimacy of lying close together on her couch watching the television or reading. But what he had come to cherish most about those days was how at the end of so many of them, they would end up lying in a tangle of sheets, content in the after glow of a different type of intimacy.
With the holidays quickly approaching, the therapist had given Sara a series of exercises to do at home. Though her shoulder was improving rapidly and caused her little or no discomfort, Sara was determined to regain strength back in it as quickly as possible and so another routine was added to their days.
The week before Christmas Sara made a decision.
"We need a Christmas tree." Her voice broke the silence of the room.
"Sorry?" Grissom raised his head from the paper thinking he had misheard her.
"It's Christmas in one week and we need a tree."
"Oh" Grissom was a little confused because neither of them had ever worried about that sort of thing before and he wondered why Sara wanted to start now.
"Is there a particular reason we need a tree? Or is this one of those impulse things like the lamp?" he was smirking as he looked at her.
"There is nothing wrong with impulse buys and there is nothing wrong with that lamp" Sara punctuated her statement with a well aimed cushion.
The lamp that Grissom had jokingly called 'grossly deformed' and 'ugly' had been found one afternoon in an old antique book store they had come across while wandering one of the older districts. It held pride of pace in the living room, simply because Sara had 'fallen in love with it'.
"Ok…well how about we find out where we can get one and go have a look later today. Do you have decorations for it?" Grissom hoped her answer would be yes because he had no real wish to venture into the mall a week before Christmas unless it was an emergency.
"Actually….no. But we could grab some from that warehouse at the mall…." Sara broke off and struggled not to laugh at the look of horror on his face.
"Oh. Come on, where's your sense of adventure?" she waited for him to make a comment and when he didn't she continued. "Anyway we have to have decorations for the tree, and maybe some lights, and maybe some mistletoe for the doorway and …."
"Fine, fine we'll get the tree then go to the mall, but I want you to know that I am only going in there under protest. You know how I hate crowded shopping centres full of fanatical shoppers who wouldn't hesitate to kill over the last item on their list" he grumbled.
"Well if they kill you, I'm an experienced investigator with the FBI and I would avenge your untimely demise" Sara couldn't help laughing at the look on his face at that comment.
Sara moved over to him and sat in his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and placing a kiss on his forehead. She was still chuckling. Grissom wrapped his arms around her and kissed her firmly on the lips, before nestling his face into the crook of her neck.
"You wouldn't save me?" he mumbled into her neck.
"I' would certainly try. There is nothing more scary than a woman protecting her possessions" she grinned, but he couldn't see it. "Especially one who has a gun."
She felt the rumble of his laugh against her as he said "Oh I see, so I'm a possession now am I?"
Sara tightened her hold and kissed his head. "My most precious one" she told him softly.
As he raised his eyes to look at her, she felt herself pulled into his gaze before their lips met in a kiss of tenderness and love.
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It was late afternoon before they finally made it out of the apartment to search for their Christmas tree. The sales lot, they discovered was only a couple of blocks from the apartment, but they drove so that they would be able to transport the tree easily.
It was Sara that found the perfect tree. A medium sized fir that smelt wonderfully fresh and after paying for both it and a stand they tied it to the top of the car and returned home.
They set it up in front of the window with ease and only minimal rearrangement of the furniture and set of for the mall.
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Juggling bags and keys Sara finally managed to get the door to the apartment open and pushed it wide open to allow Grissom to follow her in. Both arms laden with bags and boxes he hurried to the table before he dropped them.
"Are you sure we really needed all this stuff honey?" he put the last bag securely on the table.
"Yes. If we are going to do this we are at least going to do it right" she told him as she added the bags she carried to those already on the table and began to pull everything out.
"Ok, well as long as you're sure. Want a coffee?" he asked already heading into the kitchen.
"Mmhmm"
Grissom chuckled as he watched Sara grab an armful of decorations and head for the tree.
Several cups of coffee and a couple of hours later Sara sat back and admired her handy work.
"So! What do you think" she asked him excitedly. Sara had done the actual decorating and all Grissom had done was pass her whatever she asked for. He looked the tree over thoughtfully and decided that it looked a little over done. Actually a lot over done, you could barely see that it was a tree at all.
As Sara looked at him he could see the happiness in her smile and eyes and knew that he was not going to be honest.
"I think it looks wonderful." He smiled as her smile grew. "You did a fantastic job."
She was still grinning broadly as she grabbed something out of one of the bags left on the table. Approaching him with the item behind her back she gave him what he could only describe as a devilish grin.
As he watched her approach he tilted his head trying to see what she was hiding, but she just moved it further behind her.
As she reached him she extended one arm above her head and put the other on his chest. Realisation dawned on Grissom just then and he reached around her to pull her to him.
"Mmmm. I wondered where that was. Where are you going t….." he got no more out as Sara planted a passionate kiss on his lips that had him responding automatically. As the kiss deepened, the sprig of mistletoe that Sara had been holding above their heads fell lower and lower until it fell from her fingers altogether as she wrapped herself around him.
Breaking the kiss, slightly breathless, Grissom gazed into her eyes.
"I love you Sara" he whispered. "I don't think I tell you that enough."
"I know you do Gil, and I love you too" she placed a soft kiss on his lips, followed by another before kissing him deeply again.
"You know, we only have this place to ourselves for two more days. We will have to be on our best behaviour when Jim gets here" Grissom said with a smirk.
"Mmmm…..well then I guess we'd better get all that bad behaviour out of system before then, don't you." Sara moved away from him and headed towards the bedroom, looking behind her.
Seeing the sultry look she was giving him, Grissom quickly followed, thoughts of mistletoe and Christmas trees abandoned in favour of other more interesting thoughts.
