AN: Sorry for the delay in updates, life got a bit crazy there for awhile. Thanks SO much as always to those reviewing, your comments always put a smile on my face. You guys really do keep the inspiration going. Hope everyone is doing well.

Take care and enjoy.

CHAPTER 43

CATHERINE POV

"This is sooooo amazing!"

Sara lets a small smile peek through her otherwise serious expression, "It's not that amazing. Was quite easy, really."

Lindsey's eyes are still wide, staring at the solar system displayed before them. She shakes her head, "No way. Mom one time spent hours trying to set this up, you did it in like five minutes."

Sara's eyes shift to mine, her cheeks reddening, "Oh…"

Sheepishly, she swallows, "Sorry. I can see why your mom had trouble though…it is a bit hard now that you mention…"

"Oh don't bother, Sar," I cut her off with a laugh. "You're a space wizard, I'm not. No hurt feelings."

"It…"

Sara looks torn, like she's still debating whether she can talk her way out of this particular moment. Then, apparently she gives up.

"Sorry," she offers instead, cheeks still pink as she reaches out to squeeze my hand in hers.

Giving her a chaste peck on the lips, both our eyes go to Lindsey as she barely seems to care about the kiss, simply getting back to playing with her new favorite toy.

Smiling, Sara steps back, letting Lindsey have her fun, placing herself next to me on the couch. Sitting closely, our hands resume their positions of finding each other, Sara's thumb tracing along my knuckles.

"Thanks for having me over," she says, eyes watching Lindsey's youthful fingers turn and twirl the planets around each other. "I really appreciate this."

"I thought you and Lindsey deserved a drama free afternoon together."

And, drama free is exactly what it's been. Lindsey's qualms about me being in a relationship, or at least the Sara part of it, have been lifted. My daughter instead lighting up when Sara revealed that she loves the stars and planets just as much as Lindsey does. My daughter wasted no time grabbing the science kit she was given for her birthday, the one that I'd indeed spent hours trying to set up for her without much success.

Apparently Sara's model building skills are far superior to my own. I'd barely gotten two planets attached to the central bracing device when it all descended into hell.

Now, the model looks nothing but celestial.

"Sara!" Lindsey calls excitedly, "Look what I can do with the moons if they come near each other!"

Smiling, Sara gives my hand a squeeze before she leaves the couch, sitting herself back down on the floor next to Lindsey.

"You know what that's called?" Sara asks, watching the moons intersect in front of Saturn. "When the moons line up with each other?"

Lindsey shakes her head, eyes wide. "That's a real thing? They really do that in real space?"

Sara smiles wide, her expression lighter than I've seen it in a long time. "Yes, it's a very real thing…"

Sara goes on, explaining to Lindsey eclipses and orbits, keeping it at a level that a 5 year old will understand, but not underestimating my daughter's ability to keep up. In fact, Lindsey's eager and endless questions exemplify just how much she's following right along.

Sara's a great teacher, and my daughter is more than eager to learn more about one of her favorite subjects. These two are really a sight when they're together, and I'm still not sure which is the bigger nerd.

Smiling, I watch them play together, my own presence all but forgotten as they explore the universe together. Hearing Sara laugh, my smile grows even wider at the rare sound. Something tells me as good as Sara is for Lindsey, that Lindsey is just as good for Sara. They both in different ways have a lot to learn, a lot to enjoy, about being with the other. And, from the looks of things, they're more than thrilled to finally do so.

"How do you do it?" Sara questions, letting out a long sigh as she drops herself down into one of my kitchen chairs. "That girl is endless energy."

Smiling, I shake my head, "You have no idea."

"You're a saint," Sara settles on concluding. "You're an amazing mother, and an absolute saint."

Laughing lightly, I push my coffee over towards Sara, my companion taking a grateful sip.

"How many stories did she make you read?" I question, smiling at the fact that Lindsey insisted that Sara be the one to put her to bed. After their long day together, my daughter still didn't want to ever leave Sara's side even to go to bed.

Before I could step in, trying to save Sara from the sometimes painful bedtime routine, she easily agreed, not even hesitating. Seeing Lindsey's grogginess, Sara barely even paused, simply reaching down and picking my daughter up to place her atop her hip. Carrying Linds up the stairs, my daughter was already nearly falling asleep on Sara's shoulder before they even made it to her room. But, the prospect of her nighttime story being read by Sara quickly roused her, and I left them to have their privacy when Lindsey had picked out their story for the night.

But, judging by the time between then and when Sara finally made her way back downstairs, I have a good feeling that wasn't the only story Lindsey convinced Sara to read to her.

"I think there were three," Sara mumbles, eyes closing as she leans her head back. "Maybe four. It's all a haze."

Laughing, I swat her arm, taking my coffee back as I see her smile.

"You think you have enough energy left in you to watch a movie or something?" I pose, watching the brunette's eyes open and meet with mine.

"Hmm," she pretends to consider this. "Depends on the movie."

"Smartass."

Smiling, Sara rouses herself, sitting to her full height as she steals another swallow of my coffee. Standing, she holds her hand out, leading the way to the living room.

Once there, it takes us only a few minutes to agree on a movie, an independent film we've both wanted to see. Getting settled on the couch, we fall into our familiar position, me leaning back into Sara, my head resting on her shoulder while her arms wrap around my hips to hold me close.

It's safe, secure, and probably my favorite place in the world to be.

As the movie is coming to a close, I note that Sara is still fully awake. And, if anything, she seems almost on alert, her body somewhat stiff and tense beneath me. Usually, after about the first couple minutes she relaxes, holding me close and sometimes, after a really hard couple shifts, even starting to drift off into some much needed sleep.

But, not tonight. Though I can tell she's tired, she is fully awake.

"You okay?" I ask quietly, eyes still on the movie.

"Hmm?" she questions, apparently pulled from her own thoughts. "Yeah, I'm good."

"I can't believe they killed off that pilot."

Sara hums her agreement.

And, in that moment, I know for a fact she's distracted. This movie doesn't even have a pilot, let alone one that was just killed off. Her mind is clearly elsewhere, and it worries me.

Pausing the movie, I turn in her arms, fully facing her.

"What's wrong?" I ask, gaze searching her own tense features.

Perhaps giving up any temptations of trying to deny it, Sara instead lets out a breath. I can feel the trembling in the exhale where my shoulder still rests along her chest.

"I…"

She pauses, drawing herself another deep breath, like she's trying to steady herself.

"I wanted…" she trails off, eyes on mine before they move away.

"Talk to me, Sara."

Sara looks back over, her eyes searching mine as she seems to come to an internal decision.

"I wanted you to know…" she tries again, reaching out and taking my hand in hers. "I wanted you to know that I love you."

Her eyes shift between mine, watching my expression nervously.

"You've said it to me and alluded to it with me before, but I've never said it back. I want you to know that I feel the same way, Catherine. I've fallen for you, so deeply."

These words are not what I expected, so much not what I expected that it takes my mind a moment to comprehend them. Then, my mind, and my heart, seem to jolt at the realization of what Sara just said.

"I'm not good at saying those certain words," Sara confesses. "I usually avoid them as much as possible, really. But, I didn't want you to think I didn't feel them."

I had noticed Sara's lack of using those three particular words, but I also know Sara. The type of person that she is, the past that she's had, I can imagine why those three words aren't the easiest for her to say.

"Thank you," I tell her sincerely, appreciating beyond my own words how much this moment means to me, how deeply this has touched me. "You show me with your actions how you feel," I assure her. "But I won't deny that it's so damn good to hear you say the words aloud."

Smiling slightly, Sara looks like her body loses some of her nervousness, a bit of the edge leaving her expression.

"I'll try to use them more often," she promises. "But don't ever doubt how I feel if sometimes I fail to do so."

"I understand," I tell her. And I do.

Sara's past was a horror show, and she's been so good at overcoming it, moving past it. But, occasionally, there are some tells that give her away. This was one of them. And, I'm so proud of her for this moment, this honesty.

"I love you, too," I tell her sincerely, leaning in to kiss her deeply. "So much."

Holding each other close, we both enjoy the time together.

The movie never gets unpaused.

Opening my eyes, I take a long, deep breath, stretching out as I note the time on the clock.

Turning slightly, I look at the body beneath mine, smiling as I take in the sight.

Sara's still asleep, which is a rarity in its own. Usually I find her awake when I open my eyes in the morning, holding me and gently running her fingers through my hair. But, this time she's out, her head angled down towards my shoulder, her breathing deep and even.

She looks relaxed, and it's a damn good look on her.

Running my own fingers across her temple, I tuck some wayward brunette locks behind her ear. When she doesn't stir, I pull the blanket up tighter around us, taking the rare opportunity to be the one to hold her instead of the other way around.

It's a good half hour before I finally hear Sara's breathing hitch, her body rousing itself with a slight jerk. Eyes flicking to mine, she takes in the fact that I'm awake already.

"Hey," she gets out, voice scratchy from sleep.

"Hey," I smile back, placing a gentle kiss into her hair. "Welcome back to the land of the living."

Sara smiles, stretching slightly as she runs her fingers up and down my arm. "You been awake long?"

"Nope," I assure her. "About thirty minutes."

Sara takes this in, nodding as she glances at the time on the clock. "Sorry."

"Why in God's name are you apologizing?" I laugh. "You needed sleep. Still need sleep."

Sara doesn't refute this, but she doesn't look all that concerned either. "I can sleep when I'm dead."

"Well, you're extra morbid this morning," I smile, playfully tugging on the hem of her shirt.

Snorting, Sara simply holds me close, both of us relaxing into the early hour, hearing the birds and other creatures outside just starting to wake up themselves.

"How long before we have to get ready for the day?" Sara poses.

"At least another hour."

"Good," she mutters, readjusting herself slightly as she wraps her arms tighter around me, head coming to rest atop my own.

Breathing in her scent, I melt into her embrace, my eyes closing as my body experiences the meaning of contentment.

"Ladies," Gil lifts his eyes towards Sara and mine. "A word."

Everyone else files out of the break room with their assignment slips in hand, casting us a brief glance as they shut the door behind them.

Sara looks nervous, tensely lifting herself from her seat to stand near the coffee.

Gil remains seated, watching us with a pensive expression.

"Is there something that you two would like to talk about?" he questions, expression hard to read.

Sara remains quiet, her eyes silently shifting to mine. She's good, her stoic expression giving nothing away as she wordlessly defers to me regarding this situation. This situation I think we both knew was coming.

"What do you mean?" I ask, needing clear evidence as to what Gil is alluding to. I'm not about to out us to our boss if he's referring to something else.

"The two of you," he poses, eyes watching us closely. "It's like some shifts you're working eagerly together, making one hell of a team. Then others it's like your avoiding each other, glaring at the back of each other's heads during assignments."

He folds his hands across the surface of the table.

"I've been trying to be careful in when I assign you two to cases together, but it's honestly been getting very hard to predict your alternating attitudes towards one another. I just want to know if there's something I should be worried about."

Oh. So this isn't 'the talk.' It's more of an 'I can't tell when the two of you hate each other and when you don't' talk. But, as my eyes meet Sara's, I think we both know the actual talk is one that we need to be having with Gil. And, apparently now is a good a time as any. While I wasn't planning to start my morning this way, it looks like things are about to change.

"Actually," I pose, standing and placing myself closer to Sara. "We had something we wanted to talk to you about."

Gil's brow raises, his curious expression moving between the both of us.

"We have indeed been a bit hot and cold," I start. "Trying to figure ourselves out after everything that's happened. But, we've also been trying to figure ourselves out in another way."

I hesitate, finding it much harder than I expected to discuss this. While Gil and I are friends and I knew this would be uncomfortable, with him sitting right here and looking at me expectantly, I'm finding it damn near impossible.

Starting to panic, I feel my mouth go dry as the words simply won't come.

Before I can do anything, I feel Sara's presence stepping up beside me, the brunette laying a calming hand on my back. Always able to read me and noting my distress, Sara stands strong and firm beside me.

"Catherine and I are together, Gil," she states evenly, her own voice strong as she takes this burden from me.

Grissom looks between us, slowly standing as he tilts his head.

"Together?" he questions slowly, eyes narrowing as he tries to understand what Sara's saying.

"Together," Sara repeats. Then, she reaches down, taking my hand in hers and giving it a strong squeeze. "Together."

I see the moment Gil finally gets it, his eyes widening as he now appears to be the one whom words are failing.

"How…" he finally struggles to voice. "When?"

"Recently," Sara states. "Been a long journey trying to figure everything out, but recently."

He takes this in, mind still trying to adjust to what we're telling him.

"Does anyone else know?" he questions, perhaps aware that he isn't usually the quickest to catch on to such things.

"No," Sara assures him. "We wanted to speak with you before the others. For obvious reasons. Catherine and I know that this poses some…complications."

Gil nods, "It does."

Hand tightening on mine, Sara holds it firmly, giving me unspoken support as we wait for Gil's ultimate response. We know this is a problem, that workplace relationships are discouraged for a myriad of reasons. Particularly in a job such as this where unbiased and neutral relationships are expected due to the sensitive nature of what we do, of what we represent to our victims, to the justice system. Investigators in relationships with one another pose a complication, both in court and out.

"I think you know that you can no longer be Sara's direct supervisor, Catherine," Gil states, working through this aloud. "Can't perform any of her evaluations or sign off on any of her cases."

I nod, having expected as such.

"Ecklie will be less than pleased."

Sara tenses, and I hold her hand firmly.

"But," Gil breathes out, "I'm not Ecklie."

Looking us over, he shakes his head. "I never would have thought. The two of you of all people on this team."

Smiling slightly, he lets out a breath.

"I'm happy for you both."

And, I can see in his expression that he's being honest, that he really is happy for the two of us. A bit thrown, but happy.

"I will do my part to make this a non-issue with the higher ups," he promises. "I think it goes without saying that there will be no tolerance of your relationship interfering with your work. But, the two of you are the most dedicated and professional CSIs I've ever had the pleasure of working with, so I think I don't need to expand on that threat. We will have to make some assignment and organizational adjustments, but we'll do what we have to to make it work."

"Thank you," I tell him sincerely, finally finding my voice, letting out a shaky breath. "It really means a lot to have your support."

"The two of you have each always had my back," he states with a smile. "It's the least I can do in return."

Then, some of the tension leaving him as the shock seems to finally wear off, he smiles down at our still joined hands.

"I really am happy for you," he tells us. "I couldn't think of two people who I'd want more to see happy. And, the fact that the two of you found that happiness together…"

He shakes his head, "I support you both and wish you all the best."

"Holy shit that was uncomfortable."

Sara laughs lightly, both of us now alone in the break room after Gil left.

"Not the way I'd prefer starting my shift," Sara agrees. "But I guess in some ways feels good to have that conversation over with."

"Very," I nod. "Makes me also very happy to finally feel like we're a couple. Not just to ourselves, but to the world."

Sara smiles, leaning in to give me a gentle kiss.

"I couldn't be more honored to get to officially call you my girlfriend," she says, leaning back to smile down at me.

"Same," I share with her, unable to help my own smile that seems to be permanently on my lips.

Leaning in for another kiss, I hold her close.

"Now we just have to worry about telling the guys," Sara gets out.

Stiffening, I let out a startled snort.

"Maybe not."

Turning in my arms, Sara looks over her shoulder to see what I'm looking at.

There, on the other side of the door, are two very red faced CSIs. Seeing us noticing them, Nick and Greg immediately try to pretend like they aren't looking, failing miserably.

Nick tries to hide a blush, scurrying away. Greg, blushing just as red, offers us a wide grin and a thumbs up before following after his colleague.

"Oh God," Sara moans, burying her head on my shoulder. "Please tell me we didn't just get caught making out by Greg and Nick."

Laughing, I shake my head.

"I promised our relationship would be based on honesty," I tell her. "So I'm afraid I can't do that."

Groaning, Sara lets out a curse. "I'll never live this down."

AN: Thanks for reading.