Gil Grissom returned to his office after speaking with Warrick in the layout room. He'd been asked by Greg where Sara was and all he could say was he didn't know. As he sat at his desk, he smiled as he saw Sara curled up in the chair that laid in the corner of his office. Despite being tall and having long legs, she'd found some way to curl up completely with only her shoe covered feet hanging off the chair seat. Knowing she needed rest, he stood and walked over as he removed his jacket. He placed it over her and brushed back hair that covered her face.

He continued to do paperwork as Sara slept, looking up occasionally as she moved or shifted in the chair. Thankfully she was sleeping peacefully instead of having a nightmare. They happened occasionally but she'd confessed that she slept so much better when she was with him. Eventually movement made him look up and he saw Sara stretch and open her eyes. She sat up fully, his jacket hit the floor as she did. Her eyes focused on him after she wiped sleep from her eyes.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to follow asleep." She stood and picked up his jacket and also the files that were on the floor.

Chuckling under his breath, Grissom smiled at her. "You're always welcome to use my office to take a nap."

"I need to go see where we are on the case." She hung the jacket on the back of one of his guest chairs. "Talk to you later."

As she spoke to Warrick and Greg in A/V, Sara rubbed her neck because it hurt a bit from curling up the wrong way. Getting the news from Hodges and then Wendy, Sara didn't know what to say. With her job, she'd come across BDSM, swingers, abusive husbands, abusive wives, hostile divorcees, but what Wendy was saying took the cake. The idea that both mother and daughter were sleeping with the same man just shocked her.

"I'm just going to ask again to understand." Sara looked to Wendy, "did you say that Chelsea is Bianca's mother and that Bianca's boyfriend was sleeping with both her and her mother?"

Wendy nodded, "DNA doesn't lie. Trust me, I ran the result multiple times. Four times more than normal."

"What happened to having a normal relationship, where there are only two partners?" Sara looked at them. "The longer I'm in Vegas, the more the relationships grow weirder."

Warrick held out his hand she slapped it. "I'm right there with you."

"I'd be into a threesome." Greg stated, "but only if I know they weren't related."

All four people in the room looked to Greg. It was Sara who spoke, "Greg, we didn't need to know that."

Listening to Grissom speak about Thermite and how Sara reacted, Warrick found her in the locker room after the shift had ended. Sara was changing her shoes and pulling on her jacket.

"Hey Girl." He greeted her as he opened his locker. "You okay?"

"Yeah, why?" Sara asked as she removed her work shoes and put them at the bottom of her locker.

"I just, I mean I wondered if everything was okay. The whole exchange in the layout room about thermite. Are you two going through a rough patch or something?"

Sara chuckled as she pulled on her shoes and brushed back her hair as she righted herself. "Don't worry, we're fine. Sometimes comments or conversations may sound negative but it's not. He wasn't thinking anything other than the idea that the relationship was so dangerous it was like thermite." She turned to her colleague and perhaps surrogate brother as she shut her locker and stood up. "You have to remember that his socialization skills aren't the greatest. I'm working on it though."

"Well, he does socialize more so I guess you're doing something right."

Warrick held out his fist and she bumped it with her own. "Speaking of, how's the marriage going?"

"Oh you know, still learning to live together." He pointed to her, "you two got it right of learning to coexist in a house before marrying."

"I doubt we'll get married." Sara told him as she pulled her purse over her shoulder. "Live together definitely, have a kid possibly, but marriage, I kind of doubt it."

"Why not?" Warrick asked as they started out of the locker room.

Sara sighed, "I'm not really one for marriage. My parents had a very disastrous marriage, so it had a profound effect on my view of the institution. Even with how much I love Gil, I'd prefer us just being domestic partners. If we had a kid, there would be no difference between raising that child in a partnership versus a marriage. They'd have his name and have two parents raising them with the team being there as aunt and uncles. Maybe make Brass grandpa, not that he'd appreciate feeling old by accepting."

"You've given this some thought."

The brunette chuckled. "There are things you talk about when you're in a relationship. We also talked at length before we even went on a date. There's a lot you guys don't know about that happened between us. We decided that to make it work, we'd have to bury the past under a fresh foundation of concrete. We knew we needed the foundation to be solid so we could build on it and we are."

"Something that gets me is that you two are actually lightyears ahead of all of us in the relationship department. I mean, Catherine says Grissom is setting standards that most men can't meet despite his questionable socialization and conversation skills. You're happy all the time now. I haven't seen you go a day without smiling or laughing. He makes you happy and for the life of me, I can't picture it beyond seeing the kisses, hugs, and banter you two exchange. Catherine says that is probably close to foreplay for you guys."

"Trust me," she put a hand on Warrick's arm, "you'd never see our foreplay because we keep the heavy stuff behind closed doors. The hugs and kisses you see are as comfortable as we get regarding PDA. Even then, we do our best to keep it out of the lab and definitely not at scenes or in the field."

"I mean Thanksgiving, I wasn't there to see you guys at home. Talk about getting an on-call at the worst time."

Smirking, Sara looked at her friend as they reached the exterior door. "We just understand each other is all. I know his quirks and habits and he knows my bizarre need to control things or the fact I'm a terror in the evenings before I've had coffee. Also, after my therapy sessions I don't want to talk to anyone or do anything. I just want to exist in the quiet of my apartment or the townhouse. He always has some chocolate dessert waiting when I feel like talking again."

"There has to be something that you find annoying."

Sara chuckled, "oh there is."

"Okay, spill."

"He thinks I'm beautiful when I'm definitely not. Like covered in soupy decomp or under a vehicle covered in oil and dirty, or after I've woken up and have no makeup on."

Warrick started laughing before shaking his head. "Girl, you have a man who finds you enticing in any situation. Not many would look at you covered in all things gross and think so. Last time I came home after a decomp, Tina sent me to the gym to wash with lemons. Didn't want it in the house. Just accept the annoying trait and get on with it." He folded his arms as he spoke to her. "I don't know about you but you aren't going to find a better man. We all know Grissom is weird and awkward on a good day, but he's got good morals and treats you like you're the center of the universe. He loves you, we all see it and we see the feeling is mutual. Nick said something the other day and when he did, the rest of us could only agree."

"What did Nick say?"

"That Grissom has a great sense of justice, like he would do what was necessary down to the smallest bit of evidence to get a conviction. He'd never break the law."

Sara nodded, "he never would, no matter what."

"Except if it concerned you. Nick said you'd be the exception. That Grissom would break the law to get justice for you if the system didn't work and he'd do it with no guilt." Warrick watched her process what he was saying. "Now unless you want another guy, you'll have to put up with his annoying views."

"I don't want another man." She told him, "I waited years for him to decide he was ready to take the plunge. I'd have waited even longer if necessary. We've found our rhythm and we're happy. I wouldn't change a thing, no matter how annoying his views of beauty are."

"Well, there you go." Warrick held out his arms and Sara accepted the hug. "As long as you guys are happy, nothing else matters."

Sara pointed, "don't think I didn't notice you started in on our relationship to avoid talking about yours."

Making breakfast, Sara hummed to the music that radiated from the stereo in the office. The small stereo was hers, much smaller than the one at her apartment but it did the job to fill the townhouse with music. She always put on music after getting off work and it was one of the few things that she'd told Grissom was non-negotiable about her post-work routine. The only exception was when he had a migraine and then she'd shut it off without request. His health more important to her than her standard routine.

"A sound and sight I love to come home to." Grissom stated as he walked down the stairs to join her in the kitchen. Coming up behind her at the counter, he placed his hands on her hips and laid a gentle kiss against her neck after pushing her hair away. "'You are the finest, loveliest, tenderest, and the most beautiful person I have ever known and even that is an understatement.'" He spoke as he ran his hands up and down her sides.

"Who said it?" She asked quietly.

"F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby." He kissed her bare shoulder as she was in a tank top, her usual wear around her apartment or his townhouse.

"I love you too." Sara told him before placing the knife down and turning in his arms.

Grissom ran his right hand up and down her spine as his left rested on her hip. "How did your day end? I know mine was filled with paperwork and annual certification collection."

"The usual, watched a confession and determined that some people have mixed signals in their brain. The boyfriend was sleeping with both mom and daughter and the mother asked an ex, who also apparently slept with both of them previously, to scare the boyfriend. Jealous guy with violent history unleashed by the mother and well, the new boyfriend is now dead." Sara reached up and cupped his cheek. "I am so glad that both of us only need each other because anyone else would just create chaos."

"I share you with the team but only in a non-romantic sense." Grissom met her eyes, "but no one else."

"Same." Sara kissed him before pulling away. "You have a choice, food or sex. Which are you choosing?"

The man chuckled softly," you know me well enough Darlin' to know I never turn down loving you like you deserve."

"Smart choice Dr. Grissom."

"To make clear my unintentional statement earlier Miss Sidle, we are not thermite." He stated as he pulled her even closer, her arms going around his neck. "We are water and potassium."

Sara grinned, "yes we are." Pulled away from him, she took his hand and pulled him to the bedroom.

So that was fun to write, especially given the episode and the thermite comment. Potassium & Water together creates an explosion, sparks fly whenever the element touches water. Sara disappeared for a bit after they return to the lab from the scene of the murder, so I decided to make it that she fell asleep in Grissom's office.

If you so desire, let me know what you think about this chapter.