Grissom was in his office working on reports as shift ended so Sara knocked on the door. He looked up and waved her in. Smiling, she slowly walked in and sat down in a chair. She heard him say nothing and she had nothing to say either. Silence could be a companion, one they equally shared. Sara found herself getting up and going to his bookshelf. Some were textbooks, others were science journals, a few were fiction like Moby Dick, The Tell-Tale Heart, Turn of a Screw, and Frankenstein.

"Find something you like?" He asked without turning around or looking up from his report. It made Sara smile that he knew what she was doing.

Sara left the bookshelf and started looking at the experiments or various collections he had on shelves. "Just looking." She turned to see him watching her. "How did you sleep? I slept better."

"Quite well." A small smile formed on his face. "Did you eat lunch?"

With a hand on an ambered dragonfly, Sara looked back at him. "I tried, but Greg and I got a lead that we needed to follow."

"When was the last time you ate?"

Placing the ambered dragonfly back in its place, Sara moved onto the next shelf. "Does cereal count?" She asked as she ran a finger over an encased butterfly. "It's beautiful."

"I mounted it myself after finding it during a visit to California to see my mother and guest lecture." He set his pen down and left his desk to join her. "Anthocharis sara, or the Sara Orangetip. I met you three days later."

Sara turned to him. "You usually hate people roaming in your office. Why are you letting me?"

"Why not?" He risked running the back of his forefinger down her arm before leaving her to her exploration. "I have three more reports to finish. If you don't want to go home, feel free to explore."

Explore she did. Sara examined various specimens from cases in the past. Some were before her time but a few were cases she'd worked. Skulls of various animals lay on the shelves. There were even more shelves of books and she ran her fingers across the spines. At one point, she pulled a book from the shelf and opened the cover to see it was the book she'd given him on Christmas 2000. Her first year, before things started devolving. Their friendship had dissolved, practically becoming non-existent. Despite that, she always found a small gift in her locker every Christmas. She hadn't given him a gift since her first year and she still didn't understand why he still carried on the tradition. The most recent gift had been a small circle necklace that she did like to wear.

"I still read it occasionally." Sara turned to see Grissom behind her, holding up her jacket. Putting the book back on the shelf, she put one arm into the jacket and then was helped with the other. She felt him pull her hair out from under her jacket so it didn't snag.

Sara turned to him, "your reports finished?"

"Shall we?" He motioned towards the door.


She followed him back to his home, which was a townhouse among many townhouses. Catherine had mentioned in passing that the reason he was out for a few days was due to moving out of his old apartment. There was no mention of his new home or mention of it since she'd made the comment. They were all beautiful and she knew without a doubt that she didn't want to see the mortgage price.

Parking behind his SUV on the street, Sara decided to ignore the anxiety that was overwhelming her body. She'd been invited but she also knew how private Grissom could be. That was one of many things they had in common. Opening the car door, Sara stepped out and saw that Grissom was waiting patiently at the front door for her. Locking her car, she walked up to the door and saw patience and understanding in his eyes. It was strange to be able to read him since they got rid of the elephant and dropped their masks.

"Prepare yourself." It was all he said as he unlocked the door and had to grab a collar to prevent a boxer from getting out of the townhouse. Sara quickly followed him in due to the fact he was wrestling a dog. As the door shut, she watched Grissom let the dog go and instantly she was jumped on. "Hank no."

Sara looked at the dog and spoke firmly. "Down." The boxer quickly backed off of her and it didn't take knowledge of his expression to see he was surprised and impressed. "If you need help training him, I'll do it." Sara looked up to see blue eyes watching her, her hand rubbing the dog's neck and back. "I trained the dog of one of my foster families. I was the only one with patience to do so."

"I haven't had the time to train him myself or go to a class." He admitted.

"I can do it." Sara smiled, "on the weekends, if that doesn't impose."

She expected some resistance but he didn't seem to have any. "You could never impose." It was stated so sweetly that she knew he was sincere. "The weekends sound good. If you want to do it outside, there's a park down the street."

"As long as you agree to walk with us." She gave him the counteroffer and waited for him to agree or try to renegotiate.

His expression seemed softer when it was just them and away from work. She wasn't naïve to think it could be open and everyone could know about them. Grissom was her supervisor and she was a CSI under him. Department policy strictly prohibit a supervisor engaging in a relationship with an employee under them. At work he was her supervisor but at home, either her apartment or his house, they were just them.

"A walk with you sounds ideal."


It took a few minutes before she was able to look around, he'd taken her coat and placed it over a chair next to the couch. He left her to wonder and explore as he went downstairs to the kitchen. He knew she was curious; it was part of her nature to want to know things. Sara followed him downstairs and instantly her attention went to the floor to ceiling bookcases. She felt Hank at her side, not jumping but following her. One of the first things Sara noticed was a framed picture of the two of them from one of the many sightseeing trips she'd taken him on in San Francisco back when they met. She picked up the small, framed picture and ran her thumb over her face. She'd been so young, so fresh in the field, but so full of life. She wondered what happened to the girl in the photo. It'd been eight years but emotionally, it could have been a century.

"When we met, I was so different." Sara put the picture back where it had been and turned to see Grissom starting to chop a tomato. "I don't know what changed."

Glancing up at her, he saw her just inches away on the other side of the island. "I think things started changing after I interfered with the FBI sting. You felt I didn't trust you but I just wanted to protect you."

Thinking about what he was saying, Sara nodded. "I agree." After saying those words, she looked around. "What can I help with?"

"Let me cook for you." He imposed gently. "I know you're not even a fraction of the way done exploring."

She shook her head as she turned around and headed back to the bookshelves. The sound of chopping filled her ears as she ran her finger along the spines of the books. Her head tilted slightly as it sometimes did when in deep thought. Some of the books were first editions, not cheap in the slightest. Her finger pulled away from those books so not to damage them with the oil that was on her skin. There were duplicates and triplicates of some books while others, like works of fiction were single.

The bookcase held Sara for another ten minutes before she turned to the kitchen. Opening the fridge, she saw a bottle of orange juice and figured it'd be a better alternative to coffee. As she shut the fridge door, she saw Grissom taking a moment to open a cabinet. "Thank you." It was spoken softly as she found a glass in the cabinet, she removed two before closing the door. Sara poured juice into the two glasses and then returned it to its place in the fridge. Her cup in hand, she squatted down to look at the small shelf that was built into the island at the end near the fridge. It held half a dozen cookbooks; one was newer than the rest. It was a vegetarian cookbook, the same one she had bought when she started learning to cook.

The cookbooks were abandoned as she stood and walked around the island, except a voice made her turn. "Try this, let me know if it needs more spice." Grissom held out a spoon of raw mixed vegetables and Sara opened her mouth, allowing him to feed her. It didn't escape her notice that he smiled as she did. "Well?"

"More paprika." It was the only suggestion she had after chewing and swallowing. It had been a mixture of tomatoes, finely shredded spinach, onion, mushrooms, and green peppers.

With him occupied with re-seasoning the mixture, Sara found herself in the hallway. There were four doors, only two were open. Stopping in the doorway to one, she realized it was the master bedroom and if her eye was anything to go by, she saw the doorway to the master bathroom across the room. It had some touches of familiarity but other than that, simple was the word that entered her mind. She opened the next door and found it was the guest bathroom, having only the necessary items so it could be used if company came. Of the last two rooms, the closed door presented with a completely empty room. The last was an office, which had two desks covered in textbooks and journals. There were a few insect jars that lay about and preservation items to aid with pinning.

She ran her fingers over each and every item, curiousness getting the better of her. Even without knowing it was Grissom's office, she would have been able to state who owned the office with just a look. Picking up one book, she read the title to see it was a Castner atlas. Flipping through the pages for a fraction of a second let her know it had everything needed to work on uncommon insects. Putting it down, Sara left the office and returned to the kitchen.


"Done exploring?" He asked gently as she watched him stand at the stove scrambling eggs.

"Hmm, just an overview." She smiled at him, "are you going to tell me what is for breakfast?"

Reaching for the bowl of veggie mixture, he was beat to it by Sara. She picked up the bowl and maneuvered around the counter to hand it to it. "Thank you." Seeing her lean against the counter by the stove after having glided behind him effortlessly, he told her what they were having. "Nick gave me the idea by complaining about his burrito being freezer burned. I figured vegetarian breakfast tacos wouldn't be objected to."

"No." Sara pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "I'm starving."

"I've rarely had anyone to cook for besides Catherine and my mother."

Sara smiled at him. "We both know I'm still learning how to cook. Please tell me none of my attempts made you sick."

"No Honey, everything was either cooked properly or burnt."

"I know it's not in-depth talking but how about twenty questions." She suggested, orange juice still in hand.

He glanced up at her, "if you'd like."

"I'll start easy." There was mirth in her expression. "Favorite color?"

"Honey brown." He glanced up after aggetating the scrambled eggs, a new batch to go with the second helping of vegetables. "And yours?"

"Blue, like the sea." Sara watched him move around her, a hand gently placed on her hip as he did. "Favorite mammal."

"Mammal?" He looked confused as he pulled down plates from a cabinet.

"If I said animal, you'd go straight to insects." It was stated with a grin. "I have to be specific with you."

He placed the plates beside her on the counter and reached up a hand to grasp her chin like he had two days before. A case had them pulling a double so breakfast had to be moved. As followed him grasping her chin, he kissed her and Sara grinned as they pulled apart. The food potentially burning being the case. "I haven't thought about having a favorite mammal before."

"So I'm making you think now?" It was asked as she grinned, "I've always been good at that."

"That you have. May I ask you to pick another question and give me time to think?"

"Favorite fiction book."

"Moby Dick, Herman Melville."

Sara watched him open the oven door and reach in to pull out a foil wrapped item, the tortillas no doubt. "Same."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I can't count the exact number of times I've read it but it has to be up in the hundreds, maybe two." Sara accepted the plate he handed her, topped with eggs and vegetables with a few tortillas on the side.


The questions continued throughout breakfast and suddenly, when the questions ran out, they moved onto autobiographies. Where they were born, where they grew up, what their parents did for work, school, friends, just everything. Sara noticed he avoided asking about her parents more than generalizations. She appreciated that he understood some of her life was hard for her to talk about.

Breakfast moved upstairs to the living room, both sitting on the couch talking about college. Sara found herself laughing as he explained how one semester, and only one semester, he shared a house with three other guys. "So, they didn't like you had an affinity for bugs."

"No but it could have been worse. A group of biology students sharing a house across town had a bigger issue than my roommates did with me. One of the men had a python and it got loose one day, out of the cage." He watched Sara wince.

"How big was the python?"

"Five feet, pretty much fully grown."

Sara shook her head. "I draw the line there. I don't do snakes, just no. If that had been my roommate, they would have found a new place to live."

Grissom chuckled as his phone rang and he pulled it from his pocket. "Ecklie." He told Sara as he looked at the caller ID. "Can you give me five minutes?"

"Due to it being Ecklie, I'll give you ten."

"Thank you." He brought her hand up and kissed the back of it.


Returning fifteen minutes later, Grissom paused the apology at the sight of Sara curled up on the couch asleep. Her head was resting on one of the pillows that his mother had insisted on sending him when he got the couch. He was grateful at that moment because Sara had a habit of sleeping on her arms in the breakroom at work, which would cut off circulation. Not having the heart to wake her, he moved to the curtained off coat closet and pulled a blanket down. Before putting the blanket over her, Grissom pulled her phone and badge from her hip where they still sat. Placing them on the coffee table, he covered her with the blanket.

Prepared to take Hank to the bedroom with him, he turned to see the dog on the couch with a head on Sara's leg. "Let her sleep." He rubbed the dog's head before turning back to Sara. With his forefinger, he brushed a lock of hair behind her ear and leaned over to kiss her head. "Sleep well my Dear." With her asleep, he whispered a quote he knew from his time in Catechism as a child. "'I have found the one who my soul loves.'"

Closing off the windows with the blackout curtains that covered every window in the townhouse. Grissom left for the office to write a small note in case Sara woke before he did. He doubted it because Sara was relaxed and asleep, so she'd likely stay asleep. Despite that, he didn't want her to feel worried. A quick note placed on the coffee table by her phone and Grissom headed to bed.

If you wake up before I do, know I didn't have the heart to wake you. Feel free to read anything, cook anything, do anything. You are beautiful when you sleep, a fact I've never been able to voice till now. – Gil


Well, that's a start - the next is a walk while Sara works on training Hank.