Carrying a file in her hands regarding the trace she'd found and a second interview with a neighbor, Sara was headed to Grissom's office when she saw Ecklie knocking on the office door. The door was open but the night shift supervisor was working on a backload of paperwork. Seeing Catherine speaking to Archie, Sara waved her down and motioned with her head to the office. The redhead spoke to Archie for a second more before heading towards Sara until they both stood outside the door to Grissom's office.

Sara was the one to knock just as Ecklie asked Grissom what McKeen had called him about. "I'm just wondering why I have the Undersheriff calling me instead of you just coming to me about whatever you have to talk about."

"Well, Conrad, I know that change is hard for you at times." Grissom waved the two women inside and Catherine closed the door. "Not knowing how you'd handle the news and considering the team's status, I went to the top. That said, Jeff is right that we need to figure out how to handle the situation we're faced with."

Ecklie turned as the door closed and saw both Sara and Catherine standing in the room. Sara approached the desk and slipped the file into the 'to review' stack that didn't seem to exist. She knew his abnormal filing method so it wasn't a problem to place a file in the correct space. Catherine sat down in one the chairs and motioned to the one beside her. "Come on Conrad, let's talk this over."

"I'm still waiting for find out what 'this' is." He sat down and looked to Grissom. "I'm listening."

"Per the updated SOPs, we filed the correct paperwork regarding interdepartmental relationships wit..." Before Grissom could finish, Ecklie stopped him.

"I see." Ecklie looked to Catherine, "so, you two just decided to throw common sense to the wind and…"

Catherine put up a hand to stop Ecklie, "not me, Sara."

Ecklie's head twisted to Sara, who was perched on the edge of the desk facing them. "So, you two…" Ecklie motioned between Grissom and Sara. "Well, I'm not surprised. You were always protective, so this makes sense."

"What you're suggesting is that Gil has been protecting me because of our relationship. That's not true." Sara stated calmly, deciding to not give into the trap Ecklie was inviting them to step into. "We've only been dating four months and if you remember, I got a reprimand last month because I went off at a suspect. There's no favoritism here at work, no difference between me and my fellow CSIs."

Grissom decided to speak to follow up on her statement. "We've remained professional Conrad. The only problem we have is how do we handle Sara's evaluations and supervision since it can't be me."

"I was thinking about this earlier and I have a suggestion." Catherine jumped into the conversation. "We should cross-supervise just like we're doing now, except I'd be Assistant Supervisor to Night Shift instead of Swing's supervisor." She motioned to Sara, "I take over evals pertaining to Sara, Greg, and Gil while he takes mine, Nick's, and Warrick's. We continue as we are currently regarding evals and field supervision, except as a team."

Ecklie looked between Sara and Grissom, both were watching him closely. "Jeff said I needed to find a way for this to work without breaking the team. Catherine's suggestion is the best we have at the moment. Don't bother objecting."

"We aren't." Both spoke at the same time, not even looking at each other when they did so.

Sighing, he stood and motioned to the two. "Make sure the PDA stays out of this lab and definitely out of the field. I won't hesitate to write a reprimand if I see anything."

Five minutes later, it was just the couple and Catherine in the office. The red head smiled at them, "well that went well." She stood and caught Sara's gaze. "Don't forget we're going out after shift."

"I haven't forgotten." A smile finally emerged across Sara's face.

Once Catherine left, the door remaining open as she did, Sara turned to Grissom while reining in her smile. "He didn't try to fire me and he remained calm. We should notate it on the calendar as Ecklie was amenable for the first time ever."

"Sara, antagonism doesn't become you. It could have ended differently and with him making such an attempt." Grissom picked up the file she'd placed down earlier and opened it. Reaching for his glasses, he found Sara holding them out. "Thank you."

"I left Greg to catalog all the paint found under the blood. He should be finished by now so I'm going see what he has." She left her perch and headed to the door, pausing in the doorway. "Gil?"

"Yes dear?" He didn't bother looking up from reading the report she'd brought him.

"I'm glad we did this." That statement had him raising his head to meet her eyes. "Much better than sneaking around like we have."

It took a moment for him to form a response but he finally spoke to her. "I appreciate being able to call you mine publicly, but I fear I will miss having you to myself."

"Love you too." She smiled at his informal way of saying 'I love you' as she left him to his paperwork.