A/N: To all of our loyal readers, thank you for sticking with us on this journey and we hope you had a very happy new year. Here is the next installment and as always, please let us know what you thought of it :) Enjoy!

- DB?

- Sara?

- Hey...

- Are you whispering or am I going deaf?

- Grissom is still sleeping, it's kind of early here.

- Oh right, Grissom, the man of your dreams...so, what have you two been up to?

- You can say we were living our dream...but that was before I was diagnosed with a tumor in my head. Benign, fortunately, but it's not operable and so I'm doing radiation therapy instead.

- Hold on, that's too much to process. Tumor? Radiation?

- Back in Vegas baby.

- I don't know what to say Sara…are you okay?

- Some days I am and others I am just struggling to keep up. They have me on hormones too so it's kind of an emotional chaos either way.

- Nothing changed then.

- ...

- That's the laugh I missed the most from Vegas you know. Hey, you've been through worse and came clean and you can do it again.

- I keep telling myself.

- And it's true. And there is Grissom now too. Are you married?

- Not yet, everything is put on hold for the moment.

- Kids?

- Kids... kids may not be in our cards, DB.

- Men are like kids sometimes. My wife says so.

- And wives are usually right. How are the women in your family?

- Can't live without them. Kaitlyn most of all, we talk almost everyday. She's kind of a computer genius now. She wants to become a hacker to help me catch the bad guys in cyber crime, she says.

- Really? She got over her nightmares?

- Almost. I never told you but one night she called me crying about a terrible dream she had and then I started talking about you and how you got through your own nightmares. She was impressed. She even insisted on meeting you.

- I hope you left out all the dark details… but hey, it would be my pleasure.

- We can arrange it after you are finished with all this and you will. And Sara...call me if you want to talk to someone other than Grissom okay? Some people say I'm a good listener.

- You are the best and I missed talking with you. Thanks DB.

- It was nice hearing from you Sara, take care...

- Bye...

Grissom watched her as she pressed the button on the phone to end the conversation and then kept staring at the screen as if her thoughts were a million miles away. The way she held that phone gently was as if she was holding someone's hand. He felt the need to put his arms around her and squeeze her tight but resisted the urge.

She looked so fragile whenever she sat like this, a tall, lean figure hunched forward as long limbs awkwardly stood out...her pretty little head bent wearily on her shoulder leaving that ethereal white neck that made his heart melt, exposed. She hadn't noticed him yet and he took a mental picture of her at that very moment, a precious memory to keep forever.

Sara looked up and the magic moment was gone.

"Hey...how long have you been there?"

"Enough to know who you were talking to."

"Are you spying on me now?

"Ι' ve long given up on my ambitions to learn the secrets of your heart darling."

Her pale face brightened with her shiny smile as she reached out to him with an inviting hand. Grinning, he moved closer and sat next to her on the couch.

"Do you miss him?"

"DB? I don't know...I guess so, he always really listened to me, you know? It felt comfortable sharing things."

"Did you talk about us?"

"We often shared our vexes about our distant spouses."

"Vexes?"

"Troubles, pain, despair."

"I'm sorry."

"Who did you share yours with? Heather?"

"Occasionally...but mostly with my diary."

"Diary? You never told me."

"You never asked," he shrugged. "I started when I bought Ishmael, a kind of a deck log to keep my mind busy. Dreams, poems, fish sketches, letters for you..."

Seeing her eyebrows raise in question he brought her hand to his lips and placed a soft kiss. "Hundreds of letters, full of memories, of love and pain, maybe I should let you read them one day."

"Maybe?" Sara pulled her hand angrily and he burst out laughing.

"Okay, okay. I WILL let you read them one day. How about the night before our wedding so that you know every twisted thought hidden in the mind of the man who insists on marrying you."

"And now? Any twisted thoughts on our situation now?"

Grissom hesitated. "I...I haven't written a word since you came on board." Looking into her eyes he recognized the same fear that was gripping his heart and it was kind of a relief to know they were in the same boat. Drawing a deep breath he said softly, "I was afraid the dream would go away if I put the words on paper."

Sara reached for his hand and squeezed.

"Oh Gil...you know, I just want one day to stop being afraid, to just let go..."

The exasperation in her voice shook him up and he put his arm around her. "Then we do it Sara. We let it go. And whatever happens...we just deal with it. Together."

As Sara let out a sigh and nodded in agreement he caressed a streak of hair and added, "speaking of, you know what else we have to deal with? A party at the office."

"What?" Sara turned to him abruptly and her hair slipped through his fingers.

"Don't look at me like that. Catherine's idea. She was adamant. Christmas is coming, she said."

"Christmas! Is it? Already?"

He immediately thought of his last lonely Christmas on the Ishmael, reading Moby Dick for the millionth time and drinking whiskey and he knew she was thinking about the same thing.

"Do you know what I did last year?" Sara pouted. "I had some wine with the guys at the end of the shift and then I spent the rest of the day eating chocolates and watching old movies alone."

"You are not alone anymore honey. And we need to celebrate the good things in life like our friends. Maybe a party is not a bad idea at the moment… we can always crawl into bed and watch movies after."

"And chocolate?"

"Definitely. And whiskey," he added.

Sara grinned and threw herself over him. "And sex."

Losing his balance, Grissom gladly fell back as Sara came on top of him and pinned him down.

"Lots of it," she sighed." To make up for all the lonely Christmas."

"We have a lot to make up for."

Sara smiled and loosened her grip as Grissom rose himself up and kissed her lips. Tracing his lips close to her ear he whispered, "how about we rehearse some of those sexual activities right now?" Sara's giggle was enough of an answer for him.