Grissom breathed in deeply, her scent filling his senses causing a smile to turn up at the corners of his lips. He pulled her a little closer to him, kissing the crook of her neck.

"Good afternoon." She whispered, turning in his embrace to face him. As she did her eye caught the nightstand alarm clock. "I've got to get going." She stood and began to move around the room.

He sat up and watched her. "You have over an hour until your shift." He called to her as he heard the shower water turn on.

"I told Roni I'd meet up with her early to help her learn some of the equipment better."

He nodded, "And how's that been going?" He asked when she returned.

She pulled her shirt over her head and zipped up her jeans. Then shrugged, "It's okay. How's your bee colony coming along?" She quickly diverted the conversation.

"You should come by and see it. I have it set up in the tented area behind the lab's lot. Where day shift's botany experiments are."

"Where we sat out with the dead pig that one night?" She smiled.

"Just adjacent." The memory of that evening warmed him. They'd spent the whole night together talking and attending to the experiment. It had been the first real intimate time they shared together since she had moved to Vegas. And it had served as a stark reminder for him just how smitten he was with her. How much he enjoyed himself around her. How taken he was with her. "I'll leave a suit for you in your locker. If you have the time, come by."

She nodded in agreement and left the room.

Grissom was spending most of his free time in the lab with his bees lately. It was Sunday now and Sara had yet to find time to come by to see the bees. Each time she was free, she'd find he was out in the field and vice versa.

But today, Sara finished processing the remains of a body found at the Rampart construction site and passed off a good deal of what was left to Roni.

"Have you seen Grissom?" She asked Judy after not finding him in his office or any of the lab or layout rooms.

"I think he went out to the experiment tent. Maybe twenty minutes ago or so."

"Thanks." Sara smiled, finally having found their schedules aligned. She made her way back to the lockers and grabbed the bee keeping suit that Grissom had left for her a few days prior. Then, she made her way outside.

She could see him through the fencing as she approached. Watching him for just a moment as he carried out some routine maintenance tasks for the bees. Finally, she opened the fence door causing him to look up and see her entering.

"Oh I love it when you dress up." He teased, his voice full of joy at seeing her.

She laughed softly, "Well you know, whatever it takes to get some time with you." She followed him to the colony. "How's the study going? Any sign of colony collapse disorder?"

"Nope. So far it's healthy." He sprayed the smoke into the bee's hive.

"Nothing too healthy about smoking." She spoke in jest as she cleared her throat.

"The scent confuses the guard bees. They won't emit the pheromones that informs the colony of an intruder." Grissom now opened the hive's box as a few started to fly out.

"Oh don't worry, he's harmless." She spoke to the bees causing him a great deal of satisfaction. "Who's who?"

"These are the worker bees. The infertile females."

"They don't sting?"

"Not unless you swat at them, close one up in your hand or freak out. Go ahead, take your glove off."

"Eh… alright. I trust you." She spoke with only a hint of apprehension and used her splinted hand to deglove her good hand.

Grissom shook at the hive late to allow for some of the bee's to fly off. Sara stuck out her hand, letting one of the bee's land on her.

"See? It's cool." He watched as she focused on the small bee crawling over her knuckles, up her long fingers, around to her palm. "The worker bees defend the hive, procure the pollen, make the honey, deposit the larva and pupae into each of these root cells."

He continued to gaze at her as he spoke. His heart swelled with love for this woman standing before him. So bright and open minded, understanding and nonjudgmental. Willing to play with bugs just to spend time with him. So beautiful. His eyes softened as he looked at her closer, a warmth invaded his body, bubbling up to his throat radiating through his chest.

A warm smile danced on his lip as he watched her continue to study the bee on her hand. He realized he couldn't wait until Tuesday.

He looked back down at the bee colony and before he knew what he was saying, the words were flowing from his lips like a glass of water knocked over, "You know, maybe we should get married." It came out like an after thought, like he hadn't been thinking about it all this time. He couldn't look at her right away. The fear of her response was overwhelming. So he just stayed focused on the bees. Afraid of how she'd react or what she might say.

She snapped her head up in his direction, unsure if she'd heard him correctly. Surprise etched over her features as she looked at him, her mouth slightly agape. And then, he looked up finally to meet her eyes causing her heart to begin racing uncontrollably. She saw the sincerity of love sitting there within his gaze. Freak out.

"Ouch!" She turned her attention away from him back to her hand to see as a bee flew away after stinging her palm. The site was already angry red and swelling. "Oh." She began to rub at it.

"Sorry." Grissom grabbed the smoke and sprayed it a few more times near the hive to dull their senses. He looked back at her to see that she was rubbing at it, laughing softly despite the shock.

"Don't pick at it. It makes it worse." She stopped and looked up at him, watching as he took out a small pocket tool and took her hand in his. "Picking at it releases the venom into the blood stream. It's better to scrape at it." He began to do just that, gently scraping the stinger out from under her skin.

She continued to look at him in awe as he cared for her wound so delicately with such tenderness and love and care. She wanted to speak but words wouldn't come out.

He stayed focused on her palm, unable to look at her still, a mix of cowardice and bravery, "So uh, what do you think.. you know, about—"

She leaned down to try and catch his eyes, "Yes." She quickly interrupted which earned her the eye contact she craved. She watched as relief washed over his features, his eyes glimmered. "Let's do it."

A restrained boyish excitement began to light up is face, "Yeah?"

She let out a small excited laugh, absolute music to his ears. Grinning from ear to ear as she watched his smile grow too. He had an overwhelming urge to kiss her. He leaned in—clunk. Plastic on plastic. Their bee keeper helmets awkwardly clanked at the contact. She looked back down at her hand he was still holding in an effort to regain control.

He scraped away the rest of the stinger and put a lid back on the bees. Once they left the fenced area, Grissom turned her to face him and slowly took off her bee keeping helmet before doing the same for himself. He looked deeply into her eyes.

"You really want to?"

"Yes." Her heart fluttered again. She leaned in and took his lips in hers, kissing him softly at first, "I love you, Gilbert."

His eyes smiled. Joy radiated through him in unexpected ways. In all his days, he'd never considered being someone made for marriage. But with Sara, the idea was a bottomless excitement. He wanted to be a husband to her. To give her a life with him, a stable home.

He realized how far he'd come since his confession to Dr. Lurrie in the interrogation room. He could have a life with her, he could have everything he'd ever wanted. And over the last couple of years, he learned that he did have things to offer her despite his previously overwhelming cynicism that he didn't. She'd shown him as much. That all she really wanted was him. Not a version of him he thought she'd conjured up. She just wanted him, plain and simple, flawed him.

And he soon realized this was everything he'd ever wanted, too. She was everything he ever wanted. Someone to care for, to love, to admire. To share his joy with, to lean on in sorrow. To grow with and show up for, strongly and unwaveringly. To solve puzzles with and carry out experiments with. To take in teh beauty of the world with. Spend his days with, laugh with, touch.

He leaned in and kissed her so passionately, she'd been caught off guard. His hands moved to he back of her head, weaving his fingers through her long brown hair. "Come by my office later, okay?" He spoke a bit breathlessly after he broke the kiss. She nodded in turn as her phone began to buzz.

"Hodges." She spoke with slight disappointment that she needed to end this moment.

"Go." He nodded.

She kissed his cheek softly before disappearing around the corner and back into the building. He brought his hand up to his face to touch where she had just been, wanting the warmth to linger a bit longer. He blushed at thought again, he was engaged.

He walked back into the fenced area and got down on the floor, shinning a flashlight as he did until he found what he was looking for. He gathered up the dead bee that had stung her and placed it in a small glass jar.

Sara walked down the hall to find Hodges once her bee keeper suit was put away.

"Hi Sara." Hodges looked at her for a moment, "You look like you're having a good day."

"Thanks.." Sara worked to disguise her feelings a bit better, surprised that Hodges had read her so keenly and quickly.

Hodges proceeded to detail the results of the isotopes test, revealing their vic had spent time in southeast Asia within a couple years before his death. Hodges was exuding excitement at the results, going on about the paper he'd right on it. But Sara's mind was elsewhere.

A little later, Grissom was back in his office sitting behind his desk. He opened the top right drawer of his desk and rummaged to the back to find the small velvet box. He took it out and thumbed over the outside before opening it to reveal the ring. It sparkled in the dimly lit room.

"Hey!"

Grissom looked up with a start at the sound of Catherine's voice. He quickly closed the ring box and relegated it back to the drawer.

"What are you up to?"

"Nothing." He quipped back quickly, defensively. "Why?"

Catherine looked down at the cooler on the cart and then back up to him. He stood now to get a better look.

"What's in the cooler?"

"Carp." She spoke as she opened it, "Paul was holding on when he died. And he had a freezer full of them. Some sort of experiment."

"Huh." He moved to walk around his desk and take a better look, "I could, uh, process those fish if you'd like."

Catherine smirked knowingly, "Do I know how to turn you on or what?"

"Hi."

Grissom looked up from behind his desk to see Sara this time. He glanced as his watch, her shift was ending and he was still in the middle of his.

"Hi." He breathed through a content smile. He motioned for her to come in and close the door behind her, she did just that.

He stood and walked around his desk, sitting in one of the two chairs on that side, she took his cue and occupied the other one.

"How's the sting?"

"Oh." She picked up her hand and turned it over, it was still a little red, "I'd forgotten about it."

He took a look, thumbing over the irritation, "You should put some ice on it when you get home." He paused a moment. The ring was burning a hole in his pocket. "I uh—" He touched his fingers together tentatively, he didn't have the words. So instead he took the ring out of his pocket and handed her the small box.

She took it hesitantly, glancing up into his eyes in confusion. She turned her gaze to the small box, remembering when she saw it in his desk drawer while he was away in Massachusetts. She opened it.

"Gil."

"It was my grandmothers." He offered as he took the ring out of the box for her. He went to place it on her left hand but realized the bulky splint was in the way.

"It's beautiful." She then gestured to her necklace, "I think I'll wear it on my neck for now. Even when I get the splint off, I don't think it'll do well bulging through latex all day." She smiled at him and reached her hand up to touch his cheek. He loved the feeling of her fingers on the side of his face. It always brought him back to that moment she wiped plaster as an excuse to touch him. Back when he first learned the power if her touch.

"My mother would like to meet you, she'll be in town next month."

"That sounds nice." She smiled.

A feeling washed over him. He felt happier then he'd ever known possible. This was it. He realized. He'd found his way to truly experience the human condition. And he wanted to experience it all. With her.