Well, here it is. The conclusion to my very first CSI fic. Just a little...higher rated fluff, though it didn't get as high as it could have.

Grissom sighed and tossed his jacket onto the couch. It had been a long night. They'd been called to the crime scene of a double homicide, which turned out to be a murder and a suicide. The parents of the killer refused to believe that their son was capable of murder, much less suicide, and kept pestering Grissom for information. He had tried to be polite at first, but after a while he just told them to leave him the hell alone and let him do his job.

He sank into the couch and put his face in his hands, sighing deeply. He tried to reflect on the case, but his thought kept being pulled to Sara and the kiss. He shook his head, absently running a finger over his lips. That meant nothing. It was all part of the game. She was toying with me, trying to humiliate me. He rubbed his temples with his thumbs. He had a major headache coming on. Payback for rejecting her dinner offer…

A knock on the door surprised him, and for a moment he just stared at the door, as if unsure of what to do. He slowly stood up and went to the door, opening it quickly. It was Sara. At first, he could only stare at her.

She handed him a file. "You forgot the file on the case. I know how you usually like to take those home with you."

He took it from her slowly, his fingers brushing hers. "Thanks." He seemed lost in thought for a moment, as if trying to decide something difficult. "Want to come in?" he asked.

Sara was shocked. Wait, did he just… No way…not Grissom… She smiled at him. "Sure."

He nodded and stood aside to let her in, shutting the door behind her. She turned back to him. He was still standing by the door, as if unsure of where to go from there.

"Er…You want a drink? I think I've got some stuff in the fridge," he said.

Sara smiled at him. "Sure."

He smirked. "Is that all you can say?"

She shrugged. "Sure."

He rolled his eyes and made his way to his kitchen, throwing open the refrigerator door and peering inside. "Well, I'm afraid all I have is one Coca-Cola, one Dr. Pepper, and one Sprite. All are loaded with caffeine." He looked up from the fridge, surprised to see that she was peering over his shoulder. "Not good if you're trying to crash after a long night."

"Sprite's fine," she said, reaching over his shoulder and grabbing it, reaching past the Petri dishes with who-knew-what growing in them. He shrugged and grabbed the Dr. Pepper. They stood in silence for a moment, Grissom growing more and more fearful by the minute. He turned for a second to idly toss a piece of paper into the garbage. When he turned around, he almost ran right into Sara.

"You know what, Grissom?" she asked, looking into his eyes. "You still owe me a kiss."

He blinked. Had she really said what he thought she had said? He cocked his head to the side, staring at her.

She smiled. Typical Gil, she thought to herself. She moved a little closer to him, just barely touching him. While she wanted the biggest move to be up to him, she figured it wouldn't hurt to push him a little. Show him that she was really interested.

He stared at her for a long moment, reflexively raising his arms. Almost on their own accord, his hands found her face, holding it and reveling in the touch. He gently caressed her face with his thumbs, seeming unsure if he should proceed.

Sara's heart was racing. He was actually making a move. Grissom was actually capable of showing affection. She closed her eyes when his hands held her face and nuzzled them, egging him on. He froze for a moment, and she tried to boost his confidence by turning and kissing one of his hands. She opened her eyes and met his, silently begging him to stop torturing her. Stop playing, Grissom. Stop messing with me and kiss me!

Panic rose in his chest, and he almost jerked his hands away from Sara's face. This is wrong, this is all wrong. I'm not meant for Sara. I can't do this. These thoughts and more raced through his head, but became less clear as he stared into her eyes. Fear crept into her eyes, fearing that he was going to turn and run.

He smiled once, then lowered his face to hers. Gil's sudden move surprised Sara, but she quickly recovered, returning the kiss. I've waited so long for this, she thought to herself. It was well worth the wait.

It started out gentle, but when Grissom felt Sara return the kiss, his confidence increased. This is really happening, he thought. He pulled away after a moment, staring down at the ground before looking up at her.

She smiled. "Wow. Good thing you saved that for here and not the lab."

He laughed softly. "Yeah. I think that would have caused more than a few eyebrows to be raised." He turned away from her. She panicked for a second, thinking that he had been pushed too far, but he was only grabbing their drinks.

She nodded. "Yeah."

He held out an arm to his living room. "You want to go and sit?" he asked, his voice shaking.

Sara smiled gently. Grissom was a very hard man to figure out. One minute he was kissing her as if he was head-over-heels, the next he was asking her if she'd like to sit down, much like you would do with a relative. She nodded, then followed his lead to the small couch. She sat in one corner, her legs folded up beneath her. He sat next to her, almost stiffly.

Sara raised an eyebrow as she looked around Grissom's home. "You could use some redecorating, you know. And some AC."

"No point in redecorating. Never have any company. And I don't need AC, I have those," he said, pointing to a fan.

Sara shook her head, rolling her eyes. "Kinda obvious you don't stay home very much."

He half-nodded. "Work."

She set her drink down on the floor. "You don't have to work so much, you know. It's unhealthy for you."

He smirked. "You're one to talk. Catherine says you're a younger, female version of me."

"Is that so bad?" she asked, leaning closer to him.

He sighed. "In certain aspects, it can be." He turned to look at the wall for a moment, seemingly lost in thought.

Sara leaned closer to him, setting a hand on his knee. He glanced down at it, then quickly looked back to his butterfly case. Sara smiled. "Tell me, Grissom. Why are you so afraid to take a chance? I mean, with a case, with work, you're always taking chances. All of your wild theories, experiments. Why is a relationship so different?"

He turned to her. "With an experiment, you control the variables. You make everything the way you want it, then you see what happens. And you can always start over with an experiment. The same with a theory. As new evidence comes in, you can reevaluate the theory. You can't try again with a relationship." He turned away slowly. "So if I screw this up, that's it. There's no second chance, no changing variables to make it more favorable on my part."

Sara cocked her head to the side. "Wow," she said, startled at getting such a deep and clear answer. She'd half expected Grissom to reply with some long-forgotten poem. She leaned into Grissom, putting a hand around his shoulders, laying her head on his shoulder. "So that's it, huh? Bad past experiences?"

He smirked, turning to her. "A few."

"Well, so far you aren't doing so badly with this one. And I think all the variables are in your favor," she said, staring into his eyes.

His smiled deepened. "That's good. Because this is the one time I actually need for things to work."

"Why is that, Gris?" she asked, scooting closer to him and wrapping her arms around his chest.

He smiled, putting his arm around her and holding her close. "Because now I know what to do. And I can only hope I'm not too late." He looked down at her, snuggled against his chest, waiting for his brain to kick in and give him a reason why this was wrong. But no such thought came, nor did he want it to. Maybe, he dared to think, this isn't wrong. Maybe it could work…He closed his eyes, then kissed the top of Sara's head.

She shifted, turning to look up at him. "You're not too late," she whispered, lifting a hand to caress his cheek. "You're just in time." Her hand moved up to his hair, running gently through the curls.

"Lucky me." He smiled, then pressed his lips to her forehead, his eyes closed. That, however, didn't seem to be enough for Sara, years of longing finally able to break loose. She shifted again on the small couch, practically in his lap. She grinned at him, then put a hand behind his neck and pulled him to her.

At first, when Grissom didn't return the kiss, she feared that she had pushed him too far, too fast. But when she pulled away, ready to apologize to him, he was the one to initiate the next kiss, becoming more and more confident as they went. His hands began to tentatively explore her body, though he made no attempt to remove clothing. For the moment, he simply reveled in being able to touch her, having her close to him.

She smiled at this, then moved to his neck. A small groan escaped him as she did, and her smile deepened, pleased to get a reaction from him. She nipped at his ears gently as her hands moved to the buttons of his shirt.

His hand suddenly grasped hers. "Sara…" he whispered, lowering his head slightly.

She looked to his eyes, seeing fear creeping into them. "Gris?"

He looked away for a moment, then looked back into her eyes, squeezing her hand gently. "I don't want to lose you."

She smiled, reassuring him with a kiss. "I'm not going anywhere. I want this Grissom. I really do. And I've been waiting for years."

His eyes widened slightly and his eyebrows rose. "Years?"

"Yes, Grissom, years. Are you blind? Or do you just choose not to see?" She put her cheek to his for a moment. "I've waited three years. I've hinted for three years, and yet its taken you this long to realize something was going on."

"I'm just a little slow at that, I guess."

She smiled. "Yeah, but you would be able to point out a man's mistress out of a room full of women just by the way they look at each other."

He shrugged. "Part of the job."

She shook her head, but didn't pull away from him. "Well, I waited for you for three years, and I'm not too keen on waiting much longer."

He grinned. "And I'm not too keen on doing this on my couch."

Sara laughed, looking down at it. "It is kinda cramped, isn't it?" She stood up, grasping his hand to pull him up. He stood, then let her pull him to the bedroom.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sara's eyes slowly fluttered open. Something had disturbed her restful sleep, but she wasn't sure what it had been. She frowned, then rolled over, her hand hitting bare sheet.

He was gone, she realized. She panicked for a moment. Had she pushed him to far? Too fast, as she had feared before? Had he woken up, realized what they'd done, the fled? Probably to figure out some way to apologize and cut off the budding relationship.

She sighed and rolled back towards the bare wall. He thought inadvertently went back to earlier, and she smiled to herself. After wanting him for years, she had not been disappointed. He had met, and exceeded, all of her expectations. She'd never expected the anti-social, bug-loving Grissom she knew could be capable of such care and affection he'd shown.

But now he was gone, and Sara wasn't sure why. He had seemed so sure, so ready. Had she misread him that badly?

She closed her eyes, trying to figure out how she would repair things with him. Then suddenly, the bed sank down a few inches as another person added their weight to it. She began to turn, but stopped when she felt a warm hand on her arm.

She smiled, then continued her roll to end up facing him. "Hey," she said quietly.

"Hi," he replied, reaching over her to put a coffee cup onto the nightstand. Then he settled back down next to her, idly running the back of his hand up and down her arm. She smiled and wrapped her arms around him, snuggling close to his chest. She felt safe there with him. Why, she couldn't explain, but she knew that she'd never felt this way before about anyone.

His hand suddenly froze, and she looked up at him. She searched his eyes, but found him lost in thought. "Gris? What is it?" Thought buzzed through her head, each one telling her that he was going to run.

He looked down at her, the fear in her eyes not lost to him. He smiled, then kissed her gently. "I'm trying to figure out what I've done."

She frowned, scrunching up her face in confusion.

"What I've done to deserve you," he finished, moving his hand up her arm to cup her face. "I feel…unworthy."

A smile slowly blossomed across her face. "Maybe…" she said playfully. "Maybe you're just lucky."

"Oh, I know I am." He pulled her closer. "I know I am."

Her smile deepened as his hands gently caressed her back. "Hey Grissom…"

"Hmm?" He pulled back to look at her, noting the mischievous glint in her eyes.

She put her lips up to his ear. "Truth or Dare?"

THE END