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Chapter 12

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Six months later, the cold November air swept in from the desert, tugging at the dark, navy windbreakers worn by the forensics crew as they came in from various cases to end shift with a celebration. Catherine and Nick arrived first in the break room.

"You think they've figured it out?" Nick asked as they blew up a few balloons and set a cake on the table.

"Nicky, they may be great CSIs, but the case they've been working on is a doosy! They've been so busy lately with leads to follow and doctor's appointments, they have no idea what's going on, trust me!" Catherine smiled before blowing up another balloon and setting out the refreshment plates and sporks.

At that moment, Warrick walked in with Brass on his heels.

"What's up?" the CSI asked, setting some crepe paper down on the table. "They here yet?"

"Look around, buddy. What do you think?" Nick flashed a sarcastic smile at his friend and tossed a trash bag his direction.

"I just hope day shift doesn't get wind of what you guys are doing," Brass said. "They'd wreak havoc on you guys."

"Well, guess what? Day shift can piss off!" Catherine spat. "They can tell Carvallo anything they want, and if Carvallo tries to do anything about it, we'll all quit on the spot, 'cause Grissom and Sara aren't going anywhere."

The other team members nodded. It was a decision they'd made when their whole ordeal had ended. They knew blame would be settled somewhere, but they also knew that this team, this family, was the reason Las Vegas had the second best lab in the country. Carvallo couldn't hope to keep up that record without them.

Suddenly, Greg burst in, having run from across the lab.

"They're…coming!" he managed, through gasping breaths. "They're in…the…parking lot."

"Okay, Greg-o," Nick said, taking charge. "You go meet them and bring them in. Just say that you have something to show them. Oh, and Greg?" Nick pointed at the boom box in his hand. "If that's anything other than classical, jazz, or Pink Floyd, you can drop that back off in the lab. We are not listening to Nine Inch Nails."

"Awww!" Greg whined. "Come on!"

"No! Now, get going. Quick!"

And, with that, Nick flipped the lights and closed the door.

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"SURPRISE!"

Sara's face lit up as she saw the rest of the team pop out from the dark break room. Her gap-toothed grin and a look of surprise from Grissom told the team that they'd done a good job. They hadn't seen those faces in a while.

"What's all this for?" Grissom asked, looking at all the balloons and at the cake on the table.

"We're having a party, Gil," Catherine smiled, pretending that she was explaining something to a child. "You know, a party… A social gathering for fun and celebration?"

"Catherine, I may be socially inept, but I do know what a party is."

After the laughter died down, Grissom continued.

"I meant, what are we celebrating?"

"We're celebrating Sara getting those bandages off! She's almost completely healed. That means she'll be able to talk again soon. Don't you think that's worth a celebration?" Nick asked with a smile, giving Sara a gigantic hug.

"Of course it is… I just wasn't expecting-"

"We know. That's why it's called a surprise party!" Warrick piped up from the corner, moving in for his own turn with Sara.

"We're also celebrating your six month anniversary. Want some punch?" Catherine asked innocently.

"What? How did you-?" Grissom stammered.

"Oh, come on! Even I've noticed that you two have been inseparable," Brass crowed. "Sara hasn't bothered to file a change of address since she moved in with you after the fire, plus you two always come in and take cases together. It wasn't that hard to figure out!"

'Hey, don't I get to say anything?' Sara signed, trying to get everyone's attention.

Since Sara had gotten out from the hospital, the crew had learned tidbits of sign language from conversations, but for the most part, still needed Grissom to translate. He and Sara had gone to classes at the deaf college to become more fluent, and ever since, it was not uncommon to see them having their conversations, or even arguments, with their hands. Now they all turned to "listen" to Sara as Grissom interpreted.

'Thank you all so much. You have no idea what this all means to me. You've all been so patient with me, and I love you all the more for it. But there's something I need to say… Soon, Gil and I will have to go on leave for a while.'

"Why? After everything that's happened, you're not leaving?" Greg asked, suddenly looking very worried.

A similar look of worry and panic swept the room as the group awaited an explanation.

Sara looked at Grissom with a smile.

'Should I tell them? Or do you want to?'

'It's up to you,' he signed back with a smirk of his own.

'I think they should hear it from you. It would give it more meaning, and might explain some things.'

"Hey! Hello? Still here… Don't leave us hanging!" Nick called, waving his arms to get their attention.

"Yeah, what's going on?" Warrick asked, his brow furrowing in suspicion.

"We're not leaving," Grissom said, putting up a hand to calm them. "It'll just be for a few weeks in March. We'll be back… I, uh…"

His pause earned him an elbow nudge from Sara and a look that said, 'Go on, and tell them.'

"You what?" Catherine reinforced the prompt to continue.

A blush rose to Grissom's cheeks as he nearly whispered, "I've asked Sara to marry me."

Suddenly it seemed like a dark cloud had lifted as looks of worry were replaced by surprise and sheer joy. Catherine jumped out of the chair she had plopped into and ran to Sara, pulling her into the biggest hug possible. Sara's gap-toothed "Sara smile" showed itself as she and Grissom were bombarded with hugs and pats on the back.

"Oh, my gosh! Are you serious?" Catherine cried, pulling back far enough to see Sara's face.

Sara nodded vigorously and held out her left hand to show a beautiful princess cut diamond on a simple silver band sitting gracefully on her ring finger. The team gathered round to stare in awe and disbelief.

"Take a look at that rock!" Warrick exclaimed.

'Grissom wanted me to have the best,' Sara signed, smiling.

"Damn, it'll be good to hear your voice again," Nick laughed. "Grissom, translation please."

"I've told you a thousand times!" came a voice from the doorway. "At seven am, your shift ends. NOW GET THE HELL OUT OF MY BREAK ROOM!"

Heads turned to see Conrad Ecklie seething, a few of his CSIs standing behind him.

Sara's smile changed to a scowl as she walked towards Ecklie. Instead of speaking to him, however, she addressed Greg.

'Greg, go back to your lab and grab your boom box. This party is now worthy of Nine Inch Nails.'

When Grissom had translated and Greg ran to go fill the request, Ecklie simply smiled.

"You know," he sneered, "I'm really going to miss the quiet that's settled around here for the last—six months, isn't it? It's too bad. I was really started to enjoy it."

The dayshift CSIs behind him snickered at Ecklie's comments, while graveyard simply glared, intense hatred in their eyes. Catherine pushed forward to say something, but Sara turned and shook her head.

'We're better than that,' she signed.

Greg had come back by now. Sara looked his direction and nodded, at which point loud rock music began blaring from the speakers.

"You can't play that in here, you smug ass punk!" Ecklie yelled over the music at Greg.

At this point, Sara lost it. Ecklie could insult her all he wanted, but when he attacked her friends, that was too much. She stormed back to the boom box and turned off the music before marching back to Ecklie and punching him square in the jaw. She punctuated her point with a gesture that you didn't need to know sign language to understand, and then managed in a weak whisper, "Piss off, Ecklie." With that, she slammed the door in dayshift's face.

Sara turned to meet a round of applause from her friends and shocked smiles all around.

"Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!" Warrick laughed. "I can't tell you how long I've waited for someone to really tell him off!"

'Well,' she signed, color rising to her cheeks, 'he had it coming. Greg may be weird, but he's not a smug ass punk. Ecklie had no right to call him out like that. At least Greg earns his pay.'

"Hey, come on. This is supposed to be a party, remember? Greg, turn the music back on. Catherine, will you help Brass cut the cake, please?" Grissom asked, trying to liven things up again.

When the others went back to the party, Grissom turned to Sara.

'You are in big trouble, missy!' he signed, a mischievous look in his eye. 'The doctor said no talking until you're completely healed… I distinctly heard a whisper!'

Getting a smile from her, his face turned serious.

'Are you okay?'

'Yeah, I guess. He just pisses me off! He's an ass and he doesn't deserve his job.'

'I know, but that's not for us to decide. We are the reason this lab is at the top, not them, and if Carvallo wants to keep Ecklie around for the politics, then that's fine by me!'

'Speaking of Carvallo, what's he going to do when he finds out we're engaged?' A worried look crossed Sara's face as she signed.

'Sara, who cares? Screw Carvallo! He needs us here, and if he tries to break us up, the others have already threatened to leave. Besides, we swore to ourselves that this was for us and nobody else, remember? I love you.'

'I love you, too.' She signed the formal three-word phrase before pulling him into a hug, resting her head on his chest.

He took one of her hands in his own and started rocking from side to side.

"Dance with me," he whispered.

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Catherine tapped Brass on the shoulder and nodded toward Grissom and Sara, making him smile.

"You know, they really are kind of cute together," he chuckled.

"Yeah, they are," Catherine sighed. "I haven't seen them this happy in a long time… I guess all things really do happen for a reason."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you know Grissom. It always did take a crisis for him to realize how much he cared for someone. I guess it took seeing Sara willing to sacrifice her life for us all for it to really sink in. I mean, did you see the look on his face when she tried to fight off Vivian with a knife to her throat?"

"Yeah, I remember," the detective captain sighed. "He was really hurtin'."

"Now, he wouldn't let her go for all the world. You said it yourself; even you've seen a change in him, and you're just as socially inept as he is!"

"Hey!" Brass lifted a hand to his chest, pretending to be hurt before a smile took over his usually stern face.

"Baby," Catherine smirked. "But, really, he's been nicer to everyone, he's been more laid back, even a bit more open… It's made things so much more pleasant around here, with the tension gone."

"Yeah, I hear ya'. I just hope it works out for them," Brass said, making his way past Greg, who was playing air guitar, over to Nick and Warrick.

Catherine just sat and watched her best friend.

'He deserves to be happy,' she thought. 'After waiting so long, he deserves it.'

She grinned as Grissom leaned down to kiss Sara, soft as butterfly wings but still deep and passionate, his hands drifting to her waist. Sara lifted her arms around his neck, taking in the moment and deepening the kiss.

Catherine smiled as she got up and joined the others in conversation, leaving the couple to live in the moment. The love revealed in that one instant showed them all that anything was possible, giving them hope that one day, they might all be that happy.