Summary: It's such a short story. It's just conjecture, on my part, of what may happen in episode 4 (yeah, right). You want a better one? Okay. It's a bit of pillow talk between our favorite geeks.
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Grissom was tracing patterns on her bare shoulder with his index finger. She was pretty sure they were big swooping Ss, and generously curved Gs.
"Sara," he whispered in her ear. "Are you up?"
She nodded her head and felt him smile against her ear. "Good," he said, and moved her hair aside, tracing her hairline with the tip of his tongue.
"Not that I'm complaining," she said, her voice sounding scratchy with sleep, even to her own ears. "But, have you been dipping into some performance-enhancing drugs?"
He wrapped his arms around her waist and squeezed. "No," he said, kissing her neck with a resounding lip-smacking sound. "Turn around, I want to talk to you."
She rolled over so she was facing him. She could barely make out his face in the near-total darkness of the bedroom. With the lights out, and the blackout curtains drawn, a glowing light coming from the inch of space under the bedroom door was about the only illumination in the room, and even that was marred by Bruno's sleeping body stretched out on the other side of the closed barrier.
It was Mommy and Daddy alone time. Doggy-dog needed to stay in the hallway.
Sara cleared her throat. "Do you want me to turn on the light?"
"I do my best talking in the dark," he said, drawing her closer.
"Gris, are we talking-talking, or the other kind of talking? The one without any words? Because I may have to fuel up on Gatorade before Round 2."
"No, we're just talking," he paused, loosening his grip on her. "About this marriage thing…"
"Don't tell me you've changed your mind already?"
"No. I just wanted to clarify my position on the subject."
"You made yourself pretty clear."
"Yes, but I just have to make sure there was absolutely no miscommunication about my motives. It's just…too important."
"Okay."
"I wanted you to understand why I proposed."
"I do understand."
"Let me spell it out, all right?"
She ran her finger down the middle of his chest and kissed him lightly over the spot that housed his heart. Sara loved his chest. Her lips always encountered warm, silky smoothness. "Fire away," she said, scooting herself up to lay her head back on her own pillow.
"I didn't do it because of…everything that happened a few weeks ago." His voice took on a strained quality every time he mentioned her "ordeal.'
"I know that," she said, gently, pushing aside the unidentified mélange of feelings that the subject stirred in her.
"You do?"
"Yes. You've seen me in danger before and it didn't force you into something you felt you weren't ready for. And even though we are in a different phase of our relationship now…well, you are still you. You're careful and thoughtful and not given to impulse. I never thought that…what happened…would change that. I wouldn't want it to."
"It was the worst…day of my life, and many thoughts were going through my head but it wasn't the catalyst for the proposal. I had already been considering it for quite some time by then. And I didn't do it because of our reputations, either. Personal or professional."
She giggled and lay her head on his shoulder. "Gris, if I believed you did anything with a political agenda in mind, you should kick me out of this bed because, obviously, I wouldn't know you at all."
"Well," he said, as he tightened his arm around her shoulder and gave her a small squeeze before taking a quick, deep breath himself, "I like to believe I have a romantic soul. But, as I'm sure you've realized by now, I don't always have a smooth follow-through as far as expressing what's in my heart. And that concerns me. Because, with you, I really want there to be no doubt. No uncertainties, as to where I stand at any given time. And, for me, marriage is--first and foremost--a symbol of eternal love. So, while we don't need the legal piece of paper, I still wanted the ceremony. Still wanted the rings. For all the times when my mouth betrays my heart, as I'm sure it will. You can just look at that ring and know…well, know how I really feel."
Shit. He was going to make her cry and there was NO WAY she was crying on this day.
Sara sat up and turned on the bedside light.
Grissom had raised himself up on his elbows, his gray curls completely mussed and his eyes squinting from the unaccustomed light.
"Sara?" For just a moment, a look of sheer panic crossed his face. And then she smiled at him…
"It would have been enough if you just told me you asked because you loved me," she said, lifting up his left hand and placing it on her lap. She moved her left hand over to rest against his and admired the two simple gold bands shimmering in the soft light. "Now I'm really glad I married you."
He hooked his index finger around her pinky and gave her hand a little wiggle.
"So, how's married life treating you so far, Mrs. G?" he asked.
Twenty-four hours ago all Sara wanted was a little extra time with her "boyfriend.' Since then, she'd been proposed to over a very active bee hive. Then driven to the Hunk-a-Hunk of Burning Love Chapel, only to bypass the whole place and the Elvis minister standing at the doorway (a prime example of Grissom's warped sense of humor) and continue on to a more conventional chapel, with a non-Regal minister. There they exchanged vows quickly, quietly and beautifully. They picked out the wedding bands on their way home, ate Chinese take-out with Dom Perignon and experienced a wedding night that was nothing short of earth-shattering.
But strangely, as hectic as the day had been, there had also been an absolute calm that took over from the moment he asked his surprise question. Because she was one hundred percent certain of her answer. Perhaps more certain than she had been about anything in her life since she jumped on that airplane to Vegas eight years before.
"It's been…extremely promising," she said, and ran the index finger of her right hand over her ring, and then his.
Sometimes, symbols were beautiful.
Even when they were the last things you'd ever expected from life.
The End.
A/N: I don't know. This is what? A ficlet? Probably the shortest thing I've ever written since I was 7 (so sit back for the author's notes, girls!) I've made no secret of the fact that I want a happy ending for our beloved geeks. Marriage always seemed rather too conventional a route for this unconventional couple to take but, as time has passed, I like the idea more and more. Because, at the end of the day, and at the end of this roller coaster ride known as GSR (and I certainly DO NOT believe it's over), it all comes down to love. And people in love should express it in a way that makes them secure and happy.
So, here's your happily ever after scenario. I know it's probably NOT what we're going to get on Thursday, but I had to give it a shot.
And I do promise this is the last story, for a while, that I will dash off like this. I've been doing it for a few weeks now and it's been to promote Dollars for Sense, but now it's just to say, hang in there and believe. It's not over yet, IMO, and I'm just really still proud of what we've done and how we've done it.