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Gently, he traced an invisible line from her ear to her breasts, circling each one with light touches of his lips, a kiss, a tickle with his tongue, tasting her as he moved down her abdomen. He moved to the inside of her thigh and felt her hands in his hair.

He tried to speak, but the words never came; only the fragrance of the sea and some unknown magnificent aroma filled his nose and closed his ability to make coherent sounds. He could live the rest of his life on her essence, he thought. He had found his home, his love, the one destined to be with him when he drew his last breath.

Wrapped together they slept, a tropical thunderstorm raging outside, turning small streams into raging rivers and quieting the weeks of confusion of their own lives. Hours passed before she stirred, opening eyes to find two blue ones watching her.

She rolled to face him, finding warm hands wrapping around her. ?Are you really here forever? Not just a few weeks?? She asked.

In the dawn light, against the white sheets, she was beautiful. ?I made a decision. I?ve officially retired. I am with you forever. You will grow tired of me before we are apart again.? He said before kissing her.

?You found me.? She said, simply, as a smile spread across her face, realizing for the first time what he had said and done?for her.

?Yes. I realized you are a part of me I can not live without. We can go back to the park. We will stay until we tire of birds and insects and frogs and turtles. We can find a home or we can travel?anywhere you want to be, I am with you. You are my home.?

She blinked her eyes, rapidly, to prevent tears from falling, and settled against his shoulder. Their hands came together.

?Oh, Grissom, I do love you.?

He kissed the top of her head. ?I know I belong with you, Sara. Some time ago, I realized you are the only woman I will ever love.?

?What if you had not found me??

He chuckled. ?I would have looked for you the rest of my life, dear. I would have been Longfellow?s Evangeline to your Gabriel?until my dying day.?

She smiled and snuggled closer. ?We will live a long time, Gil.? Her hand stroked his chin and in minutes, he felt the soft, relaxed breathing as she fell back to sleep. Finally, breaking his restless sleep pattern of past months, he closed his eyes and slept.

Gil and Sara remained in the small rented house for a week, watching the afternoon rains from their private screened porch sharing a hammock, venturing into the small town for food, a new shirt, a handful of postcards, learning a few words of Spanish, and talking?about their future, the present, and the past. They rediscovered their love and devotion to each other, exploring their desires, enjoying time in a new place unhampered by expectations, time, and others.

After a week, they returned to the national park to researchers who welcomed two fellow scientists who required no training to work for hours in the humid environment without complaints, made careful notes, and took detailed photographs. The couple worked for a week, disappeared to some secret hideaway, and returned, rested, ready for any assignment given to them. To other volunteers, Sara and Gil became teachers as they used skills learned in a previous life, former careers, for research in a living, breathing, vibrant environment. They had found each other, a new life, and a home together.

Eventually, Gil and Sara returned to Las Vegas?not to live, but to visit and retrieve their dog. Hank, after months of separation from his real ?parents?, showed his happiness and relief at their return by jumping into their bed the first night and wiggling his way between the two, sighing deeply as he lay his head across one, then the other, until all three slept.

They did not stay long in this desert city. The place had sapped too much energy from both in the years they had lived there. They found interim positions in a small college which developed into a new-found love of teaching, and since financial concerns did not motivate either, they found a profession?lively, ever-changing, entertaining, and fulfilling. A happy place for the rest of their lives.

Read the original, uncut version at:

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4887323/5/

Quickly, towels were found and their half-dry bodies launched into the big bed with its cool coverings. The two wrapped in a cocoon of white as hands and lips met in deep prolonged kisses, a crescendo building and exploding.

They lay quietly for a time, taking in each other, the stillness of the room, the hushed sounds outside as darkness settled on the small town and its inhabitants. The weight of his body, the lingering warmth and tenderness brought a smile to her face.

Grissom stirred, raising himself on elbows to see her face. ?I?ve missed you?not just this, but your presence, your words, your laugh?that giggle, having you with me. I apologize for being so?so quick.? He heard the sound gathering in her throat, laughter bubbled to her lips and she lifted her head to kiss him, pulling him against her.

Releasing him, she laughed again, burying her face against his neck. ?Oh, you silly man. You?ve shown remarkable control and restraint from the moment I turned to find you. I could have taken you right there, against a tree, with that monkey throwing rotten fruit at us.? She twisted her mouth into a pout. ?You know I should be very angry with you right now. You should have let me know you were coming.?

It was his turn to laugh as he rolled and sat up, taking time to wrap the sheet around them. ?You were in the middle of a jungle.? He took her hand and held it between his. ?I did have help?the rangers at the station knew I was coming. I got this place for a week. We can decide what to do after that.?

?How long can you stay?? She had been so astonished at his arrival and had asked so many questions but each time, he answered with a kiss.

In the dark room, a distant thunderstorm providing flashes of light, she could see the contented smirk on his face, holding back a well-kept secret or some critical knowledge as he had done at work so many times. He lay beside her and smiled a slow, sensual smile.

?Forever.?

He kissed her again with a desire so powerful that it threatened to consume everything else. Thunder rolled across the sky as passion roared through his veins. He was already fiercely aroused and the quick confusion in her eyes made him desperate for her again. Her arms went around him, tightly. Her fingertips pressed against his naked back and she opened her mouth allowing him inside, sharing the intimacy of the taste, smell, and touch.

She made a sound and shivered from his touch. He kissed her neck, her collarbone, her shoulder and moved to the tip of her ear, taking the earlobe between his teeth before gently kissing her again. She purred as a contented kitten. Her hand held him tightly as she wrapped one of her legs around his hips.

He drew back to look at her face and another flash of lightening reflected in her brown eyes, an expression of wonder, passion, and excitement in her face. She was his?completely, absolutely, finally. In her eyes, he realized she was thinking the same about him. He smiled as he was forced to stop her hand. He could not do what he intended if he did not stop her

One more post to finish this one!

The last hour of walking was damp, the sun hardly showing through the trees above. Sweat ran in rivulets down his back. The track was muddy in places, and almost blocked with forest detritus, but he picked his way around or through it and found the path again. He followed the trail easily as thick reeds and vines formed a dense wall on either side of the path. Checking his position, he realized the camp was just around a slight curve ahead of him and he said a silent prayer.

Sara was in front of him, her back to him as he stumbled to a stop and she turned as if she had heard his prayer. Her hand dropped, her chin trembled ever so slightly. Her eyes watered and then she smiled. He stepped forward, arms outstretched.

Together, they could survive anything. He had found her.

Grissom met other volunteers who offered lunch as he ate with them, sharing food he had packed, but all the while, he hurried. He kept a hand in hers or resting against her back as she gathered her belongings, telling them she?they would return, but they needed to do a few things. Winks and teasing grins followed when she told them it had been weeks since they had seen each other. As soon as the others realized he wanted to fly back to Puerto Jimenez, they hurried them out of the camp.

The return hike took two hours, at times it seemed to take forever, but at other times, the two walked in a daze. Sara would begin to ask a question; his answer was to kiss her. He had no questions to ask; he had found her and she wanted him.

The pilot waited as she crammed clothes, her books and photos, and mosquito netting into a duffle and stuffed it into the plane?s storage compartment. Another couple had the double seat which meant an empty co-pilot seat and a small bench in the rear of the plane for Sara and Gil. Sara took the back bench, jammed between luggage and a couple of boxes.

?Tighten your seatbelts; it?s going to be a rough ride back,? the pilot announced as the small plane gained altitude and his passengers could see rising storm clouds from the south. ?We?ll beat the weather, but it will be bumpy.?

The flight turned into a rollercoaster ride of air pockets and turbulence shaking the small plane as it dipped and banked around mountains and climbed higher to dodge storm clouds. Ten minutes before landing, Sara felt the sudden collection of fluids in her mouth; she tasted the reflux of her stomach contents at the back of her throat. She swallowed, clamped a hand over her mouth as she gagged loud enough for the other woman passenger to glance in her direction.

?Air sick!? The woman shouted above the din of weather and engine. ?She needs a bag.?

Grissom turned in his seat in time to see Sara pulling off her outer shirt. She brought it to her mouth just as she began throwing up, retching repeatedly, trying desperately to catch her vomit in the thin fabric of her shirt. The pilot yelled something and the woman in the middle row found a plastic bag underneath her seat, throwing it to Sara as she vomited again. The woman passed a bottle of water over the seat. The pilot opened vents and cool air rushed inside the cabin.

Sara continued to retch, bringing up only water, until the plane landed. Grissom and the pilot opened doors before the plane rolled to a stop. Grissom heard Sara saying how sorry she was as the older couple searched for snack crackers for her and climbed out of the plane. The pilot wet Grissom?s handkerchief and placed it in her hand, apologizing for the weather, for the turbulent flight.

The four gathered around as Sara insisted, ?I?m fine, really, I?m fine.? The man offered another bottle of water. ?Just air sick.? She tried to smile as she wiped her face.

It did not take long to unload her duffle and Grissom?s backpack and a couple of laps around the plane on solid ground diminished most of the effects of sickness. The nausea was gone, color returned to her face, and a package of crackers worked a quick miracle in returning her to her usual health. Except for the smell?she knew she smelled as bad as she had ever smelled after dumpster diving. Grissom closed an arm around her and smiled. She knew he was pretending not to notice the offensive odor as he gave instructions to a taxi driver, providing an address and a wad of bills.

The driver took his directions seriously and slowed at stop signs, blowing his horn to warn of his intentions. Within minutes of leaving the airport, they were opening the door of the small house Grissom had rented.

This story is also posted at fanfiction.net (see link). The youngest of our trio has begged to write and post her story. It is rated "M" because of the ending. We are posting the beginning here and the link, because some of it needs to be re-worked to post here!

 http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4887323/1/

Chapter 1
A month?thirty days?to prepare for the rest of his life. Gil Grissom had made a decision. He had checked his calendar a dozen times in two days as he made calls, wrote emails, and met with the sheriff, Ecklie, a financial planner. Rain marked the beginning of the end if he had been marking a calendar. In reality, he knew the end of one phase and the beginning of another had occurred months ago. It still took thirty days?preparing a house for absent owners, finding a way to announce his decision, making travel plans, finding Hank a temporary home.

A few things had been easy. Finding Hank a home came down to a simple offer from a friend. Dismantling an office of years of accumulated possessions proved to be uncomplicated?he stacked most of it in boxes and put those in the house. Locating Sara had been easier than he thought; most people were romantics at heart and when he explained he wanted to surprise his fianc?, he was provided all the information he needed.  His team?Catherine, Nick and Greg?seem to know he had made the decision to leave before he said the words. Catherine had made his announcement easy?she already knew, or at least she said she did; she just did not know details.

The most difficult task has been the push?over a blind precipice into dark drowning depression had been the most difficult forty-eight hours of his life. It would take passage of time before he could look back on those hours with a degree of understanding of the anger, frustration, and sense of isolation he experienced. Even when Warrick died, he had not been as alone as he had been in those hours.

When the message popped up that afternoon and he saw the sender?s name, he smiled. He knew she was angry as well as disappointed when he would not go with her, would not leave Las Vegas. He could not leave?everyone, everything depended on his work, physically being at work. It was out of his hands. There was no one to take his place. No one. No one until he got her video. In a very short time, he realized his life was no longer in Vegas.

It had been more than thirty days since they had spoken to each other. Sara had not given him an ultimatum; she had called saying she had volunteered for two expeditions?one at sea, another in a Costa Rican national park. She sent an itinerary by email and a week later, she was gone.

The video opened and he almost reached to touch the screen. She looked rested, calm, peaceful, beautiful. As he watched her face and heard her words, his heart broke?yes, he decided later, he knew the meaning of a broken heart. The heaviness, the hurting in his chest as he watched the video over and over; his phone rang and he ignored it as he replayed her message. He heard her happiness, saw her smile, watched as an expression of uncertainty crossed her face as she repeated his words back to him. He learned what a broken heart meant that day.

Grissom drove in the rain, hearing Sara?s voice inside his head. He could not concentrate. He could not hear. His mind jumped from case evidence to the words playing over and over?Sara?s words?happy, saying she was gone, not to worry about her, she had found an amazing life. Her voice trembled, her eyes moistened as she said her words, but at the end, she said he shouldn?t worry about her.  She was good.

She was gone?away from him?further than she had ever been. Even when she left the lab that last night, he had traced her quickly, knowing where she would be. He had always had that connection with her, the ability to know where she was. Not now, she was somewhere in the Pacific telling him she was happy. He was driving in the rain hearing her voice.

?The door opened and he heard his name. He was soaked, miserable, unsure of his actions. He stumbled out his reason for coming?a case, a murder with sadistic wounds. Heather talked, and then she asked questions. She asked about Sara. He bristled, not comfortable when Sara entered the room. Not physically, returning in his mind with her voice when Heather said her name.

Heather asked, ?Where is Sara?? and in his face, she realized how desperate, how lost and bewildered his life was. Heather?s and Sara?s words become the same. He heard Heather saying ?most relationships are over before they officially end? and he wanted to object, but her words were Sara?s. Confusion whirled inside his head as he agreed to Heather?s offer of her guest room.

He slept for the first time in weeks, hours of dreamless sleep in a strange bed provided by Heather. She sat with him as he talked about Sara, and later, when he woke, she gave him tea and food. He knew he would leave Las Vegas. Heather knew he had made a decision. He would find his life, his love, his Sara?

Grissom waits wearing a grass skirt and his straw hat, nothing else, not even sandals or flip flops!