Disclaimer: Characters contained within do not belong to me.

Author's Notes: I started this fic based on spoilers which I'm glad turned out to be true. Thank you so much to Eliays for her French connection (pun intended), and thank you to you for stopping by to read. Enjoy!

******

Bringing Home the Bacon

by Kristen Elizabeth

******

"I almost forgot." With a burst of energy that shouldn't have been possible after two bone-melting orgasms, Sara sat up in bed and smiled down at her husband. "I brought you something."

Grissom couldn't help but chuckle as his wife scrambled out from under the covers and made a naked beeline for her suitcase. Somehow, whenever they were separated, he managed to forget how vivacious Sara was. It was always a fun surprise when they were together again and he remembered.

After a short rummage through her things, Sara produced a paper bag and with a twinkle in her eye, she slid back into bed with it. "Here," she said, offering it to him. "So you'll stop grumbling that you can't find it here."

"This can't be what I think it is," Grissom said as he took the bag.

Sara shrugged. "You'll never know until you open it."

"Because I know how you feel about it and I wouldn't expect you to..." Grissom stopped when he pulled out a package of pre-cooked, microwavable bacon strips. "Honey." He let out the tiniest sigh of happiness. "Thank you."

"Don't get too excited," she warned him. "It's turkey bacon." She pointed at his chest. "Better for the heart."

"My heart is fine, Sara." He paused. "Now."

"Oh, baby....I missed you, too," Sara whispered.

"Enough to get a refund on your ticket back to Vegas?"

He asked the question with just the right amount of wistful hopefulness to keep his wife's temper from flaring up. Instead, she looked away for a long moment. "I wish I could say that I hated being there and I couldn't wait to get back to Paris."

"But you can't." Grissom set aside the package of bacon. "I would like to be the understanding husband, but there's a very small part of me that just doesn't get it. You left town. I didn't think it was because of me, but..."

"Gil..."

He rushed on. "But it just seems like as soon as I left Vegas, you suddenly decided it wasn't so terrible after all."

"That's not what happened," Sara said. "And you know it." She spread her hands. "I married you, Gil! Would I have done that if I had any doubts about us?"

"No." He shook his head. "Forgive me."

Sara sighed. "For what? For loving me?" She shifted her body until she was looking right down at him. "Never."

"Loving you isn't the crime, Sara." He reached up to touch a silky curl of her hair. "It's trying to hold onto you too tightly."

"You're not," she assured him. "Wanting me to be closer than a twelve hour plane flight away is not the same thing as knocking me on the head with your club and dragging me into your cave."

"We are unconventional people," Grissom murmured after a moment of watching her warm brown eyes.

Sara brushed her lips across his. "So it's probably okay that we have an unconventional marriage."

"Were they all surprised to see you?" he asked. "Let me guess: Catherine figured we're already heading for a divorce."

"Actually, she was really happy for us. She wanted me to tell you, and I quote, 'don't blow it.' End quote."

Grissom's chest rumbled with a chuckle. "Tell her I don't have any intention of blowing anything."

Sara's eyebrow arched. "Too bad I can't say the same thing." She shot a wicked look below his waist.

"Sara...Sara, I shouldn't have to remind you that you married an old man and..." He stopped when she wrapped her hand around him. "Seriously, honey, I don't know if I can...so soon..."

But to his surprise and her delight, he could.

******

He woke in the middle of the night to the scent of bacon. Upon opening his eyes, he saw Sara standing by the bed in nothing but one of his shirts, holding out a plate to him.

"Come get it while it's hot," she said with a sassy wink.

Setting aside every dirty comeback he came up with, Grissom reached for his treat. "Next time, can you bring back a cheesecake?" he asked around a mouthful of crisp turkey.

"Sure, 'cause that'll keep well in my suitcase." Sara sank onto the edge of the bed. "Are we really okay?"

Grissom swallowed and set down the plate. "Sara. We're fine."

"Even if I stay in Vegas longer than I'd planned?"

"How much longer?" Shaking his head, Grissom backtracked. "No, yes, of course. It's fine. Do you really think I could be angry at you for wanting to help out the team?"

Sara twisted a corner of the bedsheet around her fingers. "It's not just helping them out, Gil. I feel...like I have a purpose there." Before he could reply, she held up her hand. "I know what you're going to say. But you have to admit that until our research grant comes through...which could be a long time...I don't have a hell of a lot to do in this city."

"You were becoming pretty fluent in French," he reminded her.

"I was considering taking mime classes, Gil."

Grissom's lips twitched into a smirk. "A mime is a terrible thing to..."

"Are you trying to get me to divorce you?"

He might have been a newly-wed, but he wasn't stupid. He took a bite of bacon and held his tongue.

"If I stay here, bored out of my mind, I could do something crazy," Sara continued. "Like let you get me pregnant."

"Why is that crazy?"

Sara shot him a sharp look. "You all but told me it wasn't something you wanted the night before our wedding." A moment passed. "Don't even think you can say something like that and not follow it up, Gil Grissom."

"Sara, I've had a lot of time to think while you were away," Grissom carefully began.

"About babies?"

"About us. About what being married means."

She folded her arms tightly across her chest. "And what do you think it means?"

"I think a big part of it is taking the hopes and dreams of two people and merging them into one future." Grissom cleared his throat. "I also think you want children more than you're saying."

"Gil." Sara unfolded her arms and reached for his hand. "This is a big conversation and I only have a few days in Paris. Can we shelve it for now?"

Grissom shook his head. "Maybe we've been shelving it for too long." Off her look, he amended, "All right, I've been shelving it for too long. I've been...selfish. I haven't wanted to upset our balance."

"A baby would do that," Sara agreed. "But who's to say that just like we can handle this unconventional marriage, we wouldn't be able to handle what I'm sure would be an unconventional child?"

He looked down at their hands, at the twin glint of gold from their wedding bands. "I can't say I haven't pictured her."

"Her?"

"She looks just like you," Grissom said. "Except she eats bacon with me in the mornings."

"Only when I'm out of town," his wife retorted. "Other than that, she's a perfect little vegetarian."

Grissom smiled. "Whatever you say, dear."

"Tell you what," Sara said after a moment. "While I'm gone, really think about whether you want to be a father...or you just want to make me happy. Because if that's the case, you never will be. And our baby would deserve better than that." Sara touched his cheek. "Yes?"

"Yes." Their foreheads touched. "Thank you," Grissom murmured.

"For bringing the bacon home?" she teased.

He kissed her, softly at first, then harder, until she was lying on her back, whimpering for more. Grissom lifted his head and looked down at his wife. "For bringing home back with you. If only for a week."

Sara pushed her fingers through his greying hair. "A lot can happen in a week."

As Grissom leaned down for a longer kiss, he smirked. "I'm counting on it."

******

Fin