Forever in Love - by Toria

While Jenna was taking a quick shower Gil called the switchboard at the CSI lab. He considered calling Catherine's cell phone and telling her personally that he wouldn't be in, but he really didn't want to take a chance of having her actually answer the phone. He was not ready to answer any of her questions.

He was glad Betsy was at the switchboard when he called. Betsy wasn't the type to ask a lot of questions. He instructed her to give Catherine Willows a message when she gets in later in the day.   "Just tell her that I'm still not feeling well and I won't be in tonight and that she should take charge for the evening."

By the time he was done with the call and picking out the clothes he would wear, Jenna was out of the shower wearing his bathrobe. "That was fast," he commented.

"I told you I was hungry. Now hurry up and get ready," she instructed him as she ran to the dryer to see if her clothes from yesterday were dry. Knowing that she wasn't going to be able to stay in Gil's tee shirt and jogging shorts all day, the first thing she did in the morning was to throw her things in the washer.
She had just turned on the dryer when Gil came running down the stairs looking for her earlier. She was dressed and waiting for him when he came downstairs.

"Wow, I'm impressed," he said commenting on how fast she got ready.

"Hey, I live in a house full of young women. The ranch doesn't have that many bathrooms, you learn to get in and out fast. It helps to keep the peace."

He smiled and led her out of the house.

"Where to?" she asked.

"How about the Top of the World?"

"The top of the world? I thought you were afraid of heights."

"Hey, hey, my reputation, please. No one knows about that. And besides," he added, only half convincing her, "I've pretty much gotten over it."

He did take her to the Top of the World. It was a revolving restaurant at the Stratosphere Tower, on the Strip. The restaurant was 800 feet off the ground. They were offered a seat at the window, but he said the middle of the room would be fine. She laughed, and he elbowed her to be quiet.

The food was delicious. She had Chilean sea bass and he had steak.

They talked all through their meal about nothing of significance. Jenna told Gil all about life at the Shelter. How they spend their days teaching the girls how to improve themselves and gain self-respect. They help them with their reading and math skills. They actually have two computers and they teach them how to work the different software programs.   Their goal is to help the girls find decent jobs so that they can be self supporting.

Gil told her about the first time he was at the Stratosphere, a few years ago. It was to investigate the murder of one of the bartenders.

When they were done eating and the bill was paid, Jenna started to call for the down elevator, but Gil pushed the up button.

The High Roller was a roller coaster one hundred stories above the ground. It was advertised to be the highest roller coaster in the world.

When she saw it, she asked, "Why are we here?"

"What, you don't ride roller coasters any more?"

"Oh..., wait a minute..., are you telling me `you' ride roller coasters?" she asked, suspiciously.

"All the time," he informed her as though there would be nothing unusual about that.

She was still suspicious of him considering he walked right to the end of the line, without buying tickets. "Yea right, you know the ride operator and get on free."

"Nope, I already have the tickets."   He pulled out his wallet and she saw that he had what looked like a dozen tickets. She reached out and grabbed them from him.

"What is this? You have tickets for all the coasters on the Strip? You mean you really do ride them?" she said in complete amazement. "After all that trouble I had getting you to ride them with me? What happened?"

Before answering her he recalled the first time she made him ride a roller coaster. It was the Revolution at Magic Mountain in California; it was a kiddie ride compared to the ones on the Strip.

Before he met her, he had never even been to an amusement park.   He tried to tell her that he had a fear of heights and could not ride it with her. He remembered how she bullied him into riding by calling him a chicken as well as a few other childish names. He finally gave in and rode it. Just as he feared, he was sick when he got off the ride. She on the other hand, was ecstatic. He recalled the thrill she got from the speed and heights of the coasters. Back then he just didn't get it.

"Well," she asked him again. "How did you get hooked?"

He told her that after she left he had no reason to ride them. He remembered thinking, after he realized she was gone for good, that at least he would never again have to stand in line for an hour to take a joy ride that was only going to last a minute. Then for reasons he never understood Vegas started to build roller coasters. One night a few years ago, while investigating the murder he was telling her about, he saw the coaster and thought about her. Something inside of him told him to ride it and he's been riding ever since. He rides them whenever he has a difficult case and he needs to escape reality. It relaxes him.

"And besides." He added, "it was my way of keeping a part of you with me."

She hadn't ridden a coaster since she left him. She forgot about the thrill it gave her. She made him promise to take her again soon.

While they walked to his SUV he told her that they were going to ride every coaster on the Strip and then the ones on the outskirt of town. After they wore out the coasters in Vegas, he was going to take her around the country riding roller coasters. Their first stop was going to be Ohio. They have some of highest and fastest coasters in the world.

As they walked she listened to him described all the coasters on the Strip and the surrounding area and his plans to take her around the country. She still couldn't get over the fact that they were together. She pushed away all thoughts about what would happen next and she just listened to the sound of his voice.
\
On the way back to his place Gil stopped at a small market to pick up a few things so that they wouldn't have to go out again, too soon. He said that tomorrow was his day off and they would do whatever she wanted.

When they got back to his place, the first thing she had to do was to call Sr. Laura and let her know she was okay. He told her to use the phone in his room. When she came downstairs she was wearing his tee
shirt and shorts from the night before.

It was getting cold so he was getting a fire started. He was kneeling at the fire, staring into. He had turned off the lights and put on soft music. She stood at the bottom of the staircase and just watched him as he worked the fire. She was amazed by how truly handsome he was. With the fire reflecting off his face, he was totally intoxicating to her. After staring at him for a few moments, he looked up and noticed her.

"Is everything okay?" he asked.

"Yes, everything's fine," she said as she walked over and sat in front of him. "They arrested Spike. They found the knife on him. It still had blood on it. I guess your lab's running tests to be sure it Maggie's blood."

Then she turned and looked at the fire. "Mmm, the fire feels so good and the music is beautiful."

He handed her a glass of wine. They clicked their glasses together
before drinking.

He placed his hand on her knee and said, "Thank you for today, everything's been perfect."

"No, I'm the one that needs to thank you," she said as she stood up on her knees. He leaned forward to try and kiss her, but she motion for him not to. Since the moment they met again he was doing everything to please her. Now, she told him, it was his turn. She moved behind him and started to massage his shoulders.

"Your awfully tense," she whispered into his ear. Then she reached in front of him and started to unbutton his shirt. After unbuttoning the top few buttons, she rubbed her right hand across his chest while she gently nibbled on his ear. She finally hit a spot that caused him to groan with pleasure.

"Jenn, I've loved you forever." she heard him whisper.

"I love you Gil," she answered, "I'll love you forever."

Then she deliberately tore his shirt pulling it down off his shoulders. She crossed in front of him, pushing him onto his back. He couldn't move his arms because they were caught in his shirt. She started to furiously kiss his neck, working her kisses down his torso. He closed his eyes and groaned at the pleasure she was giving him. She could feel his body flinch in anticipation of what was to come.

When she unbuckled and unzipped his pants his body quivered at her touch. He wondered what his pulse rate was.

Once she was done pleasing him, she slowly undressed for him. She lay down next to him and invited him to love her, however he pleased.

When he was done he laid his head against her chest, with his left hand he gently massage her breast. They stared silently into the fire, watching the flames burn out, each deep in their own thoughts.

Then in a voice she barely heard, he spoke the words that she had been dreading, "Tell me what went wrong Jenn."