Hey all! This is my new idea. For some odd reason, I have weird thoughts and dreams late at night...hehe. Scary, huh? But...anyways...enjoy the new idea from my crazy mind ;P

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Matters of the Heart

"Scout...please leave your uncle Nick alone." Sara sipped her coffee as she watched the brown-haired, gap toothed, mini twin of hers chase around her favorite 'Uncle' as they wrestled for 'who gets the last piece of the chess-square'.

"I swear, it's like raising two kids."

Catherine came in at that moment, looking at Scout, then at Sara. "Uh, Sara...I thought Scout was grounded from the lab for a month because of the rat incident."

The 'rat' incident was when Scout had found a rat in one of the labs that was being experimented on, and stole it. That had been two weeks ago, and she still had two more to go. But, in retrospect, she had been punished enough.

Sara sighed. "Yeah, well that was until my baby-sitter flaked out on me."

Scout stopped dead in her tracks, becoming defensive. She was, in fact, nine-years-old. "I'm not a baby!"

"I didn't mean it like that." Sara shook her head, looking at Catherine. That's when she noticed Catherine's unnerving, kind of paranoid look. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Catherine sighed...Sara could always tell when something was up, and vice versa. She looked over at the 'kids' and smiled. "Guy's, why don't you go to the lab? I've got a case for you two to work on, and I need to talk to Sara about one."

Sara could tell she was lying about the case for her, but smiled at them anyways.

Nick grabbed the chess-square, splitting it into two, handing a slice to Scout and stuffing the other into his own mouth. "C'mon kiddo. We'll go see about this case, and maybe I'll take your fingerprints, again."

"Geez Uncle Nick!" Scout shook her head. "I'm not going to rob banks...ever! I promise. Now quit trying to see if they pop up in AFIS."

Sara laughed as they left, then turned to Catherine. "Okay, you look like you've seen a ghost. What's going on?"

"Well," Catherine began, "You know how we were supposed to get this new graveyard supervisor."

"Uh-huh," Sara said, eyeing her best friend. "But I thought that they couldn't find a replacement."

"Well...they did," Catherine said, sighing as she rubbed her temples, dreading what she had to say next, but knowing she had to so she said in as quick as she possibly could: "Sara, it's Grissom. He's the one who they hired to replace Sheridan."

Sara's eyes went wide, and her coffee fell to the floor with a loud crash. "WHAT?!" The nerve! Here it had been ten years...ten years of her not being able to find him...lying to their daughter about him...and all of a sudden he was back?! "I-I-I cannot deal with this tonight." Now she was the one to rub her temples, only stopping as Catherine came over, giving her a hug. "Can't we just...you know...send him back?"

Catherine laughed. "Well, he was on sabbatical...albeit, a long one, but one, nonetheless." She pulled back, holding her friend at arms length. "But you have to face this, Sara. And you have to tell him."

"Well, that depends," Sara said. "When's he going to be here?"

"Um..." Catherine trailed off, looking at her watch. "Anytime now."

"Greeeat," Sara said sarcastically, standing there in thought for a moment. "Well, I can't dwell on the past. Just...try and help me keep Scout out of his view...I'd rather just wait on that one, and she does know what he looks like."

"No problem."

"Thanks, Cath." Sara smiled, and they finally parted ways. Sara had a B & E, and Catherine had a 419 along the strip. Sara just hoped that Nick, who was watching Scout, could make sure that Grissom didn't see her. Sara was pretty sure that she couldn't deal with this, right now. In fact, she knew that she couldn't.

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"Oh, come on Uncle Nick!" Crossing her arms over her chest, acting just like her mother, she pouted. "I won't tell her. Besides, if I'm going to achieve my goal of being an astounding CSI before I'm 20...I need to start young. She'll never kno--"

At that moment, a knock sounded at the door and the pair looked up to see a shadow that could only be described by Scout as a 'beastly figure'. Scout, who was sitting on Nick's desk, turned back to look at the wall, her eyes wide with curiosity and fear.

Wow...that's a scary looking man.

"Nick?"

That's when Nick was caught off guard. He'd had the same impression that Scout had had, but now, with that voice...something about it rubbed at him the wrong way. And that's when it happened. The figure, with a full beard and all, stepped into view. Scout, who was holding a soda pop, almost dropped it. And Nick had to do a double-take to make sure that he wasn't just seeing things. After all, that could be possible.

"Nick Stokes?"

But it wasn't. "Grissom?"

Scout, now sipping her soda, spit it out onto the floor, nearly choking herself. Nick helped her out, patting her back. "You okay there, kiddo?"

"Uh, yeah." Only I suddenly don't feel well. Jumping down, she turned and looked at that man...her father. He didn't know...she could tell. "So...what do you say Uncle Nick?" She wanted to forget about him and just focus on her task at hand. At the very least, she could enjoy a good crime scene text book tonight.

Nick sighed, giving in. "Oh, all right. But for Christmas this year...just ask for one. If she knows your interested, she probably won't keep you from it." He browsed his shelves, searching for the best one.

Scout scoffed. "Yes she would. She still thinks that I'm seven."

Nick laughed. "Now see, you're not. Because that's the age that little girls grow up and stop liking Hannah Montana, which you don't right now."

"I never did!" It was true. She was more obsessed with death, science, and crime scenes then looking good, what music was out, or what new movie was at the multiplex.

"Yeah, that's right," Nick said, laughing as he got out two text books. Instead of handing them to her, however, he set them on his desk, gave her the signal to wait, and dug into his desk, finding a brightly wrapped blue package. "I was going to wait until your Birthday, but I just...can't. Just don't tell your mom that it was a Birthday gift."

Scout beamed, holding the package once it was given to her. "It's shaped like a book." She shook it. "It sounds like a book." She investigated the package. "It feels like a book." She pretty much came up with the conclusion that it looked like a book, so it was a book. She ripped it open, jumping up and down with excitement when she saw what it was. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Throwing her arms around her favorite Uncle's neck, she couldn't stop her happy squeals...the only give-a-way, besides the long hair, that she was a girl.

Nick smiled, glad that she was happy. After all, she had been asking for that book since before her last Birthday. Henry James, The Turn of the Screw. Murder...ghosts...Scout couldn't have created a better book in her own mind, if she had wanted to. At least she had something good, something that she wanted, to read.

"I'm going to go read this right now."

And she probably could read it all in one night, Nick thought to himself, shaking his head.

Turning to leave, Scout found herself in the direct path of Grissom...her father. In the midst of all the excitement, she forgot all about him. She gave him a small smile, not parting her lips.

"You...look familiar," Grissom stated, staring down at the little girl who may have been young, but intelligent beyond her years. "Do I know you?"

"I...I don't think so," Scout said, suddenly becoming nervous, but did her best to hide it. She flashed her famous smile, which was the exact smile of her mother's, and Grissom's jaw dropped to the ground. Nick, who sat at his desk, slapped himself in the face.

Great! Nick knew what she was up to now. She's acting...she's trying to get him to notice her...to know her. Great...just great!

"Are...are you related to Sara?" Grissom finally asked, gulping.

"Uh-huh...I should hope so," Scout scoffed, looking at the two men in the room. She shook her head as if to say, 'duh'. "I'm her daughter."

Grissom's mind wasn't calculating right...he just assumed that Sara had moved on. Plus, he hadn't caught what was fully said about her age when he first came in or at all during their conversation...she only looked seven to him.

Scout smiled, walking past him. "I'm going to read now. Bye!"

"Bye Miss Scoutie," Nick said, waving with a grin.

Scout, who was already out of the room, poked her head back in. He didn't call her that and he knew it. She glared at him for a moment, making him laugh.

"Fine. Bye Wynnie. I'll come and get you when your mom comes back."

"Thanks Uncle Nick." And with that, she was gone.

Grissom, stunned, arched his thumb towards the retreating girl as he stared at someone who had once been a young CSI, all grown up now. "Sara's got a kid? Is she married?"

"Nope," Nick answered simply, sorting through paperwork. "In fact, Scout doesn't know her father...at all." Nick stole a glance at Grissom, before focusing, once more, with the stack of papers on his desk. He sighed, putting his elbows on the table and head in his hands, rubbing his temples. Jeez...too much stress going on tonight. He sighed, remembering that everyone had been on edge, and now he knew why. He was so glad he'd been warned...because he hadn't. He was going to hunt down and make Sara and Catherine pay if he could dig himself out of this hole that he'd gotten into. Oh boy...it was going to be a long night!

"What?" Grissom just couldn't bring himself to believe that. He was sure that Sara had moved on...she just had to. In his heart, he had hoped not...but he didn't want her unhappy, especially for all these years.

"Yep," Nick said, confirming what he was thinking. "Sara...her focus is solely on that little girl...albeit, genuis, but still short." He smiled...Scout would've killed him had she heard him say that.

Grissom cocked his head to one side. "So...she's a mother?"

"Twenty-four, seven." Nick stood, rummaging around his desk. He had pictures of Scout all over it, which almost gave the impression that he was Scout's father. He could only be so lucky. Grissom didn't even realize what and who he gave up when he left. And, truth be told, it pissed him off a little...a lot. But he wouldn't admit it, now.

He couldn't. He wouldn't.

Not yet, anyways.

"Wow." Grissom stood there, in shock at what lay there before him. He sure as hell came back to a different Las Vegas. He wondered for a moment if he was appearing on an episode of The Twilight Zone, where nothing was at all what it may seem. But he soon dismissed that...still too many normal people here for it not to be real. But then again, what was normal?

Certainly not him.

"Hey Nick, what did you do with those pictures from that 419 from about...five months ago? I can't find them anywhere. The one with the teenager, the only suspect for her adopted parents' murder? Because I think that I've found a link to it from tonights B & E."

Sara...oh, shit! Nick walked over, standing in front of the desk by Grissom, who had his back turned to the door and was looking a ghostly pale. Nick tried to act as normal as could be.

"It's, uh..." Nick scratched his nose. "It's in the evidence box...cold case, remember? It should be in the back, since they've moved all the older boxes there." He was trying his best to remain calm. So far, so good. Hopefully he wouldn't blow this.

But then Grissom turned around.

"Oh--" Sara was cut off, her smile turning to a frown as she stared at the face before her. She was all of a sudden angry, only it wasn't sudden...it had been building for the past ten years, now.

"Hey Nick--"

Not paying attention to how close she was, Catherine had spooked Sara, who turned and knocked her coffee onto her.

"Oh, Cath...I'm...I'm sorry," Sara said, her anger leaving her for a moment.

Catherine just laughed. "It's fine...I'm just lucky that that was cold coffee.

Sara raised an eyebrow...Catherine never drank cold coffee. It was either steaming hot, or she had none at all.

Catherine smiled at her. "Hadn't had the chance to heat it up yet." They stood after cleaning up the mess, and that's when Catherine caught sight of Grissom standing in the same room as Nick. And he's still alive? She was amazed! "Oh, boy," she blurted out, receiving a glare from everyone in the room. She backed away. "I'll, uh...I'll catch up in a few." And with that, she disappeared as quick as she had appeared.

Nick straightened up his tie...he had a late court tonight to settle a case. He has grown up, Grissom thought to himself. Wow.

"Listen, I'll be back in a few." He went to leave, allowing them access to his office while he was gone. But before exiting, he turned back to them. "No fighting...please." And, turning on his heels, he was out the door.

Sara just stared at Grissom for a second. Supposedly the love of her life. But if he loved her, why did he leave her? No matter what, she had never been able to answer that question for him, and she wasn't about to ask him tonight.

Nope. Tonight was definitely not a good time, for her.

Turning to leave, she felt a strong arm pulling her back.

"Sara..."

The way he said her name still had that same effect on her, but she couldn't go all 'weak-at-the-knees' on him.

He didn't deserve that.

After all, HE was the one who left, not the other way around.

"Grissom...not now," she said through gritted teeth. She was fighting so much back--on one hand, she wanted to punch him, but on the other hand she wanted to break down right there and just...cry. But she couldn't do either. She needed to get back to work.

"But Sara...we need to talk...please."

He sounded so sincere...but men usually did to get what they wanted. Turning to him, Sara finally let out what she was feeling. Some of it, anyways.

"Look, I don't know WHAT you're thinking here, but YOU left ME!" Sara said, fuming now. She was sick and tired of others playing victim when they were really to blame. "If I had left, I'd understand it. But don't try to play that with me...that game where you do no wrong, and I always screw up. Because it's not going to work now...not ever. Again. Understand?"

Grissom stood there, speechless for once. He raised one eyebrow at her, confused. He knew anger would be an issue, but he wasn't trying to discount what she was feeling with what he wanted. He merely just wanted to talk.

But she turned, storming out of the room leaving Grissom standing in the doorway, now, being stared down at by at least eleven lab techs.

And now he knew...talking would probably not be an issue with Sara tonight.

Because, as far as Sara was concerned, it didn't need to happen.

Because over ten years ago, Grissom had walked out on her, and she still hadn't forgiven him, yet.

And, Grissom knew now, she probably never would.

So, he set off into the direction of the break room for his second shot to find out about Sara...

...Her daughter.

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Hope everyone likes! I honestly don't know where this idea came from, but I loooooooved it, so I thought that I'd share ;)

Second chapter soon, so stay tuned...and maybe review...hehe ;^D