A/N
This is something different for me so I would love to hear feedback. Thanks to Ashleigh and Joan who betad. This story is full of angst. Big surprise I know. No need to worry though. I am a happy ending kind of girl.
Thanks for Phish. She did my after market beta work.
This story is in two parts. Part two should be up shortly
I own nothing. CSI is not mine although GD is on his way to pick me up for a date.
Snapshot Part 1
He watched her from his office door as she slid from lab to lab. He rarely closed his door
She looked like one of those Hollywood starlets in her form fitting sweaters and blouses hugging the swell of the baby, his baby.
She hardly stopped smiling these days. She laughed with the fellas and had found a new kinship with Catherine. As for him, she simply looked through him, handling her assignments and their work relationship with serenity and professionalism.
Months before she had shown up at his house one morning after shift, weeks after their month long affair had ended badly.
"Hi."
"Hello."
He didn't move. Her dark hair curled in the morning dew.
"May I come in Gris?"
"Why?"
She rolled her eyes. What in, God's name had she ever seen in this selfish egomaniac, this simple man who could not control her so he tossed her from his life like day old garbage.
He was pitiful when she really thought about it. He was nearly fifty years old and had only two friends, although Catherine and Brass were marginal at best. He had only dated two women seriously in the last five years, a lonely dominatrix and a subordinate in the throws of a desperate crush.
Both women thought they could change him. Both women were wrong. Both relationships were over before they started. Sara was glad that she had gotten out relatively unscathed. Heather probably felt the same.
"Look Gil I don't want to fuck you. As it is, I wish I had never fucked you, but I did and that's why I'm here."
"Enough with the riddles, Sara. What do you want?"
Her dark eyes became angry slits. "I'm pregnant."
"I thought you were on the pill."
"I thought you were too old to produce any viable sperm," she spat.
"Did you do this on purpose?"
She struggled to control her temper. "No, Gil, I didn't. Even in my infinite fawning, I knew I did not want to be attached to you for the rest of my life."
"When are you having the termination?"
She started to snap again but bit back the retort. She couldn't pretend that she hadn't seriously considered an abortion.
"I'm having the baby… I'm keeping it."
Gil stood looking at her for a too long a time. "What do you want from me?"
Sara turned and retraced her steps. He didn't follow.
Now she sat laughing at something Catherine had said. He caught the words "little girls" and "tuition".
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Gil knew a process server when he saw one. He took the bundle of papers the nervous young man offered and tore it open.
Paternity suit filed by one Miss Sara Sidle vs. Mr. Gilbert Anthony Grissom.
She wanted money and not just a little bit. She hoped that she could reason with him, thus the phone call three weeks before.
"Gil I need money to help with the baby."
"I didn't decide to have a baby, Sara, you did. Why should I be asked to support this kid?"
"It takes two, Gil. I don't need a lot but there's daycare to consider. I'll need a bigger place."
"Sara it's not my problem. You should have taken all that into consideration when you made this decision."
He couldn't say why he was being so unreasonable. He could give Sara half his check and he would hardly feel the dent. Mostly, he knew, it pissed him off to see her everyday, growing big with the baby, the son or daughter she would raise without him.
Maybe he was hurt because she hadn't loved him like she said she did. How could a woman who loved him accept his rejection so evenly and simply? She didn't cry or fret. She handed him his house key and asked for hers back. She showed up for her shift looking well rested and serene.
The next month he found himself oddly pleased that she called in sick twice and ran from the room when Nick's Chinese food arrived. Maybe the break up was taking a toll on her after all.
He couldn't know it was the baby, not losing him, that was affecting her.
He looked at the stack of papers and wondered how his ordered life had come to unravel with the one siren song that was Sara.
He picked up the phone to call Mac, his attorney.
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Sara didn't want to be in the room. Tonya, her attorney, strongly advised that Sara take the meeting with Gil and his legal counsel.
She sat staring blankly at the wall as Gil's attorney droned on about fair and reasonable support. She filtered most of it out, deciding not to bring up the weekend trip to Paris, the diamond and gold watch he had given her for her birthday, along with the matching earrings. All of which had transpired during the five week relationship.
Gil hadn't spoken since he entered the room. They had left work, eyeing one another across the parking lot, wondering how they could weasel out of what would certainly be a disastrous meeting.
"Sara," the short, sweaty man said. "I think this offer is more than fair."
Sara took the white sheet of paper and looked at the numbers. Methodically her long fingers ripped the cheap copy paper. After she was done, she stacked the pieces into a neat pile. Her dark eyes pierced Gil's across the table.
Please don't let my baby look like him. Of all the stupid things I have done, he was the worst.
"I cannot believe that you think that will support a child. That wouldn't support a dog, let alone a kid. You should be ashamed of yourself… but it's clear that you aren't."
"Sara…"
Sara put rested her hand on her belly. Whenever her son heard Gil's voice, he kicked. He kicked hard. She stayed as far away from him as possible when they were in the same room. She braced herself for the tumult.
"Why do you do that every time I'm near you? What do you think I'm going to do to you?" He asked in a low voice so that the others barely heard him.
Sara closed her eyes as the first kick hit. "Not that you give a damn, Gris, but every time he hears your voice he starts moving. He doesn't know yet that his father is an asshole who doesn't want to help support him."
Gil looked down at the table and studied his hands. He stood and buttoned the jacket that was too big for him. He had lost weight since the breakup. He got the courage to look her in her eyes as he spouted a number far more generous than the one she had asked for.
"I'm sorry," he mumbled and he left the lawyers to work it out with Sara and his son.
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Gil stood outside of Sara's hospital room door. He had been there for hours at the other end of the hall, watching them all come and go. Catherine had sent a group page. Sara was in labor with his baby. His son.
He watched from a discreet distance as Nick let out a loud whoop near 1 a.m. "Justin Michael Sidle has made his entrance, weighing in at 8 pounds, 4 ounces. Mother and baby are well."
That had been hours ago. He watched them leave with promises to return as soon as their respective shifts were over.
"May I help you sir?"
Gil turned to the tall African American nurse. She looked a bit like Mia.
"Um…my son and my…his mother…my son was just born and he's in there." Gil nodded towards the white hospital room door.
She smiled evenly. She looked her watch. "It's nearly time for their morning check. Do you want me to tell her that you're here?"
Uncertainties filled his mind. What right did he have to see the boy? He had wanted nothing to do with him. Going so far that he had refused to help support him.
"Um, maybe you could ask her if it's okay for me to come in. Her name is Sara."
"I know Dr. Grissom," she said showing white teeth.
The famous eyebrow went up.
"You processed my son's car accident a few weeks ago."
"Mrs. Aponte, I'm sorry my mind, is all over the place. How's he doing?"
Martin Aponte was a star forward for UNLV and a straight "A" student. The brake line on his inherited sedan had been cut. The boy had escaped with a mild concussion and some chest bruising.
"He's fine. I understand you have a son now. It changes you. I'll go check with Miss Sidle."
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Sara sat up in bed. Her skin was pasty and faint circles were under her eyes.
"I know I look like shit, Gris. I just had a baby. Don't just stand there. Come in and meet your son."
Gil walked across the floor of the room. He felt old and foolish as he looked down at the small form Sara held.
He looked at Sara uncertainly. "He looks like you."
"Me?"
"Yes. He's got your chin and your mouth."
"He does?"
Gil nodded as the boy's eyes flew open.
"There he is kiddo. Your daddy. The one that made you dance on mommy's bladder."
"Sara I…"
"Gris, just hold your son."
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Gil held Justin cradled in one strong arm. Sara still didn't trust him. She had to go out of town for a few days and she wanted to take Justin with her. She had stopped breastfeeding a few weeks before and Gil wanted Justin to stay with him.
"Sara, I am his father."
"And I'm his mother. He should be with me."
"Sara, that's sexist."
She folded one arm across her torso. He was right.
"I can take care of my son for three days."
"Who will watch him at night when you are at work?"
"The same people who watch him when you're at work, the lab day care," Gil said evenly. She was being inordinately difficult.
"So you'll just waltz in there with him? How are you going to explain that?"
"I don't have to explain anything. The lab and the daycare are in separate parts of the building and they have separate entrances. What difference does it make? At some point he's going to talk and he's going to call me Daddy or Dad or Pop or Old Man that Looks Like Me."
Sara laughed, breaking her tough exterior. "I thought you said he looks like me."
"Curly hair, crooked teeth. Six on one hand. Half a dozen on the other."
Gil watched the mother of his child. Things were not fabulous between them but they weren't awful. A friendly truce had been declared after Gil had shown up at the hospital. Sara paced for a time across the carpeted floor of her son's nursery.
"Gris, I know that I'm being unreasonable. You've been very clear about that. But he's my baby and I don't want to be away from him for three days. He's not even four months old."
Gil looked down at his sleeping son and said the only thing that made sense. "I'll come with you."
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Sara needed to go to the California to finish off the sale of her parent's Bed and Breakfast. Since her mother's imprisonment the property had fallen into the disrepair. A resurgence in land prices, along with the coast, had earned Sara a tidy sum on the ancient property. She had even offered to lower her child support request. Gil had told her it wasn't necessary. He was deeply sorry for his behavior and tried to show her that in the way he cared for Justin.
They checked into a two bedroom suite with a small kitchenette. Sara got up early on Friday and dressed quickly. As the time drew near, Gil lumbered from his room, his hair in disarray and sleep clouding his eyes.
Sara laughed softly.
"Thanks Sara. You are so good for my ego."
"How long you gonna be gone?"
Sara looked sheepish.
"I don't want to go," she said quickly.
"You don't have to. Tell them to bring you the paperwork. You shouldn't have to go back to that place if you don't want to. What's the phone number?"
Sara handed him the realtor's card.
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After Sara had signed the papers in the lobby of the hotel, she returned to find Gil sitting near the open sliding doors that led to the balcony reading. Justin was in his carrier enjoying the sounds of the ocean and his father's voice.
"So what do you think about the Yankees prospects this year? I for one think they need a power hitter. Not going to make to the play offs without one. You think you might want to play some ball? Looks like you might be big enough to be a hitter. Course if you take after your Mom you might be suited more for basketball. We'll see. Doesn't matter to me if you play sports or not. Tell you the truth, as much of overachiever as I am, I don't care what you do as long as you do it honestly, as long as you love it. It's important that you have something or someone you are passionate about. Actually it's better to have the someone. Remember that okay?"
Sara wondered if Gil was still a little passionate about her.
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"Can you take Justin for the night?"
"You don't have to ask me questions like that."
"I don't want be presumptuous. Is his room ready at your place yet?"
Truth be told, Gil had done very little to the extra room in his house. He liked that he and Sara were forced to do parenting together. If his son had a room at his house, he would no longer have a reason to be at Sara's all the time.
"No," Gil said evenly, trying not give away his position.
"Oh. It's just that I have a thing."
"A thing?"
"A date."
His heart fell to the very pit of his stomach. He struggled to save face. "I'll stop by that place on Munez. They assemble and deliver furniture within twenty four hours."
Sara sighed. "Thanks Gil you're a lifesaver and Gil…"
"Yes Sara."
"You're a very good father."
The phone disconnected and Gil wondered at his infinite stupidly.
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Sara snatched up the phone. Gil never called when she was out with Martin. His unfailing politeness and consideration irritated Sara. "Sidle."
"I had to take Justin to St. Mary's. He has a fever of nearly one hundred one."
"I'll meet you at the Emergency entrance."
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Sara leapt from the car and Martin Barksdale took in the scene. He knew Dr. Grissom from a couple of court cases he had tried. He'd heard the rumors about Gil and Sara. That he and Sara had carried on a thing for years, that he might be the father of her son. When he had asked her point blank about it she had said that she was not seeing Gil and so he had asked her out.
Now he sat in his mid size Mercedes, not unlike the one Gil drove, watching him mummer against Sara's hair as the tears that she would not shed in front of him broke through the surface.
"It's okay. He's going to be okay. He's tough, just like his Mom."
They disappeared into the building but not before Gil threw him a menacing glance, not the first one he had thrown at Martin.
This was Gil Grissom's family and he didn't belong there.
Martin agreed. He would miss Sara Sidle.
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They lay in what was called a family room where children and parents shared the same cheery room when a child was admitted.
After his fever had started to recede Gil had convinced Sara to take a nap, eventually laying down with her when his own body had started to dissolve under the pressure and molded to her seeking out warmth and familiarity.
Periodically Justin would open his eyes to make sure his parents were still in the room. This being sick might have been worth it all if it got both his parents to sleep in the room with him and together no less.
Besides, this room had bug pictures all over it.
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Catherine and Warrick stood looking at Sandy, their favorite nurse in ER.
"Look guys. I just got on but I would have known if a Sidle checked in. Sara and Justin aren't here. I have all your last names flagged. Brown was a chore so I flagged Warrick's social."
Nick and Greg joined their friends. The crime scene they had been processing turned out to be a practical joke between rival fraternities.
"Hey, where're Justin and Sara?" Nick asked.
Sandy tapped on keys as an alert came across her screen. "There's no Justin Sidle here but there is a Justin Grissom in 211 on the pediatric floor."
"Told you." Warrick said as he led the way. "And this time I want my money Stokes."
Mother, Father and son were asleep as Catherine opened the door. The cool hall air tickled Grissom's nose and he stirred a bit. He made eye contact with Catherine and mouthed that he would meet them in the hall.
"How's Justin?" Catherine asked as the others stood around nervously.
"Better. His temp is down. His breathing's better. He'll be home by tomorrow."
"What do you need from us?" Warrick wanted to know.
"I need you guys to cover. Sara's not going to want to leave him and neither do I so we won't be in for at least a week. I called Ecklie. He's furious. I told him that Sara and I both needed to exercise the Family Leave Act. He asked if it was for the same reason and I told him it was none of his business. Don't put yourselves on the line for me. At this point I could stay home with him if need be. Just try and keep Sara out of the line of fire. Don't lie but don't volunteer anything. We're safe for awhile cause he has Sara's last name."
"You got it big guy," Greg volunteered, "But he doesn't have Sara's last name. He has
yours."
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"When did you change his name?" Gil asked.
He had not known that his son had his last name until he had given the hospital his Social Security Number.
"Couple of weeks ago. It was supposed to be your Father's Day Present." Sara said quietly as she rocked their son. Sara and Gil had been particularly clingy since Justin's hospital stay.
"Thank you." Gil's voice was also hushed as his hand went to touch Justin's black hair, savoring the brief connection with Sara's flesh as he did so.
"A son should have his father's name," Sara said simply, not looking at Gil.
"Some father's don't deserve it. Sara…" He didn't look at her as she spoke the next words.
"I should have said something before now but..." He stopped and took a deep breath.
"I don't know that I can explain myself. I acted like an ass."
Justin made a smacking sound and wiggled in his sleep. "I wish I knew why, too. Why you broke up with me. Why you acted like such an ass. I wish I knew, too, Grissom. You're wrong though."
Silence.
"You deserve to have a son with your name."
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"He says one of us has to quit or be fired."
"We can't just switch shifts?" Sara asked, worry pulling at her mouth.
Ecklie had not asked Gil if Justin was his son. Truth be told, he didn't want to know. No matter how he felt about Gil or Sara, he couldn't afford to loose any CSIs, let alone two with their kind of experience. When the new insurance policies came across his desk and Justin Grissom was listed as a dependant on Gil's policy, he had been forced to address the situation.
"As long as I'm a supervisor and you're not, I might end up supervising you no matter what shift I'm on."
Sara nodded. "What do I do?"
Gil was surprised at the question. "If you want to quit…"
Gil saw the alarm in her eyes. "If you want to finish school and stay home, you can do that. I'll handle the financial responsibility."
"Gris…"
"Don't answer. Don't answer. You can keep your apartment or we can buy a bigger house. Whatever you want. I'm not suggesting that we're a couple, but we are a family and Justin is the most important thing."
He exhaled heavily as Sara snapped.
"You don't think I know that?"
He held her gaze. "It's either me or you and I make more money."
"There are other options."
Gil refused to say it, hear it or think about it.
"I could find job somewhere else. I could go back to Frisco."
It was Gil's turn to snap. "No!" he said ferociously. "You are not taking my son away from me. No!"
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The fight had landed them in therapy sitting on opposite sides of a purple leather couch, the intimacy they had formed draining away as Sara glared at him.
Verdict.
"You two have unresolved romantic relationship issues that are coloring your parenting relationship. Gil, you want to fix everything for Sara because you don't believe you are worthy and Sara, you don't trust Gil."
She blinked back tears. He tried to control his breathing.
"You also need to deal with the fact that you are still very much in love with one another. That doesn't mean you belong together, but you do have to deal with it. Truth be told, I don't know if you two should resume your romantic relationship. Your relationship is extremely dysfunctional."
Sara quit. She went back to school. She taught a few undergraduate classes and worked on starting a consulting business. Gil put a down payment on the house next to his.
He started dating. She seethed silently, not remembering that she was the first one to break the unspoken rule
She recognized her own hypocrisy but did not seek to correct it.
Vanessa was a buxom blond creature who used to be a swimsuit model. She was barely thirty and a member of Mensa.
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Catherine warned him of trouble ahead. He ignored her. He was tired of being alone, of not having Sara, of not having sex, of everything that revolved around the dysfunction of their relationship.
Vanessa was available, willing, smart, and easy to deal with.
Sara was difficult, smart and hard to navigate.
He was tired. It never occurred to him that he threw the rock that started the war.
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It finally came to a head when Sara used her key to enter the house while Vanessa was alone. She said she needed one of Justin's t-shirts.
"So she can just waltz right in here when you aren't home? While I am here alone?"
So much for easy, Grissom thought. "We have a son together."
"Gil, I got that. I understand and admire your devotion to your son, and I would be willing integrate into this situation if Sara would at least be civil to me. She came in here to show me that she will always be a part of your life. She barely spoke. She moved through this house like she owns it."
"I'll talk to her." He said, trying to appease the blond woman.
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"You should have knocked. You knew I wasn't there."
She sucked on her bottom lip and thrust her mother's breasts forward
"I didn't realize there were rules. YOU insisted that I move in next door. I could've stayed where I was."
"I know. I didn't expect to start dating someone. Things have changed. When you start dating again, things will change for you."
Sara pouted. "Maybe this wasn't the best idea. Maybe I should move back to San Franscio. Our lives will have clear cut divisions that way."
The moving threat. It had been the third time she had used it in as many months. Justin was on the verge of walking.
"Sara. We have joint custody. You can't just up and leave." He said rationally, fear gripping his heart.
"I'm his mother. I'm his mother whose income has been cut considerably. Besides, Justin will probably be my only child. You and Vanessa can have other kids. She's young and you're…well fertile." The words dripped with sweetness and accusation. She knew what buttons to push.
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"So what are you going to do?" Catherine asked twirling the ring on her right hand as she rubbed the base of her neck with her other hand. She was tired and had a headache.
"Sara is not going to dictate what I do with my life. I tried. She started dating first."
"When exactly did you try Gi1? When you broke up with her or when you refused to take care of your financial responsibilities?" Catherine asked wearily.
Gil's gruff voice was low. He was frustrated with Sara. "We're not a couple. WE have a son. Besides she knows…knew how I felt."
"How would she know that?"
"She knows that she can wrap me around her little finger. She knows how I feel about her. If she wanted me, she could have had me. She started dating Barksdale."
Catherine shut her eyes against the light. "You have to be kidding Gil. I mean you have to be. You BROKE up with her. You tried to deny responsibility for your son. You did NOTHING to show her that you wanted to reconcile. "
Gil huffed again.
"Look I have a terrible headache. I don't have time to sugar coat this. You're living next door to the mother of your child. You have a steady girlfriend who doesn't know that you're paying for said house and that you are, basically, financing Sara's lifestyle."
"How did…."
"Oh please. Sara's income was virtually cut in half." Catherine clucked her tongue, "Worst cases scenario can go either way. Sara will leave and take Justin with her, or she'll stay and this whole thing plays out and you're forced to make a choice. Vanessa may be sweet, but when it comes to you, Sara is lethal. As you are with her. Ever notice that Martin goes the other way when he sees you coming and he refuses to deal with any case you have to testify in?"
"I…."
Catherine continued.
"Look. It's going to be a bad scene when Vanessa walks in on your naked ass with Sara's legs wrapped around you like a boa constrictor. Really Gil. No one deserves to get caught in the Grissom Sidle cross fire. Warrick and I love you like family. Even we forget to duck sometimes."
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He would control the situation this time. He would initiate the reconciliation.
She woke from a precise dream to a wavy reality. Justin was with Gil's mother at his house. She thought of that as soon as his hand snaked across a naked hip.
She wrapped her arm around his neck and spoke against familiar scent. He wasn't surprised to find her naked under the cool white sheet. She knew him better than anyone.
"I miss you." He said into her clean scented hair as he guiltily fought back tears.
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Sara spooned more fruit into his mouth.
"Are we moving too fast?" He asked seriously. "I mean knocking out the walls to our houses. That means we would be living together."
She straddled his lap and dark nipples brushed against his mouth.
"What do you think?" She said kissing him firmly.
"I think I am being influenced by an officer of the court."
"Good."
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One year old Justin Grissom was sure that he had experienced the most wonderful birthday of any boy ever. Yesterday he had been surrounded by family and friends who were convinced of his brilliance and never before seen cuteness. There was cake, ice cream and pizza with not just cheese but with something round and salty. He only got that kind of food when he was with his father.
His Uncle Brass had bought him a toy gun, much to his mother's dismay. Thank god his father had rescued it before Sara Sidle could trash it.
"Don't worry Justin. I won't let Mom get her hands on it." He had winked.
His parents. They were doing what he saw other kid's parents did. They were laughing and talking and kissing and sleeping in the same bed like when he was sick. Only this time he wasn't sick.
That Vanessa lady was nice, but she was no Sara Sidle. No indeed. His mother could burp with the best of them and she liked to watch all that cool stuff on Discovery just like his Dad.
He figured it would only be a matter of time before his mother had the same last name as he and his father. He wasn't sure how that happened but it seemed to be very important. Maybe there would be more cake and pizza with round salty things.
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"Where are you going?"
"To the symphony," Sara said swiping something gooey and pink on her lips.
When did she start wearing that lip gloss? Young silly women wore lip gloss. Not his Sara.
He watched as a black wand appeared and she elongated already long lashes.
"Who are you going with?" He wanted to know as his arms folded across his wide chest. He sniffed the air. She was wearing perfume, real perfume. Not cologne or body splash.
"Martin," She replied simply.
He didn't speak for a solid minute, giving Sara enough time to slide past him and out what was still her front door.
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"I can't believe you went out with your ex boyfriend. How would you like it if I went out with Vanessa?"
"You did, didn't you?" She said taking down her hair. Gil sniffed the air to make sure that she still smelled only of perfume.
"I mean that's where you were last week when you were so vague. Out with Vanessa. I believe you two had lunch and then went to see a movie."
Gil stopped cold. Stupid, stupid man. You are a stupid, stupid man Gil Grissom. On her slowest day she's still smarter than you.
"Sara…"
She gave him a blank stare that covered the depth of her pain. She kicked off her shoes and they slid several inches across the hardwood floor.
"Justin get to sleep okay?"
"Sara…"
"I thought he might be a little congested." She worked on her diamond earrings and her pearl's handed down from Maria Grissom. She was sure that a marriage was imminent. Maybe Justin could give them to his wife or daughter. That would be nice.
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He was sitting on the edge of her bed. He had been watching her sleep for a least an hour.
He beat the locksmith by minutes. He knew her as well as she knew him.
She woke slowly, mumbling something to him in her sleep, then laughing at something funny that Nick said, finally reaching across to his former place in the bed stopping when she came in contact with his blue jean covered thigh.
"I want to explain."
"I know that you do," she kept her eyes closed, "You just can't."
"Sara it's absolutely not what you think."
"I think that you have been singing that "take it slow" refrain because you don't know what you want. Or maybe you do."
She turned her back on him, "Look, I am sure I bear some fault in this because I threatened you with taking Justin. I won't do that. You know I won't. I just might not be able to live next door to you any longer and I'll have to get a full time job. We'll make it work for Justin."
"I want to make it work for us." He pleaded.
"It can't. You can't. You tried to tell me that before Justin was born. You have tried to tell me since then. I get it now."
He realized she was crying now. It never occurred to him that anything he had done would profoundly hurt her. She was always tough and reactive.
Don't want to take responsibility for your son? I'll haul you into court.
Don't want me? I'll date someone else.
He never worried about her emotional health, he was too busy taking care of his own.
"It's not what you think. It's not. I swear to you it's not." Her shoulders heaved with emotion as he touched them. Her palm wiped away tears.
"I should have told you. I'm sorry."
"I haven't been on a real date in ages. I don't dress up. I don't go anywhere. I just stay home with my family and play homemaker. I thought that's where we were headed."
He put one forearm around her and lay down next to her. "It is. We are. We are a family."
"Apparently not. You take her out to lunch. You take her to the movies. Do you know the last time I saw a movie in a movie theater? I wear my hair in a pony tail. I have Justin's drool and Stage Three baby food on my shirt most of the time. If it's not baby drool, it's residue from one my labs at school. All I seemed to be good for his having your babies because you certainly don't want to be seen with me in public."
"Sara, I went to lunch with Vanessa. I did that. I did not go to the movies with her. I went to the movies by myself. I should have told you. I should have. I felt like I owed her an apology. I never really broke up with her. I just stopped calling and answering the phone when she called. I was trying to do the right thing. I got this crazy notion in my head that we might have more kids and I didn't want my daughter to ever be treated like that and so I apologized. Going to the movies was just a flook I was out. It was Star Trek. You and Justin were at your playgroup. I had a few hours to kill."
He moved his body closer to her. "I'm sorry if I neglected you as a woman, as MY woman. I was content. I had everything I wanted so I figured that you had everything you wanted. You have to tell me these things. I'm an old guy. Give me a good meal, my kid and a little nookie and it's a pretty stellar evening for me."
She laughed despite herself. "Am I still in trouble?" He asked and pressed his chest into her back. He kissed one shoulder.
"Oh yeah."
TBC