A/N: This is my first CSI story, co-written with by best friend Mila. The funny thing is, I watch like 15 episodes of CSI a week and I don't think she's seen one, until she watches the one I gave her on tape. Lol. Yeah, I love Mila, and she did a great job. Read and Review and make us happy!!
Disclaimer: We do not own CSI, as much as we'd like too. Because then all my AU characters would be in it and people wouldn't leave. So Greg and all the other's aren't mine, I just want to play around with them for a while and manipulate their lives. Yay us!!
Late nights in the office, the lab. He always hated those. It kept him away from his friends, from sleep, from most things. Greg rubbed his eyes sleepily. But it didn't keep him away from his little girl. Greg turned to the little playpen that held his 18-month-old daughter, Leah Emily, only to find it empty. Greg shook his head, but he couldn't help but be proud. His little girl already figured out how to get out of her pen. Whoops. He probably should start to look for her, he thought. While he was wandering around the lab, Grissom came in, a bundle in his arms.
"Greg. Missing something?" He asked with a frown.
Greg turned around and sighed with relief. "Thank you so much.
"Greg, we agreed to let Leah stay here IF she didn't keep you away from your work too much and IF she wasn't a problem. Is she gonna be a problem?"
Greg shook his head. "No sir. I'll look out for her. Promise."
"She's your daughter. So you better stick to that."
Greg sighed as
Grissom left. He turned to his girl. "Don't you make a liar out
of Daddy now, you hear?" He said softly.
Greg kissed
the top of Leah Emily's head gently, putting her back in the pen. He
turned back to his work, looking back at her every so often.
After he had done it, he regretted being with Caily. But now, he was glad he had. He almost, selfishly, was glad Caily had died, or else he wouldn't have Leah Emily.
Soon, she began crying quietly. "Hungry?" he asked in the voice he reserved only for her. That was one spoiled little girl, one spoiled little Daddy's girl that Greg loved like nothing else. He had never felt that way. It was all new, but the last sixteen months had been, by far, the best of his life. He picked her up, cuddling her to his chest.
Greg unlocked the door to his little one-room apartment. He had Leah on his hip and a bag of groceries in the other arm. With some difficulty, he came in the door, set the keys down, locked the door, and put the groceries on the table. He looked at Leah. She was giving him one of "those looks". So much like Caily.
"What? I'm getting better, I didn't drop the groceries this time" He said to his daughter. He laughed at the blank look she gave him. "C'mon. Lets get you something to eat and then we'll get you all cleaned up and ready for bed." He said as he threw his coat over the couch. He saw his daughter frowning and picked it up and placed it on the coat stand. Just like Caily would have expected him to.
And then it was bath time. He and Leah enjoyed this part of the day, especially on those long nights when Greg would run a big bubble bath and get in it as well. Because at heart, he was just an overgrown kid. Tonight was one of those nights. He played with his daughter in the tub, the two of them splashing each other and Greg tickling her. And when she started yawning, he got out and dried the two of them off, dressing himself and the baby, and crawling into the queen size bed with her asleep on his chest. Life was good most of the time for the Sanders.
Greg awoke the next morning, or rather late afternoon, to Leah Emily crying. "Hey, baby girl," he said comfortingly, kissing the top of her head. Leah was like an alarm clock. She always woke up and got his attention at the perfect time. He rubbed her back until she stopped crying and instead looked at him with big brown eyes exactly like his.
"Breakfast time," he said, picking her up and leaning her on his shoulder. He looked over at the couch, which had a large diaper bag perched on it. Ugh. Tonight she was going to the sitter. He hated that. He liked the sitter, but he'd rather be with his baby. He had considered quitting his job, because being a CSI wasn't the best job for a father with a young baby, but he loved it too much, and as much as they hated to admit it, his team needed him. So he found Beth, who watched Leah Emily most nights. She was a lifesaver, but he still rather would have been the one with her.
As he was thinking about this and settling Leah in her high chair, the phone rang. "Sanders," Greg answered, picking it up in one swift motion as he buckled the baby. He was getting the hang of the whole multi-tasking daddy thing.
He listened to the person on the other line and hung up, sighing. Beth was sick. Great. What was he going to do with Leah Emily last minute? No way he was going to let a stranger or daycare have his baby. So he did the only thing he could think of. He called Grissom.
"Well Sweet Pea," he announced after hanging up the phone, "You get to come to work with Daddy tonight. We're going to go see Uncle Nick and Aunt Sara and all those crazy people we love, and pray that I don't get put on a scene. Because if so, you're hanging with Wendy. Let's go."
"Hey baby girl," Nick said sweetly as he took the baby from Greg's arms, as Greg struggled to carry the girl and the diaper bag and the playpen and his briefcase when they arrived at the lab. "How's Uncle Nick's favorite niece?"
"Uncle Nick's only niece," Greg pointed out.
Grissom came around the corner with a piece of paper in his hand. "Hey, Nick, Greg."
"Crap," Greg whispered. That could only mean one thing. Wendy's office here he comes.
"You two have a DB in Henderson," Grissom announced, handing the paper to Greg. "Oh, hey Leah Emily," he said idly, putting his finger in the hand of the baby in Nick's arms.
"Wendy?" Nick asked knowingly.
"Hey guys," Wendy greeted. "Ooh, am I on baby duty?" she asked excitedly.
"Yep," Greg sighed, setting up the playpen.
"Yay!" she laughed. "Come here, baby girl. Come see Aunt Wendy."
Nick kissed the top of Leah Emily's head and handed her off to Greg who did the same thing and handed the baby to Wendy, who also kissed her.
"Let's go," Greg sighed, following Nick out of the lab and hoping that the scene would be easy to process. As much as he loved and trusted Wendy, he always felt best with his baby under his own watch.