A/N: We own nothing, not characters, not CSI, certainly not CBS. Another one following Sara and Gil Grissom into a stable, happy relationship! Enjoy--we appreciate all reviews.
Fire, Death, and Family Chapter 1
Flowers grew taller than the boy's head—this field of wildflowers in colors of the rainbow planted for bees and butterflies and hummingbirds. Sara could see the dark head moving through paths of his own making and hear the child's voice as he sang a song of his own. She carried a basket of tomatoes in one hand and held one of her babies against her chest with the other.
"Eli, don't go far away," she called.
"I can see you," he said as he ran underneath the sunflowers and into the path in front of her, skipping and returning to his song.
It had taken Sara and Gil Grissom many years to get to this point of peace and calm. Eli had come to live with them the day she learned she was pregnant with twins. She smiled as she thought about his first day, his first week with them. He belonged to them just as the baby cradled in her arm.
They were returning from a daily walk, a well-worn path to the religious community where Sara's mother had lived for a decade. Today, tomatoes were waiting for them; every day there was something—muffins, bread, eggs, fruits as tangible things—and always the hugs and kisses and adoring words from the women who made the farm their home.
It had been difficult for Sara to understand why her mother sought such a place, why she would choose an isolated, prayerful life, surrounding herself with rituals of religion among similar thinking women. As difficult as it was for Sara, Laura Sidle had found the place she needed. Many years would pass before Sara discovered a true understanding of her mother's reasons.
When Sara needed a place of solitude, a place to regain peace, she had made her way to the same farm. In those days, she began to recognize why a person needed the quiet, restful, predictable days in such a place. She recovered, finding a purpose, learning to live again as her mother had. The time she spent on the farm with these working women, where every day was physically exhausting, helped her to make another decision. With that decision had come her destiny—their destiny, their future.
Eli let out a happy yell as he saw his father coming towards them, one baby tucked into a carrier—the twin sister of the baby she carried, and holding the hand of another little girl as she bounced along beside her dad. This was Bizzy, their oldest daughter at age two.
Always smiling, a pretty baby with dark curls and bright blue eyes; she had been their introduction to parenthood. Gil Grissom, older than most fathers by decades, had been besotted with this baby seconds after her birth. Once, he said, at his age, Bizzy was a miracle, a gift. And he took her everywhere—before she could walk, he placed her in a carrier as he gardened, shopped, worked. Sara teased, "I was only the means of her delivery."
From the time this child took her first steps, he walked with her, slowing his stride to that of a toddler. When she said her first word, he praised her for hours. He worked with her on his shoulder as she slept and kept her near as she learned to play.
Sara never anticipated having her own child and was surprised when she felt such overwhelming love for an infant—too much, she thought. She was the one who suggested another baby—maybe they could have another miracle, a second gift, so Bizzy would not be alone as she grew up. Astonishment could not define their feelings when, a few weeks later, she had a positive pregnancy test.
Within days, Grissom had been summoned to Las Vegas and returned with Eli, Warrick Brown's son. The couple often laughed—so much had happened in such a short time—from a single daughter, to a son, to twins born barely six months later, their lives had changed. As parents, they could spread this absorbing love to each child. Sara smiled as, again, she realized her love for her children had grown to envelop and enclose each one.
Sara watched as Eli ran to his dad. The boy's father had been killed; his last breaths taken as Grissom held him in his arms. The child, an infant when Warrick died, would never know his biological father, but had found a dad long before an adoption made them legal parents. Life was good to them and she quickened her own steps to reach the four people she loved.
Yet, as she walked, she noticed an edgy tension in her husband. He laughed with his children as two ran in circles around him and he lifted a hand to wave. She hurried. The baby nuzzled against her chest.
Sara kissed him. Eli giggled causing Bizzy to giggle—neither knowing exactly why, but when Grissom heard the giggles, he wrapped an arm around his wife and kissed her—longer, moving his arm up her back, to her neck, causing both babies they held to squirm and grunt, and both adults laughed.
"What's wrong?" She asked. Her eyes met his with the question and he knew she sensed his stress. He took the basket of tomatoes.
