Disclaimer: We, sadly, don't own anything.

Spoilers: General all season spoilers.

Soo…one day gipsy and doomcherries decided that writing a joint fic would be awesome. The basis of the story is gipsy's idea, doomcherries is just along for the ride. ;)

MAJOR thanks to ardvari for the wonderful beta.

Part One of Three (so far)!

-She was amazed to discover that when he was saying "As you wish", what he meant was, "I love you."-The Princess Bride

Grissom knocked on the door softly before poking his head in, "I hear there's a little girl asking for me?" He looked around the bubble gum pink room for any sign of his curly haired daughter. "This is strange; this looks like Lucy's room." He picked up a fuzzy haired teddy bear. "And this looks like Lucy's Boo Bear, but I don't see Lucy so I must have the wrong room."

Grissom tiptoed around the small canopy bed, his eyes locked on the closet where Lucy frequently hid. Tripping on a tutu, he knocked his toe against the bed frame and the stuffed bear landed unceremoniously on the floor. "Fu-"

A muffled giggle came from under the bed.

Grissom sat on the edge of the bed swallowing another curse as he rubbed his injured toe. "Well it's really too bad because I had a great bedtime story to tell Lucy."

He watched amused as a little hand quickly darted from under the bed to rescue Boo Bear.

"Oh, well I guess I'll be going now." He tucked his legs on the tiny bed frame and slowly lowered an arm to the floor to support him as he peaked under the bed.

"Boo!"

His daughter shrieked like only a five-year-old little girl can do before giving in to a fit of laughter that went straight to his heart.

She crawled from under the bed, waving the fuzzy bear in front of her. "Daddy! You dropped Boo Bear!" She gave him a pout that was so reminiscent of the one he sometimes got from her mother; he had to smile.

"If a certain little girl had put her toys away," he picked up the frilly culprit off the floor, "then Daddy wouldn't have tripped and Boo Bear wouldn't have fallen."

"It's not a toy!" she replied in her best indignant tone. "It's my night dress." She pulled the tutu over her pajamas and flashed him a nearly toothless smile. "See?"

Grissom nodded and watched as Lucy crawled up on the bed. "I see. Is Boo Bear hurt anywhere?"

She scooted closer to him, handing over the bear. "His nose is hurt", she said, a small pout still firmly planted on her angelic face. Taking the bear from her hands, Grissom kissed the offended bear's muzzle. He handed it back to her with a smile. "There, is that better?"

"Me too, me too!" she giggled, grinning as he kissed her little turned up nose. "Okay, Daddy. Now you can tell your story." She tucked the teddy bear between them and laid her head on the pillow.

Grissom shifted into a more comfortable position, leaning against the tiny headboard. "Did you want a story about Lulu the Ladybug or Cathy the Caterpillar?"

"No, Daddy!" She shook her head vigorously. "I want a story about a princess and a monster!"

"A monster?" Grissom looked at the little girl's expectant eyes that were undeniably like his and wondered when exactly she had stopped looking less like a baby and more like a little person.

"You know Daddy, like Shrek?" She rolled her eyes, another facial expression that mimicked Sara's.

"You want a story about a Princess and an Ogre?" Frowning slightly, Grissom searched his memory for the movie his daughter was referring to. "Maybe I should get Mommy for this one."

"No!" the little girl exclaimed, tugging on his arm as if to hold him in place. "You can do it Daddy, you can make it up." It's the faith that his daughter had in him that stopped him from admitting defeat. Stick with what you know, isn't that what they say?

He smiled, "Alright." The freckles on his daughter's cheeks were all the inspiration he needed to spontaneously come up with the perfect fairytale. "This is a story about a princess named Sar…Sarafina and an ogre named… Gilberto."

"That's a silly name!" Lucy laughed.

"Well, it was a very silly ogre," Grissom agreed with a small laugh.

The little girl turned on her left side to face him, her attention now fully captured. "Where did they live?"

"Franciscoland," Grissom replied without missing a beat. "It happened a long time ago, almost 15 years ago."

"Wow!" Lucy's eyes widened with interest.

"Gilberto was an unhappy ogre traveling the planet in search of eternal happiness. One day as he passed Franciscoland, he felt something magical that told him to stop. So he did. He didn't know it then, but this land was where princess Sarafina lived. The princess he dreamed of every night when he went to sleep."

San Francisco. Land of opportunity for all those families that helped spawn the Gold Rush.

His current home for the next two weeks.

Sighing, mostly to himself, he picked up his briefcase and pushed open the double doors to the mostly vacated lecture hall. Out of nearly four hundred seats, only thirty were occupied by tired and drained looking college students. Lackadaisical faces stared back at him, all of them from the middle to back rows.

All except one.

Front and center, a bright-eyed brunette with a mass of curls held back by a ponytail stared back at him almost eagerly. His eyes fixed on hers for a moment and he offered a small smile. She smiled back and his breath caught as her whole face lit up with a youthful beauty. There was something very comforting, almost familiar, about the young woman.

Tearing away from her face (lips), he motioned the people in back to come forward.

"I know being here at eight in the morning probably isn't high on your list of priorities, but I can get quite enthusiastic about my samples and would love it if all of you could see them."

He heard the collective groans of disappointment. Who wanted to spend two weeks during summer learning something as "stupid" as anthropology and entomology in relation to criminalistic?

He continued waving them down until the last student shuffled into the fourth row. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he continued, "I'm Dr. Gil Grissom and I'm from the Las Vegas Crime Lab. I'm here because thirty of you willingly, or unwillingly, decided to take this course. I hope you'll be able to gain something useful within these next two weeks."

Walking around the desk, he leaned against it, crossing his legs at the ankles. Focusing on the curly haired brunette, the only person that seemed even remotely interested, he started with his carefully rehearsed lecture.

The young woman's attention never wavered. Her intelligent brown gaze squinting in concentration, she even offered an occasional nod of encouragement. He risked a look around the room, encountering only taciturn faces before settling back on hers for the rest of the class.

At the end of his lecture, students left hurriedly before he had a chance to dismiss them and a raised arm was the only thing that saved the class from being his most dreadful one to date.

"Yes, miss?"

"Sidle. Sara Sidle." She had a beautiful husky tone to her voice that made her sound more mature than the early twenties he guessed her to be.

Dear God, if she were that young, he was in trouble.

"You had a question miss Sidle?"

"Several actually- " she was interrupted by a few students failing to make an inconspicuous exit as they practically had to climb over her to reach the door.

She muffled a laugh as she caught his look of desperation and rose from her seat to meet him. She smiled up at him, "I wouldn't take it personally Dr. Grissom, some people just can't appreciate the knowledge you can gain from a lecture such as yours."

God, her smirk would be the death of him.

He took in her lengthy and thin frame as she walked nonchalantly towards him and he couldn't help but let his gaze linger on her denim clad legs.

Legs, legs, legs for miles. Jesus.

She offered her hand as she neared him, her long slender fingers remaining the only thing between them. Grasping her hand, he felt electricity rush through him at the simple touch of her creamy skin. The heartwarming smile that accompanied it along with the freckles adorning her features rendered him momentarily speechless.

If he believed in such things, Gil Grissom would have thought he'd just been struck by Cupid.

Maybe he would leave his heart in San Francisco, like the old song described.

"Gilberto being the stubborn Ogre he was didn't immediately recognize Sarafina as his true love, but her presence convinced him to stay in Franciscoland a little longer."

Grissom tucked a blanket around his daughter whose little cold feet were now firmly planted on his legs. "How am I doing so far, Lucy?"

"You're doing great Daddy." To Grissom's dismay, her animated tone gave no sign of sleepiness. "Princess Sarafina sounds really pretty, was she wearing a crown? Because in Shrek, all the princesses have crowns."

Some unruly curls had escaped out of her ponytail and were now stubbornly sticking up in the air. When the sun hit the little frizzies, it created a soft glow around her head giving her almost an ethereal quality.

"Yes, she was wearing a gold crown."

"Then what happened?" the little girl asked expectantly. "Did Gilberto go to her Castle?"

"No." Grissom almost choked on his answer. "No, it would be a while before Sarafina invites Gilberto to her Castle. Although that first night they met, the Princess did invite him to dinner."

He was surprised at the number of questions she posed, but was more than happy to spend the time answering her. It wasn't every day a student was this into what he had to say.

Looking up at the clock, at the door and then back at the clock, Sara finally turned back to him. The smile that slowly crept onto her face almost made him blush.

"If you're free, wanna grab something to eat?" she asked, shoving her hands into her pockets.

He smiled back at her. "Yes. Yes, I'd like that."

If it was possible, he thought he saw her grin grow. "Great."

"Wow, Sarafina is super cool."

Grissom chuckled at his daughter's latest favorite expression. He nodded in agreement, "Yes, Sarafina was indeed very cool."