Baby lotion
By Dany
Summary: Grissom and his new love meet again.
A/N: Sequel to "Baby powder". Also a response to this weeks Unbound Improv Challenge.
Disclaimer: I don't own CSI.
xxxxx
"You're kidding. Grissom?"
Nick nodded, grinning at Greg and Warrick while Sara remained in the background, staying out of the conversation.
Grissom's behavior two days ago was all over the lab. Most of the people had heard it from the cops, but Greg had been clueless and heard it just now from Nick.
Sara was getting tired of it. They all seemed to think it impossible that Grissom – or she, for that matter – was able to interact normally with children. They did not understand that it was a choice. They just did not want to deal with children out of insecurity and awareness of their own deficits. That didn't mean they couldn't.
Someone cleared her throat asking, "Excuse me, I'm looking for Dr. Grissom."
It was a young woman carrying a little girl with an adorable smile. Sara felt herself involuntarily smiling back at the child.
"You must be Amelia's mother." Nick stepped forward to greet her, recognizing the little girl. "Hey Amelia!"
The little girl, though, turned her head to look past Nick and beamed at Sara, "Gah!" One little hand reached out for her.
With such a cute little bug it was no wonder Grissom had opened up, Sara thought
Before Nick could insert himself further into the situation, she led the mother away. "I'll just show you Dr. Grissom's office."
She knocked on the office door tentatively, not sure if she should let the young mother into what Grissom called his office. It could be a bit… disturbing for someone unsuspecting.
To Sara's surprise the woman went into the office without hesitation and did not seem affected by the unusual décor. "Dr. Grissom?"
He nodded and stepped from behind his desk. Mrs. Knightley walked straight towards Grissom and held out her hand. The little girl in her arms seemed to have other plans though. Before her mother could take Grissom's hand Amelia gripped it and pulled herself closer to him. "Da!"
He seemed uncomfortable, but the mother relinquished her hold on Amelia and suddenly she was in Grissom's arms, playing with his beard again.
"You, you must me Mrs. Knightley. Nice to meet you." He looked down at the little girl, a bit shocked that this little thing seemed to be so trusting with him.
"Thank you for the quick solution," Mrs. Knightley answered. A suspect had been caught yesterday. And with some video footage of the corridor outside the showgirl's room, enough evidence had been collected to bring the suspect to court. It looked like everything would be over in a couple of weeks. "I can't tell you how happy we are that Amelia was returned to us unharmed."
Sara thought she saw Grissom blush, which she found quite amusing.
"Don't thank me. I'm not the one who found her. I'm just a minimal part of the investigation." Grissom didn't like being in the spotlight and grew even more uncomfortable.
"Well, you helped get my daughter back, so thank you!" The woman smiled, ignoring his objections.
"Oh, Amelia took something she shouldn't have. Right, baby girl." She leaned forward and tickled her daughter, which caused Amelia to giggle.
Mrs. Knightley fished around in her baby bag, pulling out a bottle of lotion, setting it on Grissom's desk before going back to searching the bag. "Ah here!" She pulled out a little piece of cardboard with a dead beetle trapped between the card and some adhesive tape. "She must have slipped it into her pocket. I assume that's yours."
Both CSIs stared at her, not quite believing that she was so calm about everything. "How did you know?"
The woman smiled at Grissom's confusion, but answered. "My husband owns the new wildlife park near Laughlin. Your reputation precedes you and he was planning to ask you to come and take a look at the insect house to tell him if everything is satisfactory. When we saw the Tiger beetle, we thought it had to be yours."
Grissom nodded and Sara was glad that someone had such a vast interest in him and his work outside of entomology circles. That had been a rarity in the recent past.
"Yes, I think I had it in my vest pocket." He took the beetle and showed it to the little girl again.
"Beet," she babbled and but her little hand from his beard to the beetle. "Beet!"
Sara could only watch on in fascination as the little girl held Grissom's attention. She had managed to overcome the protective wall Grissom had built around him. Aside from a touch of envy that she had not managed that yet, she was glad that it seemed to do Grissom good. Maybe he should keep up the contact with the family.
"I know that until this case is resolved you can't visit us, but my husband would really appreciate it if you gave him a call." The woman waited until Grissom answered with a nod before holding out her hands for her daughter. Taking Amelia back she continued. "Thank you again. I hope we hear from you."
They said their goodbyes, paying special attention to the little girl who cooed at Grissom again and watched them go.
"Cute!" Sara wasn't sure if she meant the little girl or Grissom's gentle dealing with her. The little girl had really enchanted him.
If only… she forced herself not to go down that road.
A look at his desk showed that the woman had forgotten the lotion. "Hey Griss, look!" She grabbed the bottle, but before she could react the cap popped off and the lotion spurted all over Grissom.
It looked… she burst out laughing.
Grissom looked up at her bewildered, not knowing what to do.
"Sorry," she squeaked. Before Grissom could touch anything, Sara reached for a pack of tissues and tossed them to her supervisor. "Just don't get it all over your desk, or they'll wonder what's been going on in here."
The end