Daddy material
After working with Greg on the cars for over three hours, Sara was satisfied that Greg could take care of the rest. "Sara, thank you."
"Anytime, Greg, call me when you need something okay?" Sara whipped her hands on a paper towel and left in search of a shower. After a quick shower Sara was reunited with Leena and Tammy, who had just left the waiting area to see Grissom. "Hey, how are you?" Sara greeted them.
"Exhausted. Tammy needs to sign some paperwork. Do you know where Grissom is?"
"I left him in his office three hours ago. I'm going there now."
"Wait, where can we get some drinks and something to eat? Just in case the children or Grissom needs something."
"Good idea, in the break room." The three women walked to the break room. It was still overrun with cat carriers and Catherine was seated amidst them. "Hey Catherine, how are the cats?"
"I have no idea. I just spent an hour in interrogation with the boys who murdered the bug guy from yesterday. Get this, they had heard that this guy had a fortune in his house. They rang and he let them in and led them to his bugs. For the victim they were his treasure, but the boys didn't buy it and became angry. They fought, smashing several habitats, the victim fell and smashed his head. The boys freaked and ran, one of them was stung by a bug, that's how we found them."
"Wow, shouldn't Grissom know this? It was his case."
"Yes, I got back five minutes ago and these," Catherine indicated the cat carriers "reminded me what I was doing before I got a call from Brass. The police station has a bit of a problem, have you heard?"
"No." Sara replied getting some drinks and fruit.
"They have a roach infestation. It isn't pretty, dirty bugs."
"Don't let Grissom hear you insult his friends."
"Right, how far is the coffee?"
"Almost done and I have a treat: it's from Greg's private stash. A thank you for me for helping him. Leena, Tammy what do you want?"
"Coffee. I need to stay awake for a couple of hours." Tammy replied.
"Tea, if you have some? I believe Warrick has made some, when he asked me what I wanted earlier." Leena took two cups from Sara.
"Okay, we are al set, let's find Grissom."
"When you see him will you tell him about the case? I'll still be here." Catherine asked Sara, accepting a mug of coffee. Sniffing the coffee made Catherine smile: "Oh, this smell so good. Thanks Sara."
"Sure, good luck with the cats."
The door to Grissom's office was closed when the three women arrived. Sara opened it and was surprised by the scene she found. Grissom was seated in his chair with Tom on his lap, they were immersed in a book that lay on Grissom's desk. Either Grissom or the boy would point to something and Grissom would say what it was after which Tom repeated it. Klara was also leaving through a book.
"Wow, I would say that dr. Grissom is great daddy material, Sara." Leena said, this alerted Grissom to the visitors. Sara crossed the office and handed Grissom a cup of coffee and said: "I would agree, Leena." Then Sara bent and kissed Grissom on the head. "Hey, here is coffee, Tammy and Leena need to take care of paperwork and Catherine solved the case of the bug guy. The children were well behaved?"
"Yes absolutely. Tom is very inquisitive and a great student. He loves the tarantula and knew the correct word, English word for insects." Grissom replied, smiling at Sara. He had enjoyed spending time with Tom. "Thanks, for the coffee, Greg's batch?"
"Yes, a gift for helping him. By the way I told him to leave the cars for now. Next shift he and I are going to take a look at the rest of the cars. Exhaustion and disassembling cars is not a good combination."
Tammy was still standing in the doorway, while Leena was talking to Klara. "Grissom what did you say about Tom talking English?"
"Oh, he introduced himself and knew a couple of words, plus he didn't call the insects bugs, but insects."
"I'm not surprised, in Dutch the word for insects or bugs is 'insekt'. I'm also not really surprised that Tom knew some basics of the English language. They have been living here for a month now and had an American uncle, it is inevitable that he and his sister would know some basics."
"Then why didn't they respond to anything on the crime scene?" Sara asked.
"Probably because they were in shock, tired or couldn't understand what was being said." Leena explained.
"Dr. Grissom, could you give me the paperwork I need to sign? There are still children waiting for me." Tammy caught to the chase.
Grissom put Tom on the ground, who walked to Leena and Klara to eat and drink something, and got the paperwork that needed to be signed. He, Tammy an Leena got it sorted while Sara looked after the kids. After the paperwork was done Tammy asked a question no one had considered yet: "where are we going to put the children for the short term?"
"I hadn't thought of that yet." Grissom sighed.
"Couldn't we take the children to your place Grissom? They would be with me and you and Sara, whom they know. I will get in touch with the Dutch Embassy to sort everything out, but for now I think it would be best to keep them with people the know and speak the language."
Grissom could see Leena's logic, but he was no big fan of taking work home and by doing this they could become attached to the children. Leena sensed his hesitation: "I really think it is the best solution, maybe the only one, we have. Besides you are most probably not going to see too much of them, since you sleep during the day." Sara and Grissom looked at each other, Sara knew Grissom didn't like it, but like Grissom also knew there was no other solution. Sara nodded and Grissom said: "Okay, we'll take them hom."
"Great, well that is all for me. I'm going to see the other children." Tammy walked out of the office to go and see Warrick and the orphanage children.
"Leena, will you stay with Klara and Tom, while I go and make a round around the labs? When I'm done we'll go home."
"Sure, Grissom." Leena tuned to the two children and gave them something to eat.
"Sara, let's go outside to drink the coffee, I need some fresh air."
"Sure."
Grissom and Sara sat down on the benches outside the lab and drank their coffee. "That car Greg had to disassemble rally was a mess. It shouldn't have been allowed on the road."
"Does he have an idea of what happened?"
"You should ask him, but yes I think he does."
"Well, I'll go and ask him while I do my round. So how's our case going?"
"All the blood samples are from the vics so far. Mia wasn't completely ready, she gave me the results so far in passing. The letters are in Dutch, Leena will take a look at them but hasn't had the time. Like you said on the crime scene: the door wasn't forced, so the vics knew their attacker. Nothing seems to be missing, nothing was smashed. It all seems to indicate that the attacker meant to only kill these people. But who this attacker is? Nothing yet, but Yackie hadn't gotten to our fingerprints yet, she was doing paw prints and Catherine's fingerprints."
"Paw prints?"
"I have no idea, you ask her on your round. Hodges is getting to our trace, but he also was busy with the cats, still is, I think."
"So we don't know that much."
"Nope, it's waiting time. When you do the rounds I'll ask Leena to translate the letters, if she's still awake." Sara tossed her Styrofoam cup in the bin.
"No, let's ask her after she has slept some."
"Good idea. Why don't you go do your rounds and come and pick us up to go home?"
"Sounds like a good idea, but one more thing." Grissom looked at Sara, who questioningly looked back. "What is it Grissom?"
"Why did you say to Leena that we didn't have toys yet?"
"Because we don't have toys…yet." Sara looked at her hands, she had known Grissom would remember her slip of the tong.
"Are you pregnant?"
"No, it was just a slip of the tong."
"Oh." Grissom looked in his empty cup, "Would you like children?"
"I don't know." Sara answered, hesitantly: "I know we haven't really discussed it, but…" Sara didn't know how to finish the sentence. It honestly was a slip of the tong, she hadn't done it on purpose, but it had haunted her a little. Did this mean she wanted children or was it just her biological clock talking? Sara didn't know what to say and apparently neither did Grissom, because for a long time they sat in silence. Then Grissom started to talk thoughtfully: "I wasn't sure whether or no I wanted children. Before we started dating, I thought that I wouldn't have children, because I couldn't find the woman with whom I would want them. But now, the possibility has reopened. Before today I had thought about it occasionally, but never thoroughly. But today…" Sara watched Grissom talk, he wasn't looking at her, he was staring at the table deep in thought. "When Tom started to talk and trust me, I felt proud every time he said a word correctly. And I started to think what it would feel like if the child sitting in my lap was…" Grissom didn't seem to be able to finish the sentence, placing her hand on his knee, Sara finished it for him: "…was yours. I know, I felt the same when Klara fell asleep in my lap. I was pleased she fell asleep, she needed her rest and I would protect her." Sara stopped talking, Grissom placed his hand over hers.
"Sara I want a child with you, I want to have a family with you." Sara looked into Grissom's clear blue eyes.
"Do you think we could raise a child in our world?"
"Yes, I think we can, Sara."
"Okay, then I also want a child with you." Sara saw the smile building on Grissom's face. She smiled and fell in his embrace. After a couple of seconds they disentangled themselves, remembering wher they were.
"I'm going to do a round in the labs. I'll pick you, Leena, Tom and Klara up afterwards, okay?"
"Yes, oh and Griss, I agree with Leena."
"On what?"
"You're great daddy material."
"And you miss Sidle are going to be the best mother in the world."
"I don't know about that."
"But I do." Replied Grissom with a glint in his eye. They were going to be a family and Grissom couldn't be happier about it.
