Happy New Year Everyone! I hope everyone had some fun this holiday season! Thank you so much for reading and hanging with me. I understand I am a little late updating, and for that I apologize. I uploaded the document but forgot to publish it. What a blonde moment! So, here it is! I promise to get the next one up as soon as possible!


It took a moment for Sara to snap back to reality when she heard her name but when she did, she nodded before looking towards the woman. The woman stood there, equally as shocked by who was standing in front of her.

Sara's mom, Laura, was the first to speak, "Come in," she said quietly, motioning towards the house.

Sara complied without a word and walked up the driveway, onto the porch, and through the door. The entrance had hardwood floors, a large wooden staircase to the left and a well-decorated living room to the right. A bit down the hall in front of her would be a kitchen and dining room.

Laura closed the door behind her and walked inside the living room.

"I didn't know you'd be coming… you never responded to my letter…" she said, sitting down in a chair.

"I know…" Sara said, "I'm sorry."

"No worries. I was just cleaning…" Laura said, looking her daughter over… "Can I get you anything?"

"No, I'm fine" Sara said with a short smile, trying to be polite.

There was a moment of silence between the two, both of which staring around the room, sneaking glances at each other, before the silence was interrupted.

"You've changed so much…" Laura said, looking at her daughter, her tone of voice was almost cheerful.

Sara nodded, wanting to make some comment about how 'that is what happens when you hadn't seen each other in so long', but decided against it.

"How is the job?" Laura asked quietly.

"Ummm… good. It's good" the brunette responded, "Are you working?"

"I did for a bit… I was a secretary… but that was a while ago. I stopped working since then,"

"I see…" Sara said, not really knowing what else to say, " How did you get this place?"

"I remarried. Joe wanted a big home. So we got this" Laura responded talking of her new husband and when Sara didn't respond, decided to continue, "You'd like him."

"I'm sure I would. Does he know about…?"

"Yes. Yes, he does."

"Does he know about me?"

"Yes. He's met your brother a couple times too. Jason lives about a half hour from here. He's a lawyer now," Laura said. She knew that Sara hadn't spoken to her brother since she moved to Vegas.

"That's good, I'm glad he's doing well," Sara said, " … How are you?"

"I'm good. I see a therapist weekly," Laura responded, "How about you? Are you getting any help?"

Sara shook her head but said nothing.

"You should"

"I know… I don't need you to tell me that,"

Laura nodded and decided not to push it. She may not have spoken to her daughter in a long while, but also knew that Sara was stubborn and defensive.

"Are you seeing anyone?" Laura asked.

Sara nodded, "Yes"

"Tell me about him"

"His name's Grissom. He's my boss at work…" Sara said, not really knowing what to say.

"How did you meet?"

"We met at a lecture when I was in school"

"He's older?"

"Yeah" Sara responded, knowing that the age gap between Grissom and herself usually gained them some conflicts with others. Not everyone understood that age was just a number.

Laura nodded. She always knew her daughter would date an older man. She'd learned from her trips to therapy that a woman who has no real strong father figure in their life tends to go for older men to make up for this. So this didn't really surprise her.

"Are you in love with him?"

"We're engaged."

"Congratulations, I'm happy for you" Laura said with a smile.

"Yeah, thank you," Sara replied.

Being there was awkward to say the least. Sara wasn't sure what to say and Laura wasn't sure what to ask. Neither of which wanted to upset the other, but both didn't want to seem like the bad guy either.

Sara broke the silence this time with a question that was haunting the brunette for so long. "When did you get out?" she finally asked.

"In 2000. Right when you moved to Vegas," Laura responded, knowing full well the question would come eventually.

"Why didn't you call me? I left my number at the hospital for you…" Sara said, her voice sounding small and strained. Almost like she was going to cry. It wasn't like Sara to let her emotions run free, but she was hurt by the fact that her mom had gotten out and didn't try to make contact with her until now.

"I wanted to. But I wasn't sure if you wanted me to," Laura said, looking down at her hands, " I wasn't sure if you wanted me back in your life…"

"You're my mom. Why wouldn't I want you in my life?"

"Because of everything that happened. I wasn't a strong mother. I wasn't very good at being a mother back then. I think back and wish I could have changed almost everything…" she responded, looking up into Sara's teary eyes.

" Everyone makes mistakes,"

"I know. But I made some major ones. And to be honest, I don't think I was ready to see you," Laura spoke quietly, " I hadn't really dealt with everything yet so… how could I try to explain myself to you if I couldn't explain anything to myself?"

"But you could talk to Jason?" Sara said, her voice starting to get annoyed.

"It was easier with him. He was older and he understood. You two were two totally different people. He went through things… you went through things…" Laura paused, "I don't think I was ready to admit to myself that I had allowed my daughter to… to go through all that…"

Sara nodded and watched as her mother began to tear-up. Sara wasn't good at this and she knew herself that it would be best if they took a bit of a break. Their meeting wasn't long, but both had overcome something in the few minutes they'd sat and spoke. The words were few, the information was little, but it meant a lot to both.

So without a word, Sara rose from her seat, and began to walk towards the door. But before she did, she placed her hand on her mother's shoulder and looked into her eyes for a moment. She wanted her mom to know she would be back, that this wouldn't be the last she'd see of her daughter.

Sara walked out of the room and walked out the door, closing it quietly behind her before she dropped down on the doorstep and began to cry. Her mother, in the living room, doing the same thing.