AN: Thank you for the review, here is the next chapter. Enjoy!

Summary: Megan is going home for the holidays, and someone decides to go with her. Will it end in heartbreak or something more?

Genre: Romance, Family
Rating: K+
Spoilers: None
Time-line: Four years after Still Worth Fighting For
Warnings: None
Main Parings: Megan Grissom/Travis Murray
Minor Parings: GSR, Drew/Susan Murray
Other Characters: Bailey, Arthur, Ethan

Chapter 10: Admitting Feelings

December 19, 2026

After helping Drew and Susan Murray with the dishes after they had their family dinner, where only 4 of their children could make it, Megan smiled at the couple. "Thanks for dinner."

Drew smiled in return as Susan replied. "Of course, sweetie. Have a good night."

"You too."

After Megan walked out of the kitchen, Drew and Susan heard Travis, their sixth child, speak. "Hold up Megan." Making them smile as Susan spoke. "Did you see the looks they were sharing between one another?"

"You don't think that they are..."

He trails off as Susan sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not sure. Although, it has been a couple of weeks since we've seen Rachel."

Rachel had been Travis's girlfriend for the last five years, but lately they have seen less of her at the house than ever before.

"I mean, it could mean nothing has changed with them."

He walked up behind his wife, wrapped his arms around her and kissed her temple before whispering. "Or everything, and our son could be in love with someone else, a Grissom/Sidle no less."

She smiled as she turned around so she could wrap her arms around his neck. "And that's something you're not really opposed to either, are you?"

He smirked as he wrapped his arm around her waist. "Hey, I've been saying it for years, one of our children and one of theirs will eventually become a couple."

She chuckled as she played with his hair in the back. "You just want to be right." He just smiled with that special sparkle in his eyes, which only made her shake her head and laugh a little harder.

When she calmed down, he took a breath and asked. "But do you know which 'right' I'm more thankful for though?"

"And which one could that be?"

He removed his hand and cupped her cheek as he replied with love. "I knew I would have the best life possible when I picked you as my life partner. And if I hadn't said it in awhile, thank you for everything you've given me, especially the amazing 7 children we have."

She had tears in her eyes a she whispered. "You're welcome, sweetheart."

They kissed softly on the lips before putting their foreheads together, both whispering at the same time. "I love you."

Even after 31 years of marriage, their love for one another hasn't diminished a single bit, and even though they hadn't planned on having 7 children, they couldn't imagine their lives going any differently.

As Megan was walking out of the Murray house, she heard Travis's voice behind her, but she didn't stop, she just continued to walk toward her vehicle.

Right as she got there, Travis wasn't that far behind. "If I didn't know any better I would think you're avoiding me."

She tried to keep her heart from racing, but she couldn't when he was standing so close to her, then she took a breath and turned around to look at him, which only accelerated it, but she tried to ignore it while as she shook her head. "Of course not. I've been busy."

They haven't seen each other in a couple of weeks, which her saying she's been busy was true, it just wasn't the whole truth.

Travis did a little sigh, breaking her from her thoughts before he replied. "I've missed talking and hanging out with you."

Since she's been in Boston, give or take a couple of weeks, her and Travis had formed a tight friendship, and it was becoming to the point where if you saw one, the other one wouldn't be that far behind. But lately with them not spending much time together, he's really missed it, and of course she missed it too but there was a reason why she was staying away.

She mentally shook her head before speaking again. "I'm sorry, but I really have been busy, and even now I don't have time. I have to finish my homework before packing for next week."

She was going home for the holidays, a trip she was very excited for, even though she was just there last month for Thanksgiving. But she loved her family and enjoyed spending time with them when she could.

Travis nodded in understanding as he stepped back. "That's right, you're going home."

"Yep." She then sighed as she turned around so she could unlock her door. "Maybe when I get back we can set something up, alright?"

"Ok. Have a good night."

She opened the door and turned around to gave him a slight smile. "You too."

He nodded as she got into the vehicle, and watched her drive away while he placed his hands in his pockets as he felt the cold air, then a second later he started to smile as he ran back inside his parents house, an idea coming to him.

December 21, 2026

After Megan had boarded the plane, she put her carry on bag up before taking her seat at the window, then as she was going through her purse so she could pull out some reading material, another passenger sat down next to her, and it sounded like he was breathing really hard, like he was running late, which she was correct with that thought a second later, but she wasn't expecting the person who had said it.

"I guess I shouldn't have kept hitting the snooze button on my alarm clock."

She looked toward the seat next to her with wide-eyes the minute she had heard his voice. "Travis! What are you doing here?"

He smiled before answering. "Well, I don't know if you knew this, but every year your parents would send my parents some refundable tickets so our families can hang out at their house for the holidays."

"Yeah, I knew they did that, and it went the other way too."

"And as you know those plans haven't worked out a lot through the years, but I decided to use one this year."

"What about spending time with your whole family?"

She heard that all of his siblings were going to be in town visiting their parents, which didn't happen every holiday, so she was a little surprised that he would skip that reunion to go to Vegas with her.

"My parents understood." He then gets a little a smirk on his face. "In fact, my dad was all for it. Besides, with six other siblings I'm sure a wedding will be around the corner sooner rather than later, and that's a perfect time for a reunion."

She had to admit that was true, so she nodded, then she asked. "But why come now?"

He looked at her and was about to speak, but was cut off when another passenger, an older man, interrupted him. "Excuse me young man, but I believe you are in my seat."

Travis looked at the his ticket before looking up at the older gentleman and gave him a polite smile. "Sorry, sir."

He nodded politely, but both Megan and Travis could tell he was getting a little impatient, so he looked at Megan and said. "I'll talk to you later."

After Megan nodded, Travis gets up from the seat with his bag in his hand and went to his correct seat, and while Megan went about her business, she didn't know how to exactly feel about this new development, but either way that didn't stop her heart from skipping a few extra beats.

A few hours later

When the plane finally arrived at its destination and it was time for the passengers to get off, Megan grabbed her carry-on bag when she could before following the line of passengers.

Once she made it in the airport she continued to walk while looking for her family, then a smile spread across her face when she heard her 8 year old niece, Sarah. "Aunt Megan!"

A few seconds later she saw her three siblings, her oldest niece, her best friend and parents standing a few feet away from her, so there wasn't much time wasted after that before she was getting hugged by the family members.

While she was pulling back from her youngest brother, she heard her mother's voice. "Hi Travis, I heard you'll be joining us for the holidays."

She watched Travis give her mother a polite smile before replying. "I hope that's ok, I'm sorry there wasn't much warning."

Sara waved off his concern as she spoke again with a smile. "Of course it's ok, you and your family is always welcome."

"Thank you, Aunt Sara." Then he turned to Grissom and held out his hand toward him. "Uncle Grissom."

Grissom smiled back as he shook the young man's hand. "Nice to see you Travis."

Travis smiled with a nod, and after they released hands, he was greeted by the rest of the Grissom clan that was there before they started walking toward the exit, and Sara and Grissom couldn't help but share a knowing look at one another.

Deep down they knew there was a reason Travis had showed up, even if their daughter didn't quite know it yet or was trying to ignore it.

December 25, 2026

As much as she enjoyed the company of her family, extended ones included, the last four days, Megan took the first opportunity she could get to sneak out on the back deck and enjoy a moment or two by herself.

After standing there for a few minutes, her moment to herself was interrupted. "Trying to hide from them?"

Megan took a breath as she turned around so she was looking at Travis with a smile. "I miss my family every time I'm away from them for a long period of time, and I love them too death, but sometimes..."

Travis cuts her off while holding up his hands. "Hey, you don't need to explain anything. If anybody can understand that feeling, it's me."

Megan chuckled with a nod. "With six siblings, I can only imagine." Travis nodded with a small chuckle before Megan asked after she cleared her throat. "How is it that by the way?"

Travis cleared his throat before replying. "Well, when I was younger there were some things I wished, like more hot water when it was my turn in the bathroom, I wish I could have seen less hand-me-down clothes and maybe a few more out of state vacations. But now, I can't imagine growing up any differently, because as much as I've had some frustrated times, it only made the other times..."

Megan cuts him off as her eyes sparkled. "That much sweeter."

Travis shyly smiled with a nod before looking down as he placed his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, pretty sappy, I know."

Megan shook her head and placed her hand on his shoulder without even thinking about it. "It just shows how much you really love your family."

He looked at her arm, and just as she was about to take it off, he placed his hand on top of hers and looked her in the eyes as he replied softly. "I do."

After a few intense moments of just looking into each other's eyes while both hearts were racing, Travis started to speak. "Megan I..."

But she cuts him off as she removes her hand from his shoulder before slipping her wrist out of his hand. "I should go in."

She started to walk away, but was stopped when he took a hold of her wrist again. "What are you afraid of? Why have you been avoiding me? And the truth, not some story about you being busy."

She looked down at the deck as she spoke quietly. "I have been busy, I wasn't lying about that."

He removed her hand and walked so he was now in front of her, then he used his index finger to lift her head up before cupping her cheek gently. "Ok, but there is something more going on. I can feel it, I can see it in your eyes, tell me."

She looked into his eyes before looking down again, shaking her head. "I can't."

He leaned forward and whispered in her ear. "Why not? You can tell me anything, you know that."

Trying to hold on to her emotions with everything she had, she cleared her throat and whispered. "Not this, it will change everything."

"Maybe it's time for things to change." When she didn't respond right away, he continued. "You asked me on the plane why I decided to come now, and it's because I needed to tell you something, something that couldn't wait until you got back, and it's too important to say over the phone, or probably in my case lately, your voice mail."

She lifted her head up to look in his eyes again, which the way he was looking at her sent a shiver down her spine in a good way, such a good way in fact it was making her feel things she hadn't felt in a long time.

He ran his thumb up and down her cheek again. "Rachel and I have broken up, or more accurately I should say she broke up with me, but I didn't fight it. I couldn't."

She gasped a little, this was news to her. "Why?"

He smiled as he stepped a little closer to her. "Because she could see what I've been denying for a long time. I have feelings for you, and they're not feelings your suppose to have when you're just friends, it goes so much deeper, and I think you are feeling them too, you're just too scared to admit it."

There was pause, which they felt it was longer than it actually was, before Megan finally let out a tear as she nodded. "You're right, I do. I have feelings for you too, very strong ones. I just couldn't admit it because I didn't want to lose our friendship if we didn't work out."

"Who says we won't?"

"Love can get tricky when it comes to these things."

"You're right it can, and it can get challenging at times too, but I'm talking to a woman who loves challenges."

"It just feels there is a lot more to lose here."

"That just means it will be a lot more rewarding once you let it happen."

"You really want this, don't you?"

"I don't want to go through life wondering 'what if', can you honestly do that?"

She shook her head. "No, I can't."

"Then what do you say about taking this risk together?"

She knew she had two options, one she could walk from this, him, but break both hearts in the process, always wondering 'what if' and possibly ending of the best friendships she's ever had, outside of hers and Alexis's of course. Or two, she could jump in this relationship and have it become the greatest one of her life.

A few more seconds later, she slowly smiled with a nod. "I want to take the risk together."

Both eyes lit up so bright it could have wiped out the darkness from the sky and made it daylight again, while he asked, just so he was hearing her right. "Yeah?"

Megan took a breath as she wrapped her arms around his neck and brought them even closer while whispering. "Yeah. I want to be with you." Then she told him something she's only told one another person before, outside of her family. "I love you, Travis."

Travis sighed in content as he whispered back. "I love you too, Megan."

They slowly leaned toward one another and kissed, feeling it right down to their toes, knowing that this could all end in disaster, but they were both willing to try everything they could to not let that happen.

AN: Hope you liked it. A few more soon. Please review.