A/N: Thanks so much for reading! Enjoy-

Deliberate Decisions

Chapter 10

Nick walked the dog in circles as he attempted to work out the deep frustration he felt. The longer he walked, the more he recognized an underlying anger rising in his thoughts. By the time Hank had started tugging on his leash, Greg pulled up with DNA results.

"Any problems?" Nick asked.

Greg shook his head. "I saw D.B. and said we'd be back shortly but Doc Robbins doesn't have his report up yet. The feathers are owl feathers," he said, referring to their case. "How's Sara?"

"Better, I think." He kicked the tire of Greg's vehicle. "You know what makes me mad about this whole thing?"

For a few seconds, Greg was taken by surprise by Nick's tone and words. He waited.

"Grissom is off running around the world, doing what he wants to do, and Sara waits here! You know what she wants more than anything? A family—a baby!" Nick paced in front of Greg. "He stays away more than he's here and how's she supposed to have a baby if he's gone!" He stopped in front of Greg. "Did you know any of this?"

Greg shrugged. "I knew she had a miscarriage."

Nick shook his head, unable to believe Greg knew this and he didn't. But he held back from repeating all Sara had said. "And she never told us—that's okay, I understand, but he should be here." He stopped his pacing. "And now she's the one who has to deal with this 'son' who's showed up. It just makes me mad—and I love Grissom—but he needs my boot on his backside for a wake-up call!"

Greg knew his friend and co-worker would eventually calm down. "Sara says she happy."

Nick scoffed. "She says she is! She believes she is—but how's she going to get a baby if her husband is off gallivanting around the world? He should be here! The man lives in one place for twenty years and then gets married and decides to take off to places so remote he calls his wife once a week! And some guy shows up claiming to be a son!"

Holding up the DNA report, Greg said, "Let's find out if he's telling the truth."

As suddenly as his anger had surfaced, Nick calmed. "Yeah, that's what we need to do now." They two men headed toward the door. "But as soon as Grissom returns, I'm going to have a little man-to-man talk with him. Sara's my friend, not just his wife!"

Greg said nothing; he already knew what a comparison of the two DNA reports would reveal. Grissom was going to have one big surprise waiting for him.

A few minutes later, as Sara and Nick watched, Greg's finger traced lines from one report to the other. No doubt existed.

Sara blew out a puff of air. "Well, DNA doesn't lie."

Nick placed his hand on Sara's back. "What do you want us to do?"

"Please don't say anything to anyone about this. Gil needs to know and I can't tell him when we talk or in an email." As she talked, her brown eyes shimmered with new tears.

"No, not a word," Nick said.

Greg agreed, adding "But Sara, you have to tell us what's happening—one of us can go with you when you meet this Martin Andrews again."

For the first time, Sara actually laughed. "I think he's safe, Greg."

Nick asked, "How much longer will Grissom be away?"

"Three weeks more or less. All the waiting was when they arrived," she said with a sigh. "I cannot tell him this when we talk." Looking from Nick to Greg, she added, "Would you want to read this in an email? Or hear it on a live chat? I'll just have to wait."

She offered to go into to work to help with their case, but they refused. "Get some rest, Sara. This has been a shock," Greg said and for the first time, he pulled Sara into a hug. He whispered, "I'm coming back later. Try to sleep."

And even though Sara put a smile on her face, both men left more concerned than either would admit.

Nick drove and within minutes of driving away, he asked, "How'd you know about Sara—about the miscarriage?" He glanced at Greg. "And what else do I not know?"

Greg said nothing for several blocks. Then, very quietly, he said, "I've always loved Sara, Nick. She's always loved Grissom. So when she returned, married to Grissom, I learned to live with it." Softly, he laughed. "Now, I'm a friend—I don't ask questions—not too many, but when Grissom's away, we get together once a week and eat or watch a movie, do something outside of work." He shrugged. "One day she sort of blurted out that she was trying to have a baby—and ended up saying she'd had a miscarriage not long after they got married."

Nick grunted as a reply. He wasn't going to tell everything he had heard from Sara and changed the subject. "What do you think about this guy? Why would his mama keep a secret like that?"

Greg shook his head. "Who knows—he told Sara it was his grandfather and some of those papers were financial records. Looks like the old man had wealth and land." Greg chuckled. "What do you think Grissom's mom is going to think?"

A grin crossed Nick's face. "I'd like to see that!"

They parked in front of the lab and went to work. Hours later, after a significant break involving the feathers, they pointed to a fellow teacher as the prime suspect.

Walking out together, Nick asked, "Are you going to check on Sara?"

A/N: We don't write Nick very often-how'd we do? More to come! And Grissom gets home soon!