A/N: As you'll probably notice before reaching the end of this chapter the story is reaching its unavoidable end. There's just one more chapter after this one…
Enjoy reading ;)
Big thanks for Anaknusan for her amazing beta reading job :* :*
Chapter 14 – Happy Birthday
Usually he wasn't impatient. But waiting long hours for Sara's call seemed to Grissom utterly impossible to handle. He checked the hour on his watch for the tenth time till he finally decided to call himself, eager to hear Sara and Cassie's voices again. Even though Cassie was asleep he still spent almost an hour talking with Sara. It had been so long since they had talked like that, and it was easy for him to smile talking to Sara.
Since that first phone call, it had become his new habit. Before every shift instead of his usual crossword puzzle, he called her. Because Cassie was usually asleep he would make another phone call when his shift was over to talk with his daughter. The whole lab knew that he was not to be disturbed at these moments.
What's more, a week after Sara came to Cisco he went to join her for the weekend. Sara could hardly believe her eyes when she opened the door and saw him standing there with an uncertain smile on his face. And even more when Grissom promised to come for another weekend too. When she mentioned that while talking with Nick on the phone he told her that much to Ecklie's dislike Grissom had taken off every weekend in the coming months.
Though Sara didn't want to admit it even to herself, she was looking forward to every visit. She was even counting the days till the next one. There wasn't anything she enjoyed more. She simply loved seeing the smile forming on Cassie's face when she was playing with both of them, or the pucker between her brows when she was concentrating hard on something Gil was teaching her. But the most pleasure she got, was from the evenings she and Gil were spending alone, either simply talking or watching movies, like they used to do so many years ago in Vegas.
Despite all this, she was still denying herself hope that this could last. Sometimes, late at night when she couldn't sleep, she kept wondering how much longer this would last and whether she could survive the pain of the unavoidable end. She knew that sooner or later Grissom would get tired of flying to San Francisco every weekend. And that the pain each of them felt on Monday mornings, when a goodbye had to be said, would soon be too much for either of them to handle.
Nonetheless every visit left a smile on her face. She even got back to the old habit of humming songs at work.
And today was no different. Maybe her smile was even broader than usual and the songs more cheerful. All that because she had been planning something over the last few days and today it was time to put plans into action.
She took out her cell phone and dialed a number.
"Willows." A female voice answered after two rings.
"Hi Cath, did I wake you up?" Sara asked.
"No, I was already up. You tried to reach me earlier?"
"Yes. Sorry, I keep forgetting that your working hours are different than mine."
"Don't worry about that." Catherine smiled. "So, what's up?"
"Well, I need a favor." Sara said carefully.
"A favor?" Catherine's voice seemed concerned. "Something happened?"
"No, no!" Sara reassured quickly. "I'm just planning something and I need a bit help, and you're the best for the job." She grinned to herself.
"Ok, you got my interest, I'm listening." Catherine laughed.
"But it mustn't reach Grissom's ears." Sara added and began to explain to Catherine the details of what she had been planning for the last two weeks.
"Do we really have to do this, Catherine?" Grissom asked gloomily.
"You've been grumbling all day, Gil." Catherine shook her head and gently pushed Gil through the restaurant's door. "Just relax and enjoy. You don't have birthdays every day."
"I don't celebrate birthdays." Grissom complained. "Besides it's Saturday morning."
"We know!" Several people behind him said together and he turned to meet his team's disapproving gazes. Grissom furrowed his eyebrows. Did he remind them about that too many times already?
"Gil, we know that you're spending weekends with Sara and Cassie but your flight got cancelled anyway. You may as well accept the fact that you're staying with us today." Brass patted Grissom's shoulder and pushed him further inside. The restaurant was almost empty at such an early hour. Several people were eating early breakfast and one couple was slow dancing to the quiet music. Catherine led the team to the center table and hid the plate with reservation details before Grissom noticed it. She didn't want him to know just yet that it was all planned.
"I could drive to Cisco." Grissom murmured, hesitantly taking the seat at the head of the table.
"No, you could not." Catherine grinned. "You just spent ten hours at work. There is no chance we would allow you to spend almost the same time behind a wheel."
"We should order something. Breakfast and drinks." Greg suggested, ignoring Grissom's quiet complaints. He waved and a moment later a waiter collected their orders.
"At least just pretend you enjoy spending time with your friends." Brass whispered to Grissom, smirking.
"Who says I don't?"
Brass raised his eyebrows. "So you're actually cheerful now?" He chuckled.
"Oh, don't worry Jim, he'll be smiling in an hour." Catherine grinned and winked at Brass.
The breakfast seemed to please Grissom a bit and he even laughed with the others and with patience and a smile allowed them to drink a toast to him. Though occasionally he was still peeking at his watch, wondering whether he would be able to go to San Francisco anyway.
If I left now and drove very fast… he wondered, but a sudden movement at the table forced him to lift his head. He heard Greg clearing his throat meaningfully at something behind Grissom's back and poke Nick whose face was instantly brightened up with a smile. But before he managed to react he felt two kisses placed delicately on each of his cheeks.
"Happy birthday, Daddy!"
"Happy birthday."
Two familiar voices said together. Grissom turned to them astonished while the team laughed behind his back.
"Sara?" He asked, disbelieving his eyes. "What are you doing here?"
"We came for you birthday, Daddy!" Cassie answered and skipped around to hug him and the rest of the team.
"We couldn't miss the party, could we?" Sara asked, smiling.
"So you knew about this?" He asked even more surprised.
"No, honey, I just happened to be passing by, you know. That restaurant is on my way to work." Sara smirked.
"Sara actually planned the whole thing." Warrick explained.
"Not alone. I had help." Sara shook her head with a smile. "It was Catherine's job to stop you from going to Cisco. And as I see she did a great job."
"You have no idea how hard it was." Catherine shook her head.
"We were close to slashing his tires." Nick laughed.
"I told you that even cancelling Grissom's flight wouldn't stop him from going." Sara said and caringly stroked his cheek.
"That was you too?" Grissom's raised his eyebrows so high that they were almost touching his hairline. "How?"
"Well," Sara begun and tucked the wisp of hair behind her ear with a smile, "I have a friend working at the airport. I called him, cancelled your reservation a week ago and asked him to call you a few hours before the plane was to take off and tell you that due to the weather there won't be any flights to Cisco. Simple."
"And why all this trouble?"
"Because I thought that you should spend your birthday with friends and I knew you wouldn't simply resign from going to Cisco if even an enormous fight with Ecklie hadn't stop you – oh, yes I know about that too." Sara laughed at Grissom's expression.
"So I have a mole in the lab?" Grissom grinned. "Who's Sara's source of information?" He asked and all the people around the table raised their hands with shrugs. Grissom sighed, shaking his head and smiled.
"Mommy, the gifts!" Cassie ran back to Sara and whispered, pulling Sara's sleeve.
"What gifts?" Sara asked casually, pretending confusion.
"Mommy!" The girl crossed her arms on her chest in a perfect Sara-like gesture that made Sara laugh and Grissom put his "proud-father" smile.
"All right, I have them here." She said and handed the girl two colorfully wrapped packages from a bag. With them in hand Cassie walked to Grissom and placed them proudly on the table.
"This one is from Mommy," she explained pointing at the package in green paper, "and this is from me." She added proudly, touching the pink gift. Without asking for permission she sat on Grissom's lap. "Can I help you open them?" She asked and moved the gift from Sara closer.
"Of course." Grissom answered, hugging her.
"This is going to take a while." Sara giggled quietly and sat on the chair next to Grissom.
"Why?" Nick asked.
"Just watch…" she smiled.
All eyes turned to Cassie. The girl was busy untying the ribbon knot. Three times she refused to use scissors. When five minutes later the knot was finally untied she folded the ribbon neatly and turned the gift upside down and began carefully removing bits of scotch tape used to hold the wrapping paper together.
"You must have fun on Christmas morning." Nick smirked.
"You have no idea…" Sara laughed.
Grissom was throwing glances at Sara, smiling with that heart-melting smile Sara loved so much. From time to time he would kiss the top of his daughter head but she seemed too busy unpacking his gift to notice. When the wrapping paper was finally precisely folded next to the ribbon Cassie smiled triumphantly and handed Grissom what appeared to be a picture frame.
"Here you go, Daddy."
Grissom rotate the gift in his hands to view it properly and gasped. He had in his hands a frame with two delicate butterflies. He glanced at Sara noticing a wide smile spreading across her face and took out his glasses, bringing the frame closer to his eyes.
"Sara…" Her name was the only thing he managed to say out loud.
"Dou you like it?" She asked.
"But … these are Glasswing butterflies. Cithaerias Aurora." He said, raising his eyebrows.
"I know…" Sara giggled.
"That's…" he stammered and shook his head, speechless. "Thank you." By the sparks in his eyes Sara knew he loved it.
"Sorry I'm so ignorant," Brass said, "but what's so special about them? Those are just butterflies, right?"
"They're invisible!" Cassie explained shortly.
"Quite right." Grissom laughed. "Firstly, transparency is not something common in nature. You see, the tissue must neither absorb nor scatter light in order to achieve transparency.* Translucent wings help these butterflies to hide from predators making them also extremely hard to catch. And that makes this," he pointed at the frame, "a highly collectible and expensive piece. It's very rare and not easy to buy. How did you get it?" He asked Sara.
"Do I have to remind you that we used to spend half of our so called dates at various symposiums and conferences about insects?" Sara grinned. "Usually a part of them was a visit to insect collector's shops. After about five visits I knew exactly which questions to ask and how to do it to get the most interesting specimens. All I had to do was find a shop near Cisco and use sophisticated, entomologic vocabulary to make an impression on the seller that I'm a professional collector."
"You never cease to impress me, honey." Grissom laughed.
"Now mine, Daddy." Cassie poked Grissom impatiently and the process of unwrapping the second present begun. Grissom was watching it with fascination, glancing at Sara every few moments.
"So how is your software doing?" Catherine asked Sara while Cassie was still busy.
"We're still dealing with some bugs, but in the next two, maybe three months we should have a beta version ready to be sent to volunteering laboratories for practical tests. And if everything goes well we should get accreditation by the end of next year."
"That's great!" Warrick said. "Will you mention somewhere how it helped our lab?"
"It didn't help much. All I found was a bruise in the shape of a hand." Sara shrugged.
"Grissom didn't tell you?" Greg asked, surprised. "Thanks to you, we found a woman connecting all our victims – they were all members of the same fitness club and she was their trainer. Her hand size matched."
"Did she confess?"
"We're working on it." Brass grinned.
"Look Daddy, I made it." Cassie said giving Grissom a scrapbook with hand painted butterflies, flowers, magnifying glasses and what seemed to be a picture of the DNA sequence on its cover.
"Tell Daddy what it is, honey." Sara advised.
"Those are memories."
"What?" Grissom asked, turning to Sara.
"Memories, Daddy, the ones you missed."
"Just open it." Sara said when Grissom continued looking at her questioningly.
On the first page there was a title, clearly written by Cassie: "Daddy's lost memories", followed by two dates. The second he recognized as the present year. He quickly counted the gap between it and the first one, guessing that the first one must have been the year Cassie was born.
Grissom smiled when Cassie turned the page for him and he saw a familiar face smiling at him from the photograph. Sara was leaning on a tree, with some books and notes in her hands.
"I know that photo." He said.
"I was hoping you did, after all, you took it." Sara smiled.
"While we were at the two week seminar on 'The forensic entomology in criminal investigations' and 'The use of beetles in forensic entomology'". He nodded. "So why is it a lost memory?"
"Because there's something about that picture you don't know." Sara grinned. "Cassie, tell Daddy who's in that picture."
"This is Mommy," the girl said, pointing at Sara, "and this is me." She added placing her finger on Sara's abdomen. Grissom's eyes widened. "I'm in Mommy's belly." There was a shuffling as several chairs moved and the whole team gathered behind Grissom to be able to see the picture too.
"You were pregnant?"
"Yeah." Sara nodded, blushing lightly. "Just pregnant actually." She laughed. "You took this photo during our last day there and when later I did some calculations I found out that I probably got pregnant sometime in the previous week."
Grissom smiled and stroked the photo with his finger.
"Oh, so that's why you two had been to so many seminars." Catherine whispered in Grissom ear. "And I thought that it was really about bugs."
"Technically it was about bugs – bees…and birds…." Brass added cheerfully.
Grissom raised his eyebrows and the people behind him choked with laughter.
When he turned the page he saw a black and white ultrasound picture. Sara noticed that Grissom's eyes filled with tears and reached under the table to caress his hand.
"First picture of Cassie?" Greg asked.
"Yes, taken about three months later." Sara explained. "And this is the last one from Vegas. All the rest of the photos were taken in Cisco."
They saw Sara at her new apartment and work. Cassie precisely explained to them what they were looking at. Sara at her desk, Stefano – her supervisor and Cassie's uncle talking to Sara's belly, a few more ultrasounds. In every photo Sara's pregnancy became more obvious. At the one showing Sara rubbing her round belly with her lab coat hardly fitting her Grissom stared till Catherine turned the page for him.
The next page was titled: Cassie's Baby Shower and included four pictures of the party that was organized for Sara at the lab. Sara explained that in the fourth picture they were playing a game of guessing Sara's belly girth, though instead of common string or ribbon, a crime scene tape was used. Others were mostly showing Sara opening gifts or people rubbing her belly.
To their amazement the pictures from the next page showed Sara in the hospital gown, lying in the bed with an IV stuck to her arm. The date under them was exactly the same as under the ones from previous page.
"Don't tell me," Catherine choked, "you went into labor at the Baby Shower."
"I did." Sara answered with a smile. "My daughter wanted to try out all the gifts right away." She laughed and stroked Cassie's cheek. "A month earlier then she should."
"And look Daddy, it's me." Cassie said and turned the page to show Grissom one big picture of Sara, tired after the delivery but smiling at the little bundle in her arms.
"My God." Grissom whispered, covering his mouth with his hand. "That's beautiful." He added and squeezed Sara's hand tenderly, entangling his fingers with hers.
"Look how small I was." Cassie turned another page and placed her hand on top of her baby hand print, which was a part of her birth certificate.
Grissom smiled and a moment later his eyes widened and he raised his eyebrows. Sara noticed that he wasn't looking at Cassie's hand and foot prints anymore but at something else. Under one of the rubrics he saw his name, he was listed as Cassie's father on the birth certificate. It surprised him as he was rather expecting to see 'father unknown' there. He scanned the certificate once more and turned to Sara with the question in his eyes. Though he really wanted to say something he simply couldn't find proper words. Sara smiled at him and nodded. From the look he gave her she knew how he was feeling. There was no need for words. She squeezed his hand under the table.
Next came the early Cassie's pictures, mostly showing her sleeping in her crib or on Sara's chest. The one that made everyone laugh showed Sara nursing Cassie while working on the computer at the lab.
"You took Cassie to work?" Catherine asked, amazed.
"Not exactly," Sara laughed, "in this particular situation I needed to finish something very important and she was hungry." She shrugged with a smile. "Normally Cassie wasn't working with me." She giggled. "San Francisco Research Laboratory is taking part in the 'Protecting Maternity' program which means that every mother has some special privileges. Firstly there is a day care center with qualified nurses and babysitters for children of all ages, and Cassie still goes there sometimes. Moreover every new mom can choose how she wants to work. She can either work in reduced amount of hours or with the same amount of hours as normal workers but with breaks for nursing."
"Why weren't there such programs here when I was raising Lindsay?" Catherine smirked.
Grissom turned the page and chuckled seeing a little older Cassie sitting on the carpet and sucking on a flashlight. A few other photos showed her playing with her food and learning to walk, protectively supported by Sara. There were several photos from different birthdays, Christmases and kindergarten plays. The book ended with photos showing Cassie in a too big for her lab coat collecting fingerprints at Sara's lab.
"Do you like my gift?" Cassie asked throwing her arms around Grissom's neck.
"Very much, Butterfly." He answered, placing a tender kiss on Cassie's head. "And you did all this by yourself?"
"Mommy helped." The girl admitted.
"Only a little." Sara giggled. "Now if you all come back to your seats we could have cake."
"What? You brought a cake?" Greg asked excitedly.
"Not brought, I ordered it and now I'm going to ask a waiter to bring it to the table." Sara answered and got up. "There is no birthday without a cake."
"And Daddy has to make a wish." Cassie added.
A moment later Sara got back with a waiter and big chocolate cake with a beetle shaped candle on top. The waiter placed the cake on the table and lighted the candle, wishing Grissom happy birthday and left.
"Happy birthday, honey." Sara said kissing Gil on the cheek. "Make a wish."
"I think all the wishes I had, already came true." He answered with a grin.
"You have to make a new one, Daddy." Cassie insisted.
Grissom smiled and closed his eyes for a second, focusing on his new wish. "Ok, I think I have one." He said. "Will you help me with the candle?" He asked his daughter.
Cassie nodded and they blew the candle together, allowing Sara cut the cake afterwards.
When the early morning hours passed and the cake was almost finished, the background music changed from quiet and peaceful jazz to louder and more powerful rock songs.
"Mommy, Mommy!" Cassie said suddenly, cleaning her chocolate-covered lips with the back of her hand. "That's the song Lindsay taught me to dance to."
"Really?"
"Yes, Mommy, come dance with me."
"Dance?" Sara asked. "Honey, you know I don't dance."
"But Mommy, please, I can teach you." Cassie said cheerfully.
"Butterfly, I don't…"
"Please, please, please…" Cassie pleaded with a smile, jumping from Gil's lap and hugging Sara.
Sara laughed. "Oh, all right," she sighed, "but only one song. Promise?"
"I promise. Come on Mommy."
"Go and I'll be right there." Sara promised and Cassie kissed her and skipped to the middle of the room.
"That's going to be interesting." Greg grinned. "I don't think I've ever seen you dance."
"Me neither." Sara smirked.
"You mean you've never danced before?" Nick asked surprised.
"Well, no. Not sober that is." She smiled. "And that was in college." She added taking off her jacket.
"Hey I want to hear more about that." Greg giggled.
"You wish!" Sara said, sticking out her tongue.
"Mommy!"
"I'm coming honey." She sighed.
"Break a leg." Warrick said, raising his glass of whiskey and took a sip.
"Thanks…" Sara answered and after a moment of hesitation she took the glass from his hand and drained it quickly. While the others were laughing she joined Cassie on the dance floor.
"You're welcome." Warrick whispered to himself looking at his now empty glass and waved at the waiter to get him a refill.
Grissom smiled to himself, watching how Cassie tried to teach Sara the dance steps. Despite what she thought about herself, Sara was actually pretty good at it. She followed every one of Cassie's moves perfectly, smiling and laughing. His daughter was clapping her hands and jumping merrily.
He looked down on the scrapbook opened on the first picture and traced it with his fingers. This was surely the best birthday he had ever had. He even considered it to be one of the best months of his life. Spending time with Cassie was amazing. And Sara…it was finally so good between them. He just wished the days like this could last forever.
Grissom furrowed his eyebrows trying to make up his mind about things he had been thinking about for few weeks. The present day made it easier to think about them. Easier to make the choice he knew he had to make. But was it the right time? Would he be able to do it now?
When the waiter came with Warrick's whiskey Grissom reached for the glass quickly and gulped it down. Warrick observed him with raised eyebrows and open mouth.
"Thanks." Grissom said, standing up and patted Warrick's shoulder, giving him back the empty glass. It was now or never.
"What the…?" Warrick asked, seeking the answer in the other's eyes.
Catherine was smiling broadly. "Observe and react." She said, grinning.
"That's very good, Mommy." Cassie complimented when the song ended. "See? You can dance."
"You're a great teacher, Butterfly." Sara smiled.
"May I have the next dance?" Grissom interrupted, offering his hand to Sara.
Sara tucked the wisp of hair behind her ear and nodded silently, placing her hand in his.
"And can I dance with my little Princess?" Brass asked Cassie, smiling.
"But I can't dance like adults do." Cassie complained, shaking her head.
"Well, then I'll teach you." He smiled and took Cassie in his arms, gently putting her feet on his. The girl giggled when they started to dance, slowly moving away from Sara and Grissom.
"I didn't know you danced." Sara whispered, cuddling close to Grissom.
"Only on special occasions." Gil grinned.
"Since when do you treat your birthdays as special occasions?"
"Maybe I'll start from today. Sara, those were the best birthday gifts I have ever had." He admitted and kissed Sara's hand. "And you put so much effort into it."
"You deserved it." Sara smiled. "I know you've been working hard lately to be a good father and you truly are the best. Not once have you complained about long trips to Cisco."
"Actually I wanted to talk about that." Grissom said quietly.
"Talk?" Sara asked, her voice lightly shaking with sudden worry.
"You see, honey, I don't think I can to do it anymore," he said and felt as Sara momentarily stiffened in his arms. "I don't think I would be able to say goodbye anymore, honey."
"What do… what do you mean?" Sara stammered. Her heart skipped a beat when she thought that this might be the end she feared to come.
"That I'm not ready to say goodbye. I don't want this day to end. Sara, the last month was probably one of the best in my life. Those weekends I was able to spent with you just made me realize how empty my life was before." He said brushing a wisp of hair from Sara's face and tenderly stroking her cheek. "I know what I want in my life now."
"And what is it?" Sara asked cautiously, afraid to hear his answer.
"You." Gil answered simply and Sara stiffened again, her eyes focused on Gil. But the worried expression on her face disappeared, replaced by surprise. "Sara, I want to be a part of your life every day and not only for the weekends. And I know that you're going to say that's it's been seven years and a lot have changed but…" he paused, "but I still love you…" he admitted quietly.
"Honey," Grissom continued when Sara was still gazing at him speechless, "I've already done it once and you said 'yes' but this time I'm going to do it properly." To Sara's great surprise he kneeled on one knee in front of her, locking his eyes with hers. "Will you marry me, Sara?" He asked holding her shaking hands in his. He was trembling too.
"You're asking me to be your wife?"
"Yes."
"Griss are you doing this because of Cassie?"
"No, Sara, I'm doing this because of you." He shook his head. "I love Cassie and every moment I spent with her but when I'm back here what I miss more is our evenings. I miss your touch, your scent and… God, how I miss your smile. There's nothing I'm more sure of right now than the fact that I want to be with you."
Sara's eyes filled with tears and she smiled weakly. "But are you ready to…?" She tried to ask but her voice broke down.
"Leave Vegas?" Grissom finished for her. "I believe I am. It has been my home for many year, yes, but I have found a better one with you. I'm not afraid anymore, Sara."
"You know, you're right." Sara nodded. " I am going to say that those seven years has changed many things. But I'm also going to say that one thing has not change at all…and it never will…" she said and kneeled down too, smiling, "I love you too. As I always have. You're still my one and only." She added and caressed Gil's cheek. Warm tears were streaming down her cheeks. "Yes." She whispered.
"Yes?"
"Yes, I'll marry you."
"Really?" His smile grew.
"Yeah…" Sara whispered and the next thing she knew Grissom was kissing her tenderly, entangling his fingers in her hair. She kissed him back, deepening the kiss, enjoying the familiar feeling of butterflies fluttering in her belly. Her heart was joyfully beating in her chest.
Before they broke the kiss a loud applause interrupted them.
"Do you have that feeling you're being watched too?" Grissom laughed and wrapped his arms around Sara's waist. He was more than happy and he wasn't going to hide it.
"Yeah, but I don't care." She leaned and kissed him again.
*information from: scienceray .com/biology/zoology/almost-invisible-the-incredible-glasswing-butterfly/