AN: Thanks for the support, here is the next chapter.

Chapter 25: Another Unexpected Turn

Sara wasted no time on turning in her two week notice, and she was glad that there weren't many open cases that she needed to finish, so once a week and five days had passed, since her boss let her leave two days early, she only packed what she could fit in her vehicle, selling or giving away the bigger items, and left a place she was comfortable in but honestly never really felt like home to her, even though a small part of her was sad to say goodbye to her co-workers.

Now laying on her side, sleeping soundly in Grissom's bed, Grissom was laying on his side, watching her sleep, with his head on the palm of his hand as his elbow was resting on the mattress. She made it here last night, and after unpacking her vehicle and placing her boxes in the living room, they had dinner before she passed out the minute her head had hit the pillow, exhausted from practically driving non-stop just to get here.

A little bit later Grissom saw her eyes fluttering open, and when they were fully opened, she smiled sleepily at him and whispered. "Hi, I'm sorry I crashed last night."

Grissom smiled in return as he cupped her cheek. "You looked like you needed it, honey, you were practically sleepwalking. You know you could have taken a little time to get here, I wasn't going anywhere."

He said the last part with a small smirk, and she replied with a smirk, but there was also something in her eyes that showed it was a real concern for her. "I had to get here before you changed your mind."

He chuckled for a second before he got a little more serious, seeing the extra look in her eyes. "Never was going to happen." He leaned towards her and kissed her softly on the lips before whispering. "Because I'm more sure of this than the day I asked you."

She smiled against his lips before they shared another soft kiss. "Good to know."

As they pulled back, he spoke again. "So, while watching you sleep I had a thought."

Before he could continue, she smirked again. "Uh, oh, should I be worried?"

"Ha, Ha very funny."

She smiled as she cupped his cheek before running her thumb up and down it. "Just playing, babe. You were saying?"

He cleared his throat and started speaking again. "Anyways, as I was saying, I had a thought, and I think we should get new furniture, and whatever else you want."

Sara looked at him with confusion. "Why? Your things are perfectly fine."

"Exactly, they are 'mine' and 'Ashley's' things, and if we are really doing this, there should be more of you around here." Sara's heart just melted in that moment, but he really didn't have to do this, so she was going to open her mouth to say that, but he continued, melting her heart even more, before she could. "I just want you to feel comfortable. I want you to see this as your home too, because it is, you know." When he saw her tears go down her cheek, he looked concerned as he wiped them away. "Hey, I didn't mean to make you cry."

Sara sniffled as she shook her head. "These are happy tears, I'm ok."

"Yeah?" She nodded as he asked. "Ok. So, what do you think about making this your home too?"

She sniffled again before replying with a smile. "Ok."

He smiled brightly with a nod, and after she nodded with her smile getting bigger, he chuckled as he leaned towards her to give her another kiss, and after a few minutes, they pull back and he kissed her forehead before lying down, then as she moved so she could lay her head on his shirt covered chest, he whispered while placing his arm around her shoulders. "Alright, the three of us will go to the store this weekend to see what we can get." She just nodded, feeling for what felt like the first time in her life, she finally found a real home.

30 minutes

Eventually they had to get up because Grissom had to go to work soon while Sara had an interview with Will to see if she could be an official CSI here, and when they walked into the kitchen/dinning room area, Ashley was sitting at the table eating a bowl of cereal, so they all had their morning greeting, then while Sara and Grissom were pouring themselves a cup of coffee, Grissom spoke to Ashley. "So, Ash, I was thinking."

Ashley looked up from her bowl and smirked with the spoon in her hand. "Uh, oh, should I be worried?"

Sara snorted as she was moving the coffee mug up to her mouth, while Grissom said with a smile. "Not you too."

Ashley smiled in return. "Sorry, so you were saying?"

Grissom cleared his throat as he walked over to the table and sat down across from her. "Anyways, as I was saying. How would you feel if we got new furniture?"

Not trying to be mean about it, Ashley asked with a raised eyebrow. "Why? Everything is pretty much new."

Sara couldn't help but comment with a smirk. "See, told you."

Ashley chuckled as she stood up with her bowl, and with a smile on his face, he watched her walk into the kitchen as he said. "I see how this is going to be, you two are going to gang up on me now, aren't you?"

Ashley stopped by the sink, looked at Grissom, and said 'maybe' at the same time Sara said it, making the girls chuckle.

Grissom shook his head with a smile and replied softly, but both of them heard it. "What am I going to do with you two?"

Sara and Ashley walked back to the table, one on each side as Sara smirked. "Nothing, you want to know why?"

Grissom raised his eyebrow at both of them as Ashley finished while she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Because you love us."

Grissom sighed in content before looking at both of them with another smile. "That I do."

After they each kissed his cheek, Ashley spoke as she stepped back from him. "And I understand why you want to get new things, I'm ok with it."

Sara spoke this time. "You sure? I'm not stepping on any toes here?"

Ashley nodded with a smile at Sara. "This is your home too, so it should look like it."

Touched, Sara smiled with a nod. "Thank you."

Ashley waved it off as there was a knock on the door, so she spoke as she grabbed her shoulder bag from her chair. "That's Jane, I'll see you all after school."

After they nodded, she shared a hug and a kiss on the cheek with Grissom. "Love you, dad."

Still getting butterflies in his stomach from that word, he nodded. "Love you too, sweetheart. Have fun."

"You too." Then she looked at Sara with a smile. "Good luck with your interview."

"Thank you, have a good day at school."

Ashley nodded before grabbing the rest of her books from the table and walking to and out of the door.

35 more minutes later

Once they were both ready to leave the apartment, he drove them towards the lab, and once they were there, they walked in together, both feeling right to walk in the lab together, like working together was just meant to be. But of course she had to officially be hired first.

When they stopped in front of Will's office door, he gave her a reassuring smile. "You got this, your record speaks for itself on how great a CSI you are."

Even though it had been implied that all she had to ask for the job here and it would be hers, she had to admit she was still feeling a little nervous about it, so Grissom's words and smile calmed her down, and she nodded before raising her hand and knocking on the door.

A second later they both hear. "Come in."

After opening the door and stepping in, they see Sheila sitting on the couch looking at a case file while Will was at his desk.

They all smiled at one another in greeting, then they get a more serious look on their faces as Sara walked up towards the desk with her resume and transfer papers in her hand, and she handed them to him the second she was close enough.

He took it from her, acted like he was going to look over it, but then smiled and placed the papers on his desk while shaking his head. "Are you kidding? I don't need to see this. You were hired the minute you stepped into this lab." He stood up with his hand out. "Welcome to the team."

The rest of the group, including Sara, smiled as she took his hand. "Thank you, I'm glad to be here."

He nodded, and as he removed his hand, he asked. "So, when do you want to start?"

"I'll start whenever you're ready for me."

"How about today, you know something easy to get your feet wet."

Sara looked at Grissom, and he was giving her a look that told her it was up to her, then she looked at Will and nodded with a smile. "Sure."

He nodded and looked over at Sheila. "Can you help her out?"

Sheila stood up with a smile and nod. "I will be happy to."

After the women smiled, Sara and Sheila walked out of the room, and when it was just the two guys, Grissom said. "Thank you, Will."

Will waved it off and sat back down in his chair. "I should be the one thanking you for getting her here." Grissom raised an eyebrow as Will chuckled before holding up his hands. "Easy there, I'm only interested in a professional way. I've seen her records, you know she had the best solve rate since joining the San Francisco lab? Now who would reject that when the opportunity comes your way? She'll be good for the lab here." Then he couldn't help but smirk. "Like I know she's good for you."

Grissom nodded with a smile before he started to turn away to walk out of the office, but before he did, Will asked. "So, I never asked this before, but how does it feel?" Grissom turned around and raised another eyebrow before Will smirked again. "Me being your boss."

Grissom didn't even hesitate. "Well, for one I feel pretty good not doing any extra paperwork." Will chuckled with a nod in understanding while he finished. "And especially since Sara's here now, pretty damn good that I don't have to worry about the boss/subordinate dynamic of our relationship since we are on the same level, even though I do have a little more seniority than her."

Will nodded again, then spoke in a more serious tone, still having to keep a boss's mind about this. "Just make sure you keep it out of the lab."

"You know we will."

After Will nodded one more time, Grissom turned back around, and started walking as Will finished. "All jokes aside, I'm really happy for you Grissom."

Grissom turned around when he got to the doorway and looked at his boss/friend again. "Thank you Will, my life feels better than ever, and I can only see it going up from here."

They share one more smile before Grissom finally walked out in the hall, practically walking on air, and that feeling lasted all shift, even a few hours after that.

But he should have known, like his love for roller-coasters, life has plenty of ups and downs to it, so what starts as an upside there will eventually be a downside.

2 Hours after shift

After leaving the lab, they headed back to the apartment, and after unpacking just a few boxes of hers and putting the others in his room until they were ready for them, they decided to start making dinner, but before they could even get the ingredients out because they spent more time kissing and smiling, there was a knock on the door.

They kissed one more time before he pulled back with a small sigh. "I better get that."

Sara chuckled with a nod. "Yes, you should. Then maybe we can actually get somewhere with dinner."

He cupped her cheek and whispered. "Oh, you loved it, don't deny it."

She chuckled again and placed her hand on top of his. "And I never will."

They smiled at each other as another knock came though, so they removed their hands and he headed for the door, saying. "Just a second."

When he got there and opened it, he was a little surprised to see, the now 72 year old, Jeffery Newman standing there.

"Oh, hi Mr. Newman."

"Dr. Grissom, may I come in?"

Grissom nodded as he stepped to the side to let the older man in, and after he closed the door, he saw Sara standing in the doorway between the kitchen/dinning area and the living room, and spoke as he cleared his throat. "This is Sara Sidle."

They greeted one another politely before Grissom asked. "What can I do for you, Mr. Newman?" Mr. Newman looked between the pair, wondering if she should be here to hear this, and Grissom, getting that, nodded with a smile. "It's ok that she hears what you have to say."

He gave him a polite smile and placed his briefcase on the coffee table and started to speak. "I'm sorry to do say this Dr. Grissom, but there seems to be a little snag containing the adoption of Ashley."

Sara's and Grissom's heart started to race as he asked with confusion. "But everything checked out, we signed the papers, and all we had to do was wait for it to become official."

Mr. Newman nodded as he turned his attention to his briefcase. "Yes, you are right, until I had gotten a call and fax from Daniel Nelson's lawyer."

"Fax and call about what, and who is Daniel Nelson?"

Mr. Newman grabbed a legal document from his briefcase, turned around and handed it to him as he gave Grissom the news. "It appears Daniel Nelson is Ashley's biological father, and he wants his daughter back."

AN: More to come. Thanks for reading and please review.