Chapter Twenty Five: Jitters
The days between the setting of a date and the actual ceremony flew past. They made progress towards their adoption of Bailey and things were looking good in that respect. Grissom had a hell of a time trying to decide on who to ask to be his best man and second groomsman. He knew that no matter who he chose, someone would be let down and he felt bad for it. Sara suggested that one of the men he didn't choose could walk her down the aisle and Grissom loved the idea.
On the day of the wedding, all the CSIs were split up. The men went over to Grissom's house to prepare for the ceremony while all the ladies gathered at Catherine's for preparations.
"Where the hell are my shoes?" Sara called out in frustration. So far it felt every little thing she started to do was getting screwed up. She hoped it wasn't a bad omen for their ceremony.
"Calm down, I have them," Catherine held them out.
"Okay, sorry I just don't want to mess anything up," Sara sighed.
"Seriously, just sit down for a minute. Take a deep breath and calm yourself," Catherine instructed, "given your proposal, I think an imperfect wedding would only be fitting, but I'm sure it will be fine."
Sara nodded and took the nearest seat. Lindsey came into the room, her hair up in curlers and took a seat next to her.
"Thank you again for including me in your wedding Sara," she said.
"You're welcome. I don't exactly have a lot of close female friends so I figured you would like to be a part of it," Sara explained.
"Are you nervous yet?" Lindsey asked.
Sara laughed, "I think I would qualify as nervous. So far I have lost my toothbrush, my earrings and my shoes."
Lindsey laughed, "It's okay. Everyone gets nervous, but you will look beautiful."
"Thank you," Sara hugged the teen.
A knock came at the door and Catherine answered it to find Bailey Daniels and a social worker, "Hello, is Miss Sidle here?"
"Sara, it's your flower girl," Catherine announced.
Sara got up and came to greet the social worker, "Hello Lindy."
"Hi Sara. Bailey is yours for the day. Congratulations, I hope your wedding is perfect," the woman shook her hand.
"Thank you, for the well wishes and for letting us include Bailey," Sara smiled.
"It's clear to us that you two are going to be great for Bailey and I think she will love a day away. A wedding is an important thing anyway so she should be a part of it," the worker smiled and left.
Bailey had met Catherine, Lindsey and all the other people involved in the wedding at the previous night's practice dinner. All the new strangers had made the three-year old shy but now with fewer people around, she was more talkative.
"Hi Bailey," Lindsey scooped up the child who now wore only a walking cast on her leg.
"Hi," Bailey said, "I get to throw flowers today?"
"Yes," Sara replied, "today is the day you get to walk down the aisle just like we practiced. Only today you get to throw real rose petals."
"Good," Bailey nodded, "I get to wear my pretty dress."
"Come to the bathroom with me and I'll get your hair done nice and pretty," Lindsey said.
"Do I get to look like a princess?" Bailey asked, excitedly.
"Yeah, I guess you do," Lindsey smiled.
"Cool!" the three year old proclaimed.
Once the two younger girls were out of hearing range, Catherine spoke, "She's really a sweet kid. You are lucky to be able to adopt her."
Sara smiled, "I'm more nervous to become a mother than a wife. There's so much responsibility to raising a child, but I couldn't help falling in love with her."
"She is adorable," Catherine agreed, "reminds me of when Lindsey was that age. Even with those rough pre-teen years, I wouldn't change it. I think you and Grissom will be good parents. And you get to skip all that pregnancy weight gain."
"I almost wish I could have gone through at least one pregnancy, but maybe I still can some day. Although I am getting older and with that pregnancy gets riskier, so we'll have to see I guess," Sara sighed.
"Adoption is a noble choice anyway. Especially with Bailey's tragic background. You already know what she's been through and you will give her a great home," Catherine assured her, "and if you never have your own child, that's okay too because you're doing a good thing in deciding to raise Bailey."
Sara nodded her agreement, "So I suppose it's about time for you get these curlers out of my hair and then it's damn near time to head over to the church."
Catherine looked at the clock, "You're right. Let's go to the master bathroom since the girls are in the other one."
At Grissom's house there was a bit more of a crowd since Nick, Warrick, Greg and Brass were all there. The scene was a contrast to the girls' though. The five men sat out on the back porch watching Bruno run around the yard, chasing the birds that flew past. Each one had a beer in hand and they were fairly quiet.
"Nervous at all, man?" Nick asked.
"A little. I think it will really hit me when I see Sara," Grissom said.
"Well, I think we better start getting ready. The girls will kill us if we're late," Brass said, "and as best man, it's my job to keep you alive, Gil."
"Thanks, my death would ruin the whole wedding," Grissom joked.
"I'd step up and marry Sara," Greg said.
"Over my dead body!" Grissom exclaimed.
"Uh, that's the idea," Greg laughed.
"I still feel bad for leaving you out of the ceremony," Grissom sighed, eying the lone man not in the wedding party.
"I understand. I'm not upset. I'm just glad I get to be there," Nick said.
"You'll be my best man," Warrick offered.
"Dude, you're already married," Greg snickered.
"Oh shut up you bubble-burster," Warrick glared.
Greg stuck out his tongue in a childish manner, causing Grissom to think that perhaps Sara might change her mind about having him participate in the ceremony. Grissom and Brass shook their heads at the younger guys and headed into his house to get themselves ready for the impending ceremony. If the others weren't ready, they could easily be left out of the ceremony, or at least threatening that would get their butts in gear.
A/N: So I hope no one is too upset that Nick is the odd man out…I wanted to include Brass because of the whole trusting Grissom with his life thing. Then I wanted to include Warrick because I feel like I always leave him out and even though he's only a fictional character, I felt bad lol. Besides there was that whole "Grissom's favorite" thing earlier in the show, so I figured he'd be one of the best men. Besides, I think Nick is mature enough that he wouldn't be mad at being left out.