A/N: A new chapter-not the last one! It will come after the holidays...enjoy this chapter as a little gift!
FOLD
Chapter 17
Christmas in Vegas. It had been twenty years since a young Sara Sidle had spent her first Christmas in 'Sin City'—before the building boom, before the "What Happens Here Stays Here" slogan, before Wynn and Harrah and all the implosions of the old casinos and hotels. She had thought the place was an exotic electrical aurora borealis of blazing lights only to discover a dull and austere décor inside the casinos where marble was a thin veneer and light and sound was constant. She had walked The Strip a dozen times, memorizing casinos and hotels, in her first weeks of living in Vegas.
From the window of the Gulfstream jet, she could see lights stretching for miles—all the way to federal land where a stark line marked the boundary of suburbs and nature. Some where she knew there were ice skating rinks, fake polar bears, colorful Christmas trees, and winter wonderlands adding to the flashing marquees and gaudiness of glass and lights.
The little boy next to her was asleep, his dark curly head tucked in the crook of her arm. Turning toward her husband, she smiled as he looked at her with a familiar and much loved grin on his face.
"You are thinking, dear—this is the way to travel."
Sara nodded.
The private jet was flying advertising for a Las Vegas casino where Catherine Willows was the major owner. There were a half-dozen other passengers scattered in the seats who had completely different plans than the Grissoms.
She said, "It's nice to have friends with benefits."
The child next to Gil Grissom was awake, face glued to the oval window; his little body was twitching with excitement.
Sara said, "I remember the first Christmas I spent here."
"You volunteered to work." Grissom's voice was low and soft as he smiled. "It was the first of many holidays we worked."
Her smile broadened as she said, "Twenty years and look where we are now."
She heard his chuckle before the whine of throttled-back jet engines cut into the quiet cabin. The landing gear extended and the noise blocked out any other sounds for a few minutes. The child next to her stirred but did not wake and her husband's hand covered the exposed ear of the sleeping baby tucked against his chest and covered with his jacket.
Twenty years; Sara's smile remained on her face. She never thought her life would be this—never occurred to her during her first year in Vegas that she would be married to this man—she bit her lip to hide her sudden mirth at memories. She'd thought many times of having her supervisor in bed; he had teased her in ways to make it seem possible but he had always backed away.
Reaching across the aisle, she stroked Grissom's shoulder; for many months, she would be in the middle of the most mundane tasks and have to shake herself as a reminder she was not dreaming the life she was living.
Soundlessly, he mouthed, "Love you."
The bump of wheels touching tarmac was enough to bring her back to reality. Will stirred and raised his head, blinking blue eyes in the brightness of the cabin.
"We have landed," she whispered, running her fingers through the curls on his head.
Across the aisle, Jay called his brother. "Look, Will! Look at all the lights!"
The two young boys chattered as the plane taxied to a stop; people around them gathered belongings, lined up to disembark near the private hangers. Several limos were waiting for the high rollers to whisk them to the waiting tables of the Eclipse.
Grissom kept a hand on the baby, one on his excited son. He said, "We wait, Jay."
"Will Lindsey be waiting for me?" The blue-eyed boy had talked about Lindsey for days and did not conceal his crush on the young woman.
"She said she'd pick us up so we might have to find her or she might be waiting in her car." Seeing the fleeting look of disappointment in the child's eyes, he added, "I think she'll be waiting for us."
The little boy seemed to accept the answer and asked another question. "She said Santa would know we are at Aunt Cat'rine's house. Is she right?"
Chuckling, Grissom nodded, saying, "Yes, Lindsey is right." He ruffled the curls on his son's head. "Santa can always find you."
They were the last to leave the plane; Grissom carried the baby. Sara shouldered a backpack, then helped each boy with smaller packs and kept a hand on each one as they prepared to leave the plane.
Surprised and thankful, they were met by Greg Sanders, Jim Brass, and Nick Stokes at the ramp stairs. The boys shouted with delight as the men picked them up, jostled them around, and passed the children back and forth—until Jay saw Lindsey.
"Lindsey!" His arms extended to her and she responded by taking the child from Nick, hugging and kissing him as he giggled with happiness. His brother wiggled from Greg and joined in hugging the young woman.
The three men turned their attention to Sara and Grissom; their voices dropped to soft whispers as Grissom opened his arm to reveal an exquisite fair baby, plump and dimpled with a thatch of dark ringlets above a cherubic face with brown brows and long lashes that curved in crescents on pink cheeks.
"Wow! She's grown," Greg whispered.
"She's beautiful," murmured Nick.
Brass hugged Sara, quietly saying near her ear, "She looks more like her mother every day!" True to his word after the twins were born, he had visited the Grissoms on a regular basis—the boys called him "Poppa"—and when this baby had been born, he'd been waiting with tears in his eyes.
Leaning over the baby, he said, "Hello, little teeny girl." At that moment, the baby opened her eyes, already as dark as her mother's and fringed with impossibly long lashes, blinked slowly several times before she opened her mouth to laugh, and raised a chubby little hand to clasp his finger.
With his head bent over the baby, with all the hubbub going on around him, no one noticed tears in his eyes or heard as he cleared the sudden lump in his throat. He did not completely understand what had happened when this baby had arrived, didn't understand the magic or the science, but he knew his long worn yoke of despair had lifted and he did not need to understand more than that.
Quietly, as his thumb caressed the baby's small fingers, he whispered, "You're going to have a great life, little Ellie."
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this little surprise! One or two more chapters for this story! Leave us a comment or a few words so we'll know you are reading!
Wishing you the best for happy holidays, merry Christmas, and a very happy year for 2020! Help us keep GSR and CSI alive- maybe we'll get a 20 years-since-the-Pilot reunion!