Summary: For a special request from his boss, Grissom was going to San Francisco to do a three day seminar, but what he didn't know was that he won't be alone for long.

Genre: Romance
Rating: T
Spoilers: None
Warnings: Implied/Suggestive adult content
Main Parings: GSR
Minor Parings: Courtney/Malcolm (Mention only)
Other Characters: Grissom kids, Lindsey


Chapter 21: Nothing can beat the present

October, 2017

Once the kids were tucked in their beds for the night, and after placing his suitcase on the bed, Grissom asked with a smile. "Are you sure you don't mind me leaving?"

His boss's friend needed a replacement entomologist for a seminar in San Francisco when the guy that was suppose to be there had to back out because of a family emergency, and instead of canceling the event, his boss asked if Grissom could do it, which after talking to Sara about it, and she insisted that he go, he agreed to do it.

Sara nodded with a smile. "Yes, I'm sure."

He looked at her with suspicion before he smirked. "Why, do you have a secret lover you want to spend time with?"

Sara chuckled as she walked up to her husband, happy he could joke about something like that now, when in the past he wouldn't even attempt it, then she smirked while replying. "Oh yeah, because I have time for a secret lover when, one, I work a demanding job, almost too demanding at times, two, have three kids, who are all under the age of ten, to take care of, and three, whatever time I do have left is reserved for my wonderful husband."

He chucked as he wrapped his arms around her waist while replying. "I guess your plate is pretty full as it is."

"Pretty much." Then she spoke with love and honesty. "Besides, who needs a secret lover when I'm already fulfilled with my husband. No other man will do, no man will ever compete."

He smiled with his blue eyes bright, seeing the truth. "Good answer."

"You better believe it, bugman."

"Oh, I do, no doubt there."

They kissed softly before they pulled back so he could continue on his packing. "And you're sure you and the kids will be ok?"

Sara nodded with a chuckle. "Yes, Griss, we'll be fine."

He sighed with a nod as he opened his drawer. "Ok."

She then looked at him with concern, even though his back was towards her. "I thought you wanted to do this?"

He turned around to look at her with a nod. "I did...I mean I do, I guess now that the time is here I'm more aware that I will miss you guys."

She walked up to him and cupped his cheek. "And we'll miss you too, but you'll be doing something you love to do, and be honest, something you missed doing?"

He nodded without hesitation. "Yeah, I guess a part of me does, not that I haven't enjoyed my full time teaching job, but it was kind of fun going to different colleges, meeting other and future scientist/entomologist from around the country, sometimes world."

As his face lit up, much like it did when he first came to her to see what she thought about it, she knew he had to do this, so she said with a smile. "Oh you are so doing this, I won't let you back out, especially now. They are all counting on you, and I know you won't let them down, not if you don't have a good reason for it."

Seeing the full acceptance in her eyes, he nodded with a smile. "Thank you, honey."

She shook her head with a smile. "No need to thank me, babe."

They share another kiss, and as he goes back to packing, she smirked. "It is kind of funny though, that out of all the cities you could have gone to after so long, it had to be San Francisco, and around the same time that..."

He cuts her off with a smile while he looked at her again. "We met, I know." Then he gave her a loving look. "Too bad you won't be there so we could relieve some of those moments."

She nodded while he turned around, then she bit her lip, tying not to smile so brightly and give away her secret, because what he didn't know was that she had planned to be there too, but wanted it to be a surprise.

Once he was done with the packing, and the case was next to the door, they got ready for bed and turned in to get a good night's rest.

The next morning started out normal enough, they had their breakfast as a family, then Sara took William to school before going to work, then after work, they picked up William before taking them out for ice cream, and while they were enjoying their treat, their parents explained to them that their daddy was going to be gone a few days before going to the airport to drop him off.


After dinner, and while Katie, who was now walking, was sitting in Sara's lap as they sat on the couch, got Isabella's and William's attention before she started to speak. "When you guys wake up in the morning, I won't be here. I'm going to join daddy on his trip."

Isabella asked. "Why mommy?"

Sara smiled as she continued. "You remember a few months ago, when your father and I told you we were going to Las Vegas just the two of us?"

William nodded with a smile. "You guys said that, although you loved us to the moon and back times infinity, sometimes mommies and daddies need to have some time just the two of them, but that didn't mean you wouldn't miss us very much."

"Yes."

Then William giggled and replied. "Then we ended up showing up with Aunt Carly and Cousin Courtney."

Sara chuckled with another nod, then she took a breath and continued. "But as amazing as that was being with you guys there, that's not going to happen this time around, we all need to be stronger this time."

There was a pause before Isabella, not really understanding the importance of the this moment, asked. "Can I play now?"

Sara nodded with a smile. "Yeah, for a little bit. Can mommy have a kiss first?"

Isabella nodded before crawling on the couch towards her mother and gave her a kiss before Sara helped her down, then she went right towards her toys before Sara's attention went to William and asked. "You understand?"

William nodded with a smile. "Yeah, and I'll take really good care of my sisters while you guys are gone."

Sara chuckled again. "I know you will, but you won't be alone, you'll have help."

"Oh, and who will be here?"

Before Sara answered, Katie was squirming to get down, wanting to play with her older sister, so after kissing her on the cheek, she sets her down and watched her walk towards Isabella, making Sara's heart swell before giving William her attention again. "Well, when you wake up in the morning, it will be Lindsey, which she'll take you to school. Courtney should be picking you up from school..."

William cuts her off with a smile. "And Malcolm?"

Sara chuckled with a nod, knowing wherever Courtney was, Malcolm wasn't that far behind. Not that she blamed them, after all they haven't even celebrated their first year as a couple yet.

"I'm sure once he gets off work he'll be with you guys for a few hours as well, then the next day you'll be with your Aunt Carly & Uncle Brett, and the day we come home you'll be with your Aunt Catherine and Uncle Warrick, sound good?"

William nodded. "Yeah."

"Alright, and remember if you need anything at all, even story time, you guys can call."

After they heard what happened when they were in Vegas about Isabella wanting their parents to read to her during story time, they talked about them bringing a book with them next time and letting them know they could call before going to bed, even though they were extremely proud how their son handled it, but just in case that didn't work in the future, they wanted to be prepared. But then again, since that trip, Isabella had asked William to do story time a few times, so maybe they didn't have to worry about it anyways.

William shook his head and spoke, breaking Sara from her thoughts. "It's ok mommy, I got story time handled."

She chuckled with a nod. "I'm sure you do, but just in case, alright?"

William gave his mother another nod, then he gets off the couch and walked up to her before wrapping his arms around her and spoke, like he knew exactly what she was thinking. "It's going to be ok mommy, we'll be ok."

She took a breath and wrapped her arms around her oldest, then kissed the top of his head and whispered. "I know, but that doesn't mean I, we won't miss you, you three are our world."

"I know mommy." He then smirked. "So, if you need to call us, you can."

She chuckled one more time as she gave him a tickle, which he chuckled in return as he tried to get away, but Sara wasn't letting go while she spoke. "Smart little guy, aren't you?" When they calmed down, she pulled back and cupped his cheek. "I love you, so much."

His blue eyes were bright as he replied. "I love you too, mommy."

After they shared a kiss, she let him go before he headed towards his sisters so he could play with them while Sara watched the scene with happiness, then a sigh escaped a few moments later. She'll miss her babies more than she let on in front of them, but, and while she knew her marriage wasn't in trouble if she didn't do this, a part of her still felt she needed to make up for their last attempt at trying to go away together.

She felt there was a reason why Grissom never asked her if she wanted to go with him, and as much as she loved him for that, she wanted to prove to him, and herself, that she could do this. She knew it was going to have to happen eventually, it wasn't like she could be with them 24/7 when they are older.

She took a breath and nodded while thinking. 'I can do this, it's time to be a little more braver than you feel.'


Later the night

After receiving a phone call from Grissom, she tucked the kids in their beds, which she watched them each a little longer while they slept, then as she was coming out of William's room, Max was walking down the hall, towards his room, so Sara bent down and gave the dog attention while speaking with a smile. "I need you to help watch over them while we are gone, ok, buddy." He huffed, and she chuckled while giving him a few more pets. "That's our Max, thank you."

When she stood up, Max walked into William's room while she headed for the master bedroom to finish her packing, then a few hours later, she was greeting Lindsey at the front door. "Thank you, Lindsey."

The younger woman waved it off with a smile as she walked into the house with her to-go bag.

"It's no problem, Aunt Sara. I'm happy to help."

"I'm going to get a few hours of sleep, then I'm out of here, if you need to call for anything, you..."

Lindsey cuts her off with a smile. "We'll be ok."

Sara nodded with a smile. "I know." She took a breath before finishing. "Blankets and pillows are on the couch, you are welcome to anything in the fridge, just make yourself at home."

"Thank you."

After one more nod, Sara headed upstairs so she could get a little rest before waking up a few hours later and leaving as quietly as she could.


Later that morning

When Sara made it to San Francisco, she drove to the campus the seminar was going to be at, then once she got to the room, where she could have basically picked any seat since there was barley anybody there at the moment, which instead of sitting in the front seat in the front row like she did back then, she decided to take the last seat in the back row.

Only moments after she sat down a bunch of students, teachers and just entomologist enthuses, came into the room, taking up the rest of the seats, and once everybody was seated Sara was impressed with the turn out, considering one, Grissom was the replacement from another entomologist, and she thought maybe most wouldn't have come because that's not who they wanted to hear from, and two, since it has been so long since he's made the rounds at the colleges, a lot of these people might not have even heard about him, or even forgotten about him, which would have been a shame in her opinion, but she knew it could happen, new 'blood' as they say, could have taken 'over' the entomologist world that Grissom was so proud/happy to be involved in.

Before her thoughts could continue, Grissom came in the room, making her heart race much like it did when she saw him for the first time in this scenario all those years ago, and his speaking moments while he was setting up wasn't much different either, showing her he was still in his element, especially once he started the seminar.

Much like what happened all those years ago, people started asking question, and as tempting as it was, this wasn't how she wanted to reveal to him that she was here, so she kept quiet, even intrigued a little when a young woman, a teacher in her early to mid-30's, was the one asking most of the questions. In fact, she almost reminded Sara of herself, so she thought she would keep an eye on that one.

It was a good thing she did too because once he dismissed the 'class' hours later to end the first day, and the majority of the people had left the room, that same young, medium height and weight, brown haired, brown eyed woman, walked up to him, which from her new vantage point Sara could see the signs that this woman was trying to be more flirty than wanting to know more about what he was talking about, not that she could blame the other woman, but that was her man she was trying to get a little too friendly with.

Even though Sara knew she had nothing worry about, she was ready to end the other woman's attempt, so when the other woman had asked if he wanted to get a drink, Sara took a step from the side and asked. "Hey, Dr. Grissom."

At the sound of Sara's voice, Grissom, who had been trying to be as polite as he could be, even though he really wanted to leave the room, knowing what this woman was 'trying' to do, immediately saw his wife and his eyes lit up bigger than when he was doing the seminar, making her heart once again race.

The young woman turned to look at Sara, gave her a look that said 'she wasn't impressed' before speaking in a somewhat snotty tone. "Excuse me ma'am, but I was 'here' first." Sara raised an eyebrow at the woman, surprised how she talked to her, before she turned back to Grissom and smiled. "So, about that drink?"

Grissom smiled, which made the woman think she was going to get her shot at the professor, then he said. "I'm sorry, but I don't think my wife would like that very much."

Now trying to sound seductive, thinking that might work on him, she placed her hand on his and continued. "She doesn't have to know, I bet I can give you what she can't."

Sara held back a smirk while Grissom removed his hand from hers and shook his head before looking at Sara. "That's not possible, no one can give me more than what she can."

Before the young woman could speak again, Sara started to as she walked up to her husband. "She must be a very special woman then?"

Grissom nodded with a smile. "Oh she is, from the moment I saw her, I knew my life had changed."

"So, you're saying you wouldn't mind meeting her all over again?"

"I wouldn't mind that at all."

Sara stopped and held out her hand. "Hi Dr. Grissom, it is nice to meet you."

Grissom smiled a little wider as he took her hand and replied. "I'm glad you could make it, Mrs. Grissom."

They both looked at the young woman, and she looked at them in surprise, then not able to help it, Sara smirked. "I'm sorry ma'am, but you are sadly mistaken, I was 'here' first. In fact, you were what, 10, when I got 'here'."
The young woman looked at the two of them before walking away in shame, and when she was out of the room, they chuckled lightly and shook their heads before Sara spoke with a smile/chuckle. "Wow, she actually thought she had something on me."

He looked at her with love and happiness in his eyes. "When we know no other woman does, or ever will."

Sara smiled with love shinning in her eyes too, happy she made the decision to come here.


After leaving the school campus, they headed towards the café that they had went to long ago, and while the name had changed, not much was done to it for it to be completely unrecognizable, so they got their drinks and sat down at one of the tables that was outside, like they did all those years ago.

They took a sip of their beverage, and Grissom spoke with a smile. "Thank you for being here, it is a wonderful surprise."

She nodded with a smile as she placed her hand on his. "You're welcome." She then cleared her throat as she spoke. "I figured we could do a redo from our last attempt of being alone together on a trip."

He squeezed her hand lightly and spoke softly. "Sara..."

She cuts him off with another smile. "Really, I'm going to be ok."

"You sure?"

The smile still on her face with no doubts in her eyes, she nodded. "Yes."

He nodded with a smile. "Ok."

She nodded again while he removed his hand from hers, then after a few moments of silence while they took in this moment, Sara spoke again after clearing her throat. "You know, I've always been curious about something."

Grissom raised an eyebrow. "About?"

She smiled a little wider before asking. "The last night you were here all those years ago, we had certain plans, you know that dinner we were suppose to go on?" He smiled a little shyly, knowing exactly what she was talking about. "Yeah, that one, but you called to cancel it because you weren't feeling well, so what really happened?"

He cleared his throat before saying. "Exactly what you probably thought after getting to know me, I chickened out. Then I checked out of the hotel that night, took a flight down to my mom's and stayed there for a few days before going back to Vegas."

She raised an eyebrow. "That extreme." He nodded with a chuckle before she asked. "So, why did you chicken out?"
Now he looked a little embarrassed as he looked down at his coffee, which this type of embarrassment she hadn't seen in quite sometime, like he was really ashamed of something, so she placed his her hand on his and spoke with comfort. "Come on Griss, you know can tell me anything, no matter how embarrassed you feel. I won't hold it against you, I promise."

He looked up to see the loving and comforting eyes of his wife, before he nodded, then he cleared his throat while turning his hand around so he could slip his fingers through hers. "You have to know that when I first saw you, I fell for the whole package (Sara shyly smiled at that), I mean god Sara, I was almost speechless, so speechless in fact that if we hadn't met in a room filled with all those other people it probably would have taken me awhile to even speak again, I hope there wasn't too much of a pause before I want to my next topic."

Remembering that day like it was yesterday, she shook her head with a smile. "No, you did very well, I didn't really notice." She then shyly admitted. "Although, I was starring a you so intently that I didn't really notice much of anything else."

He smiled and squeezed her hand before continuing, once again feeling a little embarrassed. "Then when you asked me to dinner the last day I was here, I was afraid of what might happen, more like what I might/could do." He squeezed her hand lightly again while reassuring her. "Not that I would ever force you to do anything, but I was afraid I would've done something that would cross the line or make you think that's all I was after, especially since I was leaving the next morning. I didn't want you to think I was one of the those guys, my mom taught me to be better than that."

Sara took a moment to process what he said, then she couldn't help but smirk. "Then I applaud you even more on your restraint."

He raised an eyebrow as he asked. "What do you mean?"

She moved forwards in her seat and spoke softly. "Once we became a couple it took us five months to 'sleep' together, especially since we were sleeping in the same bed."

He chuckled before looking at her lovingly. "For one, I had practice of being around you so I was use to you, not that it was easy all the time." He moved their hands up and kissed hers softly as he finished. "And two, I knew by then, at least on my side of things, I had the rest of my life to be with you, so why rush it."

She smiled lovingly at one another, then she cleared her throat and moved so her back was against her chair again before she said with a smile. "And what if I told you that I would like to have that dinner with you, as if it was that night."

"Sara..."

She cuts him off. "Please? It's you and me having dinner like it was suppose to be that night."

Like he was really going to deny her request of having dinner together, so he nodded with a smile. "Ok, it's a date then."

She nodded with a smile and bright eyes. "Alright, I'm looking forward to it, Dr. Grissom."

Grissom raised an eyebrow as he asked. "Oh, we are going there now." She nodded again with a chuckle, getting his meaning, so he chuckled in return. "Me too, Ms. Sidle."

They took a moment to savor this moment, but then he couldn't hold back anymore on asking the question that's been floating around in his head since he saw her in that room. "How are the kids?"

Sara chuckled one more time before their conversation happily turned to the kids.


Two days later

After the last day of the seminar, they did a little shopping for souvenirs for the kids and the others, and a little more sight seeing, then when it came to getting ready for their dinner date, he got ready and left the room while she got ready, and just as she was finishing up, there was a knock on the door.

She smiled as she stood up from the bed and walked towards the door before opening it, then smiled widely when Grissom was standing there with a rose, making her raise an eyebrow and asked. "Really, you would have done that?"

He nodded with a smile. "Absolutely."

She took the flower and smelled it with love in her eyes. "Well, thank you, it's beautiful."

"You're welcome." He then held out arm. "Shall we?"

She nodded, but before she walked out, she placed the flower on the dresser, grabbed her purse and jacket, which he helped her put it on before walking out and hooking her arm around his before they left the hotel.

Once they had dinner at a French restaurant, which it was different than the one he would have taken her that night, he took her to the beach and they walked along the shore while talking as if they hadn't spent the last 13 years together, just trying to pretend they had only met one another three days ago, so obviously some topics were off limits, even though both secretly admit it was hard not starting a sentence with one of their kids being mentioned but they managed to get through it.

When they made it back to the hotel room, they stopped at the door and he spoke as he if he was back in time, but still meant everything he said. "I uh, I had a good evening tonight."

She nodded with a smile. "Me too, and not only that, but it was really nice meeting you. I learned a lot from you."

He smiled with a nod. "Thank you." Then he cleared his throat "It was nice meeting you too. I believe you'll have a wonderful CSI career."

She smiled shyly before replying. "Thank you." They took a moment to look into each other eyes, then she asked softly. "Will I ever see you again?"

He took a breath before replying softly. "I don't know, I hope so." He put his hand in his pants pocket and pulled out a business card, which had his current information on it, and handed it to her. "But if you ever have any questions or comments I would love to hear about them."

She nodded as she took it from him. "Thank you, you know I just might do that."

He chuckled. "With how many questions you asked during the seminar, I don't think there is any doubt." Before she could say anything while pursing her lips, he continued, once again being completely truthful. "Not that I had a problem with that, when someone as yourself has a beautiful mind, it's nice when it's being put to good use, don't ever hold back.
The CSI program needs someone like you."

Even though she's heard his praise more times than she could count, she was suppose to act like she's never head that from him before, not that it would have matted, she probably would have still reacted in the way she did.

She looked down shyly as she spoke softly. "Dr. Grissom, I..."

But he cuts her off as he lifted her chin up and cupped her cheek, going with what's in his heart. "It's true, I meant that."

She softly whispered 'thank you' while their eyes remained connected, then he cleared his throat and took his hand off her cheek. "I uh, I better let you get some rest."

Before his hand was completely off her cheek, she took it and asked. "Do you want to come in?" He raised an eyebrow, and she shyly smiled again. "I don't mean to be so bold, but I don't think I'm ready for the night to end."

He took a breath, shook his head and said softly. "No, I better let you go."

Trying to hid her disappointment, she nodded. "Ok, thanks again for the evening."

"You're welcome, have a good night, Ms. Sidle."

"You too, Dr. Grissom."

After a smile, he turned and started to walk away, while she smiled as she turned to get into the room.

The door had barely closed behind her once she in when she heard a knock, so after setting her purse and jacket on the dresser, she walked back towards the door and opened it.

Their eyes met with a passion so intense their bodies were already responding before either one even made a move, which that didn't last long.

He moved forward a second later and cupped her cheek before kissing her without any hesitation and with all the passion he had for her, and she was right there with him matching hers with his, which at that point neither one knew if they were still pretending for it to be that night or not, but either way they didn't care, and before they knew it their top layer of clothing was off and they were in bed with him above her.

Before anything else happened though, they just took a moment and starred at one another as if they haven't seen each other in years, then when they were ready to move forward, after a smile and a look of acceptance/approval, he ran his thumb up and down her cheek lightly before he moved down and kissed her lips again, happy they could take their time to really show the depth of how they feel about one another.


Hours later

Wrapped up in a sheet, Sara was sleeping soundly when something woke her, and when she opened her eyes and didn't see Grissom next to her, she asked sleepily. "Griss?"

Standing in front of his suit case, he looked over at her sheepishly. "Yeah, I'm over here."

She lifted her head up to see what he was doing and asked. "Are you ok?"

He nodded as he pulled some clothes out of his case. "Yes, but I was going to wake you to see if you want to leave."

"Leave? Now?" She looked at the clock before looking at her husband with another raised eyebrow. "At 1 clock in the morning?" He nodded again, and while keeping the sheet to her, she moves to sit up in bed, and after turning on the light and letting her eyes adjust, she smiled as she pats the empty spot. "Ok, come over and tell me what's going on, why do you want to leave so early?"

He moved to the bed slowly, like he was in trouble, something their son would do when he was reluctant to go to them when he knows he was about to get a lecture
on something, making Sara chuckle softly.

He sits on the empty spot and took a breath before looking at her shyly. "I was hoping we could make it home in time to have breakfast with the kids." Now she understood, and while she placed her hand on top of his, he continued. "As much as I loved last night, and recreating a past moment that 'could have been', I happen to love our present, and I miss the kids."

She cupped his cheek with a smile. "You're right, last night was amazing, but I missed the kids too, so if you want to leave now, we can."

He leaned and kissed her cheek. "Thank you. I love you, Mrs. Grissom."

Happy to hear that name again, she sighed in content and cupped his cheek again after he pulled back and whispered. "And I love you, Dr. Grissom."

They kiss softly before pulling back and getting ready, then once they were, they checked out and left the hotel to make the trip back to Los Angeles, and when they got there, they were happily reunited with their kids. They knew that while it was nice to have that time away and 'go back' to their past, nothing beat what they have in the present.


AN:More to come soon, thanks for reading, and please review.