Disclaimer: I don't own.

A/N: Sooo, I think I may have been unclear in the last chapter. It was only meant to be one day in time, and when Sara talks about going to Vegas, she's saying 'when we go, this is the plan...' So, as of the last chapter, they haven't gone yet. Sorry I didn't word it as clearly as I ought to've. :)

Thanks for the reviews! Enjoy!

Edit: So, I meant to put this in my A/N the first time. I was dumb and was thinking Ecklie was in charge when I had him calling, so for the sake of consistency, I'm just pretending he was in charge back then. Sorry for the confusion.

Chapter Eighty Six:

At this point, my phone had died and I had no way of knowing how many calls I'd missed. I could have called the lab or Catherine from Sara's phone… now that Sara and I had resolved our problems, there was no reason to continue avoiding whatever had been taking place at home in my absence. I even tried Catherine once, and got a busy signal. …The prospect of calling Ecklie was enough to convince me that it could wait until I returned to Vegas—we were flying out the next day.

The day that had begun happily in bed with my girls ended precisely the same way and before we knew it, the alarm was going off at four in the morning—we had a flight at seven. I got up and showered first, leaving Sara in bed with Ayla, and then woke her when I got out. I dressed Ayla and fed her some cereal while Sara showered and packed up the rest of our toiletries… within the hour, the car was packed and we were headed to the airport.

It was Ayla's first airplane ride and Sara's carryon was entirely devoted to Ayla—toys, books, games, snacks—but she was asleep before we had finished taxiing. I lamented that we hadn't gotten a third seat so that Sara didn't have to hold her the whole time, and even offered several times to take her, but Sara just leaned back in her seat, cradling Ayla across her chest, and shook her head. …I didn't know for sure, but I had my suspicions that the kidnapping had a much larger effect on Sara's psyche than it had on Ayla's—she never wanted the child too far away.

We had a layover in Minneapolis and though the airport provided quick transportation to the Mall of America and Legoland, Sara said that it was just silly to take her there… she was too young for the rides at Camp Snoopy and wouldn't even know what she was seeing. …I was disappointed, having had no opportunities to take Ayla on exciting little adventures, but I made myself feel better by buying her a Twins onesie in a store in the airport—when I worked in Hennepin County, I had been a rather avid fan. Sara, for her part, clucked her tongue and told me that I was spoiling her… but her eyes told me that she understood my desire to do so and she waited patiently for me.

While Sara looked for a magazine, I took the girl over to the windows to see the airplanes, delighting in her wide eyes and pointing finger and the cheesy grin when I caught her attention in order to clearly enunciate 'air-plane,' she fixed her eyes on my face again and said, "Gla!" while pointing a finger so close that I had to back my head away to prevent her slobbery little fingers leaving smears across my glasses.

"Sara!" I called, and she glanced over at us, replaced the magazine she'd been considering, and moved to my side.

"Hmm?"

"What's she saying…? Does she know my name?"

Sara looked at her, smirked, and whispered conspiratorially, "Psst. Gil. She's not saying anything…"

I rolled my eyes in exasperation. "Ayla… airplane." She glanced over her shoulder and then back at me, uncertain. Sara giggled and I frowned again. "No, really. She was—"

"Gla!" This time her fingers clasped around my glasses, pulling them half off my face before I could stop her. I caught them, but Sara was giggling again. I didn't care.

"That! Is she saying 'Gil'?"

Her giggles stopped and her smile faded. "No…honey, she's saying 'glasses'. We have a book with different clothing and accessories, but the only one she knows yet is glasses. …She likes to point to you in the pictures in my room and say it."

"Oh." I said, finding myself immensely disappointed. She frowned too, slipping an arm around me.

"…She'll learn it eventually, honey."

I frowned. "Yeah… I know." And though a moment ago I would have been ecstatic for her to have known my name, now the thought of teaching her to call me 'Gil' just didn't seem to sit right either. …Was it too soon to want her to call me 'Daddy'? Yeah, it was definitely too soon. I sighed softly, and Sara gave me a understanding smile and kissed my cheek.

"Give it some time, and then we'll teach her 'daddy,' okay?"

I looked at her in surprise and she smiled. "It was what Jace wanted and it's… it's what you both need. I just… don't want to confuse her, having her call someone else that so… soon."

I nodded, feeling emotional but trying to push it back. It was my own fault that she didn't know me. I hugged Ayla tight to me as we heard our flight being called to start boarding. We moved as a single unit onto the plane, and Ayla once again fell asleep before we'd even taken off, this time against my chest. It must be the motion… Sara said car rides usually put her to sleep too. I sighed happily, running my hands up her back, thinking that now I knew why Sara hadn't wanted to give her up. …This was amazing.

When we landed in Vegas, I let Sara take Ayla who was a little fussy from having been woken up and slung one of the carry-on bags over the handle of Sara's rolling suitcase and kept the other on my shoulder, with a car seat in hand, leading them out to my car and feeling every bit the patriarch of our little threesome. Sara weakly protested that she could carry something other than Ayla, but I liked doing it all. …I mean, I wasn't about to pound my chest or drag her anywhere by her hair, but I was allowed a little masculine pride, wasn't I?

Sara hooked up the car seat while I loaded everything into the trunk, and within minutes we had paid for my parking and were headed to my townhouse for the night. Sara glanced at me, a bemused expression on her face. "…I didn't think there would be slot machines in the airport."

I smirked, shaking my head. "Honey… there are slot machines everywhere. …Everywhere, really. Gas stations, restaurants, grocery stores…"

She gave me an uncertain smile. "That'll be an adjustment…"

I squeezed her hand across the console, trying to be reassuring. "If you don't want to stay here…" I offered, even though I didn't particularly want to leave the lab. For her, of course, I would but…

"No… that doesn't make any sense. Your already have a townhouse that has room for all of us and you have a job you love… Why would we move?"

I smiled at the 'we' and nodded, taking an exit and then another immediate turn, onto my street. We passed a black Denali whose driver looked suspiciously like Catherine and when it made a dramatic, tire-squealing U-turn to follow behind us, my suspicions were concerned. I parked and removed the keys, holding up the house key for Sara. "Catherine is behind us… I haven't answered a lot of her calls, so she's not going to be happy. Take Ayla inside and I'll be in once I know what's been going on."

"You haven't been answering her calls?" She asked, but when Catherine pulled into the driveway behind us rather aggressively, the brakes squealing at the force with which she hit them, she took the proffered key and got out, opening the back door and unhooking Ayla. Resting her on a hip and shutting the door behind her, she came face to face with Catherine who walked up the driveway with a swagger. The last time the women had spoke, Catherine had been tearing Sara apart on the phone for her perceived infidelity. Sara clutched Ayla closer and with a glance at the blonde woman's indignant and disbelieving expression, turned to head inside rather than have another conversation like their last one in front of Ayla.

"It wasn't enough for you to cheat on him?" Catherine called, baiting her. I watched Sara's frame stiffen as she pause, but she kept walking. I got out of the car, stepping in front of Catherine who looked like she was about to follow Sara and start a fist fight.

"Catherine. Stop." I heard the keys in the door and then it swinging closed.

"And you!" Catherine spat, apparently just fully processing my presence there. "Where the hell have you been? Do you know that I was just here trying to peer in your windows to make sure you hadn't come back without telling anyone and died in there?"

I swallowed. "I'm sorry, Cath. It's been… hectic."

"Hectic! You don't know hectic… Gil, Holly Gribbs—"

"I know, I know. I was supposed to train the new girl. I'll owe you one, okay?"

Her mouth was a thin line and she huffed softly, her hands moving to her hips. "No. …Gil, she was killed at a scene."

"What?" I asked, absolutely shocked. "On her first night? …How did this happen?"

"You would know this if you answered your phone." She snapped, and then her expression softened again, seeing the bewilderment on mine. "Brass sent her to a scene with Warrick, and Warrick left here there, with an officer but otherwise alone… The perp. came back and… he shot her."

I felt dizzy with the information. "He… Oh my god. What… what's happened? Did you guys catch the guy?"

"Yeah, we caught him... pretty easily, actually. And... Brass was moved to homicide… Ecklie's been tearing the lab—and everyone in it—apart, trying to find you. At first he was going to tell you to get home to train Holly… and then he was going to tell you to come back to run the unit…"

I sensed that this wasn't the end, so I arched an eyebrow and shoved my hands in my pockets. "And now?"

She grimaced. "Now he's convinced that Holly wouldn't have died if you'd been there to work with her. …He's been talking about firing you."

I rolled my eyes. I brought so much grant money to the lab that they would be better off paying me to do nothing than they would be firing me and losing all of it. "I'm sure he's talking… what about Warrick?"

She clucked her tongue. "I think their plan was to have you fire him, once you came back… he's on suspension. Now, though, I think Ecklie is blaming you and letting Warrick off the hook. …She should have been with you, and if you had been here, it wouldn't have happened."

I sighed. "That's a blessing in disguise I guess. …When's her funeral?"

Catherine frowned. "Earlier today."

"I'm sorry I missed it," I said sadly, not feeling responsible but definitely feeling saddened. Being a CSI wasn't supposed to be a high-risk job and she'd been fresh from the academy.

Catherine sighed, leaning back against the front end of my car with her arms crossed over her chest. "So… you found Ayla."

I nodded, reservedly. "…We did."

"And you're, what? On the lamb from Jace? You know, coming to where he knows you live, with your address in the phone book… not so sneaky."

"No, we're not hiding. Jace—"

"So he finally stopped blackmailing her? Or did she cheat on him with you again and the third time was the charm?"

"Catherine, no. Jace—"

"But, I mean… I don't know why you would take her back either. …What is it about her? I don't get i—"

"Catherine." I said, more sternly. "…Jace is dead."

"…Oh." Her face went slack and her arms fell away from her chest to swing lightly at her sides.

I pursed my lips, looking at my feet, and sighed. "Cath, it was… The whole thing was so strange. …She still had pictures of me up in her room. They were in separate rooms. And though she was mad at me, she wasn't… with him, either. She hadn't slept with him, that night. She…" I sighed, feeling self-hatred well up strong in me again. "She's on anti-depressants. Post partum depression. …She was going through that when I…"

I break off, letting my eyes drift and then finally rise to her face. She looks shocked that I've just talked about something personal with her—even when she was privy to Sara and I'd relationship on the cruise, I hadn't sat and talked with her about it. I cleared my throat, looking deliberately away again. "Anyway… Jace figured out who had her before we did. He took the money and went alone… and died shielding Ayla. It, uh… it was really awful."

She still doesn't know what to say, but she takes a step forward and wraps her arms around me. Surprisingly, it's what I needed… to be able to lean on someone. Because I've been working on being strong for Sara, who is suffering far more than I am… and while I've done some leaning, I've obviously been holding back for her sake. Despite having only rarely hugged Catherine in my life, I allow myself the embrace and the moment in which I'm allowed to be weak.

Finally, I pulled back, sighing. "Listen… I'll come in sometime tonight, deal with Ecklie. I'm sorry you had to take the heat trying to cover for me. I'd… better get in with the girls."

She smiled softly at my phrasing. "Family life suits you, Gil. …See you tonight." She sauntered back to the Denali she was driving, and I moved to the trunk, pulling out the luggage. And then, with a jolt of excitement, I headed towards the front door—I had missed seeing Sara's initial reaction, which was disappointing, but I still wanted to see what she thought of my home… the home that was going to be hers.