"Your parents said what!?" Diana Delmont, Maddie's social worker turned
Sara's friend asked.
"They said that I can have the pick of the litter when it comes to the men at work."
They were seated at a café just off the strip sipping coffees and comparing parenting notes while their children played with the napkins on the tables. "Pick of the litter?" Diana asked.
"Yeah, it's their mission in life to get me married within the next couple of years," Sara answered simply, "And seeing as we might as well be family at CSI, they think that would be a great place to start."
"Where did this all start?" Diana asked, intrigued.
"When Nick brought me home after he went shopping with me for a friend's present and they were waiting at my door. Then they walked into CSI one day and caught Warrick keeping Maddie occupied while I was down at the morgue. They came back a few hours later, with visitor's IDs this time, only to find Grissom rocking her to sleep. They cornered me, and interrogated me about who I was going to pick for about an hour, and when I wouldn't tell them, they walked out on me and saw Greg and Archie playing with her. In short, they want me to decide between the five of them and get married."
Diana had to fight herself from letting out a guffaw. "This is probably the first time I have seen someone hating all the attention she's getting in terms of relationships," she said.
"I've only dated four guys in my entire life, and all of them were far from successes," Sara replied, hardly miffed, "And anyway, I think all five of the guys would make great fathers for Maddie, but unfortunately, polygamy is illegal." This time, Diana let out the guffaw that had threatened to surface earlier.
As everyone turned to the woman who could not stop laughing, Diana managed compose herself. "You can stop watching now. The party's over," she said addressing the crowd. They readily complied. Turning to Sara, she said, "Well, look at it this way: You're doing just fine on your own. You've got a stable job, support, and friends, and you shouldn't let your parents force you into something you don't want to do."
"Thanks, Diana, that-" Sara was interrupted by her cell phone going off. "Duty calls, I guess," she said, "Hello? What? Okay, I'll be right there."
"What's up?" Diana asked in concern when she noticed Sara's eyes darken.
"My dad just had a heart attack, he's at the hospital right now. Sorry to cut this short," Sara replied as she fished into her bag for some money.
"Don't worry," Diana replied, "the coffee's on me." She made a 'shoo' gesture with her hands and smiled.
"Thanks Di, I don't know what I would do without you." Giving her, and her daughter, Angela, a quick hug, Sara picked up Maddie and her belongings and started for the door, her shoulders slumped slightly in worry.
"You'd get married to five guys because you couldn't decide between them!" Diana called in order to lighten Sara's mood. It worked, judging by Sara's grin.
*********************************
"Where's Mr. Arnold Sidle's room?" Sara asked the nurse on duty.
"And you are. . ." the nurse asked as he trailed off.
"His daughter."
"Oh! Yes, they said to expect you! This way please," he replied pleasantly.
"Thanks."
"No problem. Cute baby by the way."
"Thanks," Sara replied again, slightly flustered by everything that was happening around her.
As they rounded corners, and dodged other patients, the nurse, Brian, attempted to make small talk asking, "So how long have you had your daughter?"
"About three and a half months," Sara replied.
Brian grinned, "I know some people lie about their children's ages to get into amusement parks or something at a cheaper cost, but I have never met anyone who said that their baby was months younger than they actually are."
"Let me clarify. She's seven and a half months old, but I have only had her for about three and a half months."
"Adoptive mother, huh?"
"No, legal guardian as a result of parental death."
"Oh, sorry," Brian answered sheepishly. "I guess I didn't ask you a really clear question, huh? 'How long have you had your baby?' You just answered the truth."
"It's okay," Sara replied, "I get that question a lot."
"Yeah," he replied, although he didn't sound too convinced. "Well, here's your father's room," he said as he pointed to door 509 and continued down the hall, "It wasn't too serious, so he should be fine in time."
"Thanks again," Sara called to his retreating form.
"No problem!"
Taking a few seconds to compose herself, Sara leaned against the wall, and had a short "conversation" with Maddie. She gently pushed open the door. "Dad? How are you feeling?" she called out softly, in case he was sleeping.
"I've had better days, sweet cheeks," the man replied, causing Sara to smile at the familiar nickname he had dubbed her when she was a little girl. "How's the little cupcake?" he continued, referring to Maddie, who, in his words, was so sweet, that she "just had to be a dessert item". Sara never really understood her father's obsession with renaming things that had something to do with sugar.
"Just fine, Dad," Sara replied, pulled out of her reverie, "They said that the heart attack wasn't too serious."
"No, thank god!" the elder Sidle replied, "Luckily that young man of yours knew the symptoms of a heart attack and called 9-1-1."
At the mention of "her young man" Sara suddenly realized that her mother was no where to be found. "She's back at Gilbert's place. Sent her home, no need to hover around here, now that I'm fine," her father answered her unasked question.
"Which 'young man' would it be who called the ambulance, Dad?"
"Gregory."
"Gregory?"
"The one who calls himself Greg. There's no such name as Greg."
"But that's what it says on his birth certificate," Sara protested. 'Great,' she thought, 'and I thought that the name change business of theirs would end at Grissom.'
"And speaking of names," her father continued, "What is with Nicholas' and Wilbur's names anyway? At least Catherine has a normal name. And Archie is acceptable."
"Nicholas and Wilbur?" Sara repeated blankly.
"Yeah, Abbott and Costello. The ones that call themselves Nick and Warrick," he explained. "Even rhymes," Mr. Sidle muttered to himself.
******************************************
"Hello?" Sara muttered sleepily into the phone.
"Sara!" Grissom called desperately into the other end, "Your mother is driving me insane!"
"Really?" she asked in a tone that implied she didn't care.
"Yes! At least your father was some sort of distraction when he was here, but now he's at the hospital, and she won't leave me alone. Every five minutes she asked me why I haven't proposed to you yet!" Grissom's tone had taken on a slightly crazy-man quality.
"Oh?" Sara asked, still not too interested in what her boss had to say, "And what did you say?"
"That I was engaged to Catherine," Grissom replied miserably. "Now your mother wants to plan Catherine's and my 'wedding'."
Sara had to laugh at that. "I told you to be careful with what you say to my mother! She's in full 'must have every single person married' mode," she quipped, "Did you tell Catherine yet?"
"Yeah, and I had to do it in such a way that it would sound like I actually was engaged to her, since your mother refused to leave the room."
"Do you think Catherine understood you?"
"No. Do you think you can call her and explain? Your mother's coming back from the washroom. I can't do it." And with that statement, Grissom hung up his end of the phone.
"Okay. . ." Sara said as she hung up too. She dialed the number that had become engrained into her memory. Moments later Catherine's phone rang.
"Hello?" another sleepy voice greeted Sara.
"Catherine?"
"Yeah. Sara?"
"Yeah, listen, this will only take a while, but Grissom called you earlier and it was something along the lines of-"
"-Along the lines of, 'Sweetie, Sara's mother wants to plan our wedding.' I wasn't sure if I was just having a really bad dream or not."
"Trust me, you weren't dreaming. Okay, Cath, I'll hang up now and let you get some sleep."
"Sleep my bum. After that news flash, I don't think I'll be able to sleep anymore," the other woman answered crankily as she hung up.
Sara had just managed to find a comfortable position when her phone rang again. "What is this!?" she asked the phone. "Hello?" she asked when it was half way to her ear.
"Sara? Did I wake you?" Nick's voice drifted over.
"No, Grissom did that already," she answered, "Wait! Is this about my mother demanding that you marry me?"
"Yes and no. She called me to demand that, yes, but when I told her that I was in a serious relationship with Mandy, she stopped asking me to marry you, but then she asked me if I would like to help with Grissom's wedding."
"Oh, so you heard."
"Yeah. I never knew Grissom and Catherine were an item."
"They're not," Sara replied shortly, "Grissom was cornered by my mother asking him why he hasn't proposed to me yet or something and he just blurted the first thing that came to mind."
"That he was engaged to Cath," Nick finished.
"Yeah."
"Okay, I'm going to let you get back to sleep. See you tonight," Nick concluded, and hung up the phone.
"Okay, bye." And with that, Sara put down the phone with a decided click.
She had been in bed again for no more than two minutes when the phone rang again. "What!?" she asked the person on the other line loudly. Maddie was startled out of her slumber and began to cry. "Hold on," she commanded to the person on the phone. "Sorry, baby, I didn't mean to wake you up," she said gently to Maddie as she picked her up and held her in the circle of her arms.
"Sara? Is this a bad time to call?" Warrick asked worriedly on the other side.
"No, you're just the third person to call in a row."
"Oh, sorry, but your mom just phoned me and-"
"-And she wanted to know why you haven't proposed to me or something yet. Right?"
"Right. How did you know?"
"She asked Grissom and Nick, and they both just phoned me. Grissom's gotten himself into a corner. He told my mom that he was engaged to Catherine."
"Really?" Warrick's voice asked in awe, "I didn't know that there was something between the two of them."
"There isn't. Grissom just said that from the top of his head," Sara explained, followed by Maddie's affirmative, "Gah!" "I guess Maddie thinks that our problems have just gotten bigger. I can not wait until my parents get over this phase."
"That could be a problem Sara," Warrick replied.
"Why?"
"You know when your mom asked me why I haven't proposed yet, I kind of said that it was because. . ." he trailed off, "because. . . I didn't have a ring," he said in a rush.
"You said what!?" Sara screamed. Luckily for her, Maddie didn't seem too surprised at her mother's outbursts now that she was awake.
"I'm sorry! I said the first thing that came to mind!" Warrick cried, trying in vain to defend himself. The phone beeped. "It's your mother on the other line. I'll try to see if I can get us out of this one." As if on cue, he hung up with an exasperated sigh.
Sara groaned as she too hung up. Out of all the advice she got from everybody on all sides on how to raise a baby by herself, no one ever mentioned how to keep her mother from trying to set her up with all the men at work.
"Bah?" Maddie asked.
****************************************
This is just a fluffy short (um no) chapter I just wanted to stick in, demonstrating how out-of-it Sara's parents can be.
The end is almost near!! Don't worry there will be a N/S story in a few days! (and maybe a G/S story too if I can fit it in to the summer)
Love it, hate it, or want to say hi. . .
PLEASE REVIEW!!!!
"They said that I can have the pick of the litter when it comes to the men at work."
They were seated at a café just off the strip sipping coffees and comparing parenting notes while their children played with the napkins on the tables. "Pick of the litter?" Diana asked.
"Yeah, it's their mission in life to get me married within the next couple of years," Sara answered simply, "And seeing as we might as well be family at CSI, they think that would be a great place to start."
"Where did this all start?" Diana asked, intrigued.
"When Nick brought me home after he went shopping with me for a friend's present and they were waiting at my door. Then they walked into CSI one day and caught Warrick keeping Maddie occupied while I was down at the morgue. They came back a few hours later, with visitor's IDs this time, only to find Grissom rocking her to sleep. They cornered me, and interrogated me about who I was going to pick for about an hour, and when I wouldn't tell them, they walked out on me and saw Greg and Archie playing with her. In short, they want me to decide between the five of them and get married."
Diana had to fight herself from letting out a guffaw. "This is probably the first time I have seen someone hating all the attention she's getting in terms of relationships," she said.
"I've only dated four guys in my entire life, and all of them were far from successes," Sara replied, hardly miffed, "And anyway, I think all five of the guys would make great fathers for Maddie, but unfortunately, polygamy is illegal." This time, Diana let out the guffaw that had threatened to surface earlier.
As everyone turned to the woman who could not stop laughing, Diana managed compose herself. "You can stop watching now. The party's over," she said addressing the crowd. They readily complied. Turning to Sara, she said, "Well, look at it this way: You're doing just fine on your own. You've got a stable job, support, and friends, and you shouldn't let your parents force you into something you don't want to do."
"Thanks, Diana, that-" Sara was interrupted by her cell phone going off. "Duty calls, I guess," she said, "Hello? What? Okay, I'll be right there."
"What's up?" Diana asked in concern when she noticed Sara's eyes darken.
"My dad just had a heart attack, he's at the hospital right now. Sorry to cut this short," Sara replied as she fished into her bag for some money.
"Don't worry," Diana replied, "the coffee's on me." She made a 'shoo' gesture with her hands and smiled.
"Thanks Di, I don't know what I would do without you." Giving her, and her daughter, Angela, a quick hug, Sara picked up Maddie and her belongings and started for the door, her shoulders slumped slightly in worry.
"You'd get married to five guys because you couldn't decide between them!" Diana called in order to lighten Sara's mood. It worked, judging by Sara's grin.
*********************************
"Where's Mr. Arnold Sidle's room?" Sara asked the nurse on duty.
"And you are. . ." the nurse asked as he trailed off.
"His daughter."
"Oh! Yes, they said to expect you! This way please," he replied pleasantly.
"Thanks."
"No problem. Cute baby by the way."
"Thanks," Sara replied again, slightly flustered by everything that was happening around her.
As they rounded corners, and dodged other patients, the nurse, Brian, attempted to make small talk asking, "So how long have you had your daughter?"
"About three and a half months," Sara replied.
Brian grinned, "I know some people lie about their children's ages to get into amusement parks or something at a cheaper cost, but I have never met anyone who said that their baby was months younger than they actually are."
"Let me clarify. She's seven and a half months old, but I have only had her for about three and a half months."
"Adoptive mother, huh?"
"No, legal guardian as a result of parental death."
"Oh, sorry," Brian answered sheepishly. "I guess I didn't ask you a really clear question, huh? 'How long have you had your baby?' You just answered the truth."
"It's okay," Sara replied, "I get that question a lot."
"Yeah," he replied, although he didn't sound too convinced. "Well, here's your father's room," he said as he pointed to door 509 and continued down the hall, "It wasn't too serious, so he should be fine in time."
"Thanks again," Sara called to his retreating form.
"No problem!"
Taking a few seconds to compose herself, Sara leaned against the wall, and had a short "conversation" with Maddie. She gently pushed open the door. "Dad? How are you feeling?" she called out softly, in case he was sleeping.
"I've had better days, sweet cheeks," the man replied, causing Sara to smile at the familiar nickname he had dubbed her when she was a little girl. "How's the little cupcake?" he continued, referring to Maddie, who, in his words, was so sweet, that she "just had to be a dessert item". Sara never really understood her father's obsession with renaming things that had something to do with sugar.
"Just fine, Dad," Sara replied, pulled out of her reverie, "They said that the heart attack wasn't too serious."
"No, thank god!" the elder Sidle replied, "Luckily that young man of yours knew the symptoms of a heart attack and called 9-1-1."
At the mention of "her young man" Sara suddenly realized that her mother was no where to be found. "She's back at Gilbert's place. Sent her home, no need to hover around here, now that I'm fine," her father answered her unasked question.
"Which 'young man' would it be who called the ambulance, Dad?"
"Gregory."
"Gregory?"
"The one who calls himself Greg. There's no such name as Greg."
"But that's what it says on his birth certificate," Sara protested. 'Great,' she thought, 'and I thought that the name change business of theirs would end at Grissom.'
"And speaking of names," her father continued, "What is with Nicholas' and Wilbur's names anyway? At least Catherine has a normal name. And Archie is acceptable."
"Nicholas and Wilbur?" Sara repeated blankly.
"Yeah, Abbott and Costello. The ones that call themselves Nick and Warrick," he explained. "Even rhymes," Mr. Sidle muttered to himself.
******************************************
"Hello?" Sara muttered sleepily into the phone.
"Sara!" Grissom called desperately into the other end, "Your mother is driving me insane!"
"Really?" she asked in a tone that implied she didn't care.
"Yes! At least your father was some sort of distraction when he was here, but now he's at the hospital, and she won't leave me alone. Every five minutes she asked me why I haven't proposed to you yet!" Grissom's tone had taken on a slightly crazy-man quality.
"Oh?" Sara asked, still not too interested in what her boss had to say, "And what did you say?"
"That I was engaged to Catherine," Grissom replied miserably. "Now your mother wants to plan Catherine's and my 'wedding'."
Sara had to laugh at that. "I told you to be careful with what you say to my mother! She's in full 'must have every single person married' mode," she quipped, "Did you tell Catherine yet?"
"Yeah, and I had to do it in such a way that it would sound like I actually was engaged to her, since your mother refused to leave the room."
"Do you think Catherine understood you?"
"No. Do you think you can call her and explain? Your mother's coming back from the washroom. I can't do it." And with that statement, Grissom hung up his end of the phone.
"Okay. . ." Sara said as she hung up too. She dialed the number that had become engrained into her memory. Moments later Catherine's phone rang.
"Hello?" another sleepy voice greeted Sara.
"Catherine?"
"Yeah. Sara?"
"Yeah, listen, this will only take a while, but Grissom called you earlier and it was something along the lines of-"
"-Along the lines of, 'Sweetie, Sara's mother wants to plan our wedding.' I wasn't sure if I was just having a really bad dream or not."
"Trust me, you weren't dreaming. Okay, Cath, I'll hang up now and let you get some sleep."
"Sleep my bum. After that news flash, I don't think I'll be able to sleep anymore," the other woman answered crankily as she hung up.
Sara had just managed to find a comfortable position when her phone rang again. "What is this!?" she asked the phone. "Hello?" she asked when it was half way to her ear.
"Sara? Did I wake you?" Nick's voice drifted over.
"No, Grissom did that already," she answered, "Wait! Is this about my mother demanding that you marry me?"
"Yes and no. She called me to demand that, yes, but when I told her that I was in a serious relationship with Mandy, she stopped asking me to marry you, but then she asked me if I would like to help with Grissom's wedding."
"Oh, so you heard."
"Yeah. I never knew Grissom and Catherine were an item."
"They're not," Sara replied shortly, "Grissom was cornered by my mother asking him why he hasn't proposed to me yet or something and he just blurted the first thing that came to mind."
"That he was engaged to Cath," Nick finished.
"Yeah."
"Okay, I'm going to let you get back to sleep. See you tonight," Nick concluded, and hung up the phone.
"Okay, bye." And with that, Sara put down the phone with a decided click.
She had been in bed again for no more than two minutes when the phone rang again. "What!?" she asked the person on the other line loudly. Maddie was startled out of her slumber and began to cry. "Hold on," she commanded to the person on the phone. "Sorry, baby, I didn't mean to wake you up," she said gently to Maddie as she picked her up and held her in the circle of her arms.
"Sara? Is this a bad time to call?" Warrick asked worriedly on the other side.
"No, you're just the third person to call in a row."
"Oh, sorry, but your mom just phoned me and-"
"-And she wanted to know why you haven't proposed to me or something yet. Right?"
"Right. How did you know?"
"She asked Grissom and Nick, and they both just phoned me. Grissom's gotten himself into a corner. He told my mom that he was engaged to Catherine."
"Really?" Warrick's voice asked in awe, "I didn't know that there was something between the two of them."
"There isn't. Grissom just said that from the top of his head," Sara explained, followed by Maddie's affirmative, "Gah!" "I guess Maddie thinks that our problems have just gotten bigger. I can not wait until my parents get over this phase."
"That could be a problem Sara," Warrick replied.
"Why?"
"You know when your mom asked me why I haven't proposed yet, I kind of said that it was because. . ." he trailed off, "because. . . I didn't have a ring," he said in a rush.
"You said what!?" Sara screamed. Luckily for her, Maddie didn't seem too surprised at her mother's outbursts now that she was awake.
"I'm sorry! I said the first thing that came to mind!" Warrick cried, trying in vain to defend himself. The phone beeped. "It's your mother on the other line. I'll try to see if I can get us out of this one." As if on cue, he hung up with an exasperated sigh.
Sara groaned as she too hung up. Out of all the advice she got from everybody on all sides on how to raise a baby by herself, no one ever mentioned how to keep her mother from trying to set her up with all the men at work.
"Bah?" Maddie asked.
****************************************
This is just a fluffy short (um no) chapter I just wanted to stick in, demonstrating how out-of-it Sara's parents can be.
The end is almost near!! Don't worry there will be a N/S story in a few days! (and maybe a G/S story too if I can fit it in to the summer)
Love it, hate it, or want to say hi. . .
PLEASE REVIEW!!!!