Thanks for all the reviews! And on with the last chapter! (hopefully, if I
don't think up something weird to make it even longer. . . )
******************************************
"Sara," Warrick whispered suspiciously, "I have a way to get your parents off your back." They were in the halls of CSI walking at a clipped pace so as to keep as much distance between them and Sara's mother who had come to the lab yet again.
"How?" she responded, glad that he had found a way to get them out of the mess like he promised to two weeks before.
"We hide out in the broom closet for about ten minutes, and you put on the ring your mother gave me, and then we'll go 'AWOL' from work tomorrow. And say that we eloped somewhere in one of those chapels on the strip," He replied, "Grissom's already given us any time off that we may need. Your mother is driving him past normal sanity."
"What about Maddie?"
"Archie said he'd take care of her. Don't look now, but your mother's coming. Hold my hand and follow my lead."
"Right," Sara answered, taking hold of his hand, while guiding a slightly unsteady Maddie with the other.
"How are you two dears?" Mrs. Sidle asked as she passed the two, dragging Grissom and Catherine along with her. "Don't forget, Wilbur, today's the day. And then I can plan two weddings!" She added the last part gleefully, not noticing Grissom and Catherine's faces screwing up in disgust.
"Mrs. Sidle-" Warrick began.
"Honey, if you're going to be part of our family, you can call me Mom," she interrupted.
"Okay. . . Mom, um, if you really want me in your family, could you please call me Warrick? That's my given name, and I really would appreciate it if you called me that."
"But Wilbur is a much more appropriate name!" the woman exclaimed. Warrick was about to retort, when Sara caught his eye and silently warned him not to say anything. "Anyway, I'll see you two around. I have to get these two love birds," she said pointing to Catherine and Grissom who pasted fake smiles on their faces for her benefit, "to decide on what they will wear for their special day. And Wilbur, today is the day!"
When she was out of earshot, Sara hissed at Warrick, "Why couldn't you have done what Nick did and said that you were in a relationship with someone else?"
"Grissom did that, and look where it landed him!" Warrick hissed back, "And anyway, isn't my plan better that Grissom's? At least it doesn't involve theatrics where we have to pretend we can't agree on anything and end up breaking up."
"Okay, I'll say that your plan is better than Grissom's but when you said that you didn't have a ring, I was seriously going to kill you!"
"I know and I'm sorry! Coffee?" Warrick said as they entered the break room.
"Ah!" Maddie replied, followed in short order by Sara saying, "Baby, you're too young for coffee!"
"So how are the two other love birds today?" Nick asked with a smirk from the chair he was sitting on reading the latest car magazine.
"Ready to murder you," Sara replied irritably.
"Look, Sara, I know you would have rather had me say that I didn't have a ring, but I just told the truth like my mama always told me to do." Nick smirked again, reminding Sara of the cat she had as a little girl who always got the same look on its face when it caught a mouse.
"Ha. Ha. Ha," Sara replied dryly.
"So what are you doing now?" Nick continued as he propped his feet up on the table.
"We're going to hide in the broom closet for a while," Warrick replied cryptically as he too sat down in a chair nursing his coffee. "After I finish this before Sanders drinks it all."
"Just take it with you. I want to get this over with," Sara complained.
"You make it sound like its an execution," Warrick commented.
"Well you're not the one who has to face my parents for the next five years answering questions on how our 'marriage' is going."
"Fine. Fine. Let's go."
"Thank you!" Sara cried, "Nick, can you watch Maddie for a while? And if my mom asks where we are before we come back, say that you don't know, and if she comes back after we do, tell them our 'happy' news."
"Sure," he replied, "Gotcha."
********************************************
"Maybe it was a bad idea after all to bring the coffee with you," Sara muttered as she and Warrick walked down the hall again having completed their "mission".
"We could always pass it off to smelling like the broom closet," Warrick suggested. "Hey, Sara, do you think your mom will keep calling me Wilbur, even now when she thinks we're engaged?"
"God I hope not. It's embarrassing."
"What I've always wondered is why."
"My parents have two things in common: they were hippies and smoked pot, and they have this thing with proper names, and they're infamously known for renaming anyone who doesn't seem to have one."
"What are their names?" Warrick asked out of curiosity.
"Arnold and . . . Meadow Flower. Flo for short."
"MEADOW FLOWER?"
"Yeah, she changed it on all her legal documents in the sixties and she didn't want to spend anymore money to change it back."
"So what was her name before that?"
"Beatrice."
Warrick had to fight not to crack up. As they turned the corner, the aforesaid parent was waiting for them in the break room. "You did it!" she cried as she spotted the garish ring on Sara's finger. Since she had given it to Warrick to ensure that he proposed, they figured that they would just have to ride with it.
They looked at each other. "Yeah," they replied in one voice.
****************************************
They had been "married" for about a year and a couple of months and were going to visit Maddie's biological grandparents and Sara's family. It surprised Warrick at how easily Sara's parents accepted the eloping story that they gave them.
As they stood at the front door of the Bed and Breakfast, Maddie looked up at her mom and asked, "What I say?" in the sweetest baby voice.
"You're just going to be as quiet as a mouse," Sara replied.
"Yeah," Warrick added, "Just let Mommy and me explain."
"Kay!" Maddie grinned.
"Sugars!" Arnold Sidle greeted as he opened the doors, "How is my favorite daughter and her husband and cupcake doing?" It took everything in their power not to flinch at the titles.
"Um, dad," Sara began nervously, "is mom around. I have to tell you something."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Flo! Flo!" Sara's dad called loudly as he turned, "I think our baby's pregnant!" Sara and Warrick groaned under their breaths.
"What!?" Sara's mother called as well.
"Mom, Dad, I'm not pregnant!" Sara cried before things could get out of hand and Warrick said something to push them into deeper trouble.
"Oh," came the collective, but disappointed voices. "So then what did you want to tell us?" Mrs. Sidle asked with trepidation.
"That we aren't actually married, Warrick and I," Sara explained, using her gentlest mommy voice that she usually reserved for Maddie.
"Oh."
"Yeah, um, last year when you came and called Warrick and he told you that he hadn't proposed to me yet because he didn't have a ring, he said that because he couldn't think of anything else to say. I'm so sorry mom, not telling you sooner, but we didn't know how to break the news to you," Sara explained, hoping that her parents wouldn't explode. "Here's the ring you gave Warrick," she continued, holding out the ring so that one of her parents could take it back.
Mrs. Sidle took the ring, regarded it for a moment, and handed it back to Warrick saying, "Here, this is in case you decide to propose to my daughter for real next time."
"Mom. . ."
"No, honey, whatever you say, even if you say that you two aren't in love, I see that connection between you two. I just hope it turns out the way I have always hoped for, just like in the soap operas."
"Mom, I'm sorry. . ." Sara trailed off at the sight of her mother's unshed tears and her father's expression.
"So am I, honey, so am I," the other woman responded. She guided them out the door and shut it gently. The moment the door closed, loud wracking sobs could be heard from within.
"Gramma okay?" Maddie, who had been quiet throughout the entire exchange, asked.
"Yeah, in time, honey," Warrick replied. "Let's go see your biological grandparents, okay?"
"Kay."
*************************************
"Sara! What a pleasant surprise!" Alison's mother, Mrs. Sheila Andrews, who had been very close to Sara despite her relationship with her daughter, exclaimed. "And is this your family?" she asked, indicated Warrick and Maddie.
"Sort of, but it's complicated."
"And oh, isn't this the sweetest little girl you have!" the other woman gushed. "May I?" she asked as she bent to pick Maddie up.
"Be my guest," Sara replied.
"Oh Sara! This baby is just adorable!" Alison's mother paused in her praise long enough to notice that Maddie bore similarities to Sara, but not to Warrick. "I'm guessing this young man isn't her father?" she queried.
"No. And I'm not her mother," Sara replied, knowing that the moment of truth had come.
"What?" Mrs. Andrews asked.
"I'm not her mother," Sara repeated.
"Then who's her mother?"
"Your daughter. But Alison died in a car accident about two years ago. She and William were both killed. She left Madeline in my care."
"Oh. . ." Mrs. Andrews trailed off. "That's why she stopped trying to contact me. I though that she had just given up, so I went on with my life. Why couldn't I have made things better when I had time!?" she cried emotionally.
Maddie, terrified by this woman's outburst, twisted in her arms and cried out, "Mommy!" as she stretched out her arms towards Sara. Seeing her mother immobile, she implored Warrick's help, with a heart wrenching, "Daddy!" Warrick gently scooped her out of Mrs. Andrews' arms and hugged her close, giving her the sense of security she needed.
By this time, Mrs. Andrews had slid down the doorframe and was crying hysterically. "You still have time. You can make things better with your grand-daughter, even if you didn't have the time with Alison. Make a new beginning."
Mrs. Andrews nodded. "A new beginning," she agreed.
THE END
****************************************
Okay, I do realize that I went on a slight W/S slant at the end (and I'm sorry! But what can I say? I'm a W/S shipper!)
Please review! And thanks to everyone who already has, you made my day and made it possible for me to keep going with the chapters!
(And for the diehard N/S shippers, I have another story for you: "See How it Spreads" please read that too!)
******************************************
"Sara," Warrick whispered suspiciously, "I have a way to get your parents off your back." They were in the halls of CSI walking at a clipped pace so as to keep as much distance between them and Sara's mother who had come to the lab yet again.
"How?" she responded, glad that he had found a way to get them out of the mess like he promised to two weeks before.
"We hide out in the broom closet for about ten minutes, and you put on the ring your mother gave me, and then we'll go 'AWOL' from work tomorrow. And say that we eloped somewhere in one of those chapels on the strip," He replied, "Grissom's already given us any time off that we may need. Your mother is driving him past normal sanity."
"What about Maddie?"
"Archie said he'd take care of her. Don't look now, but your mother's coming. Hold my hand and follow my lead."
"Right," Sara answered, taking hold of his hand, while guiding a slightly unsteady Maddie with the other.
"How are you two dears?" Mrs. Sidle asked as she passed the two, dragging Grissom and Catherine along with her. "Don't forget, Wilbur, today's the day. And then I can plan two weddings!" She added the last part gleefully, not noticing Grissom and Catherine's faces screwing up in disgust.
"Mrs. Sidle-" Warrick began.
"Honey, if you're going to be part of our family, you can call me Mom," she interrupted.
"Okay. . . Mom, um, if you really want me in your family, could you please call me Warrick? That's my given name, and I really would appreciate it if you called me that."
"But Wilbur is a much more appropriate name!" the woman exclaimed. Warrick was about to retort, when Sara caught his eye and silently warned him not to say anything. "Anyway, I'll see you two around. I have to get these two love birds," she said pointing to Catherine and Grissom who pasted fake smiles on their faces for her benefit, "to decide on what they will wear for their special day. And Wilbur, today is the day!"
When she was out of earshot, Sara hissed at Warrick, "Why couldn't you have done what Nick did and said that you were in a relationship with someone else?"
"Grissom did that, and look where it landed him!" Warrick hissed back, "And anyway, isn't my plan better that Grissom's? At least it doesn't involve theatrics where we have to pretend we can't agree on anything and end up breaking up."
"Okay, I'll say that your plan is better than Grissom's but when you said that you didn't have a ring, I was seriously going to kill you!"
"I know and I'm sorry! Coffee?" Warrick said as they entered the break room.
"Ah!" Maddie replied, followed in short order by Sara saying, "Baby, you're too young for coffee!"
"So how are the two other love birds today?" Nick asked with a smirk from the chair he was sitting on reading the latest car magazine.
"Ready to murder you," Sara replied irritably.
"Look, Sara, I know you would have rather had me say that I didn't have a ring, but I just told the truth like my mama always told me to do." Nick smirked again, reminding Sara of the cat she had as a little girl who always got the same look on its face when it caught a mouse.
"Ha. Ha. Ha," Sara replied dryly.
"So what are you doing now?" Nick continued as he propped his feet up on the table.
"We're going to hide in the broom closet for a while," Warrick replied cryptically as he too sat down in a chair nursing his coffee. "After I finish this before Sanders drinks it all."
"Just take it with you. I want to get this over with," Sara complained.
"You make it sound like its an execution," Warrick commented.
"Well you're not the one who has to face my parents for the next five years answering questions on how our 'marriage' is going."
"Fine. Fine. Let's go."
"Thank you!" Sara cried, "Nick, can you watch Maddie for a while? And if my mom asks where we are before we come back, say that you don't know, and if she comes back after we do, tell them our 'happy' news."
"Sure," he replied, "Gotcha."
********************************************
"Maybe it was a bad idea after all to bring the coffee with you," Sara muttered as she and Warrick walked down the hall again having completed their "mission".
"We could always pass it off to smelling like the broom closet," Warrick suggested. "Hey, Sara, do you think your mom will keep calling me Wilbur, even now when she thinks we're engaged?"
"God I hope not. It's embarrassing."
"What I've always wondered is why."
"My parents have two things in common: they were hippies and smoked pot, and they have this thing with proper names, and they're infamously known for renaming anyone who doesn't seem to have one."
"What are their names?" Warrick asked out of curiosity.
"Arnold and . . . Meadow Flower. Flo for short."
"MEADOW FLOWER?"
"Yeah, she changed it on all her legal documents in the sixties and she didn't want to spend anymore money to change it back."
"So what was her name before that?"
"Beatrice."
Warrick had to fight not to crack up. As they turned the corner, the aforesaid parent was waiting for them in the break room. "You did it!" she cried as she spotted the garish ring on Sara's finger. Since she had given it to Warrick to ensure that he proposed, they figured that they would just have to ride with it.
They looked at each other. "Yeah," they replied in one voice.
****************************************
They had been "married" for about a year and a couple of months and were going to visit Maddie's biological grandparents and Sara's family. It surprised Warrick at how easily Sara's parents accepted the eloping story that they gave them.
As they stood at the front door of the Bed and Breakfast, Maddie looked up at her mom and asked, "What I say?" in the sweetest baby voice.
"You're just going to be as quiet as a mouse," Sara replied.
"Yeah," Warrick added, "Just let Mommy and me explain."
"Kay!" Maddie grinned.
"Sugars!" Arnold Sidle greeted as he opened the doors, "How is my favorite daughter and her husband and cupcake doing?" It took everything in their power not to flinch at the titles.
"Um, dad," Sara began nervously, "is mom around. I have to tell you something."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Flo! Flo!" Sara's dad called loudly as he turned, "I think our baby's pregnant!" Sara and Warrick groaned under their breaths.
"What!?" Sara's mother called as well.
"Mom, Dad, I'm not pregnant!" Sara cried before things could get out of hand and Warrick said something to push them into deeper trouble.
"Oh," came the collective, but disappointed voices. "So then what did you want to tell us?" Mrs. Sidle asked with trepidation.
"That we aren't actually married, Warrick and I," Sara explained, using her gentlest mommy voice that she usually reserved for Maddie.
"Oh."
"Yeah, um, last year when you came and called Warrick and he told you that he hadn't proposed to me yet because he didn't have a ring, he said that because he couldn't think of anything else to say. I'm so sorry mom, not telling you sooner, but we didn't know how to break the news to you," Sara explained, hoping that her parents wouldn't explode. "Here's the ring you gave Warrick," she continued, holding out the ring so that one of her parents could take it back.
Mrs. Sidle took the ring, regarded it for a moment, and handed it back to Warrick saying, "Here, this is in case you decide to propose to my daughter for real next time."
"Mom. . ."
"No, honey, whatever you say, even if you say that you two aren't in love, I see that connection between you two. I just hope it turns out the way I have always hoped for, just like in the soap operas."
"Mom, I'm sorry. . ." Sara trailed off at the sight of her mother's unshed tears and her father's expression.
"So am I, honey, so am I," the other woman responded. She guided them out the door and shut it gently. The moment the door closed, loud wracking sobs could be heard from within.
"Gramma okay?" Maddie, who had been quiet throughout the entire exchange, asked.
"Yeah, in time, honey," Warrick replied. "Let's go see your biological grandparents, okay?"
"Kay."
*************************************
"Sara! What a pleasant surprise!" Alison's mother, Mrs. Sheila Andrews, who had been very close to Sara despite her relationship with her daughter, exclaimed. "And is this your family?" she asked, indicated Warrick and Maddie.
"Sort of, but it's complicated."
"And oh, isn't this the sweetest little girl you have!" the other woman gushed. "May I?" she asked as she bent to pick Maddie up.
"Be my guest," Sara replied.
"Oh Sara! This baby is just adorable!" Alison's mother paused in her praise long enough to notice that Maddie bore similarities to Sara, but not to Warrick. "I'm guessing this young man isn't her father?" she queried.
"No. And I'm not her mother," Sara replied, knowing that the moment of truth had come.
"What?" Mrs. Andrews asked.
"I'm not her mother," Sara repeated.
"Then who's her mother?"
"Your daughter. But Alison died in a car accident about two years ago. She and William were both killed. She left Madeline in my care."
"Oh. . ." Mrs. Andrews trailed off. "That's why she stopped trying to contact me. I though that she had just given up, so I went on with my life. Why couldn't I have made things better when I had time!?" she cried emotionally.
Maddie, terrified by this woman's outburst, twisted in her arms and cried out, "Mommy!" as she stretched out her arms towards Sara. Seeing her mother immobile, she implored Warrick's help, with a heart wrenching, "Daddy!" Warrick gently scooped her out of Mrs. Andrews' arms and hugged her close, giving her the sense of security she needed.
By this time, Mrs. Andrews had slid down the doorframe and was crying hysterically. "You still have time. You can make things better with your grand-daughter, even if you didn't have the time with Alison. Make a new beginning."
Mrs. Andrews nodded. "A new beginning," she agreed.
THE END
****************************************
Okay, I do realize that I went on a slight W/S slant at the end (and I'm sorry! But what can I say? I'm a W/S shipper!)
Please review! And thanks to everyone who already has, you made my day and made it possible for me to keep going with the chapters!
(And for the diehard N/S shippers, I have another story for you: "See How it Spreads" please read that too!)