Sara was having happy dreams. Right now, she was on the beach by her parents' home in California, taking a romantic walk with Grissom. They were discussing baby names, and occasionally Newton spoke up with a good suggestion. There were also elves and fluffy bunnies dancing around them and singing the Barney song as they walked.
"Sara," a soft voice said, and Sara managed to cock open one eye and note that Catherine was leaning over her. Leaning over her? A quick reality check revealed that she was lying down on the couch in the break room.
"Oh, damn. I fell asleep again, didn't I," she asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yep. But don't sweat it, you're allowed to be tired as hell." Catherine smiled with true warmth. "Now, get up before Grissom sees you and tries to send you home again."
"Ugh," Sara moaned, sitting up. "He's way too overprotective of me." She patted her slightly-larger-than-usual belly. "I keep telling him I'm fine; only problem I'm having with being pregnant is carrying this little load around."
Catherine patted her shoulder, privately wondering how Sara managed to be this cheery. When she'd been pregnant with Lindsey, something like what she'd just said to Sara would have been cause for World War III. "Well, it is Grissom we're talking about, here. You're lucky he isn't tying you down at home to keep you from coming in."
"Oh, for heaven's sake, I'm only four months pregnant, and he's already got me doing as much desk work as he can bribe me into." With a sigh, Sara stood up and stretched, arching her back to try to get the kinks out. "Alright, so what's up? Why'd you wake me up?"
"Team meeting in here in fifteen minutes," Catherine supplied. "I figured you wouldn't want to be caught asleep to begin with, let alone with those pants unbuttoned. I told you," she added, "to start wearing the elastic-waist ones I gave you, but nooo, you're stuck on wearing your own until you can't possibly get them zipped anymore, and then you'd rather go naked than start wearing maternity pants . . ."
"Ok, ok, give it a break, Mom," Sara laughed, fixing her pants. "I'm up, I'm buttoned, and I promise to wear the elastic ones tomorrow." She hated elastic-waist pants with a burning passion, but she'd already lost this argument to the older woman once under threat of Catherine telling Grissom, and she didn't care to lose it a second time.
Nick suddenly appeared in the doorway and both women jumped when he spoke. "Hey guys! Whatcha doing?"
Catherine gave a quick once-over to Sara, whose back was currently to Nick, and gave a slight nod to indicate that Sara was back to normal-looking. "Eh, just girl talk, Nicky-boy. You wanna talk about periods with us?"
"Erm . . . no. I just wanted to bring Sara some lunch; Greg told me you haven't eaten all day."
Sara had to hide a grin when she heard Catherine say under her breath, "Please don't let it be tuna or eggs!"
"What'd you get me?" she asked innocently.
"Egg salad, I know that's one of your favorites." He smiled widely, proud that he'd remembered something he could use to please her.
Even the mention of eggs had been off limits in the Grissom-Sidle-Willows triangle for the past few months, and for good reason. When Nick brandished the sandwich and started toward her, Sara felt the nausea rising. Without a word, she pushed past both of her friends and bolted for the ladies room.
Nick stared after her, then turned to Catherine. "Enough, Cat. Tell me what's going on with her. She pukes when I have tuna, she runs away when I bring her egg salad, and she's fallen asleep on every flat surface in the lab. It's like she's pregnant or something," he said with a laugh to indicate how ridiculous that idea was.
Catherine was silent for a moment, mulling over her options. Despite the doctor's assurances, Sara's morning sickness hadn't gotten any better, she had indeed fallen asleep almost everywhere, and she was starting to show. The boys would have to find out soon anyway, but she wasn't sure it was her place to tell them. So she compromised with herself. Nodding vigorously to indicate a "yes", she said to Nick, "I can't tell you that, Nick. Why don't you ask Sara yourself." She slanted her eyes toward the bathroom, then gave him a meaningful look.
Nick gaped openly at her as understanding hit him. "You're . . . she's . . ."
Catherine shook her head and said deliberately, "I didn't tell you anything, Nick. If you think that's the reason, it must just be that you put the clues together." With that, she turned her back, dismissing him, and began re-arranging the couch cushions Sara's nap had disturbed.
Nick, still shell-shocked, stumbled out of the room toward the ladies room. He pushed open the door, listening for Sara, and stepped inside, only to be greeted by a screech from one of the lab techs. "Nick!" the woman yelled. "This is the ladies room! Get out!"
He heard a cough and a choking sound from one of the bathroom stalls. "Sorry Anne," he muttered, "just checking up on Sara." The woman gave him a dirty look, dried her hands and tossed the paper towel at him, then left huffily.
"I'm fine!" came from the stall that had issued the coughing a few seconds earlier. "I'm fine, you can go, Nick."
"Yeah right, Sara. I'm locking this door and you and I are both staying in here until you spill everything. Either you've got some horrific disease you don't want us to know about, or you're pregnant. Which is it?"
The stall door swung open to reveal Sara, who was alternately giving him vicious looks and wiping her mouth with a piece of paper towel. "None of your business."
"Sure as hell is my business, girl. Every time I talk to you, you throw up," he said, faking a hurt look, "so I wanna know if it's just me that's repulsive, or if you have a reason."
Sara sighed and walked toward the sinks, which also placed her closer to Nick. Ignoring his protests, she washed her hands and rinsed her mouth, then turned to face him. "C'mere."
"What?" Nick asked, suddenly alarmed. "No way, you're gonna kill me if I come any closer."
Sara shrugged. "That's your problem. You said you wanted to know, but hey, if you're afraid to find out the answer to your question it's no skin off my nose."
Nick grumbled, but was unable to resist the lure of information. The first thing Sara did when he was within arm's reach was reach out and twist his ear hard enough to make him let out a girlish squeak. Having gotten her revenge, she then released his ear and grabbed his hand.
"I need my hands . . . I can't be a handless CSI!" he begged, only half-joking.
"Shut up." Sara tugged on his hand again, drawing him a step closer to her, then pressed both of their hands to her stomach. The baby wasn't moving yet, but there was a definite roundness there that Nick couldn't avoid feeling.
"Oh my god, you are."
"Yeah," she said with a small smile. "I am. But don't tell anyone, ok? Me, Grissom, and Catherine are the only ones who know. I'm only four months."
Still processing this information, Nick blinked. "You're pregnant. With a baby."
"Yes, genius. I am indeed pregnant with a baby, and not a gerbil or a whale or something."
"Then Grissom . . . you . . . oh my god," he said again, unable to believe this development.
Sara laughed, enjoying his discomfort. "Yeah, Grissom. This is definitely his fault too."
Finally getting some measure of control over his wits, Nick let out a whoop and scooped Sara up in a big hug. "You're gonna have a BABY!" Them as quickly as he had picked her up, he set her back on her feet. "Oh man . . . is it ok to hug you like that? I don't want to, uh, crush anything important."
"Other than my boobs, which feel like someone took a steamroller to them – that isn't your fault, by the way – there's not much you can crush. According to my doc, pregnant women are very well-insulated in the necessary baby-related areas."
Reassured, Nick hugged her again and kissed her cheek. "I'm so happy for you guys! I can't believe this, we'll have another rug rat running around the lab in, hmm, 5 months. You'll let me baby-sit, right?"
"Whoa, Nick, calm down," Sara grinned. "Let's worry about me actually having the baby before I start setting up a baby-sharing schedule with all you guys."
"Ok, ok," he said. "But when's the wedding?"
Sara blinked. "Uh . . . what wedding?"
"Your wedding, silly. You and Gris are gonna . . ." he cut himself off when he caught Sara's dangerous look. "Get married," he finished in almost a whisper. "You're not?"
Sara shrugged. "I guess we probably will, eventually, but I don't think the fact that I'm pregnant should be a reason for a lifetime commitment like marriage."
Nick stared at her for a minute, then decided that he wasn't going to be the one to point out how absurd that statement was. "Right. Sorry. Well, uh," he continued, giving her another hug, "congratulations either way. I really can't tell Warrick and Greg?"
Sara smiled. "I'm going to tell everyone, probably today or tomorrow. Can't hide it much longer," she said, gesturing to her stomach.
"Ya got that right," Nick muttered, then made a quick escape from the room.
