There was a moment of silence. Grissom's eyes narrowed and he seemed to be examining Sara. "You said it. Out loud. In those words."
"I know. I, uh . . ." She shrugged helplessly. "It's the right time. And it's the truth."
If he could have picked her up and twirled her around, he would have, but he suspected neither Sara nor the doctor would approve, so he settled for a smacking kiss. She'd explicitly said she loved him, finally! After a year, she'd finally overcome her fear of those three words and was able to say them to him. In one day, she'd given him a beautiful baby and the gift of her words. He didn't know if his heart could take another present from Sara.
"Gris?"
He shook himself from his thoughts, taking in her somber face. "Yeah, I'm here. I was just thinking that if you make me any happier today, I think I'll explode."
Sara grinned. "Oh, well in that case, I won't tell you about . . . oops, nothing," she teased.
"What?!"
"Noooothing." Oh, damn, now she'd have to make up a secret to cover her butt on that joke. Well, Sara was nothing if not cunning, and she set her mind to the task.
***********************
"I can't believe we produced such a beautiful child," Grissom said the next morning as he watched Sara cradle their daughter. "My eyes and your hair – I think she got the best of each of us."
"Yeah," Sara agreed, "but whose brain did she get?" She drew a finger lightly across the top of the baby's head, stroking the nearly black hair that covered the small head. "I don't know . . . she's got a pretty big head. Must have inherited it from you." This baby was theirs and it was perfect, Sara knew . . . but it was so fun to tease Grissom.
"Was that an insult or a compliment?"
She grinned. "Don't you wish you knew, bugman." There was silence for a long minute as both parents examined their daughter's face and form. "I don't think there are any words," Sara said finally.
"If there are, I haven't found them yet," Grissom said with a small smile. He reached up to cup the baby's cheek, then Sara's. "So have you come up with any names?"
"I can't believe we forgot to think of baby names. Where the hell were we for the past nine months? I have a couple ideas, but I want to hear yours first." She was rather nervous about this discussion; despite all she knew about Grissom, she didn't know what sort of names he preferred. Well, except "Newton," and she hoped he wouldn't want to name their daughter, too, after a dead scientist.
"Okay . . ." he said slowly, trying to think of the mental list he'd stored away. "Well, there's 'Judith' or 'Anna' . . ."
" 'Judith' sounds like an old woman. 'Anna' is ok. Next?"
"Well," he said with a small frown, "we're feeling businesslike today."
Sara smiled apologetically. "Sorry. That's just one of those names I associate with grandmothers. I'll try not to shoot you down like that too much. So, what else?"
"Well, my mother's name was Lauren, and your mom's name is Amy, so we could go with either of those, too." He sighed. "I'm no good at this, Sara. Creative stuff like naming is supposed to be the woman's expertise!"
Sara laughed at this, and the baby made a gurgle that might have been an attempt to imitate the sound. "Oh, so you want me to choose? What are you going to do if I decide I just looove the name 'Ecklie' for our little girl?"
"Ugh. Anything but that!" He gave her a dark look. "There will be no naming of children after people either of us hates."
With a giggle, she said in an chiding tone, "Oh, now it's 'children,' huh Gill? You planning another one before we even get this little tyke named?"
His face turned red. He hadn't meant it in that way, but now that she mentioned it . . . "Er . . . no?"
Carefully shifting the baby in her arms, Sara sat up and kissed him gently. "I'm kidding. Mostly, at least. Let's leave off discussing multiple rugrats until we figure out how to take care of this one."
"Deal," he said with a grin. "Ok, now it's your turn. What names do you like?"
She lay back against the bed and turned thoughtful eyes to the ceiling. "Hmmm, good question. Well, I like both 'Susan' and 'Catherine,' though it would probably be bad politics to name her one of those. I also think 'Lauren' is a beautiful name, not the least because it belonged to your mom, but it makes me nervous to name her after anyone we know, because then someone else will be jealous, and it'll all go downhill from there."
Grissom nodded pensively. "Good point, I hadn't thought of that. Well, let's start our decision-making at the beginning: do we want her to have a name that's commonplace, one that's a little unusual, or one that makes people say 'huh?'"
"I have a common name, and it's not bad . . . but it's boring. I always wanted be named something more unusual, like 'Robin or 'Celina' – nothing drastic, you know, but a name that there wouldn't be fifty of in every class I took in school. But I wouldn't have wanted to be named 'Moon Unit' or anything, either – those poor Zappas. So I guess my vote goes to a name that's unusual but not impossible. What about you?"
"Well, I have an . . . old-fashioned name. I guess it made sense to my mom, but no one is named 'Gilbert' anymore – it makes people laugh. I don't want our daughter to have people hear her name and laugh, but I concur with not wanting to have her be one of twenty 'Mary's or 'Karen's. Based on that, I agree with you – I say let's choose one that's unusual but not freakish."
Sara sighed. "So that only leaves us with twenty million names to choose from. How do people do this?!"
A/N: What do you think their daughter should be named? I have an idea of what I want her to be, but I'm open to suggestions from you guys. So let me know!
