Dare-Soñar: This is a pivotal chapter in the story, so try to read everything!!!
Greg was ready to close up. He covered his test tubes up and turned off some of the machines.
He sat down to tie his shoes when he looked at his hands, which were shaking still.
He let out a shaky sigh. He spoke out loud to himself since there was no one around, just to hear his own voice.
"Why can't I get over this?" He said harshly, holding his hands together. He picked up his things and headed to the coffee room for the weekly meeting Grissom made them have.
Greg sat in the corner again as everyone else filed in. Nick and Warrick were punching each other in the shoulders playfully as Catherine walked in absorbed in the file she held in her hand. Sara came out of the bathroom holding her stomach. She straightened her jean jacket and headed over to the office and suddenly got into a conversation with Catherine. Gil came in and called the meeting to order.
It started out like they always do, talking about the normal life things when Greg said, completely out of the blue, "Grissom, what happened?"
Everyone at once fell silent and stared at Grissom for his answer.
"What do you mean, Greg?" He said, not losing his trademark cool.
"Well, I think I speak for everybody when you leave for three days almost three hours earlier then usual then come back... different."
All the heads turned back to Grissom. He sighed and said, "Fine. Yes, it is my birthday tomorrow..."
At once, everyone broke out laughing, starting to talk all at once.
Greg smiled then shot a look over at Grissom, who looked like the same old Gil, but his eyes... they were different, somehow.
They packed up and got ready to leave. Catherine stayed behind and sat there, staring at Gil.
Grissom stared back.
"Grissom, what's different?"
He remained silent, eyes cast downward.
"I'm not arguing, you seem... so much more alive lately." Catherine said slowly, carefully.
"Someone once said to me that hope can be terrible... That it can keep you from letting go of the things you needed to. And I realized it wasn't her telling me what she thinks, it was her telling me what I really think."
Catherine lowered her gaze and smiled, "Well, whatever that means, I like it."
He smiled as she left.
One day later, Catherine, Warrick, Nick, Sara, Jim and Greg stood outside Grissom's townhouse, stifling giggles and whispering hushed "shhhhhh's!"
They knocked on the door and as it opened they all yelled at the top of their lungs, "SURPRISE!!" Then they all paused and stared in shock.
The young woman who opened the door smiled a cool smile a lot like Grissom's and said, "For me, or for you?"
Grissom walked to the door and opened it and stared, still not losing his cool.
"Come on in, guys." He said, looking more like his curious self then someone who had a lot of explaining to do. They filed in and sat on his couches in a row, still questioning looks plastered on their face.
Catherine was the first to speak, "Gil Grissom, she looks like she's twenty years old! In court that would count as rape! Do you have any idea what you're doing? And you," She started and couldn't stop as she flashed her eyes to Sonya, "You are-"
"Wait, Cath." Sara said, her voice echoing mixed with Catherine's. "That's... that's the witness! From the Winters case."
Gil and Sonya smiled and Gil said, "Yes. So I kind of adopted her."
"Hi, my name is Sonya Connors, and Gil is my kind of adoptive father." She said, waving casually.
"Kind of??" Jim asked, shocked.
Greg was silent the entire time, looking at this young woman. She had long, thick black hair that looked so incredibly soft and her blue eyes seemed so... hypnotizing. She looked at him and her smile disappeared. Unbeknownst to the rest of the CSI clan, who were now speaking very loudly and demanding explanations, she slowly studied him and for the first time in Greg's entire life, he felt completely taken aback by a woman.
She can't be a woman, Greg thought, shaking his head, breaking from her spell and focusing on the ground. If Griss adopted her, she must be...
Gil stood up and used himself as a barrier to all the questions.
"One at a time. Don't act like a bunch of reporters at a murder scene," Gil said, and all the science geeks in the room laughed, agreeing with him.
Gil started at the very beginning of the story, with Sonya jumping in every once and a while. While the story was being told, Catherine couldn't help but marvel with how much Gil and Sonya were alike. Not only did she jump in at perfect times, but they had the same slow, almost-faint smile and their eyes both spoke of so much curiosity and intelligence... that and the fact when Warrick asked when Gil was planning on telling everyone else, they both stated, at the exact same time, "Today."
"How old are you?" Sara asked, shocked and scared on how much Gil had changed, when, technically, it wasn't like he changed at all.
Everyone stopped at that question.
"Sixteen," She said, and everyone looked surprised at that. She did not pass off as a teenager at all. Grissom looked at the now smiling faces of his crew and was glad Sonya won them over with her witty personality. Maybe it was all she has been through, that entire life she has overcome that made her so much more mature, and so much like she was like every other adult in the world.
After being interrogated by the experienced crew, she hadn't even broken a sweat. She passed the test with flying colors.
"So you're a junior, then? Junior in High School?" Catherine asked as the people started to unpack the food they had brought and others started to wander over.
"Actually I just graduated High School last week. I skipped two grades, so I'm completely done."
Somehow, Catherine wasn't surprised that she was smart too. Soon, Sonya was wandering from small group to small group, and everyone was laughing, having a good time.
Greg broke off from the conversation he had been having with Nick and Warrick and sat down, and immediately, Sonya broke away as well and sat next to him. Her aura of pure confidence and keen maturity lead them right into a conversation.
Greg was amazed by this young woman. There was no other way to put it. As she talked and he answered, he found her to be so captivating that before he knew it, it was dinner. They gathered around the table and started chattering happily. In the middle of Sara and Greg sat Sonya, still deep in conversation with Greg, when it happened.
The third hideous shooting pain shot through Sara. She closed her eyes and prayed for it to just go away. When Sara's vision cleared, she saw everyone talking still, not aware of her problem.
She turned to look to Sonya, who was looking at her with comforting eyes.
"Sara," She said in her smooth voice, "Come help me bring out dessert."
Sara excused herself but no one noticed, they were all too busy talking. She followed Sonya into the kitchen.
"What's wrong?" Sonya asked, sitting down Sara in a chair in front of her. Sara was surprised at her change in attitude. Sonya really knew how to grill someone. Sara just wasn't in the mood for that.
"Nothing, Sonya." She said, shrugging it off and trying to head back into the dining room. She turned around to look at her. Sonya was seated at the table.
"Does he know?" She asked, forcing Sara to stop in her tracks.
"What are you talking about?" Sara asked, fearing that Sonya knew the truth. Sonya stood up and walked over to Sara and looked deep into her eyes. Something in those eyes... something made Sara fall.
She fell on the floor and started crying.
"It's not my fault. I was... I was so stupid. Why did I do this to myself?" Sara broke down, crying as she held her stomach. "I didn't mean to work so hard. I didn't mean... I didn't mean to lose my baby."
"Now I can't go on / I can't even start / I got nothing left, / just an empty heart."-Bryan Adams