TITLE: Facing the Music

AUTHOR: Micky Fine

DISCLAIMER: All characters from CSI do not belong to me and no one is insane enough to pay me for my drivel. The song featured in this chapter is "Taking You Home" by Don Henley.

SUMMARY: A post-ep for the season finale. G/S. Chapter 4/4.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry this part has been so long in coming but as usual finals got in the way of the more pleasant and creative pastimes. But, finally, school has ended and so I present you with the last part of this story. Thank you to everyone for their wonderful reviews for all previous chapters please let me know what you think of the end. All song lyrics are in italics.

I had a good life
Before you came
I had my friends and my freedom
I had my name

Grissom slammed the door of his rental car closed. He was immediately overwhelmed by the oppressive heat that was typical for Phoenix, but continued at almost a jog into the CSI building. After spending almost four hours in relative inactivity in the airports and on the plane it felt good to physically do something besides wait.

Grissom breezed past the flustered receptionist who stopped going after him when he flashed his badge at her. He almost went back for directions to where Sara would be when he heard a laugh float down the hall toward him.

Still there was sorrow and emptiness
'Til you made me blessed
Oh and this love
I've found strength I never knew I had Grissom's jog slowed to a walk as he felt the familiar pang of loneliness and longing that had been his constant companion for so many weeks and months. And now, just a few steps away was the one person who could make all of it disappear.

Grissom finally stopped in the doorway of the lab where Sara was working and stood there studying her for several minutes. Her hair was shorter but her face glowed as she smiled at her male coworker. Grissom felt an odd sense of peace and belonging flow over him as he gazed at the woman whom he had missed so much. As his gaze traveled down her body it lighted on the rather pronounced curve that her abdomen made. A great feeling of protectiveness overwhelmed him, accompanied by a sense of loss that he had missed over three months of this child's development. The loss was quickly replaced by what felt like anger but what he knew was frustration.

The emotions that overwhelmed him caused Grissom to be able to only whisper, "Sara."

And this love
Is like nothing I have ever known
Take my hand, love
I'm taking you home
Taking you home


Sara whirled around as though she had been touched with a burning poker. Her face turned pale as she whispered, "Gil?" disbelievingly.

The two stared at each other, seemingly in their own world until the other man in the room interrupted the silence.

"Uh, Sara, care to introduce me to your friend?"

Sara's answer came from a million miles away and she never removed her gaze from Grissom's. Gesturing with her hands she said, "Matt Spurgeon, meet Gil Grissom. He was my boss back in Vegas."

Matt's eyes got large as he realized who this man was to Sara. "It's very nice to meet you," he said quietly, "but I have a feeling I'm intruding so..."

"Actually Matt," Sara said, grabbing his arm, "can you hang around for a bit until I regain my ability to speak?"

Matt looked between Sara and Grissom and nodded, "Sure."

Sara smiled in appreciation but her eyes never left Grissom's face, making it look more like she was smiling at him.

Grissom felt his heart skip a beat, but then felt all the pent up anger and frustration overwhelm him as the smile left his own face.

There were days, lonely days
When the world wouldn't throw me a crumb
But I kept on believin'
That this day would come

"Did Nick tell you?" Sara asked quietly.

"He let it slip, seemed pretty convinced you were going to murder him."

"I might."

"Why? Because he told me something I should have been told before? Because he told me what I had the right to know from the beginning?"

"I...I was going to tell you," Sara said, getting flustered and more pale.

"When, Sara? After my child had been born? Later? How many years would you have waited Sara?"

"I was going to tell you after...after..."

"Why did you wait Sara? Why?"

"I...I..." Sara suddenly turned an alarming shade of white as her eyes rolled up into her head and she fell back into Matt's waiting arms.

And this love
Is like nothing I have ever known
Take my hand, love
I'm taking you home
Taking you home

Grissom rushed over to Sara's side and grabbed her hand. "Sara?!?" he asked urgently.

"It's ok," Matt interjected, "she just got a little too stressed and fainted. My wife did it a couple times with our first one."

"She did?" Grissom asked, his eyes darting back and forth across Sara's face, looking for any sign of consciousness.

"Yup. Once Sara wakes up though, she should go home and rest. Have a nice stress-free afternoon, that's what she should do," Matt said pointedly to Grissom.

"If I promise not to upset her, will you let me take her home?"

"You know where it is?"

"No, but she can tell me."

"Tell you what?" Sara's voice interrupted them.

Grissom's face flooded with relief, "You can give me directions so I can drive you home."

Sara nodded and turned to look at Matt, "I 'spose this little spell puts me off work for today?"

Matt grinned and nodded, "Go home Sara. I think you need to talk to somebody."

Sara turned to look back at Grissom and murmured, "Yeah, I do."

I'm taking you home
Where we can be with the ones who really care
Home, where we can grow together
Keep you in my heart forever

Sara was overwhelmed with a feeling of deja vu as she sat in the car with Grissom. This was how it had all begun. Their relationship had gone in a circle and left them back in a car holding hands. The only differences were that she occasionally pointed to give Grissom directions and the rather obvious curve that she had not possessed before.

Arriving at Sara's apartment, Grissom quickly got out of the car and rushed over to the passenger side to aid Sara in exiting the vehicle.

"Thanks," Sara breathed, "you have no idea how even the simplest things are just that more difficult with this little guy sticking out in front."

Grissom smiled briefly but then gestured towards the building, "Shall we?"

Sara nodded and led the way.

Upon arrival in her apartment, Grissom quickly checked out Sara's new living space. She had chosen a room on the sunny side of the building and had several plants sitting on the sills of the windows in the main room. The main room was large and open and connected to the kitchen and dining area. On the other side were two doors, one that led into the bedroom that was connected to a bathroom. The other was what appeared to have been at one point a guest room but now contained several boxes of baby paraphernalia.

"Been shopping already?" Grissom asked, gesturing towards the guest/baby storage room.

"You know me, I prefer to be prepared in advance."

The two shared a smile. Silence reigned for a moment until Sara said, "Do you want some coffee? I only have decaf but it's better than nothing."

"No thanks, I'd rather just have some water."

"Sure."

After depositing the glass of water in his hand, Sara curled up on one end of the couch and gestured for Grissom to take the other. He took several swallows of water before he turned to her and said, "Can we try this again?"

"Try what?"

"I just...I have so many questions I want answered but I don't want to upset you and I..."

"It's ok Gil, you can ask me. I promise not to faint."

Grissom nodded and then gazed straight into Sara's familiar brown eyes, "Why did you leave?"

"That morning?"

Grissom nodded.

"Because it suddenly hit me, the whole significance of what we had done. I didn't regret it. It was just, I knew this was a big thing for you and I wasn't sure how it would look to you in the waning light of day," Sara briefly smiled at her own joke and then continued. "It was such a huge thing for you, to get involved with me. It could have affected your job, everything you've worked so hard for. And I knew that when you woke up, you were going to have to evaluate the decision you had made the night before. You would have to evaluate us and I didn't want to be around to try and influence your decision. Plus, I really did need a vacation."

"But, I would think you would only go away for a couple weeks to let me figure us out."

"That was the original plan, but then I realized if you did decide that we were worth it, I couldn't ever let you surrender your job to be with me. So, I decided I'd look for a job at a crime lab close to Vegas so that we could still be together but you wouldn't lose your job for fraternizing with an employee."

"And what happened to that plan?"

"It flew out the window when I found out about this little guy," Sara said, patting her stomach, "When I found out I was pregnant I knew I had to get as far away from you as possible. You didn't need me to single-handedly ruin your career by coming back to work with a couple extra pounds and an entirely new set of DNA to tow around. So, I heard about this job here in Phoenix. It seemed perfect, far enough away from you but still a desert climate. I really didn't want to reacclimatize and be pregnant."

Grissom smiled at the last bit, but then turned serious, "When were you going to tell me, Sara?"

Sara looked sad, "Probably about a month before this guy showed up. It's not that I didn't want you here every second to experience all of this, especially the morning sickness. Remind me to get revenge on you for the morning sickness. Sorry, digressing. It's just that, if you would have come out here before then you would have wanted to bring me back home to Vegas and if you came then, I wouldn't be able to fly and long car trips are not suggested."

"You planned out all of this, huh?"

"Yup."

"And now I've gone and ruined it all?"

"Pretty much."

"Well Miss Sidle, in all of your calculations of how to save my career, keep me happy, and give me plenty of time to figure us out, did you ever think to ask me what I wanted?"

"Not really, no," Sara paused and then asked with trepidation, "What do you want, Gil?"

And this love
Is like nothing I have ever known
Take my hand, love
I'm taking you home
Taking you home

Grissom closed his eyes for a moment and then turned his blue eyes to meet her brown ones.

"I want to hear you call me that every day. I don't want to miss another second of this kid's life," he said patting Sara's stomach gently, "I want you to come back to Vegas. I want you to stop working at least until after the baby is born. I want you to ask me before you go off headlong and try and protect me from everything. And most of all, I want to spend every last second of my life with you."

"But what about..."

"My career? I'll grant you it's important, but I'd give it up if it stopped me from being with you. Besides I could always go back to lecturing at universities."

Sara smiled at Grissom's last statement.

"Think you can agree to my terms?" Grissom asked.

"I think I can, yeah," Sara said, with a growing grin.

"Good. Let me know when you're ready for me to propose."

"Propose?"

"Yeah, I'm kinda big on the traditional family thing. Plus, I like the idea of being bound to you for life. How's that sound?"

"Music to my ears."

Yes I am
Taking you home, baby
I'm taking you home

Fini