AUTHOR'S NOTE: I realized, after the reviews, that last chapter was a bit confusing and I apologize. If you would like me to explain it to you, just contact me through email and I would gladly explain.
Now is where I explain myself and why I haven't update for so long.
Yes, every good author gets writer's block and mine was of the worst kind. The last time I updated was the night before I left for a week-long tournament in Reno, Nevada for volleyball. Obviously, I was unable to access a computer. Nine days after my return, my family and I left for eleven days for vacation in Disney World, yet another time when I was unable to access a computer. We returned on a Thursday night and the following week, I had volleyball camp from 9 to 4 everyday. I skipped camp Thursday [the last day] to drive to Seattle for my youngest sister's soccer tournament and arrived home late Saturday. On top of all of this, I have had a writer's block.
Fortunately, my good friend Erin replied to an email I had sent her between trips and was able to give me the perfect ending for this story. SO THANK YOU ERIN FOR ALL OF YOUR AWESOME HELP AND REVIEWS.
Now that I think I am officially done explaining everything, I wish to inform you that there are three, maybe four chapters left in this story. It depends on how much I am going to elaborate on the smaller details of things I need to wrap up. This most likely has only two more chapters following this one.
One last note - - I lost track of how far along Sara is in the pregnancy and couldn't find a distinguished timeline in the past chapters of how far along Sara was, so I stated it here in this chapter again.
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grissom let me keep my job. although i have a week's paid suspension, again, i am able to stay home and care for greg.
he was released from the hospital a day before grissom gave me the good news. our apartment is filled with balloons and flowers and gifts and cards and someone sent over a huge teddy bear. greg silently wanders around and looks at everything, taking it all in. occasionally i see him glance at a photograph on a table, studying it for just a second before moving on.
when i was bringing greg back from the hospital, i watched the path of the windshield wipers. one of them has something stuck on the rubber, so this one line on my windshield never gets wiped away. greg never spoke a word and i don't try to start conversation.
i am seven months pregnant and haven't seen my feet for weeks.
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today is the day i have been dreading. nick and catherine want me to bring greg in to the station and watch as they interrogate their one and only suspect, henry simmons. they want greg to stand behind the glass.
at first, i had to fully explain to greg, again, what had happened so far in his case. not about what had happened to him, but what evidence the two CSIs had.
i wait for him by the front door and i pick at the week-old nail polish, while greg is getting ready to go. i asked greg a few minutes ago if he needed any help finding stuff, but greg insisted on finding it himself.
greg is somewhat talking again. he'll talk when people strike up a conversation with him and he makes no effort to try and cut off the friendly chat. but he won't start a conversation by himself and usually he prefers to be quiet. talking, for him, just causes uneasy questions and situations to form that he would rather just avoid.
he comes out of our bedroom dressed in a tight, black sweater and khaki pants. he has on black doc martins and the only thing showing of the old greg is his spiked, golden brown hair.
i never noticed before how white his teeth were.
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everyone stares at greg when he walks down the hall and when i catch sight of catherine standing outside one of the interrogation rooms, i see her eyebrows furrow as she tries to figure out what the hell greg is dressed in. but she smiles when greg gives her a weird look..
she hugs greg and involuntarily, greg flinches. catherine, if she noticed, didn't let go and kissed him lightly on the cheek.
'good to have you back, greg!' catherine stated. her and i talked for a little bit about the baby. she was going to bring over the entire nightshift one day and together they were going to prepare the baby's room.
'alicia marie,' i said proudly when she asked for the baby's name. during one of my visits to the hospital to see greg, i went for an ultrasound and determined i was going to have a baby girl. i showed greg the picture for the ultrasound and i haven't gotten it back yet.
after a few minutes, catherine led greg and i to behind the glass and greg froze when he saw henry in the room. i felt greg scramble to grip my hand. he was scared. catherine glanced at me with uneasiness but i shrugged.
through the glass i saw nick and brass enter the interrogation room. nick calmly sat down across from mr. simmons and opened up his casefile. inside was not only pictures of the crime scene, but pictures of greg's wounds.
i could hear greg stop breathing.
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the whole interrogation was a blur and it wasn't until henry simmons was taken away in handcuffs that i realized greg hadn't moved and i was crying. my fingers were numb from greg' grip and i finally breath.
i never did understand the random acts of violence, and maybe i never will. i can understand attacking someone you know for a certain reason, but people you don't...
greg's hand slid from mine but he just stood there. i slipped out into the hall to see nick and catherine and i saw nick's hands shaking.
i look him in the eye and neither of us smile. 'thank you,' i say quietly. 'this means a lot to me and greg. and even though he may not say it, greg is thankful.'
greg walks past the three of us and out to the car without saying a word. i wave goodbye and rush out to meet him.
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The baby's room is a baby blue color with grass and flowers painted along the border nearest the floor. In one corner is a bright, orange-yellow sun and the sky is filled with white, whipped clouds and colorful butterflies.
I never knew Warrick and Grissom were such excellent artists.
Nick and Greg dealt with building the crib and assembling the dresser, changing table and book shelf. All were a beautiful white color and fit in perfectly with the walls. Later, Warrick and Grissom painted designs on the furniture. They personalized Alicia's bed and painted beautiful rainbows up the side of the dresser and changing table. Up the book shelf, they painted wildflowers.
Catherine came shopping with me and together we picked out clothes, toys, bedding and other miscellaneous baby supplies - - car seat, bathtub, bottles, burp clothes, diapers and anything else Catherine suggested. We also picked out some pictures to hang on the walls. It was a fun day out, just the two girls.
Everyone, unbeknownst to me, bought a gift for the baby. Greg bought a stereo and some Baby's First CDs. Nick and Warrick, together, bought me a rocking chair that matched our already existing furniture.
Catherine bought me a few workout videos and I laughed because just that morning I had been complaining about how I was going to loose all the weight I had gained. Lindsay bought me three jumbo bags of crispy M & Ms, because I have been craving them like no other.
Then Grissom, being the class act that he is, bought a bunch of books, including a set of the World Book Encyclopedia - - which no one really understood why a newborn would need them - - and books about bugs. That made everyone laugh.
Our laughing was cut short when the smoke detector went off - - our Ziti was burning in the oven.
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i woke up to an empty bed and found greg wandering in the baby's room. in his hand was the ultrasound picture.
he didn't seem interested in one particular thing, but he ran his hand along the painted clouds. greg wandered over to the bed and just stood over it, staring down at the empty crib. i thought i heard him cry, but when he turned again and the moonlight lit up his face, his eyes weren't even watery.
greg turned and saw me watching him. for a moment, neither of us moved, but just continued to stare at the other. but after a minute he shook his head like he had dazed out before sitting down in the rocking chair adjacent to the crib.
i felt the baby kick and i looked up at greg.
he was watching me as i stood in the white doorway.
the rocking chair was silent as it rocked back and forth.
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I go into see Grissom when my week is up and tell him that I want to take my maternity leave in three weeks. He doesn't seem surprised at all, to say the least.
"You're huge," he comments. "And I'm not saying that to be rude. It looks like you aren't just having one child, but more like two or three." I laugh and ease my way into a chair because my feet are throbbing. I barely fit and we both laugh this time.
grissom hands me the forms to fill out after we talk for a little bit and before i get up to leave, i let out a sad sigh.
'want to talk about it?' grissom asks. i shake my head, deciding that it is best not to unload on my boss when my body is raging with hormones, i am thirty-two pounds heavier than a year ago and i am not in a good mood to begin with.
he probably knows what i am upset about anyway. it's no big secret that greg is becoming more secluded and it's getting harder and harder to help him get back to the life he used to live.
i thank him and walk out.
[Ziti is a pasta dish using ziti noodles (they resemble tubes about two inches long) along with Parmesan cheese, some other weird cheese and tomato sauce all mixed together in one pan, then cooked so the cheese melts.]