Healing and Beginnings – Chapter 15

The end is here! Thank you again to Rica for being my beta!

I wanted to thank you for the kind reveiews, they make my day!

Sara and Molly left the hospital and made their way to Grissom's house. Sara felt hesitant walking up to his door, it still felt as if she was intruding rather than making herself at home. She and Grissom had only been together a short time and they both still had their personal space.

Sara looked down at Molly and knew to the girl it didn't matter. She needed to be safe and secure and she needed them. "Molly, are you hungry?"

Molly just shook her head eye contact was not even possible in her state.

Sara knelt down to reach her. "Molly, how about some cereal," Lifting the girls chin up, "please?"

Sara didn't wait for her answer as they proceeded to the kitchen to find something to fill the void in their stomachs. Sara poured two bowls, filled them with milk and placed them on the table. They ate in silence each battling their own demons. Sara finished and looked over at Molly who was picking her bowl up to drink the milk when it spilled on the table and down on the floor. Molly instantly started to cry.

"I'm sorry Sara, I'll clean it up." Molly quickly ran to the kitchen to get a towel to wipe up the mess all along crying and declaring her sorrow.

"It's ok Molly, no one is going to get mad at you," Sara needed to make her believe accidents happen and that a simple "sorry" makes it ok. It took a few minutes but she managed to calm Molly down.

Sara looked over at Molly who was now yawning and looking in serious need of some sleep. "Come on, let's get you to bed," Sara said as she took the girl by the hand and led her to the guest room.

The room itself was rather large with a queen size bed in the middle of the room a few pictures on the wall and a rocking chair in the corner. There was a big window next to the chair along with a reading table and lamp. It was obvious Grissom used the room to read as there was a stack of magazines there.

Molly walked to the bed and climbed on. Sara took her shoes off and joined her feeling a bit uncomfortable not knowing what the girl needed. Despite all that Molly had been through in the past 24 hours, sleep found her fast. She was curled up in the middle of the bed using Sara as a pillow.

In spite of being tired, Sara was not able to sleep. Her mind kept pondering all that happened over the past few days. She was also worried about what Grissom would do to Rich. It had been two hour since he left them at the hospital and now she was truly starting to worry. She could call Brass but didn't want to cause any more trouble. Eventually her mind went blank and she fell into a light sleep.

Sitting outside his town house Grissom rubbed his knuckles trying to calm down before entering his house. The last thing Sara and Molly needed was to see him like this. He took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. He was tired, both mentally and physically. In the past when he was this upset with something he needed to be alone. Right now, that was impossible with the two women now sleeping in his house. He could hardly believe what had happened over the past six months.

Since that fateful day when he received the call about Sara being pulled over, his entire life changed. During the span of the call he knew his life would change forever, but he could never have predicted where it was right now. The intimate relationship with Sara was still blossoming and he was even more convinced he didn't want to spend anymore time apart from her. He loved her and was willing to do whatever it takes to ensure he made her happy for the rest of their lives. He was fairly certain that she felt the same as well.

His thoughts then drifted to Molly. He wasn't ready to think about Molly, yet. When he went to see Rich at the station Brass informed him that Molly had only one Aunt, who already had 5 kids. The aunt was on her way to Vegas but was honest when she advised them she wasn't sure if she could handle another child. Grissom never truly thought about wanting children, nor had he and Sara spoken about it, but if he was to have one he knew he could love Molly as his own. He already knew he wanted to marry Sara and he even bought her a ring when he was in Hawaii. Wishful thinking on his part, although he knew she was the only person he could spend the rest of his life with.

Holding back another yawn, he exited his truck and made his way to his house. He opened the door fully expecting to see Sara awake, but was surprised to hear silence. He made his way to the guest room and saw a beautiful sight. Molly and Sara curled up together sleeping peacefully. He walked over to the bed smiling at Sara's face. He could never get tired of seeing her face, especially looking so peaceful. He traced her face with his fingers before he noticed the dried blood still on his knuckles. Damn, they can't see the blood, his blood on my hand.

Grissom decided to take a shower before getting his rest. He turned the water on and undressed before stepping into the steaming shower. He closed his eyes and thought back on his conversation with Rich. When Brass saw him approach the room he gave him a look of worry.

"Gil, do you think it is such a good idea for you to go in there?" Brass asked while trying to put his hand up to stop his friend. Gong in there would be a mistake, but who was he to stop him, hell, he wanted to land a punch and he wasn't nearly as emotionally involved as his friend.

Grissom walked in and sat across from the cold blooded murderer. The two just stared at each other neither being the first to speak. Grissom couldn't imagine that this 'normal' looking man could do what he did to Miranda and almost did to Molly. Getting his encouragement up, Grissom looked over at the police office protecting the room and kindly asked him to give them a few minutes, alone.

The officer nodded in agreement but not before shooting him a look of concern.

Grissom slowly walked over to stand next to Rich. "Stand up," Grissom ordered his voice beaming through the Police Department halls. "I want you to look in my eyes and tell me something."

Rich stood up almost cowering at the angry man standing beside him. He thought better than to open his mouth.

"Why? Why couldn't you just stay away? Leave them alone. What makes you think you have the right to hurt your wife and child? Do you think she deserved it?" Grissom's face fell flush and he felt his temper rise just looking at the pathetic man standing before him.

Rich looked down acting bored at the man's tirade.

This fueled Grissom even more. "Look at me," he continued, "in the eye's."

Rich complied.

With all his force Grissom landed a punch square on Rich's face. He had never hit a suspect, or truly come close, until now. Rich was now on the floor looking up at Grissom.


Grissom rubbed his hand and pushed the chair over as Brass and two officers hurried in the room.

"What happened here Gil?"

Grissom looked at his friend blankly before pointing to the chair. "He fell over the chair," he said before walking out.

Brass turned to the officers and then to Rich, "Good enough for us, don't you agree?"

They nodded, hell, after seeing the pictures of what he had done they wanted to help him fall over a chair again, but they left that up to Grissom.

Rich stood up and tried to speak before being cut off by Brass.

"I'll make sure to tell the Director to fix the chair, don't you think?"

Nothing else was exchanged between any of them, Rich knew better.

By the time Grissom finally finished scrubbing the filth off of his hands the water was ice cold. The chill that ran through his body now caused him to shake. He was cold, colder not just physically but also mentally. Right now he wanted nothing better than to curl up next to Sara and Molly, but he didn't want to frighten either one of them, so he made his way to his room and slipped under the covers quickly falling into a deep sleep.

Sara was awakened in the morning by Molly shaking her.

"I'm hungry Sara," Molly declared with the look of innocence on her face.

Sara rubbed her eyes and looked over at the clock, 6:50 am. Normally she would be at work right now and fully awake, but for now she felt like hell as it felt like the middle of the night. "Ok, give me a minute and I'll see what we can do."

Sara forgot where she was and walked to the bathroom in her T-Shirt and panties only to walk straight into Grissom. They both jumped back in total shock, each forgetting the other was there. After a second, the uncomfortable feeling subsided and it almost felt normal. In fact, it almost felt normal to fight over the bathroom, and Sara liked it.

Grissom looked down shyly, "Go ahead, ladies first." He barely managed to get the words out of his mouth as he continued to look Sara up and down. It wasn't until Molly said good morning that he was broken out of his spell.

"Are you girl's hungry? I can make us some pancakes," he asked, looking between Sara and Molly. They both said yes and Grissom turned and headed to the kitchen to cook trying to forget the full feeling of his bladder was making against his jeans.

The three had just about finished breakfast when Sara's cell phone rang.

"Sidle."

Sara was listening contently at what the voice on the other end was saying and then began to speak. "I'll have Molly ready by 10, thank you."

Sara snapped her phone shut and looked up to see 2 pairs of eyes glued on her. "That was social services. They are sending over an agent as well as bringing Molly's aunt."

She turned to look at Molly, "How do you feel about your Aunt?"

"I like her, she's nice. She took me to the beach with her this year," she paused, "Am I going to live with her?"

"We are not sure Molly. Do you remember meeting the social worker yesterday?"

Molly nodded.

Sara continued, "She is bringing your Aunt over and she wants to speak to you."

Molly simply said "ok".

Sara turned to Molly and asked if she wanted to watch TV so she and Grissom could talk.

Grissom walked over and turned the TV on handing Molly the remote. He knew he would have no idea what a 6 year old would watch on TV.

Grissom and Sara walked over to the seating area outside the kitchen far enough so that they would speak freely without Molly hearing.

Grissom turned to Sara needing to know what she was thinking right now as she has had a look of fear on her face since the phone call. "Sara, what else did the Social worker say You look concerned."

"She said that most likely Molly's aunt wasn't going to be able to take Molly and that they were working on foster homes for her." Sara closed her eyes fighting back the tears.

"Griss, I know the system, I can't let her get lost in the system, I can't. I will do anything to not let that happen."

He looked deep into her eyes, "Sara, what do you know about the foster system?"

She wasn't able to look in his eyes as she explained as little as necessary to get her point across. She didn't speak about that time, ever. "I was in the system once, for a short time. I wouldn't want my worst enemy there."

"When Sara?" He reached out and held her hands, "what happened?"

She sighed, "It doesn't matter now or why, it just happened. I can't let that happen to Molly. I will raise her alone if I have to, but I just can't stand by and let her slip into the system."

Her use of the term "The system" made it clear to Grissom that she felt strong about it, and when Sara Sidle felt strong about something, there was nothing standing in her way.

"Have you ever thought about a family Sara?" he lifted her chin up to gage her reaction.

"Yes, no, maybe?"

Sara laughed, "I guess it was hard to ever want a family of my own when I never felt like I truly had a family. Then I met Molly and things changed, I guess I changed. I think I would like it."

She turned the tables, "What about you Griss? Did you ever want a family?"

He smiled at her for a long time before speaking, knowing the words he was about to speak could change the rest of their lives.

"Sara," he again lifted her chin to look directly in her eyes. "I always considered work my family and that was always enough. I'm sorry that it took your 'incident' to make me realize I could have lost you. See, it wasn't just work that was my family, it was you. Some people go home from work to see their family, I went to work to see mine. If you think about it, we spent almost every holiday together over the past 4 years, just not in the traditional sense."

Sara laughed, he did have a point.

Grissom continued, "I never thought I could 'do it', put a relationship before work, but I'm ready Sara, more than you will ever know. I want you as my family. I don't want to have to go to work to not feel alone, I want to come home and be with you and be with Molly. She is a great kid, and more than anything I want to make both of you happy, hopefully forever."

Sara was taken back by his words as her heart was slowly melting. She shook her head to straighten her thoughts. "Griss, this is too fast, I can't let my need to help Molly push you into something too fast."

Grissom looked at her in disbelief not saying a word before he rose and walked away.

The emotion of the past few days coupled with Grissom walking away made Sara lose it. The tears she had been choking back now riddled her face. Molly heard this and joined Sara.

"Sara, are you crying?" Seeing Sara cry made Molly sad and she too almost started to cry.

Grissom was now walking back to them and was shocked to see them so upset. "Now guys, why are you crying?" He reached out and pulled them in for a group hug.

He looked back down at Molly, "Can you give us just a few more minutes, and then I promise we can talk, ok sweetie?"

She shook her head 'yes'.

He turned back to face Sara using his thumbs to wipe away the tears. "Sara, I'm not sure words enough can tell you how serious I am. When I was on vacation I did some deep down soul searching. Sure I have always known I wanted to be with you, but I kept pushing it off for another day as work always came first. When I realized how my actions affected both of our lives, I knew then and there I couldn't push you away any more. I remember this so clearly because I was sitting on the beach watching a Mom and a kid playing ball. At one point the ball came over towards me and the most darling little girl started talking to me asking me where my family was. It hit me, I didn't have a family, and she helped me realize how much I wanted one. That girl was Molly, and although few words were spoken she helped me realize what and who I wanted."

He pulled Sara in for a hug whispering the rest in her ear. "So you see Sara, since I met you and since I met Molly you have been my family, now, I want you to let me be yours."

He stepped back and dropped on his knee, "Sara Sidle, will you be my family? Will you marry me?" Grissom reached in his pocket and pulled out a small black box opening it for Sara to see. It was a beautiful round one carat diamond. The insignia inside the box read Maui Divers, Hawaii.

Sara wrapped her arms around his neck and just held him. Once she was sure her voice would work she spoke. "Yes, oh yes Griss, I will marry you!"

Just then Molly ran in the room squealing, "You are getting married?"

In sync, they replied, "Yes!"

Molly was happy for a second and then a sad look took over her face. "What about me?"

Sara and Grissom shared a look, they didn't need the words to each know what the other was thinking. Sara turned to Molly, "Molly, if things don't work out with your Aunt, we would love to have you here with us."

Molly smiled, "Really?"

Grissom pulled both Sara and Molly in for a hug, "I've never been surer of anything in my whole life."

After they hugged, he turned to Sara handing her a cup of coffee. He rose his cup to hers, "Here's to Healing and new beginnings."

The End

Thank you for sticking with this story! I'm contemplating writing an epilogue, let me know if you are interested!