When Grissom entered the kitchen, his mother was leaning down to pull some potatoes from the oven. He walked closer so he wouldn't scare her and touched her shoulder once she had set the dish down. "Gil, what are you doing out here?" she scolded, "I told you I would call you when dinner was ready."

"I know mom, but Sara isn't feeling well. She's trying to rest now so she can join us for dinner. I wanted to come help you with anything that still needs to be prepared."

"Is she okay?" Mrs. Grissom asked in concern.

"She's just a little upset, that's all. You really surprised her by buying that dress."

"How could she be upset by that?"

"She's not mom, it's just complicated."

Mrs. Grissom, not wanting to pry, let it go. "Well, everything's ready for dinner," she gestured to the pots on the stove.

"Mom, why don't you go have a seat? I want to put the potatoes back in the oven to keep warm and cover everything else. That way we just need to warm everything when Sara wakes up."

Mrs. Grissom nodded and went to sit in the living room.

After Grissom recovered the food and put the potatoes back in the oven, he joined his mother in the living room. They had been speaking in sign for about a half an hour when Grissom heard some noise upstairs. "I'll go see how she's doing," Grissom told his mother before ascending the stairs.

When Grissom entered the bedroom, he found Sara sitting on the bed, a glass of water in hand. "How are you feeling?" he asked, sitting next to her on the bed.

Sara groaned. "Just took migraine meds."

Grissom reached over and massaged her temple. "How bad?" he questioned.

"Throbbing, the lights are bothering me a little. Is dinner ready?"

"Yes, everything is sitting in the oven, waiting to be reheated if necessary."

"I want to come down for dinner."

"You can. When you're ready we'll heat everything up. There's no rush."

Sara put her hand on his arm. "No. Your mother has done so much work to put this meal together, I don't want to push it back."

"Sara, she understands, she won't mind," Grissom started.

"Gil, I would like to go down there now and have a nice dinner with your mother."

Grissom, not wanting to get her upset again, gave in. "Alright, I'll go start heating things up. Why don't you come sit down on the couch until everything is ready?"

"Sure, I'll take the time to rest a few more minutes before dinner."

Grissom helped her off of the bed and led her downstairs. Mrs. Grissom looked up when Sara sat down on the couch. "Sara, dear, how are you feeling?" she asked, concerned.

"Oh, I'm okay. I've just got a headache right now," she said, trying to assure her that everything was fine.

Grissom signed to his mother that he was going to heat up their dinner. "We could have waited longer for dinner if you needed," Mrs. Grissom told Sara.

"That's alright," Sara stated, "you spent a lot of time preparing dinner, we should at least eat it on time."

"That's nonsense," Mrs. Grissom scoffed.

"I'm fine," Sara reiterated.

"And I'm a spring chicken," Mrs. Grissom countered.

Sara leaned her head against the back of the couch and sighed. "Dear, I understand that you want to keep the holiday normal, but that's not necessary. You don't have to put up a facade for me. If you need to excuse yourself during dinner, don't worry about it."

Mrs. Grissom got up to help Grissom in the kitchen. Sara got up and touched her shoulder before she could leave. "Thank you," Sara signed, giving her a hug.

When Sara pulled away, she smiled. "You're such a wonderful mother," she spoke.

"Don't you start getting all sentimental on me," Mrs. Grissom smiled.

Sara emitted a small chuckle. "Come on, let's go see how Gil is doing in the kitchen," Mrs. Grissom directed.

Upon entering the kitchen, they were met with the wonderful aromas of mashed potatoes and squash. Grissom was putting the dishes on the table when they appeared. "Oh, you can't wait, can you?" he joked, "Everything is ready, I just have to finish putting it on the table. Have a seat."

Mrs. Grissom sat down at the head of the table, and Sara sat on her left. When everything was on the table, Grissom sat across from Sara. "Dig in," he stated.

After passing around food for a few minutes, they started eating once all of the food had been dished out. "Mom, this turkey is perfect," he complemented after taking a bite.

"Well, you cooked it," she replied.

"But you did all of the work and seasoned it. I will not take any credit for how good it tastes."

Sara smiled at the exchange of their small banter. "These baked potatoes are really good, so are the mixed vegetables," Sara announced.

"That's good dear, I wasn't exactly sure what to put with Thanksgiving dinner for you. I don't cook for vegetarians a lot."

Sara smiled. "Well, this meal is quite excellent. Consider yourself a success."

They continued to eat dinner, once in a while sprinkling in some casual conversation.

When they finished eating, Grissom and Sara started to clear the table. "Why don't you go get comfortable mom, Sara and I can take care of this," Grissom suggested.

"That's silly," Mrs. Grissom scoffed, "you are guests."

"You did so much preparation, Sara and I will clean up and bring you your dessert."

Mrs. Grissom considered arguing some more, but she decided that she did feel tired and could use a little rest. She exited the kitchen and headed for the living room.

Once his mother had left, Grissom took the dishes from Sara. "You can sit down too honey," he spoke.

"Nah, that's okay," Sara stated, "this'll go quicker with two of us anyway."

They were almost finished cleaning up the dishes when Sara leaned against the counter. Grissom immediately became concerned. "Sara, are you okay?" he asked, putting his hand on her hip.

Sara brought her hand to her head and looked like she might faint. Grissom supported her frame and led her over to a chair. Sara doubled over and held her head between her knees. Grissom ran his hand up and down her back. "Gil, I think I need to go lay down," she moaned.

Grissom didn't hesitate to pick her up and carry her through the living room to upstairs. His mother shot him a look of concern, but he ignored it and brought Sara into the bedroom. He laid Sara on the bed and left her momentarily to get her pajamas out of the dresser. He helped her undress and slid her under the covers. Sara laid under the covers with her eyes closed, and her hands still clutched her head. Grissom went into the bathroom and came back with a wet washcloth to put on her forehead. He sat next to her on the bed and held the washcloth to her forehead. "It feels like someone took an ax to my head," Sara mumbled.

"Maybe after you rest for a little while your medication will kick in and you'll start to feel a little better. You overdid it Sara."

Sara knew that she had pushed to hard and should have rested more earlier. "Is there anything I can do for you honey?"

"Gil, I just want to get some sleep. I feel like my body is just shutting down. You should go back downstairs and share some pumpkin pie with your mother."

"Sara," Grissom started, not wanting to leave her alone in pain, "I'd rather stay here with you in case you need anything."

"Gil, I'm just going to try and fall asleep. You should go back and visit with your mother."

Grissom was reluctant to leave, but felt that it would just further distress Sara if he stayed. "Sara, if you feel any worse, I want you to call me. If you need anything at all, don't move, call for me. I'll go have some pumpkin pie with mom, and then I'll be back," he said, kissing her lips.

With another fleeting glance, Grissom left the room.

Mrs. Grissom was ready and waiting in the living room when Grissom returned. "What happened, is she okay?" Mrs. Grissom spurted.

Grissom led her back over to the couch and sat down next to her. "She's got a really bad migraine. She had taken her medication before dinner, but she insisted that she didn't want to make dinner any later. So, she had been fighting the headache all through dinner, and it eventually caught up with her."

"Well, why aren't you up there?"

"She wanted me to come back down here and have pie with you. She's worried that she's ruined our visit."

"You need to make that girl come to her senses. She needs to take care of herself!"

"Mom, stop. She's stressed out about some things right now, but she wanted to be able to come and meet you. I agree, this time she went too far, but I talked to her about it."

Grissom got up from the couch and went out to the kitchen to cut the pumpkin pie.

After cutting the pie and making some tea, Grissom put everything on a tray and brought it back into the living room. "Gil, you know I'm just worried," Mrs. Grissom signed.

Grissom nodded and set the tray down on the coffee table. "I think I'm a little uptight because I'm worried about her too. This is the first time in a while that she's had back to back migraines."

Grissom and his mother took their respective pieces of pie. "What bothered her so much about the dress?" Mrs. Grissom asked.

Grissom thought before he spoke. "Sara didn't have the best environment growing up. I don't know all of the details, but I know that her parents poorly influenced her life a lot. She hasn't talked to them in a long time, and she is adamant about not having them at the wedding. So, when you made such a nice gesture of buying the dress for her, she thought about the types of things that she couldn't do with her parents. She sees you and wishes that her parents could have been like you."

"That's horrible," Mrs. Grissom gasped, "but Gil, she needs to confront her feelings."

"I know mom. She has confronted them before, and she thought she was over most of them. When she was kidnapped a lot of things started to come back. Then with the wedding, she starts thinking about different things. She knows I'm here for her when she's ready to talk."

"That's you Gil," Mrs. Grissom smiled, "always the listener."

Grissom smiled. When they had both finished their pie, Grissom took his mother's dishes and brought them out to the sink. After washing the few dishes, Grissom poured another cup of tea to bring up to Sara. Grissom bade his mother goodnight and headed back upstairs to his bedroom.

When he entered the room, he found Sara laying on her side, but she wasn't sleeping. Sara opened her eyes when he closed the door. "How are you feeling?" he asked, sitting on the edge of the bed and brushing his hand across her forehead.

"The sharp pain has diminished, but I still don't feel that great. What's that?" she pointed to the cup he had set on the side table.

"I thought you might like some tea if you were still awake. Do you want it?"

"Is it decaf?" she questioned.

"Yes," he answered, reaching for the cup.

"Sure, I'll have some."

Sara sat up in bed and leaned against the headboard before taking the cup from Grissom. Grissom sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her. "Mom's worried about you," he spoke.

"Gil, it's not her fault," she started to get upset.

Grissom started to rub her back and calm her down before she could start to overanalyze things. "I explained it to her, and she understands."

"Gil, I feel like I've ruined this whole trip."

"Quite the opposite honey," he moved behind her so he could wrap his arms around her, "my mother loves you, and she's looking forward to coming to our wedding. She was so happy that she was able to help you find a dress."

Sara smiled. "I know," she reminisced, "we were both gleaming when she held it up. I'm glad we came."

"So am I."

Sara reached over and set the cup back on the side table. "Go get undressed so you can join me," Sara squeezed his hand.

Grissom smiled and obligingly stripped down to his boxers. He climbed into bed next to her and pulled her against his chest. Grissom kissed her neck and whispered in her ear, "Don't scare me like that again."

Sara put her hands over Grissom's hands. "Gil, I know I pushed it too far. My body definitely told me that. I wanted everything to be special, and I ended up with a killer migraine."

"You just need to be you honey. I've never seen you try to please anyone this much."

Sara reached around and poked Grissom in the stomach. "Hey, I know I messed up, you don't need to keep telling me I did."

Grissom gasped in mock shock when she poked him. He kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arms tighter around her. "Maybe we can have a nice breakfast with your mother tomorrow before we have to leave," Sara contemplated.

"Yeah," Grissom replied, "we can make our pancakes."

Sara chuckled and tugged on Grissom's arms. "Let's try and get some sleep so we wake up on time," Sara said.

"Sure. Honey?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you," he kissed her neck again.

"I love you too," she replied, "thank you."

"No problem."

The two relaxed and tried to get to sleep.