Baby bird

By Dany

Summary: Grissom and Sara discover the enclosure and what a curious girl Amelia is.

A/N: Sorry for the delay. Next time I'll try to upload sooner. Hope someone's still reading this and hasn't given up yet.

xxxxx

Packed with some last minute instructions at childcare, Grissom and Sara entered the park, pushing the stroller in front of them.

After a quick look at the outlay of the park they had decided to take the right path to the insect house. On the way they would pass some other enclosures that would be interesting for the little girl. It was the shorter path and when they were finished with the insect house and still had some time left they could always explore the rest of the park.

They followed the way to a huge aviary where a sign announced that you would find most of the birds native in Nevada in several single enclosures.

Amelia seemed to know the park by heart, because she turned in her seat, eyes wide and glistening with excitement, and said, "Hakz!"

Stunned by the little girls knowledge, Sara only nodded. Amelia faced the entrance again and Grissom went and opened the door for Sara to enter.

As she walked past him she brushed against Grissom. She heard his sharp intake of breath and felt herself blush, lowering her head to hide that fact. Her only consolation was that Grissom didn't seem to be faring much better.

Trying to forget the tension that had sprung up between them, they worked their way from board to board looking over the amounts of information that was given to the visitor.

The little girl was less scientific than the adults and bounce in the stroller every time she saw a bird moving. The excitement of the little girl slowly seemed to reach the CSIs as they started to see the world through different eyes.

By the time they had reached the enclosure with the hawks they had relaxed enough to look at each other again.

"Out!" Sara saw Amelia struggling with the straps that held her down.

"Out!" The girl looked directly at Grissom, showing him the tears of frustration in her eyes. And it were exactly those tears that crumbled any resistance he might have had so he bent down to free her of the restraints and lift her up.

Amelia quieted immediately and gave Grissom a wide smile, which resulted in an answering smile from him.

For Sara, this study was far more interesting than anything else could be. To see Grissom so open and unguarded was a very rare treat and she wanted to take in every second.

While she was lost in her observations, Grissom had turned towards the enclosure and pointed out the hawks for Amelia to see.

"Hakz!" She seemed enthralled although the birds were just sitting on a branch moving nothing but head.

"I don't understand it," Grissom heard Sara mutter and turned his head to raise an eyebrow in question. Her eyes grew wide, only now realizing that she had spoken aloud. "I didn't mean to," she stammered, but when Grissom's eyes squinted in confusion she elaborated. "I was just wondering how unusual it is for such a small child to get more excited about a brown unmoving bird when there are so many others, more colorful, moving, attracting the eye."

Grissom contemplated her statement, watching Amelia admire these majestic birds before turning back to Sara, trying to explain. But this time he had no concrete answer. He knew too little about children to come to a conclusion so he opted tell her the truth. "I don't know either. But she seems to have different interest than what we picture normal children to do."

He was thinking about the beetle Amelia had slipped from his pocket and by the look on Sara's face she was thinking about that too.

"Hakz," Amelia called again, drawing the attention back to her. She was pointing to the next cage, which – according to the board – held two Cooper's Hawks, different from the Red-Tailed Hawk they looked at before.

They followed her wish and moved over so that she could see the other hawks. This time the birds were barely visible in the branches, only their eyes moving.

"Hakz?" The question was clear in the little girls voice.

Grissom tried to point them out for her, but she could not follow his outstretched arm accurately and her eyes kept straying, searching for a hawk.

Sara saw Grissom get restless, fearful that the girl might cry if she couldn't find the unmoving fellow. Carefully she stepped up behind Grissom, calling Amelia as though not to startle her.

Lightly she took Amelia's head between her hands and turned it so that it was facing directly towards the bird. To verify her angle she stepped even closer, brushing against Grissom again.

Her gaze wavered from its target and sought out Grissom's. She stared into his eyes, completely forgetting her surrounding, drowning in a sea of blue. She could see the emotion swirling around like a cloud and her hope rose that they could fix IT. What ever IT was.

Both of them had blended out the presence of another human being until they were loudly reminded when Amelia found the hawk and screeched, "Der, Hak!" She clapped her hands and bounced in Grissom's arms.

Seeing the girl so happy made both of them smile involuntarily, freeing them from the tension momentarily.

TBC