Baby Smell

By Dany

Summary: What's worse than a decomp?

A/N: Thanks to all those who are supporting me by reviewing. One of you gave me and idea and I hope I put it into words to your liking.

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Her words sank in slowly, but they did.

They reached not only his brain, but also his heart. And for the first time, he understood why Sara was never inattentive during his lectures.

She was right. Knowledge – this was the only part he gave freely, without hesitation, without any fears that someone might get too close. And knowledge was something he gave mainly to Sara.

Sure, he tried to further everyone if they asked the right questions, but Sara was different. She really took it in, into her heart. That way he would be, could be close to her.

Maybe he had misjudged her investment in this.

"You're looking at a Argia agrioides, a Californian Dancer. The male is blue, but at first its color is brown…" And so they wandered from species to species, looking at the small descriptions, checking if the information was correct and seeing if there was everything the insects needed.

Sara listened raptly, trying to store everything away for future use.

Amelia seemed to be listening also, following his explanations and her questions. Sometimes she interrupted them by cooing "beet" or "bug" and to his surprise Grissom found pleasure in trying to teach the girl some of the easier names.

Whatever he pronounced for her she tried to imitate. Some of the letter combinations that came out of Amelia's mouth were too funny, even for the usually reserved and controlled CSIs so they burst out laughing.

They were almost through the whole insect house when Amelia began to squirm again. Sara looked at her and saw her face tight with concentration. "Uhm, Grissom," she stammered, waiting for him to turn his attention away from the current species and direct it towards her.

"I think we just got ourselves a decomp," she tried to joke, but Grissom was clueless as to what she meant. It was somehow reassuring that when things became serious, Grissom was just like any other man.

But then he surprised her – again. The lines of thought on his forehead eased up as recognition set in. "I think I saw a sign for a changing room in the back." He nodded in silent confirmation to himself and pushed the stroller in that direction. Relieved they saw that Grissom was right.

The only problem was, the changing table was in the ladies room. And Sara was not sure if she knew how to do this right.

The last – and first and only – time she had changed a diaper was as a teenager in her parents' B&B. One of their guests had left her alone with her screaming brat. Everything had gone wrong and had left her with the decision that she was not cut out for taking care of children.

She looked to Grissom for help, but she could tell that he was even more uncomfortable. The park was not exactly full and the insect house was empty beside them. Satisfied that they were alone, she pushed Grissom through the door.

"Sara, what…" But he didn't get any further when he turned and saw the determined look on her face. He sighed, knowing there was no way to escape this and pulled a disposable case for the pad out of a machine before placing Amelia on it.

Slowly he began to undress her while Sara rummaged in the bag for a new diaper. Amelia tried to turn several times, but Grissom soon found the right way to hold her with one hand so that he could work on the buttons. When she was twisting her upper body again, loudly voicing her displeasure, a plush ladybug appeared in his field of vision.

Sara held out the toy for the little girl, which distracted her from squirming. "Here!" She held out the fresh diaper for Grissom as he was tying to dispose of the old one.

"Tissues first," he commanded and Sara began to go through the bag again.

This time she found it faster and as she handed him the box she grimaced and asked, "Mind if I wait outside?"

His hands stilled and he looked up completely stunned, momentarily forgetting his task. "Oh no, you pushed me in here, so you stay." He was all serious, making it clear that it was not up for discussion and Sara ducked her head to avoid his intense gaze.

"Besides," he continued, "you have smelled worse."

Her eyes flew up to his, wide in surprise. Was this an insult or a mere statement of fact?

As so often, his facial expression betrayed nothing. She decided to take it as the latter and quipped back, "Got lemons?"

His bemused smile was the only answer she got.

TBC