Chapter 11

Grissom opened his front door. The townhouse was dark.

He was surprised to see Sara sitting in the dark. "Babe?"

He put his hands on her shoulders. "Sweetie you need to get some sleep?"

"Oh I'll be doing enough of that!"

He frowned and reached to turn on the lamp. "Sweetie, come on, we'll talk about all this in the morning."

"I'm pregnant."

The silence wafted through the house like a ghost tired of haunting.

She waited for his voice. It never came.

"Don't worry about it. I know you can't handle two kids at once, and me, I'm not ready for kids anyway."

Still nothing.

"I am going to bed." She stood without looking at him and went to sleep in the guest room.

When he woke she was gone. He called her at her home and her cell phone. She didn't answer. By noon, he had begun to panic. Could she have scheduled an appointment that quickly?

The evening before he had been numb from his argument with Sofia, he was a man whose demons had caught up with him and he had no response to Sara's stark announcement. He didn't know what he wanted, but he knew that he didn't want her have an abortion.

Grissom walked up the flight of stairs to Sara's. He didn't knock. He used his key.

She was curled in a tight ball on the couch. The TV was on, but she didn't seem to be watching it. A beer was open, but appeared to be full.

"Sara"

Silence

"Why aren't you answering the phone?"

Her black eyes flashed then subsided for a second. She bit his bottom lip. "I didn't know what to say to you."

He reached for the remote and turned the TV off. He took the beer to the kitchen and poured it down the drain.

"You shouldn't be drinking. How much did you have to drink at the party last night?"

"A glass of red wine."

He pulled her up into his arms. She was limp. "Honey I don't want you to abort our child."

"I don't know what I am supposed to do Gil. I don't know what to do? Another woman is also pregnant with your child."

She pushed herself from him. It required a great deal of self-will and effort.

"Gil, I don't think I can do this...with everything else...it's too much."

"Sara, please." His expression was one of resolve and sadness.

"If you love me Gil, you won't ask me to subject myself to this."

When his head dropped she could see the top of his curls where his hair was still dark.

"What are you going to do about the baby?"

"I don't know yet." She stood and took several steps back.

"Will you let me know what you decide?"

"Of course."

He took one last look at her when he put her apartment key into her hand.