Chapter 30

Sara sipped a glass of wine and looked out over the ocean. It was unusually quiet this evening, like the home she and Gil shared. Julian was asleep and Gil was out. She didn't know where. After the call from Brass, Gil had said something about a walk. That had
been hours ago.

Sara heard ringing and reached for her phone. The sound wasn't coming from her phone but the land line. Only the condo staff used the land line. Her quick strides moved her from the balcony to the living room. She knew better than to speak first.

"Mrs. Stewart?"

"Yes."

"This is Max in the bar."

"Yes."

"Dr. Stewart is here and I took his keys. I have seen him drink before but nothing like this."

I guess that just for me.

"I think you should come and fetch him."

"I can't. Our son is asleep. Could you please bring him up when you close?"

"Of course, I hardly saw you when you were pregnant. I forget. We close in a few minutes. I'll get him to you safe and sound."

Sara hung up the phone and went to find Max a tip.

"I don't know why he called you."

Grissom's words didn't slur, even drunk he was still relatively steady and poised.

"Because you are wasted."

"He took my keys."

Sara's head was full of accusation and innuendo. "I guess he didn't trust you to come home."

"Where else would I go?"

"I don't know Gil. He's your bartender, not mine." She handed him a cup of steaming coffee.

"Coffee sobering people up is a myth you know."

"Humor me."

"Gil, why are you drinking again? I thought you were done with that."

Gil looked at Sara. She was round and curvy from Julian. He wondered what she looked like naked. How had they gotten to this place, so far apart yet so close together? He had always longed for time with Sara, now for all practical purposes; she was his wife and the mother of his child. Gil still couldn't believe his good fortune. Gil Grissom had a son, a son that seemed to love him despite his flawed logic and reasoning, a son that lit up when he came into the room. Maybe he wasn't going to be such a bad father.

"Have I ever told you about my father?"

"Not really, just that he left when you were a kid."

"His name was Robert. He looked a great deal like me." Gil pulled the photograph from his wallet.

Sara dazzled the five year old Gil with a smile. "Are those knee pants? You were very cute, look at that hair. What is Julian going to do with his hair? Between the two us he's going to look like a poodle attacked by the humidity. You know what Leigh says?"

Gil leaned back on the couch and tried to find something to do with his hands. "What?"

"He's going to wear it long."

They said it at the same time. "Weight"

"Well if he's going to be an artist that seems feasible. If you are a guy either go fairly long or
very short otherwise you end up with the dreaded."

Again they spoke in unison. "Triangle head.'

"Thank you Sara."

"For what?"

"For my son. For having him and taking care of him while I was trying to get my act together." He chewed at his lip. "Did you ever think about you know…having an abortion?"

Sara imagined that she could feel the beating of his heart.

"That's when I knew that my priorities had changed. From the minute I found about him, I didn't think about my career. I didn't think about how it would affect me, all I could think about was him. I was even willing to loose you."

Sara looked back at the picture. "Your father does look like you. He's skinny though."

"I think I'm supposed to be insulted."

"Actually you could stand to gain a few pounds."

He looked at her like her in the way that made her forget what she was doing or thinking. "Why are you drinking again?"

Grissom blew on the surface of the hot coffee.

"My father left when I was kid. I loved him a lot. I wanted be just like him. I wanted to be funny and charismatic. He was always the life of the party. You should have seen the way women looked at him."

"Like they look at Warrick?"

Grissom smiled. "I miss them."

"Me too."

"You know for the first six months we were here I'd expect to see Cath waiting for me in the lobby or out front in one of the Tahoes."

"I would open the door and I could just make out Nick standing there grinning and trying to lure me into another grand scheme."

"There have been days that I would have given my right arm to have Cath yelling at me about you?"

Sara frowned. "About me?"

Grissom adopted his best Catherine voice. "Ask Sara out. Send Sara flowers. You know Sara's with that Hank guy. You know all the guys have a thing for Sara."

Sara adopted Warrick's intonation. "Big Man doesn't know how to show his feelings. Big Man is doing the best he can. Give Big Man another chance."

Grissom laughed. Sara was one of the only people that could make him laugh. The others were scattered to the four winds and he wasn't sure that he would ever see their faces again. "I think we were a substantial portion of their pillow talk."

Sara watched as Grissom's face softened. "We should be flattered. Are they under protection as a married couple too?"

"I thought you knew."

"Knew what?"

"The got married the day before they left. They were going to tell us at shift. Warrick had turned in his resignation."

"What?"

"He got accepted into medical school. I just assumed he told you."

Sara's dark eyes shifted as her mind went back to that time. "You know he kept calling me and we kept missing one another."

Grissom's mind went to that time as well. "What was Leigh doing in your apartment anyway?"

Grissom held her gaze and pink tinged her cheeks. Perception turned up the corners of his mouth. "Is that when the whole seduction thing started?"

Sara raised one hand. "Guilty."

"I wondered why Jarvis kept giving me that poor man look. I thought I had a boogie."

She was glad to see her Grissom returning in slivers, the Grissom that few people knew; funny, kind, sweet.

"One man against two beautiful smart women, it really wasn't fair. Men are stupid we should throw in the towel much sooner. It would be much better for us."

Grissom drained the rest of his coffee and then spoke. "Brass' bought the ring for Lillian."

"Did he ask her yet?"

"Are you kidding? He might have a heart attack before he does that? I have heard every possible scenario as to how this proposal can happen, everything from a moonlit park to a fancy restaurant with the ring in her champagne glass. Cath and I vetoed the latter. That's a crisis waiting to happen."

"Gil why are you drinking? Tell me."

Gil scratched the scar on his hand and looked past Sara to a print on the wall. "Why does any man drink?"

She was too afraid to say it out loud. What if she was wrong? She had been wrong about so many things.