A/N: I will do my best to make this short and sweet. I am going crazy trying to finish this story so this will be, for sure, the last part. Minus a minor epilogue… Sorry!

Part 7

"I don't know where she is now. We had one last encounter, not nearly as tense as the first, but we had an argument and I never saw her after that. The last time my mother contacted me…" Sara told him, her voice calm and controlled. "It was after I'd been picked up for my DUI… after you and I started seeing each other outside of work. I had just gotten off of shift, the day we worked the Durbin case? You remember, the crazy kid with the bombs all over the house?"

Grissom nodded his response.

"I don't know if you know this, but, I found video tapes under the kids bed," she said, "And I… I watched them."

"Sara, what was on the tapes?"

She took a slightly ragged breath, "Something that I very much wish that I hadn't seen, because I wish that I didn't know how sick some people are. I mean, I know how crazy people can be, we see it everyday on the job. But I guess that I never wanted to believe that parents actually teach their children to be evil. I mean, the way that kid was raised… it made me sick, Gil. His father taught him that killing innocent animals was fun, that building bombs was easy. God! What the hell is wrong with people? Why can't parents just … I don't know, why can't everyone just be normal!"

She was crying now, shaking hard as she fought the sobs building up in her. Grissom held onto her, letting her cry, waiting for her to calm down and breath evenly again. He rocked with her where they sat on his bed still, both of them wrapped tightly around each other, drawing strength from their position there. They didn't speak, neither of them able to communicate what they were feeling. Sara nuzzled her face deeper into his neck, feeling his bearded chin rubbing against her temple.

"Who are we to say what's normal?" Gil asked, "Really? I mean, neither you nor I had a normal childhood, honey. None of our friends had normal childhoods, everyone believes that two parents and two point five kids is a 'normal' family. But whose standards are those, Sara? My childhood, although it wouldn't really classify as normal, was just fine. And Warrick, he was raised by his grandmother, and he won't hear anything negative about it. It all depends on the situation."

"Domestic violence, or violence of any kind, is not normal!" Sara screamed at him, pushing away from Grissom's embrace and scrambling to get out of the bed. She yanked open the bedroom door and her long legs carried her quickly down the hall. Grissom felt like he was practically running to catch up to her.

He managed to grab her hand before she made it to the front door. She spun on him when he pulled her arm gently.

"Sara, wait," he said quickly, "I'm not condoning it, Sara, I never would, you know me better than that. But I'm trying to help you understand. And maybe-"

"Maybe what?" Sara spat, tears staining her flushed cheeks.

"Maybe I'm trying to understand! Maybe I need to understand, honey, because, without some kind of explanation, I have this strong desire to kill your mother!" he yelled, his own tears coming now. He pulled her roughly against him and buried his face in her hair, "I could have lost you! I could have lost you over and over again and I never would have had the chance to tell you how much I love you, Sara. God, honey, I love you."

She sobbed then, harsh and loud into his shoulder and they stood there, in the entrance to his home, both of them crying for the lover they held in their arms. Something painful squeezed Grissom's heart and tears ran down his cheeks. This woman, strong and beautiful in his arms, was his and hurting and he wanted nothing more than to take away all of the pain she had endured. He tightened his hold on her, a weak attempt to merge her body with his.

"Make love to me, Gil," Sara whispered through her tears, "Make love to me and make this go away."

He didn't say anything as he gracefully picked her up, cradling her in his arms, and carried her back to the bedroom.

Sara woke up slowly, her eyes adjusting to the darkness of the room. The shower was running and she could hear the faint hum of the air conditioner. She adjusted the blankets around her, feeling her flesh prickle after being exposed to the cool air. Glancing at the clock, she knew Gil was getting ready for shift. They had less than two hours to get to the office. She didn't want to go. For probably the first time in her life, she had no desire whatsoever to get out of bed and go in to work. She just didn't care.

She heard the water shut off and knew that Gil would be walking into the bedroom in a moment.

"Griss?" she called, running her fingers through her hair as she sat up, "Do you think I have time to go for a quick run before work?"

He stuck his head into the room and shrugged, "You've got a couple of hours before you have to be in, I'm just heading in early."

"All right. I just, I don't know, I think it will help me clear my head some more," she said, feeling sheepish for asking.

"Whatever you need, honey."

Sara smiled and he disappeared back into the bathroom. She rummaged around the room for a few minutes, finding another pair of his sweats and a tank top before pulling on the tennis shoes she worn the day before.

"I'm gonna head out," she told him, leaning against the door frame of the bathroom. He was trimming his beard again. She was smiling, watching him, naked from the waist up, eyes focused intensly on what he was doing.

"Be careful," he said, looking at her in the mirror, "Stay on the path in the park. It's dark and I've seen enough victims just off the path there…"

"I'll be fine," she told him, kissing his cheek before leaving, "I'll take my pepper spray."

He laughed a little before calling over his shoulder, "Don't forget your cell phone."

Sara still managed to get to work twenty minutes early. She'd run, gone back to Gil's to shower and change, and then driven to work. She rested her head in her hands, a cup of coffee untouched on the table in front of her. She had meant for her run to wake her up, give her energy for the shift, but she was exhausted and her body was starting to ache.

"You okay?" Catherine asked, startling Sara so badly that her cup of coffee went flying across the , table sending the steaming liquid in all directions.

Catherine raised an eyebrow at her curiously.

"Damn it," Sara muttered, taking a roll of paper towels from the counter and mopping up the mess she'd made, "I'm fine, Cath, Just a little tired I guess."

"Have you been sick lately? Nauseous or anything? Sore muscles?" Catherine asked, staring at Sara questioningly.

Sara shrugged, "Not really. I mean, I got sick the other day, but it was just stress I think. My back and legs are all cramped up though… probably from my run. Why?"

When Sara turned to look at Catherine, she was wearing a cheesy grin. Sara felt her heart drop to the pit of her stomach. Her eyes widen and she thought she might throw up then and there.

She shook her head, "No. No, it's not possible."

"Anything's possible, Sara," Catherine told her, "You of all people should know that.

Sara collapsed into her chair again, staring straight ahead, not daring to meet the other woman's eyes. How could I have been so stupid? She thought, How could I have overlooked… Pregnant. I could be pregnant.

"Oh hell…" Sara groaned.

Catherine laughed, patting her on the back gently, "Never thought it would happen to you, did you? No one does really, not unless they're trying or something. You have to tell him."

Sara's head snapped up then and Catherine smirked, "Please. Don't look at me like that, Sara. I'm a trained investigator, trained by the best I'll remind you. He had to know I would figure it out sooner or later. I just knew better than to say anything."

"He's going to flip out when he hears this…"

"Who's going to flip out when they hear what?" Grissom's voice said from the doorway.

All color drained from her face and Catherine almost laughed again.

"Nicky, he's going to freak out when I tell him I have a decomp for him tonight," she said instead, feeling the need to cover for Sara, "After the last one he and Sara worked, he vowed never to touch another one. But Warrick and I are working a case from last night and he's the only one available to help you guys out. Not going to be happy, that one."

Grissom rolled his eyes and smiled a little.

"He's a big boy, Catherine. He'll get over it," Grissom told her, moving around her to the coffee pot. "Besides, I could always have Nick work with me and give the decomp to Greg and Sara."

Sara's jaw dropped and Catherine laughed. She patted Grissom on the back, much as she had just done to Sara, and said on her way out, "Ah, but you won't. I know you better than that."

And then she was gone. Leaving Grissom and Sara alone in the break room.

"Griss, we need to talk."

He paused in the middle of pouring his cup of coffee, turning toward her slightly.

"My office?" he asked, seeing the worry in her eyes.

"Yeah, if it's ok?"

Grissom nodded, putting the coffee pot back in place before leading her out of the room and down the hall.

The door to his office closed behind them and Sara sat down in her regular chair opposite his desk. He moved around her but didn't sit at his desk. Instead, he stood across from her chair, leaning against his desk, arms crossed over his chest.

"Are you all right?" he asked, "You look a little… I don't know, nervous."

Sara smiled weakly, dropping her eyes to her hands. "Nervous is definitely the right word. I'm just going to say it, because I think dancing around it isn't going to help any… I think I'm pregnant, Gil."

He didn't say anything at first. They sat in total silence, staring each other down. When he smiled at her, Sara's heart nearly exploded. He knelt down in front of her, spreading her legs with his chest and slipping his arms around her waist and resting his ear against her abdomen. Her hands slipped into his curls, holding him in place as her tears began sliding down her cheeks.

"I take it that you're okay with this?" she asked, her voice hoarse again.

Placing a tender kiss to her covered and completely flat stomach, Grissom pulled back to look up into her eyes. He reached up, cupping her face in both of his hands.

"Do you really think that I would turn you and our child away?" he asked gently, "I love you, Sara. So much that I will never let you go."

She cried a little harder then and he pulled her down into his arms.

The knock on the door startled them both and as they turned, Catherine entered with Nick and Warrick right behind her.

"Oh…"

Sara smiled, shaking her head, "Come in here and close the door… I think we have something to tell you."