Epilogue

Sara stood in the cereal aisle of the local supermarket, scanning the shelves for Gil's favorite box. He had, at some point in the last three years, become very picky about his choice of breakfast foods. Before, when whichever cereal she was eating was good enough for him, shopping wasn't so much of a chore. Now, he had to have Honey Nut Cheerios every single morning just because he liked to watch Livia steal the dry ones from his bowl. Not that he didn't instigate this. He would pull her high chair as close to him at the table as he could, making sure his bowl was within her reach, and then he would eat slowly, watching her out of the corner of his eye. She would stare at him, sucking softly on her little two year old thumb, until he could see the tears starting in her eyes. Then, he'd push the bowl closer, and she would dig in, making a complete mess of the milk and cereal in his bowl and almost every morning that they played this game, Sara would come home to find Livia in her high chair, grinning from ear to ear, and Gil's bowl upside down on the table.

Smiling to herself, Sara put two boxes of the stuff in her shopping cart before moving on to collect her own cereal. She was pretty quick about her weekly ritual even though it was one of the only times she really had to herself. Between work and taking care of her family, she didn't get much alone time, but she loved being at home and every unnecessary minute she spent away from them wasn't worth it.

"That'll be a one twenty three, seventy two, ma'am."

Sara handed the cashier her credit card.

"Can I see your driver's license with this card, Mrs. Grissom?" the young man asked.

Sara smiled at him. She was in here every week like clock work and had been shopping here for the better part of three years. The cashier, Justin, knew both her and Gil by name and they knew him as well, he lived a few doors down from them. But Sara didn't mind his request, he was doing his job. She dug the card out of her purse and handed it to him.

"So… you're a Grissom now?"

The familiarity of the voice behind her caused Sara's skin to crawl. She turned.

"Mom…"

"Surprised to see me?" Laura Sidle asked.

She looked old to Sara, so much more than she had the last time they'd met. She was wearing a nice blue jean skirt and a sleeveless sweater, smiling a sickly sweet smile.

"That's the funny thing… I'm really not. I knew that I hadn't seen the last of you, even though I wish that I had," Sara said cooly, "And yes, I'm married. To a wonderful man, the father of my children."

Sara's hand unconsciously ran over her stomach, rounded with seven months of pregnancy.

"Good to know you got past that social ineptness you had your whole life," her mother said.

Sara snorted, "How the hell would you know anything about my life? You were never really a part of it."

The two women stood staring at each other. Sara, completely still, couldn't seem to move. She was furious that this woman had the nerve to approach her, especially in a public place.

"Mrs. Grissom," Justin said from behind her, "Is everything all right?"

That snapped her out of her trance and she turned back to the boy, "Yeah, fine."

He handed her credit card back to her along with her driver's license and Sara stuffed them into her purse. She signed the receipt and headed quickly out of the store to her car, not turning around to see if her mother had followed her out.

She loaded the bags into her trunk, slamming it shut with a little more force than necessary, and moved to get into the driver's seat.

"I hope you're as good a mother as I was," her mother's voice caught her off guard again and she knew broke down.

"You know what, go to hell," Sara snapped, adding as an afterthought, "And if you ever come near either of my children, I will hunt you down and kill you myself."

When she parked the car in the drive way of their home, Sara's knuckles were white where they clutched the steering wheel. Her heart was racing and she felt the bile rising slowly in her throat. Abandoning the groceries completely, she headed straight for the front door.

"Sara, honey, is that you?" Gil called.

She wasn't sure where he was, but she moved in the direction of his voice.

"Gil?" she called, wondering if that was really her voice that had come out.

And then she heard him moving toward her quickly, Olivia in his arms, wrapped in a towel and still dripping wet. They met in the hall and Sara pulled her daughter from into her shaking arms. Gil could see she'd been crying as she buried her nose in their daughter's brown curls. The little girl's arms slipped around her mother's neck and Grissom pulled them both into an embrace, pinning Olivia between them.

"Sweetheart," he whispered near her ear, "What happened? What's wrong?"

A sob broke from Sara's throat and Grissom squeezed her tighter.

"My m-mother," she muttered a little breathlessly, "At the supermarket."

Grissom pulled away from her then, leading her down the hall to her daughter's bedroom. Sara relinquished her hold on Olivia as she sat in the rocking chair beside her crib. She watched as Gil dressed the toddler in a yellow T-shirt and a pair of pink denim overalls with a large yellow butterfly on the front, it was his favorite outfit for their daughter. He put the child in her crib and pulled Sara to a standing position for a minute while he settled into the rocking chair. She sat carefully in his lap and rocked with him slowly.

"Honey, I know that you may not want to go through with this, but I think a restraining order is a good idea," he suggested, his hand making slow circles low on her stomach and earning him a soft kick from his child. "It may be best for you and this one."

Sara nodded, "I'm definitely going to agree with you on that one… but I don't want her anywhere near you or Liv either."

"Jim will take care of it, sweetheart," Grissom told her, "Nothing is going to happen to us."

Two days later, nearing the end of shift, Sara sat in her office finishing up some of the loose ends on her paperwork. She glanced up at the knock on her door to be greeted by a frowning Jim Brass.

"Hey, Jim, what's up?" she asked, feeling her stomach knot a little at the worried look on his face.

He moved into the office and sat down across from Sara, "Call just came in. Car accident out on I-19."

Sara's eyes widen but Brass shook his head, "Not Gil, shit, Sara, I'm sorry… I shouldn't have- it's not Gil and Liv."

She blinked a few times, holding back tears, "Who then?"

He looked down at the file in his hands, "Name on the license is a Laura Sidle. Blood-alcohol level was twice the legal limit. She didn't make it to the hospital, honey. I'm sorry."

Sara didn't say anything for a moment as she scanned the file that Brass handed her.

"She's dead…"

Brass nodded, watching Sara's emotions play across her face. Her left hand rested across her stomach and her right one clutched the pen she'd been using. She didn't seem upset or saddened by the news of her mother's death, she seemed relieved.

"Are you going to be all right, Sara?" Jim asked.

Sara nodded wordlessly. She couldn't think of anything to say.

"I'll call Gil, have him and 'Livia come pick you up," he told her, already dialing Grissom's number on his cell phone.

"Gil, its Jim. I think you should come to the lab and collect your wife," he said, "No, no. She and the baby are fine. I'll let Sara explain it to you. Yeah, yeah. Just hurry."

Grissom arrived at the lab less than twenty minutes after Jim had called, indicating that he had broken more than one traffic law on his way. He made the familiar trek to his old office where his wife, the new night shift supervisor of the Las Vegas crime lab, would be waiting for him. He clung to his sleeping daughter, trying not to wake her as he searched for her mother. He found Sara and Jim both waiting in the darkened office.

"Sara?" his voice was shaking.

"Gil," Brass said, standing. He held out his arms, "Let me take her. You need to be with your wife for a while."

Grissom carefully handed the sleeping Olivia to her godfather and waited until they were out of the room before closing the door and moving to Sara's side.

"Honey, what is it? What's going on?" he asked, concern evident in his voice.

Sara shook her head slowly, "It can't be this simple… it just can't be."

"Sara? Tell me what's happening," he said forcefully, his hands on her shoulders. Her broken and distant tone was making him nervous.

"My mother… she was in a car accident. She's dead, Gil. It's over."

Grissom pulled Sara up and into his arms, holding her to him. He kissed her temple as her tears began. Her body shook as she sobbed against him but he simply held her protectively in his arms. It was over. Their nightmare, her pain, it was over. Her mother would never bother them again.

Lillian Katherine Grissom was born two weeks to the day of Laura Sidle's death. Surprising her parents, she arrived more than a month early.

Sara and Greg were working the scene of a breaking and entering on the outskirts of town when the first contraction hit. Her kit went clattering to the ground and Sara used one hand to brace herself against the wall.

"Sara? Are you okay?" Greg asked, moving with caution toward her.

"Probably just a false alarm," Sara said through gritted teeth.

Greg watched her jaw clench, "You want me to call Grissom?"

As her contraction subsided, Sara shook her head slowly. She pushed off the wall as Greg knelt down to gather her kit for her.

"No, I'll be all right."

Less than twenty minutes later, Sara's words had come back to haunt her. Greg had herded her into his Denali and he was now driving rapidly down I-19 towards the bright lights of the city. Every few minutes, he would hear Sara bite back a scream and his hands would tighten on the steering wheel. He glanced at her through the rear view mirror, thanking God that she'd willingly climbed into the backseat. If she had been sitting beside him, she probably would've killed him by now.

"Hold on, Sar, we'll be there soon," Greg said in a somewhat panicked voice, "And Griss and Liv are meeting us there."

Sara just nodded roughly.

Forty minutes later, after much screaming and pushing on Sara's end, Lillian arrived in her father's arms.

"She's beautiful," Sara said, unable to stop the tears. The birth of their first child had gone much the same way, a quick, painful delivery for Sara and a miracle for Gil.

Gil kissed her forehead, holding tightly to the little pink bundle that was his new daughter. He was about to say something to Sara but was cut off but the sound of his older daughter's laughter.

Olivia burst into the room, followed shortly by Catherine and Greg who had been sitting with her in the waiting room. She scrambled to climb onto her father's lap and peer down into the big brown eyes of her new baby sister.

"Daddy?"

Olivia looked up at him with questioning eyes and he smiled at her, "Olivia, this is Lillian, your little sister. Lillian-" he said to the newborn "-This is your big sister, Olivia."

"Hi, Lil'an," Olivia said, taking her sister's tiny hand gently in her own.

Gil looked from his two little girls to their beautiful mother, lying exhausted in the hospital bed. He mouthed the words I love you to her and she closed her eyes, smiling.