Post-Butterflied

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to CSI..the end.

Chapter 31

About an half hour before the ceremony was set to start, Catherine, Mrs. Grissom, Sara and Lindsey were all dressed and ready. Catherine was checking everyone's makeup and fixing a lock of Sara's hair that fallen loose. There was a soft knock on the door and Lindsey ran to see that it was Nick.

"Mom, it's Nick, should I let him in?" she asked.

"Go ahead," Catherine smiled, "we're all dressed."

Lindsey stepped aside and allowed the man to enter. He spotted Sara and his jaw dropped because she looked so beautiful.

"Nick, hello," Sara spun around and smiled brightly at her friend.

"Sara, you, you look amazing," Nick moved across the room and kissed her cheek.

"Thanks," she blushed slightly.

"It's almost time," Catherine checked the wall clock.

"I'm going to go take a seat now," Grissom's mother announced.

"Bye," Sara hugged her before she left.

Lindsey also left the room, leaving Catherine, Nick and Sara alone.

"I'm gonna go join Warrick, I'll see you in a few minutes," Nick said.

"Okay," Catherine closed the door behind him, "are you ready?"

Sara took a deep breath, "Yes. I think I am. I just wanted to say thank you so much for everything you've done. If this was left up to me and Gil, we'd be a disaster at this point."

Catherine laughed, "I figured I've been through this before, and you're one of my best friends, so I wanted to help you out. No offense, but this sort of thing isn't exactly what you're good at."

"I know," Sara smiled, "which is exactly why you're here. You did an excellent job with my hair, makeup, the dress, everything. I'm glad I had you here to help me out."

"Hey, before we go, don't let yourself get too nervous. Just remember how much you love him and how you're going to be spending the rest of your life with him," Catherine told her.

"I'll remember that," Sara hugged her friend, "shall we go join the boys?"

"Yeah, you wouldn't want to be late for your own wedding," Catherine held the door open for her.

"I don't know, it might be fun to make Gil sweat a little bit," Sara chuckled.

"Wow, ladies you both look great," Warrick said as the two women joined them, waiting for the music that would signal the start of the ceremony.

"You're not looking too bad yourself," Catherine smiled and kissed Warrick.

Sara silently linked arms with Nick and readied herself for the walk down the aisle. The music began to play and Catherine headed down the aisle with Warrick at her side. She couldn't help but think about perhaps walking down the aisle again with him again soon. A smile crept across her face as she considered the possibility of someday marrying him. Lindsey loved him, she loved him, and she knew he loved them. She shook her head, trying to remind herself to focus on her friends' wedding.

Before she knew it, Sara was slowly walking down the aisle with Nick at her side. Her smile grew wider as she spotted Grissom waiting for her and clearly surprised at her appearance. She joined him at the end of the aisle and kissed Nick as a thank you for walking her down the aisle.

"You're absolutely beautiful," Grissom whispered to her.

The ceremony went quickly and smoothly. They all stood together for various pictures afterward and then Grissom and Sara got into the waiting limousine that was going to take them to the reception. Once they were seated and waved to everyone who would meet them there, they had a chance to finally talk.

"You really look amazing," Grissom kissed her again.


"Is it just me, or was that whole thing like a blur?" Sara asked sheepishly.

"No, my head was spinning the whole time, I don't even remember if I said everything correctly," he laughed.

"I guess we both did all right if we're here," she smiled.

"Yeah, we both have our rings and no one seemed to be pointing or laughing when we left," he said.

"Good, then I'd say it went well," Sara laughed.

"I guess if either of us did something stupid, we'll be hearing about it at the reception," Grissom said.

The limousine arrived at the hotel where the reception was to be held. Grissom and Sara checked in to the room they were going to stay at for the night. They found their room and changed into more comfortable clothes. Long before the wedding, they had decided that everyone should change out of their wedding clothing because the reception would be much more enjoyable if they weren't wearing their fancy clothes.

"I don't know about you, but it feels so good to be out of that dress," Sara said.

"I wasn't wearing a dress, so I wouldn't know," Grissom teased.

"Very funny," Sara rolled her eyes.

"I'm not really one for fancy clothes, I know what you mean," Grissom agreed.

"I think the hardest part of this for me is going to be calling you by your first name. I've called you Grissom for so long," she told him, flopping over the bed for a few minutes while he changed his shoes.

"You don't have to call me Gil, I'll know who you're talking to," Grissom took a seat next to her.

"I'm so tired. Today was really long. And the stupid thing is, it's supposed to be about our love for each other and we spent the majority of the day apart," she sighed.

"But weddings are also about your family," Grissom reminded her, "and we have the next couple days on our honeymoon to be together."

"You're right," Sara kissed him, "let's go downstairs and meet everyone."

The newlyweds headed down to their reception where their friends and family were waiting. Grissom and Sara sat at a table to eat while music began to play.

"Shall we dance?" Grissom asked.

Sara suppressed a laugh at his silly tone, "Yes, we shall."

They went to the dance floor and began to dance, surprisingly gracefully. No one would have really expected the pair to be very good dancers, but they danced around the floor smoothly. Catherine and Warrick soon joined them on the floor, followed shortly by Greg and Lindsey. Brass asked Grissom's mother to dance, leaving Nick sitting by himself.

As soon as Sara noticed Nick sitting alone, she asked Grissom if he'd mind if she went and danced with Nick. Grissom was actually glad to have chance to sit down, as he was not wild about dancing.

"Hey Nicky, you look lonely," Sara smiled, "come dance with me."

"I'd never turn down a dance offer from a pretty lady," Nick took the offered hand.

"A married lady, just remember that," Sara teased.

"I know," Nick smiled as they swept around the dance floor, "you're a great dancer Sara."

"You're not so bad yourself," she replied, "I just wanted to say thanks again for walking me down the aisle."

"No problem, I'd do almost anything for you," Nick told her, "I consider you to be a sister."

"I think of all of you guys as a family," Sara said, "more of a family than my real family ever was."

Nick furrowed his brow at that comment, but decided to let it slip. This was, after all supposed to be a very happy day. Warrick was now dancing with Lindsey and Catherine took a seat next to Grissom.

"Hey Gil, you look happy," Catherine said.

"I am," Grissom told her.

"I can honestly say when we were first working together, I would have never thought I'd be seeing you get married," Catherine told him.

"You know, I wouldn't have believed it either, but then this amazing, beautiful woman came into my life and changed that," Grissom watched as Sara laughed with Nick.

"Well, I'm glad that you're finally happy. Both of you are so perfect for each other too," Catherine said.

"I have the feeling you won't be alone much longer yourself," Grissom raised an eyebrow, "I know that look that you and Warrick exchange when you think you're alone."

"What are you a stalker?" Catherine joked, "I think you're right. I hope you're right, I know that Warrick could make both me and Lindsey happy. I've been worried ever since Eddie died that I was going to lose complete control over Lindsey and that I'd never find someone that both of us would be happy with."

"Warrick's a good man. He'll have a nice positive influence on Lindsey too," Grissom agreed.

"I guess Nick and Greg need to do some catching up then," Catherine said, "everyone else is pairing off."

"I don't think we have to worry about either of them," Grissom told her, "they'll end up dating lots and eventually finding the right women."

After everyone got tired of dancing, they sat down and had their share of wedding cake. By the end of the night, they had given the newlyweds their wedding presents and things were slowly winding down. Everyone finally decided to head home, leaving Grissom and Sara to their honeymoon. They went up to their hotel room and laid down on the soft hotel bed.

"I am so tired," Sara yawned.

"Me too," Grissom replied tiredly.

"It's been a long day," she said.

"But it's been a good day," he told her.

"Just think, tomorrow will be even better. We're past all that formal tradition and we can just be ourselves," she rolled onto her side to face him.

"Yeah," he admired her beautiful face.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing, you're just beautiful," he leaned forward and kissed her.

She smiled into the kiss and returned it passionately. They slowly undressed one another.

"I love you," Sara whispered huskily into his ear.

"I love you more than I've ever loved anyone," he said.

A/N: I've been really busy, I intended to post this last chapter a lot sooner. The end of the school year is a crazy time, so IF I end up doing a sequel to this story, don't expect if for the next month. I am seriously considering a sequel right now, I just don't have the time at the moment. Thank you everyone who has read this story and I really appreciate all of you have left the kind, encouraging reviews! You always make my day. Also, I didn't want to go into a whole lot of detail on the wedding ceremony itself because I haven't been to weddings in my life, and I thought the later character interactions were more important. I guess this could have been broken into two chapters because it's so long, but I thought I should just finish the story all at once.