EPILOGUE – Part 4 of 5

April 23rd 10 a.m.

Standing at the kitchen island, Sara hummed a happy tune while chopping fruit for brunch.

"Are you sure you don't want me to help?" Grissom asked as he watched her work.

"It's fruit." She rolled her eyes. "How can I mess it up?"

"Well…" He didn't have the heart to tell her that kiwis were supposed to be sliced, not cubed.

"And remember, no one can know I'm doing the cooking."

"I know." He backed away smiling at the fact she called chopping fruit , putting muffins in a basket and baking pre-made frozen quiches cooking.

"You know tricking them is the only way I'll ever get them to eat something I make. Ever since the burrito incident they barely trust me to get take out."

In January, motivated by some inexplicable domestic pang, Sara decided to cook something from scratch. After perusing the Internet for the perfect vegetarian recipe, she chose to make bean and cheese burritos. That same night, she cheerily carried the burritos into the break room for the team to enjoy.

"Hey, these look great, Sara." Nick grabbed the first one. "You swear Grissom didn't help you?"

"No." She beamed. "I followed the recipe and made them myself."

"I had absolutely nothing to do with this little domestic adventure." Grissom pulled a burrito off the pile. "I haven't even tasted one."

After watching Nick and Grissom survive the first few bites, Catherine, Warrick, Greg and Brass took the plunge.

An hour later, Grissom was calling in the swing shift to cover for them while they all went home with acute food poisoning.

Having the foresight to collect some of his spew, Grissom later determined the guilty party to be contaminated cheese, not Sara. However, the damage was done. Even though he cleared her name, everyone still subconsciously associated Sara's cooking with intense stomach cramps and projectile vomiting.

"I promise I won't tell them you cooked." In silence he watched. Still blissful from last night, he couldn't get enough of her and with each passing moment he felt the bond stronger

Their vows, although only a 'marriage of true minds' had brought their spiritual union to a new level and the lack of legality, not only didn't bother them, they took comfort in it. Being the children of disastrous marriages, they hoped choosing a different path to long-term commitment would help achieve a different end result. They knew a church wedding hadn't helped Grissom's parents keep their vows and a legal document obtained at City Hall hadn't prevented Sara's parents from destroying each other. So maybe, a heartfelt promise made when society wasn't watching would somehow be stronger.

Without looking at him Sara said, "I know you're staring at me."

"You're right." Stepping behind her he slipped his arms around her waist. "I can't take my eyes off of you."

"Those aren't your eyes on me."

"We're supposed to have our hands on each other at all times." He kissed the nape of her neck. "It's our honeymoon remember, at least until we can find time to sneak off and have a real one."

Sighing she set down the knife. "The team is about to crash our honeymoon."

"Your idea. Not mine." Sweeping her hair off her neck he continued kissing her.

Enjoying the affection she closed her eyes. "I didn't know you were going to give me a ring and rock my world when I invited them." Everything about last night still had her buzzing…the secret plan to present the ring…the heartfelt vows they exchanged…the sensuous love they made.

"So now instead of spending our honeymoon alone, we're spending it with Catherine, Warrick, Nick, Brass and Greg."

Rolling her eyes, she said, "Just how I always imagined it."

"You imagined it?" That got him to stop kissing her neck.

"I imagined a lot of things over the years." Turning she put her arms around his neck. "Unfortunately nothing has lived up to my imagination."

"Really?" His eyebrows stayed raised

"Everything has exceeded my wildest dreams."

"Very sappy."

"Well it's my honeymoon too and if you're entitled to stare I'm entitled to get sappy."

"Men are visual creatures."

"And women like to hear themselves talk."

"There are a few things men and women mutually appreciate."

Their faces gravitated toward each other.

"Oh really." Grazing her lips over his she purred. "Like what?"

"Like this for example."

Five minutes later, the moment was broken by the ding of the oven timer signaling completion of the pre-heat phase.

Grissom, a little pre-heated himself, reluctantly released Sara from his arms. "Domestic bliss thwarted by domesticity."

After shutting the timer off, Sara glanced down at herself. "Speaking of domestic. I've only had a ring on my finger for twelve hours and I've got an apron around my neck while I'm standing in the kitchen barefoot."

"Before you know it, you'll be pregnant."

The role of domesticated wife was almost impossible for her to grasp but the image he just described sent her into full blown panic. "What did you just say?"

The shock consuming her face made him quickly clarify his statement. "Sara, it was part of the expression. I was completing the thought. I didn't mean…"

"Of course you didn't." A sunny smile popped back on her face and she busied herself unwrapping the quiches and humming.

Perplexed by the awkward feeling suddenly occupying their kitchen he tried to figure out what happened.

When minutes passed without a word and the silence in the kitchen was getting thicker than the cream Sara was pulling out from the fridge, he knew something was going on inside her head. It had been quite a while since they had one of these awkward mutual communication freezes and it reminded him of old times. But unlike old times, he knew how to get the ball rolling. "Honey…"

"Yes?" She answered sweetly while putting the cream on the counter.

"Do we need to talk about…"

"Do we?"

"I'm thinking we do or we would already be talking about something else."

"Okay go ahead."

For a minute nothing came out his mouth until finally a nervous chuckle tumbled forth. "This is ridiculous. We know what we're not talking about. Why can't I talk about it? Why can't you talk about this?"

With a twinge of vulnerability in her voice she began talking as she paced the room. "Maybe I can't talk about it because I just realized we've never talked about it when we should have talked about it. I mean we did talk about it but only in terms of prevention and that was what? A barely articulate ten second conversation six months ago…"

The discussion of glass fractures behind them, Grissom and Sara, on the way to her bedroom, suddenly realized they had a new topic to discuss.

"Sara, what about…"

"I'm covered. But there's the issue of…"

"We're always testing our blood at the lab so…"

"We'd know if there was something to worry about." Shyly she admitted, "Besides it's been so long…"

"For me too."

"Then there's nothing to worry about."

"No."

"Good."

"Good."

Wiping her hands on a dishrag, Sara rambled on. "Now you went and brought up the subject in a different context and it's out there and I don't know how I feel about it because I never thought about it until now. I mean in my lifetime I thought about it conceptually but that is very different from hearing those words come out of your mouth, especially after last night when we…now I…I'm suddenly thinking about something I never thought about before. And I don't know how I feel about it at all." After catching her breath she probed further. "You said you were completing an expression…an automated response to a joke. That's all right? Like if I said, we go together like peas and…"

"Carrots." Crossing the room he took her hand. "I swear that's all it was."

"So you've never seriously considered…"

"No. I haven't." After a moment of staring into her eyes he said, "But now...after hearing you talk about it, I'm suddenly thinking about it."

"See! That's my point!" Shaking her head she started laughing. "This is why I shouldn't cook."

Taking her in his arms he smiled. "Not without wearing shoes anyway."

"So what does this mean? This thinking about something neither of us thought we'd ever think about."

Tenderly he explained, "I think it means we're off balance today because of last night. Those were powerful emotions we experienced. We've been tucked away in the house enjoying a fantasy while forgetting our reality."

Sara grinned. "Then we should be cured as soon as the team gets here and snaps us back to abnormality."

"I think we can count on it."

After parking their cars, Brass, Catherine, Warrick, Nick and Greg congregated on the front walk leading up to Grissom and Sara's house.

Greg was the first to make an observation. "Grissom and Sara's house is huge. No wonder I'm making crap as a CSI 1, the county is paying Grissom a fortune."

Brass made the next observation. "We need to come up with another name for this domicile because 'Grissom and Sara's house' is a mouthful."

"The red hot brick house of burning love?" Greg replied.

"Yeah that's a lot easier," Nick rolled his eyes.

"Maybe an acronym?" Catherine suggested.

Warrick gave his thoughts on the matter. "Maybe we won't be able to come up with the right name until we see them in the house and get a feel for the place. Then it will just come to us."

Nodding, they all agreed with him.

"Okay." Catherine stepped in front of the group. "When they open the door, please remember I'm doing the talking. Because Grissom is going to flip out when he sees us." That said, she turned around, walked to the door and rang the bell.

A minute later, Grissom opened the front door and his jaw dropped. "What the hell happened to you?" In his doorway he saw Catherine with her arm in a sling and a contusion on her forehead, Greg's arms and face covered in lacerations, Nick's upper arm thickly bandaged, Warrick's hand wrapped and Brass smiling holding a large gift bag..

Catherine energetically said, "Morning boss. I hope you have a lot of food because we just finished shift and we're starving."

"Catherine!" Grissom grimaced. "Isn't there something you want to explain?"

"Oh! You mean about why we…?"

"Yes, that."

"Let us in and I'll tell you all about it. It's nothing really."

When Catherine heard the squeal of car tires she turned from the store window to see what was going on. "Don't tell me it's going to be one of those ni…"

"Catherine!" Greg screamed when he saw her hit the ground.

"TAKE COVER!" An unidentified voice shouted.

Realizing they were completely unprotected from the crossfire, Greg blanketed Catherine's body with his while frantically checking for her pulse.

Although it seemed like hours, a minute later the chaos ended.

"Catherine…" Greg searched her body for blood.

From across the parking lot, Nick and Warrick came running. "Are you okay?"

When Warrick saw Catherine's lifelessly body he rushed to her side. "I need an EMT NOW!"

"She's got a pulse… and she's breathing!" Greg relayed while trying not to hyperventilate. "One minute she was talking…the next she hit the ground. There was no where… to take cover so I covered her…I…I don't see any blood."

Nick, too distraught to notice his arm was dripping with blood, knelt across from Warrick and began inspecting Catherine for bullet wounds.

Gently Warrick smoothed her hair with his one uninjured hand. "Come on, baby. What's going on?" She wasn't responding. "Where the hell is the EMT?!"

"On their way!" A voice echoed in the darkness. "We didn't have any on the scene."

"I found something." Nick pointed to a perforation in the upper right quadrant of Catherine's bullet proof vest.

Warrick unzipped the vest and in one horrifyingly breathless moment yanked it open to see if the shot had gone through.

Nick, sensing that Warrick, needed a second opinion, confirmed, "It didn't go through. I bet it knocked the wind knocked out of her. She's going to be fine."

Nick's words finally allowed Warrick to breathe again.

Greg, the trauma catching up with him, went weak in the knees. "I think I need to…"

Nick caught him right as he fell. "I got ya buddy."

A second later, Catherine's eyelids fluttered.

"She's coming to!" Warrick announced as he lightly tapped on her cheeks. "You're okay, baby. Open your eyes."

"Wh…" Bringing her hand to her head she moaned. "What…"

"We had gunfire at the scene and you took a slug in the vest."

The first thing she saw when her eyes opened was the emotion in Warrick's. "If I wasn't wearing the vest?"

He choked out his reply. "We wouldn't be having this conversation."

"So there you have it." Catherine eased back into Warrick's arms on the leather couch.

Nick, sitting next to Catherine said, "If she wasn't wearing that vest..."

"Let's not go there, man." Warrick held her tighter.

Greg, sitting on the arm of the couch nodded his head.

Brass, across from the couch in an arm chair, sighed. "It's a good story for Vegas. Thirty seconds of spray from a modified AK47 capable of ninety rounds per minute. Fifteen cops and CSIs working the scene and we didn't lose anyone. Nine minor injuries and two cops in serious but stable condition. The odds were against us and we beat them."

Nick grumbled, "The two guys in the car…extremist nut jobs…had a grudge against LVPD for busting up one of their hate-rallies on a permit violation. Had nothing to do with the crime scene, it was a random act and we happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Those guys were just sitting at home listening to their police scanner waiting for the right opportunity to exact some revenge."

Grissom sat on the edge of an overstuffed leather chair processing the information. Sara, looking white as a sheet, was perched on the chair's arm.

Noting the emotion on their faces, Catherine assured them. "We were all fine that's why I didn't call you on your night off. They're over dramatizing the whole thing." She knew they felt guilty for not being there when the team faced such a challenge but she also sensed they were frightened of what might have happened if they had been there. With two more on the scene would the odds Brass spoke of have been thrown off balance and a different, more tragic outcome have occurred?

For the first time ever, Catherine saw Sara comfort Grissom in front of the group. Gently she placed her hand on his back while saying, "I'm…I'm really glad that everyone is okay."

Desperate to cut the tension in the room, Catherine quipped, "It was nothing more than a chance for Sanders to finally jump on top of me."

The group eased into a nervous laugh.

"Too bad I was too terrified to enjoy it." Greg joked back.

Warrick cracked, "Actually if you had been enjoying it, you would have had a reason to be terrified when I showed up."

Brass kept the ball rolling. "So Greg hit the ground twice? Once as a hero and once as a wilting flower. Good thing you keep an extra pair of skivvies in your locker, huh Greg?"

The laughter grew.

Relieved that the conversation was moving away from the morose, Catherine grinned. "Oh…I almost forgot. We didn't tell you the best part of the story. Nicky got his first good night kiss in six months."

Sitting on the bumper of an ambulance, Nick and Greg were getting cleaned up by a couple of the EMTs on the scene.

EMT Carlson informed Nick. "The bullet just grazed you but you'll still need to get a tetanus shot and they'll put you on a round of antibiotics to be safe."

"I can handle that." Nick exhaled sharply. "How you doing over there, Greggo? You're not gonna pass out on me again, are you?"

"I wasn't scared." Greg replied while still shaking.

"Good for you hotshot because I was!" Nick cracked a smile. "It's okay to be freaked out when you come that close to biting it. Don't be so hard on yourself."

From behind, Nick heard a woman call his name.

Out of breath, Carrie hurried over to the ambulance. "I was packing and watching TV when they cut in with the breaking news. They said several crime scene investigators were injured and I knew you were working so…" She glanced at the bandage the EMT was wrapping around Nick's arm. "Are you okay?"

Thrilled to see her he blurted, "I am now."

The EMT finished his wrap. "You're all done, Stokes." As he stepped away, the EMT winked at Carrie. "Not to worry, it's a flesh wound and it hit his arm not the family jewels so he's good to go."

"Yeah, thanks for the update, pal!" Nick yelled after the EMT. "That was an overshare."

Once she knew it wasn't serious, Carried stepped closer and teased, "Nick, you'll do anything to get my attention, won't you?" Leaning over she sweetly kissed his cheek. "I'm glad you're okay."

Smiling brightly, Sara said, "So is she moving to Vegas?"

"Yep." Nick beamed. "I think you'll really like her, Sara. I could see the two of you becoming good friends."

"If she likes you, I'm sure I'll like her."

The conversation rising beyond Brass's preferred glucose level, he had to end it. "Nick, this lovesick puppy routine doesn't suit you and it's killing me so why don't you do everyone a favor and take this girl over to 3rd street, grab a license, head to the Chapel of I Can't Wait to Lose My Freedom and get it over with already. I'll have a squad car swing round and give you a ball and chain. And don't worry, we'll still chip in for a wedding gift."

After a nice round of laughter at Nick's expense, Catherine decided it was time to switch targets. "Speaking of gifts." She motioned for Greg to grab the gift bag they brought for Sara and Grissom. "We have something for the two of you."

Glancing up at Sara, Grissom sarcastically said, "I'm sure it's nothing embarrassing."

"Trust me…we tried to go that route," Warrick informed them. "Cath wouldn't let us. She had something already planned."

"And yet that knowledge brings me no relief." Grissom prepared for the discomfort that would surely follow. "You open it, Sara."

After pulling out the green tissue paper, Sara reached in and pulled out an Ant Farm kit.

Grinning, Catherine explained, "I figured now that you were comfortably domestic and committed, the next natural step would be starting a family together."

After an awkward silence, a sunny smile popped up on Sara's face. "Thanks guys."

Knowing Sara had been transported back to the uncomfortable topic they thought they had stopped thinking about, Grissom took the box. "A deluxe kit. Very nice."

Happy the focus was off him, Nick joked, "You won't have to worry about them being lazy."

"And I read on the box that they're vegetarians." Greg enthusiastically said, "So Sara you'll be able to feed them."

Catherine shot him a dagger. "Is that some kind of sexist remark? She's the woman so she has to feed the kids? Why can't she be the breadwinner and Grissom stays home and feeds the kids? Don't tell me you're one of those guys who thinks women should be in the kitchen barefoot and…

"Brunch is ready!" Sara announced as she hopped off the arm of the chair. "I made it myself."

The announcement caught everyone's ear and sent a wave of fear through their intestinal tracts.

Brass groaned, "I don't know, Sara. These guys already escaped grievous bodily harm once today. Do we really want to tempt fate and have them eat your cooking?"

Nick was the first to stand up. "What the hell. I'm feeling lucky!"

"Thank you, Nick." Grissom stood beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. "I guess we know who is getting the highest marks come evaluation day."

Pleased with his choice, Nick went to find Sara in the kitchen.

Greg quickly followed with Catherine and Warrick reluctantly joining him.

Alone in the living room with Grissom, Brass took the opportunity to remind him of his task. "When are you going to…"

"After brunch I'll figure it out."

"Now I know why you let Sara cook." He patted his friend on the back. "You're hoping we'll all end up sick and you'll get a reprieve."