Chapter 4 –

A/N – This chapter goes out to Nerwen; because she's been waiting for this part for ages. This is where the clichés start dropping all over the place.

I just saw the promo for "Stacking Dolls", so picture me squee-ing away happily to myself! Nothing motivates me to write quite like imminent GSR. :D

In the following weeks Sara was questioned innumerate times by Catherine as to when she would tell "Him". Sara really had no idea if the other CSI really knew who -and what- she was asking about, or was just pushing her for information. It could have been either and she still wasn't about to give her the satisfaction of getting any details from her, or of being right. It was a fact that she was happy to be keeping to herself for the time being.

At nearly four months along it was beginning to be a problem finding jeans that actually fitted, and tops that would hide the bump that seemed to grow daily. She had known that it would happen eventually, but now it was- obviously- visible, she was still more than a little shell shocked.

Sara let out a deep breath and studied her figure carefully. They were going to guess eventually and it was becoming more and more difficult to disguise. She didn't really want to resort to maternity clothes just yet but there was only so far her present ones would take her and baggy tops would hide. She ran her fingers slowly over her abdomen; it was something she still had to do to convince herself she wasn't imagining it, that she wouldn't wake up eventually to find it was just some bizarre dream.

She was surprised that no one at work had noticed yet and that the resident rumour mill in the lab hadn't picked it up and spread it like wildfire. Perhaps people did know, and it had just not been directed at her just yet. People were bound to speculate once the truth invariably came out; and Sara was not sure she was at all ready to face the questions or the rumours that would come to the surface. There were some things that she liked keeping well out of public knowledge, this was now one of those things. She still hadn't even told her parents- that choice alone was bound to cause her trouble in the long.

Fortunately things had been so incredibly busy around the lab lately that nobody there seemed to have time to notice anything much about her. That cutting back she was supposed to be doing was just not happening. Grissom would start to notice her overtime racking up eventually and would put a stop to it. She would have to do something before it came down to that.

Sara had only a moment to reflect on this before her pager began to bleep insistently. It was her first night off in over a week, and inwardly she groaned. Back to work. She couldn't really ignore it without good reason, and much as she knew she should warn Grissom from an administrative point of view, she couldn't quite force herself to bring up the subject.

Sara walked into the break room, sat down at the end of the glass table, and immediately buried herself into a book. She didn't even look up at the entrance of the rest of the team and eventually Grissom who called the attention of the room to hand out assignments.

"I have a male DB in a motel on the strip, for Nick and Catherine. Warrick; you have a robbery up in Summerlin." Warrick groaned, muttering something inaudible at his luck, and leaned further back into his chair. Grissom watched him for a moment before he continued. "Sara and I have a body in a tree, let's go." His new style of abrupt assignment handling was becoming almost normal; he seemed to be keeping himself at a distance from all of them, not just her.

There was something different about his in recent weeks; resigned, more antisocial- if that was possible. She didn't doubt that she was essentially the catalyst for this sudden change, and not in a good way. Catherine was going to call her on it sooner or later, she would have to think of something before then.

The group were about to set off in their separate directions when an audible gasp from Sara echoed around the quiet room. All gazes turned to her; a nervous grin forming on her face. Her hand rested gingerly on her stomach. The only person to whom this had any significance was Catherine, who gave her a knowing look and a restrained smile.

"Sorry, I uh… just realised I… forgot something" She smiled briefly once more and speedily left the room. Nick simply raised his eyebrows and decided he didn't want to know before following Catherine who had just meandered out into the corridor. Warrick and Grissom shared a look before also leaving the room.

It had kicked, actually kicked. Ok so not in the best of places, or situations; and her explanation had definitely been lacking in the creativity department. But that couldn't be helped. She had been so surprised by the bubble of movement that she hadn't really thought much about her surroundings. She was going to have to tell them allsooner or later, it's not like she would be able to hide things too much longer.

The Denali suddenly made a sharp left hand turn throwing her into the door to her right. They headed east down a tiny dirt track, leading towards a small group of stunted looking trees. The setting sun gave her enough light to make an odd, dark shape out in one, which Sara was assuming was their reason for being there. She leaned her head against the cool glass, and took a deep breath as she felt a slight movement in her stomach once more. She realised that it was definitely going to take time to get used to this; meanwhile she wasn't sure how she was supposed to concentrate on her work. Not a problem she often came across. At least she was not gasping out loud anymore- one thing to be thankful for.

The movement was what made it really real, of course she knew that it was real - but in these situations often it simply doesn't seem to sink in, until much later than you would expect. The Denali pulled to a stop and as they got out of the car they were greeted by Brass striding towards them. "Oh the pair of you are going to enjoy this one." he called and motioned towards the pair to go towards him. "Girl up a tree: no idea; who she is, how she got there, or who did it. An enigma of giant proportions for you two…. Well, have fun. I have get going- so it will just be you and Officer Price here. It's been a busy night for criminals in Las Vegas," Brass then waved vaguely over his shoulder and promptly left. As the dust settled Sara voiced the question they had both been thinking, but neither had wanted to mention just yet.

"How exactly are we supposed to get this body down then?" asked Sara looking slightly worried already. The officer didn't seem to be the hard stomached type and had gone to sit in the car so he was just near enough to help if anything happened but probably not going to be any help getting the body down. "Could Brass not have let us borrow a few of his people to help us?" She fidgeted apprehensively, folding her arms across her stomach and gripping her sides tightly. She was feeling vaguely unsettled about the situation as it was- this was not looking good.

"Well we are going to have to go up there I guess. The coroner won't be back for another hour or so to help remove the body so until then we have to go up there to do our collection." His matter of fact tone worried Sara. Why was he so calm about this?

Grissom turned to Sara, and looked expectantly at her, while she turned even paler than normal. Sara's mind raced through a million different scenarios, none of them good. Already she was getting visions of falling, of losing the baby. As much as she was scared of her situation early on, she was now terrified of the loss of something that she was yet to know.

She tried desperately to sound nonchalant, "I don't get paid enough to climb trees. I'm keeping both my feet firmly on solid ground, thanks all the same." She cringed silently knowing that an outburst would undoubtedly follow, but what else could she reasonably do? She knew that refusing him was not a good idea, relationship or not, he was still her boss, and held way too much power over her for her liking. It was just too dangerous for her to be climbing trees at the moment. It was at times like this she wished she had been honest and just told him weeks ago. It would have saved this awkward moment, but she theorised it would probably have created many more.

"You won't do it, Why not?" Grissom asked her with a disbelieving look, his voice growing low with the veiled anger building behind it. Sara looked up uncertainly at the tree, hugging herself tightly, almost as if the action itself could protect her.

"Do I need a reason? It's dangerous and I don't want to go up there. "Her quiet explanation was in complete contrast to the stony look engraved on her face, it was a last ditch attempt if nothing else. The pair each seemed to be attempting to stare the other down. It was definitely one of those 'if-looks-could-kill' situations. They were about as stubborn as each other, and something like this could go on forever before one or the other gave up.

Sara watched him stonily, her first thought was to tell him it was all, 'his fault', a statement which was not entirely true- and it seemed rather childish to say the least. She had after all played her part in getting herself into this situation. She would have liked to see the look on his face if she said that, but decided that would probably be a bad idea.

Finally Sara broke the silence with a quiet but firm voice, "Give me your hand". Grissom hesitated "You want my reason then just give me your hand". He extended his hand slowly palm up, only to have it grabbed by Sara and placed securely onto her swollen stomach where the baby had kicked just moments before.

Only a couple of seconds later it kicked once more under the firm pressure of his hand. Grissom's bewildered stare became one of understanding, and then finally shock. "That's why." She pulled away from him then, and swiftly strode back towards the waiting Denali leaving Grissom standing, alone, stock still in the dappled shade of the overhanging tree.

A/N - I shouldn't really leave you all there should I? I'm all with the speedy updates at the moment so I doubt you will be waiting too long.