A/N: Hey, I've got a quote for Grissom! "I had an ant farm. Them fellas didn't grow shit." –Mitch Hedberg

Chapter 11

"Well?"

"She told her dad everything. Because he found out, he knows what will happen and can avoid it. And there's no way to make him forget."

"So she can't go back, ever?"

"Ever." Michelle confirmed.

"Hey." Grissom sat by Sara's bed, putting a cool compress to her forehead. "You look terrible."

"Really?" Sara shot back sarcastically. "Because I feel like a million bucks."

Grissom let out a short laugh and brushed his hand against Sara's cheek again. "You should drink more water."

"Probably." Sara agreed.

"I don't think this is just morning sickness."

"Probably not."

"Sara, I have something to ask you. You'll probably say no, but I have to ask because –"

"Grissom." Sara smiled patiently. "Just spit it out."

"Move in with me." He blurted. "Let me help you with two am bouts of morning sickness and cravings for pickles and chocolate syrup. That's our daughter in there and I want to be the best father I can."

Sara was nearly speechless. "Are you serious?"

"I…if you want, I'll make any changes you say so."

"You are serious. Yes, of course." Sara tried to sit up and promptly fell back. "Oh, that hurt. But yes."

"I would hug you, but…"

"You generally try to hide your emotions?"

"I was going to say you're sick as a dog and we don't both need to be ill."

"Of course you were."

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"This has been a strange week." Nick handed Warrick a beer from his fridge. "First Sara quits, then Grissom goes on an unexpected vacation. Has he actually ever taken a vacation before?"

"I don't think so. Not of his own volition, anyway."

"I hope Sara's okay." Nick sifted through his mail. "Bill, bill, bill, bill, letter from Sara." He threw aside the bills and tore Sara's letter open.

"Is that an ultrasound photo?" Warrick asked interestedly.

Nick picked up the letter and began to read aloud. "Nick, I'm out in San Francisco (sort of). I'm perfectly fine. The picture is of my baby girl on the way. Love, Sara." He wrinkled his nose. "Thanks for the long letter, Sar."

"Nicky, ultrasound photo. Focus, please."

"Right." Nick glanced at the picture. "Hey, does that say Baby Grissom?"

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Grissom snuggled closer to Sara. After a few minutes, he gave up trying to go back to sleep and opened his eyes to study Sara. Even though her sleep wasn't peaceful, she seemed to have relaxed some. Grissom thought about their future. They couldn't live in his townhouse forever. It's not big enough to raise a child in.

Lily. Our daughter. And for the first time, Grissom realized that he was really going to be a father. He brushed back Sara's hair. She was going to be a terrific mother. Despite equally horrifying childhoods, Grissom was confident that both he and Sara would be good parents.

Grissom found it interesting that he naturally assumed that he and Sara would end up together. Oh, he knew that Lily had told them they would end up married, but like a good suspense movie, Grissom wasn't sure of anything.

Though he did plan to ask. Someday soon, he was going to ask Sara to marry him. How could he ignore the perfection of her body nestled against his? What might life have been like if he hadn't waited five years to act on his feelings? He'd had no less that a thousand opportunities to say something.

"Grissom?" Sara rolled over and yawned.

"Shh, honey. Go back to sleep."

"No, I gotta get up anyway." Sara yawned again then slipped out of bed. "Grissom, what does this mean for us?"

"What does what mean for us?"

"Me moving in."

Apparently it was a morning for firsts. For the first time, Grissom threw caution to the wind and told Sara what he was really thinking. "It means that you move in. I take you out to dinner and bring you flowers, just like I should. Then, after a while, when we're both ready, I'll ask you to marry me."

Sara stopped fixing the coffee.

"Hey, you should be drinking coffee anyway. Caffeine's bad for the baby." He admonished.

"It's decaf."

"Sara, all I'm saying is that I love you. I know we're meant to be together. We can be happy together." He stood behind her, hands on her waist. "Believe me, if you weren't still sick, I'd take you back to bed and make love to you right now."

"I know we could be happy." Sara put her hands over Grissom's. "Why else would I put myself through this?"

"Oh honey, if I could take away all the pain I've caused –"

"Don't go there. What's done is done." She moved Grissom's hands to her stomach. "This is the future now."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Quite simply put, Catherine Willows didn't like Sara Sidle. Sure the two could play nice for show, but Catherine hadn't been broken up by Sara's resignation, and Sara hadn't expected her to.

Catherine was an alpha female, pure and simple. Before Sara, the men of the lab had lusted after her. Before Sara, she'd been the only woman in Gil Grissom's life.

Where Sara went, Grissom followed. Where Grissom went, Nick and Warrick followed. Where Nick and Warrick went, Greg was sure to trail after. And wherever Greg went, the lab techs went.

In short, Catherine, the alpha female, had no followers. She'd been cast aside.

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"So, if Lil can't go back, what happens?" Emily asked Michelle.

"I don't know." Michelle shrugged. "This sort of thing is rare enough in the first place. They don't generally have a set of rules for it."

"How're we going to tell her?"

"Tell who what?" Lily asked cheerfully, popping onto the couch next to Emily and Michelle.

'This isn't easy for us, Lil." Michelle started uneasily.

"What isn't easy for you?"

"You see, when you told your dad that you were his daughter in the future, it changed everything."

"You don't have a world to go back to anymore." Emily interrupted. "So you have to stay here."

"And do what?"

"Don't look at us like we know!" Michelle snapped. "We haven't the foggiest. Probably you'll have to stay here and Gil and Sara will just have to name the new daughter something else."

"But I'm her. I mean, she's me!"

"Well you damn well should have thought of that before you told your father who you were."

"I had to!"

"Guys!" Emily stepped between the two. "The point is that you need to explain to Gil and Sara what happened."

"I'll talk to them when they get back from San Francisco on Monday, fair enough?"

"Fair enough."

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"How are you feeling now?" Grissom handed Sara a glass of hot tea. "Any better?"

"Yeah. Lots." Sara sat up against the headboard. "Oh!"

"Oh what? Are you okay?" Grissom panicked.

"I'm fine. I just felt Lily kick."

"That's my baby girl." Grissom ran a hand over Sara's stomach in awe. "Sara, I don't want to wait. I think we should get married now."

A/N: Sorry to leave you hanging. I feel like I'm kind of losing my direction with this story, so I need to regroup and plan out the next couple of chapters. I know some people had mentioned that they wanted to see more of the other team. Hopefully, this we a welcome inclusion and it didn't distract from the story itself. Some people probably feel that the Cath that I've painted here isn't the same Cath we know, but I feel like in S5, the bitchy, self-centered, alpha female Cath returned, so I needed to put her in there like that. Remember, reviews and suggestions make chapters come faster!