A/N: If you saw the movie Wedding Crashers you may notice I borrowed some great lines from one scene in particular, but changed them a little. I just love that one scene and felt the lines would go great in that situation in particular. It's been a fantastic journey writing this and once more I would like to thank Unspoken for all her help and to LN for all her support. Another bow goes out to my beta Cybrokat who has helped more then she could imagine. Thanks to the readers for making this fic enjoyable to write!

Chapter 23

Nine Months Later

"Checkmate." Grissom announced proudly as he outsmarted Dr. Fieldstone once more.

"How do you always manage to beat me? You know I was once the chess champion in University." He picked up all the pieces and neatly placed them inside a box with great care.

"Yeah you say that every time I manage to foil you in a game of chess." Grissom laughed as he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. He could still see the faint image of the checkered board, it was if it had been burned into his retina.

"You've made wonderful progress Dr. Grissom. You know I could have released you a month ago but I chose not to." The doctor smiled at his patient's reaction.

"Why didn't you?" Grissom inquired.

"Well I just enjoyed playing you in chess so much I would hate to see you leave. But in all seriousness, I just wanted to make sure you were fully recovered. You now know that everything your father did cannot hinder the actions you commit today. You released all of your repressed memories through various hypnotherapy sessions and I feel that helped you a great deal. However, there is one thing that I could not fix nor could I even attempt to mend."

"Which is?" Grissom held his breath hoping that he didn't have to stay here the rest of his life.

"A broken heart. You truly love Sara and nothing I can do in the world could help you get her back. That you need to do yourself and you need to act fast because she's leaving." Fieldstone got off his seat and put the chess sat on a bookshelf.

"She's moving to San Francisco…I would have thought she would have left already." Grissom solemnly announced.

"I just heard it on the grapevine, she was offered a desk job. Weird isn't it? She's such a talented CSI and she chose to push papers." The therapist wondered aloud.

"She probably realized that her job was too dangerous and after her brushes with death she had decided to try a more conservative approach." Grissom furrowed his brow at the thought of Sara filing papers for the rest of her career, she was too talented to work in an office.

"Go to her before it's too late." Fieldstone motioned towards the door.

"Now? But you haven't even signed my release." Grissom protested.

"I did it an hour ago, now go before she leaves you permanently. Tell her the truth, that's all you can do. I'll have your belongings sent to your home later on tonight." Without another moment to lose Grissom ran towards the exit as fast as he could.

"Name please?" The guard asked in front of a computer monitor.

"Gil Grissom. Dr. Fieldstone ordered for my release an hour ago?" Grissom tried to catch his breath as he waited for the guard to pull up his file. Finally, he let Grissom through and buzzed open the door. The fresh air invaded his lungs as he continued to run down the street, he was only three blocks from Sara's apartment and he was too impatient to wait for a cab. As his journey brought him closer towards her, an elderly man looming over a grave in the cemetery across the street caught his eye. Grissom ran over to the cemetery somehow drawn to its presence. As he was a couple of feet away from the elderly man he quietly read the tombstone.

"Melanie O'Conner

1930-1983"

Grissom's heart lurched at the thought of losing Sara as he tried desperately to refocus and continue onward towards Sara's residence.

As he ran closer to her, his stomach filled with butterflies as he began to construct a speech for Sara.

"Since I first met you I knew we were meant to be together…" Grissom shook his head at the "lame" factor he appeared to be leaning towards.

"I'll just speak from my heart." Grissom thought as he was finally standing outside her apartment.

"Should I buzz her or call her?" He wondered. His question was answered as someone swung open the door as they exited the building.

"Neither I suppose." Grissom quickly grabbed the door and made his way in the building and into an empty elevator. The final beep brought him out of a nervous trance. As he exited the metal shaft, his heart skipped a beat when he realized he was a mere five feet away from her door.

"Just knock on the door and hope for the best, she hasn't seen you in almost nine months. The last time she saw you was when you killed her baby and beat her up. I don't think she will be immediately pleased to see your presence." Grissom's logic continued to make him more nervous. His hand slowly and hesitantly met with the wood as a couple of knocks echoed down the long hallway.

"One minute!" Sara called out. Assuming it was Nick, she swung the door wide open and was greeted with someone she believed to be dead in her mind. She tried to forget about him, to move on to happier things. Yet, there he was standing in her doorway looking more vulnerable then she had ever seen him in her whole entire life. She actually forgot what he looked like, she tried to block him out of her mind. Grissom never thought of looking at the rest of Sara, he was just focused on her face for the longest time. They both were only able to stare at each other, unable to break from the trance which always managed to captivate them. He felt himself grow faint as his eyes lurked further down her body to see her stomach protruding. The dizzy feeling seemed to take charge of his body, his mind was racing with questions as he was unable to stop staring at the life force which moved inside of her.

"Is it mine?" Grissom wondered as he stepped forward. Sara immediately took a protective step back in response.

"Grissom I can't have you here, I'm leaving to get away from you to start a new life. I don't want her being brought up with you around, I can't have her suffer like I did!" Sara cried as she held her stomach.

"I've changed Sara, it wasn't my fault you have to believe me. Please, the only reason why I got better was to find you and to try to win you back. Everything I did to you I think about everyday and try not to hate myself for what I did. Everything that I did to you was due to the repressed memories I kept inside of me since I was a child. Why do you think I was a ghost in high school? I was too afraid socialize, my mother told me I had anger problems. At the time it was minor, but as I grew older certain things triggered the memories." Grissom confessed.

"No Grissom I can't trust you, I promised myself to protect her." Sara continued to shield her stomach from Grissom.

"Please just tell me one thing and then I'll leave." Grissom pleaded.

"What?" Sara bitterly asked.

"Is she mine or someone else's?" His heart felt like it stopped until Sara responded.

"It's yours Grissom, I was originally pregnant with twins but I lost one during…" Her eyes turned black as the memories from her past hit her hard. "Please leave Grissom, Nick's coming to drive me to the airport. I want to have my baby away from Las Vegas and away from you." She grabbed her suitcase and refused to give into her instinct. She had to not trust Grissom, she tried to before and she lost one of her babies.

"Please just give me one more chance you're the only thing that matters in my life, the only thing that has ever mattered. I know I'm a bastard for not asking you out sooner and if I could turn back time and change my actions I would. But I can't. On the way here I saw an elderly man in the cemetery crying at his wife's grave. It said on the tombstone he had lost her twenty years ago and he still mourned for the woman he cared about with all his heart. I know we're all eventually going to lose the ones we love and I can deal with that. But not for me, not right now. Cause' the woman I love is standing right in front of me and for as long as I live my heart will only belong to her. If you could just consider taking another chance you'll see that I'm not the man you thought I was. Please…" Grissom let a tear caress his cheek as he painfully waited for Sara's decision.

"I'm sorry Grissom." Sara took one last look at him before walking down the hallway, leaving Grissom still in a state of shock at his loss. In mid stride Sara screamed out in pain as she slowly fell to her knees. "Grissom!" Sara yelled out.

"Sara?" Grissom ran over to her as fast as his feet would carry him. She continued to grip her stomach in pain, unable to respond.

"I think I'm in labour." Sara tried to breathe at a steady rate as Grissom took out his cell phone and dialed the familiar number.

"Willows." Catherine sighed into the phone.

"Catherine it's me, Grissom. I don't have time to explain, where are you?"

"Umm I'm at a crime scene in Henderson why?"

"I told you I have no time to explain, Sara is in labour. I'm taking her to the hospital." Grissom announced as he helped Sara to her feet.

"What? Alright, Nick is stuck in traffic he was supposed to take Sara to the airport. I'll tell him to meet you guys there. He's the only one able to go to the hospital, we're jammed with cases. You were released?" Catherine asked trying to take in the new information.

"Yes I was, thanks for visiting me a total of two visits in nine months, it really made me feel wanted." Grissom bitterly retorted.

"Alright I'm sorry Grissom, but I hated you for what you did to Sara and I didn't know of your illness alright? I just looked at the faxed report of your progress today, Ecklie is reinstating you whenever you want to come back and work." Catherine felt slightly guilty for not visiting Grissom in his time of need, however it took her a great deal of time to forgive her former boss.

"Uh huh, right now I'm more worried about Sara." Grissom carefully began to walk her to the elevator.

"Alright I'll let you go then, call me as soon as you hear anything." Grissom heard the dial tone buzz in his ear before he could click the 'off button' on his Nokia.

"You ok?" Grissom held Sara's arm gently trying to support her weight as he pushed the ground level button on the elevator.

"No! I'm in frickin labour!" Sara yelled.

"OK, you can punch me for being uncharacteristically not observant." Grissom smiled as Sara gave him one of her signature glares before punching his arm.

"Now I'm satisfied." Sara exclaimed.

"Was I too hard on him? He wouldn't be released if he was in danger of hurting me or others." Sara thought. Before she could surmise an apology, another shot of pain graced her presence.

"Honey I'm going to get you to the hospital as fast as I can." Grissom guided Sara outside until he realized he did not bring his car.

"Where's your car?" Sara asked.

"I ran here, I didn't want to risk losing you so I avoided traffic." The moonlight lit up the night sky as Grissom's eyes struggled to focus on finding a taxi. He called one over and was relieved when it stopped for them so suddenly. The cab driver must have seen Sara's present condition.

"We need to get to Desert Palms as quickly as possible!" Grissom let Sara get in the car first before sitting beside her in the back. The cab driver increased his speed when he immediately heard Sara's screams get louder and louder.

"Oh man! I don't want to have a baby in this thing, the upholstery will never be the same. How the heck do you get blood out of a car, I don't know!" The African- American cab driver continued to drive above the speed limit hoping that he would not be stuck with a newborn baby in his back seat.

"Actually many police officers tend to keep a case of Coca Cola in their trunks, it removes blood wonderfully. Though, nothing can ever get rid of the trace of blood. Some blood stains can stay on fabric up to 100 years." Grissom announced, causing the taxi driver to produce more questions. Sara may have laughed at the situation if she was not in so much pain.

"Holy crap man, how do you know all that stuff?" The driver asked in astonishment.

"It's my job to know stuff." Grissom smiled as they finally pulled up to the hospital entrance. Grissom ran out of the car and motioned for a nurse to bring a wheelchair. In a matter of seconds Sara was in the wheelchair and Grissom was left with the job of paying the cab driver. After giving the driver the money, he quickly ran to catch up to the nurse who was carrying Sara inside.

"Is she your wife?" The nurse asked.

"No we're not together however I am the father." Grissom felt suddenly proud as the reality kicked in. He was going to be a father.

"Yeah you're defiantly going to be a daddy alright, and from your lady's screams its going to happen fast!" The stressed nurse wheeled Sara in as fast as she could to a maternity ward. Grissom watched as Sara was getting prepped.

"Grissom don't leave!" Sara cried out as the nurse put various sticky circles all over her body to monitor her heart.

"I'm not going anywhere." Grissom grinned. As Sara screamed once more a doctor ran into the room.

"How far along is she?" The doctor asked.

"She's about five seconds away from being a mother Dr." The nurse jumped when Sara clenched her hand hard.

"Grissom before I'm a mother I want to tell you that I'm sorry. I didn't forgive you right away even though I should have known you were fit enough to be around me and our baby." Sara screamed once more as the doctor announced that he could see the baby's head. Grissom watched in fascination as he was about to become a father.

"I'm the one who should be saying sorry and I will everyday for the rest of my life Sara. The only way I can make it up to you is always being there for you and our daughter." Grissom yelled as Sara's screams almost drained out his apology.

"You're not going to be like your father Grissom, you're going to be a great dad. I… love… you." The words Grissom thought he would never hear filled his ear drums. He suddenly felt as light as air as happiness filled his system.

"Sara is it too soon to ask you to marry me?" Grissom asked.

"Right now? Grissom I'm kinda sweaty and in a lot of pain so ask me later." Sara screamed one last time before the doctor helped guide the child from her. Another scream hit the air but this time it was not Sara's. The doctor held up his child for both parents to see.

"Congratulations, you have a healthy baby girl." The doctor announced before taking the baby and weighing it, wiping it off and dressing it in warm pink clothes. In a matter of moments the doctor gave Sara the baby to hold in her arms. She instinctively rocked it slowly as Grissom approached the two women who were now his entire life.

"You look beautiful." Grissom smiled as he sat on the edge of the bed.

"Now you're lying. She's the one who's beautiful." Sara stroked her baby's nose in delight.

"You both are. How come you found out the baby sex before hand?" Grissom wondered.

"I didn't, I just knew." Sara grinned as Grissom let tears of happiness run down his face.

"I didn't think I would have either of you, I thought I would never be able to love you again. You know I would never hurt both of you right?" Grissom stared at Sara frightened at what her answer could be.

"You're the Gil Grissom I fell in love with. You're shy, intelligent, boyishly handsome and incredibly caring. I can see it in your eyes, nothing lies there but love right now." Sara felt her heart swell as she watched Grissom lean down and kiss their child on its head. For the first time their daughter opened her eyes and stared at her father. From that moment on Grissom knew he was going to never let anything happen to either of them. Finally breaking his daughter's stare his eyes locked with Sara's.

"Don't I get a kiss?" Sara whispered as Grissom leaned forward and his lips met with hers. He kissed her with as much love as he held in his heart, he hoped his actions would make Sara believe that he was never going to harm her ever again.

"I forgot how soft your lips were." Sara hoarsely exclaimed.

"What's her name Sara?" Grissom wondered as his finger was grabbed gently by his baby's. Sara looked at Grissom and then looked down at her baby and knew the perfect name right away that could summon up their relationship and their future.

"Faith. We'll call her Faith." Sara held the two most important people in her life, finally knowing that all would work out. Her future and Grissom's was going to be brighter now that there was forgiveness, understanding and above all Faith.

The End