Of Decades and Train Whistles.
A/N: There's a bit of a joke in this chapter ;)
Sara didn't think of herself as an avid reader, she didn't actively seek out new books to read each week, but she did enjoy reading once in a while. This was one of those nights, a warm Friday in early June. Alex was at the store with Rose, helping her pick out new clothes, and it was finally nice enough to sit outside. Thus she found herself becoming lost in her reading, not noticing that the sounds of the night were fading beyond the story that was coming alive in her mind.
"STEEELLLLAAAAH!"
At the sound of Grissom's bellow Sara bolted up in her chair, the book flying upwards and in the general direction of the grinning man behind her. She whirled around to glare at him, cursing not so quietly.
"What is wrong with you?" Sara sputtered, shirt wet from her drink that had spilled.
"That's a good play." Grissom retorted, eyeing the copy of A Streetcar Named Desire that now lay haphazardly on the porch floor. "And I brought hamburgers."
Sara stared at him, puzzled and trying to make sense of A and B together.
"To grill." Grissom offered, nodding to the barbeque.
"Right." Sara muttered, standing up and wiping droplets of spilled water off her shirt. Thinking that Rose had invited him, Sara walked inside the kitchen, offering Grissom a drink. They chatted lightly about their workdays as Grissom fired up the barbeque, setting the ham and veggie burgers precisely how he wanted them on the grill. He asked what they were doing for the summer, and was met with a sigh.
"I don't know. I have to find something for Alex to do, which I've somewhat been putting off. He doesn't like unscheduled days. He'll get bored, antsy, and then harder to be around."
"What did he do last summer?" Grissom inquired, testing the meat with a meat thermometer to be certain.
"Went to a forensic anthropology day camp." Sara grinned sheepishly before setting the little patio table on the porch.
"Well, the university has an engineering day camp for kids, Alex might enjoy that given his love for trains."
"You're right." Sara pondered, tapping the handle of a fork on the wooden table. "He'd probably love that. But I bet the camp is already booked. There's only two weeks left till summer."
"Yes, but I'm faculty. I'm sure I can find him a spot." Sara stopped and stared at Grissom, noticing his befuddled look, before bursting out laughing.
"Pulling rank over a bunch of eight year olds, at a summer camp? My, have you ever changed, Grissom."
He blushed and stuttered, flipping the burgers onto the waiting hamburger buns. "I'm not." Turning off the barbeque he shrugged. "At least it's for a good cause."
After he'd sat down, Sara said in a more serious tone: "If you don't mind checking for an empty spot, I'd appreciate that."
"Sure" Grissom agreed, as ketchup sputtered out of the bottle, and onto his hamburger. Sara covered her veggie burger with condiments, and started chewing thoughtfully, forming questions in her mind.
Rose came home to find them still out on the porch, arguing over how Sara was working a case. As Alex went out to give his mother fliers from the mall that he'd collected, Rose was corrected. They were merely 'discussing' the case.
"Hello?" Sara winced as she held the cell phone near her ear, the static cackling. Grissom moved a few feet away from the machinery causing the interference, and their phones returned to normal.
"Sara, what's your last name?"
Silence overcame her as she wondered if that's what he'd actually asked.
"What?"
His reply came with some urgency and exasperation, as if she should have already been in the same mindset as he.
"Your last name. I need it to register Alex, but I don't know what Michael's last name was."
"It was Jaren," she answered, shaking her head though he couldn't see her. "But Alexander's last name is Sidle."
Her beeper went off with an 'urgency' code, and Sara told Grissom she needed to go. Her last words were another answer, that Alex would have a worker with him, and she clicked the phone shut as she walked into the conference room at work. Sitting down to wait for the updates, she found herself wishing it was Grissom who was leading the conversation, and not her current supervisor.
Because Sara was stuck giving depositions in court, and Rose was at the hospital getting some tests done, Grissom was the one to take Alex to camp on his first day. He'd never spent time alone with Alex outside of the house, but he was fairly confident there would be no problems. Not completely sure, but still confident. When he arrived at Sara's house that morning he was very relieved to hear Alex humming and clicking his tongue while he played with his trains. Generally, that meant a good day.
Grissom had spent the last two days with him and Sara, taking him to the camp and showing him the rooms, driving them in his car instead of Sara's. It was the weekend before camp started, and the staff had willingly given Grissom the keys to the room. They wanted to make Alex's time at camp easy and fun for him as well. This gave Sara time to talk with Grissom without Rose around, though she wasn't really sure of what she wanted to say. He came over three or four times a week, usually staying for at least one meal. And years ago, she couldn't even have gotten him to say yes to just one dinner. So she'd just kept the talk to generalities, and at the end of their visit Alex seemed to be acquainted with the camp rooms. This helped her feel more relaxed as Alex headed off to camp with Grissom, in his little khaki shorts and navy ball cap to match his polo shirt. That's one thing she enjoyed, Alex let her dress him in whatever she wanted, so long as she took the labels off the clothing. The texture of them bothered him.
Grissom's lunch break came early and so he wandered down to the camp area, finding Alex and his worker going to get their lunches as well. Most of the other kids were chattering and playing, but when Alex saw Grissom he walked towards him and hooked the top part of his fingers into Grissom's jeans pocket. Sara had been doing that with him, while out in public, to make sure that Alex was always close by. He told the worker to take a little break for lunch and brought Alex back to his office. He figured Alex might enjoy the quiet, and for some reason he felt rather possessive. He didn't want Alex to be on campus, and not with him.
Lunch was pleasant; Alexander re-inspected every inch of Grissom's office, and left in a happy mood to go back to camp. As they walked down the hallway to go back to the other building, Grissom's co-worker came around the corner. She watched Grissom speak to Alex and point out things on posters tacked to the wall, and noted that Alex would carefully repeat what Grissom said.
"Hello," Grissom replied, to her greeting.
"Gil Grissom, you're too private!" she admonished, in a light joking tone that he wasn't fond of. "You never told me you have a son."
"I don't share my private life," Grissom started, about to comment that the curly haired boy who looked like him wasn't his son when Alex interrupted.
"Whoooooosh."
"What's that?" the woman asked, her confused tone not matching the forced smile on her face as she leaned down towards Alex.
"Whoooooosh."
"He needs to use the washroom before returning back to camp, if you'll excuse us," Grissom said politely.
"Sure! I'll see you later, young man. I have some inside info on your father I can share."
Grissom winced and Alex stared blankly as she walked off towards her office. Grissom tried not to hate people, but her gossipy nature irritated him. He hadn't even bothered learning her name.
Sara was glad that Alex survived his first week at camp and hadn't had any tantrums. He also seemed to enjoy his daily break as well, as he'd shown Sara his two pecs cards a few times, the one with Grissom's picture on it, and the one with the word 'lunch' written on it. She loved seeing Alex so happy. Sara was up in her room, changing out of her work clothes, looking up at the family pictures on the wall and noting that Alex was generally a happy kid. But quiet, she puzzled. Too quiet, as he was usually humming or making noise with his trains. She headed off to investigate, checking his room first before going downstairs.
"Alexander Griffin Sidle. What are you doing?"
Sara was offered a half hum with a grin, the reaction Alex usually gave when he knew he was into something he shouldn't be. It melted her heart every time, though she still managed to admonish him. Slightly. Alex's hum got louder as she hugged him from behind, pulling his hand out of the sugar. In the kitchen pantry there were two wooden containers of a fairly large size in which Sara kept her sugar and flour. Each also had a little shovel, for filling the small container of sugar for tea or for measuring. Alex seemed to love shoveling the sugar, watching it slowly pour out of the trowel, dumping it back into its original box. This wouldn't bother Sara so much if it was sand, but food was food, and eventually he'd spill it.
"Come on. We're going to Grissom's soon and you can help me make dessert." Sara hugged him a few seconds longer, before he wriggled out, still grinning and humming.
"Griss-om," Alex said clearly, eyeing the sugar box again.
"Out!' she pointed away from the pantry, locking the doors with the childproof lock. Sara wasn't mad; his persistence rather amused her. She had a theory that he knew how to open the childproof locks anyway, but that he just didn't bother most of the time.