I am not completely satisfied with how this chapter runs, but I have sat on this for probably close to two months, so here it is; I hope it is still ok!
8
The night shift team had claimed three picnic tables for their group, which included all of the members of the night shift plus Lindsay, Brass, Greg, Doc. Robins and his wife, and David. However they were one short; Sara hadn't arrived yet, and the Sheriff had come over to them a little earlier to ask – interrogate – them about her whereabouts. They had easily deflected saying that she was running late, though now she was about and hour late and the Sheriff kept glaring over at their table. They had taken turns casting glances every once in a while in the direction of the parking lot.
Nick was taking his unofficial turn when he spotted a familiar SUV pulling up. "Here she is!"
The others also glanced over; releasing a collective breath, before most of them went back to the preparations for the lunch they were setting out.
Nick continued to watch as Sara got out; then headed to the back passenger door and opened it. She reached inside; he was unable to see exactly what she was doing but she eventually stepped back, holding the door open for a second longer before closing it. He watched as she came around the cars and came fully into sight. Nick's jaw hit the ground.
"Uh…hey guys?"
There were a few "Um hm?"s, "Yeah?"s and "What?"s in acknowledgement.
"Do any of you see what I am seeing?"
Warrick was the first to look up, after a moment he squinted. "What the hell?"
Catherine's head was the next to come up; her own mouth dropped open slightly. "Is that…?"
At this point the rest of the members of their group had turned their attention in the direction of the no-longer-missing member. Brass's eyebrow's shot up; Doc had a mildly surprised look on his face; David was staring slack jawed; a look a surprise flickered across Grissom's face before he hid it, pursing his lips.
"What is Sara doing with a little girl?"
Most heads turned to Greg at his direct question.
Sara was just a few yards off and she was indeed holding the hand of a small girl who had white blond hair that was tied back in two small braided pigtails by her ears and was clutching a pink teddy bear. Most of the group had the distinct feeling of recognition of the girl.
Sara finally came to a stop in front of her friends and colleagues. She shifted a little under their scrutiny and cleared her throat. "Uh, Bren, these are some of my friends whom I work with. That's Nick Stokes," Nick gave her a friendly smile, "Warrick Brown."
Warrick grinned. "Hey girl." He kept his voice soft.
"Catherine Willows," Catherine smiled brightly, "Jim Brass."
"How ya doin' there, kiddo?"
"Bren" moved closer to Sara. "She's shy," Sara quickly explained.
"Greg Sanders," the lab tech gave her a full, unreserved grin, to which she didn't seem to know how to react, "Doctor Robins," Doc gave her a small smile and nod, "David Phillips," a small wave. Sara swallowed. "And this is Gil Grissom," she avoided looking at him at that moment, already having seen the look of realization on his face. "Everyone this is my foster-soon-to-be-adopted daughter, Brenda Collins." There was a general dropping of jaws. Sara kept her arm protectively around her daughter. "You may remember Brenda from a case about a year ago." Just about everyone now caught on to exactly who Brenda was.
Brenda's gaze had been on Grissom most of the time; she pulled on Sara's sleeve, to which Sara bent down so that Brenda could almost whisper in her ear. "I remember him," she pointed to the entomologist, her voice barely above a whisper. "He talked to me in the police car."
Sara's eyes drifted to Grissom, who crouched down to her, giving her a quiet smile. "It is good to see you again, Brenda."
Sara felt a jolt of surprise when Brenda didn't shrink into her side, but just nodded to the man before he stood up once more.
Catherine knelt down, smiling easily. "You know, I have a little girl about your age named Lindsay, maybe you two could play together?"
Brenda looked up at Sara whose face creased into a gentle smile. Brenda looked back at the blond woman and slowly nodded.
Catherine looked in the direction of the playground where Lindsay was sitting alone on the swings. "Linds! Linds!" The six-almost-seven year old leapt off the swing and raced over, skidding to a stop by her mom. "Lindsay, this is Brenda. Brenda, this is my daughter Lindsay. How about you two go play some?"
Lindsay turned to the smaller girl. "Do you wanna go down the slide? There're some really good ones." She scrunched up her nose. "Though we gotta be careful, most of the kids aren't our age and the only ones close to us are the Ecklies and they're brats."
"Lindsay," Catherine's frown was battling with a laugh.
"You say that they're brats, mom."
There was stifled laughter from several sources.
"That's when we're at home, sweetheart; you shouldn't say such things in public."
"Ok, can we go play now?"
Catherine nodded.
Brenda looked up at Sara. "Go ahead." The girl hesitated. "Do you want me to hold onto Pearl?"
The child gripped the bear tighter and shook her head vigorously before slowly following the bouncier blond child.
A smile touched Sara's lips as she watched them go off, though that smile quickly faded when she remembered the people around her; her eyes wandered up to them to find every pair of eyes on her.
'Let the interrogation begin!' she thought wryly.