Mmhmm.
The Sanders women have a conversation while Greg is in the shower.
Number 23 in the Ducks in a Row Series
………
"Mom?"
"Mmhmm."
"Why do we have so many pictures?" Sara looked up from hers and Greg's copy of JFS and arched an eyebrow at her daughter. Nora was sitting on the floor in their living room, facing their massive wall of photos from Nick.
"Daddy and I like them."
"Did Uncle Nicky take them all?"
"Most of them."
"Where am I in that one?" Nora pointed to Greg's favorite frame, of them in the locker room after the case with the exploding kettle. Sara sighed, turning her gaze back to her daughter.
"You hadn't come yet, love." Nora nodded, studying the photo with an expression of curiosity.
"That's the one where I came, right?" She stood, pointing to the frame holding the shot of Greg holding Nora in the hospital room, hours after she was born.
Sara had been asleep, when that photo had been taken, but Greg had yet to be able to stop the tears from dripping down his cheeks. The Nevada sun was setting, casting Greg into a gentle shadow. The soft light fell lovingly around Nora, who had one tiny hand outstretched up toward Greg, almost touching his bottom lip. Her little face had scrunched up into a yawn, and a tear had dripped down his cheek, the moisture sparkling in the sunlight. Sara wiped a tear from her eye hastily, curling her feet under her body.
"Mom!"
"What?"
"That's when I came, right?" Nora twisted around, lying on her belly, head propped up on her little hands, big blue eyes focused in on her mother.
"Yeah. That was the day you were born." Nora smiled a lopsided grin identical to Greg's, and rolled over, lying on her back, looking at their wall of pictures.
"Mom?"
"Mmhmm."
"You and Daddy have brown hair."
"Mmhmm."
"I have blonde hair."
"Mmhmm."
"You and Daddy have brown eyes."
"Mmhmm."
"I have blue eyes."
"You going somewhere with this, Nora?"
"Mom, I don't have curlies like you and Daddy."
"You did when you were born."
"What happened?"
"We brought you home, and all the curls fell out."
"Mom?"
"Mmhmm."
"Was Daddy always funny?"
"Mmhmm."
"Is that why you love him?"
"Mmhmm."
"Daddy says he loves you more."
"I bet he does."
"Mom?"
"Mmhmm."
"The bug man says that you and Daddy are science nerds." Nora sat up again, eyes scanning the wall, looking at the pictures of her parents before they were married. Sara let out a soft laugh, nodding.
"Don't call him that, love, his name is Grissom."
"Mom, I don't like science."
"It's ok to not like science."
"I don't want to be a science nerd, Mom."
"You can be whatever you want, baby." Greg walked in from the kitchen hallway, wavy curls still wet from the shower. He had been lucky enough to get a six week old decomp with Nick last night. Nora turned to her father, standing in the doorway, and smiled.
"Hi, Daddy."
"Hey Rosebud." Nora stood, holding her hand out to Greg, grin widening on her features. Sara watched as Greg crossed the room, bending quickly to shake the excess water from his unruly mess of hair all over Nora, causing her to giggle.
"Daddy!" She hugged him tightly, and Greg lifted her effortlessly off the floor, carrying her to the couch that Sara sat on, and dropping her into the cushions playfully. He settled down on the far side of her, so that Nora was between her parents. Greg leaned over her, pressing her into the cushions, to drop a sweetly chaste kiss to Sara's lips.
"Daddy! Ugh! Your smell like dead people." Nora pushed Greg off of her, twisting her little face into a look of disgust, holding her nose. Greg laughed as Nora climbed into his lap despite the scent of decomp that he mostly managed to scrub off. "I love you, anyways, Dad. Even when you smell like dead people." She cuddled into him, balling up in his lap.
"Did you manage to get the decomp sorted?" Sara tossed their copy of JFS on the coffee table, and turned to face her husband.
"Yeah. None of the results will be ready until tomorrow, so I came home."
"Dad, will you make pancakes?"
"You want pancakes at dinner time?" Greg tilted his head, pressing a kiss to Nora's cheek.
"You always make pancakes when you come home." Sara laughed, and Greg climbed tiredly out of the couch, stretching as he stood.
"Alright, Nora Rose. Go get the milk." Nora flashed her mother a patented Sanders grin, and leapt off the couch, making a beeline for the kitchen. Both Greg and Sara watched her disappear through the doorway, before casting their gazes on each other.
"At least it's food, Sara Jane." He smiled as she unfolded herself from the couch and wrapped her arms around him affectionately.
"It's fine." She inhaled, smiling into his faded tee shirt. "You don't smell like decomp."
"Thanks. We need lemons though." She nodded in agreement, leaning up to press her lips to his. He shifted, pulling her closer, flush against him. He ran his tongue along her bottom lip, and she slipped her fingertips beneath the hem of his shirt. He pulled away only just, resting his forehead against hers. "It's good to be home."
"Mmhmm."
"Dad! Pancakes!" Nora's sweet little voice called from the kitchen, before her blonde little head popped around the doorjamb. "Daddy!"
"I'm coming." Greg pressed one last kiss to Sara's temple, then took her hand and led her to the kitchen. Nora definitely had him wrapped tightly around her little finger. Chocolate chip pancakes meant spending time with the women in his life, even if it was only for a little while. He grinned as he stooped to retrieve the skillet, and a mixing bowl from the top shelf. His image in the lab years ago had been that he was a two-woman man. Now, now for the first time in his life, he really was.
…………
A/N: Nora is four years old in this. I imagine her like Macaulay Culkin in 'Uncle Buck' with the questions. More to come, definitely. This one was a little different. Merci pour le reviews.