A/N Welcome to Danese, my new groovy beta girl. She and Larissa are now Batman and Robin. I don't know whose Batman or whose Robin but they are the dynamic duo.

Footnote. Cybrocat is the joker who owns a big ole broom.

Chapter 2

Sara huffed and threw a shirt towards Grissom. It landed on his head. He took the offending object from atop his curls folding it neatly and putting it beside him on the bed.

It was the third shirt that Sara had rejected.

"I look pregnant." Sara said turning side-ways in his dresser mirror.

"Maybe because you are." Sara threw a lovely pair of boot cut maternity slacks at him this time.

"I can't just walk into work with my belly leading the way. I haven't told anyone. I mean I should have a least called Nick. That's what I get for working with my friends."

Grissom glued his lips shut as Sara pulled another pair of slacks from the UPS parcel that had been delivered last week. Determined not to look like a matronly pregnant woman, Sara had gone onto a message board and gotten recommendations on where she could find chic maternity clothes. To Grissom's eye all the blouses and pants looked just like the pregnant women he saw on MTV. So that had to be chic right? He continued to keep his mouth shut.

"Why aren't you talking?" She squinted into the mirror.

"Trying not to get hit by Donna Karen's latest creation for the fashionable mother-to-be."

Sara blew a curl from in front of her eyes. She just didn't have the wherewithal to straighten it these days. "Sorry Gris. I am just slightly freaked out that I have to go back to work and announce my condition."

"You want me to come to work?"

"No, it's your night off. You need a night off. You have been catering to me for three weeks. You need your house back. I am sure you need space."

He wanted to tell her that he didn't need space. He'd had enough space. She had stumbled into staying with him. She didn't need to be alone. Her blood pressure. A first pregnancy. Dr. Merrit wanted her blood pressure to at least stabilize.

It had gone down but not enough for her to go back to work full-time. So she was returning to work for a half shift. After two weeks, there would be another check up to see if she could work full-time. Larissa Merrit didn't seem hopeful, only relenting after Grissom gave her a "she's going to hurt me if you don't let her go back to work" look.

Sara pulled a pair of gray slacks from the box. As she tugged them on, she continued to speak. "So should I tell them about you being… that the baby is yours?"

Grissom hadn't even considered the question. "Whatever you think is best. Maybe we could do it together," he offered quietly.

She smiled into the mirror. Crisp white shirt skirting across her belly with tiny pink pen stripes, gray slacks, curly hair pulled away from her face. Finally, she looked like herself. "Okay, we can do it together."

She looked at her the new white gold ring watch that Grissom had bought her. She wouldn't have bought it for herself, but she liked it. It went with the locket he'd bought her. This one had a place for a picture as well. Maybe Grissom's photo could go there. Maybe.

"I'll call you when I get off," she said folding a shirt and returning it to a box.

"What…?"

"Um well, I can go back to my place now that I can go to work."

Grissom shook his head. "That is not what your doctor said. She barely let you go back to work. See you in five hours."

Sara tried not to smile as she dusted powder on her face.

xxx

Sara was sitting in Grissom's office waiting for the others. It provided privacy and coverage of the belly.

She had come through the back entrance. After stashing her things quickly in her locker, she had paged Nick, Catherine, Brass, Warrick, and Greg. She wasn't sure who was in the lab or out in the field. She would just have to deal with who was present and let the rest find out via the whispered phone calls that were sure to follow.

Warrick was the first to arrive walking lazily into the room grinning down at Sara.

"If you got a promotion before me, I am filing a sexual discrimination suit."

Sara smiled at him. "Sexual discrimination?"

"Yeah, just cause you have a better ass than me is no reason for you to be promoted."

"Depends on who's looking at the ass. I am sure your boss thinks that your ass is just fine."

Warrick flopped into a low chair and stretched out his long legs. "Well, what's the big news? Finally gave Gris some and he's never coming back?"

Sara raised a thin looking eyebrow. The sun had bleached some of the hairs giving the impression of a professional arch.

Greg bopped into the room and smacked Warrick in the back of his head with a folder, quickly ducking out of the way. "What I lack in height I make up for in agility. What's the big powwow about?"

Greg's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why you in Grissom's chair? Am I being sent back to the lab? Are you the executioner? That is so lame. He knows I can't be mad at Sara cause she's my one and only true love."

Sara shook her head and Greg positioned himself along the wall. Brass and Nick brought up the rear, and Sara motioned for Brass to pull the door shut.

All eyes locked on Sara. "I have an announcement."

"I hope you don't think you are quitting while Gris isn't here. If you are, I don't want to know," Brass spoke quietly as he eyed the door.

"Come to think of it he probably had this office bugged and mic'ed after Greg and the ferret incident."

"That is so not fair. That was like four years ago." Greg whined.

Warrick rolled his eyes and kicked one large foot in Greg's direction. "Four years, six days and 22 hours. Ask me how I know cause that was the day he wrote the entire night shift up for insubordination. Like I needed to be written up for one more thing. You know you nearly cost me my job…."

Sara raised her hand. "Boys!"

All eyes returned to Sara as she spoke. "Where's Catherine?"

"Chaperoning drill team at competition. Thirty 7th and 8th graders doing high kicks and covered in body glitter." Warrick replied

Sara frowned for a second. She didn't know shit about drill teams or dancing or high kicks. What if her daughter was a girly girl? Dammit. She didn't know what to do with girly girls.

"So what's the big news, Sara?" Nick asked good-naturedly.

"I have an announcement. I would say that it goes no further than this room but considering the announcement I doubt that's going to happen."

Sara looked into four sets of eyes and took a big breath "I am going to have a baby."

Greg was the first to laugh, then Warrick and Nick. Brass just stared.

Greg pointed a finger at her. "You almost had me there for second Lucy."

Sara frowned. Well, this was nice. The idea of her being pregnant was so far fetched it elicited laughter. She pushed her chair back and stood. She turned sideways and pointed to her stomach.

"Not a joke guys."

The laughter ceased as fast as it had started. Sara spoke rapidly taking advantage of the silence. "That's why I had to take the time off because of my blood pleasure and that's why I can only work half shifts for awhile and I why I can't go in the field until the baby is born. I will do all your simulations and research so you guys can concentrate on the field."

Nick shook his head stiffly. "I think I am supposed to ask something else, but I don't know what is."

Sara sighed and walked around the desk. "Why don't you guys meet me at the diner Saturday morning? We can use the back room and I will tell you all about it."

She gave them the benefit of the perfect Sara Sidle smile.

The all nodded dumbly as she left the room.

xxx

Sara walked into the townhouse stepping as quietly as possible. She had worked nearly a full shift. She hadn't meant to, but by the time she finished building a collapse model and talked through a burglary case with Greg, shift was almost over. Thankfully Grissom had not called. Hopefully, he was still asleep.

Carefully, she made her way to the kitchen trying to figure out what she could eat that would take little or minimum preparation. She had just settled on a bowl of raisin bran with banana, when she was startled by Grissom's voice.

"That's it. You aren't going back to work." Grissom's voice cut the air like a steel blade.

Sara turned to find Grissom standing at the edge of the kitchen, hair mussed and chest bare.

Sara swallowed a bit of banana and spoke quickly, "I got caught up. It was nice being back at work and before I knew it shift was nearly over. It won't happen again."

Grissom eyed the cereal and fruit. "No, it won't. Cause you aren't going back. I left Dr. Merrit a message already.''

Sara searched for words that would not provoke a fight. "Grissom, I am grown woman. You can't tell me what to do."

"You are a grown woman who is carrying my daughter. Your life is not your own anymore, Sara. WE have a child to think of. What happened to turning over the new leaf? Not working too much? Eating better? Sleeping enough? What happened to that?"

Sara stirred brown flakes absently and then finally, she gave him a sweet expression.

"Why can't I just have a son?" Grissom thought.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "You are right."

He hated it when she did that look, took the steam out of his bluster. He spoke quietly as he reached for a box of Special K with berries.

"Sara, I know you think I am over-protective. You are probably right, but this might be the only child I ever have. I think I have a right to be a little over-protective. I don't want anything to happen to our baby, and I don't want anything to happen to you."

Sara stopped chewing when he spoke the last sentence. She wanted to know what was going on with her and Grissom, but she hadn't the nerve to ask. She had lived with him for nearly a month. She had never wanted to live with another person. Even in college, she had requested single rooms. She liked her own company and enjoyed moving around in a space that was just hers.

Now she had a child to consider and her baby's father to consider. Who would have ever thought that she and Grissom would end up having a baby together? "If I promise to leave work on time tomorrow, will you give me a second chance?"

He watched her hungrily as Sara lifted the spoon to her lips. "Sara…"

The doe-eyed look surfaced again. He shook his head and sat across from her.

Sara smiled to herself and spoke telepathically to her daughter. "You got that, little girl? That's how you work your Daddy. Remember what I said about you being able to dye your hair crazy colors? Scratch that! We'll be lucky to get you out the house before you are 21 wearing lipstick."

xxx

Gil Grissom did not sleep much these days. Mostly he stared at the ceiling wondering how he was going to pay for it all. He called his financial advisor weeks before Sara had fessed up to him about the baby. Georgia Foxx moaned and sucked on her ever-present diet Coke as she issued spare economic questions. She hated surprises.

"Ivy League?"

"Yes."

"Private school before that?"

"Not a fan of the private schools around here. I was hoping that maybe she would go to one of the specialized public schools. Performing arts or science magnet."

"You keeping the town house?"

Gil felt like he drowning. "Um, maybe."

"You getting married?"

"Um-I don't…."

"Sure you are." The lithe brunette said quickly. "So you get married. You sell the house or you keep it and remodel which might not be such a bad idea considering the property value. You don't do private school, but maybe a fancy day care or kindergarten. You buy the little woman a nice classic ring. I am thinking that maybe you get off light if you have some heirloom piece or your mother's or grandmother's that you can rework. Old school Italian families usually do. You have more kids and with your genes at least one of them has the will to get a tuition scholarship to…if not Ivy League, somewhere damn close and we should be looking at…."

Gil listened as she typed furiously and spoke into her ever-present headset. "If you sell your share in the family vineyard after they finish the season. You need to wait until then because your mother says the merlot is going to put them on map and you sink the profit into some blue chip stocks and if you don't let the little woman twist you around her finger. Sounds like it might be too late for that and if you don't buy new cars -wait."

Beads of perspiration rolled down his face at the sheer volume of information.

"And if you trade your jaunts abroad for Disneyland."

Gil spoke softly, "No more Europe…"

Georgia cackled. "Maybe every few years but you got that pretty young thing now that doubles your expense and this little one on the way. I so hope it's not a girl- dammit."

Gil broke into her thoughts. "Why do you assume she's young?"

"She my age?"

"About."

"Too young for you. If it's a girl then we have to add in a wedding and taking daddy for a ride expenditures."

"What…?"

"Little girl born at your age from the sweet young thing," she cackled again. "She'll come home every week with stories of some new bauble or dress she just has to have. Between her and her mother."

More typing sounds punctuated another laugh.

"Okay if you sell your share in the vineyard. Move some of your stocks around to more aggressive holdings and you bump up your lecturing fee. You should be okay."

Gil had hung up the phone silently resolute and at peace with his plan. That was before he had seen the sonogram and actually digested all that was going to take place over the next few months. Sara's constant presence caused him complete peace laced with stabs of worry. She was having his baby and living in his house. He was responsible for them. He didn't mind the vague responsibilities that other relationships required. Rescuing Catherine every now and then. Making sure his mother's finances were in order by doing a yearly check even though Maria Grissom was as precise as he was. Now he had decisions to make about another person's life. He was not just providing advice or rescue. One misstep and he could ruin her life. One wrong word and she would end up with low self-esteem and married to some loser that didn't treat her well.

Sara had survived that kind of childhood, but she should have had so much better. Sara. What was going on between them? Neither had said more than two words about their future. They talked about the baby, and the dreams they had for her. Never once addressing their own fragile relationship. Grissom had some fuzzy notion that he needed to start working on the baby's room, but he didn't know how to proceed. Was the baby going to have a room at his place? Was Sara moving in? They weren't married, and he guessed that Sara only stayed because of her health, though she did seem to like being with him.

There had been little awkwardness as the two scientists fell into an easy orderly routine. They made love and watched movies. They went for long walks in the small park across the street from his house where Sara looped her arm through his and watched wistfully as little girls ran and hid and called out to be found.

He should ask her. He should bring it up just like he should have called her on the pregnancy. In every other corner of his life, Gil Grissom was precise and well planned. With Sara, it only seemed to work if he plodded alone blindly and didn't ask too many questions, neither making assumptions nor offering explanation. Would they even be having a baby if he'd asked too many questions? Probably not. He could safely say that this baby was the best thing that ever happened to him. If he and Sara didn't end up together it would hurt, but he could rebound. For the first time in a long time, Sara wasn't the center of his universe. That wasn't true either. She was at the center, but now he had a daughter to care about and love. He had a reason to wake up in the morning now. A reason to feel young, not the dreary middle-aged man that he had become over the last few years.

He watched as Sara mumbled something and turned toward him. He smiled as she buried her face into his chest.

Thirteen Years Later

Hannah Grissom was vague on the details of her parents' marriage. As she had grown older, they filled in the missing pieces her parent's deemed age appropriate. They had never lied to her about her conception and birth. They just hadn't told her everything. The 12 year old sipped juice and watched as her father chopped vegetables for minestrone. Her mother was a good cook. Her father was an excellent cook. Hannah was sure she would fall somewhere in the middle. A tumble of noise and bare legs rushed through the front door. Noah and Sara Grissom appeared in the doorway sweaty and sun kissed. The youngest Grissom walked on sturdy muscled legs up to barstool where his sister sat. Grinning wickedly, he let out a loud burp followed by round of giggles as his sister cried, "Ew" and "gross" and let out her own belch

"How was soccer?" Gil asked pleasantly as he released a cutting board of vegetables into chicken broth.

"How did we decide who got to do soccer and who got to do karate?"

"Um, well, you used to play soccer, hon. That's how we decided."

Sara came up behind him and whisper kissed his neck as Noah pounced on his sister demanding candy. Hannah was notorious for having candy on her at all times. Noah was the only one she relinquished any to. She produced a red sucker that her favorite bank teller had given her a week before. Noah ripped open the confection and pulled himself up on the stool next to her.

They both rolled their eyes at their parents. Old people should not kiss.

"I think I changed my mind," Sara said.

"No changing your mind. We test for our orange belts next week. See these hands? They are lethal weapons." Grissom waggled his eyebrows.

"That's cause they have a knife in them."

"Just burst my bubble why don't you."

"What have you guys been up to?" said Sara as she reached for a sliver of red pepper.

"Daddy was telling me about how worried he was when I was about to be born. Because I would cost too much money."

Grissom stopped chopping and looked at his daughter. "Sweetheart, you know I don't believe that right?"

Hannah shrugged her shoulders and scratched a mosquito bite on one ankle. "I know you love me, Daddy. I won't have self esteem issues. Mommy's right. You are a worry wart." Although the misquote bite was pretty funny

Grissom looked at his wife who was busy flipping through a forensics journal. Her mouth twitched.

"Well, you wouldn't have known he was worried about money." Sara said cryptically. Hannah perked up. Another bit of the story she didn't know about.

"Why?"

Sara closed the publication and looked at all three sets of blue eyes. "I came home one day…"