Title: Entreaty

Thank you for reading this story! Thank you Thank you to everyone who commented. I truly appreciate each comment!

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Mattie was wired by the time they reached Grissom's townhome and after being shown where he would sleep, he turned to Sara who was folding his new clothes, and asked her if he could try out his gameboy.

"If you brush your teeth, get ready for bed and your uncle Gil doesn't mind then I think that it would be okay for you to play for thirty minutes before bed." she told him feeling like a parent for the first time in her life. Did she do the right thing, buying him a gameboy? She knew that Greg and Nick had gameboys and they were smart men, most of the time. She did not think that it would hurt his mind, even if Grissom did not approve, and he did not approve, that was evident in his actions.

She wondered if he would agree that Mattie could play the gameboy or insist that he read one of the books that he bought. Folding the last t-shirt, she looked around the cluttered room and tried to decide where to place the new clothes. Grissom's spare room was what she would describe as neatly cluttered, if there was any such word. He had a spare bed against one wall and a night table with a small lamp on its surface.

The rest of the room looked like anything but a guest room and if Mattie had slowed down for a second when he followed Sara into the room and looked around he would have seen the half dozen terraniums that littered the room. Shivering, Sara knew that there was a range of pets in these containers; spiders to racing cockroaches and hoped that Mattie would not be squeimish about sleeping in the room. Knowing the child for the brief time that she had then she rather doubted he would be upset.

Since there was no dresser in the room and the closet boasted an assortment of boxes, Sara decided to put the clothes in the nightstand drawers and ask Grissom about the closet space later. Moving from the room she wandered back into the den to find Mattie curled up in a chair with the gameboy and Grissom on the sofa preusing the games that she had bought.

Sara thought about reminding Mattie about brushing his teeth and putting on his pajamas, but thought better of it when she took in his absorbed expression. She did not want to take him out of his temporary retreat and bring him back into reality. On top of that, she reminded herself that she was also a guest of Grissom's and this was his nephew, not hers.

Grissom looked up as she slid onto the sofa beside him and he lifted his left arm to wrap it around her shoulders and pull her against her side. "We never did talk about what happened earlier in the hallway, outside Paul Hanson's interrogation room."

"No, we didn't." Sara placed her chin on his shoulder and stared into his eyes. "Are we going to talk about something that happened so long ago? Or are we going to relax and enjoy the fact that you rescued Andy and he is going to be fine."

Aware of the presence of his nephew, Grissom glanced over towards the chair and found that the boy was so wrapped up in the gameboy, headphones on his ears and attention on the small screen, that he could speak freely with Sara and not worry about his overhearing.

"I know that there are going to be reprecussions for us when Conrad realizes that we are together and I don't know if either one of us is prepared for that." Grissom said as he took her left hand and laced the fingers of his own within her solid grip.

Placing a small kiss on his earlobe, Sara breathed out a long held sigh. "There is no reason that we can't keep our relationship private, Gris, and as long as we don't give Ecklie any reason to suspect then we shouldn't have to worry about anything."

"The speculation will be rampant after everything that has happened in the last couple of days," Grissom lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the back of her hand softly. "I'm not sure if I want to hide our relationship."

Pulling back from his grip, Sara stood rapidly and walked towards the kitchen on shaking legs. Her sudden withdrawal from him was startling and he felt her absence keenly as he pushed himself up off the sofa to follow her into the kitchen.

She was leaning against the counter next to the dishwasher, her arms locked at the elbows and wrapped protectively around her waist, her head turned down so that she was studying the tile.

Grissom paused in front of her, but did not hesitate to place his hands around her hips and lean forward so that his forehead was touching the top of her head. "If you don't want anyone to know about us then we won't let them know. Anything that you want, Sara, you tell me how we play this and I'll do my best."

Doubts about her feelings for him began to play in his mind when she did not look up or respond. A sense of insecurity crept along his thoughts and he removed his hands from her hips only to find her hands wrap around the collar of his shirt and pull him forward until their lips were touching. Opening her mouth she permitted his tongue to enter inside and soon found the kiss deepen as his hands slid beneath her shirt and she felt his thumb circling around on her abdomen. Sudden clarity fought through the fog in her mind and she gently pushed him away.

"Mattie," she breathed quickly in explanation. Grissom dropped his hand in embarrassment and looked quickly over at the chair where Mattie had been sitting. The chair was empty and there was no sign of the boy.

"Shit," Grissom ran a hand through his hair and looked back into Sara's eyes with a questioning look of his on. "I'm not used to having company and definitely not used to having a child here."

"I know, Gris," Sara smoothed her shirt down as she led the way towards the guest room. She hoped that Mattie had not witnessed too much of their passion, but did not know how he could have missed the scene playing out in the kitchen, only a few feet away from him.

They found Mattie inspecting one of the terraniums, a delighted expression playing over his face as he bent down until he was eye level with a lizard. Hearing the door open, he tore his eyes away to greet them with a wide smile.

"This is so cool. I don't know how I missed them earlier," Mattie pointed at the lizard and grinned. "What's this one called?"

Relief, surprise, and humor swept over both Grissom and Sara simultaneously as they hovered in the doorway. "I think that you can field his questions, Gris, so I'm going to take a shower and brush my teeth." Sara smiled at Mattie before slipping from the room.

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Sara was drifting off to sleep when she heard Grissom enter the room. A few minutes later he slipped into bed beside her and scooted beneath the sheets until their faces were inches apart as he wrapped his left hand on her hip and propped his right hand beneath his head.

"Why are you wearing jogging pants?" Grissom asked with sudden realization. Pulling the sheet down, he inspected her body and found that she wore a oversized pair of his jogging pants and one of his t-shirts.

"Mattie is in the next room so I didn't think we should put temptation in our path," she replied while trying to keep her eyes from sweeping over his own bare form. "You should put some jogging pants on yourself, or then again, maybe I should sleep on the sofa tonight." Sara sat up and swung her feet off the bed when she felt her body pulled roughly back onto the bed as Grissom rolled her beneath him and positioned his forearms on either side of her body.

"The door is closed. Mattie is already fast asleep. These walls are sound proof." He kissed the corner of her mouth and hoped the walls were sound proof. He knew that they were thick. "We can make love without screams and other loud noises, can't we?" His tongue trailed along her jaw from one side to the other as his one hand found the opening beneath her shirt and began to trail along the edge of the much too big jogging pants.

"I'm not sure that I can make love with you without making loud noises, Gris." Sara sputtered between pants as she felt his hand tease beneath the edge of the band and tug it lower on her abdomen. "I'll try though." Without another word she wiggled her hips until the jogging pants were sliding down her legs and Grissom was pulling them off with one hand while his tongue continued to trail a path along her jaw to her neck and then to her right shoulder.

Within seconds she was divested of her clothes, his clothes, Grissom thought with a chuckle. His motions slowed down once they were lying skin to skin and he gazed into her eyes. "I love you, Sara."

She felt her heart leap wildly inside her chest and her eyes widened. Those were words that she had dreamed he would say to her and yet never expected to hear, at least not this soon. She should respond. She should but he was kissing her again, taking her response away from her and ingesting it with his lips and his tongue. He nipped at the base of her neck and kissed the spot before moving lower towards her right breast where he paused when he heard Sara's soft plea.

"I want you now, Gris, no more foreplay," Sara breathed out in a rush as she wrapped her long legs around his body and ran her hands over his spine. "I want you inside me. Now."

Grissom placed both forearms on either side of her face to support his weight as he made her look up at him and into his eyes as he entered inside of her and they became one. Sensations enveloped them, washing over each of them in pulses as Grissom met her cries in his throat and they tried to contain their passion within the confines of the bedroom.

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Sometime later Grissom lay sprawled on the bed, slumber overtaking him, one arm flung over Sara's stomach and the other beneath the pillow they both rested their heads upon. Sara stared up at the ceiling, languid and relaxed and yet strangely unable to sleep. Grissom had told her that he loved her and she had not returned the sentiment. Not with words. She did love him and had built her world around him since she arrived in Vegas at his bequest. She adored him. Why had the words stuck in her throat?

With sleep elusive, she decided to check in on Mattie. Disengaging herself from his arm without him waking was not easy, but she managed to accomplish it and was soon pulling Grissom's t-shirt back on she made her way down the hallway until she reached the guest room.

Mattie was mumbling in his sleep and Sara had to step up close to the bed to decipher what nightmare was disturbing his restless sleep, although it was not hard to hazzard a guess.

"Don't leave, daddy. Don't leave," Mattie was mumbling over and over again as Sara eased herself onto the edge of his bed and reached out to push the hair on his forehead back. A lump formed in her throat as she watched the little boy's torment.

"It's going to be okay, Mattie, everything will be okay." Sara felt like a heel even as she repeated these words and smoothed his auburn locks away from his eyes. Who was she to tell this kid that everything would be fine when his dad was gone, his brother was in a coma, and his mom was oblivious to his presence.

She paused as his eyes fluttered open and his gaze bore into hers in the half lit room. "Sara? What's wrong? Andy?"

"Andy's fine, Mattie. You were having a bad dream. Would you like to talk about your dad?" she asked. She was not sure if the timing was right, but she felt he needed to get this off his chest.

"I miss my dad," Mattie whispered. "He used to sing me to sleep at night when I was little and even when I got older he would sing me back to sleep if I had a bad dream."

"Really? What songs did he sing to you?"

"Many different ones," Mattie rattled off a variety of songs, some Sara recognized and some she had no clue. "Sara?"

"Yeah, Mattie?" Please don't let him ask me to sing.

"Do you have my dad's watch?"

Relieved that her singing abilities would not be called into play, Sara nodded. "I do have it. Hold on one minute and I'll get it for you." The watch had been cleared from evidence along with Kyle's wallet, which Grissom had given to Tom, and Sara had requested the watch with the intention of giving it to Mattie when the opportunity arrived. Apparently the opportunity had arrived.

Returning to the room with Kyles watch, Mattie's own identical watch and also Andy's watch which they had collected from the hospital, Sara presented the items to the child with a soft smile.

"Andy doesn't have his on," Mattie said sadly. He took the watches in both hands and stared at them with a frown. "I need to take his watch to him, Sara."

"Tommorrow," she replied. "We will try to get you in to see him tommorrow and you can take him his watch."

Mattie smiled and yawned simultaneously. "Sara?"

"Hmmm?"

"Will you sing me a song?"

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When she was certain that Mattie was sound asleep, she tucked the blanket around his shoulders and eased her long frame off the bed before turning towards the door where she came face to face with a bemused Grissom who was leaning against the doorframe.

"Don't say a word," Sara said as she pushed him gently back from the doorway and into the hall. She noticed that he had pulled on the jogging pants that she had discarded earlier and looked so sexy standing there, smirking.

"You have a beautiful voice, Miss Sidle, will you sing me to sleep now?"

"Shut up," she laughed softly and looked at him from the corner of her eyes as she made her way back towards his bedroom. "If you are lucky then maybe I can hum you back to sleep."

The words lit another flame of desire as he followed her into his room, and he could not help but tease. "I don't think that humming would lull me into slumber."

"We will have to test your theory," she replied as she reached for the rim of his jogging pants.

TBC