A/N: Holy man, this chapter is long… My promise to have Grissom meet Brennan in this chapter was broken, sorry, because I forgot that I needed to wrap things up in Vegas first. I hope I made up for the wait by giving a long chapter that's worth it.

PS: Warning … this chapter is apparently under the category 'Mary-sue'; just some fluffy stuff with a little angst.

Chapter 10 – How We're Changing

5:12pm Wednesday

"Please?"

"I don't think it's a good idea."

"If you don't do it then I'll have to break in and get it myself."

"Shelly." Grissom warned.

"Dad." She was standing her ground.

"Shelly."

"Gil."

Grissom narrowed his eyes. Even after only a day and a half of knowing Shelly and hearing her call him 'dad', he was getting used to it; now Gil didn't sound right coming from her. "I'll think about it."

"But dad, it's my obligation; my responsibility to get it to Debbie so she can burry it."

"But she'll have his body sent back to Chicago to be buried." He retorted confused.

"Father, listen to me … read my lips since I know you can. It's my obligation. I'm his keeper. I need to go see him before we leave tomorrow night."

Grissom's eyebrow rose questioningly. She still hasn't told me what this keeper thing is. "What's a 'keeper'?"

Shelly sighed. "If I tell you, will I be aloud to get in and see him and to take his shirt."

"I can get you in to see him but I can not let you take his shirt, it's evidence in the investigation against Rhory." Grissom said matter-of-factly.

She huffed. "Fine, but I need something of his. Maybe his watch, or hat … his hat isn't evidence."

"Fine, I'll see about the hat, now what's a 'keeper'?"

She tried to make herself seem nonchalant by walking into the kitchen to grab the bag of chips from the cupboard. "A keeper is someone who takes the trapped soul from the deceased and brings it to the loved ones who were left behind. They then take the personal item that the keeper took from the body and burry it. It's done for two reasons; one, so that, even though the body is in the cemetery, the loved ones have a piece of the deceased buried near by. And two, it symbolizes the fact that what's done is buried and now the soul can go to heaven and be free."

She opened the bag and fiddled with it just so that her hands had something to do. She leaned against the counter and stared at the floor as Grissom sat at the island. "The second part of my responsibility is to protect the loved ones of the deceased that I'm keeping for. I am now responsible for whatever happens to Debbie and her littlest, Quinston, as well as Lukas, the little boy she's fostering. It is my duty to make sure nothing happens to them."

Grissom's brow went up further.

"If I had protected D that night in the park, if I had just noticed Rhory like I should have then he'd still be here to protect that house, but now I have to."

"So what do you have to do exactly?"

"The vow states that now I have to take the place of D and protect them."

"What kind of vow is that?"

"It's an important vow that most uhhh …" The only things he knew about her past was that she wasn't always on the right side of the law and that Rhory had raped her. She was unsure of how to bring up the other stuff.

He gave an encouraging noise for her to go on so she took a very, very deep breath and rushed her sentence as she exhaled. "It's a vow that most gangs take to assure the decease's family is taken care of."

Grissom sat stunned. Gangs? What the…

Sara stepped in the front door and walked to the kitchen with her take out bags. She was about to place them on the counter when she suddenly felt a chill. Looking around at the other two occupants, she knew why the chill was there.

"Gangs?" Grissom asked disbelieving. "Gangs take the vow? So, you … a gang?"

Sara scowled at Shelly then turned to Grissom. "It's not as bad as you think."

"Not as bad as I … you knew?" He asked incredulously.

"I helped her. She stayed with me for the past five days. Of course I knew, but we were planning," she glared at Shelly again, "a better way to tell you. Like I said, it's not as bad…"

"As I think … I know." He finished sharply as he stood and walked over to the living room. He sat down heavily on the couch and placed his head in his hands. "I didn't think… I can't believe I let that happen to you. The more I hear about you the more I want to just… I don't know, do something to myself."

Sara sat down slowly beside Grissom, placing her left arm supportively around his shoulders and her right hand gently on his thigh. Shelly sat down on the floor in front of him and pulled his hands slowly from his face. She held back tears at what she saw; Grissom's eyes shone with barely unshed tears. They were a dark, deep blue that was tinged with hatred.

"How could I let my little girl go through all that?" His voice turned icy. "No matter what the damage between two people, it should never, ever involve their kids. I should have been there. She should have let me be there." His voice softened to a self-incriminating whisper. "I should have picked up her call. I should have been there."

He closed his eyes against the tears. Sara squeezed his shoulders in support but dropped her hand to his lower back when Shelly got up onto her knees and wrapped her arms tight around Grissom's neck. He reciprocated the hold just as tight. "It was never your fault, understand?" She sat back and looked into his eyes. "Understand." She demanded as she shook him firmly. At his reluctant nod she continued. "I know you would have been there okay? I know this and I've forgiven you so now it's your turn to forgive yourself."

She slowly wiped her tears; Grissom matched her actions and smiled fondly at her. "Thank you baby-girl." She smiled at the nickname. "I understand that I'm not the one that cheated but how could I not have known that she was pregnant with my child? I should have been able to feel it. To sense you. Shouldn't I?"

Shelly shook her head and grabbed his face comically between her hands, squishing his cheeks. "Watch my hands." She demanded then let go of his face and slowly signed, "I forgive you because no matter what, I love you."

He smiled and pulled her to him again. After a minute he said, "Let's eat before everything gets cold." They stood up, Shelly and Sara getting the plates and cutlery while Grissom got the grub ready.

"When am I going to see him?" It had been relatively silent throughout their meal so when Shelly spoke, Sara jumped slightly. Grissom just kept chewing while thinking over her question.

"I think I can bring you in at the beginning of shift. I'll get you, Sara to start everyone off. Just tell them I'm in the morgue and that afterwards I'll be in my office doing paperwork."

Shelly finished off her last bite and posited, "What are you going to say when people ask who I am?"

Grissom and Sara both looked at her as if she'd lost her mind. "What do you think I'd tell them?" Grissom asked.

"Well, it's going to be weird to just walk into the lab and suddenly announce to your close friends and co-workers that you have a daughter. Not to mention the fact you're a grandfather."

Grissom smiled, still overjoyed that he was, in fact, a father and grandfather, then he quickly tracked what she was saying. "It will be weird."

"Not to mention, won't it look bad on you to be a veteran CSI and shift supervisor and to have never known that you had family out there?" Sara and Grissom exchanged dumbfounded stares. "I mean, think about it. You pride yourself on being able to find anything and everything right? Well, you couldn't find…"

"I get it." Grissom said more sharply then he wanted. When Shelly looked at her plate sheepishly, Grissom softened his tone. "I get it Shelly. Are you sure about this though? You want me to walk in there and make sure that everyone knows that you're not my family? Is that really what you want?"

"No, but it's the way it has to be." He still looked doubtful. "Look, it will be bad for your career to magically appear and have a family. Like I said, your work involves finding the clues and what are people going to think if you couldn't even find clues that you had a family? I know it sounds harsh but it's true."

Grissom nodded reluctantly and picked up his plate, bringing it to the kitchen. "So, what are we going to say?"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

9:57pm

"Hey." Sara greeted as she stood in the break room doorway awkwardly. When she had everyone's attention, she jumped in, "Catherine, you continue with your case from last night." She cleared her throat, still awkward. "Nicky, Warrick, there's a multiple 419 with your names on it." She flashed the slip then placed it on the table. She then turned to Greg. "Greg, you've got a B&E. When you're finished with that, if they need it, join Nicky and Warrick with their case."

They all continued to stare at her until Catherine finally broke the silence. "Where's Griss?"

"He's at the morgue. He told me to hand out assignments. He and I will be working on paperwork since we both have a week off starting after shift tonight."

Ignoring the quizzical stares, Sara nodded her goodbye and left for the morgue. In the hall, she breathed a sigh of relief thinking, that wasn't so bad.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Inside the morgue, Shelly and Grissom stood side-by-side beside the slab that currently held Deryck Malcolm Darwin. Doc Robbins was on the opposite side.

"Are you ready?" At Shelly's nod, Robbins started to pull back the cloth but was stopped when Shelly's hands settled on top of his. He glanced up at her, his brows creased in silent question.

"Can I do this alone please?" When the two doctors looked doubtful, Shelly bargained, "You don't have to leave me in here alone if you're afraid I'll contaminate something. I just don't want an audience." Both men nodded their understanding.

Shelly looked down at the white sheet that currently hid Deryck's body from her vision. "I've never hated the colour white more then now." She shook her head and slowly pulled the sheet back to reveal his face. "So peaceful are you..." she sang. "Your beautiful soul hidden behind death... cherish your passed time … I'll take care of you while I say this rhyme…"

Just outside the door, the two doctors shared bewildered looks. "I've never seen or heard anyone sing to a corpse."

"Nor have I, Al."

Robbins nodded. "She sounds beautiful though. Just the right roughness to go with her soft accent."

Grissom smirked to himself, very proud of his little girl.

Both men were startled when Sara walked up behind them. "What are you two doing?"

Both men looked at her guiltily and Grissom pointed over his shoulder at the morgue doors. "Shelly is in there saying goodbye to Deryck. She was singing and we both just wanted to listen." He said as he shrugged his shoulders. Sara walked up to the window and looked in. Grissom came up very close behind her and watched over her shoulder. Sara smiled as she felt Grissom's chest press against her back lightly; little did they know that the good doc didn't miss their proximity to each other and he too smiled as he went back to watching through his window.

Shelly pulled the sheet down a little more to show the gunshot wound and slowly shook her head saying, "How could I sell something so dangerous to people so stupid?" She closed her eyes and looked down quickly before taking a deep breath.

She placed her right hand over his heart, lowered her mouth to his ear, closed her eyes, and, with her left hand over her own heart, whispered, "Dear God, grant me the will, strength, and power to protect the loved ones this tragedy has forced to leave behind. Please God, protect his soul as it travels with me to his mother. And, as it is buried three feet into her yard, please, please grant her the will to live on for her youngest, Quinston."

As she stood up, she brought her right index and middle fingers to her forehead then slowly down to the middle of her chest; she raised them again, slowly, to her left shoulder then slid them across to her right before placing a gentle kiss to her fingers and doing the same motions over Deryck's forehead, chest and shoulders. She ended by placing a gentle touch of her lips to his right cheek, then his left.

The doors opened just as she was straightening up and, without acknowledging the three who were standing silently just inside the doors, she closed her eyes and placed her right hand back over his heart. She began to whisper again, this time with more force. "Please God, grant me the will and power to forgive the evil in the man who took the life of this young being who stole my heart. He was a brother and for that, there will be no revenge but security." She leaned down to his ear again and finished with, "Don't you worry Deryck, your mother and brother are going to be safe under my watch. I promise you this."

She straightened up one last time and replaced the impersonal white sheet back over his head. As she walked past, Sara wrapped her right arm around her shoulders. Grissom said goodbye and thanks to Robbins and followed them to his office.

Once inside, with the lab rats and others locked out and the curtains closed, Grissom grabbed hold of Shelly and hugged her fierce; she returned it just as tight.

"I just have to keep remembering that I'll be in Chicago in less than twenty-four hours." Shelly wiped her watery eyes and sat down on the couch.

"I'm sorry Shelly. I … I don't know what else to say or do." Grissom shrugged his shoulders sadly.

"You don't have to say or do anything other then what you're doing now. Thank you both." She squeezed their hands gently, let go, then placed her hands in her lap.

"Sara, why don't you go grab your paperwork and we can both work in here. I don't want either of us to leave Shelly's side right now." Sara nodded and left.

"I'm not a suicidal idiot, father, you don't have to baby-sit me." Shelly spat.

Grissom didn't take offence, knowing that she was in a hard emotional state right now. "I know I don't need to baby-sit you but I still don't want you alone right now. I had to deal with a family loss once and, although my mother was there with me, it was still hard. I couldn't imagine going through this alone."

"I've been going through this alone for almost thirteen years."

Grissom cringed then sighed and took his seat behind his desk. "That's done with Shelly. You won't be alone anymore, I promise that."

Sara walked in and took a seat next to Shelly on the couch. Grissom brought his folders to the table in front of them and pulled up a guest chair and sat down. For the next four hours of shift they sat in his office doing paperwork and talking.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

3:34am Tuesday

Grissom, Sara, and Shelly were sitting at a circular booth in the 24-hour diner across the street from CSI when Catherine, Warrick, Nick, and Greg came walking up to them.

"So, you decided to go for lunch and not invite us." Catherine stated in mock hurt as she flopped down onto the bench beside Shelly. Warrick and Nick sat down beside Sara and Greg grabbed a chair from the next table and pulled it up.

Grissom, who was sitting between Shelly and Sara, stated, "We didn't know that you guys were back from your scenes." He shrugged his shoulders and continued eating his burger.

Catherine only then noticed Shelly beside her and held out her hand. "Catherine Willows. Who are you?"

So much for subtly, Sara thought as she saw Shelly and Grissom both grimace. "Shelly is a friend of ours from San Francisco." Sara answered.

Everyone around the table but Shelly and Grissom raised their brows. "How come we've never heard of her before? And did you say a friend of both of you? How old is she? She can't be any older then 16, maybe 17."

"I'm 18." Shelly said defensively.

"She's 18 and from Chicago. Her cousin used to live by me in 'Frisco. Whenever Shelly came to visit him, she'd get annoyed by his drinking and come hang out with me at my place." Grissom smiled at Sara. Very good snow job, he thought.

"But you said 'a friend of both of you'." Catherine was never one to back down from a mystery.

"She is a friend of both of us, Catherine." Grissom stated. "After I met Sara at the seminar, we kept in contact. During one of the times I was asked to go back to 'Frisco and help on a case of Sara's, I met Shelly." He placed his arm around the girl's shoulders and smiled.

Who are you and what have you done with Gil Grissom? Nick, Warrick, and Catherine all thought; Greg just sat there smiling.

Shelly smiled up at her father.

After a few minutes, Grissom, Sara, and Shelly pushed their way out of the booth. Grissom tossed money on the table to cover their cheque and waved, "If we don't see you guys before we leave for Chicago tonight, then this is good bye for a week."

The four left at the table looked toward the door to see that Grissom had his arm around Shelly's shoulders, playfully pulling her to him and laughing at a joke she must have said. Sara was on the other side of Shelly and lightly punched her in the shoulder as they walked back across the street to CSI.

Back at the table, Catherine turned towards the guys but saw that Greg had left the table and only Nick and Warrick were there; their dumbfounded stares matched her own. Shrugging, they all ordered their lunches and chowed down.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Chicago!"

Shelly turned out of Grissom's hold and saw Greg running towards them. She watched him as he crossed the street and jogged the rest of the way to the CSI parking lot, where they stood.

"Hey Greggo. What's up?" Shelly smiled shyly at him as he stood in front of her, reciprocating her shy smile.

"Just wanted to talk to you for a second."

"You know each other?" Grissom asked.

Shelly was still smiling shyly at Greg, which irked Grissom in a way he'd never felt before, as she answered, "We met each other a few times within the lab."

Grissom was about to ask more when Sara grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him toward the building. "Leave them be." She chided him with a knowing smile. He glared at her a second before glancing back at Greg but his glare went ignored.

"So what's up?"

"I just wanted to say congratulations."

"For what?" Shelly looked at him with raised brows.

"For finally finding your dad; I'm happy for you both. He can be a bit of a hardass, but he's cool once you get used to it. Maybe with you around he can loosen up a bit."

Greg reached out and placed his index and middle finger under her chin, closing it for her. She shook her head and Greg couldn't help but laugh. "How do you … how did you figure it out?"

"I followed the evidence given to me. I don't know what they told you about me but I'm actually a pretty decent CSI." He joked. Shelly looked down and laughed nervously then glanced back up at him pleadingly. "Don't worry Chicago," Greg, mindful that she was weary with men, placed his hand gently on her shoulder, "I'm not going to tell anyone. As far as I know, they don't know anything but the story you guys fed them."

Shelly smiled and, forgetting for a second everything that had happened to her, or maybe it was just because Greg seemed like a safe guy, she wrapped her arms around his waist. After his initial shock wore off, Greg wrapped his arms around her neck. The physical connection was making it hard to fight off the attraction he felt for the girl twelve years his junior.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"How well do they know each other? Am I supposed to be this agitated? You were a young girl her age once … was that look on her face a crush? I couldn't handle having my daughter having a crush on Sanders. Ugh, not to mention the fact that if they got together and married, Greg Sanders would be part of my family. And on top of that, they would have little demon children running around listening to Manson and Metallica; their green and blonde spiky hair poking the eyes out of the other little children at day care. Ugh!" Grissom made fake gagging noises as he fell heavily onto the couch in his office. He leaned his head back and placed his hands over his face.

Sara had been sitting on the couch for his entire rant, smiling up at the paranoid father knowingly. Wonder how long it's going to take for that word not to feel funny when associated with Grissom? She thought. When he fell heavily beside her, she placed her right hand on his knee, very giddy at the new privilege to do that, and said gently, "That look on her face is a crush." She ignored his snarl. "And I know for a fact that Greg is crushin' her too." At that, Grissom removed his hands from his face a visibly shuddered.

"Come on Griss, it can't be that bad. I mean, I bet they aren't even going to hook up." She knew she worded that wrong when his glare landed on her. "I didn't mean 'hook up' as in … look, I know this whole protective father thing you've got going on is new so I'm going to give you a pointer. Let the girl be when it comes to men. Trust me, she knows enough about them to stay far away from the bad ones."

His confused eyes bore into hers but she wasn't going to elaborate. She knew it was Shelly's job to tell her father about her past, whether she does or not is up to her.

Shelly walked casually into the office and, after closing the door, just as casually, announced, "Greggo knows." She sat down in the chair behind his desk.

"Greggo," Grissom rolled his eyes at the name, "knows what?"

"He knows you're my father." She shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal.

"Well," Sara started after gathering herself from the shock, "I guess Greg is a better CSI then most of you guys give him credit for."

Grissom looked at her and then to Shelly. "How?"

She shrugged once again. "Wasn't that hard for him. He knew that I hadn't met Sara before her getting my case so that was one thing. Another was the fact that he knew I was looking for my father and when you oh-so-casually put your arm 'lovingly', as he put it, over my shoulders, he just knew. Not to mention the fact that you don't lie, yet you went along with the shit that Sara was spewing at the diner." She picked up a pen and started doodling on a piece of paper as the two CSI's in the room processed what she said.

With her face still down looking at the paper she commented, "It's not that big a deal you know. It's not like he's going to run around the lab with a big sign reading, 'GIL GRISSOM HAS AN ILIGITAMATE LOVE CHILD WHO ALSO HAS AN ILIGITAMATE BASTARD SON!'" She rolled her eyes at their haunted expressions. "You really don't think much of Greg do you?"

"Yes, we do, it's just that image is a bit much for your dad considering his rant earlier." Sara answered. At Shelly's raised brow, Sara elaborated, "After seeing you two downstairs, he's worried that you and Greg are going to marry and have demon spawn who poke other children's eyes out while they listen to loud music that pop eardrums."

"What's wrong with that?" Shelly said this with such a straight face that she had to laugh out loud afterwards at the look of shear terror in her father's eyes. "Just leave the imagination to me, dad, and do your paperwork."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

7:43am

Sara had driven back to her apartment after their after-shift breakfast and was packing up what was left to pack for the weeklong trip. Shelly had driven with Grissom back to his townhouse, at his request.

"So, what did you need help with?" Shelly asked as she flopped down onto the couch. She picked up the remote to the stereo and pushed play. Montgomery Gentry's "She Couldn't Change Me" was heard and Grissom cringed.

"You played with the stereo earlier didn't you?" At her shrug he asked, "Is this what I'll have to be tortured into listening to for now on?" He sat down next to her on the couch.

She placed her head on his left knee and swung her feet over the side of the couch. His hand automatically went to her head and into her hair. "Nope, I listen to everything from country to rock to alternative to hip hop to opera to…"

"Okay, okay I get it."

"Good. Now, what is it that you needed me for?" When she felt him tense she realized that it was going to be personal so she changed the topic to something comfortable, giving him time to relax more. "Which one is your favorite butterfly?" She pointed in the direction of some of his framed butterflies.

"Anthocharis Sara." He answered without thinking. He cleared his throat, "Now, for reasons I'm sure you understand, that's just between you and I all right?" Shelly chuckled. "My other would be Callicore Hesperis."

"Colour?"

"The very beautiful red, blue, and black."

"Nice. My favorites would have to be the Papilio Rutulus, or Western Tiger Swallowtail, and the Danaus Plexippus, or Monarch. I would love to be a Monarch butterfly and be able to float around in life without having to worry about enemies because they see my bright colours and are instantly afraid of my milkweed poison." Shelly laughed.

"Where did you learn about butterflies?"

"When I was bored, I would find books about everything and anything. Debbie loved to buy books for me. I have many books on bugs, crime mysteries and a few on Jack the Ripper."

Grissom made an affirmative noise and said, "I would have loved to be around in the late 1800s just to be able to work on his case."

"I know, same here." Shelly smiled. She was loving the opportunity to bond with her father and, from the whimsical smile on Grissom's face, she would guess that he loved it too.

"So, you comfortable enough to tell me what it is you needed me here for? At least tell me what it has to deal with."

Grissom sighed heavily. "Even with your mother I was never good with romance." Stroking her hair lightly was keeping him relaxed so he continued as he explained, "The situation between Sara and me is very complicated and since you're female, and not one I need to worry about being made fun of by like Catherine, I need your help with setting something up."

"Lots of music."

"What?"

"Whatever it is, make sure there is lots of music."

"Duly noted."

"What else do you need?"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

6:23pm Wednesday – Chicago's St. Francis Hospital

"Oh my god, Debbie." Shelly's right hand flew up to cover her mouth as she gasped.

After a slight layover in Seattle, their plane had landed in Chicago just before 5:00 that afternoon. They had driven straight from the airport to St. Francis Hospital and now Shelly, Sara, and Grissom stood just outside the hospital room, looking in the window at a battered and bruised Debbie. The right side of her head was covered in gauze, her left wrist in a cast and left leg splinted.

Grissom, still uncomfortable and uncertain about his new role, stood back slightly and let Sara wrap her right arm around Shelly's shoulders to comfort her. He watched in awe as Shelly leaned into Sara's side and buried her face, amazingly sans tears, into Sara's shoulder. They looked as if they'd known each other forever.

The doctor tapped Shelly on the shoulder lightly and when he got her distracted attention, he reported, "She has suffered a concussion and many cracked ribs but is in stable condition. She has a broken left wrist and a fractured left tibia. In other words, her left leg is cracked but there's not much we can do about that but splint it, as you can see."

He looked back in at Debbie for a second before continuing, "She's asleep at the moment but you can go in there and wait. When she wakes up, she'll be able to converse with you but I will tell you now that I don't want her oxygen mask to be removed from her face for more then ten seconds. She suffered several cracked ribs from the baseball bat and she is having troubles breathing. If she takes it off for too long then alarms with sound and if that happens then I'll have to ask you to leave. If she gets worked up in anyway that I deem harmful to her recovery then I'll have to ask you to leave. Understood?" He asked gently.

"Yes sir." Shelly replied in a distant voice.

The doctor nodded his head, said goodbye to the three of them and then walked off down the hall.

"The ICU is way too quiet." Shelly whispered, not taking her eyes off Debbie's peacefully sleeping form.

Sara wrapped her arms around Shelly, who quickly reciprocated the hug, kissed her on the top of her head and then walked down the hall towards the doors.

Grissom watched his baby girl from a few feet away for a few more seconds. He then walked up to her and held her from behind. "I'm so sorry this happened, Shelly."

Shelly half smiled, "Thank you."

"For what?" He asked slightly perplexed.

"For being here with me. For not leaving or pushing me away when you found out who I am. That's the first thing I thought you were going to do. I didn't know who you were; all I knew was that you didn't want me. Or at least, that's what mom said."

"I always wanted you, Shelly. I wish I knew about you before because I would have been there."

"I know…"

"So just get that thought out of your head because I'm not leaving or pushing you away. You and Brennan are my family." Shelly smiled as Grissom leaned down and planted a reassuring kiss to her temple.

Shelly sighed contentedly, stepped out of his embrace, and then turned to face him. "Chuck has everything set up for you in your room, 236. There you'll find everything you need for your special night. If you need anything more," She pulled a number out of her pants pocket, "then phone Chuck."

"You keep throwing this guys name around saying he'll do anything and everything you ask, so, I ask … who is Chuck exactly?" He asked wearily as he pocketed the number.

"He's just a friend of mine who works in the hotel. Now, I'll have the room across the hall from you guys but I'm most likely not even going to be there at all tonight so you don't have to worry about grossing me out with any noises you guys make."

Grissom, blushing profusely, babbled, "We… it's not… we weren't planning… I wasn't planning…" He looked down at his feet embarrassed as Shelly laughed lightly.

"I understand human biology, dad. It's normal that a man and woman after a romantic dinner and dancing might feel up to…" She snickered at her play on words, "intercourse." She had to laugh again at his expression.

After getting over his shock that his daughter had no qualms to talk to him about this, definitely gets it from Bekka, he asked, "Where are you going to be if you're not at the hotel? Here?"

"Here and there. I know my way around Chicago dad. Don't worry." She pulled him into a hug and whispered, "Have a great night. Good luck"

Grissom smiled and, after her assurance that she'd be fine, walked towards Sara, who was still waiting by the doors. "What was that about?"

Grissom waved off her question, grabbed hold of her hand, and walked out to the silver and black Chrysler Sebring that they had rented.

Shelly stood just inside Debbie's door with nothing to do but think. I should have been here. I was selfish to think of only myself and leave her alone with my son … my problems. Rhory better get the fuckin' death penalty for the shit he's put us through. My fault though, I should've been here damnit. Shelly's thoughts were interrupted by the nurse.

"Sweetie, are you going to go in?" The short, late-twenties nurse had a sympathetic smile as she walked past Shelly and into the room to check Deb's vitals.

Snapping back to the now, Shelly walked slowly towards Debbie's bedside. When she was no less then five feet away, she stopped. What am I doing? It's because of me that she's in here. She won't want me here.

But she loves you, she'd said you're family.

But that doesn't mean she would want you here after the shit you … I put her through.

Dear lord, I'm goin' crazy. She shook her head and stepped within two feet of the bed. She still couldn't bring herself to touch her yet; the guilt weighed down heavily on her.

When she finally got the nerve, she walked to the side of the bed and laid her hand gently on Debbie's. The nurse smiled down at Shelly, who was easily five inches shorter than her. "It's never easy to see loved ones with wires and tubes hanging every-which-way." Nurse Rebecca, according to her nameplate, said sympathetically.

Shelly shook her head, "My mom's name was Rebekah. Yours is spelt differently though."

Rebecca understood the distraction. "Yeah, mine is the most common way to spell it. When I was younger," She continued as she took notes, "I kept thinking of different spellings to change it to. I settled on keeping it this way though, since my mother was the one to choose it."

Shelly nodded, a small smile on her face, "Debbie loves the way my mom used to spell it. R-E-B-E-K-A-H. She said that if she ever had a little girl then she would want to name her that." Shelly looked back down at her still swollen face.

"She kept telling me about you. That is, when we aloud her to speak." Rebecca chuckled. "I think Doctor Branson just likes the control he has over patients." Shelly smiled. "Anyway, she kept telling me how you're coming back from … where was it that you were?"

"Las Vegas."

"Oooooh, I love Las Vegas. Been there once and I so want to go back. Were you there visiting family?"

"Uh, you could say that." She mumbled.

Touchy subject, Rebecca noted to herself. "So, when Ms. Darwin wakes up, I'm sure she'll have lots to say to you. But, as I'm sure Doctor Branson told you…"

"She can't have the mask up for more than ten seconds or alarms … I'll be gone … blah blah blah," Shelly chuckled, "I heard it all." She smiled to take the sting out of her words.

"I'll be just down the hall." Rebecca said. "Need anything, give me a holler." Shelly nodded and when the nurse left, she sat down in the chair beside the bed, laid her head on her left arm and gripped Debbie's left hand tight in her right.

"Family is family. I'm here now." She mumbled. Not ten minutes later, she fell asleep.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Grissom watched as the bellboys grabbed his, Sara's, and Shelly's luggage from the trunk of their car and placed it onto a cart. He grabbed Sara's hand and they followed them into the lobby of the hotel. It wasn't a huge hotel but fair sized with bellboys and a small diner attached to the lobby. "Chuck will be with you in a minute sir." Grissom nodded and waited with Sara.

Five minutes later, a very flamboyant young man came strolling up to them. "Hey there, you must be the Ms. Sidle that Shelly has been going on about." He reached for her hand and placed a gentle kiss on top. He turned to Grissom and looked him up and down appreciatively. "I must say, you look fine for a man with an almost twenty year old daughter." Chuck blushed. "I'm sorry, I keep being told not to use my outside voice."

As Sara stood there trying to hide her amused laugh, Grissom cleared his throat and grasp Sara's hand tight, as if announcing … SEE, WOMAN FOR ME! "I take it you must be Chuck." Grissom shook his hand.

"Yes, yes, that is I." He pulled two envelopes from his hidden coat pocket and handed them to Grissom. He then turned to Sara, "Now, if you will follow me miss, then I'll bring you to your floor. Dr. Grissom, you may follow to." Chuck winked at him and walked off with a laughing Sara on his arm and another bellboy pushing their luggage forward.

Grissom glanced down at the envelopes and opened the first one, which had a number 1 on the front. Inside was a printed off email:

Dad,

You have obviously met Chuck by now, so what do you think? Pretty cool guy eh? And you were worried that when I said he would do ANYTHING for me that it had something to do with sex. Haha. Not even close. I saved his ass from getting picked on in school, that's why he'd do anything for me. I hope he didn't embarrass you with his 'outside voice.'

Now onto the reason I'm writing this.

Upstairs, there will be everything you and I talked about before we left. I got Chuck to set everything up including the CD. Now, number one on the CD is the song you and I talked about but then the rest of the CD are songs that I chose for you. I felt they were relevant to your relationship with Sara, for all that I heard anyway.

There are also a few fun songs on there, even though I know you don't hold country music high on your list of likes, I placed a few in there. If you want to know the reasons for the songs I chose then those are in envelope two. You can share them with Sara.

The lyrics you asked for are beside the stereo. I made Chuck do them up fancy so that Sara can keep them as a souvenir.

I want you two to have as much fun as you can. Don't worry about noise level of the music or of anything else. -cough- GROSS -cough-

Have fun. Love Shelly.

Grissom smiled as they reached their door, 236. He tucked the page into his pocket, along with the second envelope. Chuck smiled at him as he pulled out their key card. "Wait here while we set your luggage inside." Sara's eyebrows rose to new heights as she watched the two bellboys walk into their room. Why are we waiting out here? She wondered. Looking up at Grissom and his enigmatic smile, she new something was going on.

"All ready for you sir." Grissom nodded, handed a tip to the bellboy and to Chuck and watched them head down the hall again, whispering with each other.

Grissom wrapped his right arm around Sara's waist from behind and covered her eyes with his left hand. She squeaked in surprise but relaxed as he spoke to her, his lips grazing her ear as he did so. "I have never been a man of words Sara, unless they weren't my own. But even with other's, you render me speechless. So, with the help of Shelly and that very flamboyant young man, I have set up something that I hope tells you everything you need to know and more." With that, he slowly glided her into the room, his hand still covering her eyes.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Shelly suddenly sat up and held her eyes open until they were dry, then blinked quickly and held them until they were once again dry. She did this until she was certain that when she closed her eyes for more then a second, the nightmare wouldn't reappear behind her eyelids.

At her sudden move, Debbie stirred and slowly blinked away the sleep from her eyes. When she caught sight of Shelly sitting beside her, she yanked the oxygen mask off and, in a voice raspy from non-use, shrieked, "Shelly!"

Shelly snapped her eyes to Debbie and jumped out of her seat to wrap her up in a hug. "Oh my god Deb. I'm so so so so sorry for everything. For you, for Brennan, for Quinston, for wrecking your house, for …Deryck." Shelly's voice cracked. She quickly realized that she was going to get kicked out if she didn't replace the mask.

Debbie ripped it away from her face again, "You have nothing to be sorry about. Nothing. We're family." Shelly shut her up by replacing the mask again.

"I'm keeping this guilt with me no matter what you say Debbie. You know that, so don't waste your breath telling me otherwise." Tears streamed down both their faces. "If you keep the mask off for too long then I'm going to be kicked out."

Off it went again. "I don't give a shit what they say Shelly, they aren't kicking you out. I'm the patient, they work for me, they listen to me." Shelly laughed at her and sat back in her chair. They sat like that for an hour before Debbie got too tired to stay up.

"I'm going to go but I promise I'll be back all right?" Debbie nodded and fell asleep as Shelly quietly left the hospital and went in search of the one person she truly needed to see.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A/N: HOLY S--T! Over 7,000 words! I'm not sure about this chapter myself, but I hope you enjoyed it. I'll hopefullyadd the next chapter much quicker then I added this one. As I said before, my computer is being very unfriendly and therefore I have to wait to go to the resource center to add chapters.

If anyone thought that not going straight to Brennan when they got to Chicago was unrealistic, I apologize but I figured that once they saw Brennan, they wouldn't leave his side so I'm giving them a night to get things together first. And I'm sorry for any mistakes I've made sinceI've never been to Chicago.

Next Chapter: Romance, fluff, and little angst. Plus, Grissom's baby double!