Epilogue

One Month Later – 6:00pm April 4th

Shelly walked into the prison with thoughts running rapid in her mind. Greg was being the best friend anyone could ever wish for, showing his support every way he could, including now as he walked in with her hand firmly grasped in his. She wasn't sure what to think about it, if anything. Friends can be that caring but what about more? Not going there right now…She thought.

Right now she could only afford to think about Rhory. She was walking into the prison, at his request to talk to her, with nothing but vile threats to throw at him. She didn't know what he wanted but she knew she wasn't going to like it. It was going to take all her energy not to smash through the window and strangle him, never mind talk to him civilly.

They walked into the room and instantly saw Rhory sitting on the other side of a glass wall, eagerly awaiting Shelly to pick up the phone and talk to him. Greg gave her hand one more squeeze and leaned down to her ear, "I'll be right back here for you." Shelly looked up at him gratefully before stepping up to the chair and sitting down. It took her a second to calm herself before picking up the phone.

"What?" She asked as smoothly as she could.

"I want you to get me out so we can be a family." He actually had hope in his eyes like he believed she would help him.

After her initial shock wore off, she blasted, "You want what?"

"I want you to get me out of here. You have cop buddies, make me a deal." Her jaw dropped. "What? I should be out there raising my kid and being with my family."

"You have no kid, you have no family." She spat.

"I have family Shelly and you know that. I want to see my son."

"Fuck you."

"He's my son."

"Wrong, he's mine and you'll never see him, ever. He's going to be with me and there is nothing and no one that will take him away from me."

"Then get me out of here Shelly-babe so I can help." She glared at him. "I want to see him, be with him, with you."

"Fuck you."

"I'm his father."

"Sperm donor."

"What?"

"Correction - you're his sperm donor."

"Whatever you want to call it Shelly, he's still part me." Shelly scrunched up her nose. "Without me, he wouldn't be here."

"Maybe not now but," She looked back quickly at Greg who was smiling supportively at her, "I could have waited for a real man."

Rhory scoffed but shook it off. "You have to help me get out of here."

"Are you fuckin' stupid?" Shelly finally lost it. "You killed Deryck and almost killed the very person taking care of your son. I'm the one that shot you and was perfectly ready to let you die. Why the hell would you think I'd help you now?"

Nothing she said phased his psychotic mind. "You'll help me now because you didn't let me die then because you still love me."

"I never, ever loved you." She growled as she leaned forward. "I didn't let you die then because I wanted to see you suffer first. Bleeding out in minutes is not enough. I wanted to watch you deteriorate in here, getting years worth of payback. All those big men in there ready to do to your ass what you did to me and god knows how many other little girls. Then, after a couple years of that, you'll finally get the needle and we'll get to watch you. You'll get to look into the eyes of the people you hurt, the people who absolutely hate you with a religious passion … their eyes, as well as my own, will be the last things you see before you meet your afterlife in hell."

She tossed the phone back onto it's cradle on the wall, fingered the silent, stunned man across from her, then got up and walked into Greg's waiting arms. He walked with her out of the prison and to his car, his arms still around her shaking shoulders. "Let's get some ice cream. Your favorite, Chocolate Brownie Blizzard from Dairy Queen, awaits you madam." He opened the door and witnessed her appreciative smile before closing it and joining her.

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Almost Two More Months Later - Moving day, May 29th – 6:34pm – New Grissom/Sidle Residence

Everybody was piled into the living room; pizza boxes and pop cans galore spread out amongst them. Sitting on the couch was Jillian, Grissom and Sara, who was leaning into Grissom's side while his arm rested on the back of the couch. Nicky, Warrick, Lindsey and Brass were checking out the backyard, and Shelly sat between Greg and Catherine on the floor.

They were talking about the University of Las Vegas programs that Catherine helped Shelly research and get into. She was immediately approved admittance into the school after they viewed her high school grades, straight A's, and after she received a near perfect on her SAT scores. "What's your IQ?" Greg asked.

Shelly blushed and shrugged her shoulders. Greg nudged her playfully. "Come on, you have to know what your IQ is. What did you get? Mine is 150." Greg boasted, comically puffing out his chest.

Shelly grinned and shook her head.

"Mine's 139." Catherine informed her.

Shelly sighed and blushed deeper. "Fine, mine is 152." Grissom smiled proudly while the others gaped at her. "What? It's not that big a deal."

"Are you kidding me? You're 18 and have a better IQ then me." Catherine said. "How is that fair?"

"Well Greg has a higher IQ too and you didn't say anything about it."

"That's because I knew the boy had brains, not saying that I didn't think you did but damn, 18 with an IQ of 152." Catherine shook her head. "I just wish you'd tutor my kid."

"I could."

"Oh no, she'd eat you alive." Catherine answered without thinking.

Shelly smiled. "Trust me, I've been around worse." Catherine nodded sheepishly, realizing her faux pas. Shelly looked up at the clock and gasped at the time. "Shit." She mumbled while standing up.

"What?" Greg and Catherine both asked.

Shelly looked at her father and pointed to the clock. He nodded his head and got up, walking to the sliding glass door that led to the backyard and yelled for the others to come in.

When the others piled in, Shelly stood up in front of them all. Her face was flushed from having everyone's eyes on her; she isn't an attention seeker that's for sure, Grissom thought happily. So much like me. He smiled.

"Uhhh, everyone, before they get here I just wanted to give you all a little background. It's going to be shorter then I planned because well, I lost track of time and they'll be here any minute." When she knew she had everyone's full focus she continued. "In foster care, you all know that I told you about how I met some very mean people. Well the one nice person I met … her name is Debbie. She is the woman who took in my son when I had him and wasn't allowed to keep him. Well, she and her sons…" Just then the doorbell rang. Shelly shrugged helplessly, "They're here with a little surprise for everyone."

She went to the door and was immediately embraced in a bear hug. "You're looking much better Deb." Shelly squeaked out as Debbie held her tight. Debbie nodded.

"I'm feeling much better." She released Shelly and let her pick up her crutches that fell when she lunged for Shelly. She stepped into the foyer to give Grissoma hug and then Sara. Shelly stepped to the side to let Lukas in, after receiving a hug from him, and instantly reached for Brennan who was squirming in Quinston's arms. She gave Quinston a one armed hug then released him to give her son an enormous squeeze, with caused him to giggle.

At the sound of a baby's giggle, and at the sight of Shelly walking into the room with a baby, Lindsey jumped up from her seat. "No way! A baby!" She yelled while running up to Shelly. "Can I hold him please?"

Shelly looked down at the jubilant twelve year old and sadly shook her head. "He hasn't seen me in a few months so he won't leave my side for anybody but…" Just then Brennan practically jumped from her arms and into Grissom's.

"Ganp! Ganp!" Grissom chuckled and hugged Brennan.

"Missed you too little man." Everyone who hadn't seen Grissom with the little boy was silent as they watch him cuddle and coo him.

"Did he just call you gramps?" Catherine asked in shock.

Grissom chuckled nervously and nodded his head. "He thinks I'm his grandfather." He looked at Shelly then Sara. They hadn't thought this whole secret through. They didn't think about the boy giving them away. Thankfully to them, everyone seemed to accept his answer.

"How old is the lil' guy?" Warrick asked as he walked up to him and tickled his foot.

Grissom answered happily, "He's almost 16 months." then went to put him down. As soon as his little feet hit the floor, Brennan raced straight to Sara's open arms.

"Ser! Ser!" Sara picked him up laughing.

"Hey lil' buddy, what's up?" Sara walked him outside and into fresh air as he chatted up a nonsensical storm, waving his arms around joyously to add emphasis on his words.

Shelly turned back to the group. "Group, hey!" She got their attentions and took a deep breath. "Okay, everyone, this is Debbie, her son Quinston, and her little foster man, Lukas. Group, this is Catherine, Warrick, Nicky, and Jim." Debbie shook their hands. Quinston was talking to Lindsey already and Lukas was standing shyly to Shelly's right. "Debbie, this is Lindsey, Catherine's twelve year old, and this is … where's Mama G?" Shelly asked as she looked around.

Everyone heard her muffled laugh coming from the backyard. They all walked out the glass door and found seats around the pool. Shelly brought Debbie over to where Grissom, Sara and Jillian were playing with Brennan while the others hung back, chatted, and watched.

Jillian looked up from playing with Brennan. "Grandma, this is Debbie from Chicago that took care of me and B while we were there."

Jillian stood up as fast as her aging body let her and stepped into Debbie's hug. "Tank oo." She whispered. Debbie nodded and pulled back so that she could read her lips.

"No, thank you Mrs. Grissom for accepting Shelly." Jillian waved her off and sat back down to play with her great grandson. Debbie sat down with them.

When the group noticed that their boss and co-worker weren't even paying attention to the guests in their house anymore, they took it as their sign to leave. They walked up and said goodnight before heading out the door. Warrick and Nick walked Lindsey out while Catherine and Jim stayed behind for a second.

"That's a really cute kid Shelly."

"Thank you."

"He looks a lot like someone I know." Catherine said suspiciously.

Shelly just shrugged while hoping that Catherine hadn't figured it out already and if she did, she hoped she didn't say anything to anyone. Catherine just gave her a sideways glance, then Grissom one, before walking over to the playing group.

"Good bye all." They waved. "Gil, Sara, we'll see you at work tomorrow night." With that, she was gone.

Jim walked up to Grissom and shook his hand when his good friend stood. While still grasping his hand, Jim pulled Grissom into a half-hearted hug and whispered in his ear, "I over heard Sara tell you at the grocery store. Congratulations." When he saw Grissom look at him funny, he reiterated. "Sara called Shelly your daughter. I haven't mentioned it 'til now 'cause I didn't want you to feel uncomfortable with me knowing. Well, now I just don't care." He shrugged and smiled. "Congratulations Gil. She and Sara are doing wonders for you."

Grissom tried to glare at him but his smile gave him away. Jim smiled back then went to say goodbye to Sara then Shelly. He pulled Shelly into a hug, which startled her at first. "I know and I just want to tell you that you are doing a fine job on him. I haven't seen my old friend this happy ever." Shelly raised her eyebrow, which made Jim laugh, wink, then walk into the house and out the front door. Shelly looked over to her father who shrugged and went back to playing with Brennan.

Greg came back out to the yard and walked up, wrapping his arm around Shelly's shoulders. Shelly glared at Debbie, daring her to say some wise crack, but Debbie wisely stayed quiet and just watched.

"So, his pictures don't do him justice Chicago, he really is adorable." Since everyone that didn't know the secret was gone, he said what he wanted to say when he first saw Brennan. "He looks so much like you Griss."

Grissom just smiled and continued playing. Greg laughed and kissed Shelly's head. "See you guys tomorrow."

Debbie glared at his back as he left and Shelly glared right back at her. "Don't even dare Deb. He's nice, funny, and absolutely not crazy… well, at least not in the sense of the other guys I've met. He works for dad and I already have him hounding me about it, I don't need you. Besides, nothing is happening because of the age difference."

"Please, when you hit 19, he'll be all over you." Shelly shook her head and watched as Grissom stared down Debbie from his hiding place behind Brennan.

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

August 6th - Shelly's 19th Birthday

"Daddy!" He wasn't his kid, and he and the little boy's mother weren't even dating, yet, and still, Brennan thought of Greg as dad. Ever since Greg went to pick him up at daycare and the worker misread Greg as his father, saying, "Brennan, your daddy's here to pick you up," Brennan had been calling him nothing but Dad or Daddy. Not that Greg minded in the least, in fact, he was absolutely enjoying it.

Much to the discomfort of the overly protective grandfather, but Grissom knew that Shelly could do much worse, and in fact, had done much worse in the past.

"What is it lil' B?" Brennan jumped into Greg's lap and started making a fuss over how the dragonfly wasn't in its proper spot and he couldn't reach it. I swear the kid has OCD. Greg thought as he left the party to help Brennan fix his stuffed animals.

When he returned, he took a deep breath, grabbed Shelly by the arm and then pulled her to a part of the backyard where no one else was within earshot. "What are you doing?" She laughed. She saw the nervousness in his eyes and began to really wonder what he was up to.

"Shelly," he took another breather, "I thought you were cool since the moment Sara told me about how you told off Ecklie in the mall. I knew you were serious but playful and fun and smart all at the same time and that's awesome because that's all people tell me about me. Like how I joke around yet I can…" He shook his head. "Never mind that part. I'm just rambling now."

Shelly chuckled. "It's okay Greg, just tell me why you pulled me away from everyone and I'll forget that you rambled like an idiot."

Greg smiled as he gripped her hand. "I brought you away from everybody to ask you if you uhhh…" He looked down to gather himself then looked back up to her. "Would you like to go out with me? Like on a date or whatever."

"No…"

He looked down again, hurt, and started stuttering, "Oh, okay, it's just that I thought … well … I don't know…"

She shut him up by leaning in and kissing him. After she backed off, he looked at her with a mixture of confusion and hope. "You didn't let me finish." She smiled at him. "I wouldn't like to … I'd love to."

He smiled back and lifted her off the ground. Putting her back down, he pumped his fist in the air, "Yes." He then leaned in and kissed her. A throat clearing behind them made them step away from each other guiltily. Sara smiled. "She said yes?" Greg nodded. "Nice." And she walked away leaving Greg to smile down at a confused Shelly.

"Believe it or not, I did have a speech and stuff that Sara helped me with." Shelly chuckled, shook her head, and pulled him back to her.

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A/N: I would like to, again, apologize for the bad chapter before this and hope that this made up for it at least a little bit.

Next Chapter – There is no more chapters but I am working on a sequel. I learned from my mistake on this story and will not be writing 'as I go' but I will try to have a two or three chapter head start so it's not so much waiting. Thank you all for your reviews and your patience, it means a lot.