Disclaimer: Characters contained within do not belong to me.

Author's Notes: My continued thanks and humble appreciation go out to all my readers/reviewers;) Y'all are just the best!


The Invisible Man

by Kristen Elizabeth


To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved. – George MacDonald


One month earlier

"Open mine next." Greg thrust a flamboyantly wrapped package into Sara's hand. The grin he gave her was almost Machiavellian. It made her just a little bit hesitant as she accepted the gift.

The baby shower had been planned and executed by Catherine without her knowledge or input. Not that she was complaining. Far from the terrifying picture she'd had of paper máché storks, watercress sandwiches and embarrassing party games to determine who could diaper a doll the fastest, the shower had actually turned out to be pretty cool. Held at a rented room in the Sphere that must have cost Catherine a few pennies, there was a martini bar for everyone who wasn't pregnant, gourmet finger foods, a huge chocolate cake, and not a trace of pink or blue in sight. If not for the gifts piled around the seven months pregnant woman, it might have been mistaken for a singles mixer.

So far, she'd received a designer diaper bag from Catherine, an infinitely soft baby blanket from Nick that would be embroidered with the baby's name, birthday, weight and height as soon as all of that was determined, a set of high-tech baby monitors from Warrick, and a Waterford silver feeding spoon from Doc Robbins, plus several other gifts in the same vein from the co-workers who'd dropped by briefly before heading to work.

Now, she gingerly opened Greg's gift, keeping a wary eye on him the entire time. She lifted the lid off a shirt box; nestled inside a layer of tissue paper was a tiny shirt that read "If you think I'm cute, you should see my Mommy."

Sara burst out laughing. "Leave it to you, Greg, to turn my kid into a crawling date service."

"There's more," he urged her.

Underneath the baby's garment lay one in her size. "If you think I'm cute, you should see my baby," Sara read aloud.

"Now he's pimping out the kid," Warrick snorted.

Catherine saluted him with her drink. "Classy, Greggo."

"I think they're adorable," Sara defended him. She didn't add that matching clothes were going to be a strict no-no in the Sidle household. "Thank you, Greg."

With the gifts out of the way, the party was officially winding down. And still, Sara kept watching the door, waiting for him to arrive. But only, she kept telling herself, to have the guilty pleasure of seeing Grissom at a baby shower.

But it had been two hours. And he still hadn't shown.

Being the party's host, Catherine called an end to the festivities when she recruited the boys to carry the load of presents to Sara's car. While they were busy, she approached the guest of honor.

"It's probably too late to ask this, but did you want a shower?"

Sara smiled, shaking her head. "No, but what the hell do I know? This was great, Catherine. I really appreciate it."

"Good." She folded her arms over her chest. "In case you were wondering, he did say he'd come."

She feigned interest in the leftover icing on her cake plate. "Okay."

"He's having a hard time with all of this, Sara."

Looking Catherine straight in the eye, she asked, "Why's that?"

"Would you want to watch him having a baby with another woman?"

Just then, Greg came back into the room. "Hey, Sara…we're going." He tossed her the keys to her car. "See you at the lab."

"Bye. Thanks again!" When he was gone, Sara struggled to stand. "I miss my waist," she grumbled.

"That's about normal." Catherine looked around. "The hotel will clean up for us, so anytime you're ready…"

She nodded. "Yeah. I just want to save some cake. The only craving I've had has been for chocolate frosting."

"It's better than Beluga caviar," Catherine replied, tossing her hair out of her eyes. "Sixty dollars an ounce and I threw it all up an hour later." She grabbed her purse. "Later."

Five minutes later, Sara had managed to box up several slices of the luscious dessert. She was waddling for the door when it suddenly opened on its own.

"Hank? What are you…?"

"I heard you'd be here." Hank stepped inside. "Since you've successfully avoided my calls and visits to the lab, I figured this was the only way I'd ever get to talk to you." His gaze dropped down to her swollen belly. "You know, when you said you'd think about my offer, I really thought you would. Guess I was wrong. Artificial insemination?"

"It worked out better this way," Sara said. "My baby is mine alone, and you didn't have to pity-screw me. I call that a win-win situation."

Hank shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe you'd pick something so…clinical and artificial over the real thing." He paused. "Although that's pretty much in character."

Her head snapped up. "That was so uncalled for. I don't know why you're upset, but don't you dare take it out on me." She put a protective hand on her stomach. "If you'll excuse me…"

He moved directly in front of her, blocking her path to the door. "Let me guess. When it came time to pick the color of your donor's eyes, you went for blue." Sara looked away. "Yeah, I figured as much."

She kept looking off to the right. "Hank, your proposal was noble. In a soap opera alternate universe where this sort of thing is normal. But in my world, you don't sleep with an ex-boyfriend. Especially not in the hopes of conceiving a baby. It's just plain weird. So, you can accuse me of being cold and detached all you want. And you can think I'm pathetic for my choice in donors." Sara turned her frown onto him with full force. "Just don't expect me to care all that much."

They faced off for another moment. Finally, Hank broke the stare. "Look, maybe I got into this idea of being a father more than I thought I would."

"I called that one. Remember?"

"Yeah. You did." Hank sighed. "Sara, if you ever need anything…" He let the offer trail when she lowered her chin in acknowledgement.

As he turned to go, the door opened again. Grissom entered, carrying a single gift. Sara couldn't quite keep the pleasure out of her voice. "You came."

"I'm late," he said, regretfully. His expression cooled. "Hello, Hank."

Hank fixed him with a hard glare as he brusquely passed him. The door slammed shut, leaving Grissom and Sara alone.

"Sorry about that," Sara sighed.

The last thing he wanted to do was to hear about her relationship with the man, good or bad. Sometimes he wanted to forget Hank even existed. But it was hard to do that when Sara was walking around, carrying a part of him.

"It's all right." Grissom smiled, ruefully. "To tell the truth, I'm late on purpose. I didn't want to play any party games."

"No games," she said. "But I share your fear of them." She paused. "There's cake, though. Good cake. Chocolate. Really thick icing."

He held up a hand. "You don't have to sell me on cake, Sara."

A few minutes later, they were both equipped with a slice. Sara swallowed a bite and pointed to Grissom's gift. "Is that for me?"

"Yes. Um…would you like to open it?"

She gave him a look. "Hand it over." Setting aside her cake, Sara ripped into the pastel paper.

"Gift wrapping," he apologized for the cutsey-ness of it. "There is apparently no such thing as understated baby…"

"Oh, Grissom…" Sara lifted a thin embossed album into the air. "A baby book."

He shrugged, as though the gift was inadequate. "If you've already bought one, don't feel like you have to…"

"I haven't." When she looked at him, there were tears in her eyes. "But even if I had, this is the one I would keep. It's beautiful, Grissom. I love it. I'm going to start filling it out tonight."

If she hadn't known better, she could have sworn his cheeks flushed. "I'm glad you like it."

Brushing away her tears, Sara dug into her bag until she came up with a pen. "Why wait until tonight?" She opened the album and flipped through it until she found the pages reserved for recording the events of the baby shower. On the first line under the heading "gifts for baby," she wrote down "baby book from Gil Grissom."

Sara looked back up. "Thank you."

Grissom nodded. "You're welcome."

She set the book aside. The perfect time and place she'd been searching for had arrived. They were alone and any tension that existed between them had temporarily melted away. It was now or never.

"Grissom, I've been thinking about something for awhile. And I realize this is going to probably be the single biggest thing I've ever asked anyone in my life, but it just feels right."

"I'm listening."

After a calming breath, Sara went on. "I'd like you to be my baby's godfather."

It was like she'd sucked all of the air out of the room. Grissom didn't move, didn't blink for a full minute. "Sara…"

"You don't have to answer right now," she clarified in a huge rush. "Take all the time you need to think about it. Like I said, I know it's a lot to ask."

He looked down at his half-eaten slice of cake. "Sara, I'm…flattered. I am. But shouldn't you pick someone who's…I don't know…spiritual?"

"I don't think spiritual has to be synonymous with religious." Sara gently rubbed her stomach. "You question your world. You look for truth and you never settle for anything less than knowing everything you can. I want my child to grow up with that thirst for knowledge." She lowered her lashes. "I'd like it if he or she learns it from the person who taught it to me."

Her words touched places in his heart he'd never known could feel so warm. But it was a dangerous warmth. He had to temper it with a cold dose of reality. "Wouldn't someone like Nick be a better choice? Or maybe there's someone in the baby's father's family who…"

"I want you." He blinked and she cleared her throat. "Um…just please think about it." She paused for a second before starting the process of hauling herself out of her chair.

Grissom watched her reverently place the baby book into her bag. She picked up her take-home plate of cake and turned back to him. "I have to run home, so I might be a few minutes late to work." She gave him a smile that looked forced. "I just want you to know…I'd never ask this of someone I didn't trust with my own life."

She left a moment later in the adorable duck-walk of the pregnant woman. Grissom pulled both his hands down the length of his face.

"Good going, Gil."


To Be Continued