Author's Notes: I'm so glad everyone seemed to enjoy the last chapter. Hope at least a few people enjoy this one, too;) Thanks! Until next time...
The Invisible Man
by Kristen Elizabeth
Catherine found the man she was looking for in the last place she would have looked for him. At least on any other day in the entire time she had known him.
Grissom stood at the glass window that looked into Desert Palm's nursery. His hair was unkempt and he was still in the clothes she'd last seen on him at assignments the night before. And he was so focused that it took him a full two minutes to notice her standing right next to him.
"Hey," she said when he finally glanced at her. "Heard you had an exciting night."
He pointed at one bassinet. "A boy. Five pounds, eight ounces, seventeen inches."
Catherine squinted to read the name tag. "Sidle, Jacob G." She smiled. "I don't even have to ask what the 'G' stands for, do I?"
He didn't seem to hear her. "Catherine, it was beyond words."
"I know." She tore her eyes away from the sleeping infant. "How's Sara?"
"Tired. She's sleeping."
"C-section recovery is a bitch," Catherine noted. "Glad I didn't have to do it that way."
Grissom touched the glass, as though he could reach right through it to the baby. "He looks so much like her, don't you think?" He paused. "He's beautiful."
She hooked her arm through his. "Yeah." Catherine allowed him another few minutes of wonder before she leaned into him. "Grissom, what happened to the evidence from your scene last night?"
The blood literally drained from his face. "It's…in the backseat of my car."
"Locked?"
He looked offended. "Of course."
"Give me your keys. I'll take it to the lab and log it in before Ecklie's shit hits the fan. But you get to write up the incident report on it. I don't do extra paperwork, even for you."
Grissom shook his head. "I wasn't thinking."
"Yes, you were. Just not about the job." Catherine patted his arm. "It's about damn time."
Sara's son woke just then. He opened his eyes and blinked, as if testing them out. Grissom swallowed. "His eyes are blue."
She was tempted to remind him most all newborns had blue eyes until they changed into their permanent color. But she held her tongue and let him have his moment.
Sara woke to a nurse gently calling her name. "Sara…time to wake up." The nurse held tiny Jacob in her arms. "This little guy is hungry."
It was one thing to read about breastfeeding in a book and quite another to actually attempt it. But after several frustrating tries, Jacob finally got the hang of it.
She looked down at her baby as he took his important first feeding. Nothing she'd read had adequately prepared her for the emotion of the event. She'd seen dozens of DNA profiles between parents and children, but until the moment she'd first held her own, she hadn't understood that the bond went beyond simple genetics. It was too complex to be explained by the science in which she'd always trusted to explain everything.
When she blinked, her tears spilled over. The nurse gently blotted them away with a tissue. "I haven't ever seen a new momma get through this with dry eyes."
Sara shook her head as the tears kept flowing. "I just…I was afraid that I wouldn't feel it."
"Feel what, baby?"
"This whole maternal…thing." She stroked a finger down Jacob's cheek. "I didn't know if I was wired that way."
The nurse patted her shoulder. "I think you're gonna be just…"
A knock on the door interrupted her. Before either woman could call out a warning, Grissom entered the room, carrying a single balloon. It hit the ceiling a second later when it slipped out of his hand as he froze and stared at her exposed bosom in complete shock.
"OhSaraIdidn'tknowI'msorryIneverwouldhave…" When he'd regained control of his runaway tongue, Grissom closed his eyes and whipped around to face the wall.
"Lordy," the nurse said. "I forgot to hang the nursing momma sign on your door. Sara, I'm so sorry."
Grissom heard cloth rustling. "It's okay," Sara said. "He would have seen a lot more if I'd delivered naturally."
He stared at the wall, breathing in and out until his pulse evened. How many bare breasts had he seen in his lifetime? In his career? Hundreds, thousands? They were just flesh. They served a biological purpose. Out of a sexual context, they weren't even stimulating to him anymore.
So why was seeing Sara's affecting him like this? Shame washed over him as much as arousal had a minute ago. She was a mother now. He couldn't think of her like that. It was just plain wrong.
But the image of her feeding her child like a Mother Goddess would stay with him forever.
"Grissom," she called out to him. "Everything's covered now."
He tentatively turned around and relaxed when he saw her hospital gown back in place. Jacob was already asleep against Sara's chest. At least her face was as red as his; it wouldn't be right to be the only thoroughly mortified person in the room.
"I should have waited to be invited in," Grissom apologized. "I'll go if…"
"If you go now, you'll never look me in the eye again." Sara motioned him over. "I'm on just enough pain medication to be candid about this. Can you pretend to do the same?"
He nodded as he sat in the chair pulled up next to her bed. "I can pretend."
"Good."
The nurse shook her head at both of them. "I'll be back for Jacob in awhile. You…" She pointed an accusing finger at Grissom. "Don't go wearing this girl out."
Grissom gazed locked onto Sara's. "I'll take care of her."
When she was gone, the uncomfortable silence set in. Sara sighed after several painfully long minutes. "You said you'd pretend!"
He cleared his throat. "I'll try harder." Noticing the leftover moisture on her cheeks, Grissom frowned. "Have you been crying?"
"Oh…um…" She bit her lip. "Hormones." Looking around for a distraction, the first thing she saw was her baby. "You know...you haven't held him yet."
His panic was instantaneous. "I'm not good with babies."
"Just think of him as a really big bug." She lifted her arms, offering him the infant.
Grissom wiped his suddenly sweaty palms on his pants. "How do I…" He didn't get a chance to finish the thought; his hands acted on their own, reaching out and taking the child from his mother.
Five pounds of flesh had never seemed so fragile. In the transfer process, Jacob woke up, fixing his milky-blue eyes on the man above him. Grissom cradled Jacob's head in his hand as he shifted him into a more comfortable position in the crook of his arm. It must have been the right thing to do; the little boy closed his eyes and fell back asleep.
"You're a natural." Something in Sara's voice made him look up at her. Her hormones must have been off the chart because she was crying again.
He had no idea what to say to stop her tears. That was always his problem. The words never came to him at the right time. They always came later when he was at home, by himself, replaying his exchanges with her. Only then did he say everything he wanted her to hear, in perfect prose.
"Knock, knock!" Right at that moment, Nick entered the room. He looked as though he had come straight from the airport. One hand covered his eyes, the other stretched out in front of him, feeling for walls and other hindrances. "Everyone decent?"
"If you count this fabulous sequined nightgown I'm wearing as decent," Sara quipped, brushing away her tears. She was smiling now, and Grissom felt a stab of jealousy. Nick had the power to make her smile with his words, and all he ever seemed to do was make her cry.
Nick uncovered his eyes and approached Sara's bed. "So, I leave town for three days for my cousin's wedding, and you go and have the baby?" He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Is Vegas that boring without me around?"
"Well, my cable went out…" She glanced at her son. "Nick, I'd like you to meet Jacob."
Grissom knew that he was supposed to hand the baby over to his younger colleague. But he just plain didn't want to. The warmth from the child's little body had seeped straight into his heart and he didn't want to let go of that. Ever.
Still, he had to play nice and so he let Nick take the baby from him. But it he did it with great reluctance.
"Hey there, partner. We've been waiting for you for a long time," Nick said, lifting Jacob to his shoulder. "And don't you look just like your momma?"
Sara laughed. "Oh please…don't curse my kid, Nicky."
He gave her a look. "So, Gris, I hear you witnessed the whole thing."
"I did." Grissom folded his arms over his chest. "It was…an unparalleled first-hand experience in human biology."
Sara's smile faltered. Nick's gaze jumped back and forth between the two of them as he gently rubbed Jacob's back. Grissom avoided his eyes. He didn't need to see accusation there; he was already feeling guilty enough. Why were words always his enemy in one way or another?
He lifted himself out of his seat. "It's been awhile since I showered. I should go."
"When will you be coming back?" Sara's question was spoken so softly he almost didn't hear it.
"I probably should stop by the lab to get the ball rolling on the case from last night." Grissom slipped his hands into his pockets. "I don't know."
"Okay. Well…" Sara's chin dipped. "Thank you for being with me. I couldn't have gotten through this…experience in human biology without you."
He hesitated for a second. But the right words just wouldn't come. "Bye."
As he reached the door, he heard Nick ask, "What's wrong? Sara?"
"I think…" Her words were shaky. "…the pain meds are wearing off."
It took every bit of his willpower to leave the room.
To Be Continued
