Author's Notes: I'm loving my new job, but it does distract from the writing time. Updates might be slower, but I hope they're still as enjoyable. Thanks for all the kind reviews. Until next time, ciao!
The Invisible Man
by Kristen Elizabeth
With Nick's help, Sara took Jacob home three days after he was born. But when she stepped into the apartment, something didn't seem quite right.
"Nick," she asked, confused. "Have you ever heard of an intruder who breaks in just to leave flowers?"
Blue hydrangeas dotted her living room, fresh and beautiful. It was like someone had planted a garden while she was in the hospital. But who could have…who would have done something so oddly wonderful for her?
There was a sudden crash down the hall. "Sara…" Nick handed her the baby carrier and pulled his service weapon out of its holster. "Stay back."
Her first instinct was to gather her baby as close to her as possible. As Nick tentatively moved towards the source of the noise, Sara lifted Jacob out of his seat, ignoring the dull throbbing from her incision.
A moment after Nick disappeared into the nursery, she heard him swear sharply. "Grissom! What the hell! I could've shot you!"
Instead of relaxing, Sara's shoulders immediately tensed up.
The men came back out into the living room, Nick looking pissed and Grissom looking guilty. "I'm sorry," he apologized, setting down a pot of the beautiful blue flowers. "I thought I'd be gone before you arrived."
He hadn't wanted to stick around to see her. Sara tried to ignore the hurt stemming from that knowledge. "You did this?" She shook her head. "How?"
"There's a spare set of keys in your locker, right?" Grissom slipped his hands into his pockets. "And…um…I have a master key to the lockers."
With the 'how' answered, Sara's next question was, "Why?"
"I…" He glanced at Nick's lingering scowl. "I just thought…" Grissom stopped with a sigh. "I didn't mean to upset you, Sara."
"You haven't. I was just surprised." Sara gave him a tiny smile. "The flowers are beautiful."
He looked down at the floor. "How are you feeling?"
"Sore. And a little tired," Sara admitted. "But glad to be home." She touched her cheek the blue cap covering Jacob's head. "With him."
Nick took the hint. "Well, I should get some dinner before shift starts." He kissed Sara's forehead and tickled the bottom of the baby's foot. "Call me if you need anything."
"Thank you, Nick," she called over her shoulder as he stepped out of the apartment.
Grissom, on the other hand, didn't even know a hint had been dropped. "I took the liberty of picking up some groceries. Your milk had expired. Can I get you anything?"
"Grissom…" Sara winced as she shifted Jacob to her other shoulder. "What are you doing? You broke into my locker in order to break into my house, just to stock my fridge and deliver flowers?" She went on before he could answer. "Just…give me an honest answer. Please."
"I wanted to make Jacob's homecoming memorable."
She considered this for a moment. "Mission accomplished." Her eyes twinkled. "But don't hold it against him if he doesn't remember it himself."
"That's why I picked up this." From the inside pocket of his jacket, Grissom withdrew a disposable camera.
"Oh god…no! Grissom! I look horrible! I haven't had a real shower in days and…and there are huge dark circles under my eyes and…"
"You look amazing."
His simple statement hung in the air between them. Sara blinked several times. "I guess one picture can't hurt. For the baby book at least."
Grissom raised the camera. "So…um…say cheese?"
He snapped the picture a second later, already knowing it would be a favorite of his for life.
When he lowered the camera again, he noticed Sara discreetly shifting her weight from one foot to the other, and he suddenly remembered the surgical wound from which she was recovering. "Honey, you should be in bed, resting."
She didn't want to admit that he was right. "I need to feed him first."
"Tell you what. You feed him and I'll draw you a bath. Can you get your stitches wet?"
"Yeah. They're…that sticky strip stuff." Sara licked her lips. "Grissom…you don't have to…"
"Sara. Let me do this for you."
She gave up the fight. "Okay. I'll be in the nursery."
Truth be told, Grissom had no idea what he was doing. But it felt right. For the first time in a long time, he felt needed. And he didn't feel trapped or distracted or pressured or any of the things he'd always been afraid he'd feel if he let Sara into his life.
Because it wasn't a matter of him letting her in anymore. As he passed by the nursery twenty minutes later and found her asleep in the rocking chair with Jacob in her arms, he realized something.
Now, it would be a matter of Sara allowing him into her life.
It was frightening how easily she slipped into the routine of being a mother. True, sleep became a thing of the past and she only found the time to eat because it was necessary in order to keep her body functioning as a milk station, but it was all worthwhile when Jacob wrapped his tiny fingers around hers and held on tight.
What frightened her even more was how dependent she was becoming upon Grissom. It had become a regular thing for him to spend at least a few hours a day at her place, helping her with various things such as fixing the mobile over Jacob's crib when it stopped rotating and cooking her dinner when she was too exhausted to even work a can opener.
She both loved it and hated it. Loved it because it was a dream come true. Almost as if they were a real, little family. Hated it because it wouldn't last. Every day, Sara woke up wondering if it would be the day Grissom got spooked by the impending threat of domestic bliss.
Whatever was going to happen eventually would. For the time being, Sara was determined to enjoy it while it lasted.
One night, two weeks after Jacob was born, Grissom arrived just as she was putting Jacob in his crib. Not that he would stay down for long; he wasn't a fussy baby, but it would only be a little while until he would need to be fed again.
He let himself in; her spare key had found a permanent home on his key chain. "Sara," she heard him call out. "I brought dinner."
She left the nursery door open a crack and came out to greet him. Because she couldn't shake the habit of doing so, Sara told him, "You didn't have to do that."
Grissom withdrew take out boxes of spaghetti and salad from a bag. "What have you eaten today?"
"I drank two big glasses of milk," she informed him, defensively. "They helped wash down the Twinkies."
He gave her a look over the rims of his glasses and handed her a fork. "Eat up."
She wanted to remind him that she was a grown woman, a mother, even, but the sudden growl from her stomach would have undermined any protesting on her part.
They ate in comfortable silence. That was something new. Well, not new…years ago it had been normal. But in the past few years, silence between them had been excruciating. Jacob had changed all of that. Grissom seemed almost eager to be around her and happy when he was there. She wasn't quite sure how her child with an anonymous sperm donor could have that effect on him, but again, she wasn't about to question it, lest she make it go away.
Sara was feeling good. The pasta was excellent. There hadn't been so much as a whimper through the baby monitor. Her incision was rapidly healing. And Grissom was wearing a blue shirt that brought out his eyes. All of that together explained why she let her guard down and broached a subject that had been weighing heavily on her mind.
"So," she began. "I've started planning Jacob's baptism."
Grissom coughed. "You have?"
She frowned. "Why does that surprise you?"
"It's just…I never think of you as being particularly religious." He shook his head. "I'm sorry."
Sara lifted a shoulder. "Don't be. I'm not. But I believe we have souls. So there must be something beyond this life. If a little water on his head and some words spoken by a minister really do matter in the end, I don't want to have denied my son eternal peace just because I have questions about all of it."
He watched for a moment, something akin to wonder written on his face. Or maybe that was wishful thinking on her part. Whatever it was, it quickly faded when Sara went on. "I'd still like you to be his godfather."
Grissom set down his fork and wiped his mouth with a paper napkin. "And I'm still honored by that. But…"
She cut him off. "I said I'd like you to be his godfather. But I think I understand why you're going to tell me that you can't." He waited for her to continue. "Don't you think I know that the way I did all of this wasn't exactly…normal? I have a newborn child, but I haven't had sex in well over three years."
He cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"I realize that you might have a hard time respecting me for the somewhat radical choice that I made nine months ago." Sara tucked her hands into her lap to hide the fact that they were shaking. "But please don't punish Jacob for his mother's…desperation."
"Sara, I…"
Sara interrupted him again. "And if you can't be a part of his life like this, maybe you shouldn't come around so much. He already recognizes you as much as he does me. I don't want him to…" She stopped.
"To what?" Grissom asked softly.
She locked stares with him. "Miss you." There was a pause. "I'm his mother. It's my job to keep him from getting hurt."
He was spared having to formulate a response by a sudden onslaught of cries filtering through the baby monitor.
Sara stood up. "After I calm him down, I'll probably try to get some sleep."
She wasn't directly kicking him out, but he got the message. "Um…" Grissom swallowed heavily. "I'll clean up and…see myself out."
"Grissom." Sara paused at the entrance into the hallway and looked back at him. "The fifth of next month. All Saints Episcopal. Whatever else, I'd like it if you were there."
When she came back into the living room a half hour later, it was spotless. Like he'd never even been there. Sara curled up on the couch and fell asleep before the tears caught up with her.
To Be Continued
