Title: Wash Away part twenty
Note: I had originally planned to have this story take a different road, but as with any story I've ever written it kind of takes on a life of its own and it really feels complete to me. So, this is the last chapter with exception of an epilogue. No LH, she is over and done. Put a fork in her. This is simple GSR at its happiest. Mush, I say, mush.
My apologies, Dr. T, I couldn't keep it going beyond the epilogue. I tried.
Thank you for reading this to everyone who has hung in there with each chapter. When I started this I only hoped for fifteen or twenty reviews and you guys have made my day each and every day. Thank you.
I believe of all the nice comments there were only three bad ones and possibly from the same person using different names and anomymously at that. What I don't get is why read so many chapters if you hate my story? If I dislike a story so much, I just don't read it. (Shakes head and laughs) And for the record, since I had no email to discuss this civilly and off the record, I don't find my characterization out of whack. Grissom thinking he is "soulmates" with a dominatrix? That is out of character IMHO And, something I stated from the beginning of the story so as to warn those who did not wish to read. Are we watching the same show? LOL
My apologies to everyone else for feeding the troll.
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Grissom excused himself to make some phone calls and Sara watched him leave before turning to Warrick with a small shake of her head.
"Don't say it, Warrick." said Sara.
"I didn't say a word." Warrick teased in return. He walked over to the edge of the bed and gazed down at the babies. "Handsome little men you have there, Sara."
"Thank you." Sara looked past him towards the door. "Where is Tina?"
"She's in the waiting room and said she would see you tommorrow." He kept his eyes on the babies as he said in a soft voice. "You and Gris decide on where you are going to raise them?"
"Yes."
When that was all Sara said in response, Warrick twisted around to give her a direct look. "Well?"
Fighting back the smile, Sara brushed a strand of hair behind her left ear and said cagely. "Home, Warrick."
"Home is Vegas, right?"
"It is. Only I'm not sure when it will be okay for the babies to ride for a distance in the car and then I have to find someone to ride with us." Sara appeared very tired all of a sudden as the details of her situation began to catch up to her with the realization that she and Grissom had yet to discuss any of this. Where would she live when she returned to Vegas? Did Grissom expect them to live with him? She knew that he wanted to be part of the babies lives, but he had not told her to what degree he wanted them to be part of his life.
"Is it okay if I hold one of them?" asked Warrick.
Sara picked up the closest baby and placed him carefully into Warricks arms. Thomas waved his tiny fists around, but his eyes remained closed and he quickly settled into the steady arms that were holding him close.
"This is incredible." said Warrick. It was one thing to view a baby through glass, but to actually hold the fragile body in your hands was an all new sensation.
"Warrick?" Sara asked with sudden clarity. "When we do get home, will you be my sons uncle? I haven't seen my own brother in years, and I have no one else."
"Of course." said Warrick. He was flattered with her request. "You know that Nick and Greg will also expect to be their uncles. I'm guessing that these babies will lack for nothing."
"Nick and Greg are going to pissed at me for awhile because I kept this from them." Sara ran her hand over the covers, smoothing out invisible wrinkles. "I don't expect them to speak to me when they find out."
"Don't be crazy. If Grissom is talking to you then those guys will be fawning all over you. Trust me."
"Thanks, I think." said Sara with another shake of her head. "I'm not sure why Grissom is talking to me."
"Sometimes he wonders why, but alas he's still here."
Sara and Warrick both looked up at the man in the doorway. Grissom stood there wearing a silly grin and looking for all the world as if some heavy weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. Lifting those shoulders in response to their curious expressions, he said simply. "I made some phone calls."
Warrick was the first to speak. "It must have been some very important calls by the looks of you."
Grissom nodded. He walked back over to his previous position beside Sara and reclaimed his seat. "I called in some favors."
Glancing to the side and up at him, Sara searched for her voice. She was feeling like this was all too surreal and she was going to wake up at her cottage and find that she was still pregnant and Grissom was still in Vegas.
"I called Catherine back and asked her to keep an eye on the tapes until an old friend of mine could arrive to relieve her tonight. James Fuller is an entomologist that owed me a favor and happened to be coming to town this weekend. He agreed to come a few days early and take over the timeline for me." Grissom glimpsed Warricks amused expression and raised his eyebrows. "Then I called Sheriff Atwater and explained the situation to him."
"What? Wait a minute! You told him about us? The babies?" Sara clutched his upper arm until he swung his head back around to stare into her eyes.
"I called in another favor. Atwater owed me one. He was stunned but assured me that your job is still yours if you want it. Catherine would be your supervisor, but you would still be on my team." Grissom kept his attention focused on her every reaction.
"I can't believe you told him. I don't know what to say."
"Are you mad?" asked Grissom. He had cancelled his flight back to Vegas after speaking to James and then Atwater. If Sara was upset with him for spilling the beans then it would be a long drive home.
"No! No, I'm surprised that's all." Sara removed her hand from his arm and her smile faltered. "I suppose that it surprises me that you would risk your job. You are the one that wanted to keep our relationship a secret for ten months."
"I thought it was mutual." Warrick stated and earned two pairs of annoyed looks. "You are having this conversation with me in the room." Warrick said in his own defence. With a heavy sigh, he added. "I'll just go for now. I'll see you all tommorrow?" He held Thomas out to Grissom who took him into his own arms.
"That will be nice, Warrick, thank you." Sara smiled at him as he waved goodbye.
Once he left, Grissom tried to answer her accusation. "We both agreed that our relationship was private. You never indicated that you wanted anyone else to know about it, therefore, I thought that you were fine with us keeping it from everyone."
"I didn't want to suffocate you." Sara said with a thin smile. "I decided that you felt that if Catherine or Brass knew about us then it would make it real. If it was real, then I thought that you would call it off."
"'The thing we run from is the thing we run to'." quoted Grissom. "Robert Anthony." He added before she could ask.
"Explain, please." said Sara as she touched his arm again.
Grissom gently placed Thomas back onto the bed next to Andrew and then scooted away from her and walked to the end of the bed. He stared at his feet and then towards the side of the room. "You've always scared me, Sara. My feelings for you have been stronger than any woman I've ever known. I've lost myself in you." Grissom let his eyes drift back to her face. "You have the ability to break me, but I kept coming back. When we became lovers I still needed to keep part of myself, and that part was work. At work I could keep everything the way it was as long as everyone else did not know about us."
He gripped the end of the bed and his eyes shifted to the babies. "I ran from you for years, but you always had me." He had a baffled expression as he stared at his sons. "I don't think that I'm making sense, Sara, but I just want you to know that I'm sorry for everything. I apologize for not calling in that favor with Atwater months ago. I apologize for not sharing my happiness with our friends. But, mostly, I'm sorry that I gave you a reason to run from me and hide your pregnancy from me."
"Gris. Come here, please." Sara held out her hands for him as his eyes moved from the babies, to her gesture, to her face. "I love you, Gil Grissom. You are the only man I would ever want to have children with and I hope that we can both start over today." It felt odd uttering his name aloud. She had never called him Gil or Gilbert in the height of their relationship due to the fact that she feared in becoming comfortable with saying Gil, or any other endearment for that matter, she would slip up on a case like she did with Hank that one time.
His feet were frozen in place. He knew they were frozen because he could not move. It was crazy, but neither of them had uttered those words before today. He knew in his heart what he felt to be the truth, but words had seemed banal. Until now. He watched her expression change from happiness to a sad uncertainity and his heart broke. With this new emotion, he felt his legs unlock and he walked quickly around the bed where he reached out to cup her face in both hands.
Bending down, his lips touched hers with a feather touch and he whispered softly against them. "I love you, Sara. I adore you. I need you." The torrent of emotions rippled from his lips and only ceased when Sara pulled him into her lips for a much deeper kiss.
The End
