Hey everyone,

First, I am SO very sorry for not having updated in all this time. We ended up moving rather unexpectedly - well we had been looking for months but everything happened very quickly and this is the first time I've been back and able to update.

Happy thought though, as an apology I have completed Sara's Scrapbook, it's a bit different set up than the first few pages- I had to change servers for the scrapbook pages... they were overloading Geocities -sigh- But they are complete, and you can still get to them the same way, by going to my homepage and following the link for Once In A Lifetime.

And, thank you to my dear dear beta reader and friend Caro - we have a banner :-D Let me know what you think of it so I can pass the news on to her :-)

Please let me know if you liked it in the end, any reviews will make dealing with a leak in the floor so much more easier to deal with:-)

Love to everyone for reading in the first place.

and to my dear Caro.

Isa

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Epilogue
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Friday June 21st, 2024
Brookline, Massachusetts
Townsend House
5:48 p.m. (EST)

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Smiling, Sara looked around the living room at everyone gathered there. It was the first time the family had all been together. And of course there was no better reason than the graduation of all three of her children… It seemed a lifetime ago that she had left Vegas for the final time… And they'd had so many changes in the years since.

She and Nigel had moved out of Boston when the children were young, they chose Brookline because it was close to work for them both, Boston actually surrounding the city. They had found a Colonial House built in 1914, more than enough bedrooms for the children to each have one, and for Grissom to have one when he visited. She never expected to have a house as big as they did, twelve rooms in all, but now she couldn't imagine living anywhere else. They had a stable on the almost five acres, home to Rose's horse Ebony, and Nadia's horse Starlight. She had watched her children grow and thrive there.

Rose was eighteen now, and only a matter of hours before had graduated from high school with her siblings. She kept her brown ringlets short, ending at her shoulders, and was five-eight. She had been riding and competing for years, and even did Cheerleading when she was in High School. Come fall she'd be headed to Harvard like her mother, a scholarship, she intended to study law.

Ravi Aiden Topaz and Chandra Nadia Sapphire had been born December 14th of '06. Ravi had his father's hair, though he kept his short, with her curl. He also had his father's hazel eyes and was six-two. He had played football and basketball in high school, along with his studies, and was headed to MIT. Nadia meanwhile had her mother's hair, even with curls. She kept it long, ending at her waist, and had her father's eyes. Like her twin, she took after Nigel's height more than Sara's, 5'11". She had been a gymnast as long as possible before turning her attention solely to competing in jumping competitions with her own horse. She was on her way to Harvard as well, intending to study medicine.

Across the room, Sara spotted Rose with her father and stepsister and smiled. Grissom had listened to her so long ago, and it only ended up taking four years for Catherine to make him realize what was right in front of them. They'd married in 2010, and Grissom had retired only a few years earlier, leaving Catherine in charge of the night shift. Lindsey had gone to the University of Hawaii after finishing high school, and there she met Tomas Iokua. They lived in Honolulu now, she a counselor and he a Pharmacist. Their eldest Korey was five; he was counting the days until he could start Kindergarten. Diana was three.

Warrick was next in line for the role of Night shift supervisor when Catherine retired; she planned to retire at sixty-five like Grissom had. Warrick and Tina had a daughter not long after Ravi and Nadia were born, Mary had just finished her Junior year, and hoped to go to Juliard when she graduated. She played piano like her father.

Nick had married as well; Carolyn had been a psych major when they met. They had two children, Rick was ten, and Tony was seven. Nick and his family had left Vegas years ago; he'd been offered his own supervisor position in Chicago. Greg as well had married, though he had stayed in Vegas, was a level three now. He actually married Judy, a bit of a surprise but a welcomed one. Their daughter Anya was six. The only one missing from Vegas was Jim, he was killed in the line of duty thirteen-years-earlier.

Looking away from the gathering of CSIs, Sara spotted Jordan shaking her head at something her son had said. Jordan was head ME now, Garret retired a few years prior to spend time with his grandchildren, Abby had a boy and girl, Andrea was fourteen, Stephan nine. Garret's namesake was thirteen, Jordan's surprise fourteen years earlier. She had been in a relationship, another of her ones not planned for long term. Woody had long since returned to Wisconsin. The shock of a lifetime came when Sara found Jordan's latest guy on her table, when Jordan found out she was pregnant two months later, everything got completely turned upside down. Max had just finished eight grade and was counting down the days until he finished high school and get away from his mother. He took after Jordan too much for them to actually get along during his teenage years.

Bug and Lily had married as well, back in '08. They had two children, Ken was fifteen, Corinna was thirteen. It was no secret among the adults that Corinna had a crush on Max, she'd had one since she was four. They had reached the point they just waited to see what would happen.

Then there was the family from England, Bea had died just over four-years before. But the rest of the family had come. Angie had the shop now, Becca working as manager while she finished college. Charles still worked as a barrister; Charlie as well just passed their equivalent of the bar. Charlie had married four-years-earlier, only to loose his wife the next year in a car accident. He was still dealing with it, but the family made sure he didn't let depression take him. James had risen in ranks, and was in line to become an Assistant Commissioner like his father. Eliza had finished her studies years ago and now worked as a Biochemist, they had a daughter a year after the twins were born. Artie was twenty now, his sister Sharla was fourteen – though she preferred her middle name Evelyne and even more preferred to be called Evie. The last in the family was Anne Marie. She had gone to Oxford like she planned, and worked as a Chemist in Manchester. She'd married Nathan Hutchinson a decade ago, he was in the Navy. Their eldest, Nate was eight, and the twins were five. Beatrice was named after her grandmother, Josephine after her other grandmother.

"Sara Lynn," Looking up at the sound of her name Sara smiled when she saw her husband looking down at her. "You look like you're ten thousand miles away," Nigel added as he sat down next to her.

"You start singing that song I'll smack you," she countered with a smile.

"You loved it when I sang it at our wedding," Nigel grinned.

"That was nearly twenty years ago… I'm not going to help every child in the room in their belief that we are old by you singing a song from before even Anne Marie and Lindsey were born, let alone their husbands."

"Bloody spoil sport," Nigel muttered. "So what did have the deputy chief medical examiner somewhere other than the party?"

"Just thinking," Sara smiled as she reached up to brush a lock of Nigel's once black hair behind his ear. They had had an accident years before, she and Nige had been driving home from work when they were blind sided. She'd lost their last child that night, never having gone through with her threats of fixing Nigel and herself after the twins were born. They had thought for sure they were going to loose him as well. He'd been in a coma for a few weeks, and the doctors had shaved his hair. After he woke up, they had been surprised to find his hair grow back in white rather than the color it was before. Much to the amusement of everyone at the morgue. It was back to the length he always wore it, and with her own hair starting to show her age… they couldn't deny they were getting old.

"You've been doing that a lot lately… Not thinking you made a mistake are you love?"

"Nigel Eames Townsend!" she reached back and smacked the back of his head loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Ow… bloody hell Sara Lynn…." He muttered as he reached back to rub his head and everyone just shook their heads and went back to their conversations, except for the three new graduates who made their way across the room.

"What did Pop do now?" Rose asked with a smile.

"He asked if I was thinking I made a mistake," Sara answered with a huff. "Smack your father for me."

"Fair enough," Ravi shrugged before reaching over to smack Nigel's head, only to have Nigel duck.

"I take it from your mother, I'm not taking it from the rest of you hellions," Nigel grumbled only to have Sara smack his skull once more. "Sweet Nancy woman, are you trying to give me a concussion?"

"Don't call my children hellions," Sara countered.

"Yeah, we're angels," Nadia grinned. Sara looked up at her youngest skeptically and Nadia rolled her eyes. "Okay so most of the time we're angels……. Alright alright, we're not quite angelic okay mum?" she asked seeing Sara's other eyebrow raise. "I think I'm going to go back to talking with Aunt Lily now…" she continued before slipping away.

"Dad's waving at me, be back later," Rose smiled before disappearing as well.

"They're dropping like flies," Nigel mused.

"We just know better than to be around you two when mum is knocking some sense into you," Ravi grinned. "Cheers dad, and I'd keep my mouth shut if I were you."

"How did we raise such smart alec children?" Sara asked glancing back at her husband.

"I have no bloody clue…"

"Oh that was a horrible way of trying to play innocent," Sara chuckled. "And no, I'm not thinking I made a mistake, you should know better," she added as she let her head rest on his shoulder.

"Good to be reminded every now and again," Nigel smirked. "Still say he was a bloody fool for letting you go."

"Which one? Grissom or Ken?" Sara asked with a smile

"Both, though I only wanted to kill Ken," Nigel sighed. "Dance with me Cinderella?" he asked after a moment.

"You haven't called me that in years," Sara smiled. "Why do I think you're up to something?"

"Because you know me so well," he countered before rising and helping her to her feet.

"They're going to notice we're gone…" Sara laughed as they slipped upstairs.

"Not for an hour at least, everyone's lost in their own conversations," Nigel smirked before leading her to the balcony.

"Ok, what are we doing here?" she asked with a smile.

"I seem to remember you asking once, where I got the poem for the note I left you nineteen-years-ago."

"And you never did answer," Sara countered with a smile.

"Was waiting for a special occasion," Nigel smiled before a piano began to play from the stereo system in their bedroom.

"This has to be about as special as they get then," Sara laughed as he pulled her into his arms.

"Love you Sara Lynn."

"Love you too Nigel."

From the moment I saw you
From the moment I looked into your eyes
There was something about you
I knew, I knew
That you were once in a lifetime
A treasure near impossible to find
And I know how lucky
I am to have you

Cause I've seen rainbows that could take your breath away
The beauty of the setting sun that ends a perfect day
And when it comes to shooting stars
I've seen a few
But I've never seen anything
As beautiful as you