Grissom awoke to an unusual sight the next morning. Somehow during the middle of the night, a small body had wedged herself in between Grissom and Sara. Sara had tucked the little miss into her chest and had her arm curled around her. Laredo had at some point reached out and held onto Grissom's arm as she slept, so Grissom propped himself up on his arm as he watched the two ladies in his life sleeping soundly.
Grissom thought about the night before and his conversation with Sara. Nothing was certain between them, but he felt better with the knowledge that Sara wanted to create a relationship with him that was more than just the friendship he thought was all she had wanted. The thing was that he now knew that they had a lot to learn about each other and it was going to take some time. He wanted to get them back to Vegas as soon as possible so he could start doing all the things he should have done before, like taking her out on an actual date for instance. He also knew that the hardest thing was to communicate with her. His starting point, he felt, was going to be in telling her about his hearing. He hated the thought that Laredo might one day end up with that burden. As he thought that, he looked down to find his matching blue eyes staring back up at him.
Laredo's eyes didn't, however, reflect the pain in his. She wore a huge smile on her face that, although was partially obscured by a thumb in her mouth, didn't hide the fact that she was happy. She reached up and patted Grissom on his cheek, which in turn made him lean down and kiss her on her forehead.
That woke Sara up. She was tickled by Grissom's curls. She saw him straighten back up and met his eyes when he glanced at her. "Good morning, Gris."
"Good morning, Sara." He leaned back over and kissed her on her cheek. Now he had kissed both of his ladies good morning.
"Well, looks like we're all awake. Why don't we get some breakfast, cricket?" Sara poked Laredo in the ribs as she said that and it made her start giggling.
Grissom's eyebrows rose at her nickname for Laredo. "Cricket?" He asked her.
Sara looked up and grinned. "Yeah. I named her that after I realized, for as much as she giggles, it sounded as repetitive as a cricket."
Grissom liked the nickname and knew that it was going to take instantly for him. Laredo started kicking the covers off and managed to get up and crawled off toward the foot of the bed to get down. Grissom snaked out a hand and latched onto her leg and pulled her backwards. She started laughing as he initiated the tickling fest, which soon included Sara.
LATER, after they dressed and had breakfast, they drove down to the wharf and walked along the beach. Sara filled him in on her plans to pack some of the stuff she wanted to move to Vegas on the next weekend. Grissom laid out a blanket on the sand and they both sat down on it. Laredo had walked over toward the water and picked up a shell. "Laredo, don't get in the water too much. Don't fall honey." Sara called after her.
"She's fine. The water isn't rushing in too badly this morning." Grissom tried to smooth her worries.
"It's just that she gets ear infections so easily. I don't want her to fall and possibly get water in her ears." Sara squinted from the sunshine as she watched Laredo walk back towards them.
Grissom however, looked at Sara with fear written all over his face. When Sara turned to look at him she was startled at the transformation. "Gil, what is it? What's wrong?"
He wasn't sure how to proceed. He couldn't remember if he had a lot of ear infections when he was little and wondered if that was some part of the Otosclerosis. While he watched Laredo show her mother the shell she found he said, "I'm not sure how to tell you something. It's serious and I've wanted to tell you about it, but held off because I was still unsure of my own feelings."
Sara reached over and touched his arm. "Gil, you can tell me."
He grabbed onto her hand and rubbed the back of it with his thumb. "It's not easy. I knew I would have to tell you one day, but now that I know about Laredo I find I have to tell you sooner than later." He fell silent as he looked into her eyes and read the concern in them for him. "I am slowly going deaf."
Tears started to form immediately and she asked, "How?"
"I have Otosclerosis. It's a genetic disorder."
"Inherited?" She gasped.
"Yes. Sara, I never thought I would have children. They still aren't sure how it occurs, but you mentioned Laredo's ear infections and it scared me to think that she may one day end up with it."
Sara stared quietly at Laredo as she searched for something to say. She was sad for Grissom and she feared for Laredo, but she knew that if she had Grissom with her, to support them, they would be okay. And she would always be there to support him when he needed it. "I don't know what to say."
"It's okay, you don't have to say anything."
"No, it's not okay." Sara took a deep breath and held up her hand to forestall Grissom from saying anything. "I'm here for you Gil, to help in anyway that I can and to support you, and to be there for you to talk to. I just," She paused to collect her thoughts. "I just don't want you to back away from me now and shut down. We can deal with this together."
It was his turn now to feel the tears well up in his eyes. He didn't know how she would react and couldn't have asked for a better way. "I won't and we will."
Sara pulled him into a hug and the investigator in her proceeded to ask him questions. They sat there awhile as they discussed the possible treatments. He also told her that he didn't remember if he had ear infections when he was little, so they both decided that they would check into it after they got resettled in Vegas. She asked how long he had known and he told her about his mother and then about his lapses of nothingness. He could tell that it upset her that he hadn't told her sooner and they talked about that too.
After a couple of hours of talking, Laredo started to get cranky and Sara realized that it was lunch time and that they needed to eat. So they put the blanket in the back of her car and drove home. Sara warmed up some leftovers and quickly gave some to Laredo. She didn't want her to get any crankier with Grissom there and spoil the mood.
They sat down again like they did the previous night and ate lunch. It was then that Grissom realized the lasagna was meatless. He'd never had better. The phone rang and Sara went to get it. She returned with it and handed it to Grissom. "It's for you."
His eyebrows rose and then he frowned and took the phone. "No one but Catherine knows I'm here." Sara nodded.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Gris. How is everything going?" Catherine was not one for patience.
"Umm, well we're having lunch and then I don't know what we're going to do. Why what's up?"
He glanced at Sara who was wearing a smirk because they both knew why Catherine called.
"Nothing, just thought I'd call and well, you know, see how things are going."
Catherine wasn't going to give up easily and Grissom knew that, so he winked at Sara and proceeded to tell Catherine something that would shut her up for awhile.
"Well actually, I was about to leave to go to the airport so I could pick up Hank. He's supposed to be here in an hour." Grissom spoke slowly to ensure that Catherine heard every word. "Catherine, are you there? Catherine..."
"Umm, oh, yeah, yeah, I umm was just watching the traffic move. I, umm, Gris, what is going on? Why is Hank flying out there?" Catherine was very near to having a breakdown.
"Well, Catherine, I gotta hit the road. I don't want to be late picking him up so he can see Sara." He almost broke up at that point. "I'll have to call you later or maybe just talk to you when I get back in town. Bye." And he hung up. Grissom laid the phone on the table and after seeing the look on Sara's face, he couldn't hold it in anymore. He laughed so hard tears started to run down his face.
Sara's mouth hung open and she hit him on his shoulder. "I can't believe you just did that!" She looked at him with astonishment and then started to smile and then Grissom's laughter became contagious. She stepped over and sat in his lap. They continued laughing until they couldn't take it anymore. "She has got be going out of her mind with that."
"Oh yeah! Well, she'll figure it out and get over it. That's what she gets for interfering, even though I really don't mind this time." Grissom said as he wiped the tears away from his eyes. "Just give it a little time and my cell phone will be ringing."
And as if on cue, it did. He reached down and answered. "Hello."
"Gil, please tell me you were joking. I mean, Sara wouldn't, I mean she doesn't... Please tell me you were joking." Catherine sounded so horrified and sad all at once.
"Are you going to interfere again?" Grissom asked in a tight voice.
"Umm, no, never, I'm sorry, but you and Sara, well you belong together and well..."
"Catherine, are you going to interfere again?"
No reply came for a few seconds and just when he thought he was going to have to ask again, she said quietly, "No."
"Okay, that wasn't so hard now was it? No, I am not going to get Hank from the airport." He grinned and looked over at Sara.
Sara listened to the one sided conversation as she washed Laredo's face off. She shook her head in disbelief. She now knew how to handle Catherine. She lifted Laredo out of her chair and told her, "Go get your blanky and we'll take a nap." Laredo vanished down the hallway.
"Okay, I'll see you guys tomorrow night. I have some favors to ask of you so beware. Bye." Grissom hung up the phone and handed it to Sara and then finished his lunch.
Sara returned from the living room and put the dishes in the dishwasher with Grissom's help. "I'm going to lay Laredo down for a nap and then we can talk. Okay?" Grissom nodded and saw Laredo coming in with her blanket. Sara picked her up and headed for the recliner and settled in. Then Sara began humming to her until she fell asleep.