Arriving back at the lab, he went in search of his team. There had been no messages at the front desk and he hadn't been paged, so he checked with them to see if they'd received any incoming cases.

Off and on throughout the slow night, Nick and Warrick would pop their heads in on Grissom for a little razzing, calling him "Daddy" and he would just respond with a smile and then go back to his paperwork. And sometimes he just picked up the picture Sara had given him and looked at it. When he'd left the house earlier, he grabbed another picture frame to put Laredo's newborn picture in it. And he spent the remainder of the night wishing for the first time that he didn't have to work.

"Can you believe it? Grissom a father, and to top it off, with Sara?" Nick sat at the break room table eating a bag of chips with a soda. Catherine had found a comfortable spot on the sofa and was reading a magazine. Warrick sat across from Nick trying to read the newspaper. He abruptly put it down when Nick broached the subject on everyone's minds.

"We always knew there was something between those two, now we know what." Warrick glanced over at Catherine who was still engrossed in her magazine. "Catherine, how long has their relationship been going on?"

Catherine looked up from her magazine with a smile. "They don't have one. Laredo was conceived from a one nighter."

"No way. You expect us to believe that with the way they watch and look at each other? Uh uh, no way." Nick wouldn't believe it for one minute.

"From what Grissom told me and let me just say it wasn't a whole lot, but it only happened once and they went their separate ways." Catherine looked from one to the other as she spoke. "When he asked her to move here it was never mentioned between them."

"I don't think I could do that." Warrick said as he looked down at the table as he spoke. "I mean sleep with someone and then work with them without talking about it again. That would be, well, cold, don't you think?"

Catherine shrugged. "I don't know, I think it would depend on the circumstances."

"Well, I just hope they don't have a split custodianship of Laredo. Those two belong together and should realize it." Nick looked at both of his teammates for confirmation of his thoughts. "And to think he's a dad now."

"Who's a dad?" Greg Sanders walked in to the break room after overhearing the last part of the team's conversation.

You could've heard a pin drop when he asked the question. No one wanted to tell Greg that Sara was now off the market.

Nick slowly turned around to face Greg. He tried to find the words to tell him but couldn't spit them out. Just when he thought he could do it, Catherine spoke up, "Greg, Sara's back in town. She has a little girl with her. It's her daughter."

"What? You're kidding me aren't you?" Greg laughed. "That's a good one Catherine, real good."

Nick stood up and put his hand out to console Greg as he said, "She really does have a daughter, Greg. And Grissom is the father. They were here just a little while ago, but you went for food so you weren't here to see them."

Greg shook his head as he looked from one to the other and then over at Warrick. "When did this happen? And what do you mean? Sara never had a daughter, at least she never spoke of one and mothers always talk about their kids and she never did." Nick pushed Greg over to a chair and he sank into it as Catherine filled him in on the Grissom and Sara story.

Later, Grissom walked by the lab and saw a very defeated looking Greg as he stared off into space. He stepped in and asked the young tech what he was doing. Greg turned to him, and plastered on a smile as he said, "I hear congratulations are in order."

"You've heard? From the others I take it?" Grissom asked and was bemused at the way he was trying to hold back his emotions. Greg nodded and turned to go back to processing some samples left from the day shift. "Greg I was wondering if you would like to meet Laredo? I was going to ask everyone if breakfast would be a good time to get together."

Greg smiled a little brighter this time. "I would like that. Thanks, Gris."

Grissom nodded and then went to find the rest of his team to see how they would feel about it. He found each of them and proposed the breakfast idea to them. They all agreed to meet for breakfast after shift was over.

When shift was finally through, Grissom started to put things away and then pulled out a jar of bugs to feed to his tarantula. It wasn't there. He quickly turned and surveyed the office, then after not seeing his pet, he walked over to his shelving units and looked carefully in between the jars and other items stored there. He still didn't see it.

Catherine popped her head in and saw the worried look on Grissom's face. "Gris, is something amiss?" Grissom didn't hear her. "Yo, Grissom, what's going on, is something wrong?" He heard her that time.

Grissom turned around quickly and told her, "It's gone."

"What's gone?"

"My tarantula."

Catherine slowly stepped backwards out of the office all the while looking furtively around on the floor. "When did you last have it?" It was a mother's question.

Grissom stopped a moment and stood there in thought. "I fed it with Laredo here in the terrarium." He looked over at the terrarium on his desk. It wasn't there so he looked closely at the papers to see if it might be underneath any, but he didn't see it anywhere. Then it struck him. He smiled and started laughing. Catherine gave him an impatient look and thought he had lost his mind. He saw the look on her face and told her what he thought had happened.

Grissom drove home to get Sara and Laredo, who were both now taking a shower. He could hear Sara singing and playing with Laredo. He quickly looked around to find the spider but after a few minutes he didn't see it anywhere and when he was about to go down the hallway, Sara and Laredo came out of the bathroom. Grissom's mouth hit the floor.

On seeing him, Sara greeted him with a smile. "Oh, you're home. I was going to make breakfast. Did you want anything?" She slowly approached him and poor Grissom started to get antsy. Sara only had a towel wrapped around her lithe figure. When she finally reached him and registered the expression on his face, she smiled and gently closed his mouth for him since he couldn't find the strength to do so. "Get used to it, Gil." Then she turned and walked back down the hallway to the bedroom and closed the door behind her.

He shook his head and grinned. This is going to be torture, fun, but torture. Laredo came running out partially dressed, only wearing her shirt and underpants. "Daddy!" she yelled as she ran into his leg and hugged it. He leaned down and picked her up as he tried to decide if he should ask her straight out about the spider or wait and see if she mentioned it. But then again, maybe I'll just watch her and see if she knows where it is. He hugged her one more time and then set her back on her feet before he walked into the kitchen and dining area. He turned the corner and watched to see what she would do. She stood staring at the bugs with her thumb in her mouth as always. She then looked behind her to see if anyone was watching and Grissom tucked his head back behind the wall just in time. Slowly peering around the corner again, he watched his beautiful and very smart little girl take the jar of bugs and open it. He never screwed it on tight since he wasn't worried about them getting out so it was very easy for her to open. She took a hold of one squirming bug and closed her hand around it. She then put the lid back on but didn't twist it on since her other hand was full. She very carefully picked up the jar with her one small hand and put it back on the shelf then ran down to her room, almost bowling over Sara as she came out of Grissom's bedroom now fully dressed. Sara, her interest now piqued, watched Laredo run into her room and started to go after her to see what she was doing when a hand grabbed her by the elbow and stopped her. She turned and saw Grissom with his finger in front of his mouth signaling her to be quiet. They tiptoed up to Laredo's bedroom and peeked in through the partially shut door. It was now Sara's turn to drop her mouth to the floor as she watched Laredo drop the bug into the terrarium and put the lid back on, then she stood, thumb in her mouth, watching as the spider came out from hiding and devoured the bug.

Sara took a step toward the door, but Grissom with his arm now around her waist, kept her from going in and turned her around to walk down to the living room. When they reached the living room, Sara turned around to face him. "I can't believe you put that spider in her room. She's only three and a half years old; she shouldn't be playing with them. It's too dangerous."

"Sara, stop for a second."

Grissom was grinning and shecouldn't figure out why. This isn't funny. Grissom reached up and touched her face as he said, "I didn't bring it home and I didn't put it in her room."

"Then how did it get there?" she asked.

"I believe... she brought it home." He stopped her before she could cut in. "And she fed him on her own."

"What?"

"She must have brought it, I don't know, maybe in the knapsack you had with you, and put it in there when we weren't watching her in my office. She's had it here all night." Grissom tried to get Sara to look at it the way he was.

"She's only three and a half and-" Sara slowly sat down on the sofa as she kept her eyes on Grissom's face as she began to understand. "The knapsack was open last night and I distinctly remembered shutting it."

"We seem to have created a very intelligent little girl."

"And sneaky," she grimaced.

He sat next to her and watched her facial expressions change as she processed the information. Laredo chose at that moment to come running into the living room and into her mother's lap. Sara stared at her for a moment as she realized that Laredo was oblivious to what they'd figured out. Making sure she had eye contact with Laredo, she asked, "Honey, why did you take that bug into your room?"

"To feed the spider." Laredo said with all the innocence of her age.

"Where did you get the spider?"

"From Daddy's work?" Laredo looked at her Mommy, her eyes glistening from the excitement of feeding the spider until she saw that her Mommy wasn't happy. "Did I do somtin' bad, Mommy?"

"Well, is that spider yours?"

"No."

"Did you ask Daddy if you could bring it home?"

"No."

"So what do you think?"

Laredo thought for a moment as she looked at her Mommy's face. "I shoulda asked."

"Yes you should have. Do you think you should keep it?"

Laredo looked at her Mommy and Daddy and then popped her thumb in her mouth as she sat their and thought about it. It took several minutes before she said anything. "Yes, cause then Daddy can teach me about it?"

Grissom couldn't contain his laughter anymore. Sara hugged her tightly as she tried desperately to hold back her own laughter. Poor Laredo didn't know what to think now.

Sara had tears in her eyes as she looked again at Laredo whose eyes tripled in size. She slowly stuck her thumb back in her mouth. "I think you are going to have to ask Daddy about that."

Grissom sat back up and he too was still laughing. "Daddy, can I keep him?"

As he looked into his daughter's eyes he knew he could never tell her no. "Yes, but on one condition. He has to stay in your room. You can't take him to Mommy's apartment. Okay?"

Laredo thought that over and then said, "Deal."

That set Grissom off laughing again until he saw Sara's face and knew she wasn't sure about the arrangement. "As soon as I saw her feed the spider on her own, I had already decided to let her keep him. If at her age she can figure that out, then she can certainly learn how to take care of him and besides, he'll be here and not at your place."

Sara reluctantly nodded in agreement and Laredo bounced with excitement. "Thank you Mommy. And Daddy."

Grissom stood up as he said, "We are going to go out for breakfast. The team is going to meet us at the diner. Greg's coming too."

At the mention of his name, Sara looked up and asked, "Who told him?"

Grissom knew Sara was worried about Greg's taking the news. "I believe Nick and Warrick and possibly Catherine did. I don't think he took it very well. But he did seem eager to meet Laredo."

She grimaced. The thought of Greg finding out carelessly was not how she'd wanted him to. She hoped her teammates had had the decency to let him down easy.

"Laredo let's get you dressed and then we can get something to eat." She carried Laredo into the bedroom and changed her out of what Laredo had tried to put on and decided to get her into some little blue jean overalls and a pink t-shirt with little tennis shoes. She finished Laredo's look with barrettes in her hair to keep the many curls on her head off of her face and then she was finally able to finish her own hair.

They walked out of the house just like a normal family going on an outing.