The doorbell rang and Liz jumped up from the couch to answer it. She knew it was Heather; It had to be.
Liz turned the doorknob; A smile appeared on her face as she saw Heather standing in the doorway with a bag in each hand.
"Hi!" The little girl greeted. She sprung forward and locked her arms around Heather's waist.
"It's good to see you too; Where are your mommy and daddy?"
Once Liz had relinquished her firm hug, Heather entered the house and shut the door behind her. She removed her coat, hung it up on the coat rack, then placed the two bags at the foot of the coat rack.
She looked up to see Gil walking down the stairs, followed by Sara and she had a squirming bundle in her arms.
"It's nice to see you, Heather," Gil greeted with a smile. The two exchanged smiles then turned to Sara.
"This… is Grace," Sara informed the dominatrix with a grin; Grace was moving wildly in her mother's arms and cooing happily.
Heather smiled at Sara and her infant. "She's adorable!"
Gil checked his watch; A small frown invaded his face as he saw it was nearly 6:10 and the reservation for he had made at the Bellagio were for six-thirty.
"Honey, we have to leave now or we'll be late," He reminded his wife. He took one step toward her and gave Grace a kiss on her cheek.
Sara did the same, then handed Grace to Heather with a grin. Instantly Heather's smile seem to light up the room and the cause appeared to be the child in her arms.
Gil took Sara's hand as the two left the house; Heather stood in the doorway and jokingly called after them, "If I'm asleep when you get home, wake me up."
When she retreated into the house, Liz was standing in the living room doorway with two Barbie dolls in each hand.
"Can we play?"
Heather walked into the room, Grace cradled in her arms, to find that Liz had already set up a Barbie play area; A car, furniture and a small doll house were set up on the floor. Grace gurgled happily at Heather looked down at her.
"Does your sister have a car seat?" Heather inquired. If she was going to play with Liz, Grace would have to be right there in her sight.
"Yeah. It's in the kitchen; I'll get it!"
Liz ran off to get the car seat.
Heather sat down on the soft white carpet; She grinned at Grace. It had been a very long time since she had held an infant. But she hadn't forgotten how, thankfully.
"Here… it… is," Liz gasped. She stumbled back into the room, dragging the seat along the floor.
"Thank you very much; As soon as I get her settled we'll play Barbies, okay?" Heather gently placed Grace into the car seat, but didn't fasten the buckles. She wouldn't be going anywhere, so they weren't needed.
Heather then outstretched her right leg, and put the middle of her foot on the car seat and carefully pushed it back and forth; Grace cooed as the rocking motion lulled her to sleep.
"Ready to play?" Liz whispered.
Heather accepted the doll the little girl was handing her.
"So, uh. Barbie…"
The Bellagio, Dining Room
"I'm really glad we could get out of the house," Gil smiled at Sara. "We haven't been out alone in a long time."
Sara nodded.
"And I'm glad Liz likes Heather; I think she's a great babysitter."
Sara nodded again.
"Why aren't you talking?"
Sara didn't speak at first; She had some news to tell him but felt a little uncomfortable doing so.
"Well… I had a check up today. Completely normal; And the doctor, he said… it would be okay for us to start," She lowered her voice so much Gil could hardly understand her. "Having sex again."
"That's why you weren't talking?"
"Yeah. I wasn't sure if you were ready or not so I just wasn't sure when to tell you," Sara's cheeks became tinted with crimson. She couldn't figure out why she was so embarrassed with sharing what the doctor had said.
"Sara, I love you. And when you whenever you are ready, then that's fine with me."
Sara thought for a moment; What she was about to do was very rash and she hoped Gil would be okay with it.
"What do you say we skip dinner? I'm not guaranteeing anything will happen; But if I can't… then we can just snuggle on the bed. Sound good?"
Gil nodded as he stood up from his seat; Sara did the same. The two walked off to go to their room, whispering things in each other's ears and giggling quietly.
The Grissom Residence
Heather glanced at her watch; 8:58.
"Liz, it's time to get ready for bed. Go get your pajamas on and then I'll help you put this stuff away."
Liz groaned softly but complied; Heather stood up, gently picking Grace's car seat up, and walked from the room and upstairs.
Once upstairs, she froze just inside Grace's nursery; The walls were soft yellow, a very soothing and inviting shade. She took a few more steps into the room and saw the painted white crib had a small comforter in it with all kinds of animals all over it.
Heather shook her head and reminded herself she wasn't here to look at all of the baby items; She was here to put Grace in her crib.
She gently set the seat down and lifted the sleeping infant from it. Grace wiggled in her sleep until Heather had laid her down.
As had happened the last time Heather had babysat Liz, memories of watching Zoe sleep as an infant came flooding back. Warm tears stung her eyes but she vowed not to let them fall; It was obvious she still missed Zoe very much, but she cried she would awaken Grace and then had to explain everything to Liz. And that wasn't something she wanted to do.
Liz watched from the doorway as Heather wiped her eyes, then turned around.
"Okay, now that you're ready for bed let's go put that Barbie stuff away," Heather strode from the room, followed closely by Liz.
After the toys had been put away and Liz had fallen asleep, Heather settled down on the couch with the remote in hand; She stared at the television, trying to clear her mind. Zoe's death still came as a shock; She had had her entire life ahead of her when it had been tragically cut short. Some days Heather simply couldn't get her daughter off of her mind; And today had been one of those days.
Staring at the television wasn't working too well, when she heard Grace's quiet cries. Never before in her life had been more thankful to hear an infant crying.
