DISCLAIMER:Don't own it... No money made... Just for fun and enjoyment.
SUMMARY: Sequel to Displacement. The CSI team and their recently hired coroner Stephanie are back to work solving cases, sharing companionship and generally making their way through the dire world of criminal investigation with humor and friendship... This one will show the development of the relationship between Grissom and Sara and there should be some other surprises down the road as well. Romance/Drama/Angst/Mature Situations
RATING: M for Mature - I'm starting this one out at "M", since we won't be waiting quite so long for the smut this time out ;) Also, there is a sprinkling of language throughout the story.
A/N: Sorry about this one taking so long to post... But it's ffn's fault! I tried most of the night to post the thing :p But here it is, and I sincerely hope you've all enjoyed reading this story just as much as I have enjoyed writing it. It may be a little while before you hear from the lovely folks in this little CSI universe I've created, but I promise you will get at least one more dose of this story arc. :) Thank you all for making this such a wonderful experience for me. :D
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: I'd like to thank the following reviewers for their unbelievable support while writing this even more unbelievablely long fic: brandie.d, csi1gil1, CSIfanGSR, cygnet1, jacey05, jbr12476, msgrits, nick55, odeepblue, Peggiegg, smacky30, snicker48197, stareagle, stvinny, TrishG. Your words of encouragement have been so amazing during this experience. You have helped to give back to me my joy of writing. Thank you you all, from the bottom of my heart.
Special thanks go out to brandie.d and jacey05 for stepping up to do a little preview reading during some tense moments. Your input really helped me get through those rough spots. And to odeepblue, Peggiegg and smacky30 for making the start of my days fantastic with your amazing comments; I have never laughed or blushed so much in my life.
My most sincere gratitude goes to my two betas; "Tyria" & "kreleia." Your encouragement, honesty and humor kept me sane through this one. And the occasional crack of the whip kept me motivated. ;) I'm not sure this would have been nearly as fun without you both. :D
EPILOGUE
Three weeks… Three weeks he fought to host the Thanksgiving Dinner at his place; At OUR place, he corrected himself. And in three weeks time, everyone had shot down each and every legitimate reason he had for wanting it there; save the one he could not share with them. So, they would be having Thanksgiving Dinner at Catherine's; Catherine and Warrick's, he corrected himself again. That had certainly been an odd turn of events for everyone involved, but even he admitted that it was long overdue.
He remarked at how quickly they progressed through their relationship. They moved in together that very next week and had already slipped into a very comfortable routine before the month had been out. It amazed him how anyone could do something like that. It had taken he and Sara more than a month to even discuss the possibility, and only then for practicality's sake. It was silly to have to drive across town for either of them to change clothes before a shift every day. And wasteful to always take two cars, so it was the only practical solution. His thoughts made him realize that he really was as dense as Catherine had been accusing him of for years. It was only practical because I could not bear to be without her for a single night once I knew what it was I had been missing.
Three days… For three days he had been furiously scribbling into a notebook, whenever he could steal away a moment to collect his thoughts. The only concession he had been allowed in the arrangements for this first and momentous Thanksgiving Dinner was that he would be afforded the toast before the meal. His mother would have corrected him, and said that he would be giving the blessing, but he felt no right to bless anything, since it would be a blessing for himself, if everything went as he hoped. So, for three days he worked diligently at preparing exactly what he was going to say. He had gone through several books of quotations and even found a website that would look up keywords for him, but he could not find another soul who had ever felt as he did. How could the great minds of countless centuries fail me for thoughts and words at a time like this? He was going to have to go it alone on this one, and that thought scared him more than anything else in that moment. And after three days of trying to put into words everything he wanted to make known, all he had to show for it was a notebook that had the remnants of seventy-nine torn pages along the spiral and one coldly, blank page calling out to him with its many taunts.
Three hours… In three hours he had to go to the airport to pick his mother up for her second visit in less than a year. It had been nearly ten years since the last time she had even left the California coast, and now she was visiting him in Las Vegas for the second time in almost as many months. However, this trip had been a request from her son, and he knew she would not deny him. He had taken the entire week off, in preparation for her arrival on Monday, but a last minute emergency at her gallery changed her plans. That gave him three days to worry over what he was going to say to her when they first saw each other. He had hoped to ask her advice during their little visit together, but instead he was left to his own devices, and a nearly depleted spiral notebook of failures. He was certain she had decrypted his intentions from the moment he requested her presence at the holidays. And he knew that she would see it all on his face from the moment he saw her at the airport. His mother had been the one woman to always know his mind. Had been.
His pencil pressed firmly into that hideously white sheet of lined paper, his thoughts finally began to pour from his mind and through the lead as it looped across and down the page. Once he understood what he was doing, it became effortless, and as the final words traced themselves onto the paper he closed the cover of the notebook and glanced at the clock on the wall. It's time.
CSI GSR CSI GSR CSI GSR CSI GSR CSI GSR CSI GSR
The shirt and pants were easy to get by her, but the tie and jacket had been a fight. The shirt was one she had bought for him, so he knew she liked it, and he liked the dark almost charcoal quality of the blue in the shirt. The pants; they went well with the shirt. The suit jacket, he almost got away with by telling her that it was a little chilly outside, and it did go with the pants, but she had insisted that Catherine made a point to say it was to be a casual gathering. In the end, he told her he would take it off after they arrived, and that seemed to win him the argument as they got ready for dinner. The tie, however, had been his biggest problem, because he never wore a tie, unless he was going into court. When he was about to lose the fight altogether, he had been forced to lie. He told her that his mother preferred to dress for dinner, especially for big occasions. He would probably pay for that white lie later, but he decided that it would be worth it in the end.
So, there they were, riding over to Catherine and Warrick's for the big Thanksgiving Dinner. Everyone would be there, and with any luck, those who had sacrificed and taken on-call for the night would never get a page. It's important for everyone to be there, he thought as he checked the rearview mirror for the hundredth time. Sara and his mother had chosen to sit in the back seat so they could talk, and whenever it got quiet, Gil feared for the worst. The thought of Sara having a private conversation with his mother worried him to no end.
When they finally arrived, Gil was surprised to see so many cars lining the streets, but then he remembered Catherine lived in a neighborhood with a lot of families, so it was to be expected that they, too, would be sharing the holiday with their families. He pulled his car up next to Brass' squad car, which meant he was on-call tonight, and flipped on his hazard lights to give him time to help Sara and his mother out of the car. He was not sure where he would end up parking and he did not want his mother to walk very far. She might have been a very spry seventy-six, but that did not mean he wished to push his luck. As he made his way around the car, he was surprised to find Sara had already exited the car and had turned to help his mother out. He was mildly embarrassed by her taking over for him, but his mother reached up and touched his cheek as Sara took her arm and they walked to the sidewalk. He signed to her that he should walk them inside before parking the car, but she had waved him on and told him that she and Sara would be just fine. And to take further wind out of his argument, Nick walked up behind them and offered to escort the ladies into the party.
As Gil got back in his car and started looking for a place to park, he was glad to see that Nick had also disregarded Catherine's admonitions about the casual affair. He would be able to convince Sara to allow him to keep his jacket, so as to offer support to Nick for also not following the instructions they had been given. It took him a little while, but around the corner and down the block a bit, he was finally able to find a parking spot. When he realized his pace would cause him to break a sweat, he tried to slow his footsteps as he made his way to Catherine and Warrick's house. He was forced to go back to the car once, when he realized he had forgotten the wine, but his mind was steadily replaying his carefully crafted toast over and over, until he was certain it had become ingrained there. With any luck, he would not have to refer to the crumpled piece of notebook paper in his breast pocket.
He was about to set the case of wine down on the stoop to ring the bell, when the door swung open, revealing the smiling face of Catherine's delightful daughter. Lindsey had obviously been placed there to wait for him and she beamed at his arrival, beckoning him to come inside. "Hey Gil! Sara said you had a load." He passed her quickly and held up the case slightly to signal his hello to Jim as he acknowledged his arrival.
"Nice! And you pull out all the stops when I can't even have a drop." Jim grabbed the other side of the case and helped him to carry it into the kitchen.
Once they had set it down on the counter, Gil reached into his jacket pocket and handed his old friend a tall and heavy box. "For after the shift."
Jim opened the top of the box and halfway pulled up the bottle it contained to reveal the label. "Glenlivet… Almost makes being on-call tonight worth it." Brass gave his old friend a slap on the back and then had to make one more comment, "So, you moonlighting as a maitre'd at the Pike?" Gil gave him one of his disapproving glares and the man laughed it off as they walked out of the kitchen and into the living room.
In the living room, he found his mother and Stephanie on the couch with Lindsey sitting between them as the young girl clumsily tried to fashion her hands around a few basic signs. Sara and Catherine were off to the side having something of an animated conversation, which again worried him. There was something about the women in his life being able to conspire against him that caused him intense concern.
On the other side of the room he found Greg in what looked like a pleasant conversation with Sam and Lily, but considering the young man's fascination with the lore of Old Vegas, he should not have been surprised by his interest in the older couple. He continued to look around, but he had not spotted Catherine's sister and her family, so when the woman was about to walk past him he had to ask, "Hey, where're Nancy and the kids?"
Catherine tilted her head to the side and said, "Inlaws this year." He thought that would be the end of it, but she put her hand on his shoulder and leaned back to whisper to him, "Glad you can follow directions, Dapper Dan." He demurred to her crack, because it was true, but as he looked around, it would appear that no one followed her instructions for a "casual get-together."
He was about to join Sara, who was talking to Warrick when his progress across the room was impeded by the gray haired beauty seated near the sofa. "So, Gil… How does it feel?"
He smiled, because he knew exactly what she was asking, even more than Elizabeth did at that moment, "Almost perfect… But you already knew that." She patted his arm and smiled, so he continued to make his way across the room.
As he reached Sara's side, Warrick excused himself to check on something in the kitchen and he was left alone, mostly, with the most beautiful woman in the room. She chose to wear a dress that night, because she told him she was not about to be outdone by a lousy entomologist. He tried to explain that he was actually a very good entomologist, but his argument had been cut short by her kiss, and he had forgotten all about it. Until he saw her standing there. "So, a lousy entomologist and failed physicist walk into a part-…" She wrapped her arms through the crook of his arm and pulled him to her, flashing that electric smile at him and he just had to stop talking to kiss her cheek. "Does that mean I'm off the hook for the suit?"
Before she could answer, Catherine had enlisted Nick's assistance in getting everyone to pay attention, because when Nick cut loose with that whistle, everyone stopped. However, instead of Catherine's voice, everyone heard Stephanie holler, "I know that sound!" And Nick proceeded to turn about fifty shades of red.
"Yeah, but this time he doesn't need a lawyer." Catherine added insult to injury and Nick turned away from the brassy hostess and tried to skulk away into the shadows. "Okay, I think that should conclude the entertainment for the evening… How about we all make our way to the table?"
There was a cacophony of sounds as everyone got up and prepared for the trek into the dining room. The table was filled with foods for every possible variety of Thanksgiving tradition. Gil and Warrick began to uncork the bottles of wine so they could begin to pour it into the glasses once everyone was seated. It took some doing to get everyone into their seats, but as the two men made their way around the table, the general consensus was that they were all happy to be there. When Gil reached Lindsey's seat, she eagerly held out her glass, and he gave her a disapproving drop of his gaze. "Oh c'mon!"
Warrick laughed from the other side of the table and proceeded to go back to the cart he had wheeled in with all the wine and reached over the table to hand Gil an unfamiliar bottle. "You don't even like grape juice, what makes you think the fermented ones are any better." Lindsey stuck her tongue out at Warrick and he just continued to laugh. "I got you something else."
Gil took a look at the label and popped the cap off of the top, draped the towel over his arm, and dipped his head to get Lindsey's attention. "It was a very good year in the Washington orchards, madame. I think you'll find the bouquet quite amusing, and the bubbles will tickle your nose." When Gil wiggled his nose at her she laughed and then Lindsey reached up and looked at the bottle; Sparkling Apple Cider, non-alcoholic. She rolled her eyes, but still let Gil pour the drink into her glass.
Before he continued down the table, he dropped the bottle onto the table in front of her. She's got a strong constitution, she'll be able to handle it. He chuckled to himself a bit at his last thought, and for the first time that night, he felt a little bit relaxed.
When he and Warrick finished, he knew that he had finally run out of time. His big moment was about to arrive, and he had absolutely no idea what he was going to say. And as though on cue, Catherine got up and went to his side to offer him a little encouragement. "The troops are waiting for your orders, General." Her hand on his back was his final signal. His time had come.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Catherine take her seat next to Warrick, who immediately sought out her hand for comfort. He took a deep breath and patted the sheet of folded and crumpled paper in his breast pocket, just to make sure it was still there, if he needed it. In his other hand, he found that someone had slipped his glasses into his palm, and when he looked down, he found Sara's smiling face. And in that, he found strength.
He took a deep breath and began, "I think it would be safe to say, that this has been a year filled with transitions, for all of us. In each of our lives, there has been a turning point. However, the thing that struck me as we prepared for this day was the fact that each of those turns pointed each of us toward one another. I found that to be a profound discovery. And I came upon that discovery in the most mundane of circumstances. Suffice it to say, it involved ironing a shirt. Not a single one of us can say that we might have made it through these events without one another.
"This may not be profound for most people, but for a group of solitary, determined, driven and often consumed people, that is an unbelievable miracle. And speaking for myself, a miracle somewhere on the order of the formation of the planets and stars." A small chuckle rolled over the room with his comment, but he only smiled and continued.
"Someone once told me," he looked pointedly at Catherine, as he said his next words. "That I needed to lift my head up out of the microscope and look around. That it didn't matter if I wanted them to or not, but that people were forming a family around me. I don't think I understood what she meant back then, but I certainly do now. For a large part of my life, it had just been me and Mom and she'll be the first to say, that sometimes, it was just me. I understood myself, and certainty was important to me. But then there was this chemistry professor, who sent her husband to talk to the 'bug kid' about some case he was stuck on. He showed me a world where I could take uncertainty and decipher its codes into incontrovertible fact, and that excited me. But they also showed me something else, they showed me the world of wonder and possibility through the greenest and wildest eyes ever put on this earth, and she called me Uncle Gil." Stephanie smiled up at him and he delighted at the way her freckles bunched up and made apples on her cheeks. "Through her, I rediscovered my passion for learning and the mysteries of life itself. She taught me how to laugh, at the world and at myself. And when she was thrust back into the proximity of my life, it somehow became so much richer. And thankfully, everyone else felt the same way, so that transition was effortless."
He looked back out at the table and kept going, "Other transitions were not so easy, but through them all, we have grown, not only stronger and wiser, but closer. Some of those growing pains were not what we were looking for," His gaze dropped to Warrick for a moment. "But we learned from them, and found the next transition to be exactly what we needed all along." He could see Catherine lean in closer to Warrick and Lindsey smiling at her mother.
"As I am certain there are those here who can atest, I have never been someone accustomed to change." There was another wave of chuckles across the table, but he only bowed his head slightly to show his understanding. "However, some change is not only necessary, but life sustaining. So, I am trying very hard to be more accepting of change, as long as I can experience it with the people who mean the most to me. Catherine was right, and I know she is so happy to hear those words, but it is the truth." The chuckles made him pause a moment.
"She was right when she told me there was a family forming around me, and today, and for the rest of my life, I am eternally grateful to you all for being my family, even when I had my head buried in that microscope, and could not see what my blind ignorance was doing to those people I cared about. So, in the spirit of the day," he reached down for his glass and held it up in the air, waiting for everyone else to follow suit. Once he saw a glass raised in front of each smiling face he finished his toast. "Thank you all for being the only family anyone could ever hope to be a part of. Thank you." He brought the glass to his lips and everyone else did the same, but as their glasses lowered he saw mist in the eyes of several of those present, including his own.
As everyone brought their glasses down to the table, they quickly realized that Gil had remained standing, so the quiet murmurs started. He took in another deep breath and then his voice had them holding theirs. "And if you all could indulge me in this, I would be even more grateful…" His hand subconsciously moved to his right jacket pocket, just to make sure the delicate satchel was still there. "Believe it or not, I was once foolish and fanciful. The foolishness has haunted me most of my life, but I lost touch with that other part of my nature somewhere along the way. When I was young, it caused me to do some pretty outrageous things. As a result of one particularly bad choice, my mother was forced to take action. She told me that when she thought I was ready for the responsibility again, she would give back to me something that I considered very precious. Well, apparently, it took me such a long time to reach that pinnacle, I had actually forgotten all about her promise, or even what she had taken from me. It wasn't something I had any use for as I made my way through life, and she hadn't seen that I was yet ready for the responsibility, so she continued to safeguard it for me. Seems, for all my supposed maturity and knowledge, my mother still knew what was in my best interest." He looked down at his mother, and she graced him with a gentle and knowing smile.
"Anyway, during her previous visit, when I learned just how much she had been conspiring with a certain red-headed monster," His glare at Stephanie was met with a mock look of innocence. "I also learned what an amazingly wise woman my mother truly is. She spent more than a week here and it wasn't until the last night, that she decided I had finally reached that mark of maturity. There was no big show, or any pomp. She just slipped it into my hand and said very simply, 'I think you can handle the responsibility now.'" He shook his head to show his disbelief at that moment. "I actually had no idea what she was talking about, because the comment just seemed so out of place." His mother actually laughed at his show, because she had not witnessed his reaction to her gesture that night, but everyone else laughed because of his confusion.
"When I opened the satchel and looked inside…" He shook his head again, almost laughing at himself. "Well, let's just say I was not expecting what I found, and certainly not from her. But as I stared at it and the outside of the door she entered to leave me alone, I had one of those moments of clarity that everyone has talked about. It had only ever happened to me once before, and just like the first time, I was not prepared for it… And oddly enough, it happened in exactly the same location." He raised his eyebrows a moment, as though he had just made that connection. It also meant that he was straying from his planned dialogue and he needed to reel it in if he was to keep his audience.
"Well, at that point, nearly everyone in my life had come to the same conclusion, but it took my mother pretty much smacking me upside the head before I could connect the same dots. Seems that, once again, I had forgotten to…" He looked down at Sara, who was looking up at him in total and sublime confusion. "'Think outside the box.'" He reached his right hand down into his pocket and slowly brought the satchel out.
She still had no idea what he was doing, but she suddenly felt like the entire world had disappeared, except for the two of them. His eyes positively transfixed on hers, she was almost afraid to look away. From the corner of her eye, she could tell he was moving, but she was still lost in that steely blue gaze. She felt him reach out with his left hand and take her hand in it. As the rest of the world rapidly came back into focus his mouth began to move again.
"I think Mom was right… I'm ready for the responsibility now." He placed the delicate velvet satchel into the palm of her right hand and waited for her to look at the item. It seemed like a lifetime of waiting before her dark amber gaze broke with his and she looked into her palm. She looked back at him for reassurance and then to her palm once again. As she tilted open the satchel, he could not help himself and he whispered, "It was my grandmother's." She was treating the satchel like a dangerous thing, and cautiously dipped a finger inside to get a look at the contents, when all the air rushed out of her lungs the instant her fingertip made contact with it. He was not sure that was a good sign until his vision blurred as she jumped to her feet and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, and he could feel the collar of his shirt getting damp. He could only assume it was a good thing, but his insecurities told him he had better ask, so he whispered into her ear, "Is that a yes?" Barely able to speak, she only nodded into his neck with a faint and very muffled affirmative.
He had no idea how long they stood there, but the natives began to get restless. The next thing he knew someone had begun to clap, and when the voice followed, he knew exactly who it was. "Well, I think I speak for every one here when I say…" Stephanie motioned for Greg to cover Lindsey's ears before she continued. "ABOUT FUCKING TIME!"
"Stephanie Gayle!" Elizabeth shouted at her daughter. Catherine smacked her left arm and Thomas got the right, while Warrick reached over Catherine's head to pop her in the head with his napkin.
"OWWWW" She was holding both arms and squinting from the blow to the head. "What? Like everyone wasn't thinking it?"
