Disclaimer: I don't own the main characters.
Summary: 10 years have passed, and William, now 16 years old, is about to embark on his last year of high school and reunites with someone from his past, then just when his future looked brighter than ever, life throws him a curveball sooner than he was prepared for, than his parents were even prepared for. Find out where life will take him next.
9th in Starting over series.
AN:I just want to thank everybody again for their continued support, I can't believe I am at 9 stories in a series, I think this a record for my GSR series, and I wouldn't have continued without that support. That being said I hope overall, you enjoy this latest entry, at first, when I realized I was going to continue on with the series, I thought last story would be it, but I felt if there were one sets of kids you would want to see growing up, it would be the Grissoms, I would have even felt cheated if I hadn't done it, so let's continue shall we? And I believe you all know the drill by now, those of you who have just found the series, it would be best if you went to the beginning, or you'll probably be lost as to what is going on.
Title: Growing up & Letting Go
Genre: T
Rating: Romance, Drama, Family, Hurt/comfort, Friendship
Spoilers: None
Time-line: 10 years after last story ended
Warnings: Implied/Suggestive adult content
Main Parings: GSR
Minor Parings: Multiple
Other Characters: Multiple
Series Order: Starting Over, Going to Miami, Where to go from here?, More than meets the eye, When you least expect it, An Enemy Within, Working out in the end?, Bella
Chapter 1: An unexpected reunion
Late May, 2026
Sitting at the kitchen table, looking at the only man she's ever truly loved, who may be older and his hair a little more whiter than when she first met him, but still brings a smile to her face while her heart still beats for him and still gets butterflies in her stomach when he smiles right at her, which that's what he did a few seconds later with his signature eyebrow raise when he felt her staring at him. "Anything I can help you with, my dear?"
Sara shook her head with a smile as she placed her hand on top of his, running her thumb over his wedding ring. "Nope, I'm all set."
He picked up her hand and brought it up to his lips and kissed it before smirking. "Even after 18 years of marriage?"
"Has it really been that long?"
He smirked again. "According to my calculations, I'm afraid so."
With loving eyes, they moved towards one another while she whispered. "Funny, because to me it feels like just yesterday I was saying 'I do'."
He whispered in return as they got closer. "I do too."
Their lips touched and they kissed softly a few times, but before they could deepen it, they hear a clearing of a throat before hearing their middle child, 11 year old Isabella, speaking. "You now have an audience."
They slowly pulled back and looked at their oldest daughter, who had the resemblance of her mother, from the medium length brown hair, to the brown eyes and the slim build, and like her older brother, she had moved up a grade.
Then they smiled before Grissom smirked in return. "Yeah? And that's our problem? We are just expressing our love for one another, like any married couple does."
Isabella just rolled her eyes with a smile before she cleared her throat and spoke again. "I have to go over to Andrew's to work on a project, so I'm just going to eat breakfast over there."
When the house next to theirs on the left side became vacant about five years ago, the Boldens, ready to buy a house together after living in an apartment most of their marriage, put an offer on it and got it, which not only made the Grissom family happy, particularly Sara, Grissom and Isabella, but also the Browns.
Her parents nodded before her mother spoke with a smile. "Ok, but make sure you are home before dinner, we have to have a family meeting."
Isabella looked worried as she asked. "Is everything ok?"
Sara nodded with another smile. "It's fine sweetie, we just need to discuss something."
While a small part of her was a still a little worried, she took her mother's word with a nod before she turned and walked out of the room, and as they heard the front door close, their youngest daughter/child, 9 year old Katie, who resembled more of her father, from the natural hair color to the blue eyes and his body type, walked into the room and smiled at her parents. "Good Morning mommy, daddy."
And like her older siblings, she didn't spend much time in kindergarten, but what kind of surprised them was that she was the one that got moved up two grades, which meant she was in the same grade as her older sister.
It was a little weird for Isabella at first to see her younger sister in the same class as her, but she eventually got use to it.
Of course, that didn't mean she wasn't happy when they started middle school and their parents, teachers, and principle made sure they weren't in every class together, needing a little separation from one another, but Isabella always managed to keep an eye on her during the breaks, she was her older sister after all and cared about her well-being.
They smiled in return before Sara spoke. "Good morning to you too, honey. Did you sleep well?"
Katie nodded as she sat down in her chair, and as she was pouring syrup on her pancakes, the oldest Grissom child came into the room, 16 year old William, who still resembled much of his father, except his body type was more like his mother's.
The parents smiled at their son and he smiled back, then while he was kissing his younger sister's cheek, Sara asked. "You hungry?"
He sighed. "I'm going to have to get some to go, a study session at the park with Elizabeth and Rick."
Sara nodded as she stood up, grabbing the plate of eggs and pancakes. "Please at least drink your orange juice."
He nodded with a smile as he picked up the glass. "Ok, mom."
While he took a sip, Grissom asked. "You still need the keys to the vehicle?"
William looked over at his mom, and she smiled while shaking her head. "I'll take a look at it later."
On William's 16th birthday, his parents got him a car, but it was a project and it hadn't been running good lately. Although, he admits he likes the challenge of fixing it. Of course, whenever he ran into trouble, his mother was right there helping him out since all the years she's been a CSI, she's dismantled and put vehicles back together more times than she could count.
William smiled before looking at his father. "Yes please."
Grissom took his vehicle keys out of his pocket and hands it to him, then as William grabbed a hold of them, Grissom tightens the hold on them and tugs it down so William's face was close to his and he said. "Drive safely, no distractions."
Even though he passed his driving test with flying colors and he wasn't that bad when he had to drive with his parents in the vehicle, Grissom was still worried, even after two months of his son driving without supervision, about him getting behind the wheel.
William nodded with another smile. "Yes, sir."
Grissom removed his hand from the keys, and after a kiss on his father's cheek, William stood up straight and walked towards his mother before she hands him a couple of plastic tupperwares. "I put a little extra in there, so share."
He chuckled as he took them from her before kissing her cheek. "Yes, mom."
He turned around, and when he was about halfway, Sara spoke again. "Oh, before I forget, I need you to come home before dinner, there is something we need to discuss."
William turned around before both him and Katie looked at their mother like Isabella did when she had said that to her. "Is everything ok?"
Sara nodded with a smile before Grissom spoke. "Everything is fine, son, just something we need to talk about as a family."
"Ok." When he got to the door, he turned around again and spoke. "I'm also taking Max with me, if that's ok?"
They both nodded before Sara spoke with another smile. "It's fine, thank you."
After one more nod, William walked out of the room while the rest of the Grissom family was finishing their breakfast.
Four hours later
"Come on man, we've been at this for four hours." 16 year old Rick Brown then smirked. "I'm sure even your parents had study breaks."
Sitting at the picnic table, William smiled shyly at his best friend, who despite had been adopted, had Warrick's height, and Catherine's blue eyes and blond hair, he also had the makings of an athletic body from playing baseball since middle school, unlike his older brother, Eli, who played football and basketball all through middle and high school, now he's playing both sports at UNLV. While Cassandra is in New York, going to drama school.
"I guess we have been working a little harder than usual."
His other best friend, now 16 year old Elizabeth Hughes, spoke with a smile. "Hey, you know I'm all for studying, but Rick is right on this one." She then smirked. "For once."
William chuckled as Rick gave her a mock glare, but there was also a smile on his face. "Hey now."
Elizabeth, who was also an older sister to two younger siblings now, her younger half-brother, Ryan Jr. born 2 years after Emily, smiled and said. "Just playing."
Rick waved it of with a nod. "I know."
As they were packing their books/binders back into their backpacks, William asked. "Hey guys, do you know if anything big is going on with the family?"
Elizabeth and Rick looked at their best friend and shook their heads before Elizabeth asked. "No, why?"
"My mom called for a family meeting, it sounded really serious, even though she, and my dad, said everything is ok."
Rick then smirked as he zipped up his backpack. "Maybe someone else is pregnant? You know how many babies have entered into this family the last 10 years?"
Elizabeth couldn't help but smirk in return. "Which one of those pregnancies resulted in you having a niece and nephew, you know?"
About 5 years after Kyle and Lindsey were married, they finally decided to start their family, so how they did that was through artificial insemination, using his sperm since he made precautions before he left for the army, which they were thankful he did so they both could be biological parents to their child. And knowing they had one shot at this, they made sure they did everything their doctor, which was Kelly of course, said. Lindsey even took a leave of absence from the lab so she wouldn't be any more stressed than she already was. Then the day came when they found out they were pregnant, and as happy as they were, their parents were just as happy, if not more than them, if that was even possible, and a few months later when they found out they were having twins, only made them happier.
They were now five years old, and the apple of not only their parents eyes, but grandparents as well, especially Catherine, who only smiled with pride when someone called her 'grandma', even when they were mostly teasing her, and of course Warrick got teased too for being a 'grandpa' but he could care less, he felt a sense of honor of being called that.
Rick chuckled as he held up his hands. "Ok, you got me there." Elizabeth smiled with a proud nod, but before any more of the conversation continued, Rick cleared his throat and said. "Uh, Will?"
William looked at his friend with the famous Grissom eyebrow raise and asked. "Yeah?"
Rick pointed to a dog running away from their area, and continued. "Isn't that Max?"
William looked down at the spot where Max had been lying the whole time to find the spot now empty before turning his head, seeing his dog running like he hadn't seen him run in years, so he took off after him as he yelled. "Max!"
From one end of the park to the middle of it, William finally caught up with his dog, who was excitedly licking and jumping on a young woman, who was sitting on a blanket with her head down, lightly chuckling while she tried petting the dog as William spoke while trying to catch his breath. "I'm sorry ma'am, Max isn't usually like this."
Before he could call Max over to him, the young woman, who had long brown hair that was in her usual pony tail, lifted her head up and smiled. "Now tell me the truth, do I really look old enough to be a ma'am?"
One look at her face and into those brown eyes, William's eyes got wide, his heart racing, even more than it already was from running, as he whispered. "Bella."
The now 15 year old Bella smiled a little wider as she replied. "How are you doing, William?"
AN: Interested in more? Thanks reading, and please review.