AN: Thanks for the support, here is the next chapter.
Chapter 5: Still his superhero
Later that evening
After dinner with Bella, her Uncle Jeff and Aunt Shawna, they left the Grissom house, and while Grissom was in the living room with the girls, Sara was in the kitchen cleaning up the rest of the dishes when William walked into the kitchen and cleared his throat. "Mom, can I speak to you for a minute?"
She turned around and smiled at her oldest. "Of course, baby, just a sec."
He nodded while he sat down in a chair at the table while she finished up before drying her hands with a dishtowel, and after placing it on the counter, she walked towards the table and sat down next to him before asking. "So, what's this about?"
William took a moment before he cleared his throat again and asked softly. "I was talking to Bella earlier, and not meaning to, thinking I already knew, she mentioned you might have had the same type of childhood that she had." Sara looked a little shocked, and he placed his hand on top of hers. "Please don't be mad at..."
Sara cuts him off with a slight smile as she placed her other hand on top of his. "I'm not mad at her, I just..."
William cuts her off softly, almost hurt. "How come you never told?"
She sighed. "It's just something I never liked sharing. I didn't want you to know about the horror of what I went through as a child, even the rough time I went through after, pretty much until I built this life with your father."
He lightly squeezed her hand as he continued. "I can handle it now mom. Please?"
Seeing her wonderful little boy now an almost young man, she nodded. "I know you can, and I'll tell you what, I will tell you soon, when your father can be with us too."
Respecting her decision, he nodded before whispering. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."
Keeping her tears at bay, she gave him another smile. "I know, baby." This time she squeezed his hand as she finished. "But you know what? Even if I had to go through all of that to get to this point, to have this life with you, your sisters and father, then it was worth it, because nothing is more important in my life than you guys, always remember that."
William stood up, wrapped his arms around her and whispered. "Always. I love you mom."
She wrapped her arms around him as she whispered. "And I love you too."
When they pulled back, he asked with a smile. "How about a chess game?"
She smirked as she stood up. "Are you sure, Katie might be better competition than me."
Outside of his father, Katie seemed to be his hardest competitor when it came to the chess board, their swapped win total was even closer than he has with his father, not that they kept a true scorecard, just going from what they've witnessed.
He smirked as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Oh come on mom, I'll let you win."
The competitor in her wouldn't allow that, so shook her head with a smile. "Heck no, you give me your best."
William nodded with a smile. "You got it."
When they walked into the living room, they headed right for the chess board, making Grissom smile.
A few days later
After taking a placement test, they got the results a few days later, so surrounded by her Uncle, Aunt, Rick, Elizabeth, and the rest of the Grissom family, Bella opened the envelope, pulled the piece of paper out and read it, all smiling and cheering when they found out she'll be an official Senior next school year, so once the cheering calmed down, Bella looked over at William and smirked. "I hope you aren't wasting your time on that valedictorian speech."
Everybody chuckled while William replied his eyes sparkling. "The same could be said to you too."
Bella nodded with a smile. "Alright, we'll just have to see about that."
He smirked with a nod of his own. "Yeah, I guess we will."
After a few more seconds of looking at one another, the group started to break apart into small circles, and as she was standing with Rick and Elizabeth, Grissom pats his son on his shoulders and smirked. "Well son, I think you met your match."
William chuckled with a nod as he continued to watch her, his heart racing like it does when he's near her. "I guess I have."
A few hours later
Once they had the rest of the boxes that they brought with them from Paris in Bella's temporary room, and had their meal, it was time to say goodbye to her aunt and uncle.
The group said goodbye to them first, then Bella walked them to the vehicle, and once they got there, she said a nice/emotional goodbye to her aunt first.
They get out of the hug after their speech, then the older woman cupped her cheek and smiled. "It has been a joy watching you grow these last eight years. I love you so much, Bella."
Bella nodded with a smile. "I love you too, Aunt Shawna."
After one more hug, they kissed each other's cheeks before Shawna walked towards the vehicle as Jeff moved to stand in front of his niece, they looked at each other with tears in their eyes before he cleared his throat and asked. "It's not to late to change your mind."
"I know, but this is something I feel I have to do, and I can't thank you enough for letting me do this."
He cupped his niece's cheek. "I just want what's best for you." He then smirked. "Plus, we did have a deal."
She chuckled. "Yeah, we did."
He then sighed while looking into her eyes. "You look so much like your mother, I wish she could see how an amazing, wonderful, beautiful young lady you're turning into."
She shook her head and sighed in reply. "Me too."
He brings her in his arms and whispered. "I love you, and if you ever need anything, all you have to do is call."
"I love you too, and the same goes for you as well."
He nodded as they pulled back from their hug, and after a kiss on their cheeks, he turned and walked towards the vehicle, they waved at one another before he got in, and as they drove away, Bella feels a hand on her shoulder and William's calming voice. "You ok?"
She nodded while wiping her tears away before turning to look at the blue eyed boy. "Yeah, I know I'm doing the right thing by being here, but..."
He cuts her off with slight smile. "It doesn't hurt any less when you are saying goodbye."
Knowing that's exactly how she fells, she nodded again with a smile. "Yeah, how did you know?"
He cleared his throat before whispering. "Because there was a moment in time where I felt the same way."
Having a feeling she knew which moment he was talking about, she whispered again. "I felt it too, leaving here all those years ago was the hardest thing I ever done, until now."
After looking into each other's eyes for several minutes, he cleared his throat before speaking again. "We are thinking about going to hospital to see the twins, you want come?"
Bella nodded with a smile. "I would love to."
She would not only like to meet/see the twins but to see the other Grissom 'family' members she hadn't gotten to see yet, or visit with the ones she has already seen but only in passing.
William nodded in return before they walked in the house together.
Later that evening
Once they all made it back to the Grissom household, they all started to get ready for bed, but before Sara and Grissom crawled into bed, he asked. "You sure you want to do this?"
"Yes, he asked about it, so there is no point in putting it off now, you know he won't just forget about it."
Grissom nodded as he held out his hand. "Ok, together."
She placed her hand into his with a smile. "Together."
After walking out of the room, they went past Katie's and Isabella's room to remind them that lights out in ten minutes, and before they passed William's room, which was being used by Bella at the moment, they smiled at her before Sara spoke. "Normally we expect the kids the be in bed by 10, but you..."
Bella cuts her off. "That's fine, I don't want to have special treatment. I want to be treated like I was...well, like I was..."
She trialed off and looked down while Sara asked. "As if you are our own?"
Bella looked up at her shyly, making them smile warmly before Sara nodded. "Ok, we can do that, that will included chores."
Without hesitation, she nodded with the smile still on her face. "Put me on the schedule."
They chuckled, then Sara nodded again. "You got it, lights out in ten, and have a good night."
"You too, and thank you for letting me be here for the school year."
They nodded one more time, this time Grissom spoke. "You're welcome."
After leaving that doorway they headed downstairs and walked towards the office/William's temporary room, knocking on the door when they got there.
William, who was in sweatpants and a t-shirt, looked up from his book at the sound, while Max, who was laying his chin on William's stomach, lifted his head up as he was wagging his tail.
The parents smiled while watching the scene before Sara spoke. "I think there is one person who liked your move downstairs."
William chuckled as he pets Max, knowing it was getting harder for him to move up and down the stairs all the time, then he cleared his throat and looked at his parents again. "What's up?"
Sara and Grissom looked at one another before Sara asked after clearing her throat. "We were wondering if we can talk to you?"
Hearing the seriousness of the tone, he had a feeling on what this was about, so he nodded as he set his book-marker in place before setting it on the nightstand, then Sara sat down next to him while Grissom remained standing at Sara's side.
Sara looked up at her husband, and he gave her a reassuring smile as he took her hand, she squeezed it lightly before looking at her son and clearing her throat. "I don't know how to start. This isn't exactly something I wanted to tell my children."
In fact, she still was on the fence on ever telling the girls what happened when she was a child, but if they ever asked, like William did, she wasn't going to lie about it.
William placed his hand on Sara's other one with a reassuring smile. "Anywhere you like, whatever you tell me won't make me think any less of you as my mother. In fact, I bet I'll only love you more."
Sara nodded with a smile as she squeezed her son's hand, then after a moment of hesitation, she started telling him about her childhood, not every horrible detail, but enough, including what happened that 'night' and her time in foster care until she graduated high school at 16, as a valedictorian, before going to Harvard.
Once she was done, he cleared his throat and asked. "Is your mom still alive?"
Sara shook her head. "No, she died years ago."
William nodded as he looked down, and she squeezed his hand lightly and whispered. "Baby?"
When he looked into her eyes again, he had tears in them, for what his mother went through, and she removed her hand from her husbands to cup his cheek and started to whisper. "William..."
He cuts her off softly. "I know I've already said this, but I'm sorry mom, I wish..."
She cuts him off with a nod. "I know."
He then wraps his arms around her while she wrapped her arms around her son. "I love you, mom."
Sara sniffled as she whispered. "And I love you, baby."
A few minutes later, they pull back and she cupped his cheek again, wiping a few tears of his cheek as she asked. "You ok?"
He nodded with a small sniffle. "Yeah, thank you for trusting me enough to tell me."
"You're welcome." After a moments hesitation, she cleared her throat and said. "Why don't you try and get some sleep."
He nodded, but as she started to get up, he asked after clearing his throat. "Will you read to me?"
Yeah her son maybe 16 years old, but it's been years since they read together, and she would never turn that offer down, so she nodded with a smile. "I would love that."
He smiled before looking over at his father. "What about you dad, like old times?"
Grissom nodded in return with a smile. "I will be happy to."
As Grissom walked to the other side of the bed, Sara grabbed her son's book from the nightstand, then once her husband sat down on their son's bed, she cleared her throat and started to read, and as William watched his mother, he never felt prouder/honored to be her son. He always thought of her as a superhero, and that feeling was still there, more even.
AN: More to come, thanks for being patient, things will start to pick up a little more, I just had get everything set up. Thanks for reading, and please review.