Ok, this is an amended chapter into this story that thegreatbluespoon insisted that I add something about Grissom alone with the kids. This is a last minute concoction from us so neither of my beta's have seen it so all of the mistakes are our doing.

Thanks to those who are still reading and reviwing. If you stick with me I'll throw you for a loop.

Teens & Tribulations

Chapter 7

It was the first day of the four that Sara would be gone at the seminar with Catherine. Grissom tossed and turned and even resorted to clinging to her pillow and inhaling her scent. It still didn't help. Every half hour he checked the clock thinking that several hours had gone by.

"This is going to be the longest four days of my life." He said to no one as he rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling.

He closed his eyes once again willing sleep to take over him. Just when he thought he might fall asleep, a disturbing noise coming form the living room had his eyes wide open. With a disgruntled moan, Grissom pulled himself from bed and dressed in his robe to see what the ruckus was all about.

The closer he got to the living room the louder the music got. He began to think that Greg was here and having a relapse with his music selections. Grissom walked into the living room and stopped dead in his tracks as he observed the scene before him. Jason and Kassie were eating cereal on the coffee table, mere inches from some of his text books. Jason was slurping up the soggy cereal while flipping through one of the latest forensic magazine's, his head bobbing up and down with the music. Kassie picked up her bowl and was attempting to drink her cereal while mimicking Jason. It's didn't work, and milk and cereal ran down the side of her cheeks spilling onto her pajama's and the carpet below.

"Hey." Grissom called out but the music drowned out his voice.

Jason kept multi-tasking as Grissom tried to gain their attention. It was when the chorus of the song came on that Grissom moved over and shut the stereo off.

Well I could see,
you home with me, but you were with another man, yea!
I know we,
ain't got much to say,
before I let you get away, yea!
I said, are you gonna be my girl?

Jason continued to sing along loud enough so he could hear his own voice, but as the stereo died he was practically yelling. It took a few seconds for him to realize why the music had been shut off. Jason looked up at Grissom, then sunk as far as he could to the floor. Kassie was enthusiastic as she saw him.

"We're having cereal. Want some?" she asked with a smile on her face.

Grissom didn't respond as he was using deep breaths to control his anger. This was all so new to him that he didn't know how to react.

"No. I don't want any cereal. And you two know that there is no eating in the living room. So why are you in here?" Grissom spoke as calm as he could.

Jason didn't want to answer, he just looked into his cereal bowl.

"Jason?"

He took a deep breath and replied. "I wanted to listen to the radio and read."

"How can you do both?" Grissom shot back quickly.

Again Jason hung his head. "Sorry."

Grissom looked at the two youngsters and could read the sorrow that they had in their eyes. They knew he was upset with them. Grissom took several deep breaths.

"Let's get this cleaned up before it stains the carpet and Sara kills us all." Grissom helped them get things cleaned up before collapsing onto the couch. He wanted to just fall asleep, but when Kassie sat next to him he opened his eyes and looked down at her.

"Will you read me a book?" She asked innocently.

Grissom sighed. "What do you want to hear?"

"We have one started, I'll go get it." She ran upstairs to fetch the book.

Jason sat in the recliner across from Grissom and picked up another journal.

"Do you actually read the articles or just look at the pictures?" Grissom asked him.

Jason looked over the top of the magazine. "I read them."

"What's your favorite in that one?" Grissom asked. He had already read that particular one and was just thinking that he had caught Jason in a fib.

"I like the one on polymerase chain reaction. How they copy the chromosomes by separating the DNA helix." Jason said as he looked back into the text.

Grissom got a shocked look on his face as he knew Jason was right, that the article was present in that particular magazine. Just then Kassie came bounding down the stairs.

"I found it." She exclaimed as she handed Grissom the book.

He looked at it and then back at Jason who was setting down the magazine. "You're reading this to her?" Grissom said pointing to the book.

"Yeah, it's a great story."

"Don't you think it's a little advanced for her?"

"No. She likes it." Jason replied.

"Yeah, I like ghost stories." Kassie said as she settled into Grissom's side.

Jason settled back into the recliner giving Grissom his full attention. Grissom sighed and opened the book to where it was marked.

"Alright, 'Turn of the Screw' by Henry James, chapter 9..."

Grissom read until he realized that Kassie was sound asleep. He looked over at Jason, who was also asleep. Grissom closed the book and put his arm around Kassie and let 'Mr. Sandman' take him under.

Grissom slowly opened his eyes and heard the soft sound of Mozart filling his ears. He managed to focus his eyes and was staring directly into a pair of brown ones.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Watching your nose hairs wiggle." Kassie said laughing.

Grissom shook his head and tried to sit up straight but his body refused to move. Then he decided that it was the last time he was going to fall asleep sitting up on the couch.

Jason helped him get up. Grissom's back screamed at him and the first few steps he attempted were off balance.

"Do you have to go to work tonight?" Jason asked.

"Oh shit. What time is it?" Grissom asked.

"It's six. I already made some dinner if you want to eat."

"Yeah, let me take a shower first." Grissom headed off to his bedroom to get cleaned up.

Sara had been gone for twenty hours and he had nearly three more days to go. Grissom was sure by the time she returned, he would be dead.

He sat behind his desk with his head in his hands. After a long night of work and very little sleep with the kids in the house, Grissom was exhausted. He had only meant to shut his eyes for a few minutes before handing out assignments to the remainder of the night shift. Grissom opened his eyes as he heard talking and some commotion in the hall. He looked up puzzled, he didn't remember shutting the door. His eyes fell to his desk, the assignments were missing. Grissom searched under the papers on his desk to no avail. He looked up when his door opened.

"How do you feel?" Warrick asked.

"Fine, why?"

"You've been asleep in here for the past six hours."

Gissom's eyes grew to the size of half dollars as he checked his watch. "Damn. I didn't realize I was that tired. I'm sorry Warrick."

Warrick smiled. "It's cool. When you didn't show up in the break room I came looking for you. You were out like a light. So I handed out the assignments." He paused studying Grissom's reaction to everything. "Hard being a single parent huh?"

"What?" Grissom looked up. "Oh, yeah. I don't know how Catherine does it. I have a completely newfound respect for her."

"Tell you what..." Warrick sat down. "... you're the boss so you can agree or disagree with my idea. There wasn't much tonight, so why don't you take tomorrow night to rest and if it's looking like there's a lot to do here I'll buzz you?"

Grissom looked at Warrick.

"You better say yes, because you look like hell." Warrick said smiling.

Grissom agreed. "I feel like hell. Alright. But you had better call if anything comes up."

"Scout's honor." he said as he held up three fingers.

Grissom made it home before sunrise and into bed before Jason and Kassie were awake. He was entirely too tired to care about much at the moment and fell asleep fully clothed.

Jason made sure that he and Kassie were quiet that morning. She was a nuisance and needed to get out of the house. He did all he could to keep her from bouncing off the walls, but in the end was unsuccessful. She knocked on Grissom's bedroom door and entered. Kassie crawled up the bed and kneeled next to Grissom.

"What?" Came his sleep filled voice from under the covers.

"I want to go play outside." She said as she slowly started bouncing the mattress. "Pleaseeeee." She added.

Grissom was slow to respond and she kept her plea's coming until he answered. "Fine. I'm up."

"Yeah." Kassie exclaimed and hopped off the bed and ran down the hall.

Grissom forced himself out of bed and got dressed. When he made it out into the living room, Kassie and Jason were more than ready. "I got a bunch of work in the Denali so we'll have to take the truck."

He drove them to a park that was several blocks up the street. The instant the doors unlocked, Kassie bounded out and ran to the playground, and Jason headed to the basketball court. Grissom headed to a neighboring bench and sat down. He sat back to relax, but then the CSI in him woke up and he began to scour the area for anyone suspicious. Grissom had delt with enough pedophiles in the past that preyed on children at the park. He kept his eye on Kassie as she went from one obstacle to another. Every time he saw a man walking down the sidewalk alone he would watch them until they disappeared.

"Can I have a drink?" Kassie asked bringing his attention back to her.

"Sure." Grissom said as he passed her his water bottle. "Are you having fun?"

She nodded as she drank. He looked over to Jason, but didn't see him. Grissom's eyes scanned the area and found him kneeling in the grass next to a tree. Grissom looked back to Kassie on the swings then stood and headed over to Jason.

"What are you looking at Jason?" Grissom asked as he kneeled.

"This locust."

Grissom smiled. "Ah, Magicicada septendecim." Jason looked at him. "A cicada."

Jason poked the insect with his finger and it fluttered but didn't fly away. "Why doesn't it fly away?"

"Well, his life cycle is over and he's dying."

They were both engrossed in the dying locust, but when a little girl shrieked, they were up and looking for Kassie. She was screaming and running as a little boy about her age was chasing her with his arm extended.

Grissom was grateful that there was no cause for alarm. After another hour they loaded up and headed home. Once there Grissom laid down on the couch and closed his eyes. He was still tired.

He did manage to get some sleep before he heard his cell phone ring, but he made no attempt to get it. Then he heard Jason answer it.

"Hello...Hi Sara...no he's asleep. We kept him up most of the day yesterday...I know I'm sorry...Ok, hold on Kassie wants to talk to you."

He passed the phone to Kassie. "Hi." Kassie practically screamed into the phone. "Yes I'm being good...We went to the park today. There was this boy I met. His name's Billy, and he chased me around the playground with a bug, gross...Yeah, he's the best. I want him to be my new dad...Ok, I love you...Bye."

Even though his eyes were shut, tears escaped though his lashes as he heard Kassie confess to Sara.

TBC

Sorry Jess, I liked the locus better than the frog. Hey, what about the cat? For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, just think of Grissom and a dead cat and fill in the blanks.

Please review. I know that there are many who are reading but not reviewing. Tell me what you think or just to say hi. I'm a very social person. (When it involves something I know. Like horses or CSI.)

And a big contratulations to me. I earned the Oklahoma Quarter Horse Association's High point 3-year old halter mare of 2006, and got a really nice belt buckle. Yeah, like I need another belt buckle. But it's cool.