I know, this is later than I had intended, but I have spent most of the week in the canyon, and I'm dead tired. Many thanks to Just Thinking and Kakidoll for their beta work. And also to thegreatbluespoon, she's cool as hell, just like me. Thanks for the many reviews.

Teens & Tribulations

Chapter 25

The next morning Sara arose very refreshed. In fact, it was earlier than what she had been normally waking up. She carefully climbed out of bed as not to disturb the sleeping body next to her. The past few days had exhausted her, emotionally more than physically, she could only imagine what toll it had taken on Grissom's body.

She made her usual stop to change, feed, and dress Sydney before heading into the kitchen. Sara set Sydney on the counter as she went about setting out items for breakfast.

Jason and Kassie were soon in the kitchen. Kassie was dressed in pink pajamas, while Jason was wearing a pair of pajama bottoms only. Sara let them make their own cereal, while she spread some cream cheese on a bagel.

"Where's Dad?"

"He's sleeping, why?"

"Well, we have our first group practice this evening, and I was wondering if he would be able to come."

Sara smiled. "I'm sure he can."

Jason smiled and continued eating.

Sara finished her breakfast and put Sydney down in her crib. She had managed to take a liking to staying home and taking care of things. It was amazing the things she could get done in a single day, well, now that the kids were home all the time it didn't feel like that. Way different story when they were in school.

Grissom slept throughout the day, which surprised Sara, as he had slept soundly last night. Her only regret was not trying to reignite the flame that Jason had put out. As she thought about it more, it had only been seven weeks now since Sydney was born, and was kind of grateful for the interruption.

"Hey, you need to wake up." Sara pulled the curtains back to allow the room to be filled with the late afternoon sun. She turned to see the body under the covers hadn't moved. With a smile, she sat heavily enough on the bed to cause it to bounce.

Grissom rolled over to look up at her. "What time is it?"

"It's three in the afternoon."

"I've been asleep all day?"

"And night. Come on, get up, and take a shower. Jason wants you to take him to practice."

"Yeah, they start having practice once a week." With a grunt, he climbed out of bed and headed to the shower.

After picking up Dirk, Grissom drove both boys to the UNLV ballpark. Both boys didn't wait for the truck to stop completely before they jumped out and sprinted towards the dugout. Once he had the vehicle secured, Grissom followed.

"Here." Jason came over waiving a sheet of paper.

Grissom took the paper. "What's this?"

"A schedule of when and where our practices are as the weather turns cold." Jason was more than excited about playing baseball, and it was evident in his voice. "Coach asked us about letting him know ahead of time if we would be absent or away on vacation. Are we going to go on vacation?"

With a quick rise of his eyebrows Grissom replied, "I haven't thought about it. Sara and I have been together for over a year and have never left Vegas."

Jason just smiled and ran back to the group.

He had dropped Jason and Dirk off at the house with Sara before heading to the lab. Now he was stationed behind his desk, constantly replaying Jason's subtle request in his mind.

"A vacation. Sounds good. I'd be able to get away from here, Sara from the same old routine at home."

Grissom continued to talk to himself as his left arm involuntarily opened a lower desk drawer and pulled out a simple form. He stared at the sheet of paper before he had made up his mind. He turned to the computer, and with a smile, he began his search.

The next morning Grissom burst through the front door, unable to contain his excitement. "Hey everyone, guess what?"

"Ecklie's going to let you run the lab." Sara shot back instantly.

"Without all the paper work." Jason added.

Grissom was stunned at their remarks. "No. That would be a miracle." He moved over to sit with them at the table while they ate breakfast. "Vacation."

"What?" Sara stopped eating to look at him and make sure he was indeed the man she had married.

"A vacation. All of us." The excitement was uncontainable.

Sara continued to stare at him. "Ok, who are you and what have you done with Gil?"

He laughed at her bluntness. "Jason gave me the idea yesterday."

"I did?"

"Yes. I stewed on it all night, and in three weeks we are all going on vacation."

"Cool!"

"I don't know Gil..."

"Sara, you need this, and God knows I do. I've already turned in my vacation request, and I've even made all of the necessary reservations."

"Where?"

"San Diego. I've only been there once, and I'm not about to reveal what year that was. Have you?" Sara just shook her head, still stunned that he would come up with such an idea so spontaneously. "I know the kids haven't, and there is so much to see and do for everyone. It's far enough away from the lab to not be disturbed, yet close enough to drive."

"How far of a drive are we talking?" Sara was still unsure about the whole idea.

"Five hours. We can load everything into the back of the truck and just go."

"I'm in," Jason said.

Sara just looked at Grissom. He had that unsure, yet excited look on his face, "Ok."

"Yes!!" Jason exclaimed and jumped up from the table.

Grissom smiled and pulled Sara to him so he could kiss her. "Where's Kassie?" It was then that he noticed her absence.

"She was throwing Cheerios at Jason, so I sent her to her room. Are you sure about this? I mean I'm all for it, but what about you?"

He just gave her a slight nod. "We all need this." His voice was low and sincere.

That's when Sara realized that he was willing to make sacrifices for their family.

The weeks passed faster than Grissom had hoped. He was excited about finally taking a vacation, but that's not what he was afraid of.

"So you, Sara, and three kids in closed quarters for five hours? Sounds like fun to me."

Grissom looked up over his desk at Brass. He let some of his nervousness out in a heavy sigh.

"I missed family vacations."

"I thought you hated your ex-wife?"

"Yeah, she would leave with Ellie, I stayed at home. Man it was peaceful."

Grissom scoffed as he returned his focus to the papers before him.

"When do you guys leave?"

"Day after tomorrow."

"Oh."

He looked up again. "Why?"

"Nothing, have fun with that." Brass pointed to the papers as he left.

Grissom gave his head a shake, but before he looked back down he saw Greg sprinting down the hall and barely making the corner. That was the sure fire indication to him that something was up. He didn't know whether it was good or bad, and was determined to not get lured into some kind of trap.

"Hey Gil."

"No Catherine, I'm not falling for it."

"Falling for what?"

"What ever it is you guys are doing. I just saw Greg hauling ass down the hall, and Brass was sure curious as to when I'm leaving."

"As am I. So, when are you leaving?"

He looked up at her. "Tonight's my last night, and we leave the day after tomorrow. Again I ask, why?"

"Hey, anytime you're gone I get to be boss. Except not in this creepy office."

"What's wrong with my office?"

"Oh...nothing." She shook her head.

He tried his best to not let himself be caught in the trap, and just smiled back at her.

"Griss, Cath, come quick, something's wrong with Greg!" Nick huffed out of breath.

Grissom was on his feet and around his desk beating Catherine to the door as they ran after Nick. They ran into the break room and Grissom kneeled next to Greg.

"Greg, what's wrong?"

He coughed a few times. "I choked."

"You chocked on what?"

"Frosting."

"Frosting?"

"Yeah, the frosting on your vacation cake."

Grissom pursed his lips and stood to see the cake sitting in the middle of the table.

"Well, we weren't getting anywhere with words." Brass spoke up.

"I knew you guys were up to something." He pointed his finger at them all. "You have all cried wolf enough. That's why I don't fall for it like I used to."

"We got you in here." Greg said proudly.

"Next time something could really be wrong, and I would just ignore it and let you die."

Greg scoffed, "You wouldn't."

"Wouldn't I?" Grissom smirked at him.

"Ok, now that he's here, we are here to celebrate Grissom's official vacation. I checked and it has been, you all ready for this?...It has been thirteen years since Dr. Gil Grissom has taken a vacation. It's a department record." Catherine finished sarcastically.

Everyone knew it had been long since his last vacation, but not that long. They enjoyed the cake and shared leisurely stories, most involved Sara and him, and that's when Grissom realized how much he had missed having Sara around at the lab.

This is not a cliffhanger. If you think it is then something is seriously wrong with you. Living Doll, now that was a cliffhanger. Ass holes. Anyway, more to come, can you imagine vacationing with this bunch, yikes. And if you can pick it out, I stole a line from thespoon. I know she'll find it.

TDCSI