Ok, so like I thought since thespoon was visiting that two great imaginative minds together in the same room would make HUGE progress, right? WRONG!!! I didn't get a damn thing done 'cause we jacked around the entire two weeks. And she called me an alchololic because a few nights I had a beer, ONE beer with dinner. But I did get lit a few nights while we were in Oklahoma. And because of me, thespoon got to see more of the world. She's pissed because she got attached to a Border Collie pup, then the next day we sold her. I don't think she'll ever forgive Orin for that.

Huge thanks to Just Thinking and her extra fast beta skills. And I'm sorry for the delay in updating, but I promise to make it up to you all with a fast update.

Teens & Tribulations

Chapter 33

Catherine could only look at Sara, her face full of pure shock. Her jaw hung slightly agape as she took in the very enlightening information Sara just shared.

Sara couldn't look over at Catherine's reaction; she knew without looking, that stunned was an understatement.

It took a few minutes before Catherine could respond. "Sara, I don't know what to say. Have you taken a pregnancy test?" Her only response was a slight shake. "And I'm guessing this is just a feeling." Once again only a head nod was her answer. "Look, Sara, why don't you go get a test, go home, Lindsey and I will take the girls. She can baby sit for you."

"That's not necessary Cath…"

Catherine turned to face Sara and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Sara, listen to me, go home, take a test, if you are pregnant wonderful, but you still need to talk to Gil, regardless."

"I know." Sara released a heavy sigh, "Trust me Cath, I know."

They continued to sit on the bench for nearly half an hour watching Lindsey run around with Kassie. Before Sara left, she made sure Catherine had all of the necessary items that might be needed for Sydney.

"I can't thank you enough Cath." Sara said as she placed the car seat into Catherine's car.

Catherine was fastening Kassie's seat belt. "Sara, don't worry about this, just go home and get things straightened out between you and Gil."

Sara cracked a smile as she finished fastening in Sydney. She placed a kiss on her daughters' foreheads before leaving them in the capable hands of Catherine and Lindsey and heading to the drug store.

She watched as they drove away from the park before entering her own car. Sara sat behind the wheel and looked around her car. It wasn't old, but it wasn't new either; the back seat proudly carried the stains of a six year old and an infant. If it did turn out that she was pregnant, she would definitely need a new car, and there was no way in hell she was going to be the mini-van driving, house wife. Sara gave her head a quick shake and headed out.

Away from the strip traffic was light, Sara drove to her regular pharmacy. Having kids around meant doctors visits and getting prescriptions from the local pharmacist more often than she would have liked.

"Well hello there Sara." A tall blonde woman dawning a white lab coat greeted her.

She looked up to the friendly face of the pharmacist. "Hello Megan."

After a brief moment of looking behind Sara, Megan concluded she was alone on this visit. "No kids today I see."

"No, no kids. They're spending the day at a friends."

The pharmacist smiled, "And to what do I owe this visit?"

Sara looked down at her feet before responding. "I need a pregnancy test." Upon hearing a gasp, she looked up.

Megan was smiling brightly. "Another baby Grissom. This one came around much faster than the last." Sara gave a half smile and watched Megan's face fall. "Sara, how are you doing? And don't think you can lie, I've known you for quite some time now, and you look troubled. Is it Gil?"

"It's a bit of everything, and now with this…" Sara placed a hand palm down covering her stomach.

Megan reached behind her, and grabbed one of the small boxes and handed it over to Sara. "Here, it's on the house. I hope it will all work out."

Sara took the test, thanked Megan, and headed back to her car. The drive home was shorter than she remembered. She maneuvered her car into the driveway next to Grissom's Denali.

"Great. Not what I need right now." She huffed as she turned off the ignition.

With what little energy she had left after a very emotional morning, Sara climbed out of her car and quietly entered the house. She closed and locked the front door and tip-toed her way to the bedroom. Sara silently moved about, trying not to disturb her sleeping husband; she changed into something more comfortable before taking the small package into the bathroom.

He wasn't asleep, and heard her come in. She was obviously trying to avoid him, so he played dead, but he was aware of her movements. Grissom looked at the bedside clock when Sara went into the bathroom. There was no indication of any activity, it remained silent. When she finally did emerge, the clock had advanced fifteen minutes. He knew he should be the one to initiate what they both knew they needed to talk about, but instead, Grissom lay still, while Sara eased into bed beside him. She stayed away from him in her attempt not to wake him. Once Sara had settled on her side, her back facing him, Grissom slid over, put an arm around her, and pulled her back flush against his chest.

Sara released a sigh, she knew he wasn't asleep. He was always good at pretending, but it was the little things that gave him away. She let her body become enveloped by his. Little gestures like this had nearly disappeared since Jason's death. In fact, they rarely slept in the same bed at the same time at all.

Grissom wrapped his arm a little tighter around her and began covering her neck with soft kisses. Sara relished in the sensations and just let him do what he wanted, for now. He placed several more under her ear before breaking contact.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

Sara tried to keep her emotions in check as she let him confess.

"Sara, I know this has been hard on all of us, and I thought I would have been stronger, but I wasn't. It tore me apart. Now it's just us and the girls, and I want to be the best father and husband I can."

She couldn't help it. "What about the lab?"

He pulled her tighter. "What about it? I know I've done it before, I can do it again. I'm going to stop working endless amounts of double and triple shifts. I don't know what I would do if something happened to you or the girls and I was away working when I should have been home. I want to be here for you, Sara, I love you." Grissom finished by placing a butterfly soft kiss to her cheek.

Sara didn't try to stop the few tears that had escaped. She rolled over to face him, to see if he was just as emotionally distressed about the whole thing as she was. When she saw his face, she knew he was sincere. He was definitely a broken man. She put her arms around him and pulled his face to hers, now it was her turn to kiss him, to show him how much she loved him.

Grissom wanted to deepen the kiss, he wanted to be able to make love to his wife, and just when he thought nothing was going to happen, Sara's hand moved down his side and stopped at his hip. Her movement caused a slight moan to escape as they began to deepen their kiss. Sex was like a drug to them, and they both needed a fix.

In no time, their clothes were discarded and Grissom was making love to Sara for the first time in nearly a month. He was slow and passionate, making sure she was enjoying it as much as he was. After their climaxes faded, Grissom held Sara close to him.

"Honey, since we keep forgoing the condom, do you think you might be able to go on the pill?" He asked sincerely remembering her fear while they were on vacation.

Sara released a slight scoff and it was out before she knew she said it. "It's a little late for that."

Suddenly her eyes grew larger as the words escaped. Grissom may be dense, but most of the time he's sharp as a tack, and that little innuendo didn't escape him.

He moved so he could look into her eyes. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means it's too late, I'm already pregnant." She stopped there and waited for his response. Last time they had tried for nearly a year before finally getting pregnant, and Grissom was ecstatic, but this time, she had that sick feeling like it wasn't going to go over so well.

"You're pregnant? And you've know this for how long?" His voice became stern.

"Since I came home, I was in the bathroom waiting for the results. I know this is bad timing…"

"Bad timing; it's horrible timing." Grissom pulled himself away from her and sat up. He placed his head in his hands as he began to do the worst thing he could do, think. "I…I can't believe this. We just lost our son and now you're telling me that we have another child coming."

Sara kept the sheet against her torso as she sat up and tried to diffuse the situation. "Look, we knew it might happen, and it did. I know this has got to be about the worst timing in the world, but I can't just put this on hold."

Grissom slung his legs over the side of the bed, and quickly pulled on his shorts. He stood and put as much distance between Sara and himself as he could.

"Where are you going?"

"I need to think…"

She was quick to interrupt him. "No! You need to stay, and we need to talk about this." Her eyes stared him down as he looked back at her in shock

"I didn't say I was leaving." He retaliated.

"But whenever you say you need to 'think', you haul ass out of here." Sara put her foot down. "Hear me now Gil, stay and talk with me, work this out, or…"

Grissom pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes at her. "Or…?"

She had to think. Never was she the type to think out a threat before saying it. "Or…you walk out that door, and when you return I'll be gone."

His face filled with pure fear and shock.

"Gil…" Sara's voice lowered as she released the sheet and moved to the edge of the bed. Grissom sucked in a breath as she moved to stand before him. "Talk with me. We both need to talk." She reached out and took his hand. With a gentle tug, he followed her back to the bed.

He sat back against the headboard as Sara pulled the sheet over them as she curled herself into his side. Grissom put his arm around her and held her close. He sat holding her in silence, losing his temper was no longer an option, and Grissom knew he needed to get a hold of it. With her relaxing in his arms, it was easy to let it go. "I'm just so confused."

Sara turned her head up slightly, still not able to see his face. "Confused about what."

"Everything." He increased the hold on her and stared off into space. "Why my life has to be so damn complicated, I mean look at me, I'm just over fifty and starting a family." Grissom let his head fall back with a soft thud against the headboard. "Then while I'm just getting used to it all, Jason was killed. It felt as if my soul had been ripped from me. I was the walking dead, but you and the girls were the ones who suffered, and I'm sorry for that."

Sara pushed herself closer to him, using her arms to squeeze some energy into his broken body. "And now how do you feel?"

He dipped his head and placed a kiss into her hair. "About my life, or about the recent developments in my life?"

"The latter."

Grissom released a sigh. "I'm happy about the baby, I really am."

Sara moved so she could look at his expression. "That doesn't sound very convincing."

"I'm still not over the shock. I guess I never expected you to get pregnant so soon."

"Me neither." She slipped back down.

They sat together enjoying each other's company. Sara was proud of what Grissom had revealed, other than a few minutes of raised voices; he shared his feelings with her rather easily.

"I think I'm going to ask to supervise the day shift."

Now he had her attention. Sara sat up and looked at him. "Where did this come from?"

All he could give her was a blank look. "I guess I just miss seeing you and the girls. When I get home, Kassie will be at school, and Sydney is usually asleep, and I'm tired myself. I just want to be able to spend time with them, with you."

She knew he was serious about making changes, so she snuggled back against him. "Whatever you choose to do, I'll be right behind your decision."

"Really? No arguments?"

"Nope, but I do have one request."

Grissom bit his bottom lip briefly as he thought about what she could possibly want. "And that would be…"

"I'll be needing a new car." Sara sat up suddenly letting the sheet slip once again. "And there's no way in hell, I'm going to be driving a mini-van."

"I wouldn't think of it."

Sara smirked at him and pulled him down on top of her. She always loved make-up sex.

Later that afternoon Sara had a list of errands to run. Her first stop was the clinic to have a blood test taken to confirm what the home pregnancy test revealed. She then went past the school and enrolled Kassie into the first grade. The school counselor had a few choice words with her, concerning Kassie's mental stability. Then she made a pit stop at the car dealership and did some brief window shopping before finishing up at the grocery store.

In the mean time, Grissom wanted to make good on what he had told Sara. After a quick shower, he headed off to Catherine's to collect his girls. As he walked up the sidewalk, the sounds coming from the backyard indicated that knocking would be useless. He walked with a fair amount of stealth to the pool.

All four were in the pool. Kassie and Lindsey were constantly getting out and jumping back in off the side. Catherine was holding Sydney in the shallow end and watching the other two.

"Looks like fun."

The four unsuspecting heads turned towards him. "Daddy!" Kassie exclaimed and was out of the pool in no time. Grissom picked her up, not caring if she was soaking wet.

"Having fun?"

"Yeah, we watched movies first while Aunt Cath slept, 'cause she said we had to wait until she got up to swim. Did you see me jump?"

He smiled. "Yes, I did."

"Watch me." She struggled against him until he put her down. She went back to the side. "Daddy watch."

"I'm watching."

Kassie leapt into the air bringing her legs up and wrapping her arms around them as she cannon balled into the water. She came to the surface and wiped the water from her face as she treaded water. "Did you see?"

"Yes. You're becoming quite the little swimmer."

She smiled back proudly and swam to the edge. Catherine was already out of the pool and handed a wet, naked Sydney to him. "Here, you're already wet."

"Thanks."

She smiled at him as he interacted with his daughter. The urge to ask about Sara and himself was great, but Catherine managed to hold her tongue. She turned back to the splashing in the pool, "Come on girls, time to get out."

The barrage of disappointing 'awes' followed, but they swam their way to the edge and climbed out. Catherine handed out the towels before they went dripping into the house. She and Grissom followed as Kassie and Lindsey headed to change their clothes.

"Thanks for watching the girls Cath." Grissom began to dress Sydney.

"Lindsey is the one who did all the babysitting."

He looked up at her as she dried her hair. Grissom had known Catherine for years, and instantly knew that she was holding back. He assumed that she had spoken with Sara before he did.

Kassie came running back into the room just as Grissom had finished dressing Sydney. Lindsey followed.

"Here Lindsey, this is for you." Grissom extended his hand that contained a folded bill.

"Thanks." She took it, and without unfolding it, knew it was a fairly large bill.

Grissom strapped Sydney into her car seat and helped Kassie get buckled in before heading home. Sydney had been so active during the day, the minute he started moving, she was immediately asleep. Kassie on the other hand, was wound tighter than an eight day clock.

"This morning, I helped Mom make breakfast. We had pancakes. Then we went to the park with Lindsey. I went down the fireman's pole all by myself." Grissom was going to praise her, but she was talking so fast he never had a chance. So, he just watched her in the mirror as she gestured with her hands as she spoke. "I went up the slide backwards, it was tricky, but Lindsey showed me how to spit on the bottom and wet my shoes for traction. After that it was easy. Oh, and we bailed off of the swings, I only got off once before Mom yelled at me. Then I climbed to the top of the wooden playground. I got a splinter and didn't even cry; Lindsey pulled it out. Then we left with Aunt Cath and Linds. Catherine went to sleep, so Lindsey let me pick out a movie for us to watch. Wanna guess what I picked out?" Grissom just looked at her and never attempted to answer. "A Bug's Life. I like that movie, 'cause it has bugs in it and since you play with bugs at work. Once that one was over we watched Snow Dogs, those dogs are so smart. Can I get a dog?"

Grissom looked at her through the mirror. He had to give her credit for ever so subtlety squeezing it in. "We'll see."

Kassie just sat back and smiled knowing that she was slowly progressing in the pet department. As Grissom pulled into the driveway, he noticed Sara had beaten him home, how she did it, he'll never know. He guessed it was a woman thing. Kassie had herself free from the seatbelt and was out of the car before Grissom. She sprinted to the house as he proceeded to retrieve a sleeping Sydney.

He cradled her as he walked into the house and heard Kassie telling the tale of her afternoon to Sara. He headed straight to the nursery and put the baby to bed before returning to the living room. Sara was sitting on the couch giving Kassie her full attention. Grissom sat down next to her and instantly put his arm around her. He leaned forward and whispered into her ear. "So?"

Sara leaned back into him and whispered, "She hasn't called yet."

Kassie finished her story of the day's events. Sara knew she wasn't thrilled about returning to school, and given her mood today, knew that news of it would turn her sour.

"In two weeks you'll start school again."

And it happened. "But I said I don't want to go."

"I know, but listen, your counselor and I had a chat. She said if you wanted, one of us could come have lunch with you for a few days. Just until you get settled back in."

This new information brought a smile to her face. "Really? Daddy, would you go to school with me?"

Grissom let his mouth fall open as he paused. "Um…"

Sara tuned. "Gil, it's only a few days."

"Alright."

Kassie jumped up off of the couch and moved to give him a hug which he returned gratefully. Once he released her, she scurried over to her fish tank to feed her fish. Just then the phone rang. Sara leaned forward to grab the cordless that was laying on the coffee table.

"Hello." She remained silent as the person on the other end of the line did all of the talking. "Thank you." She pushed the end button and sat back onto the couch.

"Who was that?" Grissom moved a hand up and down her arm trying to comfort her.

"It was Gloria, she got my blood test back."

"And…?"

Sara moved to lean into his body and Grissom wrapped his arms around her.

Go ahead let's all say it together, "Aw shit, I did it again." I don't know what it is with me and cliffhangers, but…well I can't really explain it. I just like 'em.

Please keep the reviews coming, everyone's comments have been fabulous.

TDCSI