Author's Notes: Thanks to my beta, PhDelicious, and the police chopper that circled our neighborhood last night and kept me up long enough to finish this. And thank you for staying with this story through the ups and downs;)
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The Last Embrace
by Kristen Elizabeth
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August 2006
"You were so wrong. I missed you on day one."
Chuckling, he kissed her forehead. "This is the best part about going away. Reunion sex."
She'd tackled him the minute he stepped foot in the house. In fact, his bag was still sitting in the foyer. And although he'd been back for an hour, these were the first words they'd spoken
Sara nestled her cheek against Grissom's collarbone, like a supremely content feline settling in for a nap. "Did you miss me?"
"Of course." He shifted his body slightly. "I also miss having feeling in my legs."
"You always say that," she laughed. "And it always comes back eventually."
Grissom smiled. "Well, I'm always freshly amazed at what you do to me."
Time slipped by as they lounged in each other's arms, trading occasional kisses. Eventually, Sara didn't let the kisses stop. They were racing towards another hour of non-verbal communication when his cell phone rang.
"Uh-uh," she protested when he made a move to get up to answer it. She swung one leg over his hips, straddling him. "Whoever it is…" She kissed him. "…they can wait."
"Honey…c'mon." He gently grasped her waist and urged her off. "It'll just be a second."
Sara sighed, but she laid back against the pillows as he retrieved his pants from the floor and pulled out his phone. "Grissom." He sat on the edge of the bed. "Hello." A moment passed. "No…well, yes, but it's all right."
Crawling on her knees across the bed, Sara snuck up behind him and attacked his neck with her lips, almost knocking the phone out of his grasp.
Frowning, Grissom switched it to his other ear, holding it in place with his shoulder as he pulled on his pants. "Black is certainly a good jumping-off point," he said in response to whatever the person on the other end had just told him. "But if you want to know more, I'd recommend reading Fuentes' paper."
Sara nipped at his now-free ear before whispering into it, detailing exactly what she would do for him if he hung up.
Although he hesitated for a second, Grissom's only response was to gently extract himself from her arms and stand. "Ah, but be careful not to confuse longevity with experience, Reese. Black may be older than the hills, but Fuentes has actually explored them." He wandered out of the room, chuckling at the response his joke got.
A bucket of ice water had been dumped over her, leaving her naked and cold in the middle of the bed. She reached for the edge of the bed sheet, and drew it up to her chest.
He came back into the bedroom ten minutes later. Sara rolled away from him when he tried to pick up where they'd left off.
That must have finally struck a chord. "I'm sorry, honey."
She stared at the wall. She wanted to ask him why…had he done something he needed to be sorry for? But she couldn't make her mouth form the words. And she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to hear his answer, anyway.
Her silence prompted him to kiss her shoulder apologetically until she gave in and let him pull her back into his arms.
"You know I can't resist the opportunity to introduce Fuentes to an expanding mind," Grissom said, resting his chin on the top of her head.
"Yeah." Sara shut her eyes tight, blocking out the memories, as well as the doubt that had begun to plague her. "I remember."
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Laura was playing a mostly-one sided game of patty-cake with Cassie when Sara came downstairs to start her day. She'd gotten almost six hours of sleep, which Laura had learned to accept as being a good day's rest for her daughter.
Instead of heading straight for the coffee pot, Sara joined them on the carpet. Cassie held out her arms, and she gladly lifted the little girl into her lap.
"Ball," Cassie said to her mother. "Ball!"
"What, baby?" Sara asked.
Laura held up a blue plastic ball. "Ball!" Cassie repeated, clapping her tiny hands together.
"She's been saying it all morning," Laura informed her.
"Nick bought her that," Sara said softly. "He said…she could be as girly as nature intended her to be, but any child of his was going to learn to throw a curveball."
Giving Cassie the ball, Laura smiled. "I wish I could have seen him with her. I bet…he was a great dad."
Sara nodded absentmindedly, like she was thinking about something else. "In the cabinet to the left of the TV…there's some DVD's." She gazed at Cassie as the little girl gnawed at one side of her toy. "I've been avoiding them for…seven weeks. Maybe I shouldn't anymore."
Laura hesitated a second before getting up. She selected a DVD from the cabinet at random and set it up to play.
"LVPD picnic at Lake Mead," Sara said when it started. She drew in a shaky breath. "God, it wasn't even a year ago, but it feels like a hundred have passed."
On the television screen, the camera panned around the lake shore until its operator found her target.
"Smile pretty, Nicky!" Sara boomed, her voice magnified by proximity to the microphone.
He was wearing a black ball cap and sunglasses, and the only thing that kept him from looking like every other cop that was milling around behind him was the baby in his arms. Cassie was sound asleep against his shoulder, her pink sunbonnet slightly askew, revealing wispy strands of the dark brown hair that would eventually grow into sweet curls.
When he spoke, his voice was lost in the distance between them. "What's that?" Sara asked. She started to walk forward, the camera shaking with each step.
Once she was close enough, Nick reached out and covered the lens with his hand. "You're a menace with that thing," he laughed.
Laura glanced over at her daughter. Her eyes were fixed on Nick as he removed his hand and came back into focus.
"Tables have been reversed," Sara told him. "Filmee becomes the filmer."
He turned his head, displaying his strong profile. "Just make sure you catch my best side."
"Are you having fun, Ms. Streisand?" she asked.
"Sure," he replied. "It's hot as Hades out here, but the food's good. Beer's good." He winked. "And if you'd ever take your T-shirt off, the view would be good, too."
"No one wants me to put the milk stations on display," she shot back. Nick shook his head, good-naturedly. "Do you need a break from baby duty?"
He looked down at the baby for a second. "Nah." He kissed her forehead and adjusted her bonnet. "She'll be wanting some lunch in a little while, though." His grin was positively Machiavellian. "So I will get my view."
Sara looked away from the screen. "Please turn it off."
Laura grabbed the remote and paused the DVD. The living room was silent for awhile, save for Cassie repeating her new word.
"Are you okay?" Laura eventually asked.
Shaking her head, Sara looked down at her daughter. "No, I'm not."
Immediately, motherly concern kicked in. "What's wrong?"
"I thought I was just…stressed. Or coming down with something. I tried taking better care of myself. But it didn't go away."
"Sara?" There weren't many pieces, but she quickly put them together. "Are you sure?"
Sara nodded. "Must have happened just before he…" She lifted her head and looked at her mother. "His parting gift."
"Oh, sweetie." Laura covered her mouth with her hand until she felt like she could speak again. "This is wonderful."
Sara's chin wobbled and twin tears spilled down her face. "Yeah?"
Laura nodded firmly, even through her own tears. "Yeah. It is."
Her daughter looked back at the frozen image of Nick's smile. "He'd be over the moon about it."
"So…why aren't you?"
"I don't know that I'm not." She swiped at her wet cheeks. "Just so you're aware, I'm handling this way better than I did the last time I got a plus sign on that stupid stick."
Laura held her tongue. It wasn't her place to point out that this could possibly be true because there wouldn't be any doubt about who had fathered this child.
But as she studied her daughter's face, she had to wonder if Sara minded having those doubts. Maybe doubt kept hope alive.
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To Be Continued