A/N: Once again, I don't own CSI or any of these characters except Carla.

Please leave a review to tell me if you liked this chapter or not…:D

A week had past, rather slowly for some individuals, and it was still the talk of the Las Vegas Police Department. Oh, and the Crime Lab. It felt like everyone knew the ''news''. I mean, it was a shock, especially for the graveyard shift at the crime lab. They couldn't have been more shocked. Sara is a mother. Greg took it the hardest, since he had a crush on her, the rest just found it hard to imagine. They had known her for years, and to discover that she had kept this deepest darkest secret was just…unspeakable, unimaginable, and indescribable. Sara had taken an emergency week off of work, not that it mattered, since she had weeks of holidays stored up. No one really knew how Sara and her 'daughter' were coping, well except from themselves.

That night, where Carla had broken down in front of Sara, had Brass to tears. And Catherine. And Grissom. Probably a lot more people too. At first, Brass thought of interrupting the argument, as Carla was shouting at Sara for no particular reason, and Sara always had a place close to Brass's heart, she was like the daughter whom turned out "better". That was until Carla made everyone in the building aware that Sara was her mother. The intake of breaths could be heard from every member watching this 'scene' unfold in the room. Carla started explaining her feelings, and Sara just stood there, shaking her head, trying to reach out to Carla as she gradually broke down. When Carla finally fell into her mother, Brass watched as Sara hugged her daughter, both of them crying as Sara ran her fingers through her drunken daughter's glossy hair. Brass felt a trickle stroll down his cheek, alerting him that he was crying. He was about to wipe the tear away until he noticed that half the people in the room who had witnessed this event had tears down their eyes too. He was not alone.

He had let Lindsay and Carla both off, and after the ongoing "I will do it" "No I will" conversation with Grissom, he allowed Grissom to give Sara and Carla a ride home. He hadn't heard from Sara since. Or Carla.

Sara lay in bed that night, curled up against her daughter. This was the first time Carla had shared the bed with her, but they both needed comfort. Soon after Carla's head hit the softness of the mattress, she fell asleep, and Sara carefully pulled the duvet over her petite structure, and slid in next to her. The thoughts that flooded through Sara's mind were inevitable and, unfortunately, inexorable. She tried to piece together everything, and plan the conversation that was to be spoken of tomorrow, but instead she closed her eyes, wrapped her right hand round her daughter, and succumbed to her tiredness.

Carla awoke to the distant clattering noises coming from the bedroom door. She stretched her arms above her head, and turned onto her back. Suddenly she was welcomed with the pounding of her head, and the realization that she was in Sara's bedroom. She slowly remembered everything that happened last night, and for some strange reason, she smiled. Probably because she noticed that her mother's side of the bed had been slept in, and Sara had not opted to sleep in her room or on the sofa but instead in with Carla. After a few minutes of lying in bed, making sure she was fully awake, she slowly rose, and headed towards the bleating noise in the distance.

She entered the kitchen and noticed the dinning table was set -well this is a first- with mats down, cutlery and a vase with a flower in the center. Sara was hanging over the stove, where she was cooking something from the frying pan which smelt 100 scrumptious. She looked closely at the table, and noticed the jar of syrup and lemon juice. That suggested only one thing; pancakes- My favorite.

Carla made herself aware to Sara by coughing gently and all so obviously. Sara turned around sharply, the frying pan in her hand and her eyes gazing at Carla. She didn't smile, but neither did Carla. They stood like this for what felt like hours, eyes meeting across the room with their emotions hidden. Carla silently made her way towards the table and pulled out her chair as she sat down. Sara turned her back to Carla, and emptied the pancakes onto plates, then headed towards the table. She sat down opposite Carla, as she put the plate down in front of Carla. This sort of action would have been normal for any other family, however the complete silence in which these tasks were done, highlighted how they were both walking on thin ice.

"Thank you" Sara could hear only slightly; as if she imagined it, as Carla's voice was barely a whisper.

The silence soon arrived back, and Sara and Carla began to cut their pancakes simultaneously, both applying the exact amount of sugar, and syrup. If anyone else who had watched this movement, it would have been oddly uncomfortable to notice their movements at the exact same time; totally freaky.
After Sara took her first bite, she swallowed and looked up at Carla. She then took a sharp intake of breath then broke the silence luring in the apartment.

"So…how are you feeling?" Sara spoke, as she pointed her fork towards Carla's head, in other words asking her daughter, "Do you have a hangover?"

"I'm fine…and you?" Carla took a few minutes to choose her words carefully before contracting her larynx.

"I'm fine" Sara spoke sharply, then she returned to eating her pancakes. Carla watched her mother's movements before copying her, cutting the pancake into small, but equal sizes then eating them. It was not long again till silence returned, and the uncomfortable tension in the room forced Sara to start talking.

Sara put her knife down; stopping what she was doing then looked at Carla. "I think we both know that we need to discuss what happened, last night" Sara made sure she didn't sound too threatening however made it obvious to Carla that this conversation was going to be serious.

"I know" Carla stated.

"Okay, I'm not really sure how to go around this Carla, I mean I have thought about the day I would tell you, how you would react…I just thought I would be older and so would you; I never realized how hard it is" Sara answered honestly, then taking another large breath.

"And, I want more than anything for you to accept me as your mother. Believe me or not however I tried to stay in contact with you, after…after I gave you to my brother I knew that it was a mistake, he sent me letters and photos of you every month, and each month I anticipated the next. He knew though that I was becoming too attached and when I told him I wanted to tell you the truth, and I wanted to be near you, he talked me out of it, and moved you away; without telling me. There are no, no words to describe how I felt." Sara's voice began to stutter off, as she looked down at her plate; holding back the tears which were threatening to fall.

"There hasn't been one single moment when I wish that I could turn back time, and be with you but I can't and…I, I want to start fresh, you and me, mother and daughter." Sara took in a deep breath as she spoke her last word, and waited for Carla to retort.

"You practised that didn't you?" Carla said her smile imminent.

"Well…I didn't want to mess up and I have a lot to say and…" Sara started to stutter off, unknowing how to react; this is why I am not good with people!

"God, you never know when to take a joke or not do you?" Carla laughed before she added "Mom"

The word 'mom' brought tears to Sara's eyes as Right then Sara understood when Carla used that one word that everything was okay, everything was accepted and they were going to start fresh. She looked up and gave a large toothy- grin to her daughter. Carla gave the exact one back, and sat up to go and hug her mom. Sara was sent in a time-warp as she held her daughter for second time in two days.

15years ago:

The doctor left the room as he whispered something into a young woman's ear. There was a few other woman wearing the same scrubs as this woman, Nurses, They were cleaning up the room, moving the equipment out of the dimly light room, heading out into the hospital hallway, preparing to bring another person into this world.

However, the young woman sitting in the center of the room noticed nothing of these actions around her. She was in a blissful awe, as she held the impeccable bundle in her hands, after such an arduous fifteen hours. Her hair was matted, and sweat still stuck to her forehead. However Ms Sidle, who was admitted to the hospital sixteen hours ago, simply didn't care. Her eyes were glued to the tiny pink blanket in front of her, the tiny blue eyes looking into her brown, and the tiny hand wrapped around her pinkie. She looks so much like him, she's so beautiful…

"Hello Carla" Sara spoke softly as tears ran down her face as she knew this moment would be the best moment of her life. That was until her brother arrived and she knew that this beautiful moment was to be short lived.

Sara was brought back to present as she found herself once again stroking her daughter's silky hair as she prepared to tell her daughter about a wonderful man, her father. She took a deep breath, and began to tell the story, making sure she never missed out one detail.

They were soon, classed as being back to normal. Well as normal as one can get in this situation. The weeks flew past, after Sara spent some much needed time off returned back to work where she was faced with hundreds of gazes, questions which she took in gladly and answered some much needed questions of her colleagues. She had also been spending much more time with her boss, Grissom. He came around to her apartment shortly after Sara and Carla's 'talk', and he soon became used to the fact that Sara was being called "Mom" around the house. He then returned the next morning, with three doughnuts and a DVD in his hand. This happened the next day, then the next, and so on. The three of them soon found themselves going to the cinema together, and Carla couldn't help but notice the chemistry between her mom and Grissom, as Sara leaned into his side, and Grissom wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"I can't leave you out now, can I?" He joked with Sara and Carla as he cuddled Carla close with his other arm. They laughed together as they walked out to the car.

This really was bliss for Carla. Although she loved her father, well techniqually her uncle, she always knew that there was something he was hiding from her. She just thought it had something to do with her 'dead mother'. Now she knows,everything, she understands why her father was so secretive with her, and never really acted like father at all. But now, with Grissom wrapped his arm around her, his other side claimed by her mother, she knew this was what its like to have a family. This moment was a sort of blissful epiphany for her.

All this however changed, when Grissom unfortunately misinterpreted a conversation between the mother and daughter. Grissom was in the kitchen, his job was to get the microwavable popcorn, ice cream and cans of sodas ready for the movie which was intended to start in exactly seven minutes. As the popcorn began to pop in the background Grissom could only faintly hear the distant voices of the other individuals in Sara's bedroom. Somehow he was drawn to the bedroom door like bait. He placed his right ear up to the door as he listened to the conversation going on in the other room.

"Mom, what's happening with you and Grissom?" Carla's voice was spoken all so inquisitively.

"What!" Sara's obvious shock at her daughters question grew a large smirk on Grissom's face; does she feel the same way about me? Will she let me into her new life?

"You know what I am talking about mom, he's over here constantly, and when he is not you are either talking about him, thinking about him, or planning the next time we do something together." Carla's smirk on her voice could be heard by Grissom, even though extremely impossible.

"Is it bothering you?" Sara stuttered off, her curiosity palpable as she did not necessarily avoid the question, but made sure her daughter approved before she decided to answer her question.

"No!" The sharp intake of breath by Grissom thought he had given his game away, as he thanked the lord that Carla was happy with him around. "I like having him around…it's as if he's part of our family..."

"I don't think he wants to Carla…Grissom and I have a lot of…history…we've talked about it before that we are just friends" Sara's conscience began to play up again, why does he want to be anywhere near me? I'm nothing special, he's just kidding on...

"You gotta' be kidding me mom! He is crazy about you! And it's so obvious that you have like the biggest crush on him, even Lindsay picked it up. Not to mention Catherine, Nick-" Carla was interrupted as she teased her mother.

"Hey! You know that how unsocial I am, I am not good with words and quite frankly neither is Grissom. I'm just waiting for him to turn around and disappear, after he's finished playing with my emotions yet again. I'm a sucker for letting him do this to me though, but he just reminds me so much of Mark…"

Grissom pulled his ear away from the door in sheer disgust. I remind of her of some guy named Mark? Not as myself! And she is just waiting for me to screw up!!! Thanks Sara, thank you very much!

Grissom walked into the kitchen and noticed the paper and pen which sat on the dinning table. He picked up the pen, jaws clenched, writing in strong, sharp movements;

"I'm saving you the time of waiting for me to screw up, I will stay away now, better now than later…before I remind you of "Mark".

The microwave timer went off in the distance as Grissom closed the door behind him, heading out of the apartment, oblivious to the conversation still going on in the bedroom.

"Mom, whether you try to deny it or not and try and find stupid, unethical reasons, you love Grissom, and he cares a lot about you too…just take the risk, I don't think he will hurt you now, or ever will…As for Mark, you have to get over him mom, he won't feel cheated and you certainly should not feel guilty. Grissom makes you happy that's all he would ever want for you...and me." Carla reassured her mom as they sat on the edge of the bed, as Sara brushed out the tugs in Carla's hair.

"You know what, maybe I will, maybe Grissom does care about me…in the same way I do about him" Sara spoke out, not realizing her thoughts were being heard by Carla. The smiles on both their faces were short-lived, as they stepped out of the bedroom, noticing Grissom was missing. Sara was the one who found the letter on the table, and once she read it she realized how bad her conversation must have sounded to him. After finishing the last word, she looked up to face her daughter; the tears forming around her pupils.

"Oh Grissom, you don't understand….Goodness, what have I done?"

A/N – sorry it's taking me a while to update!! This chapter was once again long, and is once again not beta'd.

Getting reviews rocks, and totally spurs me on to update quicker. Thanks to all those faithful reviewers who have reviewed every chapter you are not going unnoticed!.

Please leave a review, and if you have any suggestions you can mention it there. I have planned out the next chapters, and I do know where I am going with the storyline, but if there is anything you want to raise or whatever- Please review!!!

Thanks... :D