Author's Notes: I've decided to see how far this series can go. Hope you'll all stick around for the ride!
Moments
by Kristen Elizabeth
"More, Daddy."
For Grissom, the hardest part of being a parent was saying "no." Yes, he could give in and read the next chapter of Charlotte's Web to Rosalind; she was absorbing the story with rapt delight and he cherished every second of their time together. But it was well past her bedtime already and she needed her sleep.
"No, princess," he said, setting the book aside. "You need lots of rest for your big day tomorrow."
Surrounded by every stuffed animal she owned, his daughter shook her head at this. "Daddy, do I gotta go?"
"Do I have to go," Grissom corrected her as he pulled the covers up to her chin. "And, yes, you do. But princess, you're going to love it. I promise."
Rosalind gave him a skeptical look that few five year-olds could muster. "What if I don't like it?"
Another hard part about being a parent was figuring out of his child was voicing a true worry, or simply talking in order to further delay her bedtime. He decided to play along for another minute, even though he highly doubted that there was even a remote possibility that Rosalind wouldn't like kindergarten. This was the same little girl who, on her first day of preschool, had completely forgotten her parents existed, and run off to play without so much as a kiss goodbye.
"Remember how much fun you had walking around the school last week?" She nodded reluctantly. "You're going to make new friends, and you're going to learn lots of things. And your mommy and I can't wait to hear about every single one of them."
Rosalind considered this for a moment. "But I've already got friends. And I know lots of things. I can spell my whole name. R-O-S-A-L-I-N-D G-R-I-S-S-O-M. I can even spell Sammy's name. S-A-M…"
Grissom gently cut her off. "See? You're already so smart. School will just make you smarter."
"Why can't you teach me, Daddy? You're the smartest person in the whole world!"
Now he was fairly certain she was just talking to talk. "Because I already have a job."
"You catch bad guys," she said. Her nose scrunched up in complete and utter disgust. "And bugs."
And that could be the hardest part of being a parent. They might look like you and sound like you, but eventually you realized that your children each had their own personalities. And just because you loved something, didn't mean they would love it. Or like it. Or even tolerate it.
Twenty minutes later, Rosalind was finally asleep. Grissom left her pink nightlight glowing, and the door open just a bit, before starting down the hall. On his way to the master bedroom, he stopped in the nursery to check on his son.
Samuel was stretched out in his crib, his chubby eighteen month-old body taking up every inch of space that it possibly could. Grissom straightened the blanket covering him and ran his fingers over the little boy's dark, tousled curls. He wasn't worried about waking him up. Now that he was walking everywhere, and taking delight in making his parents chase after him, he slept even more deeply at night.
Upon entering the room he shared with his wife, he was surprised to see her still awake. He was even more surprised to see her waiting on the bed, wearing nothing but a short, flimsy nightgown and a look on her face that told him exactly what she had in mind for the few hours they had before the graveyard shift began.
It was awhile before he had another coherent thought.
Lying with his cheek against Sara's breast, Grissom sighed.
"That's not a sigh of contentment," she said with a smile. He loved feeling her voice vibrating against his ear. "What's on your mind, Mr. Grissom?"
It was no use lying to her; she found out everything eventually. "Rosalind doesn't like bugs."
To his consternation, Sara laughed. "I guess you haven't noticed until now, but through some twist of genetic irony, I gave birth to a girly girl five years ago."
"She begged me to kill a spider last week." Grissom closed his eyes against the memory. "I captured it and set it free."
"Of course you did," she soothed.
He sat up. "She looked at me like I'd betrayed her."
"I get the same look when I buy Cheerios instead of Lucky Charms."
"You're enjoying this," he accused her.
Sara sat up behind him. "Only because you're adorable right now." She rested her chin on his shoulder. "She takes after you in so many other ways, Gil. This is just one area where she won't be a complete and total Daddy's girl." He felt her lips press a kiss onto his skin. "If anyone should be upset by this development, it should be me. I don't see you stepping foot into the Barbie aisle of the toy store."
"You're going to let her have a Barbie doll?"
It was her turn to sigh. "The very idea makes my skin crawl. But it's what she wants for her birthday. And after all, she's the only girl in the entire world who doesn't have one."
Grissom finally smiled. "Did you tell her about the little girls in Africa?"
"Amazingly enough, that didn't have the intended effect on her." She paused. "Too bad they don't make Entomologist Barbie."
Reaching around behind, he grabbed his wife's waist and dragged her into his lap; her throaty peals of laughter were like music. He looked down and desire punched him in the gut again. Two kids had perfectly rounded her body in all the right places. He could never get enough of her.
"How do you do it?" Grissom shook his head. "How do you make me feel twenty years younger?"
She answered him by pulling herself up and giving him a searing kiss.
He was going to be late to work again.
"Mommy! Daddy!" Aided by a teacher and a school safety patrol, Rosalind climbed into the backseat of the SUV and plopped into the empty space next to her brother's car seat. "I love school!"
Sara couldn't hide her smile as she reached around from the front seat and buckled her daughter in. When she was secure, Grissom started the car. "So you had a good day?" he asked unnecessarily.
"Uh-huh," she nodded happily. "We had spaghetti for lunch!" They waited for her to go on. "The teacher's nice. She let me sit next to my new friend. Her name is Ariel. Like the mermaid! She has three Barbie dolls, Mommy! She's going to bring them for Show and Tell. I don't know what I'm going to bring." She looked around the car; her eyes eventually landed on her little brother. "I guess I can bring him."
Samuel clapped his hands together. "Rossy!" he squealed, his version of his big sister's name.
"Um…we'll have to think about that," Sara informed her daughter. "Tell us what you learned today."
Rosalind's forehead scrunched up in thought. "Um…my cubby is in the red row. And tonight is 'Read a Book Together' night. But we already do that, Daddy. Oh, I've got homework!" She dug into her glittery backpack for a piece of paper. "Miss Smith asked us questions and wrote down our answers and now I'm going to draw a picture of our whole family and Miss Smith's going to put it all together to make my bioglaphy."
"Biography," Grissom corrected.
"Can I see?" Rosalind handed the paper to her mother. "'My Daddy's name is Gil.'" She bit her lip to keep a straight face. "'He's 82 years old.'"
Grissom tore his eyes away from the road long enough to glance at the next sentence. "'My Mommy's name is Sara. She's 57 years old,'" he read in triumph.
Sara sniffed. "Face it. I'll always be your trophy wife."
In the backseat, Rosalind frowned at her parents. Sometimes they just didn't make any sense.
That night, after reading a book together as required, Grissom tucked Rosalind into bed.
"Daddy," she said sleepily. "I'm glad you were right about school."
"So am I, princess." He kissed her forehead. "Goodnight."
He made it all the way to the door before she sat up. "I forgot to tell you, Daddy. We've got caterpillars in our classroom." A smile lit up her face. "Miss Smith says they're going to turn into butterflies!"
Butterflies. How could he have forgotten about them?
Hope was suddenly rekindled.
To Be Continued