Chapter Five - Secrets Out

Rosa pinched her nose, grimacing as her father served the slop into the bowl in front of her. "No, thank you." She pushed the bowl away from her, getting it pushed back into place by her father's hand. "It smells gross. What is it?"

"Leek and Potato soup. It's a smooth creamy vegetable soup, that's full of flavour and it's good for you. Besides, I made it for lunch, and it's all there is, so you're going to eat it." Spooning some into his own bowl, her father took a seat opposite her, giving her a smell as she continued to hold her nose. "It doesn't have anything in it that you haven't already tried before. You like potatoes. You like onions. You like leeks. And you like soup."

"I don't like it."

"You didn't even try it yet." Removing her fingers from pinching her nose, Grissom placed a spoon in her hand, trying to get her to try some. It used to be easier to get food in her when she was younger, but since she learnt the word 'no', she was becoming more and more picky with any kind of food. "Go on, try it. You'll like it, I promise."

Leaning against her elbow on the table, Rosa circled her spoon around the edge of the bowl, feeling her stomach growling with hunger. She watched her father taking slow sips of the soup, giving her a smile as if to entice her into eating it too.

"C'mon, why would I feed you something you didn't like? Try some. If you don't like it, I'll make you something else, but you have to try a couple of mouthfuls first." He made her a promise, watching as she reluctantly scooped up a spoonful of her soup. She tasted a bit of it, getting a smile out of her father. "Good girl."

After eating the rest of their meal in silence, Grissom cleared away the table, getting himself ready to leave. Now that everything was unpacked and the kitchen had been thoroughly cleaned, his wife had left him a grocery list pinned to the fridge, so they could have something other than fast food for dinner.

"C'mon, we gotta go." Grissom lifted his sleepy child from the sofa. "I'm sorry. We don't have time for a nap today. We've still got lots to do, before Mommy gets home."

He grabbed her sneakers from beside the door, carrying her out to his car in the driveway. As soon as she was in her car seat, he could see just how tired she was. She was having trouble keeping her eyes open, meaning he might actually be able to quickly get everything on his wife's list, without having to stop every couple of minutes to explain why they couldn't get a certain thing that she wanted.

"Okay, here we go," Unclipping the belt from her chest once they arrived at the store, Grissom lifted his daughter out of the car, holding her securely against his side as he made his way into the store. He knew that she was too big to fit in the shopping cart now, but he couldn't carry her round the whole store, it would do his back in.

Lowering her to the floor, Grissom made sure that she stable on her feet, before he started walking with her.

"Nooo, Daddy." The sleepy girl clung to his legs, while he grabbed one of the shopping carts. "Daddy, can you carry me?" She rubbed her tired little eyes open beside him, getting him to give in within a few seconds.

"Okay, c'mon." He slid his hands beneath her arms, lifting her back into his arms. "My backs already killing me anyway." Her father smirked, just about managing to carry her round the whole store. He managed to balance her against the handle of his shopping cart a few times, easing the pain in his back, but not by much. Of course, he couldn't set her down at this point, as she was already fast asleep against his shoulder.

"Grissom," A familiar face appeared in the frozen foods aisle. "Hey boss, I heard that you and Sara were back. I must have missed you at the lab the other day."

"David Hodges." Grissom shook the man's hand, really wishing he hadn't been spotted.

"Oh yeah, I heard that you two went through with that donor pregnancy thing." The lab tech noticed the child sleeping against his chest. "She really does look like, Nick." He knew he had put his foot in his mouth, as the blood practically drained from the older man's face. "Oh, I didn't mean it like that. She looks more like, Sara than him. But there's some definite resemblance in there."

"Goodbye, David." The man dismissed their conversation, making his way towards the tills with his daughter. He quickly paid for their shopping, taking his little girl back home for a comfortable bed to rest her little head on.

He managed to get a few minutes of peace to himself, before she was up again, wanting to play with some of her toys. It was easy to forget that she was another man's child when it was just the two of them. Or even just with people that didn't know where she came from. It was a lot harder to forget when they were so close to where it had all begun though.

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are," Reaching for one of the plastic tea cups from her father's hands, Rosa dipped it into the bath water around her, before she handed it back to him. She splashed her hands into the bubbly bath water either side of her, giggling as she splashed her father's shirt. "Daddy, when's Mommy coming home?"

"Um," He pursed his lips together, taking a look at his watch. "Another couple of hours yet, which gives us plenty of time to get you into bed. Are you ready to get out yet?"

Rosa raised her hands to eye level, waiting for the bubbles to trickle away, before she could see her fingertips. "No, they're not even wrinkly yet." She showed him the evidence as he slid his glasses up his nose. "Will I have to wear glasses, Daddy? Mommy wears glasses and so do you, so will I have to?"

Grissom gave her a shrug. "Your mother didn't always wear glasses, so you might not need them until your much, much older." He knew that her biological father didn't wear glasses yet, but he had only just turned forty. "Let's wash your hair." He reached for the shampoo bottle sat on the edge of the bath.

"Don't get it in my eyes." The five year old gave him a stern warning.

"I won't." Gently tilting her head back, Grissom poured the water from the tea cup over her head, refilling it from the bath water, until her hair was all wet. He squeezed a small amount of shampoo into the palm of his hand, massaging it into her head.

Before they moved here, he hadn't really bathed her since she was a baby. He used to be so nervous to bath her when she was so tiny. His wife could expertly support her slippery little body in the water and carefully wash her with a wash cloth, but Grissom was always so worried that she might slip and drown with him.

When Sara first dropped the bomb that she wanted to have a baby, he had to admit that he wasn't overly thrilled with the idea. He liked children, but he had never even thought of the possibility of having one of his own. That was when his mother decided to tell him 'there comes a point in every man's life, when he realises that he is going to spend the rest of his life alone, unless he is willing to compromise.'

He knew that his colleagues at the college wouldn't understand, as they already had two or three children, most of them already in their teens. He had many reasons for not wanting to have a child at such a late stage in his life, the main one being that he didn't want to be encumbered with the responsibility of diapers, sleepless nights and the distance that it would cause between him and his wife.

He eventually saw that his only compromise for keeping Sara, was agreeing to have a child with her. After all, it was better to be a father and be with Sara, rather than childless, without her.

It wasn't until his wife's pregnancy started to show, that he really started to get excited about having a baby. He loved Rosa from the moment he felt her move, feeling as though there wasn't anything in the world that could ever separate him from the little life that his wife created with her body.

Since they moved back to Las Vegas, and closer to his daughter's donor father though, Grissom was starting to feel as though his role as his daughter's father was being threatened.

"Okay, it's gone nine, your mother said eight thirty at the latest." The man reached for one of the white fluffy towels from the radiator, getting it ready to lift his daughter out of the bath tub. He wrapped the towel around her, taking her through to her bedroom, where her pyjamas were already set up. He dried her hair with her mother's hairdryer first, trying to get her to stand still long enough to dry one section.

Grissom lifted the child into her pink Peppa pig pyjamas, before he set her down on her bed. "There we go, dinner, bath, pyjamas... remind me what comes next again?" He gave her a playful tickle, as it was her favourite time of day.

"Story." Rosa crawled back across her bed, dropping her head to her pillow. "Can you tell me a new one this time, Daddy?"

"A new one?" Her father lifted her legs, sweeping out her sheets from under her, so he could tuck her in first. "Okay... well, not so long ago," He started the story, knowing he'd regret it later when his wife found out, but it was a story that had to be told, especially while they remained here in Las Vegas. "A little while before you were born. Your Mommy really wanted to have a baby. We had been married for quite a long time, and the natural thing in most marriages is to spend the rest of our adult life together. But your Mommy wanted something more. She wanted a baby to look after."

"Me?"

"Yes, our beautiful, smart little girl." He gently brushed her hair behind her ear, before he continued, "Mommy tried for a very long time to get pregnant. For most Mommy's, it happens quite quickly, so your Mommy was very upset when it didn't happen right away. We went to a doctor shortly after that, and they told us that... well, that your Daddy was too old to be a father at such a late stage in his life."

"But you are my Daddy." She gave him a confused look, not really liking this story compared to all the others.

"I am. Nothing that ever happens will ever change that." Grissom assured her, leaning down to her level on the bed. "When your Mommy heard that I couldn't get her pregnant, she was very upset, because she really wanted a baby. To stop Mommy from being so upset, I agreed to a procedure that meant Mommy could become pregnant with you."

Rosa continued to give him a quizzical look, trying to understand what he was telling her.

He tried not to get into too many details as she was still so young, so he stuck to the basics that she would understand. "You see, Mommy's have eggs in their tummies and Daddy's have the seed. When they get together, they grow in Mommy's tummy to make a baby. You need both of these to make a baby, so we had to find a donor Daddy that would give us the seed to make you."

"A donor Daddy?" She furrowed her brow with confusion.

"Well, the technical name for him is a sperm donor." He really didn't want her to call him her donor Daddy, so he quickly switched the term. "You grew in Mommy's tummy thanks to our sperm donor. Without him, we wouldn't have been able to have you. I'm still your Daddy though, I will always be your Daddy and Mommy will always be your Mommy. You were just made a little differently to most children."

"Who is he, Daddy?" Rosa gave him a curious look. "Do I know him?"

"Um... no, not really." He shook his head, adjusting the cover over her chest. "But he does live here in Las Vegas. He's quite a close friend of your mother's too."

"Do you have a picture of him? Do I look like him?"

"No, you look like your Mommy." Admitting that she looked like him, would be like admitting defeat to him. She did have his eyes and the same colour hair as him, but he still saw Sara when he looked at her. "We don't have a picture in the house." He shook his head. "But we chose him very carefully. Your Mommy didn't want just any donor to make you. He's very special to your Mommy, just like you're very special to me. Do you understand?"

Rosa nodded her head, sliding lower on her bed to get more comfortable to sleep. "Daddy . . . was he there when I was born?"

"No." He shook his head, resting his hands on the bed either side of her. "Only Nana Betty, Mommy and me where there when you were born." He reminded her of the story she had heard thousands of times. "After donating his seed to make you, the donor didn't really have any part in your life."

"Why?"

"Because . . . he did his job. Nowadays, making baby's isn't like the fairytales. Your donor father knew how much we wanted you, and how long we had waited to have a baby, so he didn't need to be involved."

His daughter still seemed a little confused, but she accepted his answer anyway.

"Now, you really need to get some sleep, my dear. I love you." Grissom pressed a kiss to her forehead, giving her a hug, before he climbed to his feet. "Good night, my dear." He waved to her, making his way towards the door.

"Daddy," Rosa stopped him, before he disappeared out of the room. "Can I meet him?"

Thank you for reading and reviewing so far, please let me know what you thought.

~ Holly