Chapter Eleven - Past And Present Us
"I look ridiculous." Smoothing her hand down the side of her dress, Sara turned to look at herself in the full length mirror, grunting at the sight of her reflection. She tried the zipper again, but it was still stuck halfway. "I really need new clothes." She lifted the navy blue dress up over her head, dropping it to the floor, before she started searching for another in her wardrobe. "What do you think of this one?" She held the next dress up to her figure, looking towards her baby girl lying across the middle of her parents double bed.
Eight month old, Rosa, turned her head to the side to look at her mother, making a soft gurgling sound as she got her mother's attention.
"No, neither do I." Her mother agreed with her, realising she hadn't worn this dress since before she had her baby. She threw it onto the end of her bed, throwing the beautiful violet, empire line dress on top of it, along with a few others. "Ugh, your father's gonna be here any second and expect me to be dressed."
"Sara!" She heard a voice from downstairs. "Are you nearly ready? We have less than twenty minutes to get to there." Her husband tapped his watch at the bottom of the stairs, looking up as Sara appeared wrapped in a bath robe. "What are you doing? We've gotta go."
"My dress doesn't fit!" Sara snapped at him. "None of the others are exactly suitable either. Can we cancel?"
"No, my mother's worked her fingers to the bone trying to get this ready. Did you at least get, Rosaline ready yet?" He caught a faint nod from her, before the woman stormed back to her bedroom down the hall. She rifled through all the dresses that she did have, picking up the blue wrap dress again, the only one that really covered her maternity figure.
Dropping her bathrobe to the floor, Sara pulled the dress on, tying it in place against her hip. She didn't like the way it looked on her, but it was too late to change it now. She removed the curlers from her hair, giving it a quick brush, before she lifted her baby from the bed spread.
"Okay, are you ready for this?" She carried her down the stairs with her, finding her husband adjusting his tie in the mirror. "Gil, have you seen that little head band thing that we got for Rosa?" Sara handed over their baby girl, while she searched through the dresser by the door. "I know I bought it."
"She looks fine without it." Grissom gently bounced her in his arms, adjusting her baby pink dress around her. "Did you feed her already?"
"Yeah, I put some bottles in the fridge to take with us. She can have some solids when we get back. I'm not risking getting anything down that dress. I packed loads of diapers, a change of clothes for her just in case. What am I forgetting?"
"Nothing, that should be it. Let's get going." The man urged.
"Hold on, one second." Sara unpackaged the adorable little head band she had bought for her daughter, before she attempted to put it in place on her daughter's head. Rosa usually took hats, hair clips and little bows straight off, not liking anything touching her head. Her hair was still quite short, but she did have an adorable little fringe over one side of her head, that Sara positioned just in front of the white head band.
"You need the bow over this side." Her husband repositioned the bow to the other side of his daughter's head, receiving an eye roll from his wife. "What? It looks better at the side, rather than the middle." He smiled at her. "C'mon then, we gotta get going. You got a pacifier?"
Sara responded with a scowl, hating those little things. She didn't think that it was right to pacify a baby, but her husband and mother in law just stuck one in her baby's mouth, whenever she started to make a fuss. "We don't need them. I need some shoes though." She realised that she was still bare footed.
"We better get you in the car." Grissom pressed multiple kisses to his little girl's cheek, before he carried her out to the car. She fussed as soon as he set her down in her car seat, a complete switch in personality from the calm baby she was in his arms. He quickly lifted her out again, giving out a sigh of relief as she returned to neutral against his chest. "Sara, can you put her in her seat?" He turned towards his wife as she stepped out of the house.
"You won't break her, Gil." Chuckling softly, Sara lifted her baby girl from his arms, gently placing her in her car seat. She strapped her in as she started to fuss, softly cooing her with her voice, until she started to settle. "C'mon then, we don't wonna be late." She hurried her husband along, not wanting to be late for their big day.
The drive there was a short one, but the wait outside was a little longer. A ceremony that was scheduled before them was running a little behind, so them and their party for forced to wait outside for ten minutes, until the renewed elderly couple hobbled their way out of the building, with their grown up grandchildren. Betty Grissom hurried their own party along, getting them all seated, and ready to go.
"Gilbert Grissom and Sara Sidle, when you first joined hands and hearts in marriage, you did not know where your life would take you. You promised to love, honour and cherish one another through all things. Life has surely brought you both wonderful blessings," The Priest smiled as he looked at the baby girl in the husband's arms. "Along with many difficult challenges, bringing you closer together. But here you are today, having fulfilled the vows to love, honour and cherish you each made on your wedding day. And God is smiling. As you celebrate here today, and as you reflect back over all the years as husband and wife, do you now wish to reaffirm the vows you took?"
"We do." They both responded, smiling at one another.
Sara wasn't too keen on the idea of renewing her wedding vows in front of her husband's family and his colleagues at first, but now that she was here, she really felt as though it was the right thing to do. And her mother in law was smiling proudly at her, so that was always a good sign.
"Please face each other and join hands," The Priest instructed, smiling as the husband quickly handed his daughter over to his mother beside him, so he had his hands free to hold his wife's hands. Baby Rosa fussed at first, her cries echoing through the small room, until her grandmother managed to settle her down. "Okay . . . Gilbert, will you continue to have Sara as your wife and continue to live in this happy and loving marriage?"
"I will." Grissom smiled as he looked into his wife's eyes.
"Do you reaffirm your love for her, and will you love, honour and cherish her in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, for better or for worse, and forsaking all others, be faithful to her for as long as you both shall live?"
"I definitely do." He answered the man, erupting a wide smile from Sara's lips.
The Priest did the same for Sara, getting Betty Grissom in tears, as she finally got to see her only son married. Even if he was already married to the woman, it still counted to her.
After a blessing prayer with the family, the Priest closed with, "As Sara and Gilbert renew their vows of marriage today, they also renew their commitment to be loving and caring parents to their daughter, Rosaline Juliet Grissom. Today you have renewed your promises and vows you made to each other on your wedding day. It is with pleasure that I conclude this ceremony of renewing your vows, forever binding you as husband and wife. Please celebrate this renewal of your vows with a kiss."
"Your moving?" As soon as she stepped through the front door, Catherine didn't need to see any more evidence to tell her the reason why her friend called her over in such a hurry. There were taped up boxes in the hallway, missing ornaments from the shelves and a lack of homeliness in the house. She glanced up from the boxes after a moment, noticing, Sara, lovingly giving her husband a goodbye kiss. "Don't mind me."
"Catherine," Sara wiped the back of her hand across her mouth in embarrassment. "We didn't hear you come in."
"Really?" She folded her arms across her chest, giving her old boss a smug smile as he quickly collected up his things. "Don't leave on my account."
"I'm late for work. Thank you for helping out, Catherine." Grissom gave his wife a wave, before he grabbed his car keys by the door and disappeared down the driveway. It used to be him who caught, Catherine in the act on the job, it was embarrassing from the other side of things.
"So, that was fast." Catherine stepped into the kitchen with Sara, taking a look around. "You've only been back for what... five or six months. Exactly when were you planning on handing in your notice at work?"
"I don't know." Sara gave her a shrug, wiping the sweat from her brow. "Gil has found more permanent accommodations in a nicer neighbourhood. Still here in Las Vegas, so there's no need to hand in my notice. It's closer to Clark County Elementary too, for when Rosa starts school."
"He's talking about settling down?"
"Yeah." Sara smiled at her, surprised herself. "Switching a rental agreement for a mortgage is a huge commitment for him. You have no idea how long I have waited for this."
Catherine smiled back, before she got to the point of why she was here. "So, what do you need from me?"
"Actually, I need you to stay here with Rosa for a few minutes." Sara grabbed her jacket off the back of the chair, frantically searching for her keys in her mess of a kitchen. "There's a problem at the home where my mother is. They can't seem to sort it themselves, so I have to go down there. Of all the times, she has to choose now to have a crisis. Rosa's upstairs sleeping. I didn't want to have to wake her and take her down there. It's not place for a child."
"Sure." Her friend agreed, walking with her to the door.
"I'm sorry to call you like this, but Gil's off to California for two days. He can't miss his flight, and I..."
"No, no... don't worry about it. I did say to call me anytime you needed help." She reminded her, grabbing her keys for her off the stand near the door. "Don't worry, she'll be fine. I can help you pack up a couple of things if you like. I've got the night off."
"You don't have to do that." Sara pulled on her shoes, motioning towards the boxes and tape in the front room. "But the boxes are in there. I'm not doing the kitchen things until the end of the week. We have six more days here, so we need the essentials out. I should be back in an hour or so. She might be waking up soon." She quickly thanked her friend, giving her a wave, before she hurried out of the house.
Catherine waved her off, before she started to snoop around. She hadn't actually been in their new house yet, and the CSI in her couldn't stop herself from taking a nosy look at their things.
"Hello." Catherine managed to pack up some of the books from the front room, before the little girl made her way down the stairs. "Do you remember me? I'm your Aunt Catherine." She ushered her into the room, giving her a smile as she got closer. The child rubbed her eyes open with one hand, sleepily making her way towards her. "Your Mommy just texted me. She's at the hospital with your Grandma, but she'll be home as soon as she can. Your lunch is in the fridge if you're still hungry."
Rosa shook her head from side to side, kneeling down beside the box that the woman had been packing. "They're my Daddy's books."
"I know," She pointed to the one with a large insect on the front cover. "I don't imagine that any of these are exactly on your reading list."
"Daddy reads them to me." She corrected the woman. "I like this one." Rosa lifted out one of the books on Spiders. "Where's my Daddy?"
"From what your Mommy told me, I imagine he's on his flight to his business thing. California wasn't it?" She set some more books into the box, watching as the child started to flip through one of the books. "Ew, spiders. Those eight legged crawlies give me the creeps." She involuntary shivered, hoping there weren't any pet spiders around. "You don't really like them, do you?"
Rosa smiled to herself, abruptly climbing to her feet.
"Hey, where you going?" Catherine pushed herself to her feet, following the child through to kitchen. She curiously watched as Rosa pushed a chair up to the counter, so she could climb up. "Don't hurt yourself."
"I won't." Rosa pushed aside the stack of newspaper, lifting a clear plastic box into her hands that had a bright red lid. She popped open the lid on her lap, cautiously reaching her hand inside. "Do you want to hold, George?"
Catherine stepped around her to where she could see what she was holding, immediately screaming at the size, George, the huge spider in the little girl's hands. "Ew... put it back. Don't you dare touch me with that thing." She warned her, wishing she had never set a standing offer of help to the 'bug man'.
Jumping down from the sofa, Catherine quickly made her way to the door, ushering the man inside, before she slammed the door shut behind him again. "Okay, I'm here. What's the big emergency?" Detective Lou Vartann gave her a glare, not even noticing how dishevelled her hair was. "You know that this is my only day that I get to spend with my son, before he gets married."
"There's a tarantula loose in the house!" She practically screamed at him. "Did you not listen to my messages?"
"Honestly, no. The first one was enough." He removed his jacket, taking a look around the entrance to the house. "So this is Grissom and Sara's place, huh?" He glanced in the kitchen, before he crossed the hall to the front room. "Nice, they not staying?" He motioned towards the boxes in the middle of the room.
"No, they're moving on to a more permanent family home." She anxiously ran her fingers through her hair, feeling as though something was crawling up her back. "Rosa got the spider out in the kitchen. George." She remembered it's name. "She set it on the table to let me see him walking around, and the thing just suddenly fell off the table. We checked all the chairs, under the table, the floor, between the cabinets... but it's gone."
Lou couldn't help but smile, folding his arms across his chest. "Catherine, I didn't know you were scared of spiders."
"I'm not." The woman huffed, stepping into the kitchen to take another look around. "When they're confined in a small box, with a thick layer of glass between you and it, I'm not scared of them. I still have to call for Lindsey to squash a spider if it's in the bath. But this thing was huge, and it's loose."
"Okay," He scratched his chin, stepping into the kitchen. "How long ago was it in here?"
"Twenty seven messages ago, check your phone." Catherine brushed her hands across her shoulders, making her way up the stairs to check on the child she was supposed to be sitting. "What's that?" She knelt down beside Rosa's dressing table, noticing her colouring something on the paper in front of her.
"A missing poster for George." Rosa lifted the paper out from under her crayons, showing it to her Aunt Catherine. She had drawn a large picture of her spider in the middle, with her phone number printed underneath. "Daddy usually does writing for me. How do you spell reward and missing?"
"Sweetie, we'll find your spider. You don't need a missing poster. He's still in the house somewhere." She tried to reassure her.
"Daddy says George is girl." Rosa corrected her.
"Oh... well, I'm sure she's nearby." Catherine involuntary shivered again, hoping that it wasn't too nearby. "C'mon, my friend, Lou is here now. He's gonna help us look for her." She reached out for the child's hand, leading her downstairs. "Now, does George have any favourite places to go in the house? Somewhere that we can start to look for her, or avoid so she doesn't bite me?"
"George won't hurt you. Daddy says she's most the docile species of tarantula." Rosa jumped down the last step on the stairs, pulling Catherine through to the kitchen.
"Rosa, this is, Lou." She introduced her to the man in the room. "Lou, this is Gil and Sara's daughter, Rosa."
"Hi there, sweet pea." Lou leant down to her level. "Did Aunt Catherine lose your spider? Roughly how big are we talking here?" Rosa made an estimated measurement with her fingers, separating them to a distance of almost six inches. "Wow, that's a pretty big spider." He shuddered himself, wishing he had never stepped foot in the bug man's house either.
"See why I called you now?" Catherine glared at him. "Rosa, why don't you go upstairs and finish your poster? I'll be up in a minute to check on you." She ushered her up the stairs, so they could start looking for the spider. She didn't know if it was a poisonous spider, but she didn't want to take any chances with her friend's child.
"It could be anywhere by now." Lou pushed himself to his feet. "What do spiders eat? We could tease it out with some food."
"Live bait." Catherine motioned towards the box of insects she had found in Grissom's office, labelled 'George's Food'. "But there's already a huge spider loose in this house. I don't want to release more horrible insects in here, especially not while I'm still in it."
"Why didn't you call, Sara? Or the bug man himself?" He carefully moved the boxes from the corner of the kitchen, checking to see if there was a large spider hiding behind them.
"Sara's at the hospital with her mother and Grissom is probably in California by now. I tried calling, Sara, but she must have her phone switched off." Catherine anxiously scratched the back of her neck, eager to get out of the kitchen. "Can you please just find it? I didn't sign up to watch a spider." She stepped out into the hall, hearing a sudden crunch beneath her heel. "Oh god, no."
"What?" Lou hurried out into the hall with her, catching her cautiously lifting her heel off the carpet. "What?"
"It's okay." She knelt down to see what it was, seeing a small cheesy cracker squashed into the carpet. "I really thought for a second that I had... you know." She didn't think that killing a spider with her heel would have been such a bad thing, but it was still a little girl's pet. "I'll clean this up, you just find the spider."
"Mommy's home!" Rosa came bounding down the stairs a few seconds later, waiting by the door as she heard the key turning. She immediately jumped into the woman's arms like a hyper little puppy, hugging her mother tightly as she stepped into the house.
"Hi." Sara set her keys down, wondering what the two adults in her house were doing. They didn't appear to be messing around, but there were being a bit nosy, snooping through her cupboards and inside the boxes she had packed.
"Sara, we're so glad you're back." Catherine sighed with relief. "Your daughter's pet spider is loose somewhere in the house. I called Lou over to help me," She explained why he was in her house, before she continued, "But we can't find it."
"George? She usually goes under the sink cabinet. Took Gil three days to get her out of there last time." Setting down her daughter on the floor, Sara took a look around her kitchen, hoping that George hadn't gone too far. They were leaving in a few days, and if they couldn't find her, they'd have to leave her behind. A nice little surprise for the next tenants. "Anyway, thanks for helping out, Catherine... and Lou." She called the man by his first name for the first time. "We can take it from here, can't we, Rosa?"
"Yeah." Her daughter held her hand at her side, walking with her down the driveway, while she said goodbye to her two friends. "Mommy, there's Daddy's car." The child pointed to a car driving towards their house, as soon as Catherine pulled away.
"That is Daddy's car." Lifting her daughter onto her hip, Sara took a step back from the driveway, letting her husband re-park his car on their driveway. "Did you forget something? I thought that your flight was at two?" She looked at him surprised.
"It was." Grissom reached for something off the back seat, holding up a bunch of roses to her. "I was just about to board my plane, when I remembered what day it was today. It's our second, fifth wedding anniversary." He smiled at her, pressing a kiss to her lips as he stepped closer. "Happy Anniversary, my love."
Thank you for reading, please review!
~ Holly