Catherine settled back into the couch. An annoyingly smug smile on her face and a curious look in her eyes. Both Sara and Grissom noticed this, and how it was directed at both of them. Neither said anything, the longer they could stay away from Catherine interrogating them on something neither of them would probably like the better for them all.
Sara was also quite content to talk to anyone if it was about their children or their engagement, they hadn't told anyone else yet and so she hadn't got to talk about it yet. And Grissom was quite happy to sit there and listen to her, her voice alive with happiness. Catherine made sure that she got the major things answered first.
"Right so, you said you had names. I want to know. But first you're wearing a ring which looks rather like an engagement ring on your fourth finger. Spill." Sara tried to calm her down.
"Catherine, we'll be happy to tell you anything you want to know," she glared slightly at the blonde woman as her green/grey eyes grew mischievous before she continued speaking to her. "Harmony is still asleep in the other room and Ella is just settling down again."
Catherine stared at them both. "You have names! So this one is Ella yes? So Ella was the first-born?" Sara nodded at her as Grissom was still busy in the kitchen fixing drinks for them all. "You've gone and thrown me off balance. I don't know whether I want to know about and fuss babies first, ask about the engagement, or ask about you two?" Sara looked at her in mild confusion at the last point. Catherine just shook her head and Sara knew that she wouldn't get any more information out of her and had the distinct impression that she wouldn't want to anyway.
"I think first things first. Engagement." Sara smiled as she heard Grissom suppress a chuckle from the kitchen. She quickly turned her head to hide the smile as Catherine hadn't heard Grissom.She covered it by looking down at her ring. Catherine noticed her gaze and commented quietly, almost as though she was in awe about it. "It is a beautiful ring though I must admit."
"It was my mother's" Grissom said as he entered the room, carrying drinks for them all. "She said that my father had given it to her when she was ready and when he knew that he would never love anyone else as much and she wanted me to do the same thing. The moment I realised I loved her I knew I would never love anyone else as much, so I waited until she was ready, and then gave it to her." He finished with his eyes connected with Sara's as though he was talking straight to her and there were no other people in the world.
Catherine coughed feeling awkward, feeling as though she was intruding on something private even though Grissom was sat on a chair and Sara was sat on the couch with her. She almost sighed with relief when their gaze broke and Grissom looked at her. "Anyway, I'm going to get dressed. I can't wander around in what I sleep in all day." He said gesturing at the pair of loose shorts and plain t-shirt he was wearing. He stood up, picked up his drink off the table, kissed Sara and wandered off in the direction of the bedroom.
Catherine was looked at Sara speculatively as Sara turned back to face her, a small smile on her face. Sara sent a challenging glance at her, daring her to say what she was thinking, Catherine merely shrugged and then changed the topic back to the engagement.
"So ... tell me."
A twinkle came into Sara's eye, she knew Catherine was determined to tell her and Grissom something, probably which they wouldn't want to hear and which may annoy them both, she decided to get some hits in first, 'Pre-emptive strike' She told herself mentally before speaking aloud to Catherine.
"I got engaged to Grissom."
"I know that. I meant tell me more."
"Grissom proposed and I accepted." Sara fought down a laugh as she saw Catherine grit her teeth at the lack of answers she was getting.
"Details. Give me details what did he say, what did he do, what did you say, what did you do. You know ... details."
The happiness Sara felt at being able to talk about it with someone, especially someone who partly understood Grissom soon overcame the desire to annoy Catherine and soon she found herself telling the whole story to her friend. How he had proposed, how he had been willing to wait, what he had said, what he had done and what her reaction had been to it all. Catherine listened without comment or interruption so that Sara could tell the whole thing. Remarkably Ella sat quiet on her knee through the whole thing, while Grissom was calming Harmony in the other room.
"And that was it, we then went to sleep."
Catherine looked sceptical. "Come on Sara, you expect me to believe that. I know you were both tired but still. It must have been months since you last had sex. You're trying to tell me that you had just got engaged and you didn't sleep together."
Sara didn't meet Catherine's gaze. "We didn't have any protection with us." She muttered quietly. Catherine raised her eyebrows and visibly suppressed a laugh, "Didn't stop you before." She said before watching Grissom as he entered the room.
"I'm making it up to her later, as soon as these two are in bed, Sara's already gone down to the pharmacy." He said gesturing towards Ella and Harmony (who he had brought in with him) before winking at Sara. Catherine choked on her drink when she saw his wink.
"My god Grissom. She says yes and suddenly your more open than Greg." She turned to face Sara who was still slightly pink and was now trying not to smile, "Don't you smile at it Sara, you're just as bad. You two were the most private people I knew and now you're both going round saying everything. I mean geez, you're even talking openly about your sex life." Sara blushed slightly and turned her head so that her hair covered her face. Grissom met Catherine's gaze and held it.
"Catherine," he informed her, "Sara and I are still private people. You already knew that we were more open outside of work. And both of us are still only showing a fraction of the emotion that we feel." Catherine stared at him incredulously.
"Grissom, you kissed her in front of me. Anyone has to look at you for two seconds and they can tell you're crazy about each other. You can't expect me to believe that you're only showing the same fraction of emotion as before."
"Actually Catherine I can. The amount of love between myself and Sara has become deeper, we will both still show only about 10 of what we're feeling. The percentage of feeling I show hasn't changed. The amount of feeling I have for Sara has increased. Besides we still understand what the other wants to say."
"So why are you now being more open!? I've tried to get you to open up more times than I can count and every time you only budged a little bit. Believe me Grissom, you are saying loud and clear for everyone to see how you feel, and whether you two can tell what you're saying or not doesn't matter. You always could read into each others silence. The difference is that others can now as well!" She was beginning to get annoyed and both Grissom and Sara could see it. Neither understood it however. Grissom's next statement was low and quiet.
"Catherine, there's still a lot Sara and I say to each other which no-one can hear, even if all we do is make eye-contact."
Sara reached out and took Catherine's hand.
"Cath, he's right. I'm sorry but he is." Sara however could see what Catherine was feeling a lot clearer than Grissom could. "You will have it too you know? You already have Warrick all you need to do is completely open up to him. You've seen the difference it makes. That's the only difference. We're still the same people, and just because we have each other doesn't mean we've left you." She said slowly and calmly, she felt Catherine squeeze her hand.
"Sorry you two. Probably just that time off the month getting to me. I am really happy for you both. It was just a shock to me to see you both so open was all. I'm sure you'll be really happy together. Now, if you'll excuse me I think I need to go see Warrick and talk to him." She was speaking sadly, suddenly in a flash she returned to herself again. "Besides, Lindsey's with my mum and just 'cos you two aren't having sex is no reason I can't" She laughed lightly and headed towards the door. Grissom and Sara followed her, a baby balanced on the hips of them both.
Catherine turned around and smiled at the image. Grissom and Sara stood in the middle, close to each other, both looking the mirror image of each other with a baby on their outside hip.
"If I'm only seeing 10 then I can't even begin to understand how much you do love each other or how much you can say in a glance. I hope you both know how lucky you are. See you later guys I'll call around day after tomorrow if I can. I'll call and let you know." She smiled and shook her head at them both, "You lucky so-and-so's" She muttered before smiling widely at them both, waving and then heading off to her car. Grissom shut the door and turned to Sara concerned.
"Is she alright?"
Sara nodded and smiled, "She'll be fine as soon as she sees Warrick." She assured him, "I think it was just seeing you kiss me and wink at me that pushed her over the edge."
Grissom grinned at her for a moment before adopting a puppy dog expression. "It wasn't exactly a deep kiss though was it." A twinkle appeared in his eyes. "How far do you reckon we could have gone before we sent her insane? How about this far?" He asked as he kissed her on the tip of her nose.
They began walking towards the children's bedroom. "I think that may be classed as dismissive." Sara mused. Grissom stopped for a moment, "What about this?" He asked as he kissed her swiftly on the lips. "Well, I think that's all we did, and she obviously recovered from that." Sara commented as they lay Ella and Harmony in their cots and waited for them to drift off.
Grissom kissed her slowly, gently and luxiouriously. "I think she may have just recovered from that." Grissom kissed her again, this time more passionately and with more strength pulling her closer to him as he did so.
"Now thatmight have been a bit too much" Sara breathed as he pulled away. She glanced at the sleeping forms in the cots, "Thank god our children have a good sense of timing still. They seem to know when they're allowed to wake up and when we need them to sleep. Because if I remember rightly" she continued, looking directly at Grissom, "you still have some making up to do mister. And you can do it right now." Grissom flashed a grin at her before picking her up and carrying her into the bedroom, silencing her giggles with a powerful kiss. "I don't think any of the team could have coped with seeing anything after this bit" Grissom muttered before laying her down on the bed and kissing her as his fingers began undoing the buttons on her shirt.
You can work out what happened from their yourself. I know this chapter wasn't realistic (ok, less realistic than the rest) but I needed to show how much the birth and the proposal had changed them and the easiest way was with an outburst. So I apologise to Catherine, I did try to make it up by sending her to be with Warrick.
Also apologies in advance for the next chapter, had no idea what to write and I just needed to get past it and onto the next one before I could carry on.