Final chapter finally finished. I hope you enjoy reading it and please consider hitting the review button at the end.

CHAPTER 11

Gil Grissom lay by himself in bed. He had tossed and turned for hours, his body desperate for sleep but his mind not willing to succumb.

He glanced across at his bedside table.

04:18.

The anaemic green light that was emitted from the old digital clock seemed to fill the whole room. As dull as it was, it somehow seemed too bright to allow him to finally drop off into oblivion. The gnawing worry he had for his wife simply would not let up and was making him extra sensitive to his surroundings.

He had managed a handful of hours of sleep during the afternoon once he and Catherine had finally left Nick, but he was acutely aware that he needed more. His body couldn't function effectively with such little sleep after essentially 3 days of being awake.

He closed his eyes again and tried to control his breathing, anything to try and settle enough to drift off.

His eyes suddenly sprang open as he heard it. Very faint but there.

The sound of the front door opening and closing. The glow from the living room light being switched on filtered down the hallway and his heart rate sped up unconsciously as a sudden and dreadful thought crossed his mind. Alex. Did he still have a key to the apartment?

Then he heard footsteps. Soft, considerate footsteps, and he sat up. If it was Alex, he realised dully, the footsteps would have been heavier. There was no way he would be decent enough to consider not waking him.

He smiled as Sara's silhouette appeared in the bedroom doorway.

"Hey." she said, hands resting on her hips as she looked at her husband.

"Hey." he replied.

Sara took a deep breath and dropped her head down momentarily before looking back straight into his eyes. She took two steps into the room so he could see her face clearly as well. It was important for what she needed to say.

"Gil, I'm so sorry." she said, voice full of emotion. "I am so, so, sorry. For everything. I love you so much. I love you more than anyone in the world and I know that you are the only person I need to have in my life. You are the only one I want. You are my family. I love you."

Grissom maintained eye contact with her. He paused not even for a second once she had finished speaking before he flicked back the covers next to him and held his arms out for her.

Smiling she went straight to him and collapsed into bed, finally feeling safe and secure embraced in the arms of the man she loved.

"Am I forgiven?" she asked quietly.

She felt his arms tighten around her protectively as his lips met hers. After a second he pulled away ever so slightly.

"Always." he replied before their lips met a second time.

It was almost midday by the time Sara woke.

She stretched her shoulders and her back before turning over and smiling sleepily at her husband. He was still sleeping. He had looked terrible when she had arrived home in the early hours of the morning. The stress of the previous days had clearly taken its toll and she felt awful about being the cause of most of his anxiety. She hated nothing more than when there was tension between them.

They had certainly made up however once she had joined him in bed and they had both fallen asleep, completely exhausted, but content wrapped in each others arms.

Slowly manoeuvring herself to the edge of the bed, she slipped out from under the covers and padded gently to the armchair in the corner of the room where her dressing gown had been tossed after her shower two days earlier. Wrapping it tightly around her she padded out into the living room. The light was still on from when she had arrived home and she flicked it off as she passed the switch and walked into the kitchenette.

She boiled the kettle while she busied herself preparing a fruit salad. Finally, she loaded up two china tea cups full of herbal tea and the large bowl of cut fruit onto a breakfast tray and headed back into her bedroom.

Grissom was just starting to rouse as she placed his tea on the bedside table next to his head. Depositing the tray onto her bedside table, she climbed back into bed.

Propping themselves up on pillows, Sara handed her husband a fork and they both started picking at the fruit.

"We're going to have to head into the station today and fill in the documentation for our lost bail money." Grissom said.

Sara nodded.

"I want to see him." she said, her voice almost casual.

Grissom froze, the fork with a piece of skewered fruit on it hovered in mid air, halfway to his open mouth.

"Sara…" he started in despair, but she cut him off before he could finish his thought.

She turned to look him straight in the eyes as she spoke, defiance radiating off her.

"I need to see him, Gil." she replied calmly. "I need to tell him he is no longer a part of my life. I need him to know he is no longer welcome in my life and I need him to hear it from me."The fork was lowered once more and a rueful expression crossed his face.

Sara was back at last.

Her feisty attitude and defiance was back. Finally, Grissom knew they would be alright.

Nick had endured being in hospital for 4 days. He had only been in hospital a handful of times in his life and 4 days had been his absolute limit. As soon as the drains had been removed and the potential for infection had largely abated, he had pestered the medical staff to discharge him. Much to his chagrin, however, his mother had arrived to take care of him the day before his discharge. As much as he loved his mother and looked forward to seeing her under normal circumstances, he hated being babied and struggled with the suffocation of his mother's care - particularly when her attention was solely focused on him without the buffer of his brother and sisters. Still, he didn't say anything and merely put up with her nurturing care with a stoic smile.

He was still sore and moved delicately as the remaining stitches added to his discomfort, but he had finally achieved his wish and was sitting back in his own home, on his own sofa, watching his own television.

His mother had disappeared off to the local shopping centre after she had served him up a big bowl of chilli for his lunch and made sure he was settled and comfortable. He was almost ashamed of himself as he breathed out in relief when he heard his Mom reverse his car out of the driveway.

Easing his head back against the sofa he let his eyes drift shut as the sound from the TV droned on in the background.

He had almost drifted off when he heard the sound of a vehicle's tyres squeal against the concrete of his driveway. Dragging his eyes open, he waited for the sound of keys in the front door and was instead surprised at the sound of the doorbell.

Figuring his Mom must have forgotten her set of keys, he pushed himself up, wincing at the tug of his stitches in his belly, and made his way to the door. He was surprised to find Sara standing on his doorstep - a big, warm smile on her face and a box of cupcakes in her hand.

Ushering her inside, he shuffled his way to the kitchen and flicked the kettle on.

Sara watched him move and rolled her eyes.

"Nick, go sit down. I'll fix us a coffee." she said.

Nick scowled at her in response, mumbling 'I'm fine', and reached to get two mugs from the cupboard, wincing unconsciously as pain kicked him in the side again.

Sara ignored him and reached out to take the mugs from him and placed them on the countertop.

"For God's sake, Nick. Stop trying to be a Superman and go sit down." She tossed him a smile - daring him to defy her.

He paused for a just a second before offering her a smile in return and shuffled back to the living room.

"You know, I wouldn't put up with that sort of attitude from anyone but you, Sar." he called back over his shoulder.

Chuckling to herself, she poured coffee into both mugs and headed out after him, leaving the comment alone. She headed to the coffee table and placed one of the mugs onto a coaster in front of her friend, before taking a seat next to him on the sofa.

"Hey, Nicky?" she said quietly before taking a sip of her coffee.

"Mmmm?" he murmured back, one hand holding his side as he reached forward to take his drink.

"I wanted to ask you a favour."

Nick glanced across at her.

"Sure." he replied. "Anything."

Sara dropped her head for a moment before turning her head to face him.

"You have sisters, right?" she said.

This time it was Nick's turn to chuckle.

"Yeah." he replied. "I have sisters. I have LOTS of sisters!"

Sara nodded.

"And do you like having sisters?" she continued.

Nick looked completely baffled.

"Well, I guess so. Sure." he replied, shrugging his shoulder.

Sara nodded again.

"Sar, is everything OK?" he asked quietly, reaching his free hand across to rest against her forearm.

She smiled wanly and looked across at him.

"I said goodbye to my brother today." she said simply.

Nick ducked his head momentarily. He didn't know what he should say to that.

"Alex is going to jail and it's likely he will be there for a long time." she said matter-of-factly. "I realised I don't have a connection with him anymore and don't want to be part of his life. So, I said goodbye to him. Permanently."

Nick lifted his head back up and locked eyes with her.

"I'm really sorry, Sara." he said quietly. "Will you be OK?"

Sara smiled at him again and nodded.

"It was the right decision." she replied. "I feel good about it. I'm done feeling guilty."

Nick nodded.

"But," she continued, "I also realised that I really want my own family. I really want to have a brother I can count on. I don't want to be an only child anymore."

Nick didn't know if it was just the fact he was on strong pain medication or if the conversation was actually confusing, but he had no idea where Sara was heading.

"Nicky?"

"Yeah?" he replied, his brow furrowed with puzzlement.

"What I really want to ask is…..will you be my brother?"

Nick let out a chuckle before he saw Sara drop her head in embarrassment. Pulling himself up, he stopped laughing and instead wrapped an arm around her shoulders and drew her into an awkward embrace.

"Sara Sidle." he replied. "I would be honoured to be your brother. And, really, once you have five sisters….what's one more."

Sara laughed softly and buried her head against him.

After all the years of being independent and lonely and wishing that she had had a family, Sara finally realised she had had everything she wasnted the entire time. She had suffered the repurcussions of a broken and dysfunctional childhood and had weathered many storms as a result. And suddenly, eleven years after she had moved to be with Grissom on the Grave shift, it dawned on her.

She had made herself a family the day she had arrived in Las Vegas.

THE END

That's it….all done. Thank you very much for reading and I hope you enjoyed my story. A big thankyou also to all the people who reviewed. Encouragement and feedback is always very much appreciated.