A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing! We hope you enjoy this installment.

I don't own CSI.

February 2016

"Okay, you need to stop avoiding me."

Grissom looks up at Sara and blinks. "What in the world are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the way you're avoiding being alone with me!"

"Sara, I honestly have no –"

"You know exactly what I mean!" Sara sits down across from him at the table. "It's like you won't stay in the same room as me unless one of the kids is there. I know what's going on, Gil. You're making sure I can't bring up taking the baby."

"Sara …" He sighs and runs his hands over his face. There is no point in denying her words. He has tried to keep the kids quite literally between them since her announcement of Melinda's request. "I just don't know if it's a good idea for us to take on a baby right now. Not after what just happened to our baby."

Sara swallows the tears that threaten to surface. "Don't you think that this makes it the perfect time? We may have lost our little one, Gil, but that doesn't mean we should deny this other baby a home."

Grissom sighs again. "What happened to its parents?"

"They died when their house burned down."

"How did the baby make it out?"

"Firefighters entered near her room, so she was the first one they reached. The parents' room was farther back in the house."

"And, she doesn't have any other relatives who could take her?"

"Not as far as Melinda knows. She's still working on finding her family."

"So, she could still have family out there somewhere?"

"I guess so."

Grissom exhales. "So, this might just be for a little while. If Melinda finds a family member who wants the baby, we'd have to give her up."

"Right," Sara agrees a little uncertainly. "But, like I said, she's not having much luck with that, so …"

Grissom nods. "Sara, I don't want to do this without talking to the kids."

"The kids?" she repeats blankly. She feels almost overwhelmed from trying to follow his abrupt jump and trying not to feel giddy over the fact that he has all but agreed to take the baby.

"It's their home, too," Grissom says. "They have a right to be part of this decision."

"Okay," Sara agrees. "We can talk to them."

"Okay," Grissom says. "As long as the kids agree, and as long as you're willing to accept that this is likely a temporary thing … we can take the baby."

Sara frowns. "I follow you about the kids, but 'a temporary thing' … What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means, Sara, that you can't let yourself get attached to this baby the way you have Jake. You have to constantly remember that there is every chance in the world that we'll wake up one morning to find that some aunt or uncle wants to take her, and that we'll have to let them do it."

"I'm not going to fight a blood relative for the baby, Griss."

"It will be hard to give her up, Sara. I just want to make sure that you're prepared for that."

"Okay," she agrees. "I promise to give the baby over with a smile if a relative wants her. But, you have to promise to be 'Dad' for her until that happens – if it ever does."

He smiles. "Of course."

"So … we're doing this?"

Grissom nods. "We're doing this."

Grissom still has his reservations. He still isn't sure that this the right time for a baby, or the right thing for their family. He isn't sure that Sara will be strong enough to give the baby up if her family is found.

But, for all his reservations, he knows that they're doing the right thing – that he has made the right decision. The beaming smile that breaks across Sara's face for the first time in weeks is enough to tell him that.

February 2004

"Sara, I've got a homicide for you."

"Okay," Sara replied, stopping herself from hanging her jacket in her locker. "It must be major; we're not even really on the clock yet."

Grissom nodded. "It's the girlfriend of a basketball player who was in town with her friends for the weekend. She was found dead in her hotel suite."

"O-oh," Sara said. "Is the basketball player here, too?"

"Interestingly enough, he is."

"Hm." Sara took the assignment slip from him. "Who's coming with me?"

"Since you're already here and ready, go alone to get things started. I'll send your back-up later."

"Okay," Sara agreed, fighting to keep the smile from her face.

Being the primary on what could easily become a high-profile case was sweet, indeed.

"Hey, Brass," Sara said as she walked into the hotel suite-turned-crime scene.

"Hi, Sara," he replied. "The vic is Tara Weathers, girlfriend of a rookie NBA player. She was in town with her girlfriends for a girls' weekend. She came back to the room early tonight; said she wasn't feeling well. When the others got back, they found her like this."

Sara looked at the young woman who was sprawled across the floor, her eyes open and an expression of pain on her face. An empty wine glass was next to her.

"Any chance she had a little too much to drink and died of alcohol poisoning?"

Brass raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, thought I'd give it a try."

Brass smiled. "I'm still interviewing the friends. If you have questions for them, let me know. Otherwise … David is en route, and I'll leave you to your work."

"Hey, Brass," Sara called as he started to walk away.

He turned to face her again. "Yeah?"

"Grissom said the boyfriend is in town?"

"Yeah," Brass replied. "Amazingly enough, after she had planned her girls' weekend, he decided to go on a guys' weekend … and stay in the same hotel."

"Hm."

"Yeah. I'm going to interview him and his boys next."

"Thanks."

With a wave, he left her alone to work.

Sara was still doing her overall sketches when Catherine arrived with her kit in hand. Sara felt her heart sink as the older woman made her way toward her. If she's here, she must be the primary. I can't believe he took my case away from me already.

"Hi," Catherine said. "Grissom said you've got a basketball player's girlfriend's homicide on your hands."

Sara swallowed. "Yeah."

Catherine nodded. "What do you need me to do?"

Sara blinked. "You …"

Catherine smiled at her bewildered expression. "You're the boss, Sara. Grissom just sent me to see if you needed help."

Relief and elation flooded through her. "Oh. Um … I've got this room pretty much under control. Could you start on the bathroom?"

"You've got it."

Sara turned back to her sketch to hide her grin as Catherine made her way to the bathroom. Primary even though Catherine is the senior CSI … It was going to be a very good day.

February 2016

"Anna, Jake, come here for a minute. We need to talk to you."

Anna and Jake abandon the video game they have been playing to follow Grissom into the kitchen. Sara is already sitting at the table; the children sit down across from her.

"What's up?" Jake asks, watching as Grissom sits down next to Sara.

"Melinda called," Grissom says. "Do you remember her?"

"No," Anna says with a slight frown.

Jake nods, feeling his entire body tense. Is she going to take me away?

"Melinda is a social worker," Sara reminds Anna. "She works with me sometimes, and she's the one who brought us Jake."

"Oh," Anna says. "Now I remember."

"Good," Sara says. She smiles a bit nervously. "She called us again because she wants us to take another foster child."

Jake slowly begins to relax. Sara notices the change in him and smiles, knowing what had him so scared.

"You're staying," she says with a slight nod. "She just wants to bring us someone else."

"Who?" Anna asks. "Another brother like Jake?"

"No," Grissom says, glancing at Sara. "Not like Jake. There is a very good chance that this one will only be with us for a little while."

"Why?" Jake asks. "Do his parents want him back?"

"No, her parents have died," Sara says quietly.

"Then …?"

"They're still looking for her family," Grissom explains.

"How old is she?" Jake asks.

"She?" Anna finally realizes what they've been saying. "Melinda is bringing us a sister?"

Sara nods. "This one is a baby sister."

Anna's face lights up. "Really?" she exclaims. "I'm going to get my little sister?"

Sara smiles. "I guess we don't have to worry about it upsetting her," she says.

"No," Grissom agrees. "Jake? What do you think?"

Jake shrugs slightly. Even after what Molly said about Anna being a real sister to him, he can't quite make himself believe that he should have a say in family decisions.

"You don't have any opinion at all?" Sara asks.

"It's your house," he replies.

Sara's smile falters slightly. Two steps forward, one step back. He's still not convinced he's part of the family.

"Well, we need to call Melinda back soon, so if this isn't something you want to do, let us know now."

"I want to!" Anna yells, bouncing in her chair. "I want to, I want to!"

"Inside voice," Grissom says.

Anna immediately stops bouncing and falls silent.

Sara looks at Grissom and then back at Anna and Jake. "I'll wait until Thursday to call Melinda. So, if in the next three days, you decide you'd rather not share the house with a baby, tell us. We'll understand."

There is no question in her mind that Anna wants a baby sister. But, it is important to Sara that Jake has a voice in this, too.

It is important to her that he feels like part of the family.

February 2004

"Hey, Sara, I've got your Trace results."

Sara stopped her progress down the hall to follow Hodges into the Trace Lab. "What did you find?"

"The sticky substance on your vic's wrists was duct tape residue," Hodges replied. "And, the wine glass you found had traces of both red wine and a cocktail of drugs. I sent them to Henry to pick apart."

"Awesome," Sara said, taking the sheaf of papers from him. "Thanks, Hodges."

"I live to serve."

Sara pursed her lips to hide her smile. If only …

Deciding to see how Henry was coming on her drug analysis, she started toward his lab. Her route took her past the break room, where she could see the back of Catherine's head. Thinking that she should share Hodges's findings with her, she went there instead.

She checked in the doorway when she realized that Catherine wasn't alone. She was sitting with Grissom – and, they were talking about Sara. Both had their backs to her, so neither knew she was in the room.

"Sara's doing a great job on the case," Catherine said.

"I knew she would," Grissom replied.

"Yeah …"

"What is it?"

"I don't know. I know she's been the primary before – even on cases I've worked with her. But … I guess I thought that something this high-profile would … rattle her. Make her … I don't know. Less sure of herself. But, that hasn't been the case at all. She's been cool as a cucumber, and the consummate professional."

"I knew she would be," Grissom said again. He exhaled slowly. "That case with the missing show girl …"

"What of it?"

"It's not that I don't trust you, Cath. You're an incredible CSI. But … sometimes, when I think about that case, I wish I had given it to Sara instead of to you."

Sara's breath caught in her throat, and her heart started to pound.

Catherine flinched. "I …"

"You did an outstanding job," Grissom said quickly. "I'm not saying that anyone could have done better – not even me."

Catherine nodded slowly. "But …?"

"I feel like I really … missed an opportunity with Sara. Nick, too. I know that they could have handled that case – and, I knew it then. They had a chance to really shine, and I took it from them, all because I was concerned about letting a more senior CSI take the case. I wanted to please the Sheriff instead of doing what was right for my team and my people." He shook his head. "I don't want to do that again."

An explosion could not have rocked Sara more. She stared at the back of Grissom's head, willing herself not to cry or laugh or run into the room and hug him. He had just given her the most amazing gift … and he would never know.

"Gil, you're the one who's always saying that this is about learning," Catherine said. She smiled. "Look, I'm not going to say you made a mistake there, but, if you think you did … the important thing is to learn from it."

"Yeah," he replied, falling silent.

Seeing her opening, Sara, praying that she looked as composed and professional as Catherine had described her, entered the room fully.

"Hi," she said, bringing both Catherine's and Grissom's heads around.

"Hey," Catherine said. "What have you got?"

"Trace results," she replied, putting the file down in front of Catherine. "Our vic was bound with duct tape and fed a cocktail of drugs and alcohol. Henry is doing drug analysis right now."

"Great," Catherine said. "Mandy is still working on the glass, but, assuming that our suspect wasn't wearing gloves, we should have a killer soon enough. If the girl was bound, there's no way she killed herself with drugged wine – accidentally or otherwise."

"Nope," Sara agreed.

"Well," Grissom said, standing up slowly, "it looks like you two have this completely under control."

"We're doing our best," Sara said.

Grissom held her eyes a bit longer than was strictly necessary. "I know you always do," he said quietly. He cleared his throat. "Let me know if you need me for anything."

Sara looked at Catherine as Grissom left the room. Catherine waved her hand in a dismissive gesture.

"He's in pensive mode," she said. "He's fine."

Sara nodded, and turned back to the file in front of them.

February 2016

"Hey."

Jake looks up from his homework as Sara enters his bedroom. "Hi," he replies.

"What are you studying?"

"Biology," he replies. "We have a test tomorrow."

"If you need help, Gil's great for that," Sara says. "He has quite a few degrees in various disciplines of it."

"Yeah, I know. I think I've got it."

Sara sits down on the edge of his bed. "Jake, I need to know what you're thinking about this baby idea."

Jake turns in his desk chair to face her. "Why?"

"Because, this is your home, too, and you have a right to be a part of this decision."

"Sara, I'm not trying to be rude or ungrateful, but, I really don't think this is any of my business. If you and Gil decide you want to have a baby of your own, I don't expect you to ask me about it. So, I really don't see how this is any different."

Sara is completely stunned by his bluntness – and, by how logical his reasoning is. She holds his eyes for a moment, then nods.

"Okay," she says, getting up from her perch on his bed. "Okay. I'll call Melinda, then, and tell her we'll take the baby."

Jake nods. "I'm glad," he nearly whispers.

Sara looks at him with questions in her eyes. "I thought you didn't care?"

"You could have decided either way," he says. "But … I'm glad that the baby will get the chance to be a part of this family – to know love and kindness when everything she knows is lost."

Sara blinks back tears and smiles. She crosses the room and hugs Jake's head and shoulders to her. When she speaks, her voice is just above a whisper.

"I'm glad you did, too."

February 2004

"Hey, Sara."

Sara looked up from her locker as Grissom came into the locker room. "Hi," she replied.

"Great job with the basketball player's girlfriend."

"I'm sure the basketball player would disagree," Sara replied. She and Catherine had just watched Brass arrest him for his girlfriend's murder.

"Well, his opinion isn't the one I'm interested in," Grissom said.

Sara smiled. "I suppose that's a good thing."

Grissom nodded, looking from her to the jacket in her hands. "Are you headed out?"

Sara nodded. "Not too much overtime today. I'm trying to do better with that."

Grissom stepped closer to her and hesitated, licking his lips quickly. "Will you … come out for breakfast?"

Sara blinked. "W … With the team?"

"No. With me."

"Just us?"

"Just us," Grissom confirmed. "As … friends."

"Friends," Sara repeated.

A month ago, she wouldn't have even heard his request. A week ago, she would have refused to consider it. A day ago, she would have laughed off his efforts, thinking that he was trying too hard.

But … after what she had overheard between him and Catherine …

"Sure," she said with a smile. "Let's go."

Grissom's smile at her words melted her heart.