Disclaimer – Please see chapter 1
A/N – Thank you all for the wonderful reader support throughout this story & all the great reviews. Sorry it has taken so long to post the epilogue but Vacations, life in general and the lack of enthusiasm to write had delayed me doing so. Hope it pleases. Just to clear up any confusion, I have changed my Fan fictionn Pen name from 'RubixCSIpuzzle' to theuser namee I am most known for on the net 'gsrbritfan, so this is my first posting in my new pen name. This whole story is dedicated to my nephew Sean 1984 – 2009 RIP. Story is beta'd by myself so any remaining mistakes are all mine, so I apologize in advance. R & R Enjoy!
Fall Out Boy – Chapter 48 – Epilogue
18 months later
Kye shot through the hallway into the family room, being dragged by an over enthusiastic Hank and Bruno pulling him along, as the boy giggled loudly behind them.
"Be careful Kye" Sara called out a little worriedly as she dropped her keys, purse and their mail on the hall table whilst removing her jacket "Let them out in the yard and go fill their water bowls please" she added as she watched Grissom maneuver himself into the house carrying the child.
"Hey don't worry so much, he's just happy and a little excited today honey" Gil said quietly, as he came up to stand beside her.
The patio doors sliding shut with a thud, followed by two energetic canines barking caught Gil's attention as he chuckled.
"Yes, I know that, and he has every right to be after attending hopefully his last ever therapy session with a shrink" Sara said a little testily, as she glanced at the small child still blissfully sleeping, with a soft motherly smile.
"And as you know, I hated having to go to all my sessions as a kid, but as his legal mother now, its my job to worry when he's being sooooo..." she searched for the right words to use, as she reached out to pass her hand over the little ones head.
"Active? Hyper? Being just a normal happy little boy?" Gil offered with a smirk as he watched Sara pull the slumbering from him, and to her chest while patting her back comfortingly.
Turning to her husband with a light glare, Sara let out a long sigh, she knew she was being over protective of Kye after what the boy had witnesses, gone through in the last year and a half, after all it, hadn't been dissimilar to what she herself had endured as a child.
But motherhood was still very new to her, and without any good parental role models growing up with her parents then later in the foster care system, sometimes she felt slightly overwhelmed and out of her depth. Not always feeling confident in her own role as an unexpected mother to two infants.
This, even though Gil constantly reassured her, when he himself lacked a good fatherly role model whilst growing up with his deaf mother, but thats was how they both worked these days, offering regular support to each other as new parents to their son and daughter.
"I'm just being over protective again" she stated a little self consciously, placing a tender kiss to the slumbering girls head resting on her shoulder.
"Only a little honey. But hey, I'm just the same with them both at times like you" he commented "She's heavy" he added with a pointed look.
Letting out a snort Sara replied with a grin "Yeah especially where this little ones concerned" she said with a chuckle "Daddy's little girls got you wrapped right around her little finger" she added quietly with amusement.
"I'll go put her down in her crib" Gil said with a raised brow as he reaching cautiously for the youngest member of their family, then settled her against his own chest.
Changing the direction of their conversation back to what he had meant originally, he spoke while gently bouncing the child "And when I mentioned Kye was excited, I was actually referring to the fact that Greg is coming to take him to the Zoo for finishing his treatment".
The patio door slid open quickly with a whoosh, followed by Kye rushing into the room "Can we go to Greg's Daddy, can we? Please? I gave the dogs some water...Can we?" he asked excitedly as he eventually came to a stop at his fathers legs, looking up hopefully.
The noisy intrusion woke up the sleeping child cradled within Gil's arms, the small head lifted up quickly, from being tucked under his chin, followed by her top lip quivering and beautiful brown eyes rapidly filling with tears.
"Kye honey, remember to use your inside voice please, you've just woken your sister up" Sara chastised her son.
Very much bewildered from her abrupt awakening, Poppie locked watery eyes with her Daddy, then let out the first of multiple heartbroken sobs as her shoulders shook.
Kye curled his arm around the back of Gil's legs buying his face "I'm sorry" he spoke quietly.
"It's okay little man, but next time...Inside voice okay" Sara said ruffling Kye's hair.
"Hey, Hey sweetheart, shhhhhhhhhhhhhh...Hey Daddy's here...Shhhhhhhhhhh...It was only your big brother...Come on flower...Shhhhhhh" Gil consoled Poppie as he knelt down to Kye's level, the boy releasing his hold as he did so, but staying close.
"See sweetheart...Shhhhhhh...It's only Kye" Gil coaxed as he rubbed her back in soothing circles.
Reaching out tentatively, Kye rubbed his hand roughly through his sisters white curly hair as he spoke to get her attention from hiding her face "I'm sorry Poohpy Pops".
Gil shot a glance at Sara, a smirk gracing his lips at the use of Kye's affectionate nickname for his little sister, one that his mother was trying to dissuade him from using.
Poppies cries started to diminish at the sound of Kye's voice close to her ear, as he leaned in "Poohpy smelly bum, Poppykins stinky bum...Where's Poppie?" he said in a childish sing song tone.
Sara watched on proudly, as son and father tried to comfort the little girl jointly, which they seemed to be succeeding at as per usual.
"Want me to tickle you Pops?" Kye asked as he moved his hand down to Poppie's midriff ready for his assault.
Squirming into her Daddy's side, Poppie pulled her head up and looked at Kye, she shuddered a little with a final sob, just before a watery smile lit up her face slowly.
"See sweetheart, it was just your brother being noisy again" Gil reassured, relaxing his grasp on her so she could see Kye better "He didn't mean to waken you".
"Bubba?" She asked shakily, in a snuffly, quiet tone.
"Want tickles?" Kye asked brightly, his smile wide.
Poppie pouted adoringly "No" she stated before twisting, while burying herself back into Gil's side protectively, knowing what was coming next.
Using both hands, Kye used his fingers quickly to her sides to begin his tickling fest on her, as she wriggled about in her Daddy's embrace "No! Top" she giggled trying to catch her breath "Top it".
Gil chuckled as he pretended to move her away from Kye, who wouldn't give up just yet.
"Daddy save you sweetheart?" Gil laughed heartily.
"Say it Poohpy bum" Kye said teasingly as he followed the direction his Dad was turning in "You gotta say it".
"No! Top it Tie" Poppie laughed and giggled trying to get away from his tormenting hands.
"Kye" Sara said in a light warning tone, thinking that he was going to start annoying his sister soon.
"She has to say it, then I'll stop" Kye said laughing and spluttering as he tried to get to Poppie, who was now completely on the floor with her Daddy wrapped around her on his side in a ball.
"Say it then I'll stop, you know the drill Poopy" Kye chuckled as his fingers found her side again.
"Otay...Otay...Lub you...Lub you Tie Dissum" she gasped while giggling "Now top!" she demanded catching her breath again.
Both Gil and Sara locked eyes with each other and were now trying to suppress their laughter at the two children's antics, as the girl gave in to her brother.
Pulling his hands free from her, then letting Gil get themselves up off the floor into a crouched position again, Kye added "Forgive me?".
"Div yer" Poppie said smiling widely now.
Kye leaned forward with his arms out to Poppie "Hugs?" he asked, to which Poppie slipped off Gil's lap and threw her arms around her big brother happily.
Standing upright as the kids hugged, Gil leaned into Sara whispering to her "The speech therapy is working wonders with her...That and Kye's encouragement" he wrapped his arm around her, then kissed her brow.
"Yes, she's come on in leaps and bounds lately, plus she's not quite as jumpy and nervous as she was when she first came to us" Sara replied leaning into the kiss, as she watched the children play rough and tumble on the floor.
"Thats because she's getting the right kind of help and all the love that she deserves, after her horrendous start in life" Gil said quietly as he led his wife over towards the couch, then motioned for her to sit.
Sara remembered all too vividly, the night her husband had called from the hospital thirteen months ago, while he'd been at work, herself at a different crime scene with Greg, she'd sensed his heartache for the only surviving victim found in the crack house immediately, his voice had been flat as he relayed the details to her of his case.
The smell of death and decomp had attracted attention to the house, leading to the Brass and his men having to force entry into the residence. What they had encountered primarily was the body of a young, unkempt woman, on first impressions dead from an overdose of an illegal substance, the syringe hanging from her arm and the makeshift tourniquet belt being the most obvious evidence.
Scattered around the squalid looking place were empty take out cartons, newspapers and what could only be described as just garbage littered around the whole of the rooms. In the adjoining dirty, untidy kitchen laid the dead, blood spattered body, of a well built, intimidating middle aged man covered in tattoos.
A discarded 45 revolver, dropped haphazardly in the entrance to the room, along with the tell tale blood spatter pattern on the wall above the male victim, indicated that fatal gun shot woulds probably being the cause of death of the male.
On closer inspection of the man, his trouser belt and button was open, his scruffy jeans fly wide, the denim hung low on his hips with his flaccid manhood on display, which begged the question, had this person been about to rape the female in the other room, and had she killed the guy in her self defense.
Suddenly a pathetic, low sounding whimper caught the attention and hearing of Grissom, stopping him abruptly from his cursory walk through of the crime scene.
Indicating for the officers with him and Jim to be quiet, Grissom had held up his hand as he trained his auditory senses, to focus solely on where the sound was coming from.
Another barely audible, weak cry, emanated from a second ground floor bedroom in the house, which had them all moving quickly in the direction of the noise.
Nothing had immediately stuck out in the room as having made the noise, and like the rest of the house it was dirty and in disarray, smelling almost like humane sewerage, making all the men apart from Grissom gag.
Noting the destroyed crib scattered about the room, Grissom's senses were then heightened as he started to zero in on the dozens of piled up rotting diapers, attracting the masses of flies accumulated in the residence.
God, No, not a baby, he'd thought as a third pitiful whimper was heard, Grissom's head had whipped around to lock eyes upon a closed closet door.
With three determined strides, Grissom came to a stop in front of the door, then he'd reached out tentatively to open it, whilst signaling to the others to remain behind him.
On opening the door slowly, sniffles and hiccups sounded as he took in the sight of the emaciated, naked, feces covered dirty child, who looked to be no more than a year old, who was now shaking in the far corner, curled up in a tight ball, amongst what might possibly have been the infants bedding.
"God damned" Grissom had automatically cursed under his breath, then he'd turned and sought out Brass who was already on his cell calling for paramedics.
Crouching down low, Grissom had spoken very softly "Hey there little one, my names Gil...We're not going to hurt you, we're going to help you okay" he'd said, then shot a quick glance over his shoulder at Brass ,who'd given him an encouraging nod to continue.
A mass of dirty curly hair, adorning the child's head had turned to look at the voice speaking to it, timidly tiny eyes raised to meet Grissom's, then quickly darted away again.
It had taken Grissom a very emotional hour to coax, what later turned out to be a very neglected and hungry, 18 month old girl from the closet into his arms, before attending the hospital together.
Later the case was found to have been a murder suicide, the man, the female victims pimp and drug supplier having probably been about to rape her, but she'd fought back, her defensive wounds showing she had. In her defense she had used the weapon belonging to her attacker, turning it on him, before herself taking a fatal overdose of barbiturates mixed with heroin.
Clearly the child had been practically ignored by the mother from birth due to her dependency on drugs and lifestyle, only having been given the minimum of basic care in her short life, which looked to have been only limited to the one room of the house, no evidence of a minor had been found elsewhere.
No father was listed on the infants birth certificate, the dead male victim found to have died of multiple GSW's to the chest, proved to be no biological match, but the woman did, and with further investigations by child services, no living relatives of the orphaned baby could be found.
Poppie Louise Grantham as she was found to be legally named, after Greg had painstakingly processed the house for hours and found her screwed up birth papers, amongst used syringes and other drug paraphernalia in the living room, was assessed quickly as having numerous health and developmental problems that needed addressing.
Thankfully no evidence of sexual abuse were seen about Poppies undersized body, but unfortunately she had not been spared from regular physical attacks, numerous old cigarette burns scattered her arms and legs. Three badly healed, suspicious fractures of her arms, and many tiny scars littering her form were all the signs any doctor needed for a diagnoses of long term abuse.
Malnourishment, dehydration, a urine infection, severe diaper rash and thrush being her first health issues, that were immediately treated in the hospital, all of which appalled Grissom to the point that he'd needed to ring Sara, to seek solace from her calming voice.
Handing her scene off to Catherine, who was more than capable of dealing with their single homicide, Sara had headed to the hospital not only to offer Grissom her undivided support with his case, but also in the hope of offering the child any comfort that she could.
A few weeks after Poppies hospitalization and the investigations into her living family and the case, the little one had bonded trustingly with Sara, then Kye as he was introduced, but more so with Grissom, who doted on her and would do anything in the world for her, but it became apparent that the infant had other problems.
Poppies development was estimated in most area's to have been delayed by up to eight months behind her peers, so she would need ongoing, specialized therapy for some time, making her a less likely successful candidate for adopting. But as fully registered foster care givers, Grissom had made the suggestion first of them taking her home with them, to which Sara eagerly agreed.
Now nearly three years old, Poppie was a member of the Grissom household, all that remained for her to become a permanent fully fledged member of the family, were the court papers making the girl's legal parents as Grissom and Sara.
Kye's adoption and name change to Grissom had gone very quickly and smoothly, with dozens of their friends offering to act as character witnesses for the couple at the court proceedings. They had even thrown the boy his very own party, with lots of his parents friends becoming his new Aunt and Uncles.
"Uncle Greg's here Mommy" Kye shouted animatedly, snapping Sara out of her thoughts on the couch, while Grissom prepared drinks in the kitchen.
Looking at Kye who was now scrambling down from the comfy seat closest to the front window, Sara smiled happily, as her eyes then sought out Poppie laid on the rug, thumb in her mouth, her other hand twirling a long curly lock through her fingers, her eyes beginning to droop.
Kye scooted down the hall to open the door for Greg, as Gil walked into the room carrying a tray of drinks "Excited much" he chuckled placing the tray down, then picked up Sara's tea to hand it to her.
"Yes he is, he's been looking forward to Greg taking him all week" Sara said before taking a sip of her drink and placing it back on the coffee table "I just hope Greg brings him back a little cleaner than last time, minus the spiked gelled hair, and sugar high we had to deal with" she said shaking her head at the very thought.
Searching out his daughter, Gil picked up the bright yellow sippy cup "I see our little flower needs the rest of her nap time" he said as he saw all the signs of Poppies impending sleep.
"I'll give her a sip of her drink and take her up to settle her" Gil said stepping over top pick up the tired girl "Come on sweetheart, Daddy take you to bed" he cooed as he settled her against his chest, her tiny head resting on his shoulder.
"Relax and rest a little" Gil said quietly to his wife with a tender smile, before hitching Poppie into a more comfortable position for himself.
Sara just rolled her eyes, but returned the smile anyway watching his retreating back.
Gil passed Greg and Kye in the doorway, the CSI motioning for the boy to speak quietly "Come on lets get your stuff little man, we're going to have fun today. Just us guys right".
"Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah!" Kye agreed running off to get his backpack, while Greg spoke with Sara.
"Hey Sara. Kye's therapy go alright then?" Greg greeted, shooting a look to the door to make sure Kye was out of ear shot.
"Hi Greg. Yes it did, very well, he doesn't have to go back for any more sessions. And thank you, for helping him with them all these months, Gil and I appreciate all you've done for both him and us" Sara replied sincerely.
"No problem, he's my little Buddie and besides, we have loads of fun together" Greg said with a huge grin.
"Yeah don't I just I know it, but please try to keep him off eating too much sugar this time Greg" Sara said hopefully.
Laughing Greg nodded, but then added "But the gel and spray colors okay then?" seeing her disapproving look, he carried on "Come on Sara the little guys gotta look cool, and it does wash out in the shower you know".
Walking back into the room Grissom answered for his wife "Gel and wash out sprays fine, but no sugar Greg" he said reaching for his drink from the table "Because when he's still hyped up at two in the morning for Sara, you'll be taking unpaid leave from shift to come tire him out for her. Okay?" he said seriously.
"Comprende" Greg answered with a smirk, and probably the next 6 months worth of decomps as well, he thought.
"Good, I'm glad we've got that clear this time" Gil said taking a seat on the couch next to his wife.
Half an hour later Greg and Kye were on their way to the zoo for the afternoon, so the couple sorted through their mail together, most of it was just junk mail, discarded and destined for the trash, but one thick official looking large envelope caught their joint attention.
On opening the package, Sara's eyes began to fill with tears as Gil pulled her tighter into his side and kissed her head "She's officially Poppie Louise Grissom now, and legally our daughter honey" he beamed, as his own eyes misted over with emotion.
They cuddled and relaxed together on the couch, relieved that the adoption process of both children was over for them, and enjoyed the fact that they could now lead as normal life together as a family.
Not long after, Jim arrived to watch over Poppie while the couple would be out attending Sara's doctors appointment "Okay Jim you know the drill. Her lunch is in the fridge along with her own juice, she likes to watch the Jungle book now, not Barney, and if there are..." Gil listed off but was cut short by Jim interupting him.
"Yeah, yeah ,call you guys or Catherine, or even the paediatrician, the numbers are in your Rolodex in the office if I have any problems. You do realize that I have raised a daughter myself Gil you know" he said in an amused tone.
Gil let out a sigh, he was doing it again, he couldn't help it, playing the overprotective Father, but it was so natural to him these days.
"Grandpa and Poppet will be just fine...We'll hang out and watch The lion King together" Jim teased, knowing full well that the little girl loved the new DVD he'd brought with him the last time.
"Her names Poppie Jim" Sara chastised shaking her head while Gil helped her on with her jacket.
"Go!" Jim chuckled as he readied himself in an easy chair.
"Poor little girl is going to get confused with all the names everyone nicknames her with. What with Kye calling her..." Sara was cut off with Gil kissing her lips to stop her, and when he pulled back, he just smirked at her.
Laughing Jim mumbled to himself "Works every time".
"Lets go honey, and find out if we're going to have another addition to our family" Gil said steering Sara towards the door with his arm wrapped around her waist.
A/N – I Hope you all liked the ending to this story, that I have enjoyed immensely writing for you, & thank you for sticking with me for all this time. Sorry that I didn't include any wedding information etc but so many other stories have done this, including my own, so I saw no purpose for it. I hope I answered any questions that you all had left regarding Kye and the Grissom's, & I added the last bit for you all to make up your own minds about another little Grissom. Sorry but there will be no sequel to this story, but I am in the process of writing a completely new story called 'Hidden Agenda', that will be totally different to my usual stories. I will start posting it when I have a few chapters stored up and ready - Take care all :)
Please show your appreciation for this story by leaving me a comment in a review, I really do thank you all for them & the continued support for my writing.