A/N: We appreciate all those who are reading...advancing ahead by 4 years!

After Effects

Chapter 5

Four years later:

"Pura vida" as translated became "pure life" but here it took on a much broader meaning from "hello" to "no worries".

Sara Sidle Grissom had laughed and repeated the greeting to the man driving the mini-van. More than a decade had passed since she had met this man but he appeared ageless with his iron gray hair combed back from his unlined face. He had made new and instant friends by addressing each child by name as they packed into the minivan and kept a playful dialogue going as he drove out of the small city. They had traveled a smooth paved highway for a short time before stopping for a man-size iguana crawling across the pavement. The kids had been stunned into silence as the real-live dinosaur disappeared into the thick foliage.

Most people would think they were crazy—but Sara had never let the thought enter her mind. Not once. Not when she and her husband had adopted an infant while pregnant with twins; not when involving their young family in environmental work on a boat from tagging sea turtles to picking up trash. Even when presented with the unexpected arrival of another child, an eight-month old baby girl, Sara had never considered "crazy" as a description of their life.

This trip wasn't crazy—even though her long-time friend, Catherine Willows, had said, "You must be nuts! Four kids in a tent…in the middle of a jungle!"

Sara had smiled, even inviting her friend to travel with them. Catherine had responded, "Maybe to Paris!"

A trip with three eight year olds and one four year old meant extensive planning, but once they landed in Costa Rica, nervous giggles and tired grumpiness had been replaced with wide-eyed wonder within minutes of leaving the airport. She leaned forward and placed a hand on her husband's shoulder.

Gil Grissom touched his wife's hand, asking, "Everyone okay?"

"Yes," Sara answered for the three children sitting beside her. She pulled her oldest daughter close and kissed the top of the child's head. A squirm on her left brought her arm around the skinny shoulders of one of her sons. She said, "This is pretty exciting, isn't it?"

Turning his face to hers, Jay said, "That iguana was cool—are we going to see more?"

His brother, Gregory, bounced several times in his seat, restrained slightly by the seat belt, said, "Sloths—when will we see sloths?"

Cate, older than the twins by nine months, leaned toward her brothers. "You know sloths stink—and you have to be very quiet to even see one."

Gregory pinched his fingers together and drew a line across his mouth and then immediately said, "I can be quiet."

The three children continued their conversation about birds and insects and rare animals repeating what they had learned about the vast biodiversity in the country.

Sara loved her children; admitting only to herself that, at times, she might love one more than another. Today, she loved them equally; loved them for their good behavior, for their humor, and, especially today, their ability to adjust to travel. Her lips touched the curls of Jay sitting beside her. He was a miniature Gilbert Grissom; she only had to look at the boy's dad to know what he would do and how he would respond.

Her fingers reached to caressed Gregory's shoulder; she liked to think he was a blend of his parents but reality often reminded her that she had one son who was her carbon copy from his lanky frame to his occasionally smart mouth.

Their youngest child, Bronwyn, the blonde, blue-eyed four year old, had fallen asleep against her father's shoulder soon after the iguana sighting. Sara's eyes still moistened with sorrow at the loss of the child's parents and how she had come to them. At eight months, Bronwyn had become an orphan with a terminal ill grandmother as her next-of-kin. The infant's mother, an estate planning lawyer, had designated Sara and Gil Grissom as desired guardians in the event of the deaths of both parents—a request the Grissoms were unaware of until lawyers contacted them after an accident killed Bronwyn's parents. Without a second thought, someone else's baby became their fourth child; Sara smiled, thinking of those early days with a new baby.

When they had three infants at one time, there had been so much happening every hour—two people who had never spent time around babies suddenly had three—most days, Sara and Grissom did not remember what happened. With the arrival of Bronwyn and the four-year-olds in preschool, they had time to remember and experience a single baby.

They had loved and bonded with the little girl in ways that surprised both while their other children loved and accepted their new sister immediately. Sara 'wore' the baby in a front facing baby carrier for months. She slept with them—it was easier and everyone got hours of sleep. They took her on the boat months before they had taken the others. And she had changed their lives with her bright smile, a delightful personality, and the persistent adventurous spirit of her siblings.

Cate, the oldest, snuggled her head against Sara. She was their exotic, strikingly unusual even at age eight with a definite Asian appearance except for her wide round, hazel-colored eyes. And if Sara needed a right hand helper, it came most frequently from Cate. Smiling at her daughter, Sara hugged her as the child suddenly pointed ahead.

"Hummingbirds!"

The driver, Marc Rodin, a long-time friend from their previous visit to Costa Rica, slowed the van, stopping on the pavement several feet from dozens of emerald hummingbirds levitating in mid-air. A wall of fragrant flowers the size of Sara's hands densely grew along the highway and the birds darted and whizzed in a frenzy for nectar.

Only after the children had counted the birds several times did Grissom suggest they continue the trip, saying, "We want to get to our tents before dark!"

Marc laughed at Grissom's comment. "I told you our tents are much better now than they were when you were here years ago!" He said. "We pride ourselves on having real floors and running water in bathrooms now."

The conversation followed what was a natural course with three curious children and questions about bathrooms.

A few miles later, Marc turned onto a secondary road, one that went from pavement to gravel and back to pavement in the first mile before becoming a shell and sand dual track. Substantial undergrowth scraped the sides and undercarriage of the minivan as they drove through a tunnel of green dripping with moisture. The boys talked about the rainforest while watching for any sign of wildlife. Cate dozed against her mother's chest.

Suddenly, the van stopped; the boys stretched forward as did their parents.

Marc made a grunting sound. "Must have rained a lot in the night."

Before them was a river running across the road. Not a mild little stream but a fast moving, tumbling rapid river. Everyone stared for a few minutes until Marc opened the door and stepped out of the van. He said, "I think we can make it across."

He picked up a rock and tossed it into the river. Sara glanced at Grissom, biting her bottom lip when Gregory said, "The rock sank."

Back inside the van, Marc said, "It's not deep, just wide—so I'll drive slow." He looked back at the two boys, saying, "Pick up your feet so they don't get wet!"

The van was high so the water was never close to entering, but both boys picked up their feet and held breaths until they were out of the water unscathed.

They were headed to a remote southwestern corner of Costa Rica where less than two percent of tourists visited. Marc Rodin had been there for nearly twenty years, studying the diversity of the virgin forest and wilderness that stretched all the way to Panama. He and his group had slept in hammocks in the early years, slowly progressed to old canvas army cast-off tents, and, according to his descriptions, had graduated to cabins built from salvaged wood complete with electricity and running water.

Minutes later, after an uphill drive, they entered a clearing. Marc's delight was evident on his face as he pointed to a long lodge and several cabins built along the hillside, surrounded by forest; not a tent in sight.

"The entire place is built from recovered timber—solar panels and a hydro-turbine on a creek supply electricity. Right now, we have twelve on-going research projects and, including all of you, we have twenty-six people here." He pointed to a cabin above the lodge, adding, "And that's where the Grissom family will live for a month—lots of beds, two bathrooms, and a zipline right to the river."

Everyone piled out of the van with Grissom holding the sleeping Bronwyn. The older kids shouldered their brightly colored back packs as several people approached the group. Quick introductions, loading luggage onto a cart took several minutes.

"It looks like a tree house," Cate said, gazing at the house with a broad porch wrapping around three sides.

"What exactly is a zipline?" Gregory asked.

Marc laughed, saying, "Sort of a swing that works as an elevator—but only goes down, not up."

"I'd like to see the hydro-turbine," Jay said. "We've seen those at Hoover Dam which are huge." Looking at Marc, he asked, "I think I could figure out how it works."

Marc Rodin threw his head back and laughed. "I'll take you there tomorrow—you'll get to see how it runs."

Eventually, the family and their luggage made it to the cabin after multiple stops for one more captivating view of a creek and butterflies, more hummingbirds, herons, and a howler monkey. No longer sleeping, Bronwyn joined her brothers and sister in their excited search for anything new and different, as animated by smelling flowers as they were the monkey.

As Sara and Grissom walked behind the children, he placed his arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek. Chuckling, he winked at Sara. "It's been a long time since our first visit," he said.

Nodding, she agreed, saying, "Much better than those tents!"

Another laugh from her husband as he said, "We've come a long way, baby!"

A/N: Now-you know what happened to Brenda Collins' baby-Bronwyn! And Sara and Grissom have returned to Costa Rica for a month...Thank you for reading! Thank you for sending reviews, comments, encouragement!