Flying with the kids proved a much simpler task than Sara or Grissom expected. Aurora kept her brother busy the whole flight teaching him new signs she'd learned for her favorite bugs and making a make-shift fort out of the plane blankets.
"Do you want to head to the hotel or come with me to the lab?" Sara asked as they entered the taxi and put the car seats in place.
"We'll come with you." He smiled, "I'd be nice to see Catherine and Greg."
Catherine and Greg. They were the only two left from their original team. Nick had left the lab even before Sara had, and Brass was long retired now. Grissom gave the driver the address to the lab, and 30 or so minutes later they'd arrived. Luckily, both Aurora and Warrick dozed off in the car, ensuring Grissom and Sara that they'd been in good spirits for the rest of the day.
"Here we are." The cabbie said in a deep, muffled voice. Sara and Grissom unloaded their luggage and the kids and stood in front of the building. Grissom reached out and held Sara's hand in his as they looked at the building. It'd been 7 years since they'd been here, where it all began.
"Daddy!" Grissom looked down to see Aurora pulling at his hand that was holding Sara's. He let go of Sara's hand and picked up their daughter.
"Ready?" He turned toward Sara. She simply nodded in return. They walked through the double doors and was instantly greeted by the receptionist. Even after all this time, it felt weird to Grissom not to see Judy sitting there.
"Sidle." Sara said as the girl checked the list.
"Here you are." She handed her a visitors badge.
Sara turned back to Grissom, "I'm going to go find Catherine." Grissom nodded, silently agreeing to watch the kids. Once Sara had disappeared down the hall, he crouched down and turned to the kids.
"Alright, who wants to play a game?"
"I do!" Aurora cried.
"Me too!" Warrick instinctually added, needing to follow his big sister in every way.
"Okay, Come here." Grissom walked the halls with the kids practically undetected, not knowing any of the lab techs that passed him by. He turned a corner and saw his old office. The nameplate "Willows." hung on the door that once was his. "Okay," He looked at them, handed them each their sketch books and crayons, "Go play on the couch in there, I'll be right back."
"Okay, daddy." Aurora hugged his leg and ran off into the room. Warrick stumbling behind, trying to keep up with her.
"Sara!" Catherine walked out of layout and embraced her old co-worker, "My god, it has been so long. You look great!"
"You too, Cath. It's so good to see you. I'm sorry we've done a terrible job at keeping in touch."
"Two way street." Catherine waved her off and introduced her to the team, "You remember my daughter Lindsey, and this is Brian and Kate. Morgan is out at a scene already."
"Where's Greg?" Sara asked, worry shown through her voice.
"He is with your surprise in the AV lab."
"Oh?"
Catherine tilted her head toward the AV lab across the call, gesturing for Sara to go look. Sara walked across the hall and hesitantly opened the AV lab door.
"Greg! Nick!" Sara exclaimed in excitement at seeing the two there, reviewing footage.
"Sara!" They stood quickly and rushed over to her, enclosing her in a group hug.
"Nick! What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing." He spoke in his signature Texan drawl, "Did you get called back for the Jeffrey Forsythe case?" She simply nodded in return.
Catherine Walked back to her office after having briefed the team on their cases for the day but she paused at the sound of giggles emanating from the room as she approached. She peaked into her office to see two children on her couch, playing together.
"Excuse me?" She said softly. The two kids looked up at her, "Who do you two belong to?" The kids looked at one another and then back up to her, staying silent, not sure what she meant.
Catherine knelt down next to them, "Do you know where your mommy and daddy are?"
"Daddy said to wait here." Aurora spoke up and Warrick nodded, but Warrick would have nodded at anything she'd say.
"Okay... and where's Daddy?" The kids shrugged.
Catherine looked at what the girl had in her hand, "What are you drawing there?" She tried to turn her head to get a better look at it.
"It's a green tiger beetle!" She exclaimed and turned the sketchpad to show Catherine, "See! Daddy says it doesn't really look like a tiger, but I like it better this way." Aurora's drawing looked like a sloppy beetle with orange and black stripes, "Daddy calls it a cin-um... cinderella campiesss.. i think."
Catherine scrunched her brows as she looked at the beetle then back up at the girl's face. As she did she almost fell over. "Oh my god." she breathed as she took a better look at the girl. Those deep blue eyes, long wavy brown hair, button nose.
"Hi, Daddy! Look!" Aurora held up her drawing, causing Catherine to spin around. There stood Grissom, in her office threshold, leaning on the door frame easily with a knowing grin plastered to his face.
"Hi Catherine." He spoke gently.
"Gil." She rushed to him and embraced him in a tight hug, "I had no Idea you were coming with Sara."
"Daddy!" Aurora was now tugging at his pant leg. He bent down and scooped her up in his arms, "Look." She held out the picture for him, "Green tiger beetle! Um, um, a, um, cinderella campiess?"
"Very close! It's a Cicindela Campetris. But it's a very hard word to say." Catherine looked at this interaction in complete awe. "I want you to meet someone." Grissom turned Aurora in his arms, angling her toward Catherine, "Aurora, this is a Catherine, a very good friend of mommy and daddy's."
"Gil..." She breathed, "I'm—I'm speechless." She shook her head in awe, "She's a spitting image of Sara. She's gorgeous." Grissom glowed like a proud parent. "Has anyone ever told you you look just like your mommy?" Catherine directed at the little girl sitting in her old friend's arms.
Aurora nodded, "But my eyes are Daddy's. See!" She opened her eyes wide causing Catherine to laugh.
He felt a tug on his other pant leg now and looked down to see Warrick, "Uppie!" Grissom steadied himself and scooped up the little boy too, balancing each child on one of his hips.
"Catherine, This is Warrick Benjamin Grissom."
Tears rushed to Catherine's eyes. She quickly wiped at them, but they kept forming. "Warrick?" She croaked, not taking her eyes off the little boy.
"Are you sad?" Aurora asked, seeing the tears well in the woman's eyes.
"No sweetie, the opposite. I'm happy. So very happy." Catherine looked up in to Grissom's eyes and smiled, "So happy."
"Gil." Grissom turned to see Sara approaching the office. "You'll never guess who's—"
"Mama!" Warrick cried out reaching for her.
"Hi sweetie." Sara took Warrick from Grissom's hold and adjusted him in her arms. "Oh Cath—" She smiled a bit apprehensively, "I brought a surprise for you too."
"I know." she gushed, "I've met them."
"What do you mean, too." Grissom interrupted with furrowed, curious brows.
"Hey, Boss." Nick peaked in and Grissom's face lit up.
"Nicky." He smiled and hugged his former colleague. Greg followed in shortly after.
"Whoa. Who do we have here?" Greg ruffled Warrick's thick mop of hair.
"Greg, Nick—This is our son, Warrick." Sara smiled angling the boy out, "Warrick, say hi." In turn he burried his face against Sara's chest shy-like.
"And this is Aurora." Aurora waved at the two men who just joined the group.
Both Nick and Greg were speechless, they just gazed at Grissom and Sara holding their children. Chills shot up Greg's spine.
"Words can't explain what this sight feels like." Nick finally spoke, bafflement still evident on his face.
"Aurora, that's a pretty name." Greg said to the girl in Grissom's arms.
"I'm named after Aurora Bore... um—borealis?" She looked up at Grissom who nodded to show her that she was correct in her pronunciation.
"And what is Aurora Borealis?" Grissom prompted his daughter.
"It's another word for northern lights!" She smiled happily, having known the answer.
"And what are the northern lights?"
"It's a natural light show caused by magnets at the north pole because of charged particles from the sun!"
Nick began to laugh now, finally coming to terms with what he was seeing and hearing, "My god, Sara." He turned to her with a great grin plastered to his face, "She's a miniature you."
Sara smiled, "Except her eyes."
"No, Sara, I'm not talking about how she looks." He laughed a bit more, "She's vying for Grissom's attention with intelligence." He looked around, "No one else see's this? He's got a new star pupil." Laughter erupted from the group as Sara pursed her lips. Warrick lifted his head up at the sound of the laughter and smiled, allowing Greg and Nick to get a better look at him.
"This is surreal." Greg spoke as he took in Warrick's appearance. Blue eyes, blonde hair, soft pink lips and a slightly dimpled chin.
Nick looked down at this watch, "Sara, we've got to get to court."
"You're right." Sara went to put Warrick down but he cried out at the attempt.
"No mama!"
She straighten back up, "Daddy will be right here." She whispered in his ear but he shook his head against her chest. "You know, Uncle Greg has some pretty cool tools in the other room. He can show you your fingerprints and all kinds of stuff. Will you let him show you?" Warrick looked up at his mother's face and nodded softly, tears still welled within his eyes.
"C'mon buddy." Greg reached out and took the child from Sara's arms. Holding this child now felt incredibly strange to Greg. In his arms was Grissom and Sara's child. His two former-colleagues, his friends who'd he'd seen ebb and flow in their relationship over the course of 17 years. Now, the product of their love was held firmly in his grasp as the child cozied up to his new friend. The child who was named after their fallen colleague. It was all a bit too much.
Sara kissed the back of Warrick's head and then Aurora's cheek, "Be good for dad. Okay?"
Aurora nodded, "Bye mama."
Nick and Sara quickly exited the office and walked out of the lab, leaving Grissom, Greg, Catherine and the kids standing there.
"I'm sure you both have work to get to." Grissom gestured that he could take Warrick from Greg, but Greg held on tightly,
"No, I actually just wrapped a case." He insisted. "Who wants to go learn about DNA?"
"I do!" Aurora cried, causing Warrick to agree as well.
Greg put Warrick down on the ground and lifted Aurora from Grissom's hold, putting her feet back on the ground as well. "Alright! Follow me!" The kids walked in a single file line out of the office behind Greg who led them to the DNA lab.
Grissom subsequently collapsed on the couch, shoving the abandoned sketch pads and crayons into a bag.
"You look beat." Catherine smiled, taking a seat opposite him. He simply smiled in return. "How are things?"
"Things are good Cath," He smiled, "Things are really good."
"What are you two up to these days? I mean besides raising kids." She smiled widely, still shocked by the surprise.
"We're both doing consulting work actually. It works out well because it gives us some flexibility with taking care of the kids. Sara's over at Santa Monica College helping environmentalist engineers with her physics background. And I've been sitting on government task forces to research climate change."
Catherine shook her head in amazement, "It looks like you got everything you ever wanted. Sara, kids." A tear welled in her eye, "It's so hard to digest this all."
"How's Lindsey doing?"
"She's well." Catherine wiped a tear away, "CSI Level 3 now. It is a little hard being her supervisor. I can't treat her differently, but there are time when I worry for her safety on certain scenes." Grissom nodded in understanding, "Greg does her evals, so that helps."
"So much has changed." Grissom spoke a bit wistfully.
"Our team feels like a different lifetime ago. Sara, Nick, Greg...Warrick, You... It's like a distant memory." She paused, "It's really beautiful you named your son Warrick."
He smiled softly, "It was Sara's idea." He paused a moment, "You know—We're uh, we're planning to see Eli while we're in town." He looked at the pained expression on Catherine's face, "Any interest in seeing him?" Grissom hadn't met Eli yet at this point and he knew from Sara that Catherine had only met him once, when they'd investigated the case involving Tina.
"I don't think I can." She croaked, "It's too hard."
Grissom nodded in understanding, "You loved him."
She nodded sadly, "But we never took the risk you and Sara did. I don't even think it crossed our minds to be honest. And then he got married." Another tear slipped from her eye as she wiped it away. "It's just too hard to see him."
Warrick and Aurora were seated on the work bench table, legs dangling.
"So after I swab you cheek, I put the q-tip in this magic machine." Greg cut of the swab tip and placed it in the DNA profiler. "It's going to spin around real fast and tell your complete scientific make up."
"But it's not really magic." Aurora challenged.
"Of course it is!"
Aurora shook her head, "We call things magic that we can't explain with science yet."
Greg's mouth dropped open. He should have known better than to think he was dealing with an average six year old, "What do you think, Warrick."
"I think it's magic!" He rarely ever disagreed with his sister, on anything—except when it came to fairy tales.
"I think you're right." Greg pretended to whisper through the side of his mouth causing both children to giggle. Greg then proceeded to tell Aurora about the way the machine really works, trying his best to simplify it. Then the machine beeped and printed out results. Greg rolled over to retrieve them and gazed down at the paper.
"Aha!" He spoke animatedly and he flicked the paper, "Just what I expected."
"What?" Aurora asked curiously.
"You're a Grissom." He showed Aurora the paper, where Sara and Grissom's ID photos were placed next to her genetic profile. "You have 13 alleles in common with your mom, and 13 with your dad, and 7 with your brother."
"Why do you have mom and dad's DNA?"
"Well they used to work here with us. And anyone who works here has to have a DNA profile here."
"Oh."
"Has your mommy and daddy ever told you the story about how they got together?"
Aurora nodded hesitantly, not sure if she was right, "Warrick—the other Warrick, did something bad and mommy had to come here to check it out and that how mommy and daddy met."
"No way, your mom and dad have a much better story than that! It's full of romance and danger and excitement."
"Tell me!" Aurora squealed, causing Warrick to repeat her. "Tell me!"
"Okay." Greg got his story telling face on and leaned in close to the children, "Once upon a time there was a lonely scientist. He spent all his days and all his nights buried in books, and conducting experiments. Then one day, he met a beautiful, young scientist in San Fransisco." He paused, "Do you know where San Fransisco is?"
Aurora nodded, "Thats where Grandpa Dave and Grandma Susan are. Oh, and Uncle Harry!"
"Very good. Well it was there that this lonely scientist met the beautiful young scientist. But soon he had to return to Vegas and leave her. For days and then months he tried to find ways to see her again. That's when Warrick—" Warrick perked his ears up at his name, "The other Warrick," Greg amended, "made a mistake. The lonely scientist decided it was the perfect time to see the beautiful scientist again! So he brought her to Vegas to work on the case. Now the beautiful scientist liked the lonely one a lot, which is why she decided to stay. But the lonely scientist didn't know how to love. The beautiful scientist loved the lonely one so much that she spent six years waiting for him."
Grissom gestured to the door, "let's go see what they're up to." Catherine and Grissom walked to the DNA lab and stood in the doorway watching undetected.
He turned to Aurora as he continued, "Thats as old as you are!" She nodded in understanding, "She taught the lonely scientist how to love, and then, he was never lonely again. And they lived happily ever after."
Aurora scrunched her face, "What about Costa Rica? Or France? Or when daddy became a pirate?"
Grissom laughed from the doorway, causing the three of them to turn and see they had visitors. "Daddy was never a pirate silly. You don't have to be a pirate to sail the seas."
Warrick slid to the edge of the table and Greg picked him up to put him on the ground. He quickly ran to Grissom, "Uppie!" Grissom scooped up the child and hugged him.
"Daddy, I have 13 alleles in common with you! That's why I have blue eyes." Aurora said as she kicked her dangling legs.
"Wow! What else did uncle Greg teach you?" He asked as he moved into the DNA lab, smiling at Greg. Catherine stayed standing in the doorway, watching Grissom interact with his children so naturally. His introverted, hesitant demeanor seemed to virtually vanish around his children. It was a beautiful sight to watch.