August 2035
"Happy birthday, Dad." Warrick put a strong hand on Grissom's shoulder as he slid into a chair next to him at the dinning room table. "You excited?"
"I should be asking you that, War."
Warrick smiled nervously, fidgeting with his fingers. "I'm feeling good. Really."
Grissom looked up as he heard Sara walk down the hall toward them, "Happy birthday, Griss." Sara placed a soft kiss on his lips.
"Thank you, Dear." He spoke softly as she ran her long fingers through his hair affectionately.
"Warrick," Sara turned to her son now, "You all packed?"
"Yep. You two all packed?"
Grissom and Sara exchanged a loving look as Grissom responded, "We are."
"I can't believe you're really doing this. Where are we supposed to go for fall break?"
"You can come back here, or visit Dave and Susan." Sara suggested softly. "We wont be gone for too long."
"Six months isn't too long?" Warrick retorted, trying his best to hide the bitterness in his voice. He'd only found out about his parents plans last week as they were making arrangements to move him into his freshman dorm at Boston University, when he'd noticed their return flight was actually going to JFK instead of back to California.
"C'mon, we'll miss our flight."
The three flew into Logan Airport. Both Grissom and Sara could sense Warrick's tension, but not knowing what to do about it, they just kept silent for most of the trip. The day's events were all mapped out: They'd go to BU to move Warrick in where Aurora would meet them to help. Then, at 9pm they'd fly to JFK to get a connecting flight to South Africa.
"Alright. That should be everything." Grissom said as he laid the last of Warrick's things on his now made bed. Books on bookshelves, clothing tucked away in drawers. "Do you know when your roommate is supposed to arrive?"
Warrick looked down at his watch, "Yeah, He said around 5pm, so I guess any minute now. Aurora knows him actually. I think they're coming here together."
"Oh?" Sara asked surprised, "I thought you chose a random roommate."
Warrick shrugged in return, "I was going to, but then Aurora suggested her friend, Andrew."
Just then there was a knock on the open door. A tall boy with crazy blonde hair emerged, "Hey, I'm Andrew." The kid shook both Grissom and Sara's hand before moving to Warrick to fist bump. "My parents are parking the car, they'll be right up."
Sara turned to Grissom as Warrick and Andrew talked amongst themselves, "You're going to think I'm crazy—but doesn't that kid look a little like Greg?"
Grissom took another look at the kid and smiled, "When he was still a DNA lab tech, with the crazy hair."
"Hi Mom! Hi Dad!" Aurora rushed into the room and gave her parents a big hug. Grissom held on a bit longer.
"We thought you'd be here earlier." Sara spoke as Grissom finally let go of their daughter.
"I know. But I was with Andrew and his parents. They gave me a ride."
"How do you and Andrew know each other?" Sara asked once Aurora was through saying hi to her brother.
Aurora simply smiled in return, an all-knowing smirk as she spoke, "They're on their way up. You'll see."
And just as promised, a few minutes later Andrew's parents appeared in the doorway. "Are we interrupting something?"
Sara's face held utter and complete shock. "Greg!?" She rushed to him and hugged him tightly, then moved to hug Morgan who stood beside him. Tears of joy spilled from Sara's eyes. "What is this?"
Aurora smiled widely as she watched her parents reconnect with Greg and Morgan.
"See?" Warrick said as he nudged Aurora, "I told you I could keep a secret."
Sara and Grissom sat in their seats as the plane began to taxi out onto the tarmac. He placed her hand in his and squeezed softly, causing her to take her eyes off of the window and look at him. They exchanged a soft smile before she placed her lips on his. It had been a whirlwind of a day and both were ecstatic to learn that Warrick's roommate Andrew was actually Greg and Morgan's son. Knowing that he was in good hands between having Aurora 10 minutes down the road at Harvard, and Greg and Morgan close by should either need anything.
And now, it was time to set out on the trip Grissom promised Sara. The trip they'd planed since the kids were 9 and 11. A trip to help them forget about their newly acquired empty nest situation.
They'd start in South Africa, canoeing through the expansive rivers. Spend a few nights in Cape Town, before moving onto Mozambique, Madagascar and then traveling to Kenya where they'd take part on a Safari before making their last stop in Africa at an AIDs village in Namibia, where they'd volunteer for a week before moving north to experience Egypt, Israel and Jordan.
They arrived in Namibia by Mid-November. Despite being south of the Ecuador, that time of year tended to be on the chillier side, ranging from 50's to 60's, meaning there was little need for Grissom's silly straw hat. They made their way through the country, volunteering at various villages along the way.
"Hey Kiddo." Grissom spoke into the phone as he walked outside to take the call. He glanced back to see Sara surrounded by excited kids, kids who'd been orphaned by parents with AIDs.
"Hey Dad, how's Namibia?"
Grissom proceeded to catch Aurora up on their travels, spilling out fact over fact that he'd learned on his trip. He loved sharing his experiences with her, knowing how genuinely interested she was in it all. Now in her junior year of college, Aurora had decided upon Archeology as her major, citing that it combines her passions for science, adventure and history all together.
"What have you and Warrick decided to do for Thanksgiving break?"
"I think we're going to spend it with the Sanders'."
"That's wonderful." Grissom smiled, imagining his children sitting around the thanksgiving table with Greg, Morgan and Andrew.
"So, uh—What village did you say you're at now? I know you switched up the order a bit."
"We're at Hope Village now. Not far from Windhoek."
"Hope Village." He heard her relay. "Thanks, dad. I've—uh... I've got to go. Tell Mom I say hi."
With that the line went dead. Grissom pocketed his phone and went back inside.
Grissom and Sara sat inside a tented are with other volunteers when a car rolled up to the site. One of the other volunteers got up to go see who it was. A few moment's later that very volunteer made their way back to the tented area.
"Gil, Sara?" She spoke to get their attention, "Can I see you both outside please."
Grissom and Sara exchanged a curious look before obeying and walking out of the tent.
"What's the—" Sara began to talk before immediately stoping at the sight of their new volunteers. Warrick and Aurora stood standing there smiling, packs on their backs. She wore kaki pants and a light weight top. A bandana tied around her neck in a similar fashion to the way Sara wore hers. She looked like mirror image of her mother. Warrick on the other hand wore cargo shorts, a long sleeve T and a backwards baseball cap. They stood smiling at their parents, waiting for the shock to leave their faces.
"My god." Sara spoke softly as Aurora dropped her pack to the ground and rushed toward her mother, hugging her tightly. "What are you two doing here!?"
"We have the week off of school." Warrick shrugged through a widening smile as Grissom hugged him.
The four made their way inside, introducing them to all of the other volunteers. Once things settled down, the Grissom's sat together around a table.
"This is an incredible surprise." Grissom spoke, still awed and not taking his eyes off his children.
"It worked out well actually, we've got the week off of school so we were able to fly out together. Of course I'll be flying back alone." Sara furrowed her brows at Warrick's statement. "Oh." He quickly spoke glancing toward Aurora, realizing he'd just spilled part of the surprise.
"What is he talking about?" Grissom pressed.
"You're headed to Egypt after this, aren't you?" They nodded, "Well, so am I. There's this archeological study abroad program that I got into. We'll spend a week in Egypt, a week in Israel, two weeks in Jordan and two weeks in Greece."
Sara watched as Grissom's eyes lit up, realizing the timeline matched part of their own trip. Aurora nodded, knowing what her father was thinking.
"Yeah, so we'll be in Egypt, Israel and Jordan at the same time. Though I think we're going to be in the Northern part of Egypt, closer to Mt. Sinai."
"That's wonderful, Aurora. I think this type of work will suit you well." Sara smiled, "Though, I bet Greg's disappointed he couldn't convince you to be a CSI."
"He got one of us." Aurora smirked as she nudged Warrick.
"Hu? Oh, yeah. I've declared a criminalistics major. Greg's been giving me some really great hands-on experience at the lab."
Grissom reached for Sara's hand under the table, squeezing it softly as they listened to their children updated them on their academics. Watching as they spoke passionately about their studies, about their time in Boston, about planing this trip to surprise them.
The rest of their trip flew by. Warrick had stayed the week in Namibia with them before flying back to Boston. Aurora flew with them to Egypt but only spent a day with Grissom and Sara before joining her classmates for the program. And Grissom and Sara traveled the world for the next three months before making their way back to the states.
They laid in bed together in their Santa Monica home that night for the first time in six months. Both children were back in Boston now, and the house was quiet.
"Sara..." Grissom's voice was soft and gentle. He watched as she propped herself up on her elbow to look at him, "I—" He paused, trying his best to find the right words for how he felt in that moment, trying desperately to sum up the enormous weight of his emotions. "Thank you." It's all he could manage to think of.
A playful smile danced on her lips, "What are you thanking me for."
"For giving me this wonderful life."
This caused her smile to widen, she placed a soft kiss on his lips.
"I mean it. Sometimes I think back to the way things were, before Nick's abduction, before we got together. I think back to the shell of a person I was and I don't even recognize him. I think back to how persistent you were, all the moments we shared over layout tables and microscopes. The sneaked glances. I just—I wouldn't change our story for the world."
Sara rested her head back down on his chest, the spot she knew was meant just for her. Where she could hear his steady heart beating. The spot where she felt most at home.
THE END. (Epilogue to follow)