A/N: New chapter! Enjoy!

Thanatos

Chapter 4

Catherine Willows was always generous in sharing her house, spending money, and using her influential name.

By noon, she'd had a specialized bed delivered and set up, assigning Sara to learn how to operate it. A delivery van brought enough food to fill the refrigerator and pantry even though both women knew Brass was unlikely to eat much. By mid-afternoon, she had pulled enough strings to have Jim Brass transferred from hospital to home using a private service.

Jim managed a smile as he settled in his bedroom, managed an appreciation for the new bed before he fell asleep; Sara and Catherine looked at each other and decided to let him sleep. Another hour passed before two hospice nurses arrived to set up necessary medical equipment and work out a schedule for care.

By the time Brass woke, Catherine had left for a while and Sara was sitting by his bed reading a book.

Exhausted from the short trip, his first words were: "Thank you."

She smiled, saying, "Thank Catherine—she can move people in ways that I never could."

He managed a smile, "No, thank you for coming. You—you have a family to care for—I—I hope they can visit."

Reaching for his hand, enclosing it in hers, she said, "Hang on—they are on their way. They know you are sick." She smiled. "Will says he will read to you."

In a moment, Jim fell back to sleep; Sara watching his chest rise and fall.

The long summer afternoon blazed as Gil Grissom drove toward Las Vegas; his two children made pleasant traveling companions as they sang songs learned at camp then ate snacks he'd placed in a cooler between their seats. He had his own bag of popcorn in his lap and a bottle of peach-flavored water in the cup holder.

Driving fast, he kept up with traffic, hoping he had taken care of everything at home. Nick Stokes had arrived to take their dog; he was worried about Jim Brass and Grissom promised to keep him updated.

As he listened to his kids laugh, he knew they were watching a cartoon on the Ipad. Will, older by four years, was willing to watch whatever his sister wanted to watch. Grissom had heard his son explaining words and scenes that his sister did not understand. He had also heard Will tell his sister there were some words he didn't understand yet but they could figure out the meaning later.

By the time the last red-orange light of sunset marked the western horizon, Gemma was asleep. As sunset faded from red to purple, Grissom and Will talked for a while but after a full day of camp, the boy tipped his head against a small pillow and slept.

Traffic had thinned out—or was no longer bumper-to-bumper—and Grissom found a podcast he enjoyed and set cruise-control to take him into Nevada. He made one quick stop to stretch his legs and top the gas tank and got to Vegas before midnight with kids still asleep.

He wanted to go to Jim's house knowing Sara and Catherine were staying overnight but Sara had insisted he should go to Catherine's house. At a traffic light, he sent her a message of his arrival.

Immediately, he received a message: "I'm at Catherine's."

He made it across the city in record time, punched in a pass code at the gate, and smiled when he pulled into the driveway saw and Sara was standing on the steps.

He missed the expensive landscaping, the spotlights on garden statues, uplights highlighting special features of the house. All he saw was the silhouette of his wife as he managed to stop the vehicle, get out, and meet her as she descended the steps.

She was a ship in full sail as she spread her arms, her face flushed, her eyes sparkling. "Greg came to stay with Catherine tonight so I could be here!"

Grissom said nothing, enveloping her with both arms, as his lips searched and found hers. The sound of their son giggling as he climbed out of the van brought them back to time and place. Sara grabbed Will and kissed him all over his face causing more laughter.

She said, "I've been away from you only two days and you look like you've grown inches!" Tousling the child's curly hair, she said, "We have food!" And then gave him another hug.

Grissom walked around the van and opened the van where Gemma was still sleeping. He said, "I'm not sure we should wake her—she's had a big day."

Sara, arms still wrapped around her son, said, "She'll wake up. Catherine has all kinds of good food."

Catherine's house was built for entertainment and echoed with sounds as the Grissoms walked through a foyer with a curved staircase soaring to the second floor bedrooms. Paintings adorned walls and modern art was displayed in numerous niches. They by-passed the large formal dining room to a spacious family room with a wall of windows overlooking a lighted pool.

None of them paid much attention to the lavish furnishing and multiple groupings of expensive furniture. Grissom, carrying a sleeping Gemma, put her on the sofa and sat beside her, toeing off his shoes and stretching his legs.

Sara said, "I'll bring you a drink—and food."

In the kitchen, she had makings for sandwiches already on the counter and while she took a glass of wine to her husband, Will begin making sandwiches. When she returned, sliced roast beef was piled high on his bread.

Laughing, Sara said, "Is that going to be enough for you or is that your dad's sandwich?"

"I'm making Dad one just like this—pickles and tomatoes, too." He spread mustard on a slice of bread, carefully arranged four pickles and a slice of tomato before adding a heap roast beef on top.

Sara watched as her child concentrated on his work, seeing an expression of serious attention that was similar to his father's. She passed two slices of bread to top the sandwiches and smiled as a grin spread across Will's face.

By the time she poured juice in a small glass, Grissom showed up carrying Gemma who was blinking her eyes in surprise to find she was out of the car, awake in the middle of the night, and finding her mom in the kitchen.

"Hey, big girl!" Sara gently murmured as she took her daughter in her arms. Cuddling and hugging, touching each other's face and hair, mother and daughter had a moment of shared reunion before they turned to the other two.

In a few minutes, as father and son tucked into sandwiches, Gemma was alert and talking as her mother made a simple cheese sandwich for her. Sara added apples to each plate and listened as the two children talked about the two days she had missed.

They kept talking as Grissom brought in luggage and hauled it upstairs. When he returned to the kitchen, Sara and the children were putting away food and cleaning the countertops.

Will announced, "This kitchen is as big as our entire house! Can we go swimming tonight?"

"No" both parents said at the same time.

"We're going to sleep—your dad drove for a long time—and all of us need more sleep."

The kids grumbled in a good-natured manner with Gemma declaring with certainty the sun was coming up any minute.

"The sun will come up—but later!" Grissom laughed. "Now, let's go to bed." Pausing a moment, he added, "Let's all sleep in the same bed—Catherine has a really big one, too—we'll sleep better."

Sara bit back a laugh as the children ran around the kitchen before heading upstairs. Grissom shrugged, saying, "I thought it was the easiest way to get them back to sleep."

Going up stairs, his arm circled Sara's waist and they nuzzled with heads together, moving slow all the way to the bedroom. Grissom continued to think at least once a day of the wonder of his family. He'd thought it would never happen—and then she chose him over her career.

They stopped at the bedroom door, hugged each other, and engaged in a long kiss before being noticed by the two children who managed to squeeze between them as all four giggled and hugged, happy and content to be together again.

A/N: Thanks for reading! We love to hear from readers - more to come.