Sara stopped by the front desk to pick up both hers and Grissom's messages when her last name was called. She turned to see the one person that shouldn't be in the lab at that moment. She paused in her steps as Mark Thayer spoke to her. He'd once been a consultant when she was in San Francisco and had dinner with her and the team after the case. During that meeting, she remembered that she and her former supervisor had spoken about Grissom and the fact Thayer had been the one they consulted since Grissom was unavailable.

"Miss Sidle." Thayer smiled, "what a surprise to see you in Las Vegas."

Narrowing her eyes, Sara gave a slight shake of her head. "Dr. Thayer, what are you doing here?"

"I came to speak to Dr. Grissom." He reached out to touch her arm and she pulled away in a way that didn't seem rude. "How long have you been here?"

"Uh, a few years now." She took a step back, "I uh, I have a case that I have to get back to."

"We should get dinner." Thayer looked at her with interest.

Sara motioned to his hand, "I'm not sure your wife would appreciate it."

"Oh, this." He waved his hand a fraction. "Divorced, still have it out of habit."

"Well, I appreciate the offer but I have a lot to do."

Grissom's voice saved her and she was thankful. Turning to him as he walked around the corner towards the desk. "Sara, I thought you were working on the case with Catherine."

"I am, I was just getting messages." Sara held out his messages and smiled. "Plus, I'm allowing Catherine a minute to decompress. She had a run in with a person of interest and it got a little heated."

"It seems roles are reversing."

Sara motioned towards Thayer. "Dr. Thayer was looking for you."

Grissom put a hand on Sara's back as he turned his attention to Thayer. "Mark, you can't be here. You're standing as a witness for the defense and I'm countering you."

"I just need to speak to you Gil."

Sara ran her hand up Grissom's arm as she spoke. "Catherine should be calm enough for us to continue with the case." Leaning in, she kissed his cheek. "I'll see you at home later. I'll pick up Hank from the sitter."

Seconds later she was gone and Grissom looked to Thayer. "Mark, we can speak after we both give our testimonies in court. Until then, I have nothing to say."

"I could bring her up in court." Thayer spoke, "Miss Sidle, the inappropriate relationship, the fact you work together."

Grissom turned to Thayer and spoke calmly. "Sara has nothing to do with this case. Even so, there is no inappropriate relationship. Bring her up and it will be the last thing you do."

"Is that a threat Gil?"

"No, it's a promise. I can guarantee you that there are half a dozen police officers and detectives, along with an entire lab willing to go to war over Sara." Grissom'w voice was hard. "You don't have anyone standing behind you Mark. No lab, no allies, and certainly not Angie since she divorced you two years ago. It's tough being the lone wolf against a pack that numbers close to thirty. You won't win that fight."

Music was on when Grissom walked through the door of his townhouse, still in his suit from court. Sara was hard at work in the kitchen making something for breakfast. She wore cotton shorts and a tank top, hair up in a ponytail. Hank was laying on the floor a few feet from the island. Pausing at the bottom of the stairs, he watched her mixing some type of batter in a bowl. She looked up and saw him, a smile crossed her face as she did.

"Don't you look handsome." She stated while going back to the batter in hand.

"I'm going to get out of this suit and then come back and help you with breakfast."

Sara nodded, "alright."

Grissom returned five minutes later and got directed to work on the eggs to go with their pancakes. "Scrabbled, sunny side up, or fried?"

"Cook's choice." She stated as she moved to the stove to start using the heated griddle that lay across two burners. "Did you read our report about the case?"

Cracking eggs to scrabble, Grissom looked to her. "I did. Very strange case but we have had stranger."

"Hypothetically, if natural conception wasn't possible, would you be open to embryo adoption?" She inquired with him, "I mean, over in vitro."

"Adoption is always an admirable action. We see kids everyday who live in the system, you went through that. Bringing more children into such a world is a question of morality." Grissom mixed pepper and salt into the eggs. "An embryo is the same as a child in the system, just of a different age."

Sara glanced up at him. "So, is that a yes, or no?"

"With you, it's always yes." He told her as he poured the eggs into a pan to cook. "Children or no children, we're in this together."

"I'm not religious, you know that." Sara smiled at him. "But I think the organization is a good idea. People pay millions each year for in vitro and a lot of the time, embryos just stay frozen or get destroyed. Finding people willing to adopt embryos is an admirable goal."

Taking a moment to think, he finally asked an important question. "Do you want children?"

"Once I would have told you that I'd never want children, that I never wanted to bring a child into the world." She put the bowl aside and pulled a spatula from the container by the stove. "Now, with you, I think the idea of having a child isn't as daunting. You'd be a great father and knowing that, I'm not fearful anymore. I know neither of us would allow our children to endure what I went through." Sara looked up at him. "Do you want children?"

"I'd love a daughter that looks just like her mother." The statement caused pink to flood Sara's cheeks. "Even if that wish doesn't come to fruition, I'd love any child we'd have. Natural or adopted."

"Good to know." Sara chuckled, "I'd expected you'd love the idea of a son. Getting on the ground with him to discover bugs and do experiments together that create messes."

Grissom looked to her with both hands out as if asking her to look to him. "Who's to say I can't do that with a daughter? You enjoy doing those things and you're female."

"Touché." She looked up from where her attention was on the griddle. "Did you buy me another necklace? I saw the gift box on the top of the dresser."

"Did you open it?"

"No, I know you love giving them to me so I waited."

As Sara sat on the bed rubbing lotion onto her legs, she was joined by Hank taking up residence at the end of the bed. He laid his head on his paws and looked straight at her. Closing the lotion bottle to set it aside, she rubbed the remaining lotion up her arms. Sliding under the covers, Sara picked up the newest Journal of Forensic Science from the nightstand beside her. Grissom joined her fresh from the shower, dressed in a plain navy tee and cotton lounge pants. He sat down on the bed after pushing back sheets and comforter, checking his phone before sliding under the covers.

"Hmm, read this with me." Sara suggested as Grissom laid back against the pillows.

"Come here." He put out his arm and she curled up against his side, handing him the journal for him to hold. "Modernizing Blood Splatter Analysis. I haven't read this one yet."

Sara hummed against his chest as they both started reading. Their reading speed was about the same so it was never an issue of one going faster than the other. She felt his fingers run through her hair as they read.

Let me know what you think of this chapter. The next one is extremely long and it touches on so many subjects.