AN: Let's get on with the rest of this reunion – time for the gang to meet Shelby! Hope you like the second part, and thanks for the feedback on the last chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything relating to CSI
Chapter 16
Shelby settles in on the floor, continuing her ladybug drawing, and Sara sits on the bed until she hears a knock on the door and then voices. Not able to stay still anymore, she gets up and starts pacing the room, waiting for Catherine.
She still jumps a little when the door finally opens.
"All clear?" she asks, frowning at her own choice of words. Like they're talking about a crime scene, making sure there are no suspects on site.
"More or less," Catherine replies with a huff.
"The less part being…"
"Warrick. He's got his own issues, it doesn't really have anything to do with you, so if he says something, don't take it personally. I don't think he will, at least not with Shelby around, but his reaction was a little… explosive, so maybe just keep it in mind."
"What kind of issues?" she prods, not wanting to go in blind.
Catherine glances at Shelby, but she's focused on her drawing at the moment and isn't paying any attention to them.
"Was he seeing Tina before you left? I can't remember when they actually started dating," she says, voice lowered a little.
Sara considers the name for a moment, but comes up empty. "It doesn't ring a bell."
"Right. Anyway, quick summary – they met, had some sort of whirlwind romance, got married after Nick's kidnapping. Some kind of… seize the moment thing, I guess, in the face of death, or whatever. Some time later, he caught her with someone else, they filed for divorce, then she told him she was pregnant but didn't know if it was his or the other guy's. They did a paternity test and it turned out he was the father, and they've basically been fighting for custody since the kid was born. Warrick only gets to see him every other weekend at the moment, and he's not happy about it."
"Got it." She can sort of see why this situation would strike a nerve with him, she just hopes he'll be able to move past it quickly. She doesn't want to relive the first few rocky weeks of their relationship, and she doesn't want to lose her friend.
"Come on, Shelby, you want to meet some of Mommy's old friends?" Catherine says, crouching down next to Shelby.
"Do I have to?"
Catherine glances up at Sara, and she shrugs.
"Well, no. But why wouldn't you want to? They're really excited to meet you," Catherine tries to coax.
"Why?"
"Because they love your mom, and you're kind of an important part of her life."
It makes Shelby giggle. "OK."
Thank you, Sara mouths to Catherine as she gets up, but she just shakes her head with a smile.
The moment they step out onto the patio, however, Shelby is overtaken by shyness at all the new people and promptly hides behind Sara's legs.
"Hey, guys," she greets them with a little wave. "I would come around the table to say hi to everyone, but I guess I'm shelter for the moment."
Nick's at the grill but he looks up at her voice and smiles. "That's alright, we can come to you."
"Hey, you saw her, like, a month ago," Greg objects, jumping to his feet quickly. "You can wait."
She has to laugh but returns Greg's hug almost as enthusiastically. "It's good to see you, Greggo."
"I missed you," he mumbles back, squeezing her tighter. "You ever pull something like that again, I will hunt you down, got it?"
"Trust me, I'm not planning on it," she assures him when they break apart. "But if I ever do, you have my permission to find me, OK?"
"Hey, quit hogging her," Nick complains, and Greg rolls his eyes but does move out of the way and she sighs when Nick's strong arms wrap around her instead.
"He's not wrong, you know," she notes. "It hasn't even been that long."
"Well, I've got some time to make up for," he replies. "And I'm just glad you're back where you belong."
It actually makes her tear up a little and she tries to surreptitiously blink them away.
"I am, yeah," she tells him, meeting Grissom's eyes briefly before she pulls away from Nick.
"Don't you forget it either."
Warrick's next, and she can't find any insincerity in his smiling eyes or warm embrace. "Good to have you back, girl."
"It's good to be back."
He squeezes her tight for a moment and then moves out of the way for Brass, who gives her a scrutinizing once-over before pulling her into a bone crushing bear hug. "You look good, doll."
"I am."
"You keep it that way, you hear me?" he says sternly as he steps back, and she has to smile at his protective streak. Not everyone gets to see it.
"I promise."
He doesn't go back to his seat immediately, instead tilts his head to the side and then leans down, and Sara realizes that Shelby must be peeking out from behind her legs.
"Hi there, little lady," he greets her in a gentle voice. "What might your name be?"
Sara reaches back to nudge her forward carefully, and she does move out from behind her a little, but wraps both of her arms around Sara's leg.
"Shelby."
"That's a very pretty name," Brass tells her. "My name is Jim."
"Hi."
"Hi. Do you want to say hi to everybody else?"
She shrinks back a little, shaking her head.
"That's OK, you don't have to," he tells her. "Why don't we sit down, and Nick over there will bring us some food, OK?"
She nods, and when he offers his hand, she takes it, to Sara's surprise. He sits down one seat over from Grissom and Sara takes the chair between them, lifting Shelby into her lap.
"Is she OK?" Grissom asks quietly, leaning in closer.
"She'll be fine," she assures him with a smile. "Too many new faces."
On her other side, Jim is leaning in to talk to Shelby again. "So, what do you want to eat, huh? I think there's chicken and some corn and veggie skewers and mushroom and burgers." He pauses to glance up at Sara. "If your mom says it's OK to eat burgers."
"It's fine," she assures him with a smile. "No dietary restrictions for her."
"Can I have soda?" Shelby pipes up hopefully.
"What's today?"
"Saturday. Saturday's soda day."
"It is, so yes, you can have soda."
"What kind do you want, sweetheart?" Grissom asks from behind her and Shelby studies the different bottles on the table closely.
"Orange," she decides.
He pours her half a glass, and she reaches for it immediately.
"That's for dinner too," Sara reminds her. "Don't drink all of it at once."
Shelby pouts, but leaves the glass on the table.
"Can I have a burger?" she asks instead.
Sara knows she won't eat a whole one, but there's plenty of food. "As soon as they're ready, sure." She looks over at Nick. "What's the ETA on the burgers, Nicky?"
"Fifteen minutes," he reports back.
"What do you want on your burger, Shelby?" Greg asks from across the table.
Shelby has apparently gotten over at least some of her initial shyness. "Ket-chup," she says, carefully enunciating the word. "And cheese."
"I think we can handle that, princess," Nick says with a smile. "Anything else? Mustard? Pickles? Broccoli?"
"You can't put broc-coli on a burger." She laughs and Sara sends Nick a smile.
"Sure you can," he insists. "You can put anything you want on 'em."
"Anything?" she repeats in a voice Sara knows only too well. "Like gummy bears?"
"You want gummy bears on your burger, I'll get you gummy bears," he promises solemnly.
"Well, we don't actually have any gummy bears," Sara steps in before Shelby can get too excited. "So, I think we'll have to postpone that particular culinary experiment for a later date." Or never.
"I'll make sure she doesn't forget," Nick promises Shelby with a conspiratorial smile before turning back to the grill.
"Thanks, Nick. Really."
Before long, the food's done and they move their little party inside to keep from melting in the heat. Shelby eats three quarters of her burger, plus some zucchini and tomatoes, all while chattering excitedly at anyone who will give her attention, and Sara can only smile as she charms all of her friends.
They move back out onto the patio for dessert – it's still hot out, but the temperature is at least starting to drop, and the ice cream from Catherine's freezer and a fresh six pack along with some more soda help.
As it always does, talk turns to work, everyone careful not to be too graphic with Shelby around.
"What's car-bon-moxie?" she asks, scrunching up her nose at the difficult word, after a story from Warrick about an incompetent burglar who managed to knock himself out by hiding in the garage with his car running when the homeowners came back unexpectedly.
"It's a gas," Sara tells her, stroking her hair back out of her eyes. "It comes from cars and some other things."
"It's bad?"
"If you breathe in too much, you can get sleepy," she says, clearly downplaying the dangers but there's no need to go into details. "Kind of like you're sleepy now, huh?"
"Nuh-uh," Shelby insists, sitting up straight. Sara looks over at Grissom and they share a smile. It's only seven thirty, not quite bedtime yet, so neither of them pushes the issue.
"I need to use the girls' room," Sara says instead. "You want to come with me or stay here?"
Instead of responding, Shelby climbs from the arm of Sara's chair to the arm of his and into his lap. He lets her get settled and wraps one arm around her to make sure she doesn't slide out of his lap in case she does fall asleep, which is seeming increasingly likely.
"I'll take that as 'stay here'," Sara concludes with a smile. "Be right back."
He nods before turning his attention back to the others around the table, only to find them all – except Catherine – staring at him. "What?"
"That's a good look on you, Griss," Warrick says with a half-smile, and he takes it as the peace offering it is.
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"Should we maybe be thinking about calling it a night?" Nick suggests. "It looks like someone's about ready for bed."
"Not sleepy," Shelby objects, forcing her eyes open, but her head remains leaning against Grissom's chest.
"I know, sweetheart," he assures her.
"Well, I am," Jim says, leaning over Sara's abandoned chair to smile at Shelby. "So, I'm going to go home, because I want to go to bed."
She blinks sleepily up at him. "You want to go to bed?"
"Yup. I have a super comfy bed. Is your bed nice?"
"Uh-huh."
"And I bet your mom'll read you a bedtime story, huh?"
"We're reading Green Eggs and Ham tonight," she tells him seriously, tilting her head back to look up at Grissom. "Will you read to me, Daddy?"
"If you want me to."
"Mm-hmm."
"So, really, bed's not that bad, is it?" Jim concludes, but Shelby doesn't seem quite ready to admit defeat yet. "Well, it was an absolute pleasure to meet you, little lady."
He gets up and everyone else follows suit, coming around the table to say goodnight to Shelby before leaving.
"I'm gone for three minutes, and you manage to scare everyone off?" Sara asks amusedly as she rejoins them.
"They were sleepy," Shelby informs her.
"Oh, they were, huh? But you're not?"
"Maybe a little."
Sara glances at her watch. "Well, why don't you go brush your teeth and change into your pajamas, and maybe we can read for twenty minutes tonight, OK?"
"Daddy's reading to me."
She looks up at him. "Oh, is he?"
"Unless you mind," Grissom says.
"Nope, go ahead. You want to monitor tooth brushing too?"
Of course he does.
In reality, it's more Shelby, adorable in all her seriousness, telling him what he's supposed to do. "You have to use the are glass," she informs him when he's helped her put toothpaste on her toothbrush.
"What's that?"
"The are glass. With the sand." She points at the top of the medicine cabinet, where there is indeed a little plastic hourglass, the kind that sometimes comes with board games. "I have to brush for two minutes."
"Ah, I see." He reaches for the hourglass and places it on the sink. "OK, toothbrush, check. Toothpaste, check. Ready?"
"Ready!"
He flips the hourglass to start the timer and she immediately sticks the toothbrush in her mouth and starts brushing enthusiastically. When the sand runs out, he fills the plastic cup her toothbrush was sitting in with some water so she can rinse and then she tugs him by the hand out of the bathroom and into the bedroom she and Sara share.
"Pajamas?" he asks, and she finds them under her pillow.
He really thought she couldn't get any cuter, but the purple footie pajamas with owls prove him wrong.
She crawls under the covers on her own and holds out the book from the bedside table to him.
"You have to sit here so I can see the pictures," she tells him, moving to the side so he can sit in the bed next to her.
"OK, then." He settles in with his back against the wall and waits until Shelby's gotten settled, her head against his stomach, before he opens the book. "I am Sam. Sam I am."