Sara found herself packing for their trip to Los Angeles to spend the week with Grissom's mom. He was in the office as she packed for both of them and prepped for Hank to go to Nick's so he'd have a sitter and a friend. Nick had said Kahlua loved Hank after they came back from San Francisco. They'd had a few play dates while having lunch at Nick's, a somewhat normal thing she hadn't thought of before.

Grissom came back into the bedroom with a smile on his face. His smile always made her smile so she wore one when she glanced up at him. "What's got you so happy?"

"My mom says we can bring Hank."

"How'd you convince her?" Sara moved to the closet and removed five of his shirts and three pairs of slacks from inside. Once she had them, she sat on the bed and began folding them to go in the suitcase.

Grissom walked to the dresser and reached into his drawers to remove three pair of jeans. "I told her that he's your emotional support dog. It's a stretch but he is there for you after a bad day or night, and he knows when you're having an emotional overload."

"She must think I'm unstable."

"All I told her was that you have PTSD. Even my mother understands that one has no control over developing it. She also won't ask questions."

Sara walked into the bathroom to gather their toiletries and saw him out of the corner of her eye. "How can be sure?" She opened the cabinet that housed the drainpipes under the sink and a box of travel items. Removing the toiletry bag, she closed the cabinet and stood up.

"My mother does not delve into someone's medical history." He watched her grab shampoo and soap from the shower. "She'll delve into our relationship for sure but not medical history."

A smirk emerged on her face as she grabbed his comb and her brush, throwing them in the bag. "Is she going to make us sleep in separate rooms?" Sara glanced at him, "because of her religious convictions."

"My mother maybe Catholic but she's no fool. She knows we live together and hence, sleep together. I think she's hoping that if we continue to have sex, she'll get a grandchild."

Sara zipped the toiletry bag after putting their deodorants, toothbrushes and toothpastes in the bag, caps on the tops so they were kept clean. "Next year maybe."

"Next year?" He seemed surprised. "Already?"

Moving over to him, Sara reached up and cupped his cheek. "Sometimes next year I'm going to remove the IUD and we'll let what happens, happen."

Placing his hand over hers, Grissom pulled her closer and kissed Sara softly. When they pulled apart, the brunette grinned. "What about this year?"

"We just got engaged, I want to wait a bit before getting pregnant."

"It may take a while."

Sara grinned while shaking her head. "The way we have sex, I'll only have one or two cycles before I'm pregnant." Noticing his expression, she shook her head. "Don't look so proud of yourself."

He returned to the bedroom after her and found Sara starting to close the suitcases. "My mother said to include some clothes suitable for a charity dinner. She insists we'll be attending one on Tuesday."

"Suitable for a charity dinner, I don't have anything like that." She turned to him, "you have your suit but I don't have a formal dress."

"That dress you wore out with Catherine last weekend will be suitable. I've seen women wear less at these dinners."

Sara's hand went to her shoulder. "My tattoo, isn't it polite to cover tattoos at formal dinners."

"Not any longer, times have changed my Dear."

"Okay." Sara walked over to the closet and went through her dresses to find the one she'd worn to her girls' night the weekend before. Finding it, she pulled the empty travel bag from the back of the closet. Removing his suit from the closet also, she laid them on the bed on top of the travel bag. It only took a few moments to slid both inside and pull the hangers through the hole at the top. "All we have left to pack is Hank's bowls and food."

"I'll take care of that; you get your jewelry and shoes together."

Driving to Los Angeles was the choice they made to avoid airline fees and pet fees once they knew Hank was going with them. Sara rested in the passenger seat as Grissom drove, he wanted her to relax instead of driving them much to her displeasure. Hank was content to lay on the backseat, buckled into his car harness. The radio played soft rock on low volume, a favorite genre of Sara's. Grissom reached over to take Sara's hand and was greeted to a genuine smile.

They knew they were getting into the periphery of Los Angeles when traffic started getting heavy. It made Vegas traffic feel sparse to the both of them as Grissom drove on highways and streets. Sara looked outside and saw Los Angeles from a different view for the first time.

"I came down to LA once during my time at Berkeley. A group of us split a hotel room and spent spring break swimming, surfing, and clubbing." She spoke as she glanced at Grissom, his attention solely on the road given the traffic. "All I did was swim and tour the city. Surfing and clubbing aren't really my scene."

"I bet you look irresistible in a swimsuit."

Sara laughed, "you've seen me nude and you wonder about how I look in a bikini."

"I wonder how you look in different types of clothes I haven't seen you in." He dared to glance over for a few seconds. "I'm torn between that dress and you in overalls."

Shaking her head, she grinned. "So either sexy or covered in dust, oil, and disgusting matter. Good to know your attraction runs across the spectrum."

"We'll take the next exit and then within five minutes we'll be at the house."

"Anything I need to know? I know ASL and touch are necessary but I didn't know if there are things I don't know about."

Grissom thought about the house his mother lived in. "Hard wood floors and a bell at the bottom of the door so she knows someone's at the door. A lot of the household equipment is manual or automated so she doesn't have to deal with alerts. My mother doesn't own a TV and her telephone is complex as it is made specifically for the deaf. If you have to make a call, I'd recommend using your cell phone." He paused for a second, "I'll have to disable the bed shaker."

"Bed shaker."

"It's connected to the bedside clock so the bed shakes when the alarm goes off." He chuckled, "it's so effective that it'd wake you despite your partial coma after a three day insomnia episode."

Sara quirked her lips. "I'm usually dead to the world."

"Precisely." He turned on the indicator as they exited the off ramp. The need to get over one lane was necessary.

"What is your mother going to think when she notices we're engaged?" Sara asked him directly, "you haven't told her yet."

His brow furrowed. "I hadn't thought of that." Sara slapped the back of her hand against his arm and he turned his head enough to see her pointing at him with a face of annoyance. "It'll be fine. We've been together over a year and considering my parents were married and pregnant with me in six months of dating, we're considerably on the slow path."

"You better make it clear there won't be a wedding. I don't want one and I don't want anyone trying to plan one."

"Have you told Catherine that." He stopped at a stoplight, a constant in Los Angeles.

Sara nodded, "I told her and managed to change her mind about a bachelorette party. I told her all of us girls could go camping and considering it's the closest she can get to planning one, she agreed." She shook her head a fraction. "She wants to go dress shopping; said I'd need one for the courthouse. I told her no wedding dresses and she said I at least need a dress. I caved because if I didn't, she'd go buy a dozen dresses and make me try them all on."

"I'm sure you'll look beautiful in whatever you wear."

"I both love and hate that you think that."

They pulled up outside of a house a few minutes later and Grissom looked concerned. "She must have gotten some work done on the house because it looked nothing like this the last time I was here."

"When was that?"

"When I met you." Instead of the traditional home design that he'd helped his mother move into during his college years, the one story house was craftsman design with a light brown paint, white trim, a wooden swing hung from the roof of the porch.

"I like it, it has character." Sara stated and rubbed his arm. "Come on."

He pulled his phone from the cupholder and quickly sent a text to his mother. Instead of a text back, he watched the door to the house opened. "Now she knows we're here."

Sara chuckled as she got out of the SUV, pulling her hair from its ponytail afterwards. She shoved the tie into her jean pockets. Grissom joined her as his mother walked down the sidewalk. She was grinning and waved as a means to say hello.

"Hi Mom." Grissom signed as he spoke.

Betty immediately hugged him and cupped his cheeks before leaving him to take Sara's hands. Sara's smile was reserved but present as she watched Grissom's mom survey her. Eventually she pulled Sara into a hug, which the brunette returned. Eventually as they pulled away, she asked a question. Baby?

"Uh no, no baby. Next year." Sara told her in both words and signs. "Gil has a habit of feeding me enough I gain weight." Some words she spelled but other than that she was able to carry on a conversation. Some weekends or days at home between shifts, they'd spend time just signing instead of speaking. It was meant to improve Sara's ASL and it had worked at tripling her knowledge.

This year! Her signs were deliberate and strong that it was an exclamation.

"No, next year." Sara stated firmly. "We're already engaged." She held up her hand after signing to show her ring.

Betty grinned before pulling Sara into a hug and turned to Grissom after. Good, you were capable of asking without needing to be reminded.

Sara chuckled as Grissom looked offended. "Mom, it took months for Sara to agree to marry me in the first place." His signs weren't slow but they weren't fast either.

Did you scare Sara by asking too early? You can't ask too early Gilbert.

"It's a complicated situation that's between Sara and I, but no I just asked two weeks ago." The signs continued as Sara turned to let Hank out of the SUV.

Hank jumped down from the seat and he immediately sat down beside the brunette once the door was closed. Betty grinned and reached down to pet the dog's head. Very behaved.

"Sara spend months training him." Grissom told her once he tapped his mother's arm. "He'll respond to both of us but is attached to Sara."

Sara signed to Betty, "he won't be any trouble, I promise."

Gilbert knew I wouldn't let a dog in the house without it being trained, no matter the reason. I hope he is helping you with your mental health, I know pets can be very helpful in that area. She patted Sara's arm before waving to them and signing. Come inside, you must have had a long drive and he needs some water.

"Mom, when did you redesign the house?" Grissom inquired through soft signs.

I was looking for something different and the architecture department were unable to find a construction site willing to give access. I let them design and rebuild the house as a term project. They did an amazing job.

Sara smiled at her before signing. "I love it, it's very charming."

Did you find a house yet? She looked at both of them as they started up the steps to the house.

"We aren't looking. Gil bought a townhouse a year before we started dating. It's big enough for both of us and a baby in the future. Three bedrooms and two baths with a large kitchen." Sara had to finger spell the word 'townhouse' but other than that her signs were on point.

So they made it to Los Angeles but what will happen. I did my best to stay away from the episode 11x13 The Two Mrs. Grissoms. There are some connections but i stayed away from the story line. I did take Sara's dress from that episode and make that what she wore out with Catherine and the girls, except I turned it into a halter dress.

Fair warning, there will be a point where his mom witnesses one of Sara's post-nightmare episodes. If you haven't read my other story How it Began, it'll be hard to describe. It's rough on Sara and rougher on Grissom as all he can do is watch.