AN: I can't believe it, but we have reached the end! I want to thank everyone who's come along on this long – and interrupted – journey with me, and especially those of you who took the time to leave a comment, each and every one of them made my day. I hope you like this final chapter

Disclaimer: For the last time (for now), I do not own anything relating to CSI

Chapter 44

They drive back to Vegas on Saturday, and Monday night, they're both back at work and Shelby's with Emma.

In a way, it's nice to get back to everyday life, to their routine, but Grissom also finds himself missing the laid back, carefree days with no obligations. The thought makes him frown, since it's not really anything he's ever felt before – it's been years since he voluntarily took time off – but then he smiles, thinking of future vacations with his little family. He hopes they'll be able to go away on a somewhat regular basis, there are so many places he would like to take both Sara and Shelby.

The week after they get back, he, Sara, and Greg find themselves investigating the murder of a bridesmaid during a wedding reception. As so many times in the last few months, he and Sara remain in the break room, studying the crime scene photos, for a moment after the others leave. He loves this little routine of theirs, bouncing ideas off each other and running with theories.

He puts down a photo of what they believe to be the murder weapon – a kitschy Cupid stone statue snagged from the centerpiece on the wedding party's table – and turns his attention to Sara across the table, studying her own photo.

"Do you want to get married?" he asks, without really thinking the question through.

"In a minute," she replies absentmindedly.

Grissom frowns at her, but she's completely focused on the photo in her hand, and he can only assume she didn't hear him. He waits until she puts it down.

"Did you hear what I said?"

She looks up at him, blinking a few times before smiling, a little sheepish. "Sorry, no."

"I figured."

"I'm sorry. I'm listening."

"Do you want to get married?" he repeats, holding back a laugh at the flash of shock on her face. "I'll take that as a no."

"No! No, I…" Sara pauses, biting her lip. "I don't not want to get married, I just… I never dreamed about a big wedding and all of that like I guess most girls do. And I know part of the reason is my parents' relationship, but I just… it's not a priority, I don't need some…"

"Sara," he interrupts her rambling gently. "It's OK."

"It is?"

"I just wanted to… check in."

"Oh." She frowns. "So that wasn't…"

When he realizes what she's asking, his eyes widen. "No! Of course not. I know I'm not very romantic, but I think I can do a little better than that."

She turns her attention to another photo, but he can see a small smile playing on her lips. "Good to know."

Sara looks up from the casefile she's been studying absentmindedly, sipping on her cup of coffee and frowning at the cry finding its way into the break room. The source becomes apparent a moment later, when Warrick appears in the doorway with Eli, who's screaming his head off.

"I thought you were off tonight?" she says, pitching her voice to carry over the wailing baby.

"I am," he replies, grimacing at another shrill cry. "Wendy has the results on the DNA from the Winslow case, I wanted to get the warrant out so we can bring the boyfriend in tomorrow, hopefully."

"And Eli's not happy about it?"

He slumps down in the chair across from her and shifts his hold on the boy, cradling him against his chest instead and rocking him, which has absolutely no effect. "I forgot his teething ring at home. He was asleep, so I didn't think about it, didn't remember until I pulled into the parking lot and he woke up. Figured this wouldn't take long, but there's a note on the door to the DNA lab saying Wendy'll be back in fifteen minutes. I have no idea how long it's been on there."

Sara checks her watch. "She left around when I got here, so ten minutes ago, probably. She should be back soon."

"Great. Maybe he won't cause the whole lab hearing loss in the next five minutes."

She gets up and goes over to wash her hands in the sink before rounding the table. "Here, let me try something," she says, holding her arms out for the little boy. Warrick stands to get his son situated in her arms, and she sits down in the chair next to his. "This worked great on Shelby."

At first, Eli seems surprised at the finger she sticks in his mouth, but after a moment of her rubbing his gums, he quietens down and just looks up at her with wide eyes.

"You are a lifesaver," Warrick sighs, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes, seemingly enjoying the silence.

"No problem. Why don't you go check if Wendy's back?"

He looks hesitant. "Are you sure?"

"We'll be fine for five minutes, go," she assures him.

"Thanks, I owe you one."

She doesn't bother responding, just settles in more comfortably and kicks her feet up on the chair Warrick just vacated.

It's only a minute or so before someone else enters the room. "Um."

She looks up to find Grissom hovering a few feet away. "Hey."

"Hi. You… are you babysitting?" he asks, frowning slightly. "Shift's about to start."

"Warrick's just getting DNA results on his case from Wendy and getting a warrant out, he should be back soon," she tells him.

"Right. And… what are you doing?"

"He's teething," she explains, carefully extracting her finger from Eli's mouth since he's fallen asleep and shifting him into a more comfortable position. "Warrick forgot his teething ring at home, so I was just rubbing his gums, it helps with the pain."

He's still staring at her. No, actually, she realizes – he's staring at Eli.

It takes Grissom a few days to get up the nerve to start the conversation. "Do you want more kids?" he finally asks one evening after Shelby's fallen asleep. They're on the couch, just relaxing a little before Emma arrives and they have to go into work.

Sara was flipping through the channels on the TV, trying to find something interesting to watch, but freezes at his question.

"I haven't really thought about it," she admits after a moment. "Though, to be fair, I never really thought about kids at all, not until…"

She doesn't finish the sentence, but she doesn't have to.

"Did you think about not going through with it?" The moment the question is out of his mouth, he regrets it, because he doesn't want to know if she considered the alternative. He doesn't even want to think about a world where Shelby was never born.

"No," she says, immediately and without any hesitation, to his huge relief. "It didn't even cross my mind. I'm all for women having a right to choose, but… no."

"I'm glad."

She glances at him quickly, an expression he can't quite decipher on her face.

"That was actually…" she then continues, looking away. "It was one of the reasons I didn't tell you, back then. I did think about it, obviously, but I was afraid you'd try to convince me to have an abortion, and I just… I wouldn't have been able to stand it."

Grissom's knee-jerk reaction is to deny that he would have, but looking at the situation from her perspective, he can see why she might think that. He hates it, but he can understand it.

"Because I said it was a mistake?"

She nods, still not looking at him. "Yeah."

"I know I've already apologized for that, but I'm still sorry." He sighs. "And it wasn't… I didn't mean it the way you thought I did."

She frowns at him, but doesn't look away this time. "How many interpretations are there?" Her voice is curious, to his relief.

"I didn't mean that what happened between us was a mistake. But you were vulnerable, and I felt like I… took advantage."

There. The words are out there. It's his turn to look away from her, focusing on some movie he doesn't recognize on the TV.

"What? No. Is that what you've been thinking all this time?" The distress in her voice is obvious, and does make him feel a little better, but he still has to get everything off his chest.

"So, that's the mistake," he continues. "That's what shouldn't have happened. I shouldn't have… I should have been stronger than I was, should have been able to just… be the supportive friend that you needed and not… given into…"

"Hey, stop it!" Sara finally interrupts him, leaning into his field of vision until he meets her eyes. "You did not take advantage of me! I don't want you to ever think that. If I had said no, you would have respected that."

"Of course I would have. I would never do anything against your will. But that doesn't mean…"

"No! Listen to me, OK?" She waits until he nods. "You. Did. Not. Take. Advantage. Of. Me. Got it?"

He sighs, reaching out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. Her eyes soften a little, and he returns the small smile that appears on her lips. "Got it."

"Good. So just… promise you won't think that?"

Grissom nods. "I'll try."

She scrutinizes him for another long moment before settling back against the couch, scooting down until she can lean her head against his shoulder. He wraps an arm around her, and she lets out a breath.

"Do you?" she asks after another minute or so.

He frowns, unsure of the turn in conversation. "Do I what?"

"Want more kids," she clarifies, bringing him back to the question that started the whole conversation.

"Like you said, I haven't thought about it either. I mean, growing up, I guess I assumed I'd have kids at some point, that was just… it was what you did, you know?" He feels her nod against his shoulder. "The whole… house in the suburbs, white picket fence, two point five kids, a dog. It's probably been… twenty years since I even thought about it. And not just because the opportunity never presented itself, that life was just not something I had any interest in for a long time. But now… I missed so much. And I know having another child wouldn't make up for everything I didn't get to experience with Shelby, but…"

"You want a do-over?" Sara finishes when he trails off.

He hums. "When you put it like that, it sounds… I don't know. But in a way, I guess I do. Does that make any sense at all?"

She finds his hand and squeezes. "Of course it does."

"But it's definitely not a deal-breaker or anything," he hurries to continue. "If you're happy with the way things are, I'm not going to try to pressure you into doing something you don't want to do."

"Oh, good, I was worried about that," she replies, and he can hear the smile in her voice without even seeing it.

"Seriously," he still says, wanting to make sure there are no misunderstandings between them. "I don't want you to think you have to do this because I…" He trails off, frowning at the words that are on the tip of his tongue.

"Because you want to?" she says gently, tilting her head back to look up at him.

"Yeah," Grissom agrees, a little absentmindedly. "I'm sorry, I wasn't… I really just wanted to check in, talk it through, I didn't even realize I actually want to do this."

She chuckles a little at that. "So, you're as surprised as I am?"

"Maybe even more," he jokes back. "But, again, if this isn't something you want to do, that's it, end of discussion, OK? No pressure."

Sara smiles. "I got that. Can we maybe put the conversation on hold for a little while? Maybe until we've moved in?"

Considering he was at least half-expecting a flat out 'no', tabling the discussion feels like a huge win. "Of course. Like I said, I'm not trying to pressure you."

"I know, I know," she assures him. "And I'm not saying no, I just… I need a little time to wrap my head around everything, OK?"

"Of course."

Grissom pulls her closer, leans his cheek against the top of her head and breathes her in for a moment.

"What brought this on, anyway?" she asks. "Just a few months ago, you were freaking out about forgetting the condoms."

"I did not 'freak out'," he objects weakly, knowing that she's right and he did. "I guess it was seeing you with Eli at the lab earlier. At first, it felt like… a glimpse into the past, I guess. Something I missed out on and wouldn't get to experience. But then… I don't know, I just… it felt like it could maybe be a glimpse of the future too."

She's quiet for a long moment. "I like that idea. And I… I think I might want a do-over too."

He frowns. "Why do you want a do-over?"

"Because I want to do all of it with you."

Her words make a lump form in his throat, because he hadn't thought about it that way. He's almost certain he would be able to convince her in that moment, but he said he wouldn't try to pressure her.

"Then let's take some time, get you and Shelby moved into my place, and then we'll revisit this conversation."

They move in two days before Christmas, mostly because they're both sick of all the back and forth between her apartment and his townhouse, but also because it feels like a good start, to celebrate their first major holiday together in their house.

And the baby conversation… well, that's another story.

AN: There we are, the end! And yes, the last sentence is intentional – I have started a sequel (not promising to finish it, but I am on a writing roll at the moment, knock on wood!) I have a general idea of where I want it to go and what I want to cover, and I have the first few chapters, the final scene, and a few bits and pieces in the middle written, about 22K all in all at the moment… for now, though, I have a few fics all finished, so I figured I'd ask you guys what you want to read next!

Option 1 – a kidnapping fic taking place between the end of season 15 and the series finale, though it goes AU from around 'Forget Me Not'. This is another one of my 'what might bring Grissom back to Vegas' stories. 8 chapters plus an epilogue, about 31K words

Option 2 – a fic that takes place around the start of season 10, though it goes AU after 'Leaving Las Vegas'. I don't want to say too much more about it since it would ruin the experience of reading the actual fic, but I will say that it might be my favorite of all my GSR fics at the moment, make of that what you will! 16 chapters, about 60K words, plus a short sequel (about 2K) that I felt needed to be a separate installment, for some reason

Option 3 – another kidnapping fic, actually, taking place after 'Butterflied'. This one deals with sexual assault. 14 chapters plus an epilogue, about 54K words

So please leave a review and let me know which one of these story ideas you like the most, and I'll start posting the one that gets the most votes later this week, probably!