AN: Some Sara/Greg conversation, and Sam meeting the gang! Hope you like

Thanks to WalkerTRngr for the help

Disclaimer: I don't own anything relating to CSI

Chapter 9

They walk in silence to the park, Greg keeping his hands in his pockets and his eyes on the ground the whole way. When they've found a bench and Sara throws a tennis ball for Hank, he clears his throat.

"So, how long have you known? About the kid."

She sighs. "Greg…"

"That long, huh?"

She could lie to him, but she doesn't want to.

"Since about a week after he got back."

He's silent for a long moment.

"Wow," he then says, and she can tell that he's mad. "And here I thought we were friends."

"Come on, Greg! It wasn't my story to tell." Hank comes back with the ball, putting it down in front of Greg and cocking his head in expectation, darting off as soon as the ball leaves his hand.

"I guess," he admits, grudgingly.

"If it's any consolation, I was this close to calling you on my way home from the park," she tells him. "I really needed to talk to someone about it, but I just… like I said, it wasn't my story to tell."

"What do you mean, on your way home from the park?" he asks, sounding more curious than angry, which she counts as progress.

"That's how I found out, I ran into them here," Sara explains. "Hank was fetching balls and I guess he kind of barreled into Sam. So I was trying to make sure she was OK, she was petting Hank, and then suddenly there's Grissom, and she's calling him Dad, and I…"

"Had a meltdown?"

"Pretty much." She sighs. "I am sorry I didn't tell you."

"Apology accepted," Greg says after a moment. "So, that's when he told you the whole story?"

"Not all of it. I basically accused him of having kept her a secret the whole time we've known each other, and he told me he only found out about her two and a half years ago." She pauses. "Didn't take a genius to figure that one out. Then I basically yelled at him and left. He called a few days later, before he was coming in to help with that case you pulled a double for, remember?"

"Yeah."

"That's when he explained everything."

"And you just… forgave him?"

She shakes her head. "Not right away."

"But you have now?"

She hasn't thought about it much lately – it's been a process, in her mind, working on getting through the hurt he caused her so she can forgive him. She didn't realize she'd already gotten there at some point. "Yeah," she admits. "I guess I have."

Greg sighs, sounding resigned. "Then I guess I need to work on that too, huh?"

They get back to the house just as a car stops at the curb, and by the way Hank perks up, Sara knows it must be Sam before she even gets out of the car.

She takes a secure hold on Hank's leash as they get closer.

"Hey, kiddo."

Sam says goodbye to her friend and closes the car door before turning to her, her face lighting up. "Hi, Sara. Hi, Hank."

The dog tugs on the leash and Sara let's go enough so he can reach the girl, who immediately crouches down to scratch his ears.

"Who's a good boy, huh? Are you a good boy, Hank? Yes, you are." She places a kiss on the top of Hank's head before straightening up and focusing on Greg, eyes slightly narrowed. "Who're you?"

"You want to try that again?" Sara asks drily, raising an eyebrow.

Sam rolls her eyes but does hold out her hand with a polite smile. "Hi, I'm Sam, it's nice to meet you."

Sara can tell that Greg is charmed as he takes her hand and shakes. "Hi, Sam, it's nice to meet you too. I'm Greg."

To her surprise, Sam's smile widens. "You're Greg? You're totally cool!"

"Uh, thanks?" he says hesitantly, eyes darting to Sara. She has no idea why Sam would say that, though, so can't do more than shrug.

"Dad says you're the best DNA tech, and a really good CSI," she announces, and Sara sees the tips of Greg's ears turn red.

"He said that?"

"Uh-huh." Sam scrunches up her nose. "But he doesn't like your music. But he listens to, like, operas and stuff, so it's not like he knows what's good or anything."

Greg smiles, looping an arm around Sam's shoulder and tugging her along towards the door. "You know what, kid? I think you and I are going to get along just fine."

Sara trails behind them with Hank, a smile on her lips. She knew Greg would love Sam, as long as he gave her a shot, which she also knew he would – he might still not be ready to make friends with Grissom, but he would never hold his actions against an innocent child.

She catches up with the two new BFFs at the door and unlocks it to let all of them in, taking Hank off the leash and hanging it on the designated hook by the door.

Sam doesn't seem fazed by the many new faces, just thunders down the stairs to the kitchen island, where Grissom has started preparing the food. "Dad, can I go with Maddie to softball?"

He raises an eyebrow at the question. "You mean in addition to your swimming and gymnastics? You sure you can keep up with your schoolwork with all those activities?"

"Yeah. It's only Sunday mornings, Mrs. Stevens already said they can pick me up on the way there and drop me off after, you wouldn't have to do anything." She puts on her best puppy eyes, which Sara knows he still has a hard time resisting. "Pleeeaaaase…"

Like Sara expects, he sighs. "OK, fine. On a trial basis, OK? If your schoolwork starts suffering, we're going to talk about it again, got it?"

"Yes! And it won't, I promise." She gives him a quick hug. "Thanks, Dad."

"No problem. Now can you be polite and say hi to everyone?" he asks drily, turning her around by the shoulders to face the rest of the room.

Sam smiles and gives a general wave to the group. "Hi."

Catherine, who's closest, takes point. "Hi, Sam, it's very nice to meet you. I'm…"

"Catherine," Sam cuts her off. "I know."

Catherine arches an eyebrow at Grissom. "You've been telling her about us, huh?"

He just shrugs.

"You were easy," Sam says, her eyes moving to Brass. "And you're Jim. Or Brass? Dad calls you Jim, but Sara says Brass. I didn't know they were talking about the same person at first."

Brass smiles. "I bet that was confusing. But you can call me Jim."

"OK." She turns her attention to Nick and Warrick, who have claimed stools next to each other. "I don't know which one of you is which."

Nick smiles at her. "I'm Nick, and he's Warrick."

"Oh, I would have gotten it when you started talking," Sam says. "He sounds just like Miss Owens, right Dad?"

Grissom nods in agreement. "He does, I hadn't thought about that."

"Miss Owens was my teacher in Williamstown," she explains. "She's from Austin."

"Well, that's where I grew up too, so no wonder we sound alike."

"I like the way you talk, it's nice."

Nick flushes a little at the compliment. "Why, thank you, little lady."

Riley snorts. "Now you're just exaggerating."

Sam giggles. "Yeah, that was too much." She focuses on the last team member. "You're Riley. I don't know that much about you."

"That's OK, I'm still kind of new," Riley says with a smile.

"I know."

"OK, I don't know about the rest of you," Sara starts, "but I'm getting hungry, so how about we move this outside?"

"These are done," Grissom says, nodding at the platter with cut up vegetables and mushrooms. "If you take them out and get the grill going, I'll get the chicken and the sausages ready."

Nick takes the platter and gives Sara a questioning look. "Sara Sidle allowing meat on her grill? I never thought I'd see the day."

Sara rolls her eyes, opening the fridge to grab a few different sauces and two large sodas that Warrick immediately takes off her hands. "I'm a vegetarian for personal reasons, I'm not looking to convert anyone. As long as I don't have to cook it or eat it, I'm good."

"I think it's cool to be a vegetarian," Sam announces as she leads the way out to the patio. "But I like hamburgers too much."

It's a nice day, clear blue skies with temperatures in the mid-seventies. Sara's already brought out a few extra chairs so everyone will have somewhere to sit, but it will be a bit of a tight fit for nine people.

And a dog – Hank's trailed after them and now flops down in a corner, letting out a big doggie huff.

"Make yourselves comfortable," she says, putting down the bottles in her hands. "I'll go get plates and stuff, be right back."

"You need a hand?" Jim offers, but she brushes him off.

"No, I've got it. Sit, be social."

"It's like you don't know him at all," Catherine teases.

Their bickering follows her back into the house and Sara shakes her head amusedly.

"How's it going?" she asks as she comes into the kitchen, and Grissom looks up.

"All done," he replies. "I could have handled the rest, you know."

She gets plates and glasses and cutlery stacked on a tray before turning to him, eyeing the large platter of sliced chicken and sausage. "Really?"

He glances between the tray and the platter. "OK, probably not."

"It's good that you know your limits."

It's a great afternoon. Sam is a huge hit, like Sara knew she would be, charming everyone effortlessly. Her potential softball career hasn't even started yet, but she still invites everyone to the team's first game in a few weeks.

She falls asleep stretched sideways in her chair around nine thirty, and Sara nudges Grissom, who's on her other side, with her elbow to pull his attention.

"Time to call it a night?"

He leans over, a soft smile spreading on his face. "Yeah, she's out for the count."

"And those of us who are working tonight probably need to get going," Catherine points out, earning a groan from Nick and Greg at the reminder.

"Why can't we all get a night off together just once?" Nick grumbles. "Is that too much to ask?"

"According to Clark County, apparently," she says with a shrug.

"But it is my night off, and I'm planning on spending it on the couch," Sara pipes in.

"I think the lady of the house is trying to kick us out," Warrick interprets. "Let's get going, people."

Everyone getting up wakes Sam, who rubs the sleep out of her eyes before trudging off inside to use the bathroom before the drive home.

Grissom starts loading the dishwasher, and Sara's surprised to see Greg join him. She walks the others to the door before returning to the kitchen, looking between them suspiciously. "Everything OK here?"

Greg hands the plate he just rinsed off to Grissom and shrugs. "I just… there's something I need to do, OK?" He glances around to make sure Sam's still in the bathroom. "I know you're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself. But he wasn't here, after he left. Well, obviously, he wasn't. But he didn't see what he did to you. I did. I picked up the pieces. And…" He turns to Grissom instead for the last part of his little speech. "If you hurt her again, I will find you and I will… I'm not sure what I'll do, but I can promise you it'll be painful. OK?"

Sara knows she absolutely cannot laugh, but it's hard not to. Greg serious always feels a little like the Twilight zone, and him squaring off to Grissom is kind of like a kid standing up to the principal. But she knows this must be a big deal to him, so she manages to maintain a straight face.

Grissom seems to realize it's important too, because he turns to face Greg fully. "I understand, Greg."

"Good. Good."

"Actually, I wanted to… to thank you," he continues. "For being here when I… couldn't be."

Greg looks about as surprised as Sara feels. Before he can reply, though, Sam appears, signaling the need to drop the subject.

Sara gives it a half hour after they've left before she finds her phone and sends off a message.

What was that about thanking Greg?

It's a minute or so before his reply pops up on her phone.

I'm sorry, I should have talked to you about that first. I just know how important it was that you had Greg back then and I wanted him to know that I know that and that I appreciate it, and when he gave me an opening, I took it

She's smiling to herself when the phone pings again.

Sorry?

The question mark makes her laugh, and she starts typing a response before deciding to call instead.

"I didn't realize that required a phone call," he greets her. "Am I in serious trouble?"

"No, not at all. It was… sweet, honestly. And I think Greg appreciated it."

"Good, that's what I was hoping for." He pauses for a moment. "So, apart from the couch, what's on the agenda for your night off?"

The microwave beeps at that moment. "Well, my popcorn is ready, and the next step is to find something to watch."

She finds a bowl and pours the popcorn into it.

"Well, Casablanca's on in… three minutes."

She grabs a soda from the fridge and takes everything to the living room, where Hank is sprawled out in his bed. He raises his head at the smell of popcorn, but realizing she won't be sharing, he huffs and lies back down.

"What channel?"

Monday is Greg's night off, and Tuesday, they only see each other at assignments before going off to different crime scenes, so it's not until their movie date on Wednesday that they actually get to talk.

To Sara's huge relief, the movie is indeed not a horror movie, and is actually pretty funny.

"Did you think I was lying to get you to go to a horror movie?" Greg asks amusedly when she mentions it.

"No… OK, maybe," she admits. "Come on, it had zombie in the title! And you did tell me that The Grudge was a movie about a woman getting back at her cheating husband."

"OK, first of all, that movie was huge!" he chuckles. "I thought you knew what it was about!"

She has to laugh too. "Well, I didn't. Because I don't like horror movies!"

"Oh, don't worry, I got that." Greg glances at her sideways. "I might have also been trying to figure out what was going on with you and Grissom."

"Ah." It makes sense, in a way – they started their bi-weekly or so movie dates the spring Grissom was on his 'extended' sabbatical, and now that she thinks about it, several of the movies they actually watched, plus the made-up synopsis of a horror movie she apparently should have recognized, did deal with different relationship issues. "I should have known you were trying to pry."

"Yeah, I did think you'd figure it out. But then again, you were a bit… preoccupied at the time."

Sara sighs. "I was. And I don't know if I ever thanked you for being there for me, but I really did appreciate it."

"You did," he assures her. "And now he did. That was weird, right? It wasn't just me?"

"It was a little weird," she admits. "But he knows how much of a support you were to me back then, and he wanted to… show you how much he appreciates it, I guess."

He hums as he studies the menu for a moment, even though they're at Frank's and he's just going to get the cheeseburger with curly fries like he always does.

"Speaking of Grissom… I'm going to work on getting along better with him, OK?"

She looks up from her own menu. "Really?"

"Yeah." Greg shrugs. "I'm not saying we're going to be BFFs or anything, but… I do understand. Could he have handled it better? Sure. But I honestly have no idea how I would react in a situation like that, so I'm… choosing to forgive him for hurting you in the process."

She reaches over to squeeze his hand. "Thanks, Greg, that means a lot to me. And I know it will to him too."

"Yeah, yeah. So, if you were waiting on my… blessing or whatever, I guess you have it."

"What do you mean?" Sara asks with a frown.

"Catherine said you guys were 'just friends' – she used the air quotes, I'm not adding those, by the way – and I just wanted to make sure you know I won't, like, stop being your friend or something if you guys get back together. Even if I was still pissed at him, I wouldn't do that."

She would be lying if she said she hadn't been a little worried about what Greg might say, if she and Grissom did decide to try the whole relationship thing again. Not that it's going to happen any time soon, if ever. "I appreciate that, I do. We are just friends, though."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"But… why? You said you've forgiven him, right?"

"I have," she confirms. "I understand that he was just… doing the best he could with a difficult situation. And I'm not mad, but… forgiving someone doesn't mean that the hurt goes away, you know. I guess I'm still working through that."

Greg nods thoughtfully. "I get that. But you're not worried he's going to pull something like that again, right?"

She considers for a moment. The odds of a similar situation are extremely low, but even putting that aside, she can honestly say that she is not the least bit worried that Grissom would hurt her again, whether consciously or inadvertently. He's different. A good different, more… open, more aware of his own feelings and the feelings of the people around him. Less closed off. It might not work, if they try the whole dating thing again – there are never any guarantees in life, after all – but if it doesn't, she's pretty sure they would be able to remain friends.

"No," she says eventually. "I'm not worried he would hurt me again. I know he wouldn't."

"And… you're still in love with him."

It's not a question, but Sara still answers it. "Yeah."

"And he's clearly still completely head over heels for you."

"You think so?"

He gives her a supremely unimpressed look. "Yes. It's completely obvious. Everybody knows. And you've been spending time together, right?"

"Yeah. I mean, with Sam, so not just the two of us," she clarifies.

"Never?"

"I mean, I guess at work, technically, but that's work, you know. And a couple of times when Sam's fallen asleep when we're at their place, but never… intentionally."

"Well, I think you need to work on that," he announces.

She raises an eyebrow. "Oh, you do, do you?" She can't keep the hint of annoyance out of her voice. He makes it sound so easy…

"What can I get you two?" the waitress asks, appearing at their table and putting down their drinks in front of them.

Greg orders the cheeseburger Sara knew he would, and she goes for the tuna melt.

The waitress disappears and Greg leans back in the booth. "Look, Sara… I don't think I have to say this, but I just want you to be happy."

She knows that, of course. "I'm fine," she tells him. She's honestly not sure how much stock he even puts into her assurances these days, God knows she's abused the phrase in the last few years.

"I know," he replies. "I know you're fine. You've been 'fine'…" The air quotes are obvious in his voice. "OK, not since he left, you were a mess for a while there. But I know you've been fine without him, and I know you probably would have been fine if you never saw him again, but…he's back now. So maybe it's time to shoot for something more than just fine?"

When he puts it like that. "I'm working on it, OK."