It's close to 10am when Sara finally lent her head back against the headrest of her car and let out a long sigh of exasperation after parking in their driveway. Of course the night that Grissom was off was the night it went absolutely crazy and of course it was the night the idiot tourist decided "What happens in Vegas" means take enough PCP to take out a rhinoceros and go on a rampage through a strip mall and, because this is Vegas that strip mall has a tiny casino in it which meant some very opportunistic people helped themselves to goods and chips. Sara had been printing for hours and was ready for some breakfast and her bed.

She walks into the kitchen and finds Grissom stood doing the crossword by the coffee pot, sensing her presence he turns around and smiles warmly at her "I heard shift was interesting."

"Who'd you talk to?" Sara crouches down and says hello to the dog with some pats on the head.

"Catherine. She says if I ever dare take time off again it'll be the last thing I do." He shrugs. "Coffee?"

"No thank you. I just came in for a quick snack before bed." She walks past him to get to the fruit bowl but is stopped when he grabs her waist and spins her round pressing her against the counter and kisses her.

"Good morning." He says breaking the kiss. "I think I forgot to tell you how beautiful you looked last night."

She smiles and kisses him back "Thanks." She goes to push him backwards "I need a shower and some sleep."

"I can help with that." He kisses her again and slowly moves down her neck. She slowly feels her resolve slipping as she leans into the kiss, there's a knock at the door and Sara goes to break the kiss "Ignore it." He says against her mouth whilst his hands move to the edge of her shirt and move under it, they slide up her back finding the clasp of her bra and with a snap it pops open. He smirks against her lips and if they weren't closed her eyes would have rolled. He moves his hands to the hem of her shirt and removes it flinging it across the kitchen and then he hears the scream. Normally hearing his wife scream is something he enjoys however, this scream is a scream of terror, he immediately turns and sees an old woman holding the shirt and bra that had just been thrown at her.

"Mom?!" Grissom yells his hands automatically signing the word as he sees her.

"Mom?!" Sara echoes from behind him and she reaches for a towel to cover herself.

"What are you doing here?" He asks and signs at the same time.

"We had plans." Betty Grissom signs back at him "Your birthday." She adds on the end and Grissom could kick himself he'd made the plans a long time ago, before he'd married Sara. He'd booked them tickets to art show in one of the Casinos. The memory slams into him full force, it was the whole reason he'd taken the night off. "If you and your friend have other plans though…"

"No. No plans." He signs and then remembers Sara "Mom, this is Sara." He speaks as he introduces them.

"Gil." Sara nudges him from behind and Grissom indicates to the shirt his mother is holding and she hands it over to him. He passes it to Sara who tries to maintain her dignity as she tries to slip back into the shirt without giving her mother-in-law a full view of her breasts. She counts herself lucky that Greg was meeting with Curtis and a real-estate agent this morning after the building failed its code inspection again. Things would have been much worse if Greg had been there to witness their shame, although she's sure that if Greg had been home Grissom wouldn't have started stripping her in the kitchen.

Grissom does his best to shield Sara from his mother and the three of them were stood awkwardly in the kitchen, Sara still hiding behind her husband, Grissom praying that his mother hadn't seen him with an erection and Betty just looking confused. "I'm uh going to go bed." Sara announced and reflexively Grissom translated into ASL for his mother. She finally stepped out from behind her husband and with shaky nervous hands signed "Hello, it is nice to meet you." Betty just smiles in response.

"Mom, why don't you and I have a coffee and we let Sara sleep. She only just got home and I'm sure you want plenty of time to interrogate me." He signs to his mother before turning to Sara and squeezing her hand as he says "Sleep well." She smiles back at him.

"Good night" She signs to Betty and walks out of the room with the last of her remaining dignity.

Betty smiles as she walks out of the room and then turns towards her son.

"So who is Sara?"

Grissom thinks for a moment before signing "Sara and I…" The rest of his answer is cut off when the door opens and closes again.

"Hey!" Greg announces as he walks in and stops as he sees Grissom's mom. "Who's this?"

"Greg this is my mom Betty Grissom." Grissom says as he looks at his mother "Mom this is Greg, he works with Sara and I, he's staying in the guest room whilst his apartment is repaired." Greg watches with fascination as Grissom signs to his mother.

"Nice to meet you Mrs G." Grissom looks surprised as Greg signs fluently "I learned ASL in college." Greg explains making sure to keep signing.

"I'm sure she appreciated it." Grissom added

Greg feigns hurt and looks at Grissom "You know what they say about assumptions" Greg points out and Grissom cocks an eyebrow at him "That you boss are usually correct."

"I've got news but I'll share it later, I'm going to hit the hay." He then adds for Betty "I bet you have some wonderful stories. I look forward to getting all his secrets out of you." He winks at her and Grissom just frowns.

"You tell him nothing." Grissom tells his mother and she just pats his arm in response. He indicates to the coffee pot and his mother nods.

He makes them the coffee and they sit there and Betty waits for Grissom to start talking. "Who is Sara?" Betty finally asks.

He sits for a moment and thinks before slowly signing "Sara is my wife."

Betty ponders for a moment "Your wife? I didn't even know you were seeing someone?"

"We got married at the end of February." Betty ponders this.

"Nearly 7 months?" Betty is surprised although Grissom can tell from her eyes that there's sadness in them.

"It was sudden."

"Sudden was she…" Betty lets her hands trail off from what she was saying and drop towards her stomach.

Picking up on her meaning straight away "No Mom. No." He takes a breath "Sara wasn't pregnant." He pauses again "It's complicated. I'm sorry I didn't telly you. I wanted to introduce you in person. I didn't mean for you to meet Sara like this." Meaning he absolutely did not intend for his mother to meet his wife whilst she was topless and he was rounding second and heading for third base. "I'm going to get dressed and we'll head to the gallery."

He quickly leaves the kitchen and heads up to his bedroom where he's not surprised when he finds Sara still wide awake on the bed. "Sorry about that." He tells her, she snorts and he shrugs.

"That, is not how I planned on meeting my mother-in-law." Sara says firmly.

"I'm sorry honey." Grissom says sincerely as he begins to change his shirt. "Try and get some sleep and we'll have dinner before work tonight." He leans down and kisses her "And at some point we're going to finish what was started in that kitchen." She shakes her head.

… … … … … …

Grissom and his mother walk around the art show at the Bellagio and mostly talk about art, it's not until they've been walking around for an hour does Betty decide she's going to get some answers.

"How old is Sara?"

"33" He hesitates as he signs it, he's sure his mother is going to have opinions on that.

"She's young." Betty doesn't hold back.

"Younger Mom. Not Young." He fights back a smirk, it's almost exactly what Sara said to her Mom when she called him old.

"Considerably younger." Betty points out and Grissom frowns. "When did you get together?"

"I met Sara back in 1998 at a conference."

"That's not what I asked Gilbert."

"We've always had a relationship." His mother gives him a pointed glare.

"You've been together since 1998? Why have I not met her? Or even heard of her?"

Grissom thinks for a moment and hesitantly signs "We've only been in a romantic relationship for seven months. It's complicated."

"Complicated?"

"Work…" Any further conversation is cut off by the furious glare of his mother.

"She works for you." It's a statement rather than a question.

"It's not like that." He tries to defend her.

"She was very young in 98." His mother may be an artist but she's an intelligent woman and it doesn't take her long to figure out that "You were over 40." She pauses "You were her teacher."

"Mom I feel like you're reading something that isn't there." He tries to defend the relationship.

"She's young, she's beautiful…" Grissom briefly entertains the thought that at least his mom thinks he managed to land a beautiful wife and enjoys it "...you were her teacher, now you're her boss and I know you do quite well for yourself."

"Mom." He pauses to emphasize the point "Sara is not to trying to advance herself socially or professionally be being in a relationship with me." He sighs "Please give her a chance." Betty thinks for a moment and nods. "Thank you."

… … … … … …

Sara is nervously waiting for Grissom and his mother to come home. She's channelled the nervous energy into cooking but now the veggie lasagne is slowly cooking in the oven, she has sides prepared along with dessert and the house is spotless.

She hears as a car door opens and she smooths down the most modest blouse she could find and Greg just laughs from his position on the couch. "What?" She asks him.

"You need to chill out. Mama Grissom isn't that bad."

"You're only saying that because you weren't there when she arrived." She grumbles.

"Really?" What? She walk in on you two…" rather than give him a look that strikes fear into his soul, as usually happens when he tries to joke about their sex life, she looks away "…you know what I don't want to know."

Any smart ass remark Sara has is cut off when the front door opens and Grissom and his mom walk back in "Hello." Sara signs. "I'm Sara." She holds her hand out and it is hesitantly shaken by Betty.

Betty looks at Grissom and signs to him "I'd like to wash up before dinner."

Grissom looks between Sara and his mother nervously "Of course Mom, I'll show you to the guest bath."

Sara sighs as they walk out of the room.

… … … … … …

"Smells good honey" Grissom tells Sara as she serves the lasagne and Greg follows with the sides, they all start helping themselves to the side salad.

Betty waves to get her daughter-in-law's attention "Sara, Gil didn't tell me. How did you two meet?" Grissom translates for his mother shooting her a glare as she asks the question.

"We met at a conference in 98 out in San Fransisco." Her signing isn't there yet and Grissom translates for her. "I was late for a lecture he gave and when I went to apologise and ask some questions and it went from there really."

"You had too many questions about anthropology." Grissom smirks.

"You were a student?" Betty asks breaking the moment.

"No. It was a forensic conference I was working for the San Fransisco crime lab at the time."

"You were new to the profession?"

"No, I was a level two."

"So young?"

"Sara's a bit of a prodigy Mom. Graduated early."

"How early?"

"I finished High School when I was 16."

"She's being modest." Grissom told her "She was her high school valedictorian at 16, had a full ride to Harvard and then graduate school at Berkeley."

"Are you from the East Coast originally?"

"Tomales Bay" Sara finger spells the name "Just north of San Fransisco."

"Your parents were ok with you moving to the other side of the country?"

Sara hesitates "My father died when I was 12 and my mother and I had a complex relationship at the time." Grissom finishes translating and gives Sara's hand a reassuring squeeze.

Betty nods sadly "Are you and Gil going to have any children?"

Sara freezes whilst Grissom nearly chokes on the mouthful of water he'd just taken before she asked the question.

"Uhhh." She says before Grissom throws her a bone and tells his mother that children are not in their immediate future.

Sensing the awkward situation "Mama G." Greg who'd been sat quietly eating his Lasagne whilst Sara was interrogated by Betty, taps Betty on the shoulder "Do you have any good stories about this one?" He indicates to Grissom and Sara smiles whilst Grissom shoots him a look that tells him decomps are in his near future.

… …. … …. … …

Grissom walks his mother to the door "Thank you for giving her a chance."

"I'm still not sure Gilbert." His mother tells him honestly. "I worry that she's too young. You're in very different places in your lives."

"We're happy Mom. Both of us." He kisses her on the cheek "Good night."