AN: Thanks for the continued support as I slowly get through this story. Sorry it's a little later on a Sunday (my time) than usual, but I didn't have time earlier in the day, so here you go, Enjoy!

Chapter 15: Start of new beginnings

New Years Eve, 2000

It wasn't very common that both Sara and Grissom took time off together, or period for that matter, unless it was an emergency that couldn't be helped. But since one of Sara's best friends, Jo, was coming in from Boston, and only had time to stay for two days, they both decided to call in today to give them more time to hang out with her.

Not long after Jo showed up with her boyfriend, Josh, of five years, Quinn and Ashley showed up as well, then a few hours later, it was time to take Belle to one of her friend's house since they were doing a birthday/sleepover, but as excited as the little girl was on going to this sleepover, she was a little sad to be leaving the house since she hardly gets to spend any time with her 'aunt' Jo, so as they were saying goodbye to one another, Jo smiled at her. "I'll tell you what, how about tomorrow I'll pick you up from your friend's house and we can spend the whole day together, doing whatever you want."

Belle nodded with a smile. "I'll really like that, thank you aunt Jo."

"You're welcome sweetheart, you have a good time."

"I will."

She said goodbye to the rest of them, including her mother since her father was the one that was going to drop her off, then Belle grabbed her backpack, sleeping bag and pillow before her and her dad walked out of the house, leaving the girls and Josh behind.

But it wasn't very long after Grissom and Belle left that Josh left as well, wanting to visit a cousin who had moved just outside the San Francisco area so the girls could have some alone time.

They were now in the kitchen, Sara getting her girl's favorite drinks, but when it came to Jo, she stopped Sara in her tracks. "I'm actually going to have to have something different, something that doesn't have alcohol in it."

They all looked at her wide-eyed and Quinn smirked. "What are you like pregnant or something?"

Jo doesn't react at first, causing Sara to gasp. "Oh my god you are."

Finally Jo let the smile and excitement grow on her face while she nodded. "As a matter of fact, I am." As the girls squealed and came up to her to give her hugs, Jo continued. "I knew I wouldn't be here very long before I told you guys."

After the girls pulled back from their hug, Sara asked. "And Josh will be ok that you told us without him?"

"Yeah, he kind of knew it would happen anyways."

They all chuckled before Ashley spoke. "Yeah, try keeping secrets in this group is impossible."

After they all chuckled in agreement, Sara asked again. "And how is Josh dealing with the news?"

Jo took a breath. "Well at first he freaked out, which to be honest so did I, we didn't exactly plan for this to happen yet. But once we got true conformation it's really happening, he's been nothing but great, and while we are doing things a little backwards, we realize we do want this now." Jo took another breath with a wide smile. "I'm going to be a mom."

Sara gave Jo another hug. "Congratulations."

While they pulled back, Quinn comes in with another smirk. "It's ok, Sara still has us beat with the backwards, she kissed her man and fell in love with him before she even knew his name."

As they were lightly chuckling, Sara shook her head with a smile. "And do we always have to go over this, whose fault is that in the first place?"

Now it was Ashley's turn to smirk. "But you're still thanking us for it."

Sara nodded with a smile. "Yes, I am, best accepted bet of my life."

They all smiled, and while Jo went to the fridge to look for a drink, she asked. "So, anything new in your girl's life?"

Quinn was the first one to speak after she took a sip of her white wine. "I guess I'll go first, Brad and I decided to call it quits."

They looked at her with sympathy as Jo replied. "I'm sorry."

Quinn shook it off. "It was honestly time, we just grew apart, it happens." She then smirked again. "I mean it might be a rarity in this group, but it does happen." When they just kept looking at her with sympathy, she continued, being a little more serious. "It's ok guys, I'll be ok, it's not like this is my first break-up." She then smirked one more time. "And besides, three years was a great run for me, and a record if I'm not mistaken."

They all shook their heads with small smiles before their attention turned to Ashley, and Ashley shook her head. "Nothing new to report, maybe besides the last few dates, if you even want to call them that, turned out to be disasters."

They gave her condolences and sympathy before they turned their attention to Sara, and Jo asked. "And what about you, any new developments, professionally or personally?"

Sara really wanted to tell them right then and there that she was finally engaged to love of her life, but deep down from the moment he had proposed, she always knew she wanted to tell them when he was next to her, so she shook her head and replied as she was lifting up her beer to take a drink. "Nope."

Quinn then got into the conversation. "That's not what I heard. I heard you had a new man living here."

Jo looked at Sara with wide eyes. "What?"

Almost choking on her drink, Sara replied. "Ok, it's not the way that sounds." She looked at Jo and explained. "First of all, his name is Nick, secondly, he worked with Grissom for a year in Vegas, and thirdly he transferred from there to come here, and he would be living in a hotel right now until he could find a decent place to live if we didn't offer him a place to stay."

Jo nodded in understanding before asking with a smile. "So, is he cute?"

Now it was Sara's turn to look at Jo with wide eyes. "Jo!?"

Jo chuckled. "What? Just because I'm in a committed relationship and pregnant with his child, doesn't mean I can't ask questions?"

Before Sara had a chance to speak, Quinn did. "I haven't met him yet, but I heard he was pretty hot."

Sara could see Ashley looking down at her drink, before she looked and spoke to Quinn. "And where did you get this information?"

Quinn smirked again. "Did you forget who I work with?"

Sara nodded. "Oh right."

One of the lab rats in the lab was best friends with one of Quinn's colleagues at the news station, so she had to have heard it from her since she doesn't think Ashley told her she had already met him.

"So, is he going to be here tonight?"

"I would imagine so."

Quinn smiled as she lifted up her wine glass. "Nice."

When Sara saw that Ashley was slowly taking a sip from her drink, seeing how Quinn was talking about Nick affecting her, she looked at Quinn again. "Didn't you and Brad just break up?"

"What? Haven't you heard of a rebound. I'm not looking for anything serious right now."

"And how do you know he's even looking for anything right now?"

Quinn smirked one more time. "And what man isn't ever looking for no strings attached?"

Well knowing what she knew, and the conversation she had with Nick, she knew he wasn't, but since it was his personal business, Sara just replied with. "Probably someone who is just settling in a new life." Which technically wasn't a lie since he did say that to her.

"Do you want to make a bet on that?"

Sara shook her head. "Actually, I don't. I'm going to sit this one out."

Quinn looked at the other two women, and since Ashely had her own reasons to decline the bet, she shook her head while getting out of the chair she had been sitting on and walked towards the backdoor, Sara following as Jo, who didn't feel right about the bet either, taking the que from Sara, shook her head also while following the other girls outside. "I'm out too."

Quinn just took a breath and shook her head, wondering what was up with them, it wasn't like she was asking them to make a bet that she was would be committing a crime, before she joined her friends outside on the deck.

Later that evening

A few hours after Grissom came home, Quinn and Ashley left to go to their respective places to get ready and pack a bag just in case they'll be staying the night, then not long after, Nick showed up and met Jo and Josh before they all went into their respective rooms to get ready for the evening.

Once Sara took her shower, Grissom was next while Sara got dressed, then when he walked out of the bathroom wearing a nice dress suit and pants, he stopped the moment he saw his fiancé in a dress, which wasn't an everyday look for her, not that he would complain about any look she goes for.

Sara was standing in front of the dresser, and she turned her head to see Grissom still standing by the doorway to their bathroom, so she smiled as she asked. "Can you come zip me up?"

He took a breath as he walked up to her. "Gladly." He stops at her back and runs a hand down it as he softly whispers in her ear. "But up know what I would like to be doing right now."

She stops a pleasant shiver as she closed her eyes and whispered in return. "If we didn't have people in our house and aren't about to have a fuller house, I wouldn't stop you, but..."

He cuts her off as his hand finally reached the zipper to her thin strap red dress that went down to her knees. "I know, raincheck, then."

When the zipper was all the way up, she turned around in his arms and cupped his cheek with a smile. "Absolutely."

After their kiss, which only left them wanting more, she turned back around, opened the top drawer on the right and pulled out the ring box while asking. "Now the question is what should I do about this piece of jewelry?"

There was a slight pause before Grissom's hand went over hers that was holding the box and replied. "I have an idea."

As he took the ring box from her hand, she spoke as she turned around, watching him put it in his pocket. "Propose again?"

He smiled. "If you don't mind me doing it in front of all those people. They wouldn't know it will be the second time I propose to you."

She nodded with a smile. "Oh, I like that."

"Yeah? I know how much you like to keep our personal life private."

She chuckles as she replied with a raised eyebrow. "Babe, I think that's you." When he gave her a look, she conceded. "Ok, maybe that's me too, to some extent, but let's just say that if you had proposed for the first time in front of people, I wouldn't have been mad."

He nodded with another smile. "Yeah, but what if I just wanted that moment with you to myself."

"And like I said, that night it was perfect. Now I just want to show the rest of the world that I'm engaged to the love of my life, I don't want to hide that fact anymore."

He cupped her cheek. "You won't have to, I'll do it early in our evening."

"Thank you. I love you so much."

"I love you too."

After another kiss, they looked in the mirror to make sure everything was good before they walked out of the room, down the hall, down the stairs until they reached the kitchen to pull out the snacks/dessert and drinks from the fridge before setting everything up on the kitchen island and table, which by then Josh, Jo, and Nick were downstairs helping them.

Before the guests started arriving, Grissom had a moment with Nick to make sure he was doing ok, knowing the holidays had to be a little rough for him right now, but Nick shook his head with a smile and patted Grissom's back. "Hey man, I'm good, and this could be good for me. I mean what else am I going to do? Hide away and sulk in my room all night? That doesn't sound like fun at all, besides just because I'm not in the mood to being 'out' there yet, doesn't mean I can't be out here, right?"

Grissom nodded with a smile. "Ok, and for the record we are expecting single acquaintances as well, so it's not a complete buzzkill for those who don't have dates."

While Grissom was still uncomfortable with 'people' inside his place, he has gotten better about it since he started living with Sara, so they actually have get-togethers with a few people on the block and people they work with a couple times a year, New Years Eve being one of them. In fact, it had been a big hit last year, according to what they heard, so who knows how many people will show up tonight, but Grissom was trying to prepare himself on that fact all week.

Nick nodded with a smile. "Good to know." Then after the doorbell rung, Grissom turned to walk out of the room, and Nick asked after clearing his throat. "Uh, including Ashley, right?"

Grissom turned back around to look at Nick, and while it might have been neutral on the outside, he was actually smiling on the inside as he nodded. "Yes, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if that was her right now." They hear Sara greeting the guest, then Grissom heard the two women's voices. "Yep, there she is and Quinn." Grissom turned back around to walk out of the room, but turned back to Nick one more time. "Oh, and fair warning, to put this as nicely as I can, Quinn just became single and already ready to mingle, if you get..."

While Sara only told Grissom that Quinn was now single, Grissom knew Quinn long enough to know how she'll act tonight, he just wanted to give Nick a heads up.

Nick cuts him off with another nod. "She'll be a little friendlier to the single guys, got it."

Grissom just nodded with a smile before he turned and walked out of the room, Nick following behind, and when the two men made it into the living room, they do in fact see it was Quinn and Ashley.

Ashley and Nick share a smile before Quinn, who was oblivious to that interaction, walked up to Nick and spoke with a smile as she held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Quinn Linley."

Nick, being the polite man he was, shook Quinn's hand with a smile, but he wasn't exactly looking at her, he was looking at Ashely, who was standing behind Quinn. "Hi Quinn, I'm Nick Stokes."

As they release hands there was another ring to the doorbell, so the girls moved along so the rest of the guests could come in and meet Nick.

30 minutes later

Once the last of the guests arrived, which they were actually surprised the group wasn't bigger, and they had gotten their beverage of choice, Grissom got everybody's attention, clearing his throat. "Before we let you all get to know one another there is something I want to say, first of all, thank you for coming, we appreciate you for wanting to spend your evening with us, let's make it a warm and welcoming time for everyone here." After around of cheering, Grissom turns to look at Sara and he continued with more passion in his tone, or at least as much passion as he can muster in front of people. "And last but certainly not least, I want to thank the woman that I love for taking a chance on me, for building this wonderful life with me, even when things weren't so simple and we spent most of our years together in different states, thank you for being the best mom a little girl could ask for, especially when she was pulling double duty when I couldn't be here."

When he got a little more emotional at that part, Sara was about to speak. "Griss..."

But he cuts her off as he stepped closer to her. "But I'm here now, and these last two years have been nothing but short of amazing, and I can't wait to see what the New Year has in store for us, but I do have one request, will you spend the Next Year and many more after as my wife?"

Sara's friends gasped while Sara had tears in her eyes, even though she already knew it was coming, as she watched Grissom get down on one knee, pulling the ring box out of his pocket.

She then nodded as she replied. "Always, and forever."

He smiled and placed his drink on the floor so he could take the ring out of the box and slide it down her ring finger, then he picked up his glass, placed the now empty box back in his pocket, cupped her cheek before they shared a very romantic kiss in front of everyone, which they all cheered again.

After they pulled back, they smile at one another, and both mouthed. 'I love you' Before Sara's girls came between them so they could check out the ring and give her their personal congratulations.

While the girls were giving Sara their congratulations, Nick walked up to him and held out his hand. "Congratulations, Griss."

Grissom smiled as he shook the younger man's hand. "Thank you."

As they release hands, the girls congratulated Grissom while Nick gave Sara a hug before the rest of the group chimed in.

Throughout most of the evening, Quinn was right there talking to Nick while Ashley watched as she was talking to some of the single men that came up to her, but eventually, not 'feeling' it towards those other men and wanting a break from watching Quinn flirt with Nick, she excused herself and headed for the bathroom first before sneaking out to the back deck, hoping none of the guys would look for her.

A few minutes later, Ashley, with the door behind her back, hears the sliding door open and she closes his eyes with a soft sigh, then just as she was about to speak, she hears the man's voice.

"You ok? I didn't see you come back into the room, so I got a little worried."

Ashley opened her eyes wide as she turned around to look a Nick in surprise. "You were?"

Nick nodded with a smile as he walked up to her. "I was."

Ashley took a breath and replied as she turned back around to out in the darken ocean. "Oh, I'm fine. I just needed a break from in there."

Nick chuckled with a nod as he stopped next to her. "You weren't feeling it with those other guys?"

She chuckled in return. "Absolutely not."

Nick took a breath before replying. "I know what you mean." When he turned his head to look at Ashley, she was looking a little shocked, considering who he had been talking to for most of the evening, and he continued. "I mean I know she's a friend of yours, and I don't want to talk bad about her."

Ashley spoke with a small smile. "No, on one hand I totally get it, while she's never cheated on any of her previous boyfriends, and even rejected one of mine when he tried to put the moves on her." When he looked shocked at that, she continued with a nod. "Yep, true story, I'll tell you about that one day." She took a breath before finishing. "Let's just say when she's single she isn't exactly shy on what she wants when she wants it."

He nodded in understanding before asking. "And what's on the other hand?"

Ashley took another breath before speaking softly as she looked back towards the ocean. "I haven't exactly seen many men reject her when she is offering."

He took a breath and placed his hand on hers as he replied softly. "Then I must be in the rare group of men." Once again she looked surprised, but when he didn't see rejection in her eyes or face, he kept his hand on top of hers as he spoke again. "Look, I'm not going to lie and say I didn't wish it was you I had been talking to this evening or deny that I like you, but I'm just not in the right place to be dating anyone right now."

When he looked towards the darken ocean, while his hand was still on hers, she threaded her fingers through his as she replied with sympathy. "You got your heart broken." They have eye contact again as she continued. "Sara said you were going through something, and I know a heartbreak when I see it."

He took a breath before speaking again. "It wasn't like she cheated on me, we weren't even dating, and I'm very sure she, and he for that matter, had no idea how I felt, but finding out, while she's in the hospital recovering from an accident I might add, that she's dating my best friend, kind of gave me a shock."

She cringed and shook her head slightly. "I would imagine, I'm sorry Nick."

He sighed as he finished. "And I couldn't handle watching them, or just being in the same lab as them. I had to do whatever it took to start the healing process of getting over someone. And I'm sure one day I'll be their biggest supporter, but I'm not there yet."

She squeezed his hand and just as she was about to reply, they hear the countdown to the New Year coming from the house.

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1

"Happy New Year!"

Nick and Ashley smiled at one another as she spoke. "Happy New Year, Nick."

"Happy New Year, Ashley."

Standing in front of the sliding glass door from inside the house, watching how they lit up, Quinn spoke as she saw Sara in the reflection from the door. "That's why you wouldn't make the bet?"

Sara nodded as she placed a hand on her shoulder. "That, and among other reasons."

Quinn turned around and shook her head slightly. "But how did you know?"

"Ashley came over the other day, they met, and I saw the same look you just saw. I believe something could be there between them."

Quinn nodded with a small sigh. "You're probably right."

"Are you ok?"

Quinn waved it off with a smile. "Yeah, I'll be fine, they're probably better suited for each other in the long run anyways."

Quinn then gave Sara a hug, reassuring her that everything was good and walked back into the living room.

Sara watched them for another moment before she also headed back to the living room.

When enough people had left the house to where Sara and Grissom felt comfortable enough to sneak out of it and head down to the beach, that's exactly what they did.

They were walking along the shoreline, hand in hand in silence for a few moments before she spoke with a smile. "Thank you."

Grissom looked over at the woman he loved and asked. "For what?"

She stopped him, slipped her fingers out of his before wrapping her arms around his neck and continuing. "For the party, for the second proposal, this time in front of my friends, for..." She ran her fingers through his hair in the back as she finished with more emotion. "For everything, really. No, our journey hasn't been easy, but I wouldn't change a thing."

He sighed softly before he whispered. "I would. If I could go back in time, I would have moved here sooner."

"Griss, is this about what you…"

He cuts her off with a sad smile. "I missed so many of our daughter's firsts, I'll never get that back. I mean sure, you have them on video, but it isn't the same. And I'm sorry that every time I left, you had to become the mother and father. I told you I would never abandon you, but at times it felt like I…."

She cuts him off with a smile of her own. "But I never felt that way, because I knew in my heart that you would be only a phone call away, and you would have been right here in a heartbeat if I really needed you here."

He smirked a little. "Which, if I remember correctly, you only used that type of phone call a few times."

"Well, I wanted to prove that I can do this, that I can be the mom that she deserves, and not someone who ran for help after every obstacle that would get in my way."

He cups her cheek as he replied with love in his eyes. "And you are that mom our daughter deserves."

She cups his cheek as well and replied. "And you are the father our daughter deserves." He was about to speak again but she continued with emotion. "Sure, you weren't here in person to see a lot of her firsts, but you were there when she needed you the most, like her first cry, the first time she really got sick."

He took a breath and whispered. "That was a scary time."

She nodded as she continued. "You've been there for her first day of every school year she's been through so far, including daycare and preschool, you were the one that helped her when she got chickenpox, you bandaged up her first owie, you taught her how to ride her first bike…I could really keep going on how many times you've been there for her, the times she'll actually remember. What I want you to truly know is that she loves you Grissom, she absolutely adores her father, and while I know without a doubt that she wishes you could have been here for every second of her early life, you're here now for a lot more other firsts that she'll go through, the more important ones."

He took a breath and closed his eyes as he spoke. "Like her first date."

She chuckled slightly as she ran her thumb up and down his cheek. "That one scares you the most, doesn't it?"

He nodded while opening his eyes. "Because it will inevitably lead to her first love, which will no doubt end in her first heartbreak, that's something I'm not looking forward to."

Like Grissom, she didn't want to see her daughter in pain of any kind, but being and falling in love comes with that risk, and that's something they can't shield her from, no matter how much they want to.

She took a shallow breath, already feeling that pain for her daughter, then she replied with a smile. "Well, the good thing is that we don't have to deal with that for a few more years."

He raised an eyebrow. "A few? I was thinking like 10, or 20 years."

She chuckled. "So, don't have her date until she's thirty then?"

"I don't know, sounds good to me."

She ran her thumb up and down his cheek again, this time with sympathy. "Maybe for you, but I don't think she'll like that too much."

He sighed in defeat, knowing that would be true. "No?"

"No. I'm sorry babe."

He sighed again and placed his forehead to hers before whispering. "Our little girl is growing up."

She moved her hand from his cheek and ran it up and down his back as she whispered. "I know, and while she'll grow out of always wanting her daddy phase, know that I'll always want you." They pull back and she finished while cupping his cheek again with love in her eyes. "And whatever happened in the past should stay there. From this moment on, I'm looking towards our future."

He nodded with a smile. "Me too. I love you."

"I love you too, babe."

They kiss for several minutes before they pull back, then they slipped their fingers through one another's to finish their walk along the shoreline, enjoying this time together.

AN: Thanks for reading, and please review. I hoped you like this extra-long chapter, and I hope you all had a safe/wonderful weekend, enjoy the rest of your week. Until next time, always remember, GSR4ever!