AN: Thank you to the those still supporting this story, I hope it's still enjoyable. Warning: Implied/Suggestive adult behavior and a few questionable words.

Chapter 29: An Unexpected Request

Eventually Latoya started talking to the other parents while Catherine was standing next to Grissom, Sara, Ashley, Quinn and Jo, and she spoke to Sara and Grissom specifically. "Warrick sends his regards."

They nodded then Grissom spoke with a slight frown. "I'm sorry he couldn't be here."

"Yeah, me too, but we got so busy he had to stay behind. I was lucky, well sort of, we have to fly back in a few hours."

Grissom responded. "Well, least we get to visit with you for a bit. Thank you, I know how much Lindsey being here for Belle's birthday means to her."

"You're welcome." Catherine then smiled a little wider as she pulled out some envelopes from her purse. "There was another special reason why I wanted to be here. I wanted to hand these out personally, and yes, I got permission from Warrick to do it without him."

After Grissom grabbed one envelope, which was addressed to him and Sara, Catherine handed the other three envelopes to the other girls, Quinn, Jo, and Ashley, which that one was addressed to her and Nick.

Once the envelope was opened, Grissom pulls out a wedding invitation, the date for the special occasion was August 19th, he then looks at Catherine with a smile. "You guys finally picked out a date."

Catherine nodded with a smile of her own. "Yes, we figured if you are going to your mother's on the 17th for your birthday you won't mind coming to Vegas for the weekend."

Grissom looked at Sara, and she spoke with a smile. "We'll figure it out, but I know for sure that you can go."

Catherine smirked. "That's right, you're the big boss now, your schedule isn't as open as it once was."

Sara sighed with a head nod. "Unfortunately, not, so we'll see what happens, but I do promise one of your best friends will be there."

Catherine nodded with a smile. "Thank you, that really means a lot to me."

"You're welcome."

Sara and Grissom share a look while Quinn spoke after clearing her throat. "Thank you, you know you didn't have to do this."

Catherine shook her head with a smile. "Any friend of Sara and Grissom's is a friend of mine, so of course I wanted to do this for you guys, so you are all welcome to come." She then looks at Jo as she continued. "If you're still up to it that is."

Jo chuckled while putting the invitation back in the envelope. "Yeah, I'll probably have to skip it by that point, but thanks for the offer, I do appreciate it."

After Catherine nodded, she turned her attention to Ashley and finished. "And I also wanted to invite you because I invited Nick and I wanted you to feel included, I hope both of you can make it."

Right as she said that last line, Nick's voice was heard. "Hi everyone, Catherine what are you doing here? And make what?"

Belle wasn't the only one who didn't know about Catherine and Lindsey's presence, so it was a surprise to him that she was here.

Ashley smiled at her boyfriend as she handed him the invitation.

When he took it out of her hand with curiosity, he looked down at it, read it, then looked at Catherine with a smile. "You two finally set a date."

Catherine nodded with a smile. "We did."

Nick smiled wider as he gave her hug. "Congratulations, I'm so happy for you and Warrick."

"Thank you, Nick, that really means a lot to me."

As Nick nodded, he did so with a small frown. "Where is he by the way?"

"Unfortunately, the lab couldn't let us both go, and I didn't want to let the girls down, even though they didn't know this was happening."

Catherine didn't tell Lindsey about them coming here until the night before they were leaving, just in case she really couldn't leave Vegas.

As he nodded one more time, Lindsey's voice was heard with excitement. "Uncle Nicky!"

Nick looked at Lindsey and held out his arms as the little girl came rushing up to him to give him a huge hug, and after they pulled back, he asked. "How are you doing, Linds?"

Her bright blue eyes lit up with a smile. "I'm good, and I'm glad I get to see you too."

"Me too."

After another hug, the little girl goes back to playing with the other kids while Nick stands up, then he looks at Catherine again. "I'm glad I get to see you too."

Catherine nodded with a smile of her own. "Me too, Nick."

They share one more hug before they all start chatting away.

Sometime during the party Grissom was talking to Catherine alone at the railing of the deck while Sara was in the kitchen with Jo.

Catherine looks over at Grissom and spoke with a smile. "So, how is Supervisor Grissom doing with the new title?"

Grissom chuckled. "Oh, she's doing very well, and I think she likes the title a lot, a lot more than she lets on at times." Catherine chuckled in return before he continued with a small sigh. "At least some aspects of it, it is cutting into her routine with our daughter, which we are making adjustments to our schedules to help with that, but it still stings a little when she misses time with her, to both of them."

Catherine nodded in understanding, knowing while she is still just an assistant supervisor, her schedule changed a lot from when she was promoted to that position, then she replied in a supportive tone. "You know what, I've seen how they are together, and I think their bond is just too strong to break, I have faith they'll be just fine."

"That's what I told her, and that I kind of envy it."

Once again, Catherine came off as supportive. "I also have faith that your bond with her will only get stronger as well, especially as she gets older, she's going to look at you as an example on how she wants to be treated by boys."

Grissom groaned and shook his head. "Oh please, don't bring that up now."

Catherine chuckled as she placed her hand on her friend's shoulder. "Face it buddy, your daughter just turned 8 and is going on 13." She then smirked as she saw Curtis laughing it up with the girls, clearly a little less nervous than he was when he first stepped into the house. "And I see you already invited a boy over."

Playfully, he responded. "That wasn't my idea, you know."

She smirked again. "I bet." Then she continued with a slightly more serious tone. "But you're a nice guy and him and his mom are new in town, I get it."

After Grissom nodded, he looked over at Catherine with a smile. "It's been really nice to see you Catherine, I've missed you."

Catherine nodded in return while they share a friendly hug. "I've missed you too, and I'm glad we could get the girls together again."

As they pulled back, he replied. "Me too."

In the kitchen, Sara was refilling the drink containers while Jo was sitting at the island watching her friend, then she smirked as she picked up a slice of cheese that was on a plate. "I think I know your little secret."

Sara looked at her while trying not to act like she was surprised. "Secret? What secret?"

Jo chuckled. "I think we both know what secret you are hiding. I've been really thinking about it, and while I know you're not a huge drinker, you've known to have a beer or wine here and there, especially during a good time, and what better good time was there when it was your bachelorette party and wedding reception, and don't even try and deny that you weren't acting like you were drinking something else, remember I've known you since you were 16."

Sara smirked in return. "What where you doing, spying on me?"

Jo shook her head with a smile. "I was just being observant, and I could feel something was a little off with you. I just hope it's for the reason I am thinking of, and not something bad."

Now Jo had a worried look on her face, and Sara couldn't let her friend, especially one of her best friends, think it was something horrible, so she sighed and replied. "Ok, but, outside of a few people, the news isn't officially out there, so..."

Jo smiled as she did a small scream with a clap. "Oh my god, I'm so happy for you, and don't worry I won't say a peep."

Sara nodded with a smile of her own. "Thank you."

A moment later the good vibe was still in the room when Grissom walked in, and Jo smiled at him. "Congratulations papa."

Sara chuckled while Grissom had a raised eyebrow at Sara. "Jo, you weren't supposed to..."

Jo cuts her off with a smile. "Hey, he already knows, I just wanted to congratulate him. I promise no one new will know from my lips."

Sara looked at her husband with a shy smile and shrug of her shoulders. "She guessed, and I couldn't tell her 'no' at that point, especially when she was giving me a look."

But Grissom wasn't mad, in fact, if it was up him, he would have told the whole world by now, well his mother first of course, then the whole world, but he was respecting Sara's choice on when or how she told people.

As Grissom nodded with a smile, showing her he wasn't upset, Jo asked with curiosity. "This was a long time coming, wasn't it?"

Sara answered it at first, getting her feelings out there. "In some ways, yes. I knew when Belle turned 4 I could see myself with more kids, and I did want them."

Before Sara could continue, Jo had to sneak in a little smirk. "You've certainly came along way in that regard."

Sara chuckled with a nod, she really has when it came to children, then Grissom finished before Sara could. "But with the situation we were in in the beginning, I didn't want to be that father who has multiple kids and not be around for them while Sara did most of the work, I wouldn't have felt right about it, hell I didn't even feel right when it was just Belle."

Sara placed her hand on his arm with a comforting look as he looked at her, both knowing why the more baby conversation never came up in their early years of their relationship, it was just a silent agreement between them to wait before their situation was better.

Jo gets them both out of those thoughts when she spoke again. "Well, for whatever it's worth, we all know that you tried your hardest to be there for your girls as much as you could during those times, and I think you were better at it than you think."

Sara smirked as she lightly slapped his arm. "See, I told you, now you have someone else's perspective on the situation."

Grissom looks at Jo with a small smile. "Thanks Jo, not only for what you said, but..."

Jo cuts him off with a playful, but somewhat serious look as well. "And I meant it. But I would also like to inform you that if I had felt for one second that you wouldn't have kept your word on being there for her the best that you could, I would have tried everything I could to convince Sara to come back to Boston."

Sara was actually more surprised on this revelation than Grissom was, so she asked with wide eyes. "Really?"

"Hell yeah, you are my best friend, and I would have wanted to be there for you and Belle more than I actually was, to take care of you guys, and try and mend your broken heart in some way." She sighed before she finished. "But honestly, I don't think anything I could have done would have mended your broken heart if it had come down to that because I see now, what I've seen from pretty much the beginning, he's your 'one' Sara, and there is no getting over that, no matter what or how hard you try. So, I'm glad I trusted both of your words that everything was going to be ok, that it will all work out in the end, because I've never seen Sara as happy as she is when she's with you, and I'm going to highly assume that it's the same case for you."

Grissom nodded with a smile at Jo before turning his eyes to his wife. "100%"

Jo could practically see Sara melt under her husband's loving gaze, and she had to smile while watching the small but intimate interaction before she cleared her throat and got them back to the present. "Ok, don't you have birthday cake to hand out?"

They finally get out of their daze, and Grissom spoke with a smirk while Sara got the candles. "Yeah, let's fill these kids up with sugar."

Jo then smirked as Sara was putting eight candles on the homemade chocolate cake. "Hey, least it's not a sleepover, right?"

Sara shook her head while Grissom lit the candles. "Nope, not this year, but we have a feeling it's coming sooner rather than later."

Once all the candles were lit, Grissom picked up the cake and Sara walked in front of him so she could open the door while Jo followed behind so she wasn't in the way with her slow pace, then after they were outside, the happy birthday song was being sung so Belle rushed to the table with a smile.

After the song was finished, she blew her candles out while she made her wish, then everyone clapped before Sara started cutting the cake into pieces for the kids and adults who wanted any.

When the day turned into evening, those who weren't considered to be in the main group, had left the house, and while the grown-ups were talking/signing since Mrs. Grissom was going to be there until tomorrow morning, Lindsey and Belle were in her room playing with some of her new toys that she had gotten today. Then about 45 minutes before it was time for Catherine and Lindsey to leave, the girls came rushing outside and Belle asked an unexpected question. "Mommy, daddy, can Lindsey stay here for the summer?"

Sara and Grissom looked a little taken aback on the question, and before they could get a word out, Lindsey looked at her mother and asked with a hopeful/excited look. "Please, mommy. You can ship me some clothes, right?"

There was a slight pause before Catherine replied softly to her daughter. "Honey, you know that you were supposed to be spending half of your summer with your father."

Which wasn't something Catherine was looking forward to, but Eddie was still her father and they do share custody, which for the most part the exchanges have been surprisingly civil, considering how the divorce settlement went.

Lindsey wasn't thinking of that when she and Belle were talking about how great it would be if she could stay with her for the summer, so when her mother mentioned her staying with her father during half the summer her excitement went down, not that she didn't like spending time with her dad, but she wanted to hang out with Belle longer than the few hours they had spent together, so she sighed while replying. "That's right." She then looked at Belle, who looked pretty sad herself, and continued. "I'm sorry, Belle."

Belle nodded with a sigh. "Maybe another summer then."

As the girls were slowly walking back to the door, Grissom and Catherine looked at one another, and while Sara and Grissom had their language by just looking at each other's faces, Grissom and Catherine had a way of doing that as well, considering how long they worked together before he had left, then Catherine cleared her throat before speaking towards the girls. "Lindsey, what if I called your father and asked how he feels about this?"

While there was still a little hope in Lindsey's tone, she couldn't get her full excitement back up just yet. "Are you sure, mommy? I don't want to cause any problems between you and daddy." She knew while most of the time her parents were civil, it was those other times when they fought that she didn't like, and when they fought, it wasn't pretty at all.

Catherine stood up from her seat and walked towards her daughter with a smile before kneeling down and cupping her cheek. "It's going to be ok sweetie, I'll try everything I can to make this happen for you. I can see you really want to stay, and as much as I'll miss you, I want to do this for you."

Lindsey nodded with a smile. "Thank you, mommy."

Catherine nodded in return, kissed her daughter's forehead before standing up and looking at the grown-ups then excusing herself to make the call inside the house for privacy.

10 minutes later, Catherine walked back outside and nodded at her daughter with a smile, but Grissom could see a slight frustration in her look that she was trying to keep from her daughter. "Ok, you can stay if it's ok with Sara and Grissom."

The girls cheered before looking at Sara and Grissom, and in turn, Grissom looked at Sara, they did their silent communication before Grissom looked at the girls with a nod and smile. "You can stay, Lindsey."

The girls cheered again and this time they each ran to their parents to thank them with hugs and kisses before they ran back inside, causing the grownups to chuckle.

When it was time for Catherine to leave, she said her goodbyes to Lindsey then to the rest of them before walking outside with Grissom, who walked her to the vehicle, and he finally had the chance to ask. "How was it convincing Eddie to let her stay?"

She sighed. "I have to give up Thanksgiving with her and most of her winter break, including Christmas Day, but he was nice enough to let me have her for Christmas Eve."

Grissom sighed in return. "I'm sorry Catherine. I had no idea he could ever act like this."

"He's just angry because he couldn't get me back, that I moved on and am happier than I probably ever been in my life."

Grissom smiled. "And that's the part I'm happy for you, you even look it."

Catherine smiled bright her eyes were practically sparkling. "I don't know what I did to get Warrick to fall in love with me, but I'm so damn thankful and I can't wait to marry him and take his name."

Grissom smirked. "So, you are taking his last name?"

Catherine chuckled with a nod. "Hell yeah, anything to get away from my current one, I don't want anything to do with it now." Grissom does a small chuckle before Catherine spoke again. "Alright, I better get out of here, I've got a plane to catch, and thank you for letting Lindsey stay."

As they share a hug, Grissom replied. "Anything to make our girls happy, right?"

He could see the hopefulness in his own daughter's eyes at the prospect of Lindsey staying, and he didn't want to disappoint her if he could help it.

Cathrine chuckled again as they pulled back from their hug. "Yeah, pretty much, see you in August."

"Yes, see you in August."

"And don't be surprised for daily phone calls."

"Oh, I was pretty much going to count on it."

He knew if he was in Catherine's shoes he would be doing the same thing.

Once they finished their goodbyes, Catherine gets in the driver's side to the rented SUV, started it and started pulling out while Grissom waved bye before he headed back inside.

A few hours later

Not long after making sure their house guests (Jo, Josh and Betty) were settled in the two spare rooms, Sara and Grissom went to Belle's room, and could hear them laughing, so Sara knocked on the door before opening it a second later, then not sounding too stern but in a somewhat authoritative tone, she spoke. "Girls I thought we said it was bedtime an hour ago."

They both replied with 'sorry' with guilty looks on their faces, and while Belle's parents were trying to be 'parents' about it, inside they couldn't help but smile, seeing how happy both girls were that they were finally hanging out longer than a few hours here or there.

Grissom then cleared his throat and spoke towards Lindsey. "And we'll get you a cot tomorrow."

Right now Lindsey was sleeping on the floor, and it felt ok to them for one night, but with her staying until mid-August, they both felt better if she was sleeping on a cot since she wanted to stay in Belle's room through the duration of her stay here.

Lindsey nodded with a smile. "Ok, thank you."

"You're welcome."

Sara then spoke again. "Alright, let's try this again, Goodnight Girls."

"Goodnight mommy and daddy."

"Goodnight, Aunt Sara and Uncle Grissom."

Sara and Grissom both nod with smiles before they step out of the room, and the minute Sara closed the door, they could hear the girls started laughing again, causing them to smile and shake their heads as they headed for their room, and the minute the door was shut, Sara asked. "They are certain to have their fun this summer, aren't they?"

Grissom nodded. "I would imagine so, and can I admit something to you?"

Sara, who was now sitting at the end of the bed so she could take her shoes off, replied with love in her eyes. "Of course, anything."

He took a breath as he started walking towards his wife. "I'm glad I'm not in Catherine shoes right now, that when our daughter asked if Lindsey could stay here during the summer, rather than her go with them, I did a silent sigh of relief."

Sara took a breath with a nod. "I have to admit I was feeling the same thing, and I knew that if we had said no if it went in that direction, it would have really been a buzz killer for her." As Grissom nodded in agreement he sat down next to her on the bed, and she continued after a sigh. "But you know, eventually it is going to happen, that she'll want to go somewhere for the summer, whether it is to be with Lindsey, or to go to science and math camp, hell probably even summer camp."

Grissom raised an eyebrow. "You think she would want to go there?"

Sara chuckled. "Uh, she is our child, science and math are basically in her blood, I would be shocked if she didn't want to go there at least once in her childhood."

Grissom shook his head with a smile. "No, summer camp."

She shrugged. "She might, you know she is a little more social than we ever were as kids."

He nodded in another agreement. "That is true." He then sighed. "I didn't really have a kids birthday party, unless my mom invited her friend's over and they brought their kids, and even then, I was more interested in books or my bugs to even play."

She replied after a sigh. "Me too. In fact, I didn't even have a birthday party till after my parents died, and that was only because kids would be in the home I was at, and even then, it was hardly a party."

Grissom frowned as he placed his hand on hers and spoke with sympathy. "I'm sorry."

Sara shook her head with a smile as she slipped her fingers through his. "Hey, it's ok. My birthdays got better as I got older anyways, especially after I met Jo, she always made sure I was having a good time on my birthdays." She smiled wider as she finished. "In fact, it was her bright idea to go to Vegas on that life changing birthday weekend, although I will admit she didn't have to convince us very hard, we wanted to get out of town for a bit"

Grissom smiled wider as he replied. "I have thanked Jo for that weekend, right?"

Sara chuckled as she moved from the bed to his lap, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his shoulders. "Yes babe, you have, multiple times and in different ways, along with the others as well, they know how thankful you are."

Grissom slid one of his arms around her waist and the other up to her cheek as he whispered with passion. "And do you know how thankful I am to you."

Softly, while feeling that heat between them as she looked into his darken eyes, she started to reply. "Yes, babe, I..."

But she didn't get to finish because he had pressed his lips to hers while sliding the hand that was on her waist under her shirt so he could run his thumb up and down on her skin as she ran her fingers through his hair.

Before things started to get completely hot and heavy though, Sara had the strength to slow them down before stopping all together then placed her forehead to his to catch her breath as she whispered. "Wait."

When he had enough breath to speak, he did softly. "What is it?"

She smiled slightly as she pulled back to look into her husband's eyes, which was still a little dark with desire, and that sent a pleasant shiver down her spine while speaking. "Did you forget we had guests in our house?"

Maybe momentarily he did forget, but can you really blame the guy, then he smirked. "And you're the one that put Jo and Josh in the room closest to us."

She smirked in return. "Well, I didn't think things were going to head in this particular direction tonight because of that."

Now he was acting a little more serious. "And it still doesn't have to."

No matter what he wanted/desired when they were in these type of moments, he'll always respect Sara's decision on continuing or not, but deep down he had to admit when Sara's next move was to move her hands down to the hem of his shirt and lift it up and off of him with a smile, he was happy, especially with her next words as she let his shift fall on the floor. "I don't want to stop."

He smiled as he moved his lips to her neck and whispered against it before kissing it. "Then I guess you'll have to be quiet, Mrs. Grissom."

Again, knowing how that name affects her, she had ammo of her own as he moved his hands to the hem of her shirt and started lifting it up. "I guess we will, Dr. Grissom."

Once her shirt came off, he had stood up with her arms and legs wrapped around him so he could turn around and lay her softly on the bed, then the moment he went down to kiss her again, everything after that became a blur to them, so they don't remember if they were ever quiet that night. But no one ever mentioned it or hinted that they weren't.

Once Ashley and Nick had made it home, they were getting ready for bed when Nick asked a question after clearing his throat. "So, do we need to talk about it?"

Ashley looks at her boyfriend and asked. "What? The wedding invitation?" After he nodded, she cleared her throat before speaking again. "Ok, I'll admit that getting an invitation to a wedding from the woman that while you never dated, but had real, strong feelings for was a little uncomfortable."

Nick frowned as he wrapped his arm around her waist and started to say her name. "Ash..."

But she cuts him off with a smile. "But at the end of the day I know that one, she was your good friend first before your romantic feelings came up, two, Warrick is still your best friend, and you support your friends during joyous times." As Nick nodded with a smile, Ashley smiled wider as she wrapped her arms around his neck as she finished. "And three, while it wasn't in the truest sense because you two never actually dated, she did let you go."

He smiled in return as he brings her closer to him. "She did."

"And now I have you."

Still with the smile on his face, he nodded. "You do, all of me."

"Then I have nothing to worry about, we can support your friends on their joyous day, and it will be a good day for all of us."

Nick nodded. "It will be. I love you so much Ashley."

"I love you too."

They started to kiss while she led him to their bed.

AN: Thanks for reading, and please review. Hope you all are having/had a safe weekend. Until next time always remember, GSR4ever!