August 2038
"Happy birthday, Dad." Warrick put a strong hand on Grissom's shoulder as he slid into the chair next to his father at the kitchen table. "You excited?"
"I should be asking you that, War."
Warrick smiled nervously, his soft pink lips scrunching at the corners, dimples on full display, "I'm feeling good. Really." He fidgeted a little before adding, "It helps that Aurora is already there."
Grissom smiled at this. Then, he looked up as he heard Sara walk down the hall toward them, "Happy birthday, Griss." She placed soft kiss on his lips, "Warrick, you all packed?"
"I am. Are you two all packed?" He countered.
Grissom and Sara exchanged a look, "We are."
"I'm not surprised that you're fleeing California at the first chance you can, but the day I leave for school?"
"It's practical to fly you east and leave right from there." Sara offered.
"Would hate to be anything less than practical." He joked at their expense. "Where are we supposed to go for fall break?"
"You can come back here. Or visit with Grandpa Dave and Grandma Susan. Or stay in Boston and join Greg's family for a while. I know he'd be happy to have you two." Grissom offered
Warrick shrugged, "I guess."
"We won't be gone for too long." Sara added.
"Four months isn't too long? What time scale are you on? A geologists?"
This earned him a genuine laugh from both of his parents.
"C'mon, we'll miss our flight." Grissom stood and walked to grab some of the bags.
Warrick had only found out about his parent's travel plans a few weeks ago while they were discussing arrangements to drop him off for his freshman year of college at Boston University. And only when he pointed out to them that they had not booked a return flight.
Warrick finished placing his clothes in the drawers and his books on the shelves having successfully moved into his dorm room.
"When is your roommate expected?" Sara asked as she helped put the last of his things away.
"Any minute now. He's coming with Aurora."
"I thought you chose a random roommate?" Grissom asked, his eyes narrowed in fact finding mode.
"I was going to but then Aurora had other ideas."
Sara smiled at this, knowing full well how Aurora liked to take charge of certain details. At that moment, the door opened and in walked Aurora.
"Hi!" She moved to hug her parents and then smiled at Warrick, "Andrew will be up in a minute."
"Cool."
"So how do you know Warrick's roommate?" Grissom asked, unable to let go of whatever rouse was being pulled.
She simply smiled and stayed quiet. A mannerism performed by her father countless times. And a few moments later, the door opened once more.
"Hey!" A boy emerged seemingly out of nowhere. He wore a toothy grin, had a lanky build and a wild head of blonde hair. "I'm Andrew! My parents will be up shortly, they're just parking the car."
Warrick and Andrew started to chat, getting to know each other while Grissom and Sara exchanged a conversation all in a look. Aurora watched in delight as her parents began to piece together her plan. Then Grissom noticed the luggage tag on the boy's backpack, Sanders.
Before he could relay his discovery to Sara, the door opened once more.
"Boy! It's getting crowded in here, hu?" Greg walked in with a big smile and not an ounce of shock on his features. He'd been in on the whole plan.
"Greggo!" Sara leapt toward him and pulled him into a big hug.
"Hey boss." Greg nodded toward Grissom as he rocked Sara back and forth, "We can thank Aurora for this." He smiled as Sara let go, "I'm pretty sure she convinced Andrew to accept BU just for this moment."
"It's true. I persuaded heavily." She beamed, rather proud of herself for pulling it off.
"See." Warrick butted in, "I told you I could keep a secret."
Later that evening Grissom and Sara sat side-by-side in their seats on the plane as it began to taxi out onto the tarmac. He placed his hand over hers and squeezed it gently causing Sara to peel her eyes off the window and back toward him.
He had a small smile on his face causing her to mimic his expression before she pursed her back, "What?"
"How much better do you feel leaving the country with Greg's son as Warrick's roommate?"
"Immensely." She smiled, "Not that I was too worried about him before. But having Greg involved makes it easier."
"Yeah… me too."
The plane began to ascend and the pair began thinking about how they first planned this trip just after Eli graduated high school. How time had seemingly flown right under their radar. How their kids were now fully launched. And how none of this life may have happened if Heather Kessler hadn't been in trouble all those years ago, bringing Grissom back to Vegas and setting the wheels in motion for their reunification.
Their first stop was in South Africa where they would canoe through expansive rivers and spend a few nights in Cape Town before moving on to Mozambique and Madagascar, then Kenya, all to facilitate wildlife and entomological research before volunteering at an AIDs village.
The back end of the trip would have them in Egypt, Israel and Jordan, working on anthropological sites similar to the work Grissom did in Peru all those years ago.
By mid-November, the pair were in the Kenya part of the trip.
"Hey kiddo" Sara spoke into the phone as she walked outside the AID's village to take the call. She glanced back to see Grissom surrounded by children, all of whom had been orphaned by parents with AIDS.
"Hey mom, how's Kenya?"
Sara proceeded to catch Aurora up on their recent travels, the snafu with their transportation, the additional studies they found themselves engulfed in, knowing how genuinely interested she was in all of it. Now in her Junior Year at Harvard, Aurora was firmly set in her Archeology major, just as she had been before her freshman year. Greg had failed to woo her into a life of criminalistics.
"What have you and Warrick decided to do for Thanksgiving Break? Will you stay with the Sanders?"
"We thought about it, but I think we're going to fly out of Boston instead. Where are you guys now?"
"We arrived at Nyumbani Village yesterday."
"Nyumbani Village." She heard Aurora relay, "I uh… I've got to jump. Tell dad we say hi." And suddenly the line when dead.
Sara returned to where Grissom was, seated on a bench talking to a few of the children. He raised his eyes to meet hers, "How are they?"
"They seem good. I only spoke to Aurora. She mentioned they're flying out of Boston for the break but didn't mention if they were headed home or to the Crow's." She shrugged, not thinking too much of the unclear communication.
A little while later a fellow volunteer approached them, "Gil? Sara? Can I see you both outside?"
They exchanged a curious look before standing and following the woman. "We have two young volunteers that will join us for the week. We're hoping you can show them the ropes."
Grissom shot Sara a look, "We don't know the ropes." He mouthed to her. They'd only been there a day so far. The three walked out the door and suddenly it all made sense.
Standing there with some of the biggest grins they'd seen were their children. Packs on their backs. Aurora wore kaki pants and a white button down and a red bandana tied around her neck in a similar fashion to her mothers. Warrick wore a similar outfit, cargo shorts and a long sleeve shirt, and a backwards baseball cap. They simply stood there, waiting for the shock to wear off of their parent's features.
"You are getting dangerously good at surprising us." Grissom spoke as he closed the gap and pulled both children into a hug. Sara was still shocked, standing in place shaking her head.
Eventually she joined and pulled her children into a hug one at a time, "I'm speechless. Aurora, where do you come up with these ideas."
"Actually, this time was all Warrick." She paused briefly, "I just coordinated the logistics."
"It worked out well actually. We'll spend two weeks with you here and then Of course, be flying back alone." Warrick spoke as he let go of his mother.
"I was accepted to a study abroad program that starts in three weeks." Aurora added to help bridge the confusion. In Israel and then Greece. So I'll join you for part of your trip." She smiled with excitement. "But better than that, I secured a role as an intern on the dig you're working on."
Sara wrapped her daughter in another hug, overcome with pride and excitement. As nice as the trip had been just her and Grissom these last several weeks, she'd been missing her children more than she cared to admit. And their arrival came at a perfect time.
"So Greg has officially lost in his battle to pull you into criminalistics then." Grissom smiled.
"Well he got one of us." She nodded toward Warrick.
"Hu? Oh, yeah. I declared a criminalistics and biology major. Greg's been giving me some great hands-on experience at the lab."
Grissom reached for Sara's hand, squeezing it softly as they listened to their children update them on their academics. Watching as they spoke passionately about their studies and their time in Boston.
The rest of the trip flew by. Warrick had stayed the two weeks in Kenya with them before flying back to Boston alone. Aurora flew to Israel and met up with Grissom and Sara after they were done with their Egypt stint.
Working on the dig together filled Grissom with more joy then he could have imagined. He'd always loved working side-by-side with Sara. But now with Aurora too, he was full of pride. He loved to watch how she navigated the fellow interns and scientists. How professional and inquisitive she was. But before he knew it, those few weeks were done and she was jet setting off to Greece while he and Sara were flying back home to California.
That night, when they arrived back home, Sara and Grissom laid in bed in their quiet and empty home.
"Sara…" Grissom's voice was soft and gentle. He watched as she propped herself up on her elbow to look at him, "I—" He paused, trying his best to find the right words for the moment, trying desperately to sum up an enormous amount of emotion, "Thank you." Was all he could manage to say.
A playful smile danced across her lips, "What are you thanking me for?"
"For giving me this wonderful life."
Her smile widened and she leaned in, gently placing her lips on his.
At the end of a lengthy silence he decided to add, "Sometimes I think back to the way things were. Before Nick was abducted. Before I found my way to your door that night. I think back to the shell of a person I was and I don't even recognize him. I think back to how persistent you were, all the moments we shared over layout tables and microscopes. The glances I would sneak your way and then quickly divert upon you feeling my eyes on you. How timid and scared I was of how deeply and desperately I wanted you. I just—knowing this is how it ended up, I wouldn't change any part of our story for the world."
He brought his hand up to her face, thumbing over her cheek, playing with her soft hair, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." He quoted before adding, "And I am eternally grateful you waited for me to take that step."
She rested her head back down on his chest. On the spot she knew was meant just for her. Where she could feel his steady heart beating. The spot where she felt most at home.
The End.