A/N: Last chapter. Yes, the final chapter. On the one hand, I'm relieved... on the other, so sad. But alas, Stalemate is dwindling and it's time for me to start a new projects. More notes at the end, read on.

It was cozy, there in their bed. It was even cozier for Sara because her husband's arm was draped around her midsection, stroking soothingly. Her eyes were droopy, but since they had the night off (the first time they'd both had that night off in years) they were determined to stay awake and enjoy it.

Dick Clark was rambling on about something on the television, but Sara didn't hear him. She was too busy, lost in her nest of thoughts, wondering what Gil was thinking.

"You're sure you want to do this?" She asked him, so quiet and hesitant that he hugged her back, tighter into his body.

"Yes." Was his only reply, and his eyes were no longer on the television, but trained on her pained face.

"It's more than we'd expected, I need you to understand just how much more."

"I know." He replied, taking up the gentle stroking once more.

Sara turned in his arms and placed a hand on his cheek. Amongst the background noise supplied by the television, they heard the masses counting down; ten, nine, eight...

"We're gonna do this?" Her lips quivered and she looked as if she might burst into tears at any moment.

"Yes." He said reverently.

"Happy New Year!" People screamed on the T.V., 'Happy 2007' flashing across the screen in bold, bright letters. Sara kissed her husband and sighed.

A year, two months and three days prior to that first day of 2007, Sara had accidentally brought up the issue of children. They hadn't spoken of it in ages, and it seemed as though neither one wanted to. But it had come out as a slip of the tongue and Grissom gripped on full force.

"As I said, I'm not getting any younger Sara." It was almost as if he was admonishing her, and for a moment, she was stunned to have him place all of that responsibility in her.

"There are other ways, Gil." She'd shot back, reaching into the refrigerator to retrieve a tomato for the salad she had been making.

He came up behind her and stole a sliced cucumber wedge out of the bowl. "That's very true. What are your thoughts on that?"

And just like that, the seed had been planted. It had taken a month and a half of deep talks, antsy conversations and soul searching to realize that the best option for the both of them, the most logical one, the one that they could nurture and cherish, would be adoption.

Sara and Gil had both decided that they would be adoptive parents, and the best damn ones the world had seen at that.

It had been difficult, the first four months, meeting with people, learning about the process, the background checks, the approval stages. Sara certainly didn't like the idea of an adoption fair; she couldn't bear to get to know a child and decide 'No, he isn't the one for me' as if she were choosing a pet. So, the prospective and rather nervous parents met with a counselor, who showed them pictures and files on the children who would be eligible to be adopted.

And the second Sara's eyes fell on the face of nine-year-old Joshua Shedden, she knew. Somewhere in her head, in her heart, somewhere in her being she knew that that boy was to find a home with them. Immediately, she handed the file to Grissom and he'd smiled, reading through the boy's stats.

"He likes baseball." Gil said appreciatively. "I wonder if he likes bugs."

Sara smiled. "Doesn't matter, we don't need another 'you' running around."

They'd discussed the boy's past with the counselor. Joshua had been orphaned when he was three and had spent most of his early childhood going from foster home to foster home. There had been a history of domestic abuse at many of the homes and he'd had to undergo a year and a half of therapy through the group home before he was allowed to be released once more. His godparents had taken him in for a time, but they too were deemed unfit to raise the boy, a history of abuse with them as well.

That was the only definitive information on him and the counselor asked the two hopefuls if they wanted to go about handling a child with severe childhood trauma. The vote was unanimous, they both did. It wasn't an option not to. Just because he wasn't what society would deem normal didn't mean he was any less deserving of the love and care of parents.

That day, when they'd left the care facility, Sara had kissed Grissom so hard that he almost passed out, and told him then and there that he would make such a perfect father that his heart fluttered for the rest of the week.

But then the waiting came; the long process of actually adopting the boy set in and Sara became a nervous wreck. She knew there were levels that they'd have to go through, countless papers to sign, more and more checks until they could be cleared to adopt the boy.

Five months later, in November, when they'd received a call from the service, they both became ecstatic, thinking that it was finally time. They'd been preparing for the better part of the year; buying things, remodeling the townhouse, reading for days on end about adoption and the raising of children. They'd even taken a crash course from Catherine on 'How to Handle a Pre-teen.'

But when they'd met back with the counselor, she'd told them another matter had come up. Neither one of them took that as a good sign.

"It turns out... Joshua has a sister. She's only been in the system a year as the parents were recently deemed unfit. We didn't even know they were siblings until we were doing a check on Joshie's history." Sharon, the counselor, turned grim. "She's only two."

Sara's brow had knit in confusion. What did that have to do with...

"It's up to you, but we do tend to attempt to keep siblings together, especially when such tumultuous childhood trauma is involved. It often aids in the mental health of all children involved."

Sharon hadn't asked them outright, but they both knew: Were they going to take the second child as well.

Sara had looked to her husband, expression blank, not wanting him to think her emotions were guilting him into any kind of a choice.

"Of course. Of course we want to keep them together." And his arm slithered around her shoulders when he said it and Sharon's eyebrows had nearly flown from her head.

"Are you sure you don't want to discuss this? It is-"

"No discussion needed. They're going to stay together." Grissom finalized, squeezing Sara's hand in his own as she released a shaky breath she'd been holding for the better part of a year.

Sharon had handed them another file then, thinner than Joshua's, for them to open at their leisure. "Sara, Gil, meet Lilly Shedden. Two."

Grissom's jaw dropped and Sara sucked in a breath. In front of them was a picture, the most perfect child, brown hair, big blue eyes... with a slight gap between her front teeth. And Sara, unable to hold it in any longer began to uncharacteristically sob. She broke down.

"Mrs. Grissom?" Sharon asked, reaching out a tentative hand to touch the woman's shoulder. "Are you alright?"

Gil smiled at the woman. "She's perfect. We're perfect. When can we meet them?"

Another week followed before they were able to be introduced to the children. Sara was so scared, afraid that the boy was likely to rebel at the thought of being put in another foster home.

But when they'd arrived, he'd been seated in his bunk, quietly reading 'Bunnicula'.

When his head popped up, there was a hesitant smile on his face, and he'd reached over to find his bookmark. "Joshua? This is Mr. and Mrs. Grissom."

Josh's face went sour. "Don't call me Joshua," He said patronizingly. "Call me Josh. Joshua's for dorks."

Gil smiled then. "Hey Josh, I have the same problem. I get really upset when people call me Gilbert."

The boy smiled at the name. "Gilbert is a funny name!"

Grissom nodded and ushered his wife forward a bit. "This is Sara, she's my wife. She doesn't have a cool nickname like we do, her real name is too short." Sara laughed and smiled and bent down to the boy.

"But let's not tell him that he's not all that cool, okay?" Her head indicated she was talking about Grissom, and Josh smiled and laughed conspiratorially.

Sharon had left them then, to get Lilly, and the three of them got to talking. Grissom engaged the boy in talk about baseball and school and they discussed the finer points of why girls had cooties. He told Josh about bugs and fingerprints. Sara had talked about board games and rollerblading and also school, as she was prone to do with just about any child.

Josh was a good student, he'd said. Straight A's right on through. He didn't like math all that much, but loved talking about history and archaeology and mummies. Just when he was getting into his bit about wanting to see the Sphinx, Sharon returned with Lilly.

She had a thumb in her mouth, pigtails in her hair and was clutching a giant stuffed toy that Sara could only assume was that Nemo character that was all the rage. "Gil, Sara, this is Lilly."

The little girl's face scrunched up and she hugged the stuffed, orange toy closer to her.

And they fell in love all over again.

Lilly had taken to calling them her parents on her own. They'd never asked her to call them anything other than Gil and Sara. During an episode of Sesame Street, she'd turned to Sara and said, very politely, just like she'd been taught, "Mommy, can I have more juice pwease?" Taking her eyes off of Elmo for a second, smiling at Sara. Sara, for her part, stood there emotionless, face blank, wondering if she'd heard the girl correctly.

"What honey?" She asked, just to be sure.

"Can I pwease have more juice, mommy?"

Her mother's mouth had opened and closed a few times before she could respond. "Of course sweetheart." Sara brought her the juice, tears in her eyes.

"Mommy, why aw you sad?"

Sara smiled and scooped her up quickly into her arms. The little girl squealed and giggled as Sara began tickling her with kisses. "Oh baby, I'm not sad. I'm just very, very happy."

Lilly's eyes went big with confusion, as if she'd missed something. "Why?" She asked, readjusting herself on her mother's hip.

"Because I love you very much."

"Dat makes you happy?" She was so confused, it was so adorable.

"Of course silly girl!"

"You make me happy too mommy." And Sara had kissed her some more then, and the two of them had dissolved into a tickle fest on the living room floor. Josh had appeared in the doorway then, tall for an eleven year old, and asked them to quiet down please, he was trying to study. The girls had looked at each other sheepishly and sat down to watch more Sesame Street.

Lilly hopped up when she heard the door open, and both sets of eyes were drawn to the door. "Daddy!" She screeched, for the first time, running up to Grissom and clutching onto his leg.

Grissom was startled beyond belief and looked down at the girl like she was a foreign object. He then looked to Sara, who looked, once again, like she might cry. His gaze ultimately filtered down to the girl clutching his pant leg. "Hey sweetie. You missed me huh?"

Lilly nodded vehemently. "I wanted you to read me my Bewen... Bewwystein Bears book." Lilly moved in front of her father and he set down his briefcase and picked her up. "Mommy doesn't read it right. She doesn't make Daddy Bear voice all loud like you." Grissom had been about to tell her that they'd read together as soon as he showered, when Josh entered, the room, book in one hand, a can of ginger ale in the other.

He walked to the fridge and paused when he realized Gil was in the room. His face lit up. "Hey, Gil. How was work?" Thing was, as always, the boy was genuinely interested and Grissom took the bait. He kissed Lilly and released her with the promise that they would read later and walked to the couch, discussing with Joshua the finer points of linear regression. Sara and Lilly say on the floor, Nemo between the girl's legs, the girl between Sara's.

Days, weeks, months passed, and Lilly had taken on her father's love of insects... to a degree. She'd also fallen in love with the wooden sandbox that Uncle Nick had built for her in the backyard. From that, she and her brother played 'Egypt' with tiny Lego people.

After dinner one night, pasta with alfredo sauce, Josh's favorite, Lilly had piped up. "I wanna feed de itty bitties Daddy!" Her bottom bounced in her high chair and Josh laughed at her. She stuck her tongue out at him; he retalitaed by doing the same and Sara admonished them.

"Hey, if you're gonna fight, what did I say?"

"No ice cream." They both said, monotone, and Lilly returned to looking at her father.

He smiled at her as he got up to clear the dishes from the table. "Daddy!" She knew he was baiting her and she pouted.

"Okay, okay, let's go feed the buggies sweetheart. Josh, you coming?" Grissom asked as Lilly vaulted herself into his arms.

Josh thought for a moment. "Naw, I uh, I gotta talk to Sara about something." Gil nodded and walked with Lilly into his 'buggy' room.

Josh sat in front of Sara, wringing his hands. "Sara, I ummm, my class is having a trip..." He trailed off and looked up at her, she nodded, signaling that he should continue.

"But it's to Seattle, and it's a lot of money... and I was wondering, if I maybe... did more chores or... something... that I could go."

Sara smiled. Instead of flat out asking for the money, he asked if he could take on more responsibilities in order to earn it. Responsible. Her son, yes son, was realizing the meaning of responsibilities.

She appeared deep in thought for a moment. "Seattle's pretty far away Josh, you've never been on your own like that before." The tone of her voice made the boy's face fall. "But I'll discuss it with Gil and see what we come up with, okay?"

Then Josh beamed and on impulse, reached over and hugged her. "Thanks Sara, this is gonna rock!"

Two years later saw the fourteen-year-old Joshua with a part-time job, young for a freshman in high school. He'd jumped in headfirst, signing up for the lacrosse team, and in a few weeks, was put on varsity. He hit the books with as much gusto, pulling in steady A's much to the delight of his parents.

Lilly was in grammar school, had won student of the month twice, and was begging her mother to let her join the book of the month club after school. She also began showing an interest in chorus, but Sara wasn't sure she was ready for that. Next year, her mom had said and Lilly had thrown a fit.

At sixteen, Josh had saved up enough money to buy himself new hockey gear and a beat up old Chevy to lug it around him. Gil had checked it out for him, and helped him get a good deal on it. But Gil couldn't understand why he needed to put in a three hundred dollar sound system.

"Gil, for real, the radio sucks." Josh had said, both heads under the hood, checking out the engine. Grissom had smiled but took on an authoritative tone.

"Watch your mouth." He barked, but smiled, and Josh had smiled right along with him.

"Yes, sir."

Lilly joined Tae-Kwon-Do but found out she liked ice-skating better and got the lead in her recital. Josh had showed up to it late, still in his hockey gear, but with a camera in hand, recording the whole ordeal.

He went off to Miami for spring break with his girlfriend, though he came back single, with a hangover, and had gotten a lecture on the finer points of drinking from Sara, as she spoke from experience. Gil hadn't been to happy with the fact that a seventeen year old was drinking but he realized that times had changed, and that Josh wasn't a bad kid, he was just rebelling a little late.

Lilly failed a geometry test and Josh had to redeem himself in calculus class and they floated through school with very few blips on the radar. Seemed that Gil and Sara were blessed. But they figured that since they started late, they were simply reaping all of the benefits of life late in the game.

Then Josh. Salutatorian. Not valedictorian, but pretty much just as good. It wasn't as if he'd been meaning to be second in the class anyway. That's just how he'd ended up.

And there he was, graduating with twelve varsity letters and a full rides to UCLA, Harvard, Stanford, Northeastern, UNLV and Texas AM. He'd only applied to so many places because he wanted to know that he had options.

When he'd told Gil and Sara that he wanted to go to UCLA, Gil couldn't contain the smile that leapt to his face. He turned to his wife and whispered. "Took that over Harvard, how do you feel?" And she just shoved him and pulled the boy, now three inches taller than her, into her arms.

Sara stopped reminiscing and was brought back to the present. She, her daughter and her husband all hunkered down on cold metal benches, in the bleachers of a high school stadium.

"And now, our salutatorian, Joshua Grissom." The audience clapped politely, his hockey teammates holler, lacrosse buddies booed and the track teams shouts mixed in with the rest. Lilly, excited to be the sister of such a popular guy, stood up.

"Yeah Josh!" She screamed through cupped hands, jumping up and down, much to the amusement of her parents.

"I'm not one for long speeches." He began, and his classmates cheered. He laughed. "I'll leave that up to Karen your valedictorian." He looked over at the attractive Asian girl he's taken to dating his senior year. She smiled at him and flushed in embarrassment.

"Sit in a sandbox. First take off your shoes, get a bucket of water, work the kinks out of your hands and wet the sand. Then close your eyes, close your eye class of 2015. Close 'em!" He demanded and his peers laughed and did as they were asked.

"Josh rules!" someone near the back of the group yelled and he laughed. "Now, pick up that stick that's laying next to you, the one right there... and draw. Just draw. Especially you aspiring artists, draw." He waited a moment and continued.

"That's your future, that's our future there in that sand. Shape it as you will, or just start all over. Each grain can be altered to make a new picture. So many people have shaped my pile of sand. My friends, my teachers, but most of all, my sister Lilly and my mom and dad, Sara and Gil, who gave me a new life when I was unwanted."

And then, both Sara and her husband gasped and gripped each other's hand tight. Lilly glanced up at them, stupid grin on her face. "Did you hear that? He mentioned my name!" Sara smiled at her daughter and kissed her cheek.

"Uh huh." Sara started crying then, the lines on her face a little deeper than the time she had cried over her daughter's similar words.

Josh was wrapping his incredibly short speech up. "So, my friends, class of 2015, make your castles in the sand. Now where's Karen..."

That's when time stopped, for an instant, for the four of them. Gil's hand was in Sara's, their daughter between them. And their son was graduating from high school, about to launch himself into the real world. Amazing, what they'd become.

Josh moved aside, did a little cartwheel, much to the consternation of the faculty, but to the amusement of his friends as they cheered him back to his seat. His girlfriend took the podium and began to speak.

The Grissom family tuned her out, wrapped within their own little peculiar world, happy.

Thank you reviewers, for sticking with this, through the turbulence-that is, thanks for coming back after nabbed it from me. Thank you for the kind words, for the suggestions, and for keeping me going.

And to the ladies, you know who you are, who nurtured this ficlet into a huge project... and who didn't get deterred when I veered into fluff.