Chapter 43

Three years later…

Sara awoke, but her dream was peaceful. She looked at Grissom sleeping next to her and kissed his cheek, but he did not awaken. She slid out of bed and made her way over to the window seat in their room. Wrapping her arms around her legs, Sara stared out into the night. The stars winked back at her. She heard some stirring behind her and turned her head. Grissom was reaching for her, but she stayed where she was. He awoke and saw her at the window. He got up and joined her. Her hand intertwined with his.

“Something the matter?” he asked.

“No,” she answered. They sat in silence for a bit before she spoke again.

“I’m happy that you came after me. If you hadn’t, I’m not sure that I would have come back home. I would have been alone with the twins and trying to find a job somewhere else.”

He sighed and kissed her hand.

“Sara, I have always loved you for your strength, but you know that you cannot do everything on your own. Everyone needs help sometimes.”

“You don’t.”

He placed both hands on her cheeks and made her look into his eyes.

“That isn’t true. Believe me that there have been times when I needed help from others. Remember how nervous I was with the twins the first few weeks we had them home? We both had to learn from each other, but we eventually figured out what worked and what didn’t.”

“It’s hard to believe that they will be seven years old tomorrow.”

He nodded and wrapped his arms around her. The rhythm of his heart started to lull her to sleep, but she quickly fought the tiredness away.

“We should go back to bed. It is going to be a busy day tomorrow,” he said after a little while.

“Gil, let’s just sit here for a bit more. We don’t have as many moments like this,” she said, reluctant to return to bed. He nodded his assent and she snuggled closer to him.

“I love you,” he said suddenly. She looked up at him and smile began to form on her lips.

“I love you,” she said. His lips found hers and they let out all of things that could not be said into the kiss. They had kissed numerous times before, but this kiss just had something in it that the others did not have. Eventually, they came up for air, but they stayed in each other’s arms. Sara yawned and Grissom let out a yawn right after.

“I think we should go back to bed now,” he said. She got up and he reached for her hand. They kept their hands intertwined until they slid under the covers again. His arms wrapped around her and she placed her head on his chest.

“I look forward to seeing Nick and Kara’s baby daughter tomorrow,” she said.

“Greg wants us to meet his girlfriend, so she will also be here,” he informed her.

“He saw everyone else getting together or finding someone outside of work and he felt left out.”

“But the twins still have him wrapped around their little fingers. He spoils them without thought and it’s up to us to keep them in the right direction.”

Sara let out a soft chuckle and moved her head so she could look into Grissom’s face.

“It is a long road to raise children, but I know that they will turn out all right,” she said with a tired smile. He returned it and just before they fell back asleep, they each felt a silent, but strong gratefulness for finding each other, taking the chance to be together, and that they had ended up married and had two wonderful children. They would face the future together and they knew that they would be together through thick and thin.

The End.

A/n: This story has been a four month labor of love. There were times when I was not sure where it would go, but I found my way and now that is over, I am a bit sad to end it. But the sequel will follow soon afterwards. I will begin it with Felicity at the age of seven because I do not want to go backwards with the story telling. I am not going to pull a George Lucas with CSI fan fiction. I am very grateful to the readers who stuck with me through this adventure and left reviews that encouraged me and helped me through the evil writer’s blocks. You are all amazing! Make sure that you add me to your Author’s Alerts because I would hate for someone to be unaware of my sequel. If you get any stories that are not CSI, you do not have to read them, but I like to write a variety of stories. Please review! Kirsten