AN: Thanks for the reviews, here is the last chapter. It did go longer than I had planned, but I'm sure by the end you won't mind, enjoy!

Chapter 28: 4 years later

Annie was sitting on the vanity stool, looking in the mirror so she could put on the last minute touches of her make-up while her best friend, Charlene, was braiding her hair.

"You ready for the first day of the rest of your life?"

Annie smiled while looking at her friend through the mirror with a nod. "Very much so, it feels like I've been waiting for this moment for a lifetime."

Charlene smiled in return, and after she was done with her hair, she wrapped her arms around her friend's shoulders from behind. "I'm so proud and happy for you. You haven't had the easiest time, but you pulled out of it and became stronger because of it, and now you are about to marry the love of your life."

When Charlene had met Keith, she was a little hesitant on letting her guard down on him because she couldn't stand to see her best friend hurt again, but as she watched how they were together, and how happy Annie really was, happier than she'd seen her in a long time, she accepted him and gave him her blessing.

Annie smiled bigger. "Yes I am."

Just as Charlene pulled back, there was a small knock on the door to the room the bride's get ready in at the church they were using, so she headed toward the door, and once she was there and had opened it, she saw Grissom standing there before looking down to see 5 year old Mackenzie, who smiled the minute she saw her aunt.

"Hi, Aunt Charlene!"

Charlene smiled as she picked up the little girl for a hug. "Hi, sweetie, don't you look beautiful."

"Thank you, mommy is getting married so I had to look nice today."

She never really liked to dress up in dresses, but having a feeling this was a very special day for her mommy, she wanted to look nice for her, even if her daddy didn't tell her she had to.

They chuckled with a nod as Charlene kissed her little cheek and placed her back down before she ran to her mom. "Mommy!"

While Annie was greeting her daughter warmly, Grissom and Charlene said a pleasant greeting before she walked out of the room, leaving the three of them in the room.

After the door closed, once Grissom was in the room, he watched the
mother/daughter scene.

They pulled back from a warm hug as Annie asked. "You being good for daddy and Sara?"

She looked at her mother like she was crazy while answering. "Of course, mommy." The grownups chuckled before Mackenzie continued. "Are you ready to marry Daddy Keith now? Because he said he's been waiting for this day for almost 30 years...Is that a long time?"

She started calling Keith dad a year ago, and like when Annie heard her call Sara mommy for the first time, Grissom had that same type of weird feeling, but it was true and the reality, Mackenzie had two dads and two moms, and that's just how it was.

And she understood the situation the best she could for a five year old, but all that really mattered to her was that she was happy and felt so much love by all her parents.

They chuckled again as Annie sets her daughter back on the floor while she replied. "Why don't you get dad to tell you how long 30 years is later."

Knowing she'll keep asking questions until she was stratified with all the answers she wanted, Annie had to stop this before it continued or they could be here all day.

Mackenzie looked a little sad for a second before Grissom spoke with his arms out. "Ladybug, why don't you tell the guests that your mom is ready."

She smiled, and after giving her mother a kiss and told her that she loved her, she ran to her father, who had picked her and walked to the door, and once it was open, Sara was on the other side.

They smiled at each other as Mackenzie held out her arms toward the other woman. "Mommy Sara!" Sara smiled as she took the little girl from her husband's arms, which still sent a tingle down her spine at the thought of this wonderful man being her husband the last four years.

Then after she greeted Annie warmly, she walked away while Grissom closed the door again before looking back at Annie, who was looking at him with a smile.

"What?"

"Nothing, just seeing you light up when that little girl is in the room is just heartwarming, you are a wonderful father."

Grissom smiled with appreciation in his eyes. "And you are a wonderful mother." She smiled shyly as he cleared his throat before continuing. "And if I never thanked you for bringing her into this world, then I'm an idiot. The situation was definitely not ideal, but that doesn't mean she was ever unwanted by me."

"I know that, and for the record, despite the situation she was brought into, I think we've done a pretty good job."

He nodded in agreement. "That we have."

There was a shot pause before she cleared her throat. "I am a little surprised though."

He raised an eyebrow. "About what?"

"Why don't you any more kids? I figured by now you would at least have another one."

He breathed out. "Oh."

Annie shook her head and waved it off. "I'm sorry, it's none of my business."

"No, it isn't that." He took a breath and looked into her eyes before looking down. "I uh...Well I..."

She smiled warmly as she cuts him off. "You are ready and want to, but you haven't brought the subject up with her, yet."

He smiled at her, amazed that after all this time she still knew him so well, then he nodded and let out another breath. "I've respected her choice on waiting, and I understand why she wanted to, but..."

He trailed of while she nodded in understanding before speaking. "Then you know what you need to do."

"I know, talk to her."

"There you go." Then she smirked with a teasing smile. "Now you're learning."

He chuckled before replying with a small sigh. "Well, you know what they say about teaching an old dog new tricks."

She smiled for a second before raising an eyebrow at that. "I hope you aren't calling me old, because I'm only a few months younger than you."

Grissom shook his head with another smile as he walked up to where she was still sitting, and held out his hand. "Never, would I do such a thing."

She smirked as she placed her hand in his. "Good answer."

The smile was still on his face as he helped her up, then once she was steady on her feet, he asked. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Any more kids on your end?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not sure, we'll see."

Looking at her with honesty, he replied softly. "They would be lucky to have you."

"And they could be lucky to have to you too."

They looked into each other's eyes for a second before he cleared his throat and asked. "You ready?"

She nodded with tears in her eyes. "More than you can imagine."

He just nodded before they started taking steps toward the door.

It took a lot of hard work that was mixed with frustration, and even anger at times, to get her walking again. But with all the support and love around her, she pulled through something she never thought she would, and even though she wasn't getting married the same day she started walking, she'll take it anyways because she was about marry the love of her life, finally.

Right before they got to the door, Grissom spoke again. "I'm sorry, Annie."

She looked over at him with confusion on her face. "For what?"

"I know how much you would have wanted your father to walk you down the aisle, so I'm sorry you didn't get that chance."

"Me too, but I think by now you and I both know it never would have lasted. Don't get me wrong, I loved you deeply and I was all in, but in the back of my mind, which I believe was one of the reasons I had no problem on waiting until you were ready, was because I felt something was..."

He cuts her off with an understanding nod. "Missing."

"Yeah, and I didn't know what it was until I saw Keith again. So yeah, it sucks that I didn't get to experience my father walking me down the aisle, but in the end it wouldn't have felt like the real deal, you know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I do."

She smiled as the door opened before they walked out. "But thank you for accepting to walk me down the aisle. If it couldn't be my father, I'm glad it was you."

"No problem."

He was surprised when she had asked him, but with Sara's blessing and support, he agreed to do it.

Once they made it down the aisle, Grissom transferred Annie's hand to Keith's as he told him. "Don't hurt her."

Keith shook his head with a loving smile as he looked at his bride. "Never."

Then after Grissom kissed her on the cheek, he goes to the front and sits down next to Sara, who had slipped her fingers through his a second later before they watched the ceremony with the rest of Annie's and Keith's family/friends, even the rest of the gang was there to witness the joyous occasion.

After the reception

When the bride and groom were ready to leave they started to make the rounds of saying goodbye and thanking them for coming, and once they got to the last group, which was the gang, Mackenzie lifted up her arms to Keith.

He smiled and picked her up from Nick's lap before holding her and giving her a kiss on the cheek. "I'm going to miss you, princess."

She wrapped her arms around his neck as she responded. "I'm going to miss you too, love you."

"I love you too."

He loved her like she was her own, and outside of Annie, she became his world and there was nothing he wouldn't do for her.

After one more kiss, Mackenzie was passed over to her mother, where they hugged each other tightly before Annie whispered. "I love you so much, baby, and I'll see you when we get back."

The little girl sniffled a little, feeling a little sad that her mother will be gone since this was the first time in her short life that a parent will be out of her life for more than a few days, because even when she was scheduled to be with one parent for multiple days, there were times were she would still see the other one, especially when her father and Sara had to work an extra shift.

"I love you too, mommy."

They shared one more hug and kiss before Annie smiled and handed her to Grissom, who had stood up.

There was a short pause before Keith places his hand on the small of Annie's back. "You ready?"

Annie nodded with a smile, and after saying goodbye to the gang, who had congratulated them, the newlyweds turned and started to walk away while they smiled at them, very happy that Annie had found happiness and a true love.

Once the newlyweds were in the vehicle, but before he drove away, he took her hand and kissed it before looking at his new wife with love. "I love you, Mrs. Anderson."

She smiled back. "I love you too, Mr. Anderson."

They leaned over the middle console before kissing each other on the lips softly, and after they pulled back slowly, Keith started to drive so they could head to the airport and go to their honeymoon, where they'll be spending 4 days in Hawaii.

Later that Night

"And they lived happily ever after."

Sara closed the Cinderella book, and as she placed it on the night stand, Mackenzie smiled and asked. "Will you and daddy live happily ever after, mommy?"

Sara smiled, not only for the question, but because she still gets pleasant shivers down her spine when she hears that word from the beautiful little girl, then she cupped her cheek and nodded. "You bet, sweetheart."

Even though this wasn't the first time she had asked the question, she still loved the answer. "I'm glad."

"Me too." She leaned down and kissed her forehead before pulling back and asking. "You have cubby with you?"

Mackenzie held up her teddy bear, who was named cubby and was dressed up in a Chicago Cubs baseball uniform; a team Grissom followed regularly. Then she tucked her teddy bear under the covers and next to her side before Sara tucked the little girl in better while saying. "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Alright, your dad will be in here in a second."

"Ok, have a good night."

"You too."

After one more kiss, Sara gets up from the bed and walks out of the room, and not even five minutes later, Grissom walked in the room with a smile. "Hi ladybug, you ready to go to sleep?"

She smiled with a nod. "Yep, I just need a kiss from you first."

"Well, we can't have you going to sleep without one then, can we?"

She shook her head quickly, making him chuckle as he sat down on her bed before leaning down and kissing her softly on the forehead, then pulled back and looked into those bright blue eyes of hers. "I love you very much."

She paused before asking with curiosity. "You always will?"

Grissom frowned a little as he cupped his little girl's cheek and asked softly. "Of course, ladybug, why are you questioning that? What's going on?"

She replied with a sad sigh. "This one girl in my class has two sets of parents too, and they have other kids and sometimes she feels out of place." Then she frowned and asked softly. "Will that happen to me?"

Grissom shook his head while making his little girl a promise with tears in his eyes. "I will try everything in my power to make sure you don't feel that way. Just know that no matter who comes into our family nothing will change how I feel about you. We would be adding on, never replacing anybody, ok? You understand?"

She paused for another second, working it out in her head, which something Grissom loved watching her do, then she slowly nodded and replied with a small smile. "Yeah, I think so."

Grissom brightened as he ran his thumb up and down her cheek. "That's my girl."

Mackenzie's eyes brighten as she asked. "Daddy?"

"Yeah, sweetheart."

"Just make sure I get a sister, if it happens, ok?"

Grissom chuckled as he asked. "What, you don't want a brother?"

She scrunched up her nose and shook her head. "Yuck, a boy, he'll have cooties."

Grissom had to admit he loved her reaction to boys right now, and knowing sooner rather than later that reaction will change, he would like to hold on to this side of her for as long as he could.

He chuckled again before replying. "Well, I'm a boy, and you still love me."

She looked at her father like he didn't know what was going on as she explained. "But they are the good cooties."

He smirked. "I see, can't a brother have good cooties too?"

Once again Mackenzie's wheels were turning in her head, then after a long moment, she nodded before replying, but there was still a little uncertainty in her tone. "It's possible, I guess. But I would still prefer a sister."

After one more chuckle, he nodded. "Ok, if/when it happens, we'll see what I can do about getting you a sister first."

She started to smile again with a nod, but was cut off when she started to yawn, so Grissom leaned down and kissed her forehead again before whispering. "Sleep tight, ladybug. I love you, always."

Mackenzie wrapped an arm around her father's neck and whispered back. "Love you too, daddy. Sleep tight."

Once she removed her arm, and Grissom made sure she was tucked back in really well, he just watched as she closed her eyes while holding on to her teddy bear.

After a few moments of watching her sleep, he finally gets up from the bed and walks toward the door to her room, then after turning the light out; making the ladybug night light come on, he stepped out of the room, closing the door until there was only a crack before walking across the hall to his and Sara's bedroom.

When he walked in the room, Sara was in the bathroom, so since he was ready to go to sleep, he just walked to the bed and got under the covers before sitting up, waiting for his wife to come out, which just thinking about Sara as his wife, even after four years, sent a pleasant spark down his spine.

By the time Sara walked into the bedroom, Grissom was lost in his thoughts, so she asked as she sat up in bed next to him. "You ok, babe?"

Grissom mentally shook his head and looked at her with a small smile. "Yeah." Then he cleared his throat before continuing. "But, I think we need to talk about something."

Sara looked down at her hands as she spoke. "Now normally I would be a little freaked out with words like that."

He frowned while placed his left hand on top of her left one. "I don't mean to..."

She cuts him off while looking at him again as she turned the palm of her hand so she could slip her fingers thought his. "But I'm not because I know what you want to say." He looked at her with curiosity as she continued with a smile. "I saw you with Keith's nephew and niece today, I see the look, Griss, you're ready to have another child."

He took a breath and squeezed her hand lightly as he started to speak again. "Sara, I respect your choice on waiting and I don't want you to feel any type of rush from me, but..."

Sara cuts him off again, this time with a smile and love in her eyes. "I'm ready too."

Grissom's eyes sparkled as he asked. "Yeah?"

Sara nodded with tears in her eyes. "Yeah."

He chuckled as he moved his other hand to cup her cheek, then brought her closer to him and kissed her softly on the lips before wrapping his arm around her and giving her a hug while whispering. "Thank you."

She chuckled a little before she replied. "No need to thank me, but you're welcome."

After holding onto one another for a few seconds in silence, he had turned his head and started to kiss her neck, making her close her eyes, then when they traveled down to her tank-topped covered shoulder, she opened her eyes and cleared her throat before she started to speak, knowing where this was heading, but she really needed to tell him something. "But Griss, there is uh, something you need to know."

He stopped his travels before pulling back and looking her in the eyes with love, and if she wasn't mistaken a little concern, which it only got deeper when he saw tears in her eyes. "Sara..."

But she cuts him off as she placed her hand on his clean shaven-cheek. "Our wait won't be as long as you think it is."

Grissom's heart started to race at the implication of her words. "What?"

She nodded as she slipped her hand out his before bringing his hand to her stomach, making him gasp a little with wide-eyes. "No."

Sara nodded again with a wider smile this time. "Yes, you're going to be a daddy again soon rather than later."

An unexpected tear came out of his eye as he tried to speak. "Sara, I uh...I..."

He was filled with so much emotion that he couldn't finish though, but Sara understood him well enough that she knew what he was trying to say, so she just ran her hand up and down his cheek with the smile still on her face. "I know, babe."

He sniffled as he leaned toward her and gave her a passionate, yet one of his softest kisses, which she almost loved more than any other kind, before pulling back and asking politely/emotionally if she would lay down.

She nodded while she removed her hand from his cheek before doing what he asked, and what he did next wasn't what she was expecting.

Instead of continuing their evening like she thought a few seconds ago, he moved from his spot beside her and moved her shirt up a little so he could place his hand on her stomach, feeling her skin on the palm of his hand, while he laid his head down on her and just talked to the little one inside of her, telling him/her what an amazing family he/she will be brought in, especially the older sister he/she will be getting.

A few minutes went by before Grissom cleared his throat from emotion still in him as he whispered. "The request has been made by Mackenzie that we try to make sure it's a girl."

She chuckled a little at that, not knowing about the father/daughter conversation. "What?"

"I'll tell you about that later."

She moved her hand and ran her fingers though his hair as she replied softly. "Ok." Then while the dream she had four years ago and a few more times since then came to her mind, which had the same results, continued softly. "And I have a pretty good feeling it will be."

Grissom smiled as he whispered. "I love you so much, Sara. Thank you making me a dad again."

She sniffled before replying. "I love you too, and it was my pleasure."

They didn't get any more intimate than this for the rest of their evening, but neither one minded at the moment because they were too busy feeling all the emotions of knowing they were finally going to have a child of their own, whom they already loved with all their hearts.

Now they just couldn't wait to see their little one come into the world, and their little family will be even more perfect.

AN: Hope you liked the chapter, and while I know the storyline may have not been a favorite to most, I'm glad for all the support I got on it. I am really considering doing a sequel, but only if there is true interest in it, so what do you all think? Please Review.

Well, that's it for now, but you never know when I'll be back. I do have a few ideas on something new, and working on adding to another story to the Worth Fighting for series, so be on the lookout with all of that in the upcoming weeks.

Until then though, take care and be safe, and always remember, GSR4ever!