AN: Thanks for the continued support, here is the last chapter.

Chapter 20: What a journey it has been

Two weeks later

Sara sighed as she signed her name for the last time on a report that involved the CSI lab, and as sad as the part of her that didn't want to leave, she was fully happy that she never had to do that ever again, because while she knew it needed to be done, it wasn't her favorite part of the job, but whose was it really?

She closed the file and sets her pen down on her desk, then leans back in her chair and takes a moment to herself to reflect on her career, and while there were parts she wished she could take out from this job, she didn't regret this career choice. She knew she helped a lot of victims have closure and put a lot of criminals away, and she would make the same decision all over again.

She took a few more moments to herself before she leaned forward and started placing the rest of her items, which among them were the photos she kept on her desk, in a box she had on the far end of the desk. Once she was done with that task, she stood up, grabbing the file and her coffee mug before heading out of the room so she could one, turn in the file to Lindsey, and two, to take her mug to the break-room so she could wash it out.

When she got to Lindsey's office, there was no one there so she just placed it in a spot where the other woman would see it before walking right out of the room, then she headed for the break-room, realizing that while she was walking there, there wasn't anyone walking the halls, but the lab rats were still working in their labs, so she just started to chalk it down to timing, maybe they were in their offices or still out in the field, or other places in the lab working.

She shook her head with a small smile as she got to the break-room doors, which they were closed along with the blinds, and 99.9% either hardly ever were, but she just shook it off and opened them up, then before she had time to react, lights were turned on and everybody she knew, friends/family/past CSIs all shouted. "Surprise!"

She gasped in shock at first while they were all grinning, then she shook her head with a smile, seeing decorations around the room while a variety of drinks, snacks and a cake were on the table. "What is all of this, I said no party."

Malcolm then spoke as he walked up to his favorite boss with a smirk. "Sorry, boss lady, but you've been here too long to just walk out without so much as a goodbye."

She smirked back as she gave him a hug. "So, this was your idea?"

Malcolm shook his head again as they pulled back. "Actually, no."

Sara raised an eyebrow as she looked over at Lindsey. "Lindsey?"

But she shook her head with a smile. "It wasn't me either."

Then she looked over at Catherine, most likely suspect. "Catherine?"

But once again Sara was wrong.

Catherine chuckled while shaking her head. "Sorry girl, but not this time, someone actually beat me to the punch."

Now Sara was carious, so she looked at everybody in the room, and while she could see the majority of them doing it, it would take some special guts to go against her wishes, even though deep down they knew nothing would have actually happened to them if they had done it, and the three likely suspects that she had worked with were already questioned, so she looked at her 'kids' with that 'mother' look, and all three shook their heads with smiles while William spoke. "It wasn't us either, mom."

When she was satisfied that it wasn't her kids, she turned her eyes to the last person it could have been because he knew she didn't like parties where she was the center of attention, much like himself, but was shocked to see a very special smirk on his face, like he got one over her, and she looked at him with surprise as she was walking up to him. "You!? I can't believe it... of all people?"

They all started chuckling while Grissom spoke after clearing his throat. "Sorry honey, but like what Malcolm said, you've just been here too long to not do something."

She then smirked. "Alright, but now I get to do something for you."

Grissom shocked his family about a week ago when he too announced his intention to retire at the end of the 1st semester, since once again, like it has been from the moment he started teaching at UCLA, his class was full and he wanted students to have one more chance at having him as a teacher.

Grissom was about to open his mouth, but she continued before he could. "Hey, fair is fair. This is a two-way street, mister. That's how it's always been and always will be." Grissom just nodded with a smile, knowing when she had a point he couldn't argue with, then she asked. "And how exactly did you pull this off?"

Luke answered. "We put our knowledge about your patterns to the test."

Harry continued. "And considering the circumstances, we knew you would mostly be in your office today, so it wasn't as hard to track your movements as if it was a regular day."

And Malcolm finished. "Everybody was close to the lab pretty much a few hours after lunch, and started showing up the last ten minutes when we knew for sure you wouldn't be in here or outside of the lab until you you were cleaning up and done with your paperwork."

Sara smiled, impressed with the guys she trained from the beginning of their careers, well outside of Malcolm, but she was his boss for most of it. "Wow, I'm truly impressed, guys."

They smiled with pride before Luke said sincerely. "Like we've all thought while working with you, we were trained by the best."

Her now ex-CSIs cheered as Sara gets a shyly smile while she looked at her husband. "I'll settle for second best."

Another round of cheering, this time everybody was in on it, went around the room as Grissom shyly smiled at the compliment, and as the cheering was ending, a new voice came through the break-room from the doorway. "Sorry, I'm late."

Katie gasped in surprise as she saw Alex standing there, then asked with a smile. "What are you doing here?"

Like everybody predicted it had been a rough time for Katie since Alex left, but there wasn't a day that didn't pass them by when they weren't in some shape or form talking to one another.

Alex smiled as they walked up to one another and hugged while he explained with a smirk. "There was a retirement party I was invited to, remember?"

Katie chuckled while shaking her head as they were still in each other's embrace, not ready to let one another go. "I didn't think you would actually show up, considering..."

He cuts her off as they pulled back from one another slightly before he cupped her cheek and said sincerely. "This was important to you and your family, so it was important to me that I be here for you and them. Know there isn't any distance I won't travel to make sure I'm there for you in the important moments in your life, as long as you want me there of course."

Feeling overwhelmed by his words and his sincerity, Katie started to feel emotional, not to mention all eyes were still on them as she softly whispered. "Thank you."

He nodded with a smile as he brings her in his arms again. "You're very welcome."

She took a breath before asking while the group went into their own circles and started talking among themselves, giving the couple a little privacy. "So, did you only come here today for the party or are you here longer?"

He cleared his throat before he replied. "Actually, I need to talk to you about something."

Feeling this moment just got even more serious, she answered with slight worry. "Ok."

He held her tighter as he tried to reassure her. "Hey, it's good news, or at least I think it is."

While still in the embrace, Alex shared a look with Grissom, and the older man gave a him a short nod, so Alex nodded back before he pulled back from Katie's embrace, took her hand and asked. "Can I talk to you now?"

After Katie nodded, they walked out of the room and headed down the hall towards her mother's office, and once they were in the empty room, outside of the desk and chairs, Alex closed the door as she turned to look at him, then after a giant smile from the both of them, he took the longest strides he could to get to his girlfriend faster, before bringing her in his arms so they could share a passionate kiss.

They pulled back when they needed to and placed their foreheads together, catching their breathes before he whispered. "Hi."

She chuckled as she ran her fingers through his hair from the back. "Hi."

He took another deep breath, almost a sigh really, before continuing. "Now, that is a greeting I can look forward to every time."

She sighed. "Me too, I just wish that our greetings won't be so far apart."

He nodded as they started to pull back from one another, but kept their arms around one another, then he spoke. "And that's what I want to talk to you about." When he had her full attention, he continued. "I knew before I left here that leaving would be hard, but I didn't fully realize how hard it would actually be, it literally has felt like torture being away from you."

She nodded with tears in her eyes. "It has been for me too, but what can we..."

He cuts her off with a smile. "What if I moved here, well, I guess I should say move back here."

With tears still in her eyes, she now looked shocked. "What!? For real?" After he nodded with a bigger smile, she shook her head in disbelieve while asking. "But what about your job? Your career?"

"I'll have one here next semester."

"So, you're teaching at UCLA?"

He smirked. "Like there is any other college I would teach in Los Angeles."

She started to smile, but then stopped with a gasp as her eyes got wide when she thought of something. "No!"

Trying to reassure her, knowing she figured it out. "Katie..."

But she cuts him off as she removed herself from his arms. "You're taking over my father's position at the University, aren't you?" Before he could respond. "He's leaving the school because of this, because of..."

He cuts her off this time. "He feels it's time. Honestly, I wouldn't have jumped at this opportunity if he wasn't adamant on leaving. You know I wouldn't do that to him. I respect the hell out of him, he's been a better father figure in the years that I've known him while I was in that school than my own."

She shook her head with tears in her eyes again. "No, he's doing this for me, I can't let him do that." Before he could speak, she walked past him and out of the room, then down the hall, which Alex was following her, and when she reached the break-room, she walked right in and spoke so he could hear her from across the room, not caring who else was in there. "Daddy, don't do this."

Everybody stopped talking and turned to Katie with Alex standing behind her, and Grissom walked up to his daughter, knowing what she was talking about. "Katie..."

She cuts him off with tears going down her cheeks. "You're leaving the school because of me, and I can't le..."

He cuts her softly off as he cupped his youngest daughter's cheek. "Ladybug, I know you feel that I'm retiring because of you, and while I can't deny that wasn't a small factor in my decision." She was going to open her mouth before he continued before she could. "I honestly do feel it's time. I've spent my whole life working, and frankly I'm tired, I feel I've done all that I can and I want to focus the rest of my life on my family, and with your mom retiring, the timing just felt even more right."

She sniffled. "But..."

He cuts her off one more time. "You love him?"

With no hesitation, and for the first time in front of other people, she nodded. "Yes."

"And you want to spend as much time as you can with him?"

"Of course."

"Then embrace this change like you've embraced all the others you've encountered in your life."

Before she could truly accept this, she asked. "And you're sure about your decision?"

He nodded with a smile, his blue eyes sparkling. "I am."

She then looked at her mother, knowing her mother knew her father the best, almost better than himself, and Sara nodded with a smile as she placed her hand on her husband's shoulder. "He truly is at peace with this, sweetie."

She looked in her father's eyes one more time before she nodded. "Ok."

He then brings his daughter in his arms and whispered. "And even if I was solely doing this for you, you should know by now there isn't anything I wouldn't do for my kids to make them happy, and I know having him here would have made you happy."

She then smirked, knowing there was another reason why he would do what he did. "And you and mom happy that I wouldn't leave."

He sighed in content as he held her a little tighter, no point in denying it. "Very true, we both thought that was a huge possibility."

She sniffled. "Which I can't deny that thought was there, even if it was deep in the back of my head."

"Believe me, I know that feeling all to well."

As they pulled back, she smirked. "When you first met mom?"

He nodded with a smile. "Yes, she almost lured me away from Vegas." He sighed then looked at his wife. "I just didn't listen to my heart back then like I should have."

Sara smiled as she cupped her husband's cheek. "That doesn't matter now, babe, we ended up having it all anyways."

While her parents were going through their moment, and while the rest of the group went back to talking/laughing among themselves, Katie turned around to look at Alex, who was still close to the doorway to the room, a little shyly on how she reacted. "I'm sorry. It's not that I didn't want you to..."

He cuts her off with a smile as he cupped her cheek. "Hey, I get it. I probably would have reacted the same way. Just know I would never do anything to hurt you."

She nodded with a sniffle. "I know that." Then she took a breath and asked as her smile was getting wider, fully accepting these turn of events. "So, we are really doing this?"

He nodded with a smile of his own. "Heck yeah. But, I want to do this right, I want to go through the milestones of our relationship in a nice paced manner."

She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Well, now that we have all the time in the world, I don't mind that at all."

He then whispered as they moved closer to one another. "But, I'm still going to say I love you. I don't care how fast that took us to say."

She smiled as she moved them even closer. "And I love you too."

Then for the first time they kissed in front of everybody, causing everybody in the room to cheer, and once they pulled back, they get into another embrace, this time his eyes landed on William, and the other man nodded with a smile.

While Grissom had been contemplating retirement since Sara told him about hers, he would say his final decision came after William and him talked about Katie and Alex, basically only confirming what he already knew what was happening between them, and knew everybody in the family didn't want to see her go if it came to that.

Alex smiled in return as he held his girlfriend a little tighter, both already counting down the days when he'll officially be back here so they could truly start their relationship like it was meant to be.

45 minutes later

After shift officially ended and the speeches were heard, the cake eaten, Sara went back to her office to grab her box, but instead of just grabbing it and walking right out, she took a little time to remember some of the moments she had while in this office, including the time when Grissom had placed 18 roses in here, including the one he was holding in his hand on their anniversary.

She smiled wider when she felt his arms wrap around her from behind and he whispered. "You ok?"

She sighed in content. "Yeah, just remembering."

He nodded in understanding, and after a few more moments, he asked. "You ready?"

She nodded while they pulled back from one another, then after he took her box from the desk, they smiled at one another before they started walking towards the door of the office, and once they got in the hall and started walking down it with his free hand in hers, the lab rats stopped what they were doing and started clapping as they saw Sara pass their windows, which she nodded with a smile with appreciation in her eyes, knowing she couldn't have done what she done for so long with out the help from them, and speaking of that, when they turned the corner, where the reception desk was and the doors to the building, the rest of the CSI team, past and present, were standing on each side of the hall with Brett, Carly, Malcolm, Luke, Harry, and Lindsey at the end.

She shook her head with a wider smile as she continued to walk down the hall with more clapping, then she stopped at the end and shared hugs and smiles with the six of them, and after she pulled back from Luke, he asked. "Can you say it one more time for old times sake?"

The six of them stepped forward so they were standing closer to the other CSIs before Sara turned around while Grissom opened the door, then she spoke to them all. "Thank you guys for everything. I couldn't have done all this without each and every one of you. It has been a pleasure working with you all, no matter how short of time I was with some of you, and so for the last time, you all dismissed."

With that, Sara turned around and walked out of the lab with more clapping behind her, and she smiled even wider when she was greeted by the ones she's known since Vegas, the originals, Catherine, Warrick, Nick and Greg, and the rest of her family.

After their moment with them, and mentions of meeting at the house later tonight, Grissom and Sara finally made it into her vehicle, and once they were settled in their seats, they looked at one another with smiles as he held out his hand. "I love you and I'm so proud of you."

She slipped her hand through his with her eyes sparkling. "I know I couldn't have done everything that I have without every one of those people behind me, but you especially, you've been my rock when things got too much, never once wavering your commitment to me, to our family, so all I have left to say is thank you for all that you have done for me, and most of all, I love you too, so much."

They moved forward and kissed softly a few times before placing their foreheads together and closed their eyes for a moment before they pulled back so she could start the vehicle and take them home.

Three years later

August 20, 2044

Sitting on the beach, like he was doing right now, through the years as a young man, Grissom would contemplate how he wanted his life to go, which he didn't want much, he just wanted it to be simple, probably too simple than most people could understand, but it was what he wanted. And while his life almost took an unexpected turn (He looked at Kelly and her family with a smile), nothing came more unexpected or life changing than the day he met his future wife on that fateful day 46 years ago, that simple life he wanted was gone the second those beautiful brown eyes met his blue ones.

True, he tried fighting it tooth and nail for years, but eventually his heart won and he could no longer deny the new life that had been in front of him for so long. He was just thankful that he wasn't too late, literally and figuratively, because on another fateful night, the night he asked if they could start over, might have not happened if things turned out much worse for her.

He mentally shook his head, then smiled with a sigh as he looked at what was in front of him, not only was it his family, the one he created with his beautiful wife, but the ones they surrounded themselves with through the years, first, the one that seemed inevitable.

He looked towards Catherine with a small shake of the head, why she stuck by him this long, he'll never fully understand. But, nonetheless, he was thankful for the unlikely friendship that's lasted over 50 years. He watched her become a mother, helped her through the difficult times in her life, supported her and missed her when she left Vegas, watched her become happier than she's ever been the day she married Warrick (And vise versa for Warrick), watched her become a mother a few more times, then eventually the grandkids came, 6 (Lindsey/Kyle (3), Rick/Elizabeth (3)), to be exact with at least one more from Eli and his fiancée on the way in about 6 months. Cassandra wasn't there yet, but she was in a committed relationship.

Grissom's eyes turned to the next two families, the Sanders and Stokes, who were visiting for a few days for a very special reason, and while he never had the privilege to watch these two men fall in love with their wives, he knew their lives got better because of them. He has never seen them happier than they were when they were with their wives and kids. There were no grandkids in either of those families yet, but the two oldest from each of them, Austin and Conrad, were both engaged, so he would suspect that it was only a matter of time.

He took a moment to watch his 'kids' with their kids before looking in the direction of two of the families that didn't seem as inevitable as the previous families he was watching, but happy they were apart of their lives, Luke, his wife, and their five children, and Harry, his wife and three children.

Then his eyes landed on the last group who he saw as family, the biggest one that included the Hughes/Boldens/Coopers. Who would have thought that when Carly, now a grandmother of twelve (Courtney/Malcolm (4), B.J./Stephanie (3), Martin/Brandy (2), Andrew/Jessica (3)), transferred to the night shift team in Vegas, which she wouldn't have been there had Catherine not left, would end up impacting their lives more than they could have ever imagined.

Grissom's thoughts were interrupted when he heard his wife's voice as she sat down next to him. "Hey, what are you doing?"

He turned to his wife with a bright smile. "Just observing our family."

She looked around much like he did, before looking at her husband with a bright smile of her own. "Pretty amazing, huh?"

He sighed as he cupped her cheek. "Considering how I thought my life would turn out, and how I was, I would say it is a straight out miracle."

She chuckled before smirking. "So, it's better than what you thought it could be?"

He lifted his sunglasses off so she could see his eyes as he spoke with emotion. "The type of passion and joy that you've given me these last 40 years is something I could have never imagined in my wildest dreams."

She lifter her sunglasses up so he could see her shinning eyes. "Mine neither."

"I love you."

"I love you too, babe."

As they were moving to kiss one another, there was a commotion going on with their side of the family, so they pulled back and Grissom asked. "Hey, what's going on!?"

Alex was helping his wife stand up from the chair she had been sitting on, and shouted with a smile. "It's time, I'm going to be a father!"

Everybody started cheering as Kelly was rushing over towards the couple since she was their doctor, but before Sara and Grissom stood up, he looked at his wife of 36 years and asked with a smile. "Well, are you ready to be a grandma for the 8th & 9th time?"

With two more granddaughters entering their family last year, one from William and Bella, their fourth child, and another from Isabella and Jason, their third child, they now have four granddaughters to three grandsons.
And now they were about to become grandparents to two more, the first set of twins in both the Grissom and Carter families.

Sara smiled brightly again as she helped him up, then cupped his cheek. "More than ready."

They finally share a kiss before heading towards their youngest and son in-law, excited and happy for the new additions that will be joining their family, and while they were helping them towards the vehicle and driving to the hospital, all they could think about was what a journey it had been...so far, knowing there was still more to enjoy.

AN: Well, there it is, I hope to those who invested their time reading, and reviewing this story/series for over a year felt it was worth it at the end. I really enjoyed writing it, which at times it felt like I couldn't stop, so thank you to those who've stayed with me for this long, especially the reviewers, which kept me motivated on posting more chapters/stories, more than I probably thought I would have when I posted the very first chapter for the series.

Now, I'm going to take a break, but then I'll hopefully be back at it, giving you something to read during these hard times. I hope you all remain safe and take care, and until next time, always remember, GSR4ever!

*Next chapter for my missing moment story will be out soon, there were moments from that story I didn't want to spoil this one, so that's the reason for the delay.*