AN: This is kinda unrealistic, but I had to get it out of my system... This came from a statement from the original story that at the rate the others were noticing clues, Sara could give birth in the middle of the lab and the others wouldn't notice... For my sake, please suspend reality for a few minutes.
Sara leaned over the hood of the car, on hand reaching, the other bracing herself so her expanding abdomen didn't interfere. Suddenly she felt her stomach tighten, and the pain caused her to gasp.
"You okay, Sar?" Nick asked, looking up from his position in the backseat. Sara nodded, waiting for the pain to pass. Nick looked unconvinced but accepted her answer without further comment. They finished processing the car and moved to take the collected evidence to other places in the lab.
"Catherine, have you seen Grissom?" Sara asked, poking her head into the co-supervisor's office.
"I think he's out on a case, why?" she asked. Sara tried to shrug her shoulders, but at that moment another contraction hit and all she stiffened against the pain.
"No reason," she managed to say through clenched teeth.
"You okay?" Catherine asked. The pain passed and Sara was able to nod.
"Just a bit of nausea," she lied, "Must be something I ate. If you hear from Griss tell him to find me." Sara turned and left the office.
Sara continued running the lab tests she'd been assigned. The contractions were becoming stronger and more frequent. Suddenly she felt a rush of fluid and an extremely strong contraction. Her water had broken. She leapt up from the lab stool she was sitting on and hurriedly buttoned her coat to hide the offending dark spot on her pants. She walked to Grissom's office and lay down on the couch. Within twenty minutes the contractions increased to being every two minutes. Sara began to panic. She fished her cell phone from her pocket and dialed Grissom's number.
"Grissom," he picked up.
"Gil, it's happening," she said.
"Sara?" he asked, "What do you mean?"
"I mean that one thing we joked about is actually happening," she grunted back through the pain.
"Really? How far?" he asked.
"Two minutes."
"Sara, um, I'm coming right now. I'm going to call Doc and have him touch base with you. Hang in there, Sara." He hung up the phone. Sara endured three more contractions before Doc Robbins came barreling into the room.
"Gil called and said you needed me," he said. Taking in her pained expression and her swollen form lying on the couch he was rendered speechless.
"Contractions are two minutes apart," Sara bit out, "My water broke thirty minutes ago."
Robbins pulled on a pair of rubber gloves and crossed to Sara's side. He did a quick pelvic exam.
"You're at ten. How long have you been having contractions?" he asked, looking around for anything he could use to prep the room.
"All shift, they weren't interfering with my work. No one really noticed anything." Sara chuckled to herself.
"You and Grissom got a name picked out?" Robbins asked.
"That honor goes to you," Sara said, "Gil and I made a deal that the first person to find out got to name her." As Robbins chuckled about this, Grissom slipped into the room. He practically ran to the couch where he knelt beside Sara and gently ran his hand across her forehead and down her cheek. She smiled up at him briefly.
"Griss, we're going to need the suitcase we have here," Sara said. Grissom nodded and rose. He walked to a cabinet on the far side of the room and retrieving the item. He opened it and found two receiving blankets. He handed one to Robbins who spread it out on Sara's chest. Grissom placed the other blanket, a beautiful pure white with pink ribbon and tiny, hand-stitched rose buds, on his desk.
"Alright Sara, get ready to push," Doc said, "with the next contraction." Sara did as she was told and, after only half an hour of pushing, a beautiful baby girl made her entrance into the world. Immediately, her piercing cries echoed through the lab, but both Sara and Grissom were too ecstatic to care who found out at this point. While Sara gave a final push to deliver the placenta, Grissom cut the cord and used a third blanket pulled from the suitcase to rub her down. He then laid her gently on Sara's chest. He swaddled her in the pale pink blanket and her cries began to fade.
"Hey there, ladybug," Sara whispered. She smiled up at Grissom and noticed tears in his eyes. He leaned down and kissed her.
"I'm so proud of you," he whispered, trailing a finger down his daughter's cheek.
"Mariah Joy," Doc Robbins said, "If the offer still stands, that is." The new parents looked up at him then studied their daughter.
"Mariah meaning 'sea of bitterness'," Grissom said, warily.
"Followed by Joy," Robbins defended, "Just like the two of you. The three of you."
"Hey, Mariah," Sara cooed. She moved her aching body to more of a sitting position and cradled her daughter closer.
"If I can take her for just a few minutes I'll get length and weight measurements for the birth certificate," Robbins said after cleaning up. Sara reluctantly passed Mariah to Gil who walked with Dr. Robbins to the morgue. The cold metal of the scale woke the infant and she began to wail. Grissom wrapped the blanket snuggly around her, whispering consolingly. She quieted some, but still whimpered a little. As they headed back to his office, they ran into Catherine. By this time, little Mariah was sleeping peacefully in her father's arms, worn out.
"Did Sara find you, Grissom?" she asked, not initially phased by the sight of the pink bundle in his arms.
"Yes, I have seen her. She's just fine."
"Good. Who's the little one?" she asked. Grissom adjusted Mariah a little bit and smiled.
"You'll have to figure that out yourself, Cath," was all he said. He walked away, slipping back into his office.
He smiled at the sight which greeted him when he stepped into the office. Sara lay, still slightly sitting up, sound asleep on his couch. He walked over and settled onto the couch behind her, shifting her so her head rested on his shoulder. Grissom took a long moment to study his two girls and smiled. Never before had he felt as content as he did in that moment. There was a gentle knock at the door.
"It's open," he called. The door drifted open to reveal a very shocked graveyard crew. They took in Sara's now loose fitting coveralls, and her position against Grissom's chest.
"Come in," he said.
"Gil," Catherine, "explain. NOW."
"Catherine, please. I'd prefer we didn't wake up my daughter. Or my wife."