| Any comments, suggestions or questions can be directed to the author. Thank you for taking the time to read and I hope you found something that you could enjoy. Disclaimer: I do not own anything in relation to C.S.I., Alliance Atlantic, CBS, William Petersen, Jorja Fox or any other characters contained herein... I just like playing with them now and then while stretching my writing muscles. And if you think there's any money to be gained by suing me, you're in for a horrible disappointment. |
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| The continuing years of the Discovery Series storyline as the family gets ready for a big event. The family storyteller gathers up some photos and shares a perspective on the past. (including a "photo album" scrapbook) GSR/Yo!Bling/Etc. *Rated PG for Most Everyone. |
| LIKE IT WAS YESTERDAY |
| Part 7 - "What's Forever For?" |
| The scissors slowly and precisely trailed along the edges of the people in the photograph depicting a graduation. The young man was proud and smiling, his mother close at his side, his diplomas tightly in his grasp. With a bachelor’s degree in science and a master’s degree in physics, there was plenty of reason for the pride on both of their faces. Like mother, like son. The corner of Sara’s mouth quirked into a smile as she remembered the day her boy graduated from MIT. She never imagined that while he sat with her as she prepared for her doctoral dissertation in applied physics that one day her son would find his happiness in a similar field. She supposed that nothing about her youngest child should ever surprise her, because from the day he was born, he surpassed any and all expectations on a daily basis. When he was born, he was already leading the race being nearly as big as his cousin almost a year his senior. It also marked the beginning of their uncanny friendship. Max and Jimmy were the best of friends from the moment they met. Jimmy had a rough first year, but from the very first day he spent with Max, that all changed. The two boys seemed to thrive on each other, and they have spent a lifetime encouraging one another to success. As Sara finished with the graduation photo, her fingers ran along the outline of a photo of the boy scouts and all of the pins on their hats. They were always challenging the other to get just one more badge, just one more patch. It was no wonder they both ended up becoming Eagle Scouts at the same time. She chuckled as she remembered Greg coming in from Los Angeles just to attend the ceremony. Placing the graduation photo into its final position, Sara affixed the item and then held the page up to inspect her handiwork. All the stages of her son’s life were represented on that page, from infancy to fatherhood. It never ceased to amaze her at how quickly the time passed. It seemed like only yesterday that she got the call that would forever change her life, and now she was not only a wife and mother, she was an aunt and grandmother, with more family and friends than she ever could have dreamed of as a lonely child hoping to survive foster care. Once upon a time, she judged her success by her professional achievements, and her solve rates. Her respect came from how tough she was, and how well she could play ball with the big boys. But yesterday, she experienced one of her proudest moments when her granddaughter took the phone from her older brother and asserted her rights by proclaiming, “MY GAMMA!” She had no idea what was said after that, but she spent the rest of the day smiling because of the incident. Sara’s attention was still squarely on the page in front of her, so when a chin suddenly rested on her shoulder, she nearly came out of her own skin. “DAMMIT, LILLI!” Clutching her chest, Sara tried to regain some of her sanity while her oldest child laughed at her mother’s fright. “Sorry, Mom… But it’s not like I was quiet coming in.” Lilli turned and went to the kitchen sink. She reached for a glass and poured her mother some water. As she handed the glass to her mother she asked, “What’s got you on edge?” Taking the glass she shook her head in disgust at the ease in which her daughter slipped into the roll of interrogator. Like father, like daughter. “I am not on edge…detective.” The tone of her voice told her daughter the exact meaning of her words. “I just wasn’t expecting anyone home for a while… Especially not you, since I thought your flight didn’t get in until tonight.” She put the page down on the counter and moved to look at her calendar. “Steph needed some help in the morgue tonight, so I took an earlier flight back this morning. Besides, I felt like maybe I was in the way or something.” Lilli walked back to her mother’s side and inspected the work being done there. Sighing, Sara had hoped her daughter would make peace with her cousin and his partner during her visit. “I thought you were going to apologize?” “What?” Lilli gave her a puzzled look until an understanding seemed to dawn on her, “Oh! No, Mom. We already buried the hatchet and it wasn’t even in my head. No… I kind of got the impression that they hadn’t gotten a whole lot of alone time since Michael got back from the jungle.” “Ah.” That was all Sara needed to hear. While she was infinitely happy when any of the children was able to find a partner in life, she had absolutely no desire to know the details. “Yeah… Between me, and Geoffrey’s sister and her family, and Mikey’s research stuff, I got the distinct feeling that they need a vacation from everything and everyone else.” Lilli quickly zoomed in on the picture of she and her brother about to do something with buckets at the beach. “Oh man! I remember that trip. We got in sooooo much trouble on that trip.” |
| Sara paused to catch up with her train of thought and looked at the picture to jog her memory. “Do you know how hard it is to know which episode you’re referring to? There wasn’t a single trip you two didn’t get into some kind of trouble.” When her daughter laughed at the comment, she felt a warmth ignite deep in her chest. She would never cease to be amazed by the power of her children’s laughter to heal her soul. “Fair enough… But this time, we almost had to go home early because Daddy was really pissed off. That was the trip when me and Max filled the hot tub with ocean water.” Sara cringed as she recalled the incident in question. “And kelp.” “Okay… You’re right. Way too much trouble on that trip. And I still blame Steph.” When her daughter screwed up her face in a giant question mark, Sara laughed out loud. “What did Steph have to do with it?” Sara put her hand on Lilli’s shoulder and explained, “Two reasons… One, she taught you how to make terrariums in Brownies that Spring.” Lilli covered her mouth with a hand to stifle her laugh as she recalled what had prompted her experiment with the hot tub. “And two, because she wasn’t there to deal with your father after the fact.” When their laughter died down, Lilli took on a more serious expression, and Sara knew that her daughter was trying to work something out in her mind. She always got that look when she was putting together a puzzle. Sara kept busy cleaning up the cuttings as she waited for the inevitable, “Mom?” Sara grinned at her inside knowledge of the inner workings of her family’s minds. “Yes?” “Steph and the guys missed a lot of trips around then. Was she sick or something?” Lilli turned around and leaned against the counter waiting for her mother’s reply. Taking a deep breath, Sara knew that there was no getting around such a direct question. As much as Lilli was like her father, she more like her mother when it came to her thirst for knowledge, and her stubbornness in finding the answers. “More like ‘or something.’” “That sounds like a tea answer.” Lilli pushed off from the counter and went to the stove. As she retrieved the kettle, she paused to ask, “One cup or two?” Tucking the rest of the photo supplies back into the folder, Sara smirked and answered, “Go ahead and fill it up.” The two women performed all of the steps in their lifelong ritual. Lilli prepared the water and the cups, as Sara got the tea cookies out and moved into the bright and spacious great room. When Lilli came into the room with the tray they took their comfortable positions on the sofa and the chair. Once the tea was poured and steeping, Sara stared into the cup, hoping for the answers to come up from the steam. She had made a promise when she first looked at the image of her daughter from the sonogram machine; regardless of the pain, she would always answer her children’s questions honestly. It was a promise that was never easy, but she felt the rewards far outweighed the pain. She only hoped that continued to be the case. As though Lilli could sense her mother’s somber mood, without looking up, she quietly asked, “Was it that bad?” “One of the most horrible things a woman can endure.” After watching Stephanie go through the pain of losing several children to miscarriage, she was infinitely grateful to have never born that burden. “You know there’s a pretty big gap between Danny and Bethie?” Lilli shrugged and answered, “Well, yeah… I just figured she was one of those happy little accidents.” “Understatement of the century, kiddo.” She stirred the tea a little, preparing herself for the final word. “No, they never really stopped trying after Danny, but ah… Steph had some…miscarriages.” Sara heard the air leave her daughter’s lungs in a rush. She knew that the twins had been aware of the miscarriages, but it was obvious from her daughter’s reaction that Mike never felt comfortable sharing that information, even with his best friend. “But…” She watched as her daughter struggled with the new knowledge. “Do the boys know?” “The twins…and I think Jimmy does, but I don’t think Danny ever knew.” She can see the hurt in her daughter’s eyes as she learned that her best friend had suffered alone. “Why didn’t anyone tell us?” Sara knew that Lilli was cycling through the stages of grief at her normally accelerated rate, and anger had already been achieved. “Lilli, it wasn’t important for the children to know. The only reason the twins found out was because Mike was there when I had to take her to the hospital the last time, and he wouldn’t leave her side until she came home. He and Paddy stayed home from school for a week to help take care of her and the boys.” She watched as Lilli searched her memories for that time, and while she waited, Sara went on, “Thomas made the twins promise to keep it from the boys, because he wanted to protect them, and I guess they felt that carried over to you and Max, too.” “We were ten… I was in middle school, so I didn’t see the twins at school anymore. I never knew they were staying home, or I would have figured something out.” Sara nodded her head, knowing that figuring things out was what gave her daughter comfort, much like her father, so she let the analysis continue. “I thought we might stop being best friends because they got kind of distant after I changed schools. I never imagined it could be anything else.” “You were only ten, Lilli… The world is pretty small when you’re that age, so there was no reason for you think anything differently. And we tried to make sure that the rest of you children weren’t touched by that darkness.” Sara offered her comfort to the young woman as she dealt with the new truth in her life. “But why didn’t Mikey tell me? I thought we shared everything. And Steph has never lied to me before-” “And she still hasn’t, honey. She simply doesn’t talk about the miscarriages unless someone asks.” Sara leaned forward and put a hand on her daughter’s knee to drive home her point. “She never tried to hide the truth, she just didn’t offer it unbidden. And she’s always called Bethie her miracle child.” Lilli chuffed at her mother’s final words and said, “I guess I always figured it was just because she’d finally gotten a girl.” “No… That’s why I call her a miracle child.” Sara’s attempt at levity was successful as her daughter let a short laugh escape. “It was about time she got to know it was to have a doppelganger running around.” The two women continued talking, learning the details of that dark time in the family’s life, and sharing their memories and concerns. It was a familiar scene for both of them. One of the greatest gifts she had ever received as a result of her marriage was the relationship she had developed with her daughter. While she was close with both of her children, Sara was eternally grateful for the intimacy she was able to share with Lilli. When the last of the water was poured into their cups, Lilli got up with the tray and took it into the kitchen. From the counter Sara heard her call out, “Hey, Mom… What did you do with that page you were working on?” “The folder inside my folio on the counter.” When her daughter reappeared, she carried the folio with her. “Here… I don’t want to disturb your system.” Lilli handed the leather folio to her mother and then sat down beside her on the couch. Sara withdrew the folder and pulled the scrapbook page out of it. “Here it is.” As her daughter took the page, Sara placed the folio on the coffee table. “This is really awesome, Mom. It’s totally different from the pages that Steph is doing, and the ones that Mikey did, but it’s just perfect for Max.” Lilli pointed at the picture of the small boy on the shoulders of a man, “And I love that picture of Daddy taking him to his first ball game.” “Yeah… I still have to give your father grief about that.” Sara smirked at her inside joke. “How come?” Lilli was confused about her mother’s reasoning. “Well, because he would spend every vacation talking about how much time you guys spent with me surfing at the beach, and you didn’t want to play with him in the estuaries. But, he forgets about all the time you spent with him for the baseball, and softball, and soccer, and hockey, and golf.” Lilli laughed harder with each sport her mother listed off. “Yeah, well, that’s because Daddy had to share those with you…” She thought about it a moment and then changed her mind, “Okay, maybe not the golf, but still… With surfing it was just us. You and me even took special trips just to go surfing, Mom.” “Ahem… Wrigley Field? Dodger Stadium? Pebble Beach? Do any of these trips ring a bell?” Sara was quick to point out the fallacy in that argument. “Okay… You might have a point.” They both laughed at her concession. As they continued to relive the moment represented on the page Lilli began to yawn. It was one of those yawns that started down in her toes and took over her entire body. Sara immediately questioned her daughter, “Are you working tonight?” “Um, yeah… Why?” Sara shook her head and removed the page from Lilli’s hands. “Take your suitcase and go crash out upstairs. You need to get some rest, and by the time you get home, and get sleepy again, it’ll be time to get up and drive in to work.” Lilli nodded to agree with her mother when Sara concluded, “And then you can see your father before heading to work. I know he’s missed you.” “I already saw Daddy…” Lilli scrambled to her feet and said, “He picked me up from McCarran.” “You didn’t?” “What?” Lilli turned in confusion. “He called me this morning to ask about my flight, and said he’d swing by to pick me up, since he had to go to the lab anyway.” “You had your father driving all over town?!” “No! Laney was driving.” Lilli immediately assuaged her mother’s fears. “They went to check out some new piece of equipment Neeley got in at the lab. They were up to their eyebrows in technical specs when I left them to get my car.” Shaking her head, Sara smirked in disgust. “I’m glad he’s supposed to be cutting back his hours, taking it easy. The man is incorrigible.” Lilli leaned down and kissed her mother’s forehead. “Daddy’s like a shark… He’s gotta keep moving to stay alive. He wouldn’t know what to do with himself if he didn’t have his experiments, and his toys.” “Sadly, I think you’re right.” Sara slowly rose to her feet and collected the cups. “I’m convinced there’s something he’s waiting for before he thinks he slow down.” “Got any idea what?” Sara shrugged and offered, “A couple things… I think he’d be happy if Mike came back to take over his work. He’s already taken over the fellowship at the Jeffersonian.” “Yeah… Because me and Max followed in different footsteps, huh?” They both laughed at her conclusion. As he mother wandered off to the kitchen, Lilli asked again, “What else do you think he’s waiting for?” Sara laughed as she remarked, “That one could keep him going forever.” “What’s that?” Without missing a beat, Sara nonchalantly answered, “To dance with you at your wedding.” Sara was fairly certain that she heard her daughter’s heart skip a beat the moment she knew she was busted. |
