Month three

The intake had been an interesting experience starting from the waiting room full of women in various stages of pregnancy. Grissom had eyed them with the natural concern of a man potentially trapped in a dangerous situation. He briefly had visions of all of them going into labor simultaneously, a horror scenario worse than any the silver screen could provide.

Fortunately the nurse at the front desk looked more than capable of assuming command. She was a raw-boned blonde with a heavy-lidded gaze and a shade of lipstick so garishly red that it seemed she’d been kissing tomatoes. “You have an appointment?” she asked in a husky voice.

“Um, yes,” Sara replied, her insurance card already in hand. After a moment confirming things on the computer, the nurse, whose tag read Raye Pinosi, RN handed Sara a clipboard with six sheets on it.

“We’ll need all this, hon, so we can get your file set up for Doctor Miller. Oh, and here—“ she reached down into a little fridge somewhere under the intake desk. “Better get started on the water too, for your urine sample.”

“Great,” Sara muttered, going slightly pink. Grissom ushered her to a pair of empty seats near the magazine rack. She settled in and looked over the first sheet, giving a little sigh. “Okay, first sheet basic information, name address, social; second sheet medical history, third sheet medical history, fourth sheet waivers for tests, fifth sheet patient rights, sixth sheet insurance info. Looks like I’ve got some writing to do.”

Grissom took this as his cue to look over the magazines. All of them were geared to the clientele, and he wavered between Maternity and Good Parenting, choosing the latter as more applicable to himself.

Sara wrote. It was easy to fill in the blanks, but the medical questionnaire took more time, simply because she had to think back to various dates that she hadn’t mentally touched on in ages. First period. That brought back interesting memories, and for a moment she flashed back to squirming in history class.

“Did you know that twenty-four months is the age at which most toddlers openly explore their genitalia?” Grissom murmured, sounding slightly appalled. Sara glanced over at his magazine, at the article titled: Getting to Know Me—when babies learn about their bodies.

“The Terrible Twos often include pantlessness,” Sara nodded. “Trust me, as a babysitter, I can vouch for that. Don’t you remember Wyatt?”

Grissom cocked his head. “I thought that was just Sanders genetics at play.”

Sara laughed. “I am SO telling Greg you said that!”

He shot her a worried look, and her dimples deepened. Bending over her clipboard again, Sara added, “I could be bribed out of it, you know.”

“In the interests of peace in the lab, name your price,” came the quiet reply.

“You get to tell Ecklie about our um, blessed event. I don’t think I want to see his face for that one.”

“Oh thanks,” Grissom grumbled. “The pursed mouth, the hard intake of breath, the rolling of the eyes. He’ll look like a Gila monster with gas.”

Sara snickered unkindly at the accurate description, nearly dropping her pen. Grissom harrumphed and turned back to the article and for a few moments there was peace. Then, across the room a woman groaned.

Everyone looked up; the nurse checked her watch. “Ms. Ingville?”

“Juuuuuust a cramp,” she admitted sheepishly, and everyone relaxed. Grissom loosened his grip on the magazine.

“You can go off red alert anytime now,” Sara whispered. Before Grissom could reply, a nurse in a cheerful smock stepped over to them.

“Mrs. Grissom? Doctor Miller is ready for you now.”

Doctor Miller turned out to be a stocky African-American woman with enormous bangle earrings and an office decorated with photos of babies. Many, many babies, Grissom noted with a sense of relief. Clearly this was a doctor well-versed in her specialty, and up-to-date on her practice. He gave the framed diploma a quick glance; when he turned back, Doctor Miller was looking at him with tolerant amusement over her reading glasses.

“I’m legit, I assure you,” she told him, a laugh in her voice. Grissom had the grace to blush, and Sara looked at the floor to hide her amusement.

Doctor Miller beckoned Sara to sit up on the exam table. “All right, you’re the Grissoms, and I’m Doctor Hallia Miller. I will be your new best friend and voice of complete authority for the next nine months, so if you have a problem with that, speak up right now.”

Grissom shot a look at Sara, who was smirking at Doctor Miller. She shook her head. “No problem with that.”

“Good. That’s two thirds of the team. What about you, Mr. Grissom?”

“That’s . . . I’m good,” Grissom murmured softly. Doctor Miller’s smile widened a little, and she reached out, laying a hand on his shoulder. Her tone was lower when she spoke again.

“Just my way of breaking the ice. The three of us will be a team, Mr. Grissom, and I assure you, you’re not alone in whatever happens, all right? Now let’s get to know each other a bit better, and then I want your questions—every last one of them you can think of. I don’t want either of you leaving my office today until you’re satisfied that we’re all together in this wonderful enterprise. Understood?”

Her calm and patient words had an immediate effect; Sara relaxed, and Grissom gave a slow sigh, resting his hip against the exam table and smiling for the first time that morning. Doctor Miller lightly began rubbing under Sara’s jawline, checking her glands. “All right then. First baby for you all, I take it?”

“Yes.” Sara murmured, and Grissom nodded.

“Wonderful,” Doctor Miller murmured, shifting her warm touch to Sara’s pulse and checking her watch. “And I’m guessing this was a bit of a surprise for you both—“

“Um, yeah,” Sara admitted. Grissom shot the doctor a quizzical look and she grinned in reply, nodding her chin at the book in his hand.

“The Post-it notes are sort of a giveaway, Mr. Grissom. If you’d been planning on this baby, you’d have found a lot of answers already for those questions of yours.”

“Ah,” Grissom managed, going a little pink again. “Yes, this was a surprise. A good one.”

“Yes indeed,” Doctor Miller agreed, tapping under Sara’s kneecap with a rubber hammer. “Yes indeed.”

Sara gripped her cell phone tightly, trying to find a comfortable position on the bed. Grissom was walking Dante and due back anytime so it was the perfect opportunity to get this done.

The phone rang, the echo coming through the connection, and a familiar voice answered. “Ocean Inn, Avra speaking.”

“Mom?” Sara cleared her throat.

“OhmyGOD you’re pregnant!” came the ecstatic shriek.

Sara dropped her head into her hand, torn between laughing and growling. She chose the latter for the moment. “Damn it, I wish you wouldn’t do that!”

Her mother sweetly blew a raspberry into the phone and laughed joyously to take the sting out of it. “Girlchild, the, the jolt of it in your tone about knocked me down! Tell me I’m right! Tell me I’m right!”

“Yeah.” Sara cleared her throat again and spoke more firmly. “Yes, you’re right, mom. You’re going to be a grandmother again.”

“Oh my beautiful Virgo DawnPrincess Sara, how I love you sweet one!” Avra crooned over the cell phone. “Oh you are going to make such a magnificent mother, round and serene and beautiful! I need to weave you a motherhood serape, right away. You still like peach and cream tones, right?”

“Mom!” Sara smirked a little, alarmed and yet touched. “It’s okay. I have blankets here in Vegas, really.”

“Tush! This is a serape! It will be much more of a comfort than any old blanket!” came the chide. “Besides, it will be infused with goodwill and peacefulness. How are you feeling? How’s Gil doing with this wonderful news?”

“He’s . . . cautiously excited,” Sara sighed. “To tell you the truth, we’re both still getting used to the idea, but so far things are going really good, Mom.”

“That’s wonderful, Girlchild! And when is the baby due?” Avra asked gently.

“End of September is Doctor Miller’s estimate. A good seven months ahead of us. And before you ask, I’m having the baby in the hospital, mom. Not on some blanket on the beach.”

“Oh very well,” came the slightly grumpy tone. “Probably all for the better I suppose. Wait until I tell your father; he’s going to be thrilled! Have you let Olivia know yet?”

“Not yet—Gil gets to do that later today,” Sara said softly. “I think he’s worried she’s going to hop the first plane out the minute she hears the news.”

“Yes, well this will be her first,” Avra pointed out with good-natured kindness. “She’s bound to be a little excited about it.”

“I don’t think there will be anything little about her response,” Sara admitted. “But we’ll cope.” She heard the front door and added, “Going to go, but I’ll email you later with more of the details, okay? Love you, Mom.”

“And I you. Sleep well, all three of you!” Avra chirped and the connection was broken. Sara folded up the phone and set it on the nightstand, grinning.

Grissom was . . . reluctant. Sara looked over at him standing at the edge of the bed, his expression at war with his body, judging by the tenting of his shorts. She propped herself up on her elbows, her shortie nightie spilling over her thighs to look at him patiently.

“You know it’s all right. Doctor Miller explained that Sprog is all safe and secure and totally unaware of anything.”

“Sara—“ Grissom began, and stopped. It was one thing to know lovemaking was all right it on an intellectual basis, but another when faced with his half-naked wife beckoning him on. The flesh was all-too willing, but the mind—his mind—was still balking a bit. He wavered, and his expression was so woebegone that Sara almost took pity on him.

Almost.

She knew that if she gave in now, Grissom would have an even more difficult time later when she was much rounded, and the baby did indeed become a bit of a presence in the bedroom. It was important, therefore, that they do this, if only to prove that Sprog didn’t lessen or change the love between them. Sara sat up and slid to the nightstand, reaching into it.

“Well okay, if you think it would be better to use a condom—“ she murmured, unwrapping one and putting a little lube into it. Sara slipped on her knees in front of him and gently tugged his boxers down with one hand. His heavy erection bobbed at her, and she purred at it.

Her purr was a sound that never failed to get a response; this time was no exception and Grissom’s flagging shaft rose happily. She cupped the underside and rolled the condom on, the lube making it slippery and snug. Grissom watched, wide-eyed, and groaned at the sensations. He wasn’t a condom fan, but ooohhh this snugness---

“Or, maybe it would be better not to use one,” Sara murmured. Wrapping her grip around his latex-coated shaft, she began sliding and twisting the condom off, the stroke slow and firm. Grissom’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. Sara reversed her stroke. “Or back on . . . or, nooo, maybe off---“

For the next few minutes the slow slippery caress of the condom over the thickness of his cock had Grissom as close to squirming as he ever had been as the silky latex and warmth of Sara’s hand on him left him speechless. He was throbbing now, torn between letting her continue the tease or simply lifting her to the edge of the bed and impaling her.

Then Sara looked up at him, and the impish sweetness in her hot brown eyes settled the matter. Grissom took her hands from his shaft and pulled her to her feet. He backed her up against the bed and reached for her knees, parting them gently but firmly, then looked down at her body with a sense of rightness to his desire. As she gazed up at him, Grissom reached down along his cock and slowly, masterfully pulled the condom free, tossing it over his shoulder.

“Off,” came his low rumble.

“Offffooohhhhhhh!!!” Sara replied, her elegant legs slipping around his ribs.

A few hours later, Dante woke them up with his wracking hurking cough. Both of them listened to him with alarm as he hacked away, and just as Grissom got up, it ended with the wet squishy sound of something being spit up on the living room carpet.

“He didn’t,” Sara winced in realization.

Grissom sighed. “It’s Dante; of course he did. I better get up and take it away from him before he tries to swallow the condom again.”