I don't own any of the superheroes in this story, just little Zack. This story is a (very) belated birthday present to ILoveJorja ;)

Many many years ago…

"Okay, class, today we are talking about heroes. Now remember, kids, a hero is someone that protects and saves you, someone that makes you feel safe. You are going to tell me about your hero," the teacher spoke loudly in front of the class. The small girl sitting at the back slumped in her seat, she didn't have a hero, and she firmly believed that they do not exist.

"Sara? Would you like to tell the class who your hero is?" The teacher asked softly, knowing the hardships the poor child had gone through in her life, even at such a young age. Little Sara shook her head; the teacher just sighed and moved on. Sara was relieved. She didn't have to explain why she didn't have a hero, why she didn't believe in them.

Many years later, she would find a hero, a most peculiar hero, but a hero nonetheless.

Present

"Mommy?" a small voice asked, causing Sara to look up from the report she had been reading.

"Yeah, Sweetie?" she replied to the little boy standing in front of her. Little Zack looked a bit nervous and he had his Ironman action figure (a gift from his Godfather, the proud Uncle Jim) clutched tightly in his hand.

"Mommy, we have to write a story about our hero, but I have so many heroes I don't know who to pick and my teacher says it needs to be someone real, not someone from the Avengers - even if they are really cool - and I want to choose Daddy but I don't know if he is a hero, I mean he protects me and I feel safe with him, but he isn't Batman or Superman and I don't know who to pick. Mommy, who's your hero?" The little speech came to an end and Zack was breathing hard and fast like he had just played wrestling with Nick. Sara sat looking at her son and was amazed again at how much he looked like Gill, the blue eyes, curly brown hair, the way he could run with a subject and the way he could talk really fast if he got nervous or excited.

"Sweetie, your dad is a hero. He saves innocent people by helping the police catch the bad guys," Sara said, trying to help her son – judging by the frown on his face, apparently he didn't agree with her.

"I know, but I want daddy to be cool like Ironman or Batman, or Spiderman and Superman," Zack said and pulled a face clearly showing his displeasure.

"Okay, so let's think…" Sara tapped her finger against her chin as if deep in thought. "What kind of powers should your dad have?" she asked Zack and tried to stifle a laugh as he climbed onto the couch to mimic her pose.

"I want him to climb the walls like Spiderman," the little boy said seriously.

Grissom was on a very small ledge, trying to get a piece of evidence. Sometimes he hated not staying in his office and today was one of those days. He came to this crime scene hoping for an easy one, but clearly Murphy's Law was having a blast laughing at him. He manoeuvred sideways, really slowly, and finally got the piece of fabric, bagged it, and made his way back. He breathed a sigh of relief when he climbed back on even ground, only to find Brass practically rolling on the ground laughing.

"Please tell me what is so funny?" Grissom asked, his voice almost a growl.

"You looked like one of Zack's action figures; all you needed was the red and blue costume. You even have a spider on you," Brass said between fits of laughter.

Grissom looked down to find said spider on his shirt. He calmly picked it up and slowly set it on a rock where it quickly scampered away.

"Whatever," he said and went to his case to put the dreaded piece of evidence away.

Zack was listening to his mom tell him the story and nodding.

"Okay that can work," he decided. "Now how about being as clever as Anthony Stark? And having a robot?"

Sara thought for a while and answered, "Well you know your daddy is very clever, he is a doctor and he can do loads of cool stuff." She smiled as she saw Zack nodding and as for the robot...

It was Zack's sixth birthday party and he wanted something cool like a walking, talking robot. Greg had then decided, seeing that Zack thought no one was smarter than his dad, Grissom just had to wear a costume and act like a robot. At first Grissom wanted to refuse, but one look at Zack's excited face and he gave in. Greg had gone to pick up a suit, but it was a size too small, which resulted in Grissom getting stuck in the costume.

Zack, of course, thought it was the best thing that had ever happened, his dad turned into Ironman. Greg was trying to get Grissom out of the costume, while apologizing profusely. The rest of the team was giggling and laughing behind plates and hands. Sara was putting her camera to good use.

"When I get out of here, Greg, you are scrubbing out my tarantula's cage without gloves!" Grissom hissed through clenched teeth.

"Yeah! I forgot about that. And Daddy is already clever and we are rich, right?" Zack held up a one dollar bill he took out of his pocket and Sara just had to laugh.

"That's right, honey, we are very rich," Sara laughed." So which superhero is next?" Sara asked her son.

"Well Batman…we know Daddy is rich and clever and he can invent things really cool, but I don't think daddy is a bat," Zack said in all seriousness.

"No, you're right. He isn't a bat, but he is good at protecting people from them."

"A cave, why in the name of Zeus did it have to be a cave," Sara continued the tirade she had started in the car on the way to the crime scene.

"We could ask our victim, but I'm not sure he could divulge the information," Grissom deadpanned. He knew Sara hated caves, or rather the bats in caves, but there was no one else and they had to come to the scene.

"Funny, you are so funny," Sara said, clearly still pissed off. Luckily the bats stayed away, at least for a while. One of the patrolmen accidently kicked Sara's case, which resulted in a loud clatter, scaring the already ticked off bats. They started flying by and one flew into Sara, causing her to scream like a banshee. That startled the bats deeper into the cave and the whole swarm flew out. Problem was that they had to fly over the crime scene. Grissom expected something like this and when he heard the frantic flapping of wings, he pushed Sara down on her knees and crouched over her, while whispering in her ear that she would be fine.

Later when all the bats had flown by, they stood up. Grissom kept an eye on an uncharacteristically quiet Sara as they finished up their crime scene and headed back to the lab.

"Are you okay?" He asked eventually.

"Yeah, but I think the world may be shocked when they hear about this story," Sara said, while looking out the window.

"Why?" Grissom asked confused.

"Because I never knew I married Batman," Sara said and suddenly burst out in a fit of laughter. Grissom just shook his head and turned his attention back on the road.

Zack was clapping his hands loudly. "Daddy is Batman, that is so awesome. Wow! Now if only he could fly…" the little boy said hopefully.

"Well, remember when we had the ladder in the living room?"

"Yeah, you were hanging those pictures up," he said pointing to the far wall and Sara nodded.

Grissom was on the ladder trying to put the picture where Sara wanted it. It was hard work, because Sara was tired and irritated and Grissom just didn't understand that the picture had to be at the right spot. After a whole lot of debating on whether the picture needed go to the right or left, he finally made the mark and started hammering the nail in. Unfortunately, he moved a little too much to one side which caused the ladder to topple over. As the ladder was quite high, Grissom had a rather long drop to the floor and as Sara looked on, time went into slow motion as Grissom, Literally, flew through the air. Thankfully, he fell on the couch, before he rolled onto the floor. Sara rushed to Grissom's side. He groaned and rolled over.

"Are you okay?" Sara asked.

"Yeah, nothing hurt, just my pride and a couple of bruises," he said, sitting up. Sara started looking around and looked at Grissom strangely.

"Where's your cape, Superman?" She asked mischievously

"So you see, Zack? Your dad really is a super hero," Sara said eventually.

"Wowsers, you're right mom! I have a real life super hero as a dad," Zack shouted as he jumped off the couch and ran to his room. Sara picked up the forgotten Ironman figure lying next to her and smiled.

Maybe she should go look up her 6th grade teacher, just so she could tell her about her change of belief. She knew now that do superheroes exist, she married one...

Here you go, just a little something to let you know that I'm still alive and writing. I hope you enjoy it and don't worry, I have not forgotten about my stories, I'm just a little stuck at the moment.

Thanks to C. Nicole, who is my superhero and also my beta.

Till next time,

Flea