Disclaimer - I don't own CSI or these characters; I just want to borrow them to have a bit of fun.

Secrets and Ghosts

As soon as the chopper took off with Sara, Sophia called in the update to PD headquarters and the lab. "We found Sara Sidle, breathing, but unresponsive and pulseless. She is being med-evaced to Desert Palms Hospital." No more details were available.

When the update reached Ecklie, he inquired if there had been any communication with Grissom or Catherine, but neither had checked in. He groaned; he knew there was no chance of either of them leaving the desert before finding Sara. It just meant that they would never get to the hospital in time to represent the department on Sara's behalf, but it had to be done, so the responsibility fell to him. "Judy, get me Sidle's personnel file, and make sure it's current! I'll be at the hospital, and I'll call you as soon as she arrives with an update so you can disperse the information." All he could do was hope that the news wasn't the kind he would have to immediately start making the tough phone calls on. He decided to wait and let Grissom alert her emergency contact in due time; he would be the more appropriate person for that job. "The minute Grissom checks in, send him over to the hospital to take over."

He arrived at the hospital and proceeded straight to the ER. The registration clerk was relieved to get the process started before the rapid fire testing would start. The doctors had no patience at all when it came to holding up lab samples for details such as the patient's name. Rather than answer each question, Ecklie merely handed over the demographic page of the file to the clerk to take whatever information was needed. She then passed it onto the nurse to take medical information. Now the only thing missing was the patient. Ecklie was allowed to wait in the communication room where he could audit the updates from the EMT's on the helicopter, "obvious fracture to left forearm, multiple abrasions, laceration over cheek, no other injuries evident, ...Neuro, no response, ...Heart Rate 145, Sinus Tach…..Blood Pressure, not registering…..." Ecklie listened silently, nothing he heard was very encouraging, yet. Getting restless, he decided to walk the halls.

As if awakening from the deepest sleep of her life, Sara's senses began to process bits and pieces of her surroundings. The coarse vibrations of the flight and the incredibly loud din of the engine were unfamiliar and strange. The movement and turbulence were unsettling.

Where am I?…What's happening?...Sara struggled to awaken her consciousness, feeling a loving touch on her hand, but the voices shouting medical jargon over the din were not. And just like that, almost like a bolt of lightening, her memory jogged the events of the past 24 hours. As the terror reclaimed her, the adrenaline shot into her system, helped now by the vital fluids pouring into her bloodstream through the IV, she willed her eyes to open. The sight before her instantly eased her fear, and joy took over. As she focused in on Grissom's vest, and then his look of relief, she knew she was rescued. Just as the quickly as the terror returned, it was gone again. She was safe, she was with him, she had been saved. Nothing else mattered in the world. She took a deep breath and found a smile; it was over.

While the EMT's continued to work, monitoring her vital signs, administering fluids, applying ice, and communicating her condition to the hospital, Grissom never let up his grip of her hand; the only communication possible in the roar of the helicopter's tight space.

They rode like that until the helicopter touched down at Desert Palms Hospital, when he was forced to relinquish his hold to allow her to be carried off and onto an awaiting stretcher.

Everything seemed to move in double time at that point. Even Grissom was stunned at the efficiency of the ER personnel. They swooped in, and simultaneously worked on and transported his beloved right out of his sight despite his best efforts to stay close.

He burst though the door he saw her disappear through only to be stopped by the butt of a hand. Mrs. Burson, all of 5 feet tall, grey hair, and a Southern drawl, said "Hold on there! Where do you think you're goin'?" she said as she blocked his entry.

Grissom grabbed her forearm to free himself, "I'm staying with her!"

"You can't come in here. We have strict rules. Waitin' room's thatta way."

"Hold on, please," he insisted, "if you had any idea what the two of us have been through this past 24 hours, you would not keep us apart. We haven't even been allowed to speak."

"Let us do our jobs, then you'll have the rest of your lives to be together, besides people can't handle seeing what happens in there."

"No wait, you don't understand, I'm LVPD!" he fudged, trying to pass.

"LVPD, or not, I can tell you're emotionally involved. You're gonna puke or pass out, and then I got anotha' patient, a distraction, and I ain't takin' as good 'a care of her as I could have if you'd just go out to the waiting room!" she said, getting a bit inpatient at his persistence.

Grissom reveled in this argument, as he grinned and shook his head, "Oh, you have no idea what I deal with at my job. I could show you puke and pass out. I inventory insects as they crawl through corpses, and you think I can't hold my girlfriend's hand in your crash room!"

They stared each other down. Finally, in desperation, he challenged her, "OK, if you are so sure I'll cave, take this bet from me. When Sara recovers from this, and she will, she and I will buy you dinner anywhere you say, if I get in the way of her care, barf, or pass out." His expression of desperation was very persuasive. Besides, steak dinner sounded pretty good.

"This is against my better judgment; I have been burned every time I let somebody talk their way in there who doesn't belong."

Staring him down, "You're in love with her, aren't ya?"

Nodding with desperation, "Completely."

"OK, I'll find a place for you. But you have to know, that luuuuv thing makes this is a sucker bet, and I'll take a Frank's Place Fillet. You might as well plan to pay up, my husband, too!"

In his desperation to stay with Sara, he never noticed against the opposite wall Conrad Ecklie stood with his mouth aghast. Ecklie never expected to see Grissom even arrive with Sara, much less comforting her and declaring his love for her! The police investigation had suggested the abduction had actually been a personal vendetta against Grissom, but he reasoned Sara had been taken because she was a vital member of Grissom's valued team; he never considered they were having an affair. He only now opened the file he had been holding. Emergency contact, "Gilbert Grissom", even her address he recognized as Grissom's. "Idiot!" he mumbled to himself for missing the signs as he stormed out of the hospital.

TBC...

A/N: Anybody want to put odds on Grissom's bet with the nurse?