- Play With Fire
- What if Sara's injuries in Play With Fire was a little more extended.
- Chapter 1
The first think I noticed when I woke up was that everything hurt. Every limb, every fiber, it even felt like my hair had been beaten up. And even though it seemed like I had slept for hours, I wasn't rested at all.
I lay there for some time thinking about what had happened earlier that day. The doctor had only briefly told me what had happened at the lab.
Suddenly I could hear the distinct sound of the door opening so I slowly turned my head around to see Grissom cautiously entering the room.
"Hey what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be working on our case?" I asked truly surprised that he showed up.
He shrugged his shoulders then smiled. "It's hardly your case anymore." He now stood less than 3 feet from me.
"You know me, ever the workaholic." I tried to smile, but I'm sure it came out like a grimace.
"Well I'm just here to check up on my battered employees." He said as he took a seat in the chair beside my bed.
Employees? "Who else was hurt?"
"You and Greg are the only with serious damages and he's doing…okay, but there were several minor injuries to many at the lab."
"You can hardly call any of my injuries serious."
"They were serious enough that you ended up at the hospital." He pointed out which I really couldn't argue with.
"It's not like I'm dying." I shifted around while getting annoyed with him. I probably made a bad move because suddenly I felt a sharp pain at my side.
He had obviously seen my wince and got worried. "You've got a concussion, a deep cut to your forehead, a broken wrist and 4 broken ribs which nearly punctured your lung, Sara." He ranted out. I raised an eyebrow, and he lowered his head. "So I talked to your doctor."
"Whatever, I feel great." I shrugged it off, and truth was I didn't feel so bad. If I didn't move that is.
He shook his head knowingly. "I don't believe for a second that you feel great, Sara. Maybe better, but not great."
"So I've got a headache and…well everything in my body aches. But it's not that serious and I'm not the only one you should be worrying about. There's also Greg."
"He's next on my visiting list."
"Ah, you came to me first, how sweet." I tried to make it sound ironic, but it came out more like a true statement.
"Well I'm a gentleman so the ladies always come first." I smiled at him, at his joke. Was it meant to be a joke? Suddenly I felt like I was being studied by him, like a butterfly pinned to the table.
"What?"
He seemed to consider me again. "What were you doing in that hallway anyway? I thought I saw you sitting down for lunch in the breakroom?"
Damn. I didn't think he saw me. "I was actually trying to talk to you, but you were busy so I gave up."
He almost seemed disappointed, like he had expected something else. "Oh, what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"
"It's not important now."
"Sure?"
"Yeah." He nodded his head and we went quiet for a while, not an awkward silence, but comfortable.
Suddenly he stood up quite quickly. "Listen I'll come back later, you need to rest and as you mentioned I've got a case to solve so…"
"Go fight crime, it was nice with some company though."
"I said I'll be back." He pointed out with a tilt of his head.
"That's not necessary." I pointed out with a shake of my head.
"Sure it is, besides you need a ride home, don't even try to argue on that."
I opened my mouth several times, but I couldn't come up with anything clever enough. I exhaled slowly, trying to seem annoyed. "You got me. But don't come crying to me when something comes up and you can't come." My sentence ended up with a big yawn, which I desperately tried to hide with my arm.
"That's my que to go. Now please try to get some sleep, it'll do you nothing but good." He turned around with a smile and headed for the door.
"Hey bye the way, who's leading the case on the lab?"
He turned his head in the doorway. "Catherine and Warrick, they're already got a good start and I figure they'll solve it pretty quickly." He turned his head around, now talking more to himself than me. "At least I hope so 'cause if not it's my ass on the line."
That made me laugh. "Bye." With a nod of his head he was gone.
Our conversation was anything but normal, at least for us. But it was the first time in months that we could talk without it being awkward. So I didn't complain.
Eventually I could feel my eyelids slowly starting to drop. In other words my medication was starting to work.
I woke up by some shuffling in my room, after opening my eyes I could see Catherine sitting in a chair, the same that Grissom had occupied.
"I'm surprised you're here." I must have startled her, because she jumped out of her skin when she heard my voice.
"I thought you were sleeping." She straightened in her chair and rearranged her hair.
"And now I'm awake. Weird isn't it?" She obviously didn't get my joke, she was tense and nervous. "What are you doing here now?"
"Well I solved the case, and I wanted to tell you about it."
"I appreciate it, but you know you could have waited, I'm sure you've got something else to do."
"Well I wanted to see how you and Greg were doing, I've just spoken to him actually."
That got my attention. "How is he doing?"
"Great, he's a little out there, but he'll be fine. And you?"
"I'm being released tomorrow." I said with a grin bigger than Texas.
"Lucky you, I know by experience that hospitals are basically the worst place you can be over a long period of time."
"Amen." She was looking at the floor, so I seized the opportunity to study her some. She looked older and more tired than I had ever seen her before. "So what happened?"
She slowly leaned forward in her chair, elbows on her knees. "A hotplate had been left on accidentally, and someone left a chemical beside it." She lowered her voice and I almost didn't catch what she said. "And that someone is now on suspension."
She didn't have to say anything else for me to figure out what had happened. "Well that sucks." I said trying to lighten the mood.
She let out a small laugh, but quickly turned serious again. "The fact that I nearly killed you, Greg and probably half the lab scares me, and I just can't get it out of my head."
"It could've happened to anyone, Catherine."
"But it happened to me." I thought she might start to cry, and I couldn't blame her.
"Well I know for a fact that I don't blame you for this, and I'm pretty sure Greg won't either."
"Thanks Sara, but it was my fault and I just got to live with that." She smiled weakly at me then stood up and gathered her things. "I should let you sleep now, but let me know how you're doing, okay?"
"Of course." She walked quietly out leaving me with my own thoughts.
The next time I woke up the guys were there, sitting quietly in a corner talking with eachother. Nick spotted me and stood up. "Well looky here, sleeping beauty has finally decided to wake up." Nick said with a smile as they made their way towards me and he embraced me in a hug followed by Warrick.
"How you feeling, Sara? You look better than you did yesterday, that's for sure."
"Well I feel a lot better." This time it was actually true. "And I'm more than ready to go home." I said hinting, hoping they could help me get away from this place.
Warrick laughed softly at that. "Sorry, Sara I don't think we can help you with that."
I sighed dramatically. "Such friends…"
"Aw, you need time too heal Sara." Nick said with sincere compassion in his voice. "Your injuries are serious, I hope you realize that."
He's gonna make me cry.
"I'll be fine." This was the first time I actually had the chance to take a good look at them. It was obvious that they hadn't slept in a while… Nor showered I might add. "What are you guys doing here, you should go home."
"Impossible Sara, you know we have to check on you and the infested little flee."
"What? New nickname for Greg?" I laughed at the title he had made for Greg.
"I like it. It suits him." Nick chimed in.
"Seriously guys, go home. I'm sure Greg can wait too, besides, you look awful."
"Ooh, that hurt Sidle."
"It's the truth."
Warrick sighed. "Okay we'll go. But you got to promise us something."
"Of course."
"Do everything the doctor says and take it easy for the next couple days."
I frowned at them, but they just laughed and gave me a quick hug and turned to leave.
"Bye the way, do you want me to pick you up later so I can drive you home?" Nick asked.
I smiled back at him. "Grissom's coming, but thanks."
"Ooh."
"What?"
"Nothing." He winked at me, and they quickly left the room.
What was that?
For the next couple hours I was visited by the doctor who checked up on me and told me how I should behave the next days, and he gave me a prescription for some pain medication for my arm. I was horrified when he told me that I had to stay away from work for at least a week, and with a broken wrist I probably wouldn't be out in the field until it was properly healed.
Grissom came as promised when it was time for me to go home, but apologized that he hadn't visited me earlier.
"You've already visited me, besides I haven't had a lack of visitors so far."
"Oh?"
"Catherine, Nick and Warrick have all been here."
"So you've heard what happened to the lab?"
"Yeah." I answered sadly. "I think that maybe suspension was a little harsh. I mean, just knowing that you've almost killed someone, got to be punishment enough."
"I agree, but it was Covalllo's decision. I couldn't do much." I nodded understanding what he said. He looked kind of sad mixed with anger. Like he thought he could've done something to protect Catherine better.
"You ready to go?" he suddenly asked completely changing the subject.
"As ready as I'll ever be."¨
TBC
Remember this is my first fic, so I would love some response to see how I'm doing.