Title: Karma
Summary: "You're the reason I'm alive and here with you now. You saved my life, Sara. I was only repaying the favour."
Spoilers: Grave Danger Part 1 & 2; Living Doll; Dead Doll
Disclaimer: After all these long years, I still own nothing. :(
Author's Note: Okay people, so guess what? This story was up before, but the admins here decided to remove it because I had "bitch" in the summary and it was not age appropriate for all readers... So, yeah. I am putting it back up though, cuz I like this story! lol And I hope it doesn't get taken down again. If you've read it already and liked it, please tell me! I'd love to see some new reviews in my inbox. :D So you know what to do; read and review. Thank you!
Karma
"Honey, you've got a visitor."
Sara slowly opened her eyes, blinking rapidly as the hospital lights assaulted her senses. "What?" she muttered, turning her face into the body next to her.
Grissom chuckled lightly and caressed her hair softly. "Sara, Nick is here. He wants to talk to you."
"Can't he come back later?" she asked, closing her eyes again.
Nick stepped up to the edge of her bed. "Nope, Sara. I can't. Work, you know. I don't get to lie around in bed all day…"
"Oh, screw off," she said with a smile, sitting up finally to see him. She snuggled closer to Grissom, who was lying on the bed with her, and rested her head on his chest.
"Good morning to you too, Ms. Sidle," Nick said, sitting down in the chair next to the bed.
"Hey, Nicky. What can I do for you?"
"I just came to talk, to see how you're doing." He looked at Grissom then, and Grissom nodded, beginning to disentangle himself from the hospital bed and his girlfriend.
Sara's unbroken arm shot out, wrapping around his chest to keep him close. "Where do you think you're going?" she asked, looking up at him.
"Outside," he answered slowly.
"Why?"
"Because Nick would like to talk to you in private."
Sara raised an eyebrow at him, looking back and forth between the two men. "So?" she said finally, tugging gently on his shirt to bring him back to her. "That's never stopped you before. You always told people whatever needed to be said could be done so in front of you."
Grissom grinned at her. "You really do tape everything I say." He squeezed her hand reassuringly. "Honey, I'll be right outside." He turned his mouth to her ear and whispered, "If you need me, just yell, or tell Nick."
"I always need you," she whispered back, not caring that Nick was in the room, witnessing what was supposed to be private.
He nodded, and got up from the bed. He leaned down and kissed her gently before leaving the room.
Nick watched as his friend sunk happily back into the pillows of her bed as Grissom left. Feeling uncomfortable, he uneasily cleared his throat and Sara smiled.
"Um, sorry I kind of… interrupted… I know that was private…" he stuttered, trying to apologize, but she held a hand up for him to stop.
"It's okay, Nick. Gil told me he let it slip that we were together to everyone, and I don't really care anymore."
"You really do love him, don't you?" he asked in wonder.
She looked him straight in the eye. "I do. I really do. And he loves me."
"That he does," Nick said.
"What do you mean?"
"Do you know who found you?" he asked softly, ignoring her question.
Sara nodded. "Thank you," she whispered, so quietly Nick almost didn't hear her. Tears had sprung in her eyes and were building quickly.
Nick reached for her hand, squeezing it tightly. She tugged on it like she had on Grissom's shirt, and he stood up, leaning down to give her an awkward hug.
"Thank you," she kept repeating in his ear, "thank you, thank you for saving me…"
"Shh," he soothed, rocking her back and forth. "How did you know it was me?"
She pulled away, wiping her eyes. "Gil," she confessed. "He told me, right after everyone had come to see me. It was our first moment alone together since we'd been in the helicopter and all he talked about for the first while was you." She smiled then. "We talked for a long time afterwards. He's so grateful, Nick. More than you'll ever know or ever understand. We both are."
He nodded. "It wasn't only me, you know. It was me and –"
"Sofia, I know," Sara said, looking puzzled. "Gil told me that too. It's weird, though. She doesn't even like me."
"She likes you enough to not let you die out in the desert, Sara," Nick said gently.
"I guess so…"
"It was karma," he said suddenly.
"What?"
"The reason it was me who found you. Not Griss or Cath or Warrick, or Greg…" he said. "You're the one who found me. When I was kidnapped, you're the one who pinpointed my exact location. You're the reason I'm alive and here with you now. You saved my life, Sara. I was only repaying the favour."
Sara pulled him back into a hug, crying into his shoulder. "Nick…" she whispered.
"I never got to thank you, Sara," Nick said through his own tears, "because you didn't say anything. Greg finally told me, months after. I'd been bugging him, wanting to know what had happened, but no one would talk to me about it." He paused slightly, trying to gather his thoughts to stop his rambling. "We're even now, don't you think?"
"I think so." She looked over his shoulder into the hallway visible to her through the small window in the wall. She could see Grissom talking to her doctor. Their eyes met, and she smiled as Nick broke off their hug.
"What I meant to say earlier, Sara, when I agreed that he loves you, is that after you'd been rescued and placed in the hospital, Grissom came to me and thanked me. That was when I realized how much you mean to him. I'm glad I saved you, because it means I have my friend back and I still have my job." He grinned then. "I'm pretty sure he would have fired my ass as soon as we got back to the lab if I hadn't found you."
Sara laughed and punched his arm. "He's proud of you, Nick. And now we both owe our lives to you, because, well, if I hadn't been saved… Gil would crumble. He'd fall apart… and…" She shook her head. "Sorry, Nick, that's a little too personal for Gil and I still. Just, trust me. Thank you, for saving me. Really."
Nick leaned down again and kissed her cheek. "Anything for you, beautiful."
Grissom walked in then, a smile on his face. "Am I interrupting?" he asked, his eyes locked on Sara.
"Not at all," Nick answered, moving away from Sara's bed. "I was just giving Sara a goodbye kiss."
He walked towards the door but Grissom stopped him. Holding out his hand, he said, "Thank you, Nick. For everything."
Nick shook the older man's hand and nodded. "Of course. You're welcome." He waved to Sara before slipping out into the hallway, closing the door quietly behind him.
Grissom and Sara stared at each other silently for a moment before Sara invited him back to her side. "Get in," she said, scooting over. "I missed you."
"I missed you too," he whispered, dropping a kiss onto the top of her head as he slid in. "What did you and Nick talk about?"
Sara thought a moment. Obviously he realized her conversation with Nick was private – this was the first time he'd left her side in a week.
She didn't want to upset him by talking about her abduction – although that was kind of hard when they were lying in her hospital bed with her arm cast in the way – so she settled on a one-word answer.
"Karma."
Grissom raised his head from her collarbone where he'd been planting small kisses to stare at her. "Karma?"
"Karma," she repeated. "Nick and I, our karma is balanced out."
"Okay…" he said slowly.
The look of confusion on his face was priceless and so damn adorable that Sara couldn't help but laugh. "I'll tell you about karma someday, honey. But not right now."
"Why not?"
Sara opened her mouth to tell him she was too tired to do it when an old saying she'd heard from Catherine popped into her mind. Leaning up on her one good elbow, she kissed him goodnight without saying anything. She then rolled over with some difficulty and spooned herself to him, closing her eyes.
"Sara?" Grissom asked tentatively, wrapping an arm around her waist and drawing lazy circles on her stomach. "Why won't you tell me about –"
She smiled, unseen to him and answered, "'Cause karma's a bitch."
-End-