TITLE: Mistaken Notions
AUTHOR: MSCSIFANGSR aka Chauncey10
RATING: M
PAIRING: GSR, always
DISCLAIMER: The rights to CSI and The Princess Bride are owned by people much richer than me. I'm only playing with their characters.
NOTES: This is my 'Sara's got amnesia' fic. Like first time fics, don't we all have to do one of these?
PROMPT(S): Kiki xxL from YTDAW wanted the following: "Grissom and Sara are not together, Warrick lives, Catherine and Sara are friends (I don´t like Sara-bashing-Catherine). While Sara is with Nick (on a case, film, everywhere) she hits her head and when she awakes, she thinks she is dating Nick. It should be GSR in the end of course."
A shout out to 1Hour2Write's Monthly PicChallenge. Pic #23 from the May 2009 challenge is also featured in this story. Thanks to LosingInTranslation for all her hard work. Check my profile for the link to the PicChallenge and let yourself become inspired, too. I'm a 'little' behind on the PicChallenges.
In the waning light of the evening, the brunette stretched her body in the bed. She felt something tugging against the skin of her arm and opened her eyes to see a needle, covered by a transparent bandage, sticking into the blue vein of her left forearm with an IV line running upwards to a bag that hung at the head of the bed.
She searched her memory for a reason for the IV and came up empty. She wondered if someone had kidnapped her and was pumping noxious drugs into her system or if perhaps she'd been in some sort of accident and was hospitalized. She was unsure and then wondered why her first thought was of someone kidnapping her.
She ran her free hand through the rat's nest that was her hair and felt a large goose egg sized bump on the top of her head, not directly centered on the apex, but off on the right side a bit. Someone must have knocked the shit out of me, but who?
She tried to remember something, anything, but found her mind desolate, empty of memory. As she racked her brain for any personal details, a laser like pain streaked through her brain like lightning, immobilizing her thought process.
Calm down, she thought to herself as she felt her body tense with anxiousness. She took a deep breath as the pain in her head finally ceased for a moment and looked around the room. She could tell immediately she was in a rather standard hospital room with one window covered with a cheap metal blind. Her gaze settled on someone sitting in a chair beside her. The woman's breathing clinched, she hoped this person wasn't her attacker, but relaxed when she realized he was asleep.
He had close-cropped black hair; needed a shave but was ruggedly handsome; he was tall, his long legs stretched out before him; and he wore a plain western styled button up shirt and blue jeans. And she didn't have a clue as to who he was. Then it occurred to her that she must have amnesia. This man was probably either her husband or boyfriend. She smiled warily to herself and thought, I have a hunk of a man and I don't remember a thing. What a waste.
It occurred to her that perhaps she and this man were in an abusive type relationship and he was the cause of the head injury. But as quickly as she concluded it, she discarded it immediately. There is no way I'd allow myself to be in that type relationship. I don't know why, but I DO know that.
She closed her eyes as the pain fleetingly shot through the left side of her brain and seconds later, unconsciousness overcame her.
The television was on the next time she woke. The woman wasn't as startled this time when she remembered she remembered nothing. She did however recognize the characters on the screen.
Westley, disguised as the Dread Pirate Roberts, was in the midst of a battle of wits with Vizzini, the man who had kidnapped Buttercup. "The Princess Bride" was one of her favorite movies of all time, she did know that.
How can I remember nothing, but know beyond a shadow of doubt that true love wins the day in this movie?
She was vexed over the disparity of her memory when the sound of a man's voice interrupted her thoughts. "How do you feel, Sara?"
She looked sharply at the man, who was not the same one who'd been sleeping beside her when she'd awoken earlier. This man's sharp blue eyes startled her with their intensity. He was older, dignified, with graying hair, perhaps he was her doctor.
"My head hurts pretty badly," she replied. Another lightning pain swept through her head, relenting as quickly as it began. She grimaced.
"Do I need to call for your doctor?" The concern in his voice was apparent.
She nodded, closing her eyes. Nope, not my doctor. Maybe he's my boyfriend, he's very nice looking and there's something about him that makes me...but wait, I already have a boyfriend. Wonder where he went?
"I think that might be a good idea if you called the doctor, because I seem not to remember anything."
"Amnesia?"
"Apparently."
The man exhaled slowly as she watched. He seemed annoyed, but calmly reached onto her bed and pushed the nurse call button. The man stared deeply into her eyes. The tinny voice of a nurse through a speaker broke the spell created by the in-depth survey into her soul by the man; it seemed to her that he was trying to use his will to help her remember. "Can I help you?"
"She's regained consciousness."
"Someone will be with you in a moment."
Sara looked at the television screen again. Westley was confessing to Buttercup he was in fact her Westley and the Dread Pirate Roberts.
"I know this movie, but I don't know who you are."
"Gil Grissom."
She considered his answer and it seemed right. "And I am?"
"Sara Sidle." He'd called her 'Sara' earlier, so he must be telling her the truth.
"Could you call my boyfriend and tell him I'm awake. He's probably worried."
Grissom's eyebrows rose and his mouth opened in a slight 'O', but was interrupted by two people entering the room.
"Sir, if you could step outside, the doctor needs to examine the patient. We'll call you if we need anything." The blonde nurse grasped Grissom's arm and led him toward the door. He looked at Sara laying on the hospital bed and his only thought, Since when does Sara have a boyfriend? A flicker of jealousy flared through him as the nurse shut him out of the room.
He paced back and forth on the gray linoleum floor of the hall from Sara's room to the nurses station for about 30 minutes before the same blonde nurse stepped out of her room. He approached her and inquired about Sara's prognosis.
"The doctor is still doing his assessment; it appears her memory is impaired."
"When can I see her again?" Grissom's tone belayed his concern.
"When the doctor is finished, you can go back in," she smiled and returned to her station and began charting.
Several long minutes lapsed before the doctor exited the room, "Are you here for Miss Sidle?"
"Yes, I'm her boss."
"Does she have family we can contact? She will need emotional support to get through this."
"No, her co-workers are her family. We'll help her."
"What about the boyfriend she mentioned?"
"I'm not sure she has a boyfriend, the only other person who was here, was the co-worker who found her after the accident. I don't believe they are involved. He's gone home to get some sleep. I'm staying with her for the time being."
After the doctor explained Sara's condition to him, Grissom slipped back inside the hospital room where Sara lay quietly in slumber. He reached for her hand, when he held it firmly in his own, he prayed she would recover quickly.
TBC