Compromised Treatment
Chapter 1: Lover's Spat

Catherine collected some of the scattered clothes lying on the hospital and folded everything neatly before handing them to Grissom as he organized them inside the bag.

It was Sara's last day at the hospital after four days of pure agony dealing with needles and numerous amounts of tubes in order to revive the flow of fluids in her body. Multiple medications – from pills to syrups – have been administered to her to regain her strength. Although she had survived the hell-like predicament that Natalie Davis had put her through, she couldn't help but feel defeated.

While busy tidying the bed, Catherine shot Grissom a look. His facial expression was indecipherable as he continued stuffing the bag with Sara's personal items. After the unexpected revelation of his relationship with Sara, Catherine found herself in shock with perpetual questions unanswered. Evidently, she shared the similar mutual feelings with her fellow co-workers. How did they not see this coming? They were one of the top CSI team in the country, for crying out loud! But no one from the team had the nerve to ask either him or Sara about the "affair". They thought it was none of their business, considering the fact that the "exposed" couple were immensely private people. But they just couldn't deny the fact that it was the biggest - and to quote Brass: "juicer than Grissom and Lady Heather" – revelation in the lab. As much as the team wanted more details, their attention was fully focused on doing everything to make Sara's recovery expeditious.

However, it had been almost five days and Catherine wanted – no, demanded! – the answers right now.

"Gil?"

Grissom hummed, not taking his eyes off from what he was working on.

"How long, um," Catherine paused, being careful with her words. "I mean… Since when did you lift your head off that microscope?"

Grissom just looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, cut that crap face, Gil! We both know what I'm talking about," said Catherine as she crossed her arms across her chest and tilted her head to one side, waiting for a decent answer. Grissom opened his mouth but no words came out of it as he did a random little gesture with his hand.

"My God, Gil!" Catherine raised her voice causing Grissom to jump a little. She converted her voice back to a normal decibel. "Look, I'm not asking a complex trigonometry question here. I'm just looking for "3 months ago" or "a year ago" or whatever."

Before he could give her a reply, a female voice from the other side of the bathroom door called his name in a quite raspy voice.

"Sara? Are you alright?" he asked.

"I, er, need to get dressed now."

Grissom glanced at Catherine as she scoffed "Saved your ass!" before fluffing the pillows in place.

He averted his eyes away from her, taking a pile of fresh clothes from the arm chair and headed inside the bathroom. He closed the door behind him and greeted Sara with a warm smile. She stood there with her damp hair; droplets of water dripping on the floor and a bathrobe draping around her shoulders; her free hand clutching the robe as she kept it around her body.

Grissom took the towel from the rack and stood behind her as he gently squeezed the excess water from her hair; the scent of Sara's shampoo dissipating around the bathroom space. He inhaled the fresh lavender scent with a hint of jasmine.

Sara carefully turned around to meet Grissom's gaze. He touched her cheek before grabbing her undergarments from a small stool beside the sink.

"Just hold onto my shoulder, okay?" he said as he knelt down in front of her holding her underwear. Sara obeyed his request and tried not to put more pressure on his shoulder as she lifted each of her legs.

"Really, Gil. You don't have to treat me as if I'm fully immobile," Sara implied softly as she looked down to him. "I managed to take a shower. I can dress myself up."

Grissom slid the underwear up her elongated legs and rested the line on her hips. He stood up and held her arm, giving them a light squeeze.

"Let me do this. I just want to make sure that you are being taken care of properly."

Sara melted to his gentle voice. Followed by his warm smile and his blue orbs shining before her, she felt her knees about give up. Luckily, his hands were still in place, securely on her arms. She simply responded with her lips slightly turning upward.

Grissom moved behind Sara and carefully released the robe from her shoulders, letting it fall straight to floor; her injured arm, bent at a 90 degree angle across her stomach, now exposed.

Sara remembered a memory from earlier this morning about her friendly argument with Grissom prior to her shower.

"Stop being so paranoid, Grissom!" Sara exclaimed as she was sitting on the hospital bed.

"I'm not paranoid, Sara. I'm just concerned."

"Gil, I feel so sticky and admit it, I smell!" she whined. "Please, let me have my shower now. By myself! I can't take it anymore!"

Sara then desperately continued a whiny marathon of 'pretty pleases'.

Instead of trying to be irritated, Grissom suddenly found her stubbornness quite simply amusing and couldn't help but quietly snigger. He mentally blamed himself for insisting on having Sara in a ridiculously expensive private room with a decent shower. Little did anyone knew, it was just his excuse for not having to leave her as much as possible.

Sara stubbornly persisted to have a shower here at the hospital instead of having it after arriving home at Grissom's townhouse. She argued it wouldn't make much of a difference as she just wanted to eagerly lie down on their comfortable bed straight after they reach home. For the last couple of days, she endured having not properly hydrating her body. All she got was either Grissom or the nurse wiping a damp face towel on her face to her shoulders, arms and lower legs. As much as Grissom wanted to contradict he didn't want anything more to upset her.

As their relationship developed from friends to lovers, he learned that Sara and the shower - especially bath water – had been the best of friends since college. So whenever she felt stressed or a particular case had hit her hard, Grissom would take the liberty of drawing her a nice, relaxing bath with aroma candles surrounding and soft music playing in the background – just the way she liked it. This was indeed one of Sara Sidle's weaknesses.

"Just a few more hours my dear and I promise to draw you a bath."

"Few more hours? It only takes 15 minutes or less to take a quick shower!"

"Sara, can you set your "bulldog" personality aside until we get home?" Grissom pleaded, hoping she was fully convinced.

"No! I want a shower now! Please, Gil! Please!"

Sara's expression perfectly mirrored her words. It was no doubt an epitome of desperation; her forehead curled, her lips turned upside down and her eyes depicted a puppy dog-like, pleading to be taken home. Grissom sighed in defeat, earning Sara's infamous "Sidle Smile". Truth to be told, her whining started to him migraines.

So he sighed "fine" as he helped her up to her feet and handing her a towel. "Just shout when you're done and I'll come and help you get dressed," he added whilst leading her to the bathroom.

Sara stopped halfway through and gave him a sharp look. "What, are you kidding me? Grissom, I'm not disabled anymore, you know. I can get myself dressed, thank you."

"I think one argument is enough for one day, don't you think so too?"

"Ah, see now you just wanna see naked. Now I don't have a problem with that but with these scrapes and bruises -"

Grissom interrupted, "Since when do care about your appearance?"

With her mouth slightly agape, Sara scoffed, "Oh, so now you're fishing quotes from Catherine?"

"What?" he said obliviously.

"Whatever!" she cringed from the memory.

"Sara, what is your problem?" Grissom tried to keep his voice as gentle as possible. "Do you not like being taken care of? Or is your self pride getting the better of you? You're not yet fully recovered, Sara and you know that. Physically and emotionally."

His words suppressed her as she fell silent, her eyes glued to him. He noticed her brown eyes glistened and he frowned. A sudden feeling of guilt dispersed on his face; hoping his words did not cross the line.

"Sara?"

She shook her head with a sniff as she fought her tears back. "You're right," she chuckled, "I'm sorry. It's just that… that…"

"What is it, dear?"

She exhaled deeply, "Ok… It's funny when er… I was around 8 years of age. I remember when I was in school and I fell asleep during class." Sara smiled proudly at Grissom's dead shock reaction. He must be thinking how someone like Sara could ever fall asleep in class.

She continued, "My teacher sent me to the school nurse and I was examined. She said I have a bad fever and she gave me a note for my parents. Then, I got sent home… to an empty and cluttered house. Just thought my parents had another fight." Sara shrugged.

Grissom slowly nodded, yet still perplexed. He was not sure if he was ready to listen to another story from Sara's childhood. It was good that she was sharing, but it was not the kind anecdote he wanted to hear now.

"I figured my mom was at a friend's house, crying her guts out and my dad was out somewhere drinking. That time, my brother was still mad at me after the 'marijuana' incident – never talked to me since. So the next day, I forced myself to school and ended up at the school nurse again."

Sara's tone was very flat, as if it wasn't a big deal to her which Grissom found very disturbing. He imagined little Sara at home that time with no one to depend on to and no one to take her at the doctor's.

"She asked me if I've been taking some medications. I lied. Told her I thought I was feeling better. I knew my dad was never going home for about 4 days and my mom would cry herself out in the kitchen. So I asked the nurse if there were any home remedies I could follow, 'cause I knew… I'd end up taking care of myself that night."

As Sara continued to speak, Grissom went back to his unpleasant image of little Sara: She was alone in her bedroom, cocooned inside her duvet and shivering. He imagined her little hands wiping her forehead with lukewarm water. On her bedside table was a glass of milk and a thermometer. She was only accompanied by the dim light coming from her lamp as tears pooled her eyes from the pain.

"Even when I was at foster care, I was left alone. But, there was this lady who was actually very nice. I liked her a lot. For the first time, since I was in the system, she was the only one who threw me a birthday party. We celebrated it, just the two of us." At this point, Sara felt her own tears fighting their way out. "But then luck was once again jinxed. I was only with her for 5 months before she died from a long term illness. She said she wanted the experience of becoming a parent before she dies; that's why she took me in."

Grissom didn't want to hear anymore. He took Sara's hands and cradled them in his, giving her a sympathetic look. He hated her childhood – that's a fact - and certainly didn't want her to recall them.

"I guess…I guess, what I'm trying to say is… is that since the fights and the trips to the hospitals had started, I've learned to become independent. I was forced to grow up too quickly having to rely on myself at an early age. And now," she paused. "I mean look at this room, Gil!" Sara motioned her hand indicating the flower bouquets, 'Get Well Soon' cards and two stuffed bears around the room. "Having people to genuinely care or worried about me is just… something new, I suppose."

Grissom pulled her closer and lifted her chin so she can meet his gaze. "I'm sorry that you had to go through that, Sara. But, to me, Sara the foster child has long gone. She has… evolved somehow into a... woman with an undeniable strength, with... people she can consider as friends who truly care for her. She's now got a family to rely on when she needs it. She's not alone anymore… and most importantly, she's got someone who will always ensure of that."

He ended his speech with a loving smile but then quickly added, "So don't ever ask him to stop caring."

TBC

A/N: Is it just me who's slightly annoyed with the writers for not having at least one hospital scene after Sara's abduction? (same goes for with Nick on Grave Danger) Anyways, this is gonna be a short story, about 3 chapters long perhaps. Oh, and a big thank you for everyone who reviewed my first fanfic! I was so suprised to receive more than 10 reviews so thank you so much :) I hope you enjoy this one as well.