Illegally Imported Oranges by Frederica
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Sara frowned as water ran down the wall. She had always liked waterfalls, but this was a little too much. She was almost late for work, had not eaten anything yet today, and now there was a leak in the roof too? Well, a few more hours and it was Monday, the day she hated because something always had to go wrong.
"I don't have time to wait for some service to repair it!" Sara said to herself. She quickly walked to kitchen, and grabbed a bucket from one of the cabinets. This was crazy, but it was the best solution she had for now. Sara walked back into the room with the leak and shoved the bucket under the stream of water. It would have to do for now.
Sara checked her watch and noticed that she had no time to fix herself some food or coffee whatsoever. She would grab something on her way to the lab.
-- -- -- -- -- --
Grissom was sitting behind his desk as usual. The paperwork had been piling up for a while now, and it had come to the point he could no longer ignore it. It was going to be a long night with a lot of paperwork, while everyone else would be out on the field. Sara too, unfortunately.
His feelings for Sara had developed in such way that he could no longer ignore it to himself. A grin appeared on his face. Well, that was one thing Sara and paperwork had in common. The difference between her and paperwork was that he loved Sara and hated paperwork. If only he knew how to cope with it…
His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Yes?" Nick and Warrick entered. Nick frowned as he looked around the room.
"Where are Sara and Catherine?" he questioned. Now Grissom frowned too.
"Catherine will come in later. She has a lice problem with Lindsey which needs to be taken care of before she comes into contact with a victim. I don't know where Sara is. Have you not seen her she should be here by now. I—" he was worried about her, but he could not tell them that. "I don't know where she is!"
"I don't know either. I usually catch her in the parking lot or in the locker room when we have to change clothes," Warrick answered.
"Yeah? Well, that doesn't surprise me a bit, you sneak!" Nick grinned at him and Warrick grinned back, shrugging his shoulders.
"I'm talking about jackets, idiot!"
"Well, in any case, I'll hand out your assignment. Nick, you have a robbery in a supermarket and Warrick, you have a dead man in a car parked next to I-15. Get to work, guys!" Grissom said, handing out the files to Warrick and Grissom.
"Wanna trade?" Nick asked Warrick.
"Hell no!"
"Good luck," Grissom said, as Nick and Warrick left the office. He sighed as he heard his office's door close. What was he going to do now? Sara was missing. She was off somewhere and she did not even call. Should he call her? Grissom shook his head. No, if he called her, there would be hints of concern in his voice. As a supervisor, he should not be concerned. He should rather be pissed because she had not showed up in time!
Grissom sighed again. He kept staring at the clock, counting every minute she was too late. This was not working for him; it was driving him nuts! Grissom reached out for the clock and turned it away from him, so that he could not keep track of time anymore. He sighed again as he opened a file. One way or another, he had to get started on the paperwork.
Oh, how he hated Mondays…
-- -- -- -- -- --
Sara was exactly one hour, two minutes and forty-two seconds late when Grissom noticed that he also had a watch to check the time. Time was money and Sara was worth all his time… and his money. Where was she? What was keeping her? Why did she not call?
Grissom thought that now it was time to call Sara and ask where she was. All supervisors would call out of concern after an hour, right? Grissom reached out for his phone, until he heard footsteps near the door. The steps were slow and hesitant maybe. Grissom waited to hear the familiar knock on the door, but no knock came. Suddenly the door opened.
Sara was standing in the doorway. Her face was pale and her eyes were staring off into the distance. She looked like a zombie. Her hand was clutching her stomach and the expression on her face told Grissom that something was wrong.
"I don't feel well," Sara confessed, before taking a step towards Grissom. At that moment, her feet slipped away beneath her, and Sara fell to the ground. This scared the crap out of Grissom, and he ran towards her.
"Sara! Are you alright?" he asked her. He sat on the ground and laid a hand on Sara's shoulder. She was struggling to get up and she was crying.
"Help me! It hurts so much!" she cried. Grissom looked into her eyes, and noticed that something was definitely wrong with her. Somehow she could not look him straight into the eye. She did not even seem to be aware of his presence. Grissom put his hand on her forehead.
"Honey, you're burning up!" he said. Sara continued crying and she was still clutching her stomach.
"I can't help you! I'm in pain!" Sara shouted. Grissom noticed that she was looking passed him. He turned around, but there was nobody there. Something was very wrong with her.
"Come on, honey, I'll help you to the sofa and I'll call a doctor. You are ill," Grissom grabbed her arm and put it around his shoulder and got up, but Sara's legs would not support her. Instead, Grissom decided to sweep her up in his arms and carry her to the sofa.
"No! I can't fly! I don't want to!" Sara shouted in horror as Grissom carried her. When he laid her down on the sofa, she clutched her hand to her stomach again. She did not cry anymore, but she was still in pain.
"Hold on, honey. I'll call Doctor Robbins," Grissom said as he ran to the telephone on his desk and made the phone call.
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"She has severe stomach pains, a fever and there is something wrong with her. She keeps saying things that don't make sense and it's like she doesn't see me!" Grissom said, trying to control his panic as Doctor Robbins was shining in Sara's eyes with a light.
"What is that potato doing over there?" Sara said, pointing to Grissom's desk. Robbins and Grissom turned around, but there was definitely no potato.
"See? That's what I mean!"
"She's hallucinating. That's why she doesn't see you. She sees something else. She hears our voices, but she is too caught up with her visions right now to answer anything we ask," Robbins explained.
"Is she aware of the fact that she's hallucinating?"
"Not right now. She's ill; she thinks it's real. Sara, could you be pregnant?"
"No! No, they are after me! I can't help them!" she shouted. "It hurts so much! Help me!"
"Let's take that as a 'no'," Grissom noted. If it was any other person it would have been funny, but he was really concerned about Sara. "So, do you have a diagnosis yet?"
"My guess is on food poisoning," Robbins noted as he noticed that she had the peelings of a fruit in her pocket. He quickly took it out of her pocket. Sara had her eyes closed as if that would make the pain go away. She was still gritting her teeth. Along with the peelings came a receipt. "I think we have a bad case of an IIO here."
"What's that?"
"An Illegally Imported Orange, that's what it is. She bought an orange on the black market!"
"Is that why she's this ill?" Grissom frowned.
"Most definitely, yes. Well, I will get her something for the pain and something to calm her down. She will probably fall asleep then," Robbins looked down at Sara, who was still clutching her stomach in pain.
"And the hallucinations?" Grissom asked.
"It will stop eventually," Doctor Robbins said, before leaving the room. Grissom sighed. It was officially Monday now and besides his awful paperwork, he also had a sick Sara to take care of now.
-- -- -- -- -- --
After an hour, Sara had calmed down. She had not yet fallen asleep, but she was not wriggling in pain anymore. Sometimes she said something out of place, but she was not scared anymore. Her comments were actually becoming funny. Until…
"I don't like you, Grissom," Sara said. She was staring at the ceiling, with a blanket covering her stomach and long legs. Her comment struck Grissom like thunder.
"You don't?" he tried to hide the pain in his voice.
"I love you," she said, closing her eyes. Grissom's glasses fell off his nose. He got up from his chair and walked to her. He sat down next to her, grabbed her hand and kissed it.
"Oh honey, I love you too," he whispered to her. A smile appeared on both their faces. Unfortunately, the moment was ruined by Catherine barging into the office.
"Don't you ever knock?" Grissom shouted, releasing Sara's hand.
"In this case, I probably should have," said Catherine. A grin appeared on her face as she eyed Sara sleeping on the sofa with a blanket covering her.
"Don't ask," Grissom sighed. "So, you okay now?"
"No, I am not okay!" Catherine exploded. "I washed my hair three times with that shampoo, and there are still lice eggs in my hair! Lindsey, however, is cured of it. The heater broke down this night and some asshole called me to ask if I was interested in a night with him full of rough sex. Now, what would you answer in a situation like this?"
"Well," Grissom smiled as he looked from the sleeping Sara to the frustrated Catherine. "I would tell him that it's a Monday, the worst day in the week, and if he would be so kind to call me back tomorrow."
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"Crap!" Sara shouted a she awoke a few hours later. With a shocked look, Sara looked at Grissom who was staring at her in surprise from behind his desk. He got up and walked to Sara. He sat down next to her. She looked at him, surprised.
"How are you feeling honey? Can you see me?" he grabbed her hand.
"Of course I can see you," she whispered.
"Are you better now?" he whispered back, before squeezing her hand.
"No, I suck! First there is a leak in my roof. I am almost late for work, so I can't eat or drink. Instead I buy an IIO, and I get really sick. Then I get here, keeping you and the doc off work. I hallucinate, I yell idiot things and then I confess my feelings for you…," Sara looked away and looked out of the window. "This will not look good on my record…"
Grissom tried to hide his surprise. Did she remember it all? Did she remember everything that was said? She remembered the made up word IIO, so did she remember his confession too? Now what would he answer in a situation like this?
"It's Monday," Grissom said with a shrug.
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Based on a true story, hihi! I'll never eat oranges again…
This was my first CSI fic and first one-shot ever! It's a response to a challenge at YTDAW. I hope it wasn't too bad!
Noryale and Max, my everlasting gratitude for being my beta-readers!
Love,
Frederica