It was 6 am and she had trained her body to wake up at about ten to 5:00am.
First she would blink the sleep out of her eyes, then she gave her mind a few minutes to adjust from sleep to wakefulness.
She slowly swiveled her body so that her legs were hanging over the edge of the bed and she propped herself up on one elbow and then the other.
By now, Hank was there.
He was the ever faithful dog.
Because she always felt as if she were burning up, the hard wood floors felt cool and soothing to the bottom of her feet.
She let out a long slow sigh.
half way there, she thought.
A very large, a very pregnant Sara Sidle gave one last grunt and was off the bed and standing on her own two feet.
Each day was its own little accomplishment.
She was only 6 months pregnant, but because of Sara's tall, slim form, a little added weight went a long way on her.
Every morning she thought, how in the hell am I going to do this for another three months..... at very least!!!
Getting up and out of bed was the first challenge and proved to be the hardest of every morning.
First stop was the bathroom. Pee, shower and brush her teeth.
If food didn't make her want to throw up then the morning funk in her mouth definitely would.
Next she headed out to the kitchen.
Hank was always dieing to get out side.
Sara would push the sliding glass door open and left it open.
When Hank was inside he wanted to be out, and when he was outside he want to be in.
"Make up your mind Hank." She would turn on the morning news as if to prepare herself for what was to come through her door in about 20 minutes.
While the news played in the back round she would start coffee and feed hank.
Hank watched her always, was never more then two feet away.
Hank knew somehow that she was fragile, and Sara was starting to feel like that was all anyone did any more...Watch her.
Sara started breakfast knowing that he would be home any minute.
Another task that was proving harder with each growing inch and each passing day.
Cereal it is, she thought to herself.
"HANK, GET DOWN!!! Grissom shouted.
Sara smiled to herself.
Hank knew never to jump on her.
"Hi sweetheart. How was your night? Busy shift according to the news." Sara called out from the kitchen.
"Never a dull moment And yours?...." Grissom finally came in to the kitchen where she sat at the kitchen table, watching the a segment on the Rap/murder case he and Warrick had been working on all night while sipping some orange juice.
"How did you sleep?" With that being said he planed a big "it's good to be home" kiss on sara's cheek.
"Good, I slept gooOOOooddd...." Sara's answer trailed off as she started to get up and it taking so much effort out of her that she could hardly get her sentence out coherently.
Grissom only being a half step away hurried over to make sure she got up and stayed up.
"Honey, you need to be careful." Grissom wait for her to steady and brought his arms down.
"What are we having for break fast?"
Sara slightly embarrassed that all she could concur was cereal, just shrugged,
"What would you like?" She asked cheerfully, but inside wistfully hoping he would just say toast or cereal.
"Lets go somewhere...." thinking for a half a beat. "... lets get some hot bagels from that place over on Birchwood." Grissom looking for sara's approval.
"I don't know how you do it but you read my mind!" One more day he'll have something besides cereal, she thought.
"Hank and I were just about to go for a walk... Let's walk there," Grissom's face dropped.
After just watching her so gracefully stand from the sitting position. Sara had to do some pleading.
"I NEEEEED to get outside and do some kind of exercise. It's not even that far. We walk there, sit and eat, and walk home" Sara plastered a pathetic smile on her face, Toothy grin and batting eyes.
"I don't kno....." Grissom started.
"Oh c'mon Gil," Sara cutting him off while walking towards the door, gathering hanks leash and her jacket as she went.
"I can't work, I am days away from not even being able to cook, I can hardly get off the couch by myself!"
"..... So that would make you perfectly qualified to go for a walk, how?" Grissom questioned.
No comment, she thought to herself but clearly expressing it on her face.
She was going to get her way.
"Fine, Fine... Just give me a second to change..." Grissom's voice trailing off as he started down the hall, ".... remind me never to get your pregnant again!"
Sara Laughing at the last comment,
"Really?" she shouted after him, "Cause I was kind of hoping for 7 more!"
Even Hanks ears perked up at that rebuttal.
Sara becoming pregnant was unexpected, unplanned, and unnoticed.... thus far.
After sara's rescue Her tolerance for violence and crime became less and less.
A burn out was fast approaching.
She thought it was a phase, or a mood that would just pass.
She had everything in her life that she needed and wanted.
She had Grissom.
Sara was to strong, and to proud of a person to just quit because she was in a mood, or a rut, though she would have to play that card for a while.
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Sara blew through the halls of the lab, clearly on a mission.
She found grissom reading in the break room.
"Gil, I need to talk to you. Now!" Sara spouted off, not giving Grissom enough time to say a word.
By time Grissom looked up from his paper work (an expert Crossword puzzle) Sara was half way down the hall headed for his office.
Grissom knew Sara was on for the dramatics, but he never doubted her urgency.
It wasn't uncommon for Sara to call Grissom by his first name, but for the most part at work, she still called him Grissom.
"Sara, what's going on?" He asked quietly as he shut the door behind him.
He noticed she looked worried, scared and giddy all at the same time.
And it was still two hours before her shift was suppose to start.
"Gil, just sit down, " She looked like she was going to start crying and laughing all at once.
"Sara Honey, whatever it is, you can just say it." Grissom sat in the chair next to sara and held her hand.
He was obviously getting nervous.
"Okaaaay, I think I'm pregnant." tears started rolling down sara's face.
Grissom said nothing, just held her hand and looked strait into her eyes.
"Gil say something please.." Sara was on the edge of sobs.
"You, think?.... " he started slowly.
He was more surprised that his own CSI couldn't tell if she was pregnant or not.
Sara obviously taking the question wrong, start laughing, laughing an angry laugh.
"Sara, I'm sorry if that came out wrong. Just give me a second." Grissom sucking in a long slow breath, repositioning in his set and desperately trying to think of how to word this.
"Why do you say "you think"?"
"Because my period is over a week late, and I took one of those box pregnancy tests, but I haven't seen a real doctor yet." Sara was slowly coming down from hysterics by the slow rubbing of her hand from grissom.
Grissom again said nothing.
Just held her hand.
Sara on the other hand was getting antsy.
It was bad enough she didn't even know what to do.
Let alone not knowing what was going through Grissom's head.
God probably didn't even know.
Grissom and Sara both being private people, knew the lab was no place to carry on this conversation.
"I'm sorry to just unload this on you like this, here at work-" Grissom cutting her off
"Sara, you have nothing to apologies for. I.... "
Grissom having a hard time coming up with something to calm her down, much less calm him down. "... I don't know what to do or say right at this moment....." tailing off again.
Calming words where harder to come by, by the second.
"You, you are all I need." She said on the ebb of tears.
Sara continued working at the lab less then a month before all the dangers became relevant.
Working with chemicals, physical hazards, and if smelling a decomp before was bad enough, having the nausea to go with, triggered bad reactions.
Sara had a new reason for not working at the lab.
Doctors warned Grissom and sara the dangers of being pregnant at Sara's age.
Not to mention any stress.
Post-dramatic, work related, or at home.
The odds where against them so Sara decided to leave the lab with everyone in the dark.
Sara was, and had been showing obvious signs of a burn out.
Everyone understood when she resigned knowing she would be in good hands.
Sara's routine was completely flip flopped.
She had gone years working nights, then went to swing and now she was back to being awake during the day and sleeping during the nights.
Her chances of running into someone from work were less that way.