The Accident and the Hospital Smell – Ch. 1

Sara woke up to a cool breeze flowing through her bedroom. Wait, no it was their bedroom now, since Grissom had moved in just last week.

Sara turned over and found a note where Gil's head should've been. She smiled. 'Good Morning' was written in flowing letters across the front. She decided to have a shower before she read it, so she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and grabbed some clean clothes.

The warm water felt wonderful running over her body instead of the mud from yesterday at the lake. A db had been found on the shore, huge and bloated. As they were processing the scene, Greg had decided it would be funny to take a handful of mud and fling it at Grissom, cracking up when he turned around with a shocked look on his face. Then Grissom flung a handful of mud back at him, but Greg tripped and fell flat on his face and it hit Sara in the head. Both guys knew they were in deep trouble now. After lots more mud flinging they finally stopped to solve the case. The guy had been fishing alone and had drowned.

The water stopped and Sara stepped out, putting on her cozy bathrobe Grissom had got her for Christmas. She went to make the bed and saw the note again, grabbing it and taking it into the kitchen. The coffee was still warm so she poured what was left into her blue mug. Finally she sat down and opened the note.

'Hey Sara, I'm at the hospital there was an accident. Call me,

Love you.'

Sara stared at the note. An accident? She reached for her cell but before she could dial it rang.

"Sidle."

"Sara? It's Gil. I'm at the ho…"

"Griss! What happened? What accident, who…"

"Sara calm down. Um, Catherine's car was hit by a drunk driver. The car is pretty damaged, he was going real fast."

Sara froze. Catherine…the women who she had never really gotten along with…hurt?

"Oh my god, what about Lindsey! Was she there?"

Grissom sighed. "Yes, she was in the car as well, but she's awake and talking."

"And…Catherine?"

Another sigh. "I think you should come down here, I can fill you in on their injuries."

The hospital smelled. Warrick had never liked hospitals, and now he disliked them even more. They had caught the guy. The guy who had single handedly nearly killed his…

"Warrick? Hey. Do you know where Grissom is?"

Warrick looked up and saw Sara standing there looking a bit pale.

"Um, I think he's talking to the doctor."

Poor Warrick, thought Sara. She knew how he felt about Catherine. This must be really hard for him.

"Ok. Um, I'll go look for him."

She decided not to bug him anymore and went looking down all the hallways. It was like a maze, but finally, an out-of-breathe Sara collided with a tired looking Grissom.

"Sara! Hey, I was just talking to the doctor. He said Lindsey's gonna be ok, but Catherine's side of the car was the side that was impacted the most. She's, um, in a coma."

Coma. A state of profound unconsciousness in which an individual is incapable of sensing or responding to external stimuli, thought Sara. Then they either wake up or…

"Sara? Are you ok? You look kind of pale. Did you eat anything?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah I'm fine I had some coffee…actually I didn't because I came right over here. But I'm really ok. You should check on Warrick, he looks pretty bad."

The truth was she felt a big dizzy but that wasn't important right now.

"Ok, well Lindsey's in Room 282, so you can go check on her."

Warrick had looked pretty bad, but Gil hadn't paid much attention to him. He decided to go talk to him.

Nick had gotten the message on his pager and quickly rushed to the hospital.

Immediately he was hit by that weird smell. It sort of reminded him of death, but he couldn't think about that right now. Right now he had to find room 282.

Lindsey was reading a magazine when Sara entered the room. There were a couple other beds, but they were empty.

"Hey Lindsey, how are you feeling?"

"Hi Sara! It's nice to see a familiar face; all those annoying nurses look the same. Do you want some puke porridge? The food here is gross!"

Sara had to chuckle. At least Lindsey hadn't lost her sense of humor.

"Grissom told me all about the accident, if you want to talk about it. It sometimes helps to talk about it."

"What's there to talk about? Me and my mom were hit by a drunk driver on the way to school. My mom's in a coma and I'm stuck in bed with 3 broken ribs, a broken arm, a broken leg, and lots of cuts." She smiled. "At least I don't have to go to school for a while."

Sara was surprised how she could keep so calm. If something happened to Grissom, she would just die.

"Hey Sara, hey Lindsey, how y'all doing?"

"Hi Nick! Wow, I feel so popular."

Nick put a box on the little bedside table.

"I brought you some chocolates, I hope you like them."

"Really! Thanks Nicky, I love chocolate!"

Sara stood up and moved to the door.

"I'm gonna see if I can see your mom, ok?"

"Ok," said Lindsey in a quiet voice.

Greg put down his donut long enough to change the station in his car. The traffic was slow today, but finally he turned into the hospital parking lot and quickly found a spot. One thing he wasn't looking forward to was the hospital smell that would greet him when he entered the building, but it was also one of the last things on his mind. After a quick stop at the gift shop, he took the elevator to the second floor and went in search of room 282. He bumped into Sara coming out, and noted that she looked kind of pale. Then again, even Warrick had when he met him in the hall.

"Hey Sara, how's Lindsey doing?"

"Oh she's doing fine; I think she'll be happy to see you. Cute teddy bear!"

He looked down at the bear he had just purchased. It was holding a heart that said 'Get Well Soon!'

"Thanks, it's kind of cheesy, but I like it."

"Hey, did you see Grissom out there?"

"Huh? Oh, no, just Warrick. He's looking pretty down. Well, I better get in there before this saying gets old," he joked, pointing at the heart.

Sara smiled, but that smile was quickly wiped away when a group of nurses and doctors hurried by her, and she knew where they were headed.

Grissom reentered the hospital carrying bags of food that overwhelmed the hospital smell. He knew everyone would get hungry and the hospital didn't serve the best cuisine. He met Brass on his way in, who helped him carry the food.

"Smells good, too bad I already ate breakfast," he said

"Oh, I'm sure there's room in there for more."

"Griss, there you are! A bunch of nurses went into Catherine's room and I think something's wrong!" Sara was crying and she looked about to collapse.

"Calm down honey, here, sit down for a sec. Jim, go see what's happening, she's in ICU."

Brass put down his food hurried away to find Catherine, passing Warrick in the hall. He had a bewildered look on his face.

"Warrick, do you know where Catherine is?"

"I don't know, she was rushed out of her room just a minute ago." A lone tear slid down his face.

"Well I'm gonna find her, you want to come?" Brass looked on at the man with sympathy.

"Uh, well ok."

Sara and Grissom entered Lindsey's room and passed out some food. Nick looked at Sara's red face and knew she had been crying.

"Don't worry, this isn't hospital food guys," said Grissom with a small smile.

They all thanked him and started eating. Afterwards, when Lindsey fell asleep, Grissom pulled Greg and Nick aside and told them the situation. They all decided not to tell Lindsey yet. Then Brass burst in looking a bit frazzled.

"Hey guys, Catherine's ok now. There was a little problem but they fixed it. Warrick's with her now.Are there any leftovers, I'm kind of hungry."

The team sighed in relief and Greg handed Brass a sandwich.

"Turkey," he said.

Only one person was allowed to see her at a time, so they all made their visits quick.

Greg put a pink rose on the table and just sat for a minute. Nick held her hand and talked about his last case. Sara sat and told her how she really admired her and she was her role model. Grissom read to her from a forensics magazine, and Brass put a card beside the rose that they had all signed.

Then they let Warrick go back in and sit with her. Greg decided to go back and talk with Lindsey. Brass was called away to a homicide. Nick went with him, and Grissom took Sara home.

Sara woke up again in bed, and felt a warm breeze this time. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was 3 pm. God, why had she slept so late? Then it hit her. Catherine and Lindsey. Car accident. Drunk driver. Catherine in a coma.

"Hey sleepyhead." Grissom had walked in. She smiled a small smile. She felt big smiles weren't allowed at a time like this.

"Want some coffee?"

"Mmm, coffee. Yeah, I could use some of that." She stretched and noticed she was still wearing her clothes.

"I was too tired to change you, much less myself," said Grissom.

"Oh, that's ok." She walked over to him, put her arms around his neck and kissed him. It was a long sweet kiss. They stayed there for a long time.

"I love you," she said softly. Then the phone rang, and neither wanted to answer it, but Sara had to cause she lived there.

"Sidle."