Bedside Stories Chapter 2

Bedside Stories Chapter 2

"You found me", her throat hurt, her voice barely a sound.

"Nick found you. You almost made it to the highway."

"I saw you."

"Yeah." He reached for the juice again. It was difficult for him to talk. For two days, no, for three days, his mind had spun in never ending circles while his body had run on auto-pilot. Find her find her find her. What ever it took let her be alive. He called upon God and every emissary to God to find her alive.

She was strong. Stronger than any of them, walking away from the car, in a drugged, pain-filled state, thinking to take the mirror. Building little totems of rocks remembering that wind blew footprints away. She was strong.

"Sleep, honey. You need rest. I'll be here." She slept.

Hours passed. She stirred again, trying to move only to struggle. "Can I sit up?"

He was beside her at once. "Let me call a nurse." He pressed a button. Somewhere the signal was given and quickly two people showed up. A tall young man and an older nurse moved as one, the nurse doing the talking.

"You finally decided to wake up, Sleeping Beauty." She moved the IV pole and held Sara's arm in a practiced manner. "We do have you tied to this bed with enough accessories to make sitting up difficult." She found controls and raised the head of the bed. "We don't want you out of bed, on your own just yet, but we can let you sit on the side of the bed."

Sara nodded her head, "Okay."

"Todd is going to help with the splint. Relax and let us do this. I'll hold your IV arm." She turned to Grissom. "And if you help her with her legs, arm underneath knees." The nurse pulled the covers back. "Watch her catheter."

The young man's arm slipped behind Sara's back and gently moved her up at the same time Grissom moved her legs. She pivoted or turned and she was sitting up. Everyone smiled at her as if she had accomplished some miracle. It made her dizzy and the room swayed in wavy motion for a few seconds.

Grissom had the straw back to her lips.

"We'll be back in ten minutes. Don't want to put too much on you to quickly." The nurse was at the door. "The more you drink, the quicker we can take some of this away." She and the boy were gone as quickly as they arrived.

Grissom remained at her side. When she looked at him, she saw a tentative smile on his lips, but not in his eyes.

"I must look bad." She had seen her bruised and scraped knees and legs.

His hand moved to her face. "You look good, honey."

She tried to bring her hand up again. Tubing of various colors snaked from her hand and arm to machines and monitors at the head of the bed; her arm held in place with Velcro straps. Her other arm was encased in a blue and white balloon from shoulder to fingertips.

"What has happened to me?" Her face hurt as much as her shoulder and arm; her legs were stiff, cuts and bruises showing below the hospital gown. Sitting up let her move her legs, but from her waist to her shoulders she had limited movement. She looked at Grissom for an answer. Her first thought was how sunburned his face was. Her second thought was how he needed sleep.

"You've been in the sun," she said.

When she said the words, he could no longer stop his arms as he wrapped them gently around her, carefully pulling her to him, his hands finding her face, kissing her hair. She did not know how battered and bruised she was; he did, almost afraid to touch her until she voiced concern about his sunburned face.

"Sara, Sweet Sara. You will be fine. Everything will heal. You've had…" He did not know how to describe the past 36 hours.

"A bad day," she murmured.

He felt her feet circle his leg. "Yeah, honey, you've had a couple of bad days."

The machine beeped an alarm. She pulled away as he reluctantly released his hold on her.

The alarm brought the nurse back in followed by the young man. She clipped another bag of fluids to the pole as she talked. "You need to keep this going for another few hours. Keep fluids going in by mouth." The three worked the same maneuver and had her back in bed, sheets smoothed, head raised, and her immobilized arms adjusted.

The nurse checked another monitor behind Sara's head. "I think we can take these off." Wires to her chest were pulled away. "One less thing to tie you down." A few more checks and Sara and Grissom were alone again.

Her eyes followed him as he opened another juice cup and brought it to her, placing the straw between her lips.

"I'm afraid to touch you." He said as she swallowed juice. "There is a wire or tube hooked everywhere." He tried to smile but found it difficult to do.

"What's wrong?" She asked, her voice still a raspy whisper.

Quickly, too quickly, she thought, he replied, "Nothing. Everything is okay. You're going to be fine."