"Ok Miss Sidle, now we've got your hand sorted, I'd like to give a quick exam, just to check that this 'stomach bug' is nothing too serious." The doctor said, smiling and removing his gloves. Sara was sat on bed surrounded by a pale green curtain which gave the whole room a strange green glow. Grissom stood by her side, his hand resting on her thigh.
"That's really not necessary." Sara protested. The doctor looked at Grissom for some assistance.
"Sara I know you don't want to be here but since you are, don't you think you should make the most of it?" She leaned sideways and rested her head on his shoulder.
"Fine." She didn't have the energy to argue with two of them.
"Ok then." The doctor smiled, his voice far to upbeat for Sara's liking. "I'll start by taking your temperature, then I'll have a listen to your breathing and check your blood pressure. You said you've been experiencing some dizziness?" He continued to talk as he set about his examination.
"Yeah." Se groaned, trying hard to fight the nausea that was creeping back thorugh her.
"She fainted at work." Grissom cut in warranting an annoyed glare from Sara.
"It's possible your blood pressure is a little low." The doctor explained as he placed the pressure monitor over her arm.
"It's not normally low." Sara winced as the cuff tightened and the vessels in her arm began to throb.
"Well it is today." Sara sighed, as Grissom took hold of her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
"And you have a temperature of 102.5." The doctor said, placing down the thermometer and picking up his stethoscope. "How long have you been having these symptoms?"
"Since yesterday…morning." She said.
"I'm just going to lift up your shirt." The doctor explained before Sara continued.
"It was just a headache and I felt a bit stiff but…"
"How long have you had this rash?" The doctor asked, cutting her short.
"What rash?" She asked sleepily. Worry shot across Girssom's face and he leaned over to see dozens of small red marks on her back.
"You said you were feeling stiff? Where exactly?" The doctor continued to asked, looking worried but slightly intrigued at the same time.
"My legs mostly." The doctor nodded and let Sara's t-shirt fall back into place. "Any chance I can lay down for a while? My head is killing me." She groaned.
"Of course. I'm just going to consult with a colleague and I would like to run some blood work on you if that's ok?"
"You want my blood?" She asked as Grissom helped her to settle on the hard bed.
"Yes, I'd like to see if we can isolate what's causing your illness."
"Do you have something in mind?" Grissom enquired.
"Possibly. But I'd like to wait for any results to come back before I speculate too much." With that he left them to gather what he needed to take a blood sample and to speak to his colleague about his newest patient and a very strange coincidence.
"You know this the forth dead guy this week with a record." Said Mandy as she handed Catherine the results of her finger print analysis.
"Yeah." She said, her tone full of contemplation. "Can you pull up the records on the other two gunshot victims?"
"Sure." Mandy quickly set about finding the information on the gunshot victims Sara and Nick were working on. Catherine leaned in, studying the information trying to find any links between them.
"The prison sentences of all these guys overlap. Maybe they met inside, decided to form an alliance. They were certainly all killed by the same gun."
"Maybe." Mandy agreed.
"Ok thanks Mandy." She said, hurrying off to find Nick.
Several hours later and Sara and Grissom were still waiting for the results. He had left her only once, to call Catherine and update her on the situation. They had hooked Sara up to an IV drip in light of her being slightly dehydrated and she was now sleeping soundly, Grissom's fingers laced in hers. Grissom was now himself feeling physically sick with worry and was not sure he had ever been so relieved to see anyone as when the doctor finally returned with the results in his hand.
"Mr. Grissom. We have the results of Miss. Sidles tests back."
"Sara." He shook her gently, reluctant to wake her when she seemed for peaceful but knowing she needed to hear this too. She groaned and opened her eyes. "Honey, your test results are back." He explained when she looked rather annoyed at the interruption to her sleep. She rolled over and he helped her to sit up while the doctor patiently waited for her to get comfortable.
"Your blood works that you have a condition known as Leptospirosis…"
"Leptospirosis? But don't you catch from being in contact with…" Grissom started.
"The sewers." Sara groaned. The doctor and Grissom both looked confused so she continued. "I was down there on a case a few days ago. I got my foot caught on something under the water and a fell. I was soaked, Warrick had to pull me out."
"Well if you ingested any of the water then that that's most likely how the bacteria got into your system." The doctor agreed. Grissom felt a sudden wave of guilt well inside him. He had assigned them to that case so it was he that had exposed Sara to this.
"You said there was someone else there with you?" The doctor enquired.
"Yeah my colleague, but he's not sick."
"Well there is a good chance that if he isn't ill by now he is free of the disease but you might be advised to tell him about the potential risk, alert him to the symptoms." Grissom nodded.
"I'll give him a call." The doctor nodded and continued.
"Ok well the good news is, you have come to us early. That cut on your hand might have saved you from a much more serious form of the disease." He smiled. "We can put you on a course of antibiotics to clear the infection and you should make a full recovery in a couple of weeks."
"Thank you doctor." Sara sighed relieved. The doctor walked over to Sara's side and began to check the IV.
"You know we might not have even picked up on this but we had a patient just a couple of days ago with the same symptoms."
"Really?" Grissom sounded intrigued.
"Yeah. Strange isn't it." Satisfied, the doctor left Sara's side and headed for the door. "I'll be back shortly with your medication. If you have any other questions…"
"No I don't think so. Thanks." The doctor nodded and left the couple alone again. Grissom was silent for a moment, his expression one Sara recognised from when he had just had some revelation about a case.
"What?" She asked, wanting to know what he was thinking.
"The case you were working, the victim was an ex-con right?"
"Yeah. He err, served time for burglary I think." She said slowly, trying to drag up the case through the dull pain in her head. Really she just wanted to sleep.
"Well what if the other patient is the guy who put the body down there?"
"I don't know Gil, I mean he could have got it from anywhere. It could just be a coincidence."
"You don't really believe that?" He frowned. Sara simply shrugged, not sure she was capable of making decisions about anything, let alone a case right now. "Catherine said they have another body, another ex-con. That's four bodies in the space of a week, all criminals."
"Ok maybe." She said with a sigh, closing her eyes. He smiled at her and squeezed her hand.
"I'm sorry honey, I should be letting you rest."
"It's ok." She mumbled, rolling on to her side so she was facing him. He tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and brushed her cheek with his thumb. She still felt warm.
"You just concentrate on feeling better." She nodded against his hand as she drifted off to sleep.
I know, I know, I reverted back to the short chapters but at least you know what's wrong now! I hope you are still enjoying the story. Please let me know! x