Greg and Leila walked into the hospital than Greg headed off toward Sara's room while Leila met up with Grissom in the lobby. She saw him sitting in a far corner and she knew the expression he had on his face all too well: the look someone has when they fear they're about to lose someone that they deeply care about. She silently walked over to him and sat next to him.
"You know, it's not good for your health when you worry so much." said Leila, trying to brighten things up.
"I can't shake this feeling that I'm slowing losing her. And it's slowly killing me to see and know she's laying in that bed and there's nothing I can do to help her. I don't know what to do." said Grissom.
"There's not really anything you can do Gil. It's up to her now. And if I know Sara, and I do, she's gonna pull through. She's too damn stubborn to give up. You'll see. This time next week, this will all be behind us and we'll have forgotten all about it." said Leila.
"You sound almost overly confident." said Grissom, looking up at her.
"I am. Trust me, Sara will be fine. We've all been through a lot. It's just taking her a little more time to heal. Now, why did you drag me down here?" asked Leila, wanting to change to topic quickly before Grissom could sink any further into depression than he already was.
"Oh, that little girl from your's, Greg's and Catherine's case. Doctors just finished up with her and I thought you'd like to be the one to process her." said Grissom.
Leila only simply nodded. She than followed silently as Grissom led her to the girl's room. When she looked in, she saw the little girl laying in the bed, sleeping peacefully and she could feel her heart go out for her. No child deserved this.
"I ran her fingerprints. Her name is Zoe Mitchell. Only thing that the doctors could find was a small abrasion on her forehead. Probably what knocked her out. She lost a fair amount of blood but doctors say that she'll be fine in a few days." said Grissom.
"What's gonna happen to her after that?" asked Leila.
"Brass is working on tracking down any family members who could take her in but it's gonna take awhile. Child services will probably take her 'til then." said Grissom.
Leila nodded. She knew all about this kind of thing from experience and she knew it wasn't pleasant for any child.
Grissom saw the expression on her face and knew what it meant but said nothing. He turned and silently walked away.
Leila took a deep breath, steeling herself before she walked into the room as quietly as possibly so she didn't disturb the little sleeping soundly in her hospital bed. She knew that when she did finally wake up, Zoe would probably be scared of anyone who came near her and Leila wouldn't blame her if she was. It was a natural reaction after being attacked. She had had that reaction towards people for years after her mother's death, especially with any man who approached her unless she already knew them and trusted them like she had Grissom. But then she had met Greg and everything seemed to change. She found a trust in him that she had never felt without anyone and they didn't even know each other. Greg became the first guy that she had ever trusted in a long time. This made it easier for her to trust and become friends with Nick and Warrick. Almost everything about her had changed since she had met Greg. She found it easier to trust people, she wasn't afraid to be alone anymore and she no longer felt the need to constantly look over her shoulder. What hadn't changed was her willingness to protect and fight for the people she cared about, her love for fun and her stubbornness, which was a reason why she and Greg would clash sometimes but it was never anything bad. She would never trade the people that she was happy to call her family for anything else in the world. She knew they would always be there for her and that they would always have her back.
Leila walked out of Zoe's room, having just finished processing her. She hadn't found much and she could only hope it was enough to find whoever attacked her and her family. She was walking down the hall, heading toward the doors when she almost bumped into Greg. She noticed the expression on his face and knew that it didn't mean good news.
"Hey, how'd it go with Sara?" she asked.
"I don't know. I talked and talked until I ran out of anything to say." said Greg.
"You, the great Gregory Hojem Sanders run out something to say?" asked Leila sarcastically.
"Ha ha." said Greg. "Anyway, I told her about the accident and what happened. Told her how you had explained what you had said happened before the accident and after before you passed out and I even told her that I didn't blame her for what happened, that it wasn't even her fault. Just hope it had some effect."
"I'm sure it did. Watch, we'll get a wake up call in the middle of the night saying that she's awake and asking, wait scratch that, demanding to see us. Sara isn't exactly the type to ask for something, not even nicely." said Leila with a smile laugh.
Greg couldn't help but smile slightly.
"So what did Grissom want?" he asked.
"Oh he got an i.d. on the little girl. Zoe Mitchell. Only injury the doctor's found was the laceration on her head. Said she'll be fine in a few days. Grissom gave me the privilege of processing her." said Leila.
"You find anything?" asked Greg.
"Just some fingernail scrapings and a few hairs. I was just on my way out to head to the lab to give them to Wendy when I bumped into you." said Leila.
"So what's gonna happen to her?" asked Greg.
"Brass is trying to track down any relatives but it's gonna take time. I guess child services is gonna take her until then." said Leila as the look in her eyes from earlier returned.
"Alright. What's on your mind?" asked Greg.
"What?" asked Leila, stopping and turning to face him.
"Come on, I know that look in your eyes when I see it. Spill it." said Greg as he stopped in front of her.
Leila sighed heavily before expressing herself.
"Alright. I was thinking that maybe Zoe didn't have to go with Child Services. Maybe she could stay with us until Brass could find any relatives." she said.
"Speaking from personal experience honey?" asked Greg, trying to make a joke out of it to get her to smile.
"Very funny." said Leila, lightly smacking him on the arm and unable to hide the small smile.
"You really think that Child Services will even let Zoe stay with us until Brass can find her family?" asked Greg.
"I don't know but I'm sure I could talk them into it. And I'm sure Cassie would enjoy having someone her age to play with for awhile." said Leila as she turned and headed for the door.
"You're a real piece of work, you know that?" asked Greg as he followed her.
"I know, but you still love me." said Leila, smirking.
"Sometimes I wonder why." said Greg as a joke.
"Ouch, that hurts." said Leila, pretending to be hurt.
Greg just smiled at her, knowing that she wasn't really hurt by what he said and he wasn't going to be fooled by her little act.
Right then, they heard rushing footsteps coming toward them. They stopped and turned around to see a nurse coming toward them. She stopped in front of them.
"Oh good, I caught you both before you left." said the nurse as she tried to catch her breath.
"Why? What's goin' on?" asked Leila.
"It's your friend, Miss Sidle. She just woke up from her coma. She's asking for both of you." said the nurse.
Greg and Leila looked at each other than quickly followed the nurse back to Sara's room. When they got there, they saw that Sara was indeed awake and even sitting up in bed as her doctor checked her vitals. They walked in and as soon as they did, Sara's attention turned to them.
"Greg, Leila!" she said, excited to see them.
"Hey, good to see you're finally awake." said Leila as she set down her stuff and went to Sara's bedside, embracing her friend as tightly as she dared without hurting her and the doctor and nurse saw this as their time to leave. "You gave us quite a scare. Don't ever do that again."
"I'll try not to." said Sara with a small laugh as she hugged her friend back, tears breaking free from her eyes. "Leila, I'm..."
"No. Don't you even think about apologizing Sara Sidle. You have nothing to apologize for." said Leila as she pulled back so she could stare her friend in the eyes as she spoke. "You did nothing wrong. I mean, yeah sure, you shouldn't have been driving after drinking but if I had been the one driving, the doctors said that I would have definitely lost the baby so in a way, I guess you could say you did us a favor, minus the little scare you gave us all."
"I guess you have a valid point." said Sara. She then turned her attention on Greg, who had remained completely silent during the two girls' little exchange, just watching the two friends. "What, I don't get a hug from you?" She asked with a smile.
Leila got up and moved out of the way as Greg walked over and gave his friend a hug.
"Good to have you back." said Greg.
"It's good to be back." said Sara. "I heard everything. I heard everything you said Greg. I couldn't wake up because I was afraid you would be angry with me for Leila getting hurt. I didn't want to lose such a good friend."
Greg could find nothing to say as the two of them held each other a little tighter.
Deciding to give the two some time alone, Leila decided that she needed to get her evidence back to lab and while she was there, she could tell everyone the good news.
After dropping off her evidence to Wendy and Hodges, Leila headed off in search of the other. As she walked down the hall, she caught sight of them sitting in the break room. Perfect, she could do this in one shot instead of tracking them down one by one and telling them. Catherine and Warrick were sitting silently at the table together. Nick was standing by the coffee machine, sipping on his. Grissom was sitting on the couch, working on a crossword. She walked into the break room and stood in the doorway. It took a few minutes for anyone to notice her.
"Leila, how'd it go with Zoe at the hospital?" asked Catherine.
"About as well as you can imagine. I collected some trace and possibly some DNA from her, gave it to Wendy and Hodges." said Leila.
"Where's Greg? You two are usually attached at the hip." said Warrick.
"He's still at the hospital, with Sara. Which brings me to the news that I have." said Leila, pausing briefly to make sure that they were all listening and she had their full attention. "Sara's awake. She woke up while Greg and I were still at the hospital. One of the nurses stopped us just as we were leaving."
"What? That's great!" said Catherine.
"Is she still awake right now or did the doctors drug her back to sleep?" asked Nick.
"Last I recall, she was still very much alert and probably apologizing to Greg over and over as soon as I left." said Leila.
"Well let's go see her. I'm sure she wouldn't mind a few more friendly faces." said Warrick.
"I'll drive." said Leila and with that, the five of them piled into her vehicle and she drove to the hospital. As soon as she parked, everyone was out and they headed straight to Sara's room, where they found her and Greg joking and laughing with one another.
"Well, good to see that smiling face again." said Warrick as they walked in.
"Hey guys! I'm so glad you came." said Sara, watching the rest of the team file in.
Greg moved out of the way as one by one, the others each gave her a hug. Her and Grissom's last the longest.
"So what took you so long to rejoin the land of the living?" asked Nick.
"Oh you know, guess my body just needed the extra time to heal without me moving around and aggravating my injuries." said Sara.
"Yeah, we all know how stubborn you can be. You'd have been trying to go back to work on day one." said Warrick.
"Well, the important thing is your back now so try not to give us anymore scares like that." said Catherine.
Leila and Greg stood back away from the group just watching the scene in front of them. They had had their turn visiting with Sara, now it's was time for the others to take theirs.
"So, how many times did she try to apologize to you after I left?" asked Leila where only Greg could hear.
"I lost count after five. It took us a few minutes to even realize that you left." said Greg.
"Could it be because the two of you were too busy holding onto each other for dear life?" asked Leila but it was rhetorical.
"Do I detect a hint of jealous in there Mrs. Sanders?" asked Greg.
"Not in the slightest tinie, tiniest bit Mr. Sanders. I have no need to be jealous. There is no other girl out there who could be any competition for me. And no other girl out there could compare to me. So, no worries." said Leila.
"Hey Leila, Grissom's gonna remain here but the rest of us are feeling kind of hungry. What do you say to you and Greggo taking us out for some chow?" asked Catherine.
"I would have to say let's go." said Leila. She knew the real reason why they were all wanting to leave. They wanted to give Grissom and Sara some time alone and Leila was all for it. She and Greg led the way as they all headed out, piling back into her car and heading off.