Again, a HUGE BEARY HUG goes to my best friend!!!!! I love you!!!
Chapter Ten
Although Sara was grateful for the help that had just arrived, she was not ready to let Grissom's hand go. Regardless of the fact that Grissom was not seriously injured, it was quite scary that he had lost consciousness twice in a short period of time. They knew what had caused the first blackout. It was a miracle that he had not gone through the glass wall, especially with the speed he had intended to leave Greg's side. But what they did not know was why he had fainted for the second time. Sara kneeled down never leaving his side or letting go of the man's hand.
The EMTs laid him fully on his back, and then they checked his blood-pressure, felt his pulse and examined his pupils. Everything seemed fine except the fact that he was still unconscious. With the help of the eager Sara who kept her husband's head higher than his heart was, one of the technicians applied a little pressure with a swab to just bellow the bridge of Grissom's nose to stop the bleeding completely. After about 5 minutes, the blood stopped oozing and he was ready to be taken to the hospital for taking an X-ray.
Greg was shifting from one foot to the other. He kept quiet the whole time but Nick noticed how nervous the young man was. He did not exactly know what had happened before Grissom's attempt at playing Superman.
"So, what have you done, dude, that sent Griss right into the wall?" Nick asked Greg.
"I did nothing!" He whispered through clenched teeth. "I was watching him while Sara and Doc were discussing his condition."
"His condition?"
"Yeah, Ray gave him some pill and Griss went gaga," he explained the situation to his colleague.
"Excuse me Sir, leave the hallway free," the senior EMT directed.
Greg and Nick stepped aside and let the paramedics take Grissom to the ambulance. Sara was right behind the men. Nick offered Sara to go with her but she refused knowing that their shifts would not be over for more than three hours. She promised the guys that she would call them. Robbins patted her shoulder and ensured her that Grissom's condition was perfectly normal considering the events he had gone through. Greg insisted to walk with them to the door, the paramedics and Sara were about to leave the building when Greg called after her.
"Um..you might want someone else to go with him," he suggested tentatively trying not to stare at her breasts but failing miserably.
Following his gaze, Sara grunted, "Oh, no! I can't leave like this!"
"Miss, do you want your colleague to go with us? Or you can follow us after you've changed. We're taking the patient to Desert Palm."
"I want to go myself, Greg is not his wife. He will want me to be there," Sara insisted.
"Wife?" Obviously disappointed the man added, "Oh, I see. Still, his condition isn't as serious that you should come with us in these clothes but serious enough not to wait for you, so if you'd excuse us…"
"Okay, Greg you go and I'll be there as soon as I've changed."
"But…" After what he had squeezed out of Grissom, he was not sure he wanted to be the first person his former mentor would like to see in hospital.
"Please, he needs one of us to be with him when he surfaces and hopefully, I'll be there by then," Sara urged the wide eyed and very guilty looking Greg.
"Oookay," he agreed.
And with that, they were out of the building. Sara stood there for a minute watching the suddenly deserted exit. It was a harsh exclamation that jerked her back to reality.
"Sara! Can you believe this? Guess who nicked my beautiful car. It was Mia. And the last time we talked, she said she had been sorry about it but I thought she had been talking about…," she suddenly stopped. Now, her story in the goddamn toilet was what Catherine did not want to share with any living soul. Her brain worked hard on how to escape when Sara turned and the sight of her made Catherine forget all about her car or the desperate mission of finding the mysterious woman who stole and still possessed her secret.
"God in heaven! What happened to you? Are you hurt?"
"No, it's not my blood," she said pointing to her breasts that were presenting perfect prints of a nose, lips and a palm. It looked like some arts from hell. Hieronymus Bosch would have been proud of this bizarre painting.
"Then whose blood is that?"
"It's Gil's."
"Whoa, wait! Is Gil hurt? How? Who did it? Where's he?"
"Cath, sorry, I'll call you and explain everything but now, I've got to run, okay, we called for paramedics who have already taken him to Desert Palm. Nothing serious, just he hit his head and blacked out after he got drugged."
"Oh, just this?" Cath ran after Sara to the Locker Room. "Yeah, happens to everybody! Come on!!"
"Dammit! I have only overalls. Nothing to change into," she pouted.
"Here, use my top," Catherine handed the younger woman one of her tops.
"Thanks."
Sara did not care about her appearance at the moment but the sight of her in the mirror made her flinch. Being taller than her colleague, the garment did not fit at all. If she had pulled it down enough to hide her stomach, her boobs would have greeted everybody. If she had let it show her belly and cover her tits, then she would have looked like a fitness queen dressed for the next workout. Sara tried to drag the tiny article down but it appeared to Cath as if she was literally over-stretching her delicate top. She looked at Catherine in despair…and Cath looked darkly at Sara.
"What's the matter?" the older woman questioned Sara.
"What's the matter??!! It's…um…I look like a…um…teenager in it," she complained. She decided not to use the phrase sexually promiscuous woman.
"That's the point," she beamed.
"Ah-ha. Still, I'm not leaving in this one. Do you have anything else for me to wear? Something that is large enough for me, too?"
Catherine was diving into her locker when Mandy crossed the threshold. Sara knew immediately that she would be her rescuer. Mandy was not as tall as Sara but she preferred wearing shirts long enough to hide her tummy. Mandy went right to Sara asking if she could help. By now, the entire Lab knew about the accident and she hoped that she could hear any news on her ex-boss. And what was a better place to get information than the toilet? But she had found that place empty. The next source of news was the Locker Room. Mandy did not expect Sara in there.
"Sara, how is Grissom?" she asked with sincere worry.
"Greg is with him right now because I need a shirt to change into. Could you help me out? Cath is too slim," Sara said diplomatically.
"Sure, let's see," and she opened her locker and fished out a shirt. "Here you are."
"You saved my life, I owe you."
"No problem, I'm glad I could help."
"Guys, I'm sorry but I don't want Greg to entertain Gil longer than necessary, I want him out of the ER and not to be admitted by a neurologist," she smiled but was already on her way out of the room.
GSRGSRGSR ------------ GSRGSRGSR ------------ GSRGSRGSR ------------ GSRGSRGSR
In the meantime, Grissom stirred a little in the ambulance. It was a good sign as the EMT said to Greg. Yes, it was a good sign for Grissom but a very bad sign for Greg. He was mentally running through possible death scenarios he would surely have to endure. And probably repeatedly. There was no doubt about it. But I know things about you big guy, he thought. And knowledge is power, my friend…was his last thought when Grissom stirred again. He was on the edge of consciousness while Greg was on the edge of fear.
"Almost there, Sir," a voice said from the front. "Try to soothe him, Sir."
"Soothe him? How?" Greg asked horror-smitten.
"You know the patient, do what calms him down. Only a few minutes and we are there."
He remembered Sara and Grissom's secret glances. Well, that would not help now. He remembered Grissom's smile when Sara had kissed him. He would definitely not do that either. Finally a picture of them on the floor a few minutes ago popped into his head. Greg hesitated, big time. Then Grissom stirred once more and Greg reached for his hand and pulled closer to him. Grissom instinctively tightened his hold on Greg's hand. The young CSI started to sweat.
What if he wakes and finds me holding his hand and cuddling his head…again? Last time he darted on the wall. What is he going to do now? Jump out of the vehicle? Then I better jump after him. Only one person is worse than an executioner and that is Sara…a widowed Sara. Drive faster, cretin!!!
GSRGSRGSR ------------ GSRGSRGSR ------------ GSRGSRGSR ------------ GSRGSRGSR
"When will we get there?"
"Soon," the driver said to her.
"Could you drive faster, please?"
"I'm not allowed and I don't want to get in trouble just because you're impatient."
"I'm not impatient, I just want to be there already and see with my own eyes that everything is okay," she muttered under her nose.
"I think you're the one who changed clothes for God knows how many times."
"Hugo, the first one I tried was too short. You said we should be inconspicuous," Paula explained her fashion parade.
"Remember, this is a small town. They would pick us if you were dressed like you had been in Vegas."
"What's this name? Some chick field," she laughed. "I can't seem to keep its name in mind."
"Saraland," Hugo answered. "It's in Mobile County."
"And their slogan is 'Keep moving', huh?"
Paula looked through the window of the car, and her eyes went wide. On the right, she could see the almost black clouds that promised a bad storm. She knew what a storm was capable of doing to her husband. Probably that was why he snapped at her so easily today. He had to have a horrible headache. Hugo always refused to admit that it might be a migraine. Paula did not understand why. She knew the symptoms and saw them clearly now. She blindly put her hand into her purse and palpated the medicine and offered one to Hugo. The man was grateful, his wife was so observant. He reached for the pill when he noticed that it was a tiny red one.
"Honey, why don't you throw this medicine away? You know this kind of drug is bullshit. They should name it AlgoSux and not Algoflex. Just throw them away."
"Ah, sorry, I thought I already did that. I don't even want to think about what would have happened to you again if you had taken it. I'm sorry, love," the woman apologized.
"I don't even know if there are any fools who take this persona-killer. Probably only morons."
"I guess everybody has to experience it at first hand," Paula pointed out the obvious to Hugo who tried very hard not to react. "So when will we get there?"
GSRGSRGSR ------------ GSRGSRGSR ------------ GSRGSRGSR ------------ GSRGSRGSR
"What a picture! Can I take a photo? You two look great together," the on call physician joked when he opened the ambulance door and revealed the still unconscious man being hugged by a much younger and alert Greg.
Greg mentally opened his thesaurus dictionary and turned the pages to the word 'fuck off' but not finding any classy synonyms for it, he just said, "Sir, would you take care of him? His WIFE is on her way."
"Of course. Sir, would you let him go? Why are you cuddling him anyway?" the doctor asked Greg.
"Your colleagues said that I should soothe him when he was about to come to life ag…" he stopped and looked back at the very smug-looking EMTs. Greg let Grissom go immediately and he fell back to the gurney with a thud making the poor man open his eyes.
He was confused about his whereabouts, so he blinked a few times to focus better on the figure close to him, "Greg?"
Does he look angry? Nope. I've certainly just construed ire into his voice. He couldn't remember, could he? Doc said he wouldn't. Maybe he thought it was Sara holding him in the ambulance, not me. He's still in a dizzy condition. Keep him calm, Greg. Where are you, Sara????
"Sara will be here in no time, close your eyes," Greg tried to lull him. The paramedics were chuckling while they were rolling the man into the building. Greg was known as a gentleman, so he did not say anything. He only gave the men the finger and silently followed them.
Greg paced the hall in the ER, he simply did not want to be there when Grissom was taken out or worse, he walked out of the room on his own feet. He wanted Grissom to get better and soon, but he also wanted himself to be alive. So he wished Sara were there to take him home, let him sleep out the trauma and let him forget everything that had happened. Forget the damn red pill, the hit and most of all, the interrogation he had performed on him. Hell, it had been fun at that time. If he had to die by the hands of the great Gilbert Grissom, then at least he finally had priceless tidbits about Sara's fieriness. Okay, he could have lived without the knowledge of how Grissom was making love to his wife but the two actions were actually inseparable. He could imagine scenarios how Grissom would torture him, knowing now how creative the old buddy could be. To strangle him with an incandescent metal rope would be way too simple. Forcing him to eat the bugs that had walked through Hodges' pants would not be cruel enough…for Grissom at least. Before Greg could sink any deeper into his self-pity, Sara's deep voice caught his attention. She asked Greg how her husband was and where he was. He offered the information and suddenly, he felt the invincible need to go back to the Lab. Sara would have loved to be close to Grissom but as she arrived late, she was not allowed to go into the examination room anymore. She did not want to wait alone either. Greg knew she wanted him there but she could not know what he had done, so he needed to flee.
Fortunately for Sara, she did not have to wait long as the door to the X-ray opened and revealed a physician and a smiling Grissom. Unfortunately for Greg, he glanced directly into his eyes but then Grissom's eyes found Sara and he walked to her. Sara was a bit surprised seeing that the man was so well. Not that it would bother her. She just expected him to be much weaker after his ordeals. She grabbed his hands, and then his face and checked him out thoroughly. He seemed to be perfectly well. But Sara needed to talk with his physician about the regulations. With Greg sweating next to her, the MD explained Grissom's condition. He said that her husband suffered nothing permanent, the multiple loss of consciousness could be owed to the exhaustion and the obvious hit to the head but they should not be worried, once he had slept it out, he would be as good as new. He said that Grissom fell into a very deep sleep in the ambulance. It had not really been a blackout. The white coated man made Grissom promise that he would go to bed immediately after his wife had driven him home. The man also told the wide eyed threesome that Grissom probably would not remember what had happened; at least that was the usual observation with these injuries. That last comment made Greg very happy and relieved. Finally, the professor highlighted the fact that Grissom should never take the AlgoFlex again. After a nurse arrived with a wheel-chair, Grissom was ready to be released.
"I guess everybody has to experience it at first hand," were the departing words of the doctor.
GSRGSRGSR ------------ GSRGSRGSR ------------ GSRGSRGSR ------------ GSRGSRGSR
It was the insisting ringing of the phone that woke the couple hours after they had arrived home from the hospital. Sara fetched the buzzing gadget from the night stand and looked at the ID. She did not mean to fall asleep with the man next to her but his caresses had lulled her into slumber, just as hers him into a deep sleep.
She sighed and snapped the cell open to answer it, "Hey Cath!"
"Hi, I'm calling to ask if you two are up to for a late breakfast and a movie."
"Um…shouldn't we be back to the Lab instead?"
"Nothing happened in the Lab, we have a free afternoon. I told the guys to have a nice shower and a well-deserved sleep, and then a reunion at Frank's."
"Oh. Cath?"
"Yes? What is it?"
"I don't know if Griss is strong enough to leave the house just yet. What if you come over and have that "breakfast" here and one of the guys could bring some films?"
Until now, Grissom had kept quiet but Sara's invitation messed up his plans for the rest of the day, so he let out a loud growl.
"What was that noise?" Catherine asked.
"Just Hank," Sara replied without thinking.
"Oh, the one who is still in Paris?"
"Oops, nope, it was his daddy," this earned one more and even louder grumble from Grissom and a chuckle from Catherine.
"Sure. So, what time are we supposed to be over there?"
"Moment, I'll ask Gil," she leaned closer to his ear but he already moaned a 'Yesterday'. Giggling, Sara added, "He said you can come anytime after 3 pm."
"Okay, then 3 it is," and with that she hung up.
Before Grissom could start his tantrum, Sara turned his face towards the clock to show him that they still had a few hours until their little party. A slow smile appeared on Grissom's face, he knew what the near future might hold for them.
"How is the head," Sara asked grinning eagerly.
"Which one?"
Sara straddled him and raised her eyebrows, "Ah, you meant the one I hit today?"
"Uh-hum."
"No pain."
"You sure?"
"Absolutely." And with this statement, he pulled Sara's top over her head.
Being half naked, Sara kept questioning him, "Nausea? Dizziness?"
"No nausea, but definitely light-headed…the sight of you…naked…on me…makes me wobbly."
"Maybe we shouldn't do this…" she told him apprehensively.
"The doctor at the hospital said I am okay, I just have to stay in bed, right where I am," he smiled up to her worried eyes.
"But he recommended sleep."
"And we've done just that till now," he inched up with his caresses on her arms, "probably I have some broken bones that those doctors didn't notice, you should check me out."
"Okay, stay put. I need my equipments for that examination," and she reached for his glasses and got out a magnifying glass from the drawer. Grissom tried to keep a straight face. It was appealing how easily she could invest herself in a character. "I don't wanna miss a thing."
"You should start…," he did not have time to finish the sentence.
"I'm the specialist, you shut up, Sir!" She started to undo his shirt, and then took it off of him. His pants followed the previously discarded article. "Alright, let's see. Tell me if anything hurts, okay?"
"Yes, Miss."
"Mrs! I'm married. And you just have to behave, my husband can be very animalistic, you know. I don't want you to be hurt any further."
She started her thorough examination at his head. She was worried about that part of his body. She wore his glasses but let them sit on the lower part of her nose and held the magnifying glass in one of her hands. She leaned closer to his forehead, it looked unhurt. Sara placed a kiss onto it and went to his left ear.
"I love alternative therapy."
"I said no talking, you disturb my exploration."
She then looked at his ear very closely. She could not identify any illness, so she kissed it and went on. When she arrived at his lips, she smiled.
"No bones in them, so I can skip studying those."
"You can never know," he added quickly. "Touching is the best method for you to be sure." And he earned a quick kiss; she did not want to be distracted. She had a job to do. She earned a pout.
After Sara went on with her investigation, she did not find any broken bones. She double checked both of his legs, his feet, nothing. When she kissed her way back to his abdomen, she suddenly threw the magnifying glass onto the bed with a scream. Grissom raised his head to see what had caused Sara's squealing. "Python!!!!" Without the glass, it looked friendlier but still.
"This," she pointed to the special body part under his belly, "this hasn't been here the last time I looked at this direction." She looked pretty flustered by the missed boner.
He started to laugh, "I hope it's not broken."
"Let me check," and she took him in her hands and studied it for a few seconds, just to be sure. "Something's wrong with it, it's getting bigger!"
"And is it a problem?"
"It is said that if some bones are broken, they start to swell. Maybe I shouldn't touch it."
"Perhaps, a kiss of yours can help."
She was about to perform her unique treatment when her cell went off. She cursed but answered it anyway. It was her job and sometimes she wished…no, she did not.
"Yes, Greg?"
"Oh, did I interrupt anything? Anyway, I just wanna know what kinda film you want to watch?"
"It's completely up to you!"
"Any preference?"
"Surprise us, okay, I gotta go." And she hung up then turned off the cell without a thought. She looked apologetically at her man. "Oh, look," she pouted, "perhaps, it isn't broken after all."
"It can be any minute," he said then sat up, and demanded her lips for his kisses. She smiled under his lips when she felt that her private python once again was turning into a stony beast. This time, their lovemaking was not interrupted.
GSRGSRGSR ------------ GSRGSRGSR ------------ GSRGSRGSR ------------ GSRGSRGSR
It was 2:58 when the first guest arrived. First guest meant Catherine, Nick, Brass, Robbins and Greg. Catherine brought the dishes; Brass was responsible for sodas while Nick provided two cases of beer. Greg held a plastic bag under his arm. He selected about ten DVDs. The entertainment was ensured. The youngest CSI was still worried about Grissom's memory but his ex-boss looked peaceful and friendly.
The eating went by uneventfully. Everybody had a great time. They discussed the absurdity of what had happened to Grissom. Greg found him staring at him many times but then, he looked away as if nothing had happened. He even thanked Greg for his support. He smiled widely and mentally thanked whoever was in heaven for saving his life. He started to lighten up and even cracked a joke or two making his friends laugh.
After everybody got stuffed, they went into the living room and asked Greg what movies he had rented for them.
"As I was given the green light, I took the liberty to choose some romantic and some…um…scientific."
"Well, so far, we have sappy and sci-fi?" Catherine asked him.
"Hey, I called Sara but she was on a canoe trip again…" he immediately regretted telling this.
"Huh?" Brass jumped into one of their armchairs.
"Greg meant that he had called Sara when we had been watching the video of our honeymoon," Grissom saved Greg.
Wow, this man is really nice. He really doesn't remember a thing. He's a good friend. I don't even understand why I feared him. See? He likes me.
"So what are we going to watch?" Nick nagged Greg who was still smiling at Grissom.
"We have 'Pride & Prejudice from Jane Austen'. Just to make the ladies happy."
"In which that Darcy couldn't decide what to do about his love for Lizzie? That guy's indecisive attitude drives me crazy," said Grissom. "Something else?"
"Alien I-IV."
"No," was the immediate reaction from all of them.
"But there are bug-like creatures in them," he explained. "Okay, okay, what about Resident Evil I-III?"
"Greg, you spent just how much time in the shop until you got these?"
"No, no. Resident Evil is good," Grissom beamed and surprised everybody.
"See? Someone appreciates my effort. Thanks! RE I or II, maybe III?"
"Everybody has watched the first one, let's see the second part," Robbins said knowing that there would be more dead bodies in that one. But 'dead' was not the correct term to describe zombies.
Watching a science fiction with real scientists was everything but a piece of cake. They kept commenting every tiny slip. However, they seemingly loved watching movies this way. Perhaps, it was only Brass who got annoyed by them. Greg was happy that he could find a DVD that all of them enjoyed. He looked at Grissom who was watching him. Now, that was bizarre. He could look at people in a pretty threatening way. But Greg shrugged it off. He was friendly with him all afternoon. No need to worry.
"I'll make coffee, who is in?" and with that Grissom went to the kitchen.
He came back with cups of coffee sitting on a tray. After the cups were given out, Grissom handed the last one to Greg. Eagerly, the young man took a sip of the liquid and almost dropped dead. It was horribly hot and contained tons of sugar with some other unknown but very distasteful substance. And then he knew it. He tried to keep calm. He looked at Grissom who was now openly glaring at him.
The movie approached its end. Everybody was glued to the flat screen watching as Alice, the heroine was once again reborn. Nick literally longed to touch the TV when Milla Jovovich sat up naked. But Greg could only vaguely hear the last lines of the movie. He could hear what Dr. Isaacs said to Alice but Greg could not break eye contact with his ex-boss.
'Alice, wake up. Can you hear me? Do you understand what I'm saying? Good. Where are you? You're safe. Come on. That's it. There we are. Do you know what that is? Look at me.'
Grissom just starred at him. Greg swallowed with some difficulty.
'Can you remember anything? You remember your name?'
'My name?'
Greg could have not cared less if Alice remembered her name or not. He could not take a breath now. He continued looking at Grissom who for the first time went close to him and whispered into his ear:
"My name...is Grissom. And I remember everything."