Chapter Eleven: Sara's Errand

As much as Sara would have liked to watch the questioning with her coworkers, she had something more pressing on her mind. Dr. Leonard had called the previous evening and left her a message. She'd had to wait until early morning for hospital visiting hours and now she was on her way to visit Bailey Daniels. She met Dr. Leonard in the reception area and followed him to Bailey's room.

"Thank you for coming back, Miss Sidle," Dr. Leonard shook her hand in greeting.

"Have you found any family members?" Sara inquired immediately.

"I'm afraid not. It would seem that poor Bailey is now all alone in this world. Her parents and brother were the only remaining members of the Daniels family. Any remaining relatives have passed away and I'm going to have to turn her over to Child and Family Services. She'll likely end up in foster care until someone adopts her. She's been terrified the whole time, often crying out for her mother," Dr. Leonard explained.

Sara felt her heart skip a beat when he mentioned foster care, "That's horrible. The system is no place for a frightened child who's just lost her entire family in a car accident."

"You know," he lowered his voice as they stopped in the hall, "I read the rescue worker's report. Mr. Daniels was DOA, but Mrs. Daniels was pinned in place. Jonathon was freed before she was and a rescue worker held her hand while they worked on getting Bailey out. Bailey cried until her mother soothed her and told her she was going to be all right. As soon as she was assured both children were safely out of the car, she slipped into unconsciousness and never woke up."

"Wow," Sara breathed, "I guess her instinct to protect her children kept her alive long enough to see that they were out."

Dr. Leonard nodded sadly, "Bailey knows her family was in a car accident. We've told her that her family was killed, but none of us knows for sure how much she understands. I think she'd appreciate a visit from a woman who is near her mother's age, just for some comforting words. I'll leave you with her, she's in stable condition. As soon as we observe her for a while to be safe and figure out where she's going, she'll be released."

"Thank you Dr. Leonard," Sara watched as he walked back to the elevators, off to return to his other patients. She took a deep breath and braced herself for what kind of scene might meet her on the other side of this doorway. She entered cautiously and was met by a very sad looking Bailey Daniels.

"No," Bailey whimpered upon seeing Sara, "no more shots!"

"No sweetie, I'm not a nurse, no needles," Sara showed her two empty hands.

"Good," Bailey let out a sigh of relief.

"My name is Sara," she introduced herself.

"My name's Bailey," the little girl responded.

"I know," Sara smiled, "I saw you the other day, but you probably didn't see me. I was here when you came out of your surgery."

"Oh," she nodded.

"I just wanted to come and visit you. I'm sure you're scared and alone in the hospital. I've been in the hospital before and it always makes me wish I had someone to just sit with me and read a story," Sara told the child.

"You bring a story?" Bailey asked.

"Silly me, I forgot to," Sara laughed, "but I see a book there on your bedside table."

"Cinderella," the girl nodded enthusiastically, "my favorite story. No one have time to read it to me."

"You're in luck, I have all kinds of time," Sara reached for the book.

Bailey grabbed a stuffed bear that lay at her side and made herself cozy as Sara began to read. Normally she wasn't the greatest person when it came to dealing with children, but she felt especially bad for this girl. She'd gone through a traumatic experience and now she was going to be placed into foster care. Although Sara was considerably older when she entered the system herself, she knew it was an awful life for a little girl. Perhaps it was because she'd thought she might be pregnant or perhaps it was because she was mentally ready to become a mother, but she felt a special attachment to this girl she barely knew.

Sara was only halfway through the story when Bailey began to nod off. Smiling, Sara sat the book back down; careful to mark her page and then she tucked the blankets up under Bailey's chin and turned to leave.

"Why you go?" a little voice rang out.

"Sorry hon, I have to go back to work," Sara apologized, "but don't worry, I'll come back and see you again."

"Okay," Bailey yawned, "I sleepy anyway."

It was close enough to the end of shift as Sara left the hospital that she decided to just head home instead of going back to the lab. She arrived home and took a quick, hot shower before lying down on the couch. She was waiting for Grissom to arrive when a sudden wave of sadness hit her. She cried for Bailey whose future was uncertain at best and she cried for the loneliness that the girl was going to face in her life. She was so young that she would in time get over the trauma, but when she got older she'd have lots of questions.

Bruno approached his master, sensing something was wrong. One thing about dogs that Sara had learned so far was that they had an acute sense of being able to read emotions. When she and Grissom were happy, Bruno was happy. But if they fought, he was quiet and lay in the corner, out of the way. Now as she sat on the couch, crying he slowly crept toward her and then gently licked the hand which was dangling over the edge of the couch. Then he nuzzled her leg and wagged his stubby tail as she got down on her knees and gathered him into a hug.

When Grissom came home, Sara was sitting on the floor in front of the couch absently stroking the dog's fur. Bruno lay with his chin resting on her lap and he was sighing contentedly as she rubbed his back. He could tell right away that she'd been crying.

"Sweetie, what is it?" Grissom asked with concern apparent in his tone.

"I went to the hospital to see Bailey Daniels," she immediately began to cry again.

Grissom helped her up off the floor and pulled her into a tight embrace. Sara cried into his shoulder and he held her, attempting to comfort her until she could calm down and explain to him what had happened. He gently guided her to the couch where they sat down together and she finally slowed her tears enough to speak clearly.

"I just, I feel so bad for her. She has no family left and they're going to put her in the system," Sara sniffled.

"Ohhh," Grissom said knowingly. Sara had been put into foster care after her mother had killed her father and he knew it was a miserable time in Sara's life. She'd had bad experiences while in foster care and had automatic empathy for children who were in the system as well.

"She's such a sweet, innocent child. Only three years old and she's lost her entire family," Sara sighed, "I hate to think of what might happen to her."

"I know it's been a long few days between the case and our argument," Grissom started, "why don't we just try to put all the bad stuff aside for now. I'm sure you won't be able to just forget the girl, but please, for now, let it drop. I want to cook breakfast for you, then if you feel like sleeping, we'll go to bed."

"Okay," Sara took a deep breath and followed Grissom into the kitchen while he began preparing a meal.

A/N: Sorry this chapter is up so late today. I had to work this morning and then I had to run an errand that should've taken half an hour tops and it ended up taking 2 hours thanks to screwy Mapquest directions, one way streets and traffic in Denver. :P Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter (one of you even managed to guess where Sara was going, though your name slips my mind at the moment lol). Then I got this all ready to upload and thought I posted it only to realize that, duh, I never did.