Chapter Eleven

Painful Surprise

Thanks to myfairlady, DrusillaBraun, Dardeile, CissaMalfoy, Daydreamer1127, El Gringo Loco, Canadian Halliwell, SilverBlackWolf13, fallinidentity, jwoods471, Pandy Roxy Chick, and Grammar Maven for their reviews!

Why thank you…you…

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in CSI. Again, I just wished I did.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He sat in the hospital with his head in his hands as he waited anxiously for the doctor to give him the bad news or the good news. He hated waiting. He hated hospitals even more. He didn't know that he was feeling the exact same thing that Catherine had when he had been in the emergency room. This was hell. Actually worse than any hell that he had ever imagined. Lindsey was in another room being checked over by a doctor and giving her statement to a police officer. He was left alone here to ponder the past hour.

He would never forget how she dove in front of him to take a bullet meant for him. She gave her life for him even though she had left him to be with someone else. He didn't understand her. Didn't understand what she was thinking when she walked away from him for the second time only to pull a stunt of an ultimate sacrifice for him. She was wreaking havoc on his heart and soul and he couldn't figure her out the way he could read crime scenes. Nothing added up and the only person who could tell him was her. Her who was the cause of all his pain, all his happiness.

He needed her as much as he need to breathe. They were fire and ice. She was all fire and he was as cold as ice. Together they kept each other from going too far. Together they took two opposite things and made wine. When he was swallowed in darkness she would be the light that led him out of it. He was determined to be that light for her this time. If she pulled through to let him be.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dr. Cuddy was a seasoned doctor. She knew the ins and outs of her job and the preciousness of lives there were too quickly snatched away. She knew the horrors of the world and the cruelty people can lay on one another. The way fate was coldly chipping away at what they laughingly called civilization.

She stared down at the figure lying on the bed before her. Times like these she hated her job. The woman she was trying to save was dying and there was nothing she could do. She knew her well. Detective Willows had been running in and out of the hospital ever since she became one of the best on the force. Cuddy was used to seeing her and chatting with her in the waiting room during cases. She also knew that the cop had a common blood type, O negative, but at the moment, it was the worse blood type to have. It was the universal donor but because of its antibodies, it did not take any blood type other than O negative.

The truth was Dr. Cuddy could not remain objective with this case. Catherine Willows was her oldest sister. Cuddy had been born into a family of four. Catherine was the eldest followed by her and then a brother and then another sister. She would be the first to admit that she was one of the cold citizens to her sister. Catherine had run away leaving her family and the ranch instead of sticking it out. Cuddy had been reluctant to forgive that. Cuddy spent her life wondering where her sister was and how she was doing.

Her sister reads the bible

Her father sits and snores

They're with her every minute

'Cause they may not have many more

She was dancing in New Orleans

Only seven weeks ago

Life may go on with out her

But not the life we know

She rubbed her temples. It was not fair for Catherine to be lying there. She was a trained cop who served and protected. She opened the door to the emergency room and saw a bearded man sitting with his head in his hands, looking as broken and worn as a rag doll. She hated to give bad news, but sadly it was an everyday part of her job.

"Mr. Grissom?" she asked softly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He jerked his head up at the sound of his name and saw a pretty young doctor approach him. She had dark hair and blue eyes that were strikingly similar to Catherine's. She wore a saddened expression on her face.

You wanna scream, you wanna cry

You want someone to tell you why

All the hope that's in your heart is not enough

You hit your knees, you shake your fists

Oh, it's the deepest wound there is

When you can't help the one you love

"How bad is she?" he asked softly, unable to keep the quivering out of his voice.

She drew a breath. "Not good. We've stabilized her but she's lost a lot of blood. We want to give her a transfusion, but we have absolutely no stock of O negative." She started to explain.

He exploded. "How the hell can you not have it? It's one of the most common blood types in the world?" He yelled at her.

Cuddy winced. "Mr. Grissom, please calm down. You losing your cool won't help Catherine at all." She grasped her lab coat tightly as she forced herself to go on. "We live in a very small rural town. The hospital is good, but it's nothing like what you have back in Vegas. Our resources are very limited and most of the townspeople have A or B blood. We just simply don't have enough stock of blood." She said.

Grissom rubbed his eyes. Then an idea occurred to him. "What if I can say that I'm a match?" he asked.

Lisa Cuddy's hopes began to rise just a tiny bit.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A while later, Grissom was hooked up to a bag that was hooked up to Catherine's arm. He was watching her though. Her face was so white and pale that he was afraid that she was gone. He had seen countless bodies in the morgue, same paleness, same coldness. He never wanted Catherine to be like them in any sense. She was much too important. As much as he never wanted to admit it, but in spite of Dr. Cuddy's and Grissom's best efforts, Catherine Willows was dying.

When someone's slipping away

Right before your eyes

How useless we are

Is a painful surprise

Her chest was still rising and falling and Grissom found that his own breath matched hers in slowness, rhythm, and length. There was nothing left for him to do. It was no longer in his hands. Catherine's life lay in the unknown and Grissom hated every minute of that. He felt wetness in his eyes as he watched the woman he loved, who was probably the stronger person he had ever known, slowly fade away. He wouldn't let her go. Not without a fight. Not without holding onto her fighting the darkness tooth and nail. But at the moment, Grissom knew there was nothing left that he could do.

You wanna scream, you wanna cry

You want someone to tell you why

All the hope that's in your heart is not enough

You hit your knees, you shake your fists

Oh, it's the deepest wound there is

When you can't help the one you love

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Note:

I just had to put a depressing chapter in this mix. Why? Because I can and because no fic is complete without a few tears and some apprehension. Lol. Anyway. The song used is The One You Love by Terri Clark. More soon, This was my get-rid-of-my-sad-moment chapter so cry and enjoy!