A/N: Twenty One! yay! This isn't super long, kind of a filler chapter for Grissom and Sara at the hospital, but some revealing info for the gang! Let me know what you think! The ideas are coming off me in waves now...it only took three'ish years...but hey, I've got them now. Now it's just a matter of which ideas I go with and what gets left behind/used for a different story.

A big thank you to everyone who stuck with this story throughout the years and for not blacklisting me after my rather long...uh...hiatus. i love you all!

Chapter Twenty-One: Hidden Treasures and Hidden Secrets

Emotion had consumed him when he had returned home for the first time since the day he left the house with her for the grocery store. He had come here with a specific in and out, get the things he needed and leave, plan. However, that didn't work as well as he had thought.

Sara did most of the organizing and cleaning around the house – not that he minded, he enjoyed not having to think about laundry and vacuuming - but not a single day went by without him having to ask her where the secret location to some arbitrary object was. Today was no different.

Except he couldn't ask her.

Not only did she have no recollection of the things he sought, but she had no recollection of the home in which they were housed. He was in quite the predicament. He had no idea where to even start looking. He often made the joke that she could pass as a pirate, being able to hide things at the ends of the earth and he wouldn't even be able to find them with her hidden treasure map. But truth was, things were just very neatly organized and it threw him off. Everything had a specific home. But he couldn't understand her system. And so he overthought her system. According to him, things could never be where it was most logical. There had to be some secret reason. So she would put something in a logical place and he would think of every other place she could possibly have put it before even thinking of the logical place. Spices in the cabinet next to the stove had him searching the house for three hours before she came to his rescue and opened the cabinet door for him. He had been convinced that she must have moved them there while he was searching the basement.

He was due in court in an hour and he couldn't for the life of him find his blue tie. There was no way Sara would hang his ties in his closet with his suits. No. Too simple. Sara's thought process had to be more complex than that. She was like a riddle. So instead of looking in the closet, he over thought of where they would be, and found himself seeking out his blue tie in the hall closet with the towels, and then in the kitchen drawers, in her office filing cabinet, and finally, Michael's big box of Lego's. That's where she found him. And by the look on her face she had not been happy.

"Gil? What on earth are you doing? I just got Michael down for a nap!" She fumed as she tried desperately to get the now awake toddler back to sleep. "It's okay Michael, Daddy's just being Daddy. Go back to sleep, okay?" Michael smiled sleepily as she tucked him in tight and walked Gil to just outside Michael's bedroom door.

"Uh…my tie. I was looking for the blue one…with the little diamonds. I checked the towel closet and in the kitchen and your office…I'm running out of locations." He answered like it was the most obvious reason in the world for him to be rummaging through his son's lego box like his life depended on it.

"The towel closet?" Try as she may, she couldn't understand why he never just looked where things are actually kept. Always these elaborate searches of the most random places.

"Yes. It's not there. However, I never knew we had more towels in there. Fascinating find." She shook her head. She was mad that he had woken Michael up, but he was also very entertaining when he went on these little quests of his.

"Gil. You just referred to it as the 'towel closet', what on earth did you think we kept in there?" He pondered her question for a moment, coming up with several possibilities, including his ties. "Nevermind. Don't answer that. Wait. The kitchen?"

"All the drawers and the cabinets. And the fridge."

"The fridge? Gil. Honestly?"

"Honest. It's not there." He was being so serious, that's the part she found so hysterical.

"And my office? Why would you think that I would put your tie in my office? Or the fridge for that matter."

"Well because…" She cut him off before he could even begin.

"Y'know what? No. I am better off not knowing sometimes. You are absolutely insane Gilbert. Insane. Did you ever stop to think that it would be in our bedroom closet?" She stressed the last part with such exacerbation. He really was such a handful sometimes.

"No, that's too simple." He answered so quickly, so sure of himself, she had to laugh. Hard.

"Oh my gosh, Gil. Seriously. Go look in the closet. Why do you have to make everything so damn difficult?"She walked away shaking her head at his absurdity and distantly heard Michael's voice call out the bedroom door to Gil.

"Yeah Daddy, don't be so sillicut."Gil chuckled as he ventured toward their own bedroom and his closet, where indeed he found his tie, hanging gingerly next to his assortment of suits.

Eventually he had found all of the items he was looking for. Granted he found one item by searching randomly for another. But the end result was the same. He had found everything.

Briefly he wondered how it would be when she returned home. He wouldn't know where anything was, she wouldn't know where anything was. They would likely starve to death because he wouldn't be able to locate the food, and he would be forced to forgo bathing and cleaning, because soap and shampoo would be hidden in the garage he was sure and who knew where she kept the broom.

Finished with his search of cherished goods, he entered their bedroom, and took a seat on Sara's side of the bed, staring at the photos on her night table, each of them carrying with it its own memory and emotion.

The first, an old, slightly faded picture. It had sat on her desk by the window in her old apartment in San Francisco, and then on her nightstand by the window in her Vegas apartment and then on their bureau when she had moved into his townhouse, also by the window. It had received a lot of sun over the years, but it was still as vivid as it ever was. He could still make out how tan her skin had been that summer as they stood in front of that rollercoaster back in San Francisco. They had met a few months prior to the photo being taken, and they had been so happy. A young lady standing with them in line had offered to take the photo for them when she saw Sara's camera. His much younger, less graying self, had held her tight and tickled her ribs just as the photo was taken. Laughter erupting from both of them. He had thought that day that they would live the rest of their lives together just like that moment. Perfect. Happy. He left and went back to Vegas a month later. She didn't go with him.

The second, a candid from their wedding, showed them shoving cake in each other's faces. Even covered in very expensive frosting, she had been so breathtakingly beautiful. They had done the corny tradition of freezing the top tier of their cake and eating it on their one year anniversary. It had been absolutely disgusting. But they had laughed and ate it anyways.

The third, a photo of Gil, tears in his eyes as he held a minutes old Michael in his hands. Father and son looking directly at each other. That had been one of the best moments of his life. An awakening.

And finally a photo of Sara and Michael. He liked this one for many reasons. For starters, he had taken it at the beach last summer. So Sara was wearing a bikini. Second, he loved photos of Sara and Michael together. They were like two peas in a pod. This one with a soaking wet Michael in his 'cool swim trunks' sitting on Sara's shoulders, holding her hands and bending down to give Sara a kiss. The sunlight in the background made them glow. It was such a beautiful sight.

It was overwhelming.

Gil took a few moments to just cry – something he would never openly admit to - to cry for the loss of the memories that he cherished so dearly, for the son who had lost a huge part of his mother, to cry for the pain his wife was in, both physically and mentally, to cry for the pain he was in, their son was in, to cry tears of joy that she had found a way to live, to cry for the baby he hoped to meet, that she didn't know existed. The tears flowed and it was several long minutes before they subsided.

Gathering his wits, he had packed a bag of clothes and necessities for them both, and left the room. She wouldn't even remember this home. They had bought it shortly after they had been married. There would be no familiarity in bringing her home here.

"I don't know, Gil. It's just…too much." She said the words, but she didn't even convince herself. Truth was, she had fallen in love. This was the home for them. And yes, it was a little over their price range, but not so much that they couldn't make it work and still be comfortable. It was…perfect.

"Sara. Look around you. You don't even get that dopey look when you look at me. We're putting in an offer." He was very stern, but amusing.

"What are we going to do with all of these bedrooms though? Gil, it's just the two of us. What do we need four bedrooms and a den for?" She had a point.

"Well, we'll have the master bedroom, and then you can take one for your office and I can take one for mine. Then we can have a guest room, and maybe one just for my bugs. I know it freaks you out to have them in sight. See. That's all five rooms. Done." He wanted this house and he knew she did too.

"What kinds of people have that many bedrooms and no kids? People are going to think we're crazy." He chose not to comment on the kids part. It wasn't a conversation they had had. Granted they probably should at some point. After all, they were married now and Sara was still young. But, not right now. There would be time for that.

"People already think we're crazy." Simple and to the point.

"You're insane. We're insane. But you're right. I love it." Pausing a quick moment to kiss him. "I love you. Let's do it." They had put in an offer that afternoon and it had been accepted before dinner that night. They moved in a few weeks later. And a few weeks after that Sara announced she was pregnant. Gil had sacrificed his bug room for the nursery. His bugs dormed in his office after that.

A wistful smile passed his lips as he stepped back into the hospital room, watching her sleep, and recounting all the memories they had made so far in that house. Jim had called him on his way back to let him know that Sara had come into some great pain after she tried sleeping for a bit, so he may have hit the little morphine release button despite her protests, but that she would likely sleep for a while now.

Sara hated being on drugs. Of any kind. She felt as though she didn't have control. If it were up to her, and thankfully the doctors and nurses would administer the morphine for her, she would be dealing with the physical pain from being run down completely drug free. If they were lucky, he would ask for a Tylenol.

He placed the bags he brought from home by the cot he had been sleeping on, and reclaimed the seat beside the bed, taking her hand in his and his other outstretching to touch her stomach where his unborn child currently resided. He didn't know how to tell her. What if it were too much? What if the baby didn't survive? The obstetrician had said that things looked good so far, but she was on a lot of medication and still facing a great deal of physical trauma. He couldn't tell her just to have her lose the baby.

For now, he would keep that information to himself until she was a little stronger and had some of her bearings back.

As much as he wanted and loved this baby, he wanted his wife healthy and safe first, so he had to protect her from information that could overwhelm her already delicate mindset.

"Something is off with this."

His comment drew all of their attention as they each paused in their ministrations to turn their focus on Nick.

"What do you mean?" Cath asked as she carefully examined the lab reports from the evidence she had collected at the hospital.

"I don't know. It's just…" He paused, frustrated. "Just hear me out on this." With everyone's silent receipt, he continued. "Now, I hate day shift as much as everyone here, and believe me, I know how much they all suck at their jobs, but this is like they just did nothing. This case file is practically empty. It's as if they were trying to just sweep it under the rug."

"I hear ya, man. We've got nothing, when we definitely should have had tons of evidence to sort through." Mentally taking in the lack of everything before them, Warrick nodded.

"Who was the lead CSI on the case?" Catherine chimed in quickly, as Greg grabbed for the report.

"John Lewis." Greg noted.

"That guy is dirty." His voice rattled them all as they looked to the doorway.

"Jim. What brings you here?" Catherine asked, then before he could speak added, "And what do you mean he's dirty?"

"I heard through the grapevine that you hijacked Sara's case. Kudos. I hear day shift is very pissed off." He waggled his eyebrows in approval of their efforts, making them all smile.

"You should have seen Ecklie." She smiled at the memory.

"Catherine's a force to be reckoned with." Greg cheered.

"I've known that for quite a long time there, Sanders."

"So what were saying about Lewis?" Nick broke in, trying to get their focus back on track. As much as he loved the idle chit chat and banter, his friend was laying in a hospital bed and missing her marbles so to speak.

"Oh, that rat bastard. Yeah. He's dirty. We've suspected for a while, just couldn't prove anything. Why are you wondering about him?"

"He was the lead CSI on Sara's hit and run, but there's literally nothing here. He didn't do a thing." Anger laced Greg's words. How a CSI could be so careless on a case for one of their own was beyond him.

"Well that is interesting…" Jim mumbled, but they all heard him. The looks they shot his way forced him to elaborate. "I probably shouldn't be saying anything, but Sara's actually been working with me and the sheriff to try and nail the son of a bitch on something substantial."

"Wait, what? Sara was?" Warrick was surprised, and by the looks on everyone's faces, he was not alone.

"Yeah. It started with a problem on the day shift. Leaked confidential information, conveniently missing evidence, drug evidence being photographed at a scene and when it's entered in at the lab it was severely short of how much it should have been, witness statements altered. You name it. Sara was assigned by the sheriff directly to investigate, hoping to avoid having to include Internal Affairs. He had been concerned that Ecklie may have been in on it, so he, and the rest of day shift's staff, were all kept out of the loop. She's been checking out all of their case files and staff over the last few months, trying to find some concrete evidence and link it to whoever the problem child is."

"And her investigation led to John Lewis?" Nick asked, his mind reeling with this new information.

"Thanks to her investigation, yeah. He became our prime suspect, with a few meager personnel on the bottom of the totem pole. Sara was compiling all of the evidence to finalize everything to present to the sheriff when she was hit by that car. We had a meeting scheduled with him next week to go over everything. But, from what she told me, he was into some pretty serious stuff and she had everything to prove it. He was going down." Everyone was shocked. No one even knew she had been working on anything to do with an internal investigation, nevermind one of this magnitude.

"I think he just became our prime suspect as well." Catherine announced, a cloud of emotions passing her eyes.

How could one of their own have done this?