(This is a fairly long chapter, but I felt that it all needed to be together.)
At the scene, he felt uneasy and checked over his shoulder several times. It was justified as the suspect returned to the scene and shot him twice before running out the back door. Catherine came running in.
"GIL!!" She knelt next to him and put pressure on the two wounds while screaming for help. She noticed he was focused on something and wasn't responding to her touch.
Grissom felt no pain; all he saw was Sara. She smiled at him and he smiled softly back at her.
"Sara." It came out choked on blood.
"Hello Gil." Catherine was now looking where he was and saw nothing.
"You know why I'm here, don't you?"
"You're here for me." Sara nodded and held out her hand. Grissom broke his gaze from Sara to look at Catherine.
"Sara's here for me. Goodbye Catherine. Call Jim."
"NO!! GIL, YOU STAY WITH ME!! DO YOU HEAR ME?!" Grissom reached out a hand to latch onto Sara's outstretched hand and then it fell limply at his side. Catherine was still screaming for help and now sobbing over his body. Grissom and Sara stood side by side in silence for a few minutes so Gil could get his new bearings. They saw help finally arrive and then watched David take his body away as well. Sara pulled him along. He knew where they were going, but he was surprised at how fast they got there. His body wasn't due to arrive for another thirty minutes. Sara turned to him.
"I was your assignment tonight, wasn't I?"
"Yes. Jeff told me last night. I'm your guide, and this is your one chance to set anything in order at your place before we are hands off."
"I changed my will after you died, so I think I'm good. … Oh, wait, your journal."
"Done. I burned it this evening when you fell asleep."
"Damn, I wasn't done reading it either."
"I'm sorry." She told him and then forced him to look at her. She had more to say.
"I can tell you everything now. When I died, my deal was that I could stay near you until you died. After your funeral, I have to move on. Whether you join me or take over my job is up to you."
"I'll go with you." Sara smiled.
"I was hoping you'd say that."
"So, do I get to meet Jeff?"
"If you want. He's my uncle. Jeff was my lifeline through my childhood. He knew what was going on in my house and tried to stop it. When my father died, he fought hard to get custody of me, but the state wouldn't put me in the hands of a man who was still single. He's still here because his case remains unsolved. He was shot just like you."
"Oh."
"So, how's it feel to be shot?"
"Hurts like hell." Gil unconsciously rubbed the area of his chest that took the bullet. Sara took his hand.
"I love you and this afternoon was amazing."
"I agree and I love you too." He replied and leaned in to kiss her.
Fifteen minutes later, David wheeled his body into the morgue.
"Want to go watch your autopsy? It's so weird to see it done on yourself."
"Sure." They entered the morgue hearing Al greeting his friend Jerry that had done Sara's autopsy. Once Jerry was ready to go, Al left the room and stood outside the door. Jerry began to talk into his recorder.
"Victim is Dr. Gilbert J. Grissom; case number…"
"What's the J stand for?" Sara interrupted.
"James, now shush."
"…gun shot wound sustained to the chest with a fatal blow to the heart. No marks on his body indicating defensive action taken. Evidence of a recent sexual encounter; sample taken and will be sent to DNA…." Sara looked incredulously at him but said nothing for the time being. Gil had the decency to look sheepish.
"Bullet one recovered in the stomach and bullet two from the left ventricle. The bullet in the heart was the second shot due to the trajectory and it punctured the aorta as well causing massive internal bleeding. Deceased was in good shape and its interesting to note that a tumor was present on his prostate. A sample will be taken to see if it was cancerous."
"It was." Sara told him quietly.
"What?" He turned his full attention to her and ignored his autopsy.
"Jeff told me that if you didn't kill yourself, you would have been dead within the year because your cancer was just as aggressive as mine was. You may want to look at being shot as good fortune because the cancer treatments are no fun."
"Why didn't you tell me any of this before?" He was angry and she knew it.
"If I had told you or broken any of my rules, I would have been sent on without any warning. I wouldn't have been able to say goodbye. You were my unfinished business. I had to make sure you didn't kill yourself so that we could continue to meet and fall in love in all of our future lives. Jeff told me that we have found each other three times before and that the chances of finding your one true match are 1/1,000,000. I couldn't say anything. I wanted to, believe me I did." Sara turned away to hide her tears. Gil's anger faded quickly and he pulled her into his arms.
"I'm sorry for getting angry with you."
"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you everything."
"You're forgiven if I am." She nodded in answer.
"Should we go to DNA, I really want to be there when Wendy reads the results." He pulled her hand to the appropriate lab and his smile matched hers. While they waited, she questioned him.
"Ok, so why is it that you didn't shower before work tonight?"
"I did; I just didn't do a good job. I wanted to keep your scent on me for as long as I could. I wasn't planning to die." She smiled.
"That's so sweet. Weird, but sweet." Just then, the machine beeped out a result. Wendy pulled the paper from the machine and after looking at the answer, fainted. Sara and Gil couldn't stop the laughter. Catherine came rushing in when she heard the thud. It was lucky that she was walking by.
"Wendy what happened?" Catherine asked after Wendy regained consiousness.
"I got the results from the vaginal fluid found on Grissom. It came back Sara Sidle." Catherine wore a look of complete disbelief and paged Nick, Greg, and Warrick to the DNA lab. She found the sheet of paper Wendy had dropped and looked at it. Sure enough, it read 'Sara Sidle, deceased' in bold letters. Nick caught her as she too fainted. Wendy explained what happened and Greg left immediately. Curious, Sara and Gil followed him, smirking when he breached the morgue doors.
"Hello Greg, what can I do for you?"
"I need to see Grissom's body."
"Why?"
"The fluid found on him came back as Sara's"
"Sara? As in Sara Sidle, deceased six months ago?"
"One in the same." Greg found the correct drawer and pulled out the body then moving the sheet.
"Whoa. Who knew that Grissom would be packin'?" Greg couldn't stop the comment from escaping.
"Greg, it isn't appropriate to speak of the deceased in that manner." Doc Robbins chastised him.
"I'm sorry Doc, but way to go Grissom."
"GREG!" Doc was quite firm and Greg stopped talking, took the sample and left after putting Grissom back in his drawer. Sara looked over at her beloved.
"Think your inflated ego will fit through the door?"
"I'll manage and I don't remember hearing any complaints from you."
"There weren't any. Come to think of it, I'm kind of glad I'm already dead so I don't have to face the firing squad." They laughed and watched Greg run the sample this time. The entire team sat in the room waiting for the result. Finally the machine beeped and Greg pulled it out of the printer.
"It's the same. Sara Sidle, deceased." He informed them. Catherine had the look of an epiphany.
"You know, right before he died, he said her name and that she was here for him. He told me goodbye and said that Sara was waiting for him. He raised his hand up as if to reach for something and it fell limp at his side a second later." Nick shook his head.
"What are you saying, Catherine? Sara's ghost has been hanging around?"
"Have you got a better explanation? Did you forget how all of the sudden he was in a better mood?" She shot back.
"Maybe he had therapy." Nick weakly added his point knowing exactly what she was going to say next.
"Then how did her fluid get on his body. Mind you, this is a fresh sample." She demanded. Nick could only shrug at this point since he was out of arguments. Catherine looked at the ceiling,
"Gil! Sara! If you can hear me, show yourselves right now!" Sara saw Jeff across the lab and he nodded to her. After making sure that Wendy couldn't see, she picked up a pen. Catherine, Warrick, Greg, and Nick were in amazement when they saw the pen move on its own telling them to go to Grissom's office in Sara's distinctive handwriting. Greg grabbed the note and threw Wendy off.
"Guess they're not coming. We need to find another explanation as to how Sara's fluid got on his body. Thanks for letting me use the lab Wendy." The woman could only nod. Catherine strode up to her.
"Could you not mention anything to anyone. It wouldn't look good for the lab if this got out." Wendy nodded again. It was the only method of communication she was able to use at the moment.