I don't know how many times I've said this already but thank you again for the reviews and messages :) You guys rock!

Also, the jokes about Lennon and George are references to The Beatles :)

x x x x

Despite all of his infinite wisdom, he would never understand why the only thing you needed always sank to the bottom of the drawer.

"Hey," a cheerful voice intruded on his private mutterings. "You lost something?"

"Yeah, my key card." Russell grumbled, abandoning the search for the time being and straightening up as Finn wandered into the office.

"I heard the boys are going to see Sara at the hospital today." She hummed, sidling up to the desk and smoothly extracting his evasive key card from beneath a stack of paperwork.

"Oh, thank you." He accepted it gratefully, slipping it protectively into his pocket. "Yeah, they are. It's about time, too."

"You seen her yet?"

"Yeah, I went down this morning with Doc Robbins." He answered, sinking heavily into his faux-leather chair. "She was half asleep, but we talked for a bit. She's doing okay." He nodded confidently, shooting Finn a questioning look. "What about you, how are you doing?"

"I'm okay." She assured him, sounding much more assured than last time he had asked that question. "I called my mom the other day."

"Really?" The boss drawled, quirking an eyebrow. He knew well enough that Jules and her mother had a tumultuous relationship at the best of times and a mute one at the worst. "How did that go?"

"Oh, the usual." She threw a hand out to the side as she began wandering around the office and examining each unusual ornament in turn. "That I don't call often enough, am I eating right, am I taking care of myself."

They shared a small chuckle at the typical mothering actions. That was the same routine that Barbara went through every time she spoke to their kids. It didn't matter how old or independent they got, they were still her babies.

Finn sobered up again, a familiar sadness filling her eyes. "It just made me realise something." She sighed, finally tiring of her pacing and dropping onto the couch. "Sara probably never had that. I mean, she's the one taking care of her mom. No one's there to take care of her."

"True," DB hummed, settling back into his chair. "But, you know, she's got Catherine. She looks out for her."

"Yeah." Finn sat forwards, resting her elbows on her knees as a sly smirk spread across her lips. "But I don't think that's out of maternal instinct."

"What do you mean?" The man frowned, oblivious to the cause of her obvious amusement.

"Come on DB," She laughed, throwing her head back. "Isn't it obvious? I mean, Catherine beat Sara's husband to the hospital. What does that tell you?"

X x x

Nick peered around the door, attempting not to make a sound.

However, Sara's fast eyes caught the movement and a bright smile graced her face as she promptly discarded the magazine she had been idly flicking through.

"Hey. I thought you were avoiding me." She beamed as he straightened up and shuffled bashfully into the room.

"No, of course not." He smiled, wrapping her into a tentative hug. "I've just been … I've been an idiot." He sighed, pressing a kiss to her temple before releasing her and sinking into the chair. "I'm sorry, I should have come sooner."

"It's okay." She smiled, reaching out a hand towards him.

He caught a glimpse of the ring on her wristband and chuckled softly as he stroked the piece of jewellery with his thumb. She smiled, shooting him a knowing look from beneath her lashes.

Oblivious to their tender moment, Greg had wandered in and continued to smirk silently at Sara from the foot of the bed until she looked up and acknowledged his presence.

"What?" She challenged, raising an eyebrow as his cocky grin.

"We brought you something." He sang, swaying from side-to-side with his hands behind his back.

"Well?" She pressed, attempting to lean around and see what he was holding. He teased her for a moment longer, enjoying himself far too much for her liking, before taking pity on her petulant glare.

"Tada!" He produced the teddy bear, holding it up to his face with a cheeky smile. "I found him while we were in your apartment."

"Lennon!" She beamed, holding out her hands for the soft toy. Grissom had never understood her desire to keep the childhood teddy in their bedroom, but thankfully he had never pressed the issue.

"You named him Lennon?" Nick barely suppressed a laugh. "As in John Lennon?"

"Shut up. I was a child of the 70s." She glowered, stroking the teddy's soft fur absently. He was tattered and torn, but all-in-all he was in remarkably good condition for a forty-year-old toy.

"So was I." Nick snickered. "But my bear was called George." He knew as soon as the words left his mouth that he shouldn't have said that.

"Aw!" Greg spluttered, poking his mate in the ribs. "Nicky had a teddy bear!"

X x x

"I can't believe he left without saying goodbye." David scowled, a look of pure confusion dancing in his eyes. "I mean, I can understand him not wanting to cause a fuss, that's not his style. But, me…"

"Hodges." Morgan looked up sharply from the microscope. "Will you give it a rest, please?"

He blinked at her, hurt flashing across his face. "I'm sorry? I didn't realise my outright abandonment was interrupting your concentration."

"Well, it is." She snapped. "And what's it to you whether Grissom left without saying goodbye. After everything that's happened recently, I'd think you guys would be glad to see the back of him."

"Gil Grissom is a master of science." David insisted, folding his arms defensively across his chest. "He made this lab what it is. Without him …"

"He ended his marriage over the phone." Morgan cut in, mirroring his stance. "He left Sara to deal with the fallout alone. And then, he waited four days before coming to Vegas while she was in a coma."

Hodges blinked again, not entirely sure how to reply to the onslaught of criticism directed at his mentor. He had to admit, now that he knew the details of their marriage ending, he was surprised by his friend's actions. But did it make him respect the man any less?

However, Morgan didn't give him the opportunity to respond as she turned on her heels and sashayed out of the room, snatching her results from the printer on the way.

In the hallway, leaving the slightly stunned trace tech in her wake, she almost mowed her own father down in her haste to leave.

"Hey, hi." She cleared her throat, falling into step with him. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine." He nodded, instantly picking up on her rattled demeanour and trembling voice. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." She nodded a little too eagerly, attempting to dart into another lab. However, his hand shot out to grip her arm and he tugged her into a quieter corner of the corridor.

"Morgan, what's wrong?" He asked, a concerned frown making its way across his brow.

"I'm fine." She repeated, softening her voice. "I'm just … knowing that he's still out there, it's kind of unnerving."

"Basderic?" Ecklie guessed. "Don't worry, we're going to find him. He won't hurt Sara again, he won't hurt anyone."

"I know." She nodded, taking a deep breath. "It just creeps me out to think that he's been watching her, following her every movement and she didn't even know."

"Hey, M." He gripped her shoulders, holding her gaze unwaveringly. Her eyes were so much like his own – it was about the only thing she had inherited from him. That and his weakness for greasy junk food. "Sara is going to be fine. And we're going to catch this bastard, if it's the last thing we do."

X x x

The sight that met Catherine upon her entrance to the room was one of familiarity and friendship defined. The boys were flanking Sara, with Nick having slung an arm around her shoulders. The brunette, for her part, looked surprisingly relaxed as she settled against the Texan's shoulder.

"Hey boys." Cath grinned, making her presence known before she approached the bed and slid between them to press a kiss to Sara's forehead. She noted the bear, perched happily in Sara's lap, and tapped its head lightly.

"Shop out of grapes, was it?" She quipped, earning her a disgruntled look from the patient, who clutched it tighter.

"Well, you know what they say: 'Every bear has a woman who loves him'." Nick chuckled, although the joke washed right over Catherine.

"Is that what you tell George?" Greg teased. "Or is he more of a 'Love comes to everyone' kind of bear?"

"Travelling Wilbury bear." Sara chimed in, drawing a jovial laugh from the men and an even more perplexed look from the blonde.

As the laughter died down, Catherine disregarded the conversation as a private joke and sent Nick a meaningful look.

Sensing that she had something she wanted to say to Sara in private, he cleared his throat and extracted himself carefully from the bed.

"Hey Greg, we ought to head off." He nodded pointedly towards the door. Greg scowled at his watch, not understanding the rush, until he caught a raised eyebrow from Catherine and nodded in understanding.

"Oh yeah, we have that … thing." He mumbled, pressing a quick kiss to Sara's cheek and tapping Lennon on the nose before scuttling to the door at Nick's heels.

"Yeah, that." Nicky rolled his eyes. "You take care darling, I'll see you tomorrow."

He sent Cath a sly wink on his way out, although not sly enough to get it past Sara.

"Well, that was subtle." She hid a smirk, meeting Cath's gaze. The blonde laughed, settling herself on the bed. "I'm guessing you wanted to talk to me."

"Yeah, I know that they're letting you out in a couple of days and I wanted to talk to you before they did." Cath licked her lips, reaching up to touch Sara's forehead lightly. "I wanted to talk to you about this."

"Like I said, I don't remember doing it." Sara repositioned herself against the headboard, curling her legs beneath her.

"Sara, it's not so much what you did that's bothering me. It's the fact that you did it at all." Cath explained, inching closer. "After everything that happened, after what Jack did to you, you didn't call the team. You didn't call me, or even Grissom." She released a sad breath, dropping her gaze. "You went to the roof. That's … scary."

"I wasn't intentionally shutting you guys out." She murmured. "I just … I don't know, I wasn't thinking straight."

"I know, baby." Catherine took hold of her slender wrist, stroking it gently. "It's not your fault. I just want to understand what was going through your head."

"So do I." Sara sulked. "Honestly, I don't know. All I remember is going to the roof. After that…" she shrugged helplessly.

"What about before that, after what Jack did? You didn't call anyone for help then either. Finn, or Morgan?"

"I don't know." She shrugged again. "It wasn't a serious injury, I didn't want to cause a fuss."

Cath pursed her lips, shaking her head slowly.

"Honey, I'm not taking about you being shot. I know he hurt you."

Sara dropped her eyes in shame, causing Catherine to tighten her grip on the girl's hand.

"We know that he was ill, that he had schizophrenia." She continued softly. "We could have gotten him help."

Sara looked up, her eyes narrowing at her friend.

"What do you mean you 'could have'?" She asked. Catherine's cheeks paled as she realised her error. Anyone else wouldn't have picked up on the slip-up, but then Sara wasn't just anyone.

"Honey," she murmured, shifting position awkwardly as she attempted to think of an explanation quickly.

"Cat, where's Jack?" Sara asked, panic and fear flooding her trembling voice.

"Babe, please try to stay calm." Cath begged, moving her hands to grip the other woman's arms lightly. "After you left his hotel room, someone else went in and …" she trailed off, trying desperately to think of another way of phrasing this.

But there was no other way out; no way of sugar-coating this. She was going to have to tell Sara the truth.

The brunette appeared to be silently pleading with her, as if she already knew what was coming. "Jack's dead, honey. I'm so sorry."