A/N: Don't ask me why I feel the need to make Ecklie 'human', I can't stand him on the show but for some reason maybe it's the Christmas season, I decided to make him personable and 'human'. Thank you all for the wonderful reviews. Dad has qualified for the experimental surgery which will take place Jan 15. Thanks again for all the prayers, thoughts and well wishes, you've become family to me...I can't thank you enough for the reviews as well, they make me write even on days when my hands want a break...

It had been a long two weeks, Gil had to remain hospitalized receiving massive amounts of antibiotics intravenously, Sara had been discharged after the first week. She'd been allowed to stay thanks to some finagling by the doctor with her insurance company. She'd been reluctant to leave but the doctors assured her that Gil would get rest and be well cared for and she herself would need to be ready to help him when he got home.

"He'll be weak for a little while and I know he'll hate to depend on you but...I'm more than sure you're up to the task." his one nurse gave her a cursory look over and smiled. "Ya might be slim and slight but I think he has his hands full with you!" she winked meaning it as a compliment.

"He'll do what he's told though" she paused "he's going stir crazy not being able to go over cases with his team." she laughed "Do you think now that any danger of catching anything is over" she sighed "do you think it would be okay for his team members to visit now?" She knew that Gil was comfortable now with Nick being around, he'd made it his goal to keep his eye on both Gil and Sara but she was thinking that seeing Catherine or Warrick, Brass, Greg and even possibly Conrad might do more for his ever worsening attitude.

"I don't see why not, it certainly wouldn't hurt his mood" she laughed along with Sara as she went over the paperwork that she'd need when she got home. "I'll clear it with his Doctor and then we'll see how he is after that. Gil had passed all his tests with flying colors, no swelling or bleeding was evident in his brain, his last spinal tap came back clear and he was angrier than ever that due to the results, he couldn't see why he had to remain in the hospital when Sara could take just as good care of him, if not better at home.

"Gil" his regular Doctor had returned and after consultation with Dr. Brebach had taken over his case. "You and I both know that Sara would sooner run herself into the ground waiting on you, hand and foot" he waited for Gil to acknowledge the fact. "She needs her rest, she's walking around with two very important lives inside her and you don't want her wearing herself out." Grissom couldn't do more than admit that the doctor was right, if it meant having to stay then he'd stay just to spare Sara any further concern.

When the day came to release him, his entire team said they'd be there, Ecklie got there before the rest of them. Grissom was convinced that someone had kidnapped the real one and had transplanted some android in his place.

"Can I ask you a question without seeming ungrateful or ... rude?" Gil was being social or the first time in a long time knowing that the only thing standing between him and the door was a simple signature from his doctor. Ecklie rocked on the balls of his feet, hands shoved deep in his pockets and nodded.

"Why? Why are you being so nice and supportive now?" Gil knew that in the past, his worst enemy had been Conrad Ecklie. He'd wanted Sara fired and when Gil refused, he'd gone out of his way to make Grissom's life miserable in the lab. Gil had simply adapted to the mood around the building and worked twice as hard to prove that Conrad was completely wrong about Sara. He'd jumped on the chance to find a reason to split up the team, relishing the fact that an apparent error had been made during the gathering and logging of evidence and he acted like it was a personal affront when Gil admitted on the stand that the evidence in front of him wasn't the complete evidence he'd cataloged at the time. Gil had been found innocent in any wrong doing by none other than Sofia Curtis but instead of letting the matter drop, Ecklie had split the team, put Catherine as Supervisor, on a shift she hadn't asked for and demoted Sofia in retaliation for not siding with him. The past was pretty bleak when you compared the relationship.

"You know Gil, coming from someone else, I might be insulted but given our past I can understand where you're coming from." he leaned against a counter and Gil smiled.

"You're welcome to have a seat, it will be another hour before I'm out of here" he motioned to the empty seat across from his bed.

"I never realized just how much Sara meant to the lab before, the morale certainly dropped when she was gone." he sat down and sighed "But I watched what losing her did to you...you probably aren't aware of it but I almost lost my wife awhile back" Gil looked up stunned at the revaluation. "First it was because of stupidity, I cheated on her, convinced myself I'd get away with it...and then I thought she wouldn't notice because of all the hours I spent at the lab but she caught on, followed me to the girl's house and confronted me." he blushed at the admission. "She gave me a last chance and I promised to straighten out which I did with the exception of my hours...I thought I had all the time in the world..." he closed his eyes and sighed. "She has breast cancer Gil, I may wind up losing the very thing that makes me who I am" the tears in his eyes threw Grissom for a loop. "I woke up the first morning she was in the hospital without her beside me and I didn't like the feeling, it was the same day Sara left you...and I could only imagine what it must have been like to love someone so much and not be able to tell anyone" he reached for a cup of water that was sitting beside the bed "You don't mind do you?" Gil handed him the cup and shook his head.

"I'm sorry you're going through this Conrad and tell your wife that our best thoughts are with her." he was at a loss to add much more. "It's strange isn't it?" Conrad wiped away the tears in his eyes. "You never imagine loving someone so much that you don't know where you stop and they start." it was the fullest admission to feelings Ecklie had ever heard from Grissom.

"All I can tell you is, don't waste another day Gil, grab life by the horns and ride it for all it's worth because as you know, you wake up tomorrow thinking that you have all the time in the world and suddenly you get this wicked slap in the face." he sat forward, hands dropped between splayed knees. "You ever think about leaving CSI?" Grissom wondered even more what had happened to the real Conrad.

"I can't say the idea hasn't crossed my mind a time or two." He reached for the bag that held his clothes. "If Sara wanted me to, I could do it" it was strange to realize that now. Years before if someone had asked him to weigh the importance of his job vs. his feelings for Sara, he would have feared that the job defined who and what he was and without it he would be nothing. Today the feeling was, after having experienced it firsthand very different. The job no longer defined him, it no longer held the hows and whys of his life that had been taken over by his all consuming love of Sara. She was and he hoped for a long time would continue to be his everything...He knew what it was to wake in her arms, to go to sleep with her spooned against him after a night of languid lovemaking and he knew how much it hurt to wake up with only a pillow and a worn t-shirt as your companion., it was something he never wanted to experience again.

"You really do love her." said more as a statement then a question and Gil simply nodded and smiled. The smile said it all.

"I really do, it scared the hell out of me to admit it to myself let alone anyone else." he sat back "there was a time when I didn't think I was capable of loving someone so completely but then I guess the truth was I didn't feel worthy of having someone like Sara love me."

"She must be pretty damned special Gil, you were willing to risk your entire career on her!" the comment was said with a certain degree of admiration. "I wish I had the balls to do something like that...well, I did, you've probably heard the rumors about how me and my wife met." he wasn't asking Gil to confirm or deny. "She was worth it to..." he smiled.

"Can I ask you a question?" Gil wasn't one to usually pry but being that his relationship with Sara often times put him on unfamiliar ground, he wanted to avoid the usual pitfalls of life. When Conrad nodded, he continued. "You said you cheated on her." He nodded yet again. "Why?" Gil honestly couldn't find a reason why people did that to each other but then again, having never been the type to fall in love easily, he wasn't sure why you would give your heart to one and your body to another, his ideal was the entire package.

"She was a challenge" the answer was that simple. "She had an attitude and air about her that said she was 'untouchable' but for some stupid reason, I decided to play the game and see how far it went...too far" he huffed out a breath. "She was doing the same with me, I was part of a bet 'see if you can get Ecklie in bed' I fell for it, hook, line and sinker. When it was all said and done, she told me she actually had feelings, I went to he house that night,the night my wife followed me, to tell her it had all been a mistake and I couldn't do it anymore. Isabelle beat me to it, apparently she had met the girl outside of work and told her to back off, she didn't want to relinquish her 'challenge' and told my wife she'd back off ONLY if she heard it from me...I went back and told her it was over and never went back."