Title: A Clear Vision
Author: Evidence
Chapter: 4
Rating: PG-13
Author's Notes: The original chapter four cannot be accessed on my disc so I had to rewrite the whole thing! That's why this update is so late.
Grissom couldn't move. His arms were painful to lift. His legs felt like jelly. His breathing felt labored to him due to his chest injury. His greatest fear was not worrying about his physical self but wondering if Sara would return. He had angered her and she had stormed off. He knew deep down that she would return, how could she not? But after all that he just went through, reason and common sense were taking a back seat.
He saw her then leaving the area she had entered. She looked more distressed than before. Sara knelt down beside him. Her face was ashen and tears had dried up on her cheeks.
"What's wrong?" Grissom asked, his heart race increasing.
"Nothing," she shrugged off his question but Sara Sidle was not good at lying.
"Tell me," he focused on her eyes but she turned away from him. "Sara, please, I want to know what's wrong."
She looked into the ocean of his eyes and sighed. Pulling up her shirt, she revealed her stomach. It was swollen, a strange reddish/purple/black color.
"Sara…" Grissom breathed.
"I'm going to die, Grissom." She was straightforward as she said it by Grissom could hear the tears in her voice.
"No, you're not." He said it more conviction than he felt.
"The swollenness, the color, the pain, I have internal bleeding. Either one of my organs was hurt in the crash or an artery has been cut. It doesn't matter what it is, I'm still going to die." Sara ran her hands through her tousled hair.
Grissom swallowed and searched for the right words. "You don't know that. Even though the signs indicate internal bleeding it might be something else, something minor. Don't give up, you're made it this far."
She shook her head. "You're right. I don't want to have a pity party, I have made it this far." A small smile crept at her mouth. "Gosh, I was able to transport both Marie and you out of the helicopter."
"Quite a feet for a dead woman walking." Grissom tried a small smile, too.
"What is that old expression…"
"The best laid plans of mice and men." Grissom finished for her.
"Yeah…" Sara started. "How can you read my mind?"
"I don't know I just do." He felt the yearning to say more.
Sara moved to a sitting position. "If I am bleeding, I won't have much time."
"I thought we weren't going to talk about that."
"Just let me finish." She breathed in deeply. "If the rescue crew does not get here quickly I'll probably be on the doc's table in the morning." The thought sent a chill through her. "So first there is something I have to tell you…"
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Lt. Riller?"
The man in the green jumpsuit turned abruptly around. "Yes?"
"I'm Catherine Willows. This is Nick Stokes and Warrick Brown; we are members of the crime lab. We have been given clearance to go with you on the rescue mission." She pointed to the two men standing behind her.
"Yes, I heard that you barged your way into this rescue op." A grimace showed on his face.
Nick spoke, "Sir, we need to take part in this mission. We are CSIs trained to handle crime scenes like this one."
Riller sighed. "The jumpsuits are in the cabinet in the hall. You have five minutes and then we're leaving."
"He's a fun guy," Warrick commented when he was out of earshot.
"He just doesn't want his job interrupted. I don't blame him. If the shoe was on the other foot we would feel the same way." Catherine grabbed the jumpsuit she would wear, "Let's change and find out what happened to Grissom and Sara."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Two helicopters took off. The winds were still strong but not deadly like before. Catherine and Nick rode with Lt. Riller in one while Warrick was a member of the crew of the second. Nick tapped his shoes on the floor of the copter. Catherine gazed outside the window hoping that they would be found alive.
"I was just thinking of my last conversation with Griss," Nick began. "I was asking him why he was ignoring Sara."
"What did he say?" Catherine's interest grew.
"He didn't say anything, just concentrated on the papers in front of him."
Catherine shook her head and turned back to the window. Grissom had missed the chance to find true happiness. For whatever reason he never would admit his feelings for Sara although it was oblivious to everyone else around. He had let opportunity after opportunity pass him by until the relationship between them had become strained. Sara had done nothing to really help the situation either. They were the perfect couple: two workaholics who closed off their feelings to each other. Two lost souls that were begging for the true love in front of them. Two people who had connected in a spiritual manner but withheld the vocal and physical. They were quite the pair. Catherine smiled to herself. At least they died together. Together in death, forever.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The wind whipped at the helicopter Warrick was sitting in. To think it had been stronger when they were up here, Warrick shook his head at that thought. He hoped that their deaths had been quick and one idea brought a smile to his face: finding them hand in hand, still alive.
There was noise up front in the cockpit. Warrick tuned his ears to listen. Something about turning back? Could that be possible? The co-pilot turned around and spoke to Warrick, "The mission has been aborted."
"What? We have to find them!"
"I'm sorry but the winds are still too severe and…"
"And what? Tell me." Warrick bored his eyes into the other man's until he flinched.
"Alright, we are have reports that a huge fireball is in the same location that we lost contact with the helicopter. The helicopter must have exploded on contact, there is nothing left of them. In a few hours when the winds die down we'll go back to the scene. But right now we can't risk people's lives searching for a crew that is deceased. I'm sorry."
Warrick slummed back in the seat and closed his eyes. Confirmation even without the bodies. God, there was nothing left of them. He rubbed his head trying not to think about Sara and Grissom but the memories flooded in. The helicopter turned back around heading in the direction it had come. The only sounds heard were the wind and the blades.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Grissom smiled at Sara. "Thank you for telling me that."
"Is that all you're going to say?" She felt sweaty and nervous.
"I…what do you want me to say?"
Sara bit at her lip. "Grissom, I tell you I have feelings for you and all you can say is "Thank you", what the hell is that?"
"Well, it's always nice to know someone cares…"
"You are the biggest…never mind."
Grissom closed his eyes. Gil, she might die, tell her how you feel. He was a man that could do so much but couldn't bring himself to let anyone in. It was the greatest obstacle for him to overcome and so far he hadn't done it.
"Why have you been ignoring me lately?" Sara asked, her voice beginning to tremble.
"I…it's just…easier."
"Easier?"
"Easier than talking to you or seeing you."
"That makes no sense."
"It's easier…" Come on Gil, just say it. "It's easier than trying to pretend."
"Pretend?"
"Please, don't interrupt. It's easier to ignore you than pretend, then pretend I don't have feelings for you." It was out, the statement that he held inside for so long. He had been scared to admit it before but now that he had a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Grissom warmly looked into Sara's eyes that were crystallized with droplets of tears. "I've been keeping you at a distance lately because I knew if I didn't I would tell you how I felt."
"Why didn't you want to tell me?" She said it softly, her anger at him gone.
He paused before answering, trying to gain some more air in his lungs. "Everything would change. Sara, nothing lasts forever. I don't want to lose the friendship we have."
"You might find something better than friendship." She smiled.
"If it doesn't last than I'm left with nothing."
"Well, our relationship right now has been on the nothing scale. Isn't it better to love and be loved, than to never be loved at all?" Sara was thankful that although her chest was hurting more her brain was still in tact to pull quotes out of the air.
Grissom thought for a moment. "Why haven't you ever pressed the issue before? Use words to tell me your feelings?"
"Gee, weren't my actions enough?" She smiled but grabbed onto the ground as pain seized her.
"Are you alright?" He wanted to jump up and help her but his body was no use.
"Fine. Just had a pain for a second." She had felt warm since their conversation had begun but had tried to concentrate on other matters. Now though an inferno was slowly rising in her gut.
Grissom knew she was growing more ill as the time passed. What did he have to lose? Sadly Sara probably wouldn't survive. He would be lost without her. No Sidle smile. No fellow workaholic. No one who truly understood him. The least he could do was say those three magic words that had been on his tongue numerous times but that he never let escape. That way if she died, she would know that caring about him wasn't in vein.
"Sara, would you hold me hand?"
"Sure." Confusion was written on her face but she held on to his right hand, the arm that had the dislocated elbow. "How does you're elbow feel?"
"Not great but I'll live." He regretted saying those words the minute they came out.
Sara looked down at the ground and breathed deeply. She felt like her insides were boiling. Suddenly she couldn't see straight. Her mind was spinning and it felt like her body was, too. She thought she heard Grissom say her name but it could have been a figment of her imagination. Weird shapes began dancing in front of her eyes and her nerves felt like they were jumping out of her skin.
Grissom watched in horror as Sara let go of his hand and slumped to the ground beside him.
To be continued…