A/N: For those of you who wonder after reading it, a wet-to-dry bandage is, well, a bandage that goes on wet and dries. As it dries, skin and debris stick to it, and when it is pulled off, debris and weak or dead skin goes with it.

When a nurse woke Sara up for dinner that afternoon, Grissom realized that he had had his cell phone turned off all day. He needed to check his messages and return any calls. "I'll be right back, ok?" he asked Sara, who was watching the nurse bring in a covered try and salivating. She merely grunted, which Grissom took for agreement.

Three calls that needed no answer  – a call from an old friend, one from his cricket dealer, and a nasty call from Ecklie, asking why Sara's car had been in the parking lot for two days - and one message from Catherine, asking Grissom to call her on her cell, which he did.

"Hey, Cath. You asked me to call you?"

"Yeah, I figured you had your phone off in the hospital. How's Sara?"

"She's doing fine. Once they have her standing, I'm planning on wringing her neck for her stupidity."

Catherine laughed. "That's not what I heard."

"Excuse me?"

"What I heard was that your inner pitbull has been coming out when people try to see Sara. You nearly bit Nick's head off!"

Grissom frowned at the phone. "He woke her up. She needs her sleep."

"Hey, whatever. I was just calling to gloat."

"I'm afraid to ask, Catherine. Gloat over what?"

"Just the fact that you're attached at the hip to Sara now. And that you booted Nick out so you could have her alone."

"He woke her up," Grissom repeated stupidly. "What was I supposed to do, encourage that?"

"I also heard that the doctor thinks you two are married and that's the only reason he's letting you stay with her."

"I don't know anything about that, Cath. He thought I was her husband when I first brought Sara in, but I thought she had set him straight."

Catherine grinned, glad Grissom couldn't see the triumph on her face. "Maybe he just wants you to be her husband, Gris. Hey, I've gotta go now, Nick's making nasty faces at me. Talk to you later!" Before Grissom could say another word, Catherine had hung up on her end.

Grissom stared at the phone for a moment, then started to dial Catherine's number again. Before he'd finished dialing, a beep informed him that he had a new text message. Upon checking, it was from Catherine. "U won't be at work, I know." Grissom sighed. How did she always read his mind like that? Mentally shrugging, he headed back into the building.

When the elevator brought him to Sara's floor, he could hear the commotion a hundred feet away. Sara's raised voice was echoing through the hallway, and he grimaced. What had she done now?

He began to hustle toward her room, only to be sidetracked by a nurse he hadn't met. "Are you that Grissom guy?"

Uh-oh. "Yes, why?"

She ran her fingers through her hair angrily. "PLEASE go calm down that woman you brought in! The nurses are ready to throw her out the window!"

Screw hustling. Grissom ran the rest of the way to Sara's room. He skidded to a stop at her bedside, staring. Sara was sitting up in bed, screaming at a cowering nurse and an annoyed doctor. "I'm a VEGETARIAN! Do you know what that means? It means I DON'T EAT MEAT!" She shoved at the tray table poised over he bed and said forlornly, "I want Grissom. Where's Grissom?"

"I'm here, Sara," Grissom said reassuringly. "What's wrong?" The nurse and the doctor both cast him grateful looks and escaped the room while they could.

"They gave me a hamburger."

He sat down on the edge of her bed and leaned over her. "Why didn't you just ask them for a vegetarian meal, then?"

She shook her head, tears forming. "I don't know! I was confused, and I didn't know where you were, and . . . I hate hospitals, Grissom. Get me out of here."

He reached over to tuck a strand of hair back behind her ear. "I'm right here. I told you I was going to check my messages, remember?"

Sara sniffled and shook her head. "No. Are you sure you told me?"

"Yes. But you had just woken up, so you were probably disoriented. I was just downstairs returning calls. Catherine asked after you."

"Are you sure she didn't ask if I had died yet?"

"Oh come on, Sara," he said, reproof in his voice. "Catherine cares about you as much as the rest of us. She just . . . had her heart set on you dating me, and not Nick."

Sara blinked. "Oh. Well, uh . . . oh."

Grissom smiled at the confusion in her voice. As Warrick might have said, Sara had just been hit by the 2x4 of reality. "I told her that you were fine and that once you were out of here I was going to strangle you for letting your hand get this bad." He put a finger over her lips when she tried to speak. "Hold that thought. I'll go bargain for some real dinner for you."

He returned triumphantly ten minutes later carrying another tray. "The nurse you scared out of here had this made as soon as she escaped your wrath. Vegetarian stuffed peppers, I think."

Sara smiled gratefully and ate, finishing the whole dinner in minutes. "God, I was so hungry! Did I eat at all last night?"

"Nope."

"Did you?"

"Nope. Just had some coffee."

Sara raised an eyebrow. "Well, have you eaten today?"

"Uh, no. I was watching you."

"Go eat, Grissom! You're gonna waste away and then it'll be YOU in this bed and me torturing you," she said with a grin.

"Uh-uh, Sara. Look what just happened when I left you alone just now. I'll wait."

Sara frowned, then pressed the "Nurse Assistance" button next to her bed. A hesitant blonde woman appeared in the doorway a minute late. "Did you need something, Mrs. Grissom?"

"My name isn't Grissom, it's Sidle."

"Oh," the woman said. "I'm sorry, it just seemed like you and he . . ." Her voice trailed off, then returned to normal volume. "Well, did you need something, Miss Sidle?" she asked with a small smile.

"Yeah," Sara looked at the woman's nametag, "Rosa. Would it be possible to get dinner for Grissom, too? He refuses to leave me alone."

The nurse nodded. "Oh, sure. We do that a lot for concerned loved ones. Give me five minutes – are you a vegetarian too, Mr. Grissom?"

Grissom shook his head. "No, whatever you have on hand will be fine." The nurse nodded agreeably and left, leaving Sara and Grissom alone again. For a few minutes, at least.

Dr. LaBianca walked in a few minutes later. "Well, Sara, I hear you didn't approve of your dinner?"

"Uh . . . sorry. I was really confused because Grissom wasn't there, and then I just went off on that doctor and nurse. Would you apologize for me?"

"Certainly. I think I'm going to be apologizing to you in a few minutes, though, because it's time for me to change your bandage."

"Oh no," Sara moaned, knowing what was in store for her. "Please tell me it wasn't wet-to-dry?"

"Not this time. We'll have to see how the hand looks before we decide about the next."

Sara sighed and gripped Grissom's arm again, then held out her bandaged hand to the doctor, who began gently unwrapping the gauze. "I'm going to have to pull this last pad off, Sara, and it will probably hurt. Mr. Grissom?"

Grissom nodded, leaned over Sara, and took a firm hold on her shoulders. Sara's face was turned toward him, but her eyes were squeezed shut. The doctor gripped a corner of the gauze pad and quickly yanked it off. Sara screamed. Grissom groaned and focused on keeping Sara from jerking off the bed.

"Okay, Sara," LaBianca said after a minute of examination. "Does it hurt a little less now?" When Sara nodded, he sighed. "Good, then get your strength back for a second, because next I need to check for any dead tissue. Otherwise known as probing."

"Oh, noooo. Do you have to?"

"I'm afraid so. Why don't you let Grissom sit on the bed with you so you can squeeze his neck, if you so desire?" he asked with a twinkle in his eye. Sara groaned and moved over, allowing Grissom to take up a position next to her, one arm wrapped around her shoulders.

Dr. LaBianca brandished a pair of tweezers and asked, "Ready, Sara?"

"Just do it."

The doctor made little humming noises as he examined her. Sara clutched Grissom's hand, digging in her short nails.

"Okay," said the doctor after a few minutes. "Your hand is beginning to heal, for the most part, but it looks like you may have a small area of necrosis at the top of the wound. Nothing dangerous," he continued quickly, seeing the look on her face, "unless we let it go unchecked. Which we won't of course. This is where the wet-to-dry bandage comes in. We'll be putting on a new one on every afternoon. The goal is to remove all of the dead tissue. We'll know that we've done that when the area begins to bleed when we remove the bandage."

Dr. LaBianca cleared his throat, knowing Sara wasn't going to like what he said next any more than she liked what he had just said. He suspected that Grissom would be grateful, however. "Sara, I'm going to have to keep you in here until that area is clear. I know you don't like hospitals, but I can't let you leave now when there's still a chance you could lose fingers if you decide to go stubborn again."

Sara turned to Grissom, a fulminating look on her face. "I hate you, Grissom! It's your fault that I'm in here to begin with!"

Grissom nodded meekly. "Yes, it is. That's why I'm staying here with you until you're healed enough to go home."

Sara didn't know what to say in response. She reminded herself that Grissom didn't care about her, he just felt responsible. She was dating Nick now, not Grissom. Then why did she feel at ease with him in the bed with her? She let out a deep groan.

"Sara? It hurts?"

"Yeah, Gris. It hurts a lot."