Chapter 41

Grissom flinched. "You, uh . . . know about me and Lady Heather?"

"Dammit Grissom, the entire office knows. And probably half the police force. You weren't exactly subtle when you were panting after her. Even Brass noticed! Do you have any idea what it felt like to know you were," she swallowed hard, "sleeping with that woman?"

He was speechless. "It's over between me and her, Sara."

"And that's supposed to make me feel better? You get to pick a fight about Hank, who I hardly even kissed, and I'm not allowed to be mad that you've been getting it on with 'Lady Heather'?!"

"That's not what I'm saying and you know it, Sara."

"Sure as hell sounds like it to me. I don't have a right to hate her, just because you didn't go to the movies with her? Don't think so." She tossed her head proudly, which turned out to be a bad idea. It made her head spin and the nausea come flooding back. "Ok just never mind," she said quickly. "I'm gonna go, um, take a shower. Leave me alone."

Grissom snorted. "Your face is turning a strange shade of green, Sara. You're not going to make it to the shower."

"Shut up. Just shut up. Now I'm gonna have to take a damn shower, just to prove you wrong."

"Sara . . ." he began, but she was already weaving unsteadily toward the bathroom. The door slammed behind her and he heard her retching again. God this woman was turning his life upside-down. "Sara," he shouted, banging on the door, "let me in. I can hear you throwing up. You're making me really worried, dammit, you have nothing left in your stomach to throw up!" He banged again, harder.

The door swung open. Sara was sitting on the floor, leaning against the bathtub. Her head was down, buried in her arms, and she was shaking. He fell to his knees next to her. "Hey," he said, trying to pry her head away from her arms, "come on. Look at me, Sara. Please." He slipped his arm around her shaking shoulders.

She raised her head slowly, watery eyes nearly shut. "Just leave me alone, Grissom. I don't want to fight with you. I don't have the energy for it right now. Just leave me be. The toilet and I will bond some more."

"I don't want to fight with you either, Sara. Can we just set that aside for now? You're the one I care about, worry about, not some woman who makes her living from whipping people, ok?" He tipped her chin up and gently kissed the side of her mouth and Sara smiled weakly at him.

"Ok. Truce, but . . ." her voice cut off as she threw her hand in front of her mouth and dove for the toilet again.

Grissom steadied her, slipping an arm around her waist. "Sara this really isn't good. You shouldn't be throwing up so much."

Slumping to the side, she gasped out, "Its ok, Gris. Wine makes me puke up my guts. I should have known better last night, but I was really upset. So don't worry, I'm not gonna die on you, though I probably will make you smell pretty nasty."

"I can deal with smelly. I'll help you get in the shower, if you want. You can probably sit on the floor and clean yourself up somewhat."

The thought of a shower was wonderful. Sara could die happy if she could just get under some warm water and wash off this grimy feeling. "Oh god, yes. Please, shower!"

He smiled. "Ok, I'm going to get up and get the water running – don't hit your head when I let go of you, ok?" He stood up slowly, making sure Sara didn't hurt herself, and leaned into the shower, adjusting the water to what he supposed would be a good temperature. "Ok Sara, up we go."

He helped her stand slowly. "Ok," Sara pep-talked herself, "I can do this. I will not fall over. I am not weak just because I'm throwing up."

"But you are weak because your body is summoning up a physiological response to your ingesting large amounts of a toxin."

Sara laughed. "Oh baby, I love it when you speak geek to me." She started to take off her shirt, then stopped. "Could you, um . . ."

"Oh! Yeah, sorry." Grissom turned around, hoping he wouldn't hear a thud as Sara hit the floor.

It was stupid to have made him turn around, Sara realized a moment later, because he was going to have to help her into the shower anyway, and she wasn't putting on any clothes between now and then. She cursed herself again for drinking all that wine. Drinking always got her into trouble, though it'd never gotten her naked in a bathroom with Grissom before. "Ok, you can turn around now."

Grissom turned and almost tripped over his own feet. Damn but she was beautiful. "Ok." His voice was cracking again and he hated it. "Let's get you in there." He offered her an imperceptibly shaking arm to lean on. She took it and stepped over the edge of the tub, then almost went down as her feet hit the wet shower floor.

"Whoa there!" He grabbed hold of her upper arm to steady her. "You going to be able to do this?"

Sara bit her lip. "I don't know. Help me sit, please? It'll be harder to fall once I'm already on the ground." Grissom did so, getting his right side soaked in the process. The first thing she did was rinse her mouth out thoroughly. "God I hate that taste. Just getting it out of my mouth makes me feel more human."

She grabbed her shampoo off the edge of the tub and began trying to wash her hair. The problem was her muscles were so weak that she could only hold her arms up for a few seconds at a time. "Oh, shit. Damn, damn, damn!" She would have stomped a foot if she could have.

"Ok Sara, we can handle this. Calm down. I can wash your hair for you, I've had practice now." He smiled comfortingly.

Sara was not appeased, it seemed. "Oh just get in the damn shower with me, you know you're going to end up drenched anyway!"

He stared at her. "In . . . the . . . shower? With you?" Gulp. "Are you sure?"

"I know you're not a sex fiend, Grissom. You're not going to take gross advantage of my body, at least right now. So get in, cause I need all the help I can get."

He heaved a breath, heart almost beating out of his chest. Sara was right, it wasn't like he was going to take advantage of her, but his body didn't know that. This was embarrassing. Maybe he could stand her up, and she'd be concentrating so hard on staying up that she wouldn't notice him reacting to her . . . yeah right.

Well, he reminded himself, Sara was smart. She knew her biology, and she would know that he couldn't exactly help it. She'd already anticipated it, which must have been why she made the comment about not taking advantage of her. He slowly peeled off his clothes, folding them neatly in the corner, and pushed back the shower door enough to allow himself in.

"Ok hon, here we go. Can you stand up if you lean against me?" Sara nodded. "Ok good." He helped her up, gritting his teeth as her wet body slid against his, and began soaping her hair gently.

Sara turned carefully in his grasp and slid her arms around him. "Gris, it's ok. Like I said, I trust you. Don't stress about it." She smiled slightly. "I'd kiss you now if I thought my tiptoes could hold me up. Help a sick woman here, huh?"