Sara ran up nine flights of stairs as if she had wings on her shoes. Once up on the twelfth floor, she headed straight for Grissom's room without hesitation. She was no longer afraid of what she would find there. If he was back in the coma, she would wait for him. She did it once, she could do it again. If he was hurt worse than they thought, if he needed constant care for the rest of his life, she could do that too. None of that mattered to her. She just needed to see him, to be with him. Everything else was just logistics. Their jobs, their ages, their lack of social skills, none of it mattered in the least. And come hell or high water, she was going to make sure that he heard that.
She walked into the room to the surprise of her life. Not only was Grissom awake, he was sitting up, and throwing playing cards at a bedpan. Her eyes traveled to the other bed in the room. Bobby was sitting up in his bed, also tossing playing cards at his bedpan. A kind nurse was sitting between the two and retrieving cards for them each time they ran out.
"Sara," said Grissom, smiling. "I was wondering when you were going to come back."
"I, uh, I thought…I saw doctors running in here earlier…I thought you…"
"Remember that snot of a doctor? The ice princess?" asked Bobby. Sara nodded. "She passed out when she was in here, the doctors were treating her, not us." Sara was stunned. She had automatically assumed the worst, and had put herself through hell in the elevator for a few hours as a result.
"Bobby here is a very good listener Sara. He used to sit with his grandfather like this and toss cards and talk about life," said Grissom. He looked over at Bobby, nodding.
"I think that's my exit cue," said Bobby. "Barb, could you help me into a chair and take me for a little walk?" The nurse smiled and nodded, helping Bobby from the bed and wheeling him off down the hall. On his way past Sara, he looked at her and winked.
Once they were alone, Grissom motioned to Sara to sit on the edge of the bed next to him, and she obliged. She sat on the bed and looked at Grissom, his bright blue eyes sparkling back at her. She had never seen him look as alive as he did in that moment. Maybe it was the contrast of seeing him unconscious for a few weeks, maybe it was her wishful thinking, maybe it was the pain medication that he was on. It could have been any of those things. But maybe…just maybe…it was something more.
"Sara, I have a confession to make. I didn't fall asleep at the wheel the other day."
Sara looked confused. "Was it a crime? Did someone attack you or something? I don't even know who looked at the accident scene, I was here…I never thought…what if…"
"Sara, calm down," Grissom said, laying his hand on her arm. She quit talking and looked back at him. "I didn't fall asleep, then, but I guess you could say that I have been asleep for most of my life. I haven't been living it the way that life is meant to be lived. I've just been existing. I suppose that is a crime, but I am the guilty one." He paused to gaze at Sara, her confused expression bringing a smile to his face. She probably thought he had a permanent head injury. "What I am trying to say is that I haven't been me for a long time. I've been asleep. I've been dreaming. Every moment of every day I am dreaming. I dream about what it would be like to lie with you on the couch and watch a movie. I dream about what it would be like to fall asleep with you in my arms. I dream about what it would be like to share breakfast with you every day, and diner every night. I dream about what it would be like to kiss you. I dream about your eyes, your hair, and your smile. I hear you in every song on the radio, see you in every sunrise…you are everywhere to me, but only in my mind. Now I know that's not enough. I want you in my life. I've spent too much time dreaming, it's time that I started living." He looked down and took Sara's hands in his own, caressing her palms with his thumbs. Looking up to meet Sara's gaze, he saw so many things in her deep brown eyes. He saw confusion, and wonder, and amazement, and hope, and love. Yes, he definitely saw love there.
"I…Grissom…I don't know…I don't know what to say," stammered Sara, her thoughts going a million miles a minute. What had happened to Grissom after his accident? Grissom was never this open, this willing to talk. She was so stunned she couldn't even form a coherent enough sentence to respond.
"Say yes. Say that you want to give it a chance. Say you'll still have dinner with me. And maybe breakfast," said Grissom, blushing.
"Don't you think you should concentrate on getting better first?" asked Sara, amused by his boldness.
"Well, I suppose you're right, maybe breakfast in a few weeks?" he asked hopefully.
"I will only allow that if you take her somewhere for real food, none of this hospital food," interrupted a voice from the hall.
"Hi Bobby," said Grissom, smiling. Sara looked from Bobby to Grissom and back again. It was his doing, she knew it. Bobby had somehow cracked Grissom's shell and set the real Grissom free. That man must be her guardian angel, there was no other explanation for it.
"So am I invited to the wedding?" teased Bobby when he was again set up in his bed.
"I think that is a little way's away," said Sara, standing and walking to Bobby's bedside. She leaned down to give him a hug. "Thanks," she whispered in his ear.
"Anything for you Sara," he said, returning her embrace. "But you better hurry up with that wedding, I'm not a young man."
Sara smiled down at the man that had changed her and Grissom's lives forever. "I don't buy that for a minute. You are much younger than either of us."
"Well, you certainly are younger than I feel," said Grissom, showing for the first time that day how much pain he was still in from the accident.
Sara smiled and walked back to his side, taking his hand in hers as she pushed the button on the side of the bed to lower him back so he could sleep comfortably. "Maybe its time for you to get some rest," she said softly. She reached with her other hand and smoothed his hair. "Have sweet dreams, Grissom, and this time, when you wake up, I'll still be right here, by your side." She leaned down and gave him a soft kiss on his forehead. "Goodnight."
Grissom fell into a deep and well deserved sleep. Even in sleep he held fast to Sara's hand, as if he was afraid that he would wake up and find her gone. What did he dream? He dreamed of a million moments that he and Sara would share together. Breakfasts and dinners, sunrises and sunsets, kisses, hugs, and more. An endless stream of moments flowing into the future. Into their future, together.