BTW, I so stole the character of Dr Diane Grad from Chicago Hope, but well…whatever ;)
"Catherine Grissom," Gil said breathlessly, standing at the reception desk.
"Gil?" came the voice of Dr Diane Grad, Catherine's OB-Gyn.
"Where's Catherine? What happened?"
Diane
motioned for him to sit down on one of the free chairs. "She's doing
okay.
Your son rang the ambulance and it was probably his quick work that
made sure
she was okay. She went into premature labour."
Gil was silent for a moment. "The baby?"
"Is fine. We managed to stop the labour but she did lose some blood and she's pretty exhausted." Diane looked at him. "Has Catherine been under a lot of stress lately?"
"You
could say that," Gil mumbled. "Can I see her?"
"Yes but Gil…she needs a lot of rest. She's got a lot of tubes hooked up to her but she's going to be fine and so is the baby. Um, Greg and Claire came to pick up your kids and take them back home."
Gil nodded and went to the room that Diane had indicated. Catherine looked small in the hospital bed and she was pale. He could hear her heart monitor beeping steadily, and he also glanced at the fetal monitor, which indicated their baby was doing okay. Her eyes were closed so he walked quietly across the room, taking her hand in his.
"Hey," came her quiet voice.
He pressed a kiss to her hand. "I didn't mean to wake you." He squeezed her hand. "You know, if you wanted me, all you had to do was call. There was no need to go to all these dramatics."
Catherine smiled slightly at him. "I'll remember that next time."
"God, Cath, when I got that call from the hospital…"
"Shh," she told him. "I'm fine and the baby's fine. Don't worry." She shifted slightly. "Where are the kids?"
"Greg and Claire took them home."
Her eyes widened. "You left our kids with Greg Sanders?"
He smiled. "It's okay, Claire's there too. I don't expect any long-lasting damage." He placed his hand on her belly and looked at the fetal monitor. "Our baby is doing okay."
"I
think our baby just really wanted to meet us." Catherine's eyes fell
from
his. "I'm sorry."
Gil placed a finger on her chin and
forced her to look at him. "This was
not your fault, Catherine. You've been under a lot of stress lately.
And that
is something that was my fault, not yours. I should have been more
forceful for
Sara to come back here."
"Yeah, that would have really helped," Catherine said, rolling her eyes. "I don't really want her back here, Gil. She just upsets Matthew and…and she upsets me."
"I know, and I'm sorry. Maybe I can get her to talk to Matthew on the phone. At least explain everything. How long do you have to stay here?"
"I can go home right now."
Gil gave her a look and she cracked under his gaze.
"Okay, fine, they want to keep me overnight to make sure I don't go into labour again." She pouted at him. "I'd much rather come home with you."
He
kissed her forehead. "I know baby, and I wish I could take you home.
But I
will definitely be here to get you as soon as I'm able tomorrow."
"Kiss me," she commanded.
He bent his head and gently kissed her lips. She growled.
"You can do better than that."
"Catherine…"
She reached her arms out to him and when he pressed his lips against hers she kissed him forcefully. Careful of the cords, Gil deepened the kiss and held her to him.
"Don't scare me like that again, do you hear me?" he told her, as they broke apart.
Catherine
smiled at him. "I promise. You better get home and rescue our kids from
Greg."
"I can stay if you want."
"The kids need you more. I gave
them quite a scare." She shifted
slightly. "Besides, this pain medication is starting to kick in. I
think
I'll sleep for a while."
Gil nodded and tucked her into the bed. "Sleep well, baby. Call me if you want me."
She nodded, closing her eyes and succumbing to sleep.
************************************************************************
Gil felt sick. He could handle blood and anything else at cases. He had even learned to handle the things that came out either end of his children. But as he stared where his wife had bled onto their couch, he felt sick.
"Grissom, how about you let me clean it up?" Claire asked, watching him.
"No, I'll do it," he replied. "Thanks for watching the kids."
Claire nodded. "Anytime."
Gil locked the door behind Claire and Greg and went to check on his children. Lizzy had fallen asleep, probably out of pure exhaustion. He opened Lindsey's door.
"Is mom okay?" she asked, looking worried.
Gil nodded. "She's fine. Just tired and stressed."
"Was it something I did?"
"No," Gil said firmly, sitting beside her on the bed. "Nothing at all."
"I saw all that blood."
"I'm going to clean it up in a few. I don't want you to worry Lindsey. Your mom and the baby are fine, I promise."
Lindsey nodded. "Can we see her tomorrow?"
Gil smiled. "Sure. I'm going to go check on Matthew now. Get some sleep, okay?"
Lindsey nodded. "Night dad."
"Night sweetheart."
He walked into Matthew's room. "Hi."
Matthew sat up. "Hi. Is mom okay?"
Gil smiled. "She's fine. A little tired." He took his son's hand. "Thankyou."
"What for?" Matthew asked.
"For calling the ambulance. The doctor said it was your quick thinking that helped so much."
"I was really scared." The little boy climbed into Gil's lap. "I didn't want her or the baby to be hurt."
Gil
kissed him on the forehead. "And they're fine, thanks to you."
"Do you think Mommy would be mad that I am calling Catherine mom too?"
Gil pondered how to answer that. In his heart of hearts, he knew Sara would be livid. But she had hurt his family so much and he didn't want her to do anything else.
"Of course not."
************************************************************************
Gil had scrubbed the sofa raw, and now it was clean. He checked on the kids again, and finally walked into his bedroom, shutting the door. Usually Catherine would be in the bed, waiting for him. The bed was empty. Anger bubbled up inside him, directed towards the woman who had started all this.
Grabbing the cordless from the bedside table he furiously dialed Sara Sidle's number.
"Sidle," came the sleepy voice.
"I almost lost my wife and my unborn baby today because of you," he growled into the phone.
"Grissom? What the hell is this about?"
"Catherine went into labour today. She could have died, Sara!"
"What does this have to do with me?"
"Because you caused the stress! Everything was fine until you came along! You emotionally abused that little boy and your childish, selfish ways forced my wife into early labour. I could have lost her Sara! She means more to me than anything and I could have lost her!"
"Don't start ranting at me! I'm not even there!"
"And yet you manage to hurt people from so far away. Talented, aren't you?" Gil said bitterly.
"Don't take that tone with me! You've got no right ringing me up like this!"
"Oh, so you don't want me to ring you if your son is hurt at all? You're a cold-hearted bitch, Sara! I don't care how you do it, but you WILL speak to your son and explain just why you abandoned him here! You're damn lucky I don't file charges!"
There was silence on the other side of the phone. Then, "I'll ring him tomorrow. Around three."
Gil heard the dial tone in his ear and frowned, tossing the phone onto the bed.
"Daddy?"
He turned around and smiled at Lizzy, who stood in her pink Barbie pajamas in the doorway.
"What's
the matter honey?"
"Can't sweep," she said, holding her arms out.
Gil
picked her up. "Can't sleep? Do you want to sleep in here with Daddy
tonight?"
She nodded and Gil swiftly tucked her under the covers.
"Dad? Can I sleep in here too?" Matthew asked, fidgeting in the doorway.
Gil nodded, too tired to argue.
************************************************************************
The next morning, Gil looked at his bed. Lindsey had crawled into it at sometime the previous night. Lizzy had sprawled herself over Matthew, and they were all still sleeping.
He
walked into the lounge and smiled at Claire. "Thanks for doing this. I
just thought it might be easier for Catherine if she didn't have three
exuberant kids bouncing around her."
Claire nodded. "No problem."
************************************************************************
Gil stood in the doorway of Catherine's hospital room and watched her for a few moments. Her shoulder-length strawberry blonde hair was fanned out onto the pillow and her eyes were concentrating on the mush that they considered breakfast at hospitals. But she was still so pale and as he saw Diane walking down the hallway, he went to corner her.
"Morning, Gil. All ready to take her home?"
He looked concerned. "Is it alright? She's so pale."
"She's just tired and sore. I promise she's okay. I wouldn't let her go home otherwise. But I do want her to come back and see me in two days or earlier if she has any problems." Diane smiled at him. "Take her home. She's been complaining that you're not here yet."
Gil grinned, and after thanking her, went back to Catherine's room.
"Finally!" she said, as she saw him enter the room. "This stuff is disgusting."
Gil glanced at the concoction and wrinkled his nose. "I'm not surprised. I'll make you an omelet when we get home, okay?"
Her eyes lit up. "Let's get out of here."
He kissed her lips gently. "Are you sure you're okay?"
She took his hand. "I wouldn't endanger the baby. If I thought anything was the matter, I wouldn't be going anywhere. Trust me."
Gil nodded. "Okay, let's go home."
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Part 10