7-"It Shouldn't Have Happened"

The baby's due date came and went, and Sara, still living at Grissom's, even though Catherine was back in town, was getting more and more irritable during the day. Her mood swings were killer.

Catherine was sleeping at home on Saturday night, minding her own business, when the phone rang. It was 2:00 in the morning.

"If this is one of Lindsay's friends, I swear to God I will go crazy and I will take you with me." Catherine said sleepily into the phone.

"Cath?"

She stood up, stiff, in her bed. "Gil? What's wrong? Is Sara okay?"

He was whispering, "I think she's going to kill me."

"What did you do this time?"

"Oh, it's automatically my fault? The fact her body is hopping with enough hormones to sink the Titanic couldn't possibly figure into the equation at all?" His comment made Catherine realize the gravity of the situation: Grissom was using and showing emotion. Actually using impossible analogies. Lord forbid some sarcasm.

"What's happening?"

"We were watching TV when this ad for a Christian thing came on involving a baby and she..." Gil paused, the memory still fresh in his mind, "She started to cry."

"She did what?"

"And when I tried to comfort her, she went berserk, and as a scientist, I don't use that word lightly, and locked herself into my bathroom. I need you Cath. I can't just go to sleep with her in my bathroom. I can't sleep at all knowing she could murder me at any time. I can picture the crime scene now... Knowing Sara, you'll be logging in bags filled with fragments of my remains..."

Catherine rolled her eyes. "I'm coming."

"Oh, thank God."

Gil opened the door and Catherine, almost as pissed as Sara, pushed past him and headed towards the bathroom. He could distinctly hear her mutter "men" with a growl.

"Sara? I'm coming in." She said to the door, and she grabbed the skeleton key from Grissom, opened the door and slammed it, before Gil could see Sara inside. He threw his hands up to the closed door, ticked off because he couldn't help.

Meanwhile, inside, Catherine was ready for attack of the pregnant woman, but all she saw was Sara, sitting huddled in the corner, crying quietly. She had managed to get out of her wheelchair and push it against the door.

Catherine immediately bowed down. "Sara, what's wrong?"

Sara looked up at her. "Oh, everything!" She sobbed, totally broken. "I can't walk, I can't live on my own... I can't do anything..."

Catherine sat next to her and grabbed some toilet paper and wiped Sara's eyes in a maternal fashion. "Sara, you'll walk again soon. After the baby-"

With that, Sara began to cry louder. They were real tears, though.

"Cath..." She finally stopped and looked right into Catherine's eyes. "I am so scared."

They hugged, and Catherine muttered some soft words of comfort, quieting Sara down some.

"I know you're scared. The bastard left you in a crappier situation than most single mothers. I know you're strong enough to pull through this, though."

"I can't believe I'm scared of this. Brave Sara Sidle crying in the bathroom."

"Oh, give me a break. You're allowed to be scared, Sara. I was scared when I had Lindsay, and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Everyone is scared, and imagine how scared Gil was when he found you at the crime scene..."

"Wait," Sara said, shocked. "What?"

Catherine stared at her intensely. "He never told you?"

"What?"

Catherine's eyes immediately filled with tears and she covered her mouth in shock. "I can't believe he never told you..."

"Told me what?"

With a shaky voice, Catherine told her.

It never should have happened.

It was such a beautiful day; it seemed like nothing bad could have happened.

But it did.

Grissom was there. He could never forget hearing her screams.

He jumped out of his car and removed his gun from its holster and ran in the direction of the screams. It was deep inside the mansion. There was the sound of a gunshot, then another. Fear iced its way around Grissom's heart as he ran as fast as he could. He was running so fast, trying to get to her. Every step was too slow as the third gunshot rang out. Grissom reached the door and saw it.

Sara was bloodied, holding her gun out, backed up in the corner, and before Grissom could raise his gun, the stranger lifted the shovel, the same shovel Sara was processing minutes before, and bashed her on top of her head. She crumpled to the ground.

Anger rose in Grissom like he had never felt before. It ate away his heart as he lifted the gun and shot, point blank, in the man's back. The first shot killed him definitely, but Grissom didn't stop. The body fell to the ground and Grissom kept shooting until his entire clip was emptied into the body. He threw his gun to the side and ran to Sara's body.

He was sure she was dead. The force of the blow knocked her skull into three big pieces on top, an indent pressing against her brain. The amount of blood was incredible! Grissom quickly called an ambulance and was left, alone, holding onto her. The only woman he had ever loved now lay dead in his arms. It was then, alone in the silence, Gil started to weep, crying from the strain and personal anguish of seeing it, over and over, replaying in his mind, the shovel crashing down onto her skull. If he had only run a little faster... he could have reached her.

He leaned over and kissed her hand, which was growing cold under his. He felt for a pulse; but he knew there was nothing to feel for.

"Sara, my beautiful angel, I never had a chance to tell you how much I truly love you..." And he never did, as the paramedics ran in and carried her away.

The story that was told afterward was legendary. They shocked her all the way to the hospital, but her body didn't react, and when they were wheeling her into the hospital, they weren't in a hurry. She was dead. They pushed her to the morgue. She was actually getting her body tag tied onto her toe when her heart started beating again.

The surgeon decided that, because of the brain swelling, they were going to take a section of her skull off and let the brain swell outwards. It was risky, but it worked. The swelling eventually went down and they set to work rebuilding her damaged skull. After many reconstructive surgeries, all they could do was wait.

And they waited for three years.

Grissom paced the bathroom door outside, prepared to wait all night, but suddenly, his doorbell rang.

He looked at the clock. It was 2:30 in the morning. Visiting hours were definitely over.

He walked to the door and opened it, a suspicious look on his face.

"Who the hell do you think you are taking our daughter away from the hospital?"

Grissom's jaw dropped.

Carter: This is the LAPD. We're the most hated cops in all the free world. My own mama's ashamed of me. She tells everybody I'm a drug dealer.

-"Rush Hour"