Disclaimers, etc. in Part 1

Many thanks for the reviews. :-)

Part 3 of 3

----

It was exactly two hours later when Grissom re-entered Sara's bedroom. He knew she probably hadn't gone to sleep immediately after he left her, but he had no way of knowing when she had fallen asleep, so he went with what he knew.

Since the door was already open, she didn't hear him enter and she still didn't hear him as he walked to the side of her bed. Bending over her slightly, he placed an arm on her shoulder and shook her gently.

"Sara," he said as he shook. "Sara, your two hours are up, I need to check you."

"Mmm," murmured Sara in reply.

"Sara," he repeated. "Come on, I've gone to all the bother of reading the booklet from the hospital, I want to put it into practice."

After another few moments of shaking her shoulder, Sara finally started to waken and opened bleary eyes to meet his gaze.

"Grissom?"

"Yeah. How are you feeling?"

"Okay."

"Does your head hurt?"

"A little," she admitted, sitting up and stretching.

"Okay, I'm just gonna check your pupils," he said, switching on his mini-maglite and shining it into her eyes. Satisfied that she was okay, he placed his hand on her shoulder again, this time pushing her back down into the bed. "You can go back to sleep," he told her.

"Yeah, I uh… I need to go to the bathroom," she said, pushing the covers back and standing up. Her legs were a little shaky, partly from tiredness and partly from her leg injury and Grissom was at her side in an instant, a hand hovering behind her back to steady her if she needed it. She made it to the bathroom okay and Grissom took the opportunity to remove the empty hot chocolate mug from her room, taking it into the kitchen and placing it in the dishwasher alongside his own.

"You okay?" he asked as he heard Sara leave the bathroom.

"Yeah," she replied unconvincingly.

Grissom followed her into the bedroom and waited until she was settled in bed before repeating his question.

"I'm okay, honestly."

"You look a little… peaky," he said. "You must be in pain from your injuries, do you want me to get a bucket or something, in case you become nauseous?"

"No, I'll be fine."

"You sure?"

"Yes," she insisted. "You know, bad things are supposed to happen in threes. I've already hurt my leg and hit my head, I wonder what the third thing will be."

"Let's hope there isn't a third thing," commented Grissom. "Go back to sleep."

"Are you okay on the couch?"

"I'm fine, I found a blanket. Sleep, Sara."

"Night, Grissom," she smiled, settling down into her pillows.

----

Another two hours later Sara's alarm clock woke Grissom from his slumber on the couch. He sleepily reached a hand across to silence the noise and dragged himself into a standing position before he could fall asleep again. Padding to Sara's bedroom, he entered and couldn't prevent a smile from forming on his face as he looked at her. She was lying curled on her right side, the blanket splayed across her legs and her hands were clasped under her head.

He woke her once more by gently shaking her, but it didn't take as long as last time and she was soon sitting up staring at him.

"How's the head now?"

"It hurts like hell," she replied, placing a hand on her head protectively.

"Can I check?" he asked, sitting down on the bed when Sara nodded her agreement. She lowered her hand and Grissom placed his right hand on the back of her head to check the contusion. Suddenly, Sara jerked forward and raised a hand to her mouth. "Sara?" said Grissom worriedly, moving back slightly, but he was still only a few inches from her face, his eyes full of concern. Before she could stop it, Sara threw up over herself, Grissom and her bedclothes.

"Oh, God," she said with a mixture of embarrassment and shock. "I'm so sorry, Grissom."

"It's okay," he said gently. "Do you think you're finished, or should I go get a bucket?" he asked with a hint of a smirk.

"I think I'm finished," she replied quietly, unable to find any humor in the situation. "Look at the state of you, Grissom," she said as she finally noticed the damage she'd done; Grissom's shirt and pants were covered in her vomit.

"Don't worry about it. Why don't you go get yourself changed and I'll sort this out." At her confused look he added, "I'll change your bed while you change yourself. Where do you keep your spare bedclothes?"

"Hall closet," she answered, pushing herself up from the bed and crossing to her dresser. Once she'd removed a change of clothes, she limped to the bathroom, her leg still causing her a great deal of pain.

"Oh, Sara?" called Grissom just as she had reached the bedroom door. She turned to look at him. "Just get cleaned up and changed, but don't take a shower."

"Huh?"

"You're too tired to shower without getting your bandaged leg wet, so don't take one."

"Oh, yeah," she nodded.

By the time Sara returned, Grissom had stripped the bed of the soiled sheets and blanket and had managed to put the new sheets on. He was changing the pillowcases when she entered.

"Did I hit the pillows too?" asked Sara with surprise.

"No, but I figured you'd want them to match the new sheets," he shrugged, finishing his task and setting the pillows on the bed. He bent down to pick up the clean blanket from its position on the floor and started to place it on the bed. Sara took one side and helped him get it into place and tuck in the ends.

"I guess I now know what the third thing was, huh?" she said as she climbed into the freshly made bed. Grissom looked at her with confusion. "I hurt my leg, hit my head and now I've thrown up over my boss."

Grissom laughed, glad that she was beginning to smile about the situation.

"You're getting a bucket beside you this time," he said firmly, pointing to the bucket he'd already placed beside the bed, but he smiled to lessen his tone. "I don't want to have to change bedsheets again."

"You should go home, Grissom, you need to change clothes."

"You still have another four hours to go before you're cleared to be on your own," he pointed out.

"But –"

"Sara, it's fine, I'll sort something out."

"I don't have any clothes for you to change into, I'm sorry."

"Go to sleep, Sara."

She was too tired to argue, drained from the exertion of vomiting as well as the pain in both her head and leg. The clean sheets and pillowcases felt cool to her warm skin and she relished in their feel as she lay back and slid down the bed a little to get comfortable.

"I'm sorry, Grissom," she said sadly as she lost her fight against her eyelids and they slipped closed.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," he whispered as he left the room.

Grissom walked into the bathroom to start to clean himself up. The bathroom was small and he couldn't find any towels, so he went back into the lounge. He knew the towels weren't in the hall closet with the bedclothes, so he figured they must be in the large closet in the lounge. He pulled the door open and a smile crossed his face as he noticed a washer and dryer in the closet, right next to a shelf full of towels. Guessing that Sara never had time to visit a laundromat, he was slightly thankful for her long hours, as it gave him an opportunity for him to wash his clothes, rather than having to drive home later in the state he was currently in.

He removed his shirt and threw it into the washer, then noticed that the mess had seeped through to his undershirt, so that was the next to be removed. Finally, he stripped off his pants and tossed them into the machine, leaving him standing in only his boxers and socks. He added the detergent and set the machine to run before wandering over to the couch and resetting the alarm to go off in another two hours. Deciding he would need to stay awake to move his clothes from the washer into the dryer, he headed for the shower.

----

As soon as the alarm went off for the third time, Grissom got up from the couch and walked to the closet containing the dryer. He had stayed awake long enough to take his clothes out of the washer and set the dryer running, but had still managed to grab about an hour of sleep. He sighed as he realized that his clothes were not yet dry and his mind went into overdrive as he tried to think how he was going to waken Sara without her noticing that he was clad only in his boxer shorts.

No useful ideas were forthcoming and he decided the only course of action was to wrap a towel around his waist, with his boxers on underneath, and hope she was sleepy enough to not notice. Walking to her bedroom door, he took a deep breath and entered.

"Sara," he said gruffly, his voice laden with sleep, "it's time for your two hourly wake up call."

She mumbled for a moment before opening her eyes slightly and raising a hand to the back of her head.

"Your head still hurting?" asked Grissom softly.

"Yeah," she said hoarsely, swallowing to try and moisten her throat.

"Hang on, I'll get you something to drink," said Grissom, leaving the room and returning a minute later with a glass of water.

"Thanks," she whispered as she took a sip. Her eyes were still half-closed and Grissom sighed with relief as he realized she had not yet noticed his lack of attire.

"I just need to check your pupils and the bump on your head and then you can go back to sleep."

"Okay," she murmured, still not fully opening her eyes. Grissom sat down on the bed and leaned forward so that only his face was visible to her when he switched on his flashlight and forced her to open her eyes. Sara grumbled a little as the light shone into her eyes, slightly dazzling her, but she complied with his quiet request to stay still while he checked her over. However, as soon as he switched off the flashlight, Sara started to sit up, bringing her into close proximity with Grissom. She still had her eyes closed, having only sat up to let him check the back of her head more easily and Grissom did this quickly before starting to move away. Sara, however, opened her eyes at that point and gasped as she came face-to-face with Grissom's bare chest. Her hands touched his shoulders of their own accord, stilling his movements and he dipped his gaze to his towel-clad lap. "Uh, Grissom, where are your clothes?" she asked with a slight chuckle.

"In the dryer," he replied, finally looking at her before further explaining, "I found your washing machine and figured I should put it to good use on my clothes after your little… incident." A blush appeared on Sara's cheeks and he smiled. "I put them in the dryer a while ago, but they're not ready yet."

"Yeah, my dryer isn't exactly the most effective," she told him. "I'm really sorry about… the incident."

"Don't worry about it, it's entirely understandable," he said nonchalantly.

Sara realized her hands were still on his shoulders and she slowly started to move them but, instead of just removing them, she found they started to drift down onto his chest. She heard Grissom suck in a breath and she looked up into his eyes, finding them starting to darken. Shifting her gaze back to her hands, she moved them lower until they were resting on the top of the towel around his waist, beneath which she could just make out the line of his boxer shorts. She was anticipating Grissom's hands removing her own at any moment, but they never did and she became bolder, running a fingertip along the towel. Her eyes drifted upwards again and she saw his adam's apple move as he swallowed. Becoming ever more emboldened, she kept running a fingertip back and forward along the towel, but now moved her other hand back up his chest, running it from top to bottom and back again, slowly and intimately.

It was as though a switch had been flicked when Grissom finally realized what was happening. His eyes focused again and he emitted a low growl, partly from arousal but partly due to annoyance at himself for letting things get out of his control.

"Sara," he said huskily, catching her wrists in his hands. She looked at him, but said nothing, challenging him to stop her. "You're hurt, Sara," he said quietly.

"So?"

"So, we can't… we can't do this."

"No, you can't do this," she retaliated, reaching her fingers round to stroke his arms as they held her wrists. He automatically changed his grip so that he was now holding her hands, sighing in annoyance as he knew he'd quite literally just played into Sara's hands.

"It's your head injury that's making you do this," muttered Grissom.

"Maybe I should hit you over the head," grinned Sara, though her tone was edged with hurt.

"Sara," he said warningly.

"If you don't want this, you should go, Grissom," she said challengingly.

"I can't, not yet. There's another two hours before you can be left on your own."

"See, that's what I don't get!" she said with exasperation, perplexing Grissom. "You act as if you care one minute, staying with me to look after me, then the next minute you don't want to be anywhere near me."

"I'm not acting as if I care, Sara, I do care."

"Not enough though," she whispered, removing her hands from his grasp. He let her retract them and then settled his hands in his lap.

"That's not true, Sara."

"Then why?" she asked, her voice cracking as she rose tear-filled eyes to meet his own. He had never seen her so defenseless and knew that, if she wasn't in so much pain, she would never let him see her like that.

"You know the reasons."

"Yes, but I don't know why you don't think they're surmountable. You say that you do care enough, but on the other hand you think I'm not worth the risk. You can't have it both ways, Grissom, which is it to be?"

Her words stunned him and he knew he was caught. No matter how he answered, one of them would be hurt. If he denied his feelings, she would be hurt that he was trying to lie his way out of the situation but, if he gave into the feelings and gave her what she wanted, both of their careers could be damaged, causing them to always have regrets. He shook his head and closed his eyes, trying to clear his thoughts.

"You are worth the risk," he finally admitted. "But, I'm not ready. If we do this now, Sara, it'll backfire on both of us."

"You're not ready? What does that mean?" she inquired, pinning him with her gaze.

"I'm not good at relationships, I'm not a people person, you know that. I've been trying to improve, to make myself more personable, in the hope that I'd learn to open up and share my feelings, but I'm not there yet. If we entered into something, you wouldn't have all of me and you'd become frustrated."

"I'm frustrated now," she pointed out. "I can't keep doing this, Grissom. I told you before that it might be too late, well it's getting ever more closer to that stage, is that what you want? Do you want me to give up and move on?" He didn't answer and she sighed in irritation. "Even if you do, I won't. I might give up, but I certainly won't move on, I've tried that and got nowhere. I'm not a people person either; we're so alike it's actually scary. Can't we use that to our advantage though?" Her question piqued his interest and he looked at her again. "Can't we work through our weaknesses together? Can't we learn as we go along, take strength from one another? I think we can do this, Gil." The use of his first name surprised him and he knew she was making a last ditch attempt. She realized that she hadn't scared him away, he hadn't moved from his position on her bed, and she leaned forward to almost close the gap between them. "Can't we try?" she asked quietly, pleadingly.

He remained silent, but nodded his head, knowing he could no longer deny her, despite his insecurities and inhibitions. Deciding he should be the one to initiate things, knowing he owed her that much, he leaned forward to meet her, tilting his head to the side and brushing her lips with his.

The kiss was tender, gentle and slow. His hands moved from his lap and came to rest on her back, while her hands returned to their earlier position on his chest, the feel of his bare muscles making her shiver with desire. As his fingers traced her spine, he deepened the kiss, but only for a second, pulling back just as her mouth opened fully. She looked at him questioningly and he took a deep breath.

"You're hurt, Sara," he said in explanation, but she was none the wiser. "You have another two hours of sleep to get, at least two hours. Rest and we'll talk about this later." He released her completely from his arms and stood up, but she started to rise with him. Using his hands to push her back down, he looked at her lovingly. "I'm not going anywhere other than your couch. When you're feeling better, we'll figure this out; you are worth the risk."

He didn't give her an opportunity to reply as he slipped from the room and returned to the lounge, checking his clothes in the dryer along the way. Setting the machine for another ten minutes, he sat on the couch and pondered what had just happened. He knew he should feel awful, as they still had the hurdle of work to overcome, but deep down, his heart was warming and Sara's words kept replaying in his mind, "Can't we work through our weaknesses together? Can't we learn as we go along, take strength from one another? I think we can do this, Gil." Smiling as he touched his fingers to his lips, remembering the warmth of her only minutes before, he said to himself, "I think we can do this too, or at least go down fighting."

----

The End