When Grissom got back to the lab, Sara, Nick, and Greg were sitting in the break room. He stepped into the room and addressed Sara. "Is your case finished?" he asked.

Sara looked up while taking a drink from her bottle of water. "Yeah, we found the perpetrator just down the street, extremely drunk. His prints were on the broken window and several of the items inside. Case closed."

Grissom nodded and poured himself a cup of coffee. "Greg, what have you been working on?" Grissom asked.

"Paperwork," Greg replied, "the stuff that you don't like to do."

Grissom chose to disregard Greg's comment. "I just got back from the hospital," Grissom announced, "Catherine is awake."

Smiles spread around the room. "How is she feeling?" Sara asked.

"They've got her on pain medication, so she isn't in very much pain. She's upset more than anything."

"Warrick should have been able to help her out with that," Greg joked.

"You might want to tread lightly," Grissom stated, "Cath doesn't even want to see him."

"Why?" Nick asked.

"Because he was driving the car," Sara stated, understanding the emotions Catherine was dealing with.

Grissom looked over toward Sara and saw the faraway look in her eyes. Grissom decided to continue the conversation and try to pull her out of her reverie. "Cath's just pretty down right now. She didn't expect to be spending Christmas in a hospital bed," Grissom explained.

"Maybe we can all go over there before next shift and try to cheer her up a little bit," Greg suggested.

"The doctor wants her to rest for a while. It might be better if we went around four or five in the afternoon," Grissom stated.

"Sounds like a plan. Griss, do we have anything else to work on?" Nick asked.

"A suicide was just called in, you and Greg can go process that. Sara, you can stay behind in case anything else gets called in."

Nick and Greg cleared the break room and headed for their scene. "I've got paperwork to work on," Sara groaned, getting up from the chair she was sitting in.

"So do I," Grissom spoke, "come down to my office, we can keep each other company."

Sara smiled and followed Grissom out of the break room.

"Sara, shift's over, we're going home," he spoke, pulling on her good hand to get her out of the chair placed across from his desk.

Sara had been reading a journal article, and she set the journal down on his desk when he started pulling. She stood up and allowed him to lead her toward the door. "You in a hurry Griss?" Sara joked as he quickly led her down the hallway toward the parking lot.

"It's Christmas," Grissom reasoned with her, "I just want to get home and relax."

"Gil, I know you're not so crazy about the holidays. What's going on?"

"Nothing," Grissom spoke, opening the car door for her, "we just don't have a case to worry about right now, and I'm glad to actually be going home on time."

Grissom closed her door and got into the driver's seat. "Gil Grissom glad," Sara joked, squeezing his thigh, "that's a new one."

Grissom rested his right hand on top of hers and pulled out of the parking lot. "Things are just looking better right now," Grissom spoke, squeezing her hand.

Sara turned her hand over and squeezed his hand back. She understood what he was saying, no other words were needed. They traveled the rest of the way home in comfortable silence.

When Grissom and Sara entered their house, Sara wrapped her arms around him and rested her head against his chest. He ran his hands across her back and kissed the top of her head. "Can I make breakfast for you?" Grissom spoke.

"No," Sara replied, pulling his head down to capture his lips.

Sara's fingers deftly started to unbutton his shirt, and she pulled it from his pants. Grissom picked her up and carried her into the bedroom. He sat her on the end of the bed and resumed trailing kisses down her jaw line. Seconds later, Sara's shirt was discarded, and Grissom eased her down onto the bed. Neither worried about what to have for breakfast, they relished in each other.

Sara woke up around noon, and Grissom was missing from the bed. She grabbed some clothes from her dresser drawer and headed to take a shower.

When Sara emerged from the bedroom after taking a shower and getting dressed, the smell of omelets wafted through the air. She walked out to the kitchen and found Grissom flipping over an omelet in a pan. She walked over, wrapped her arms around his waist, and rested her head against his back. "Smells good," Sara whispered.

Grissom set the spatula on the kitchen counter and turned around in Sara's arms. "Merry Christmas," Grissom spoke, kissing her forehead.

Sara's face fell, and Grissom wondered what he did wrong. "I didn't get back to the store to pick up your present," Sara spoke.

Grissom reached up and cupped her cheek. "Sara, that doesn't matter, we have each other," Grissom spoke, trying to reassure her, "we've been so busy lately, don't worry about it."

"When I get a chance, I'll make sure I pick up your present. I know exactly what it is, I just didn't get the chance to pick it up."

"What is it?" Grissom asked.

"Oh no, you're not going to get any information out of me," Sara poked his side, "that would spoil the surprise."

Grissom smiled and kissed her briefly on the lips. "Have a seat, I've got omelets for lunch."

Sara pulled away from him and sat down at the table. Grissom brought their omelets to the table and sat across from Sara. The two shared a casual lunch with slight dashes of light conversation sprinkled in.

When Sara left the kitchen to go sit in the living room, Grissom reached into the kitchen cabinet where he had relocated Sara's Christmas gift to. Before Sara had woken up, Grissom took the bracelet out of his dresser drawer and put it in the kitchen cabinet. He brought the wrapped box into the living room and sat next to Sara on the couch. She didn't look at his hands, she just nestled into his body. Grissom held the gift in front of her eyes. "Merry Christmas honey," Grissom spoke.

Sara reached up and took the gift from his grasp. "Gil, you didn't have to get me anything," Sara spoke.

"I wanted to," Grissom replied, "are you going to open it, or just sit there staring at it?"

Sara poked him in the side and proceeded to remove the wrapping paper. When she encountered the velvety box, she opened it and stared at the bracelet inside. "Gil, it's beautiful," she spoke, a smile stretching across her face.

She pulled the box closer to her face so she could further inspect the intricate design of the stones. "They're small flowers," Sara spoke, realizing the detail.

"Yes they are. I'm glad you like it honey," Grissom spoke.

Sara leaned over and shared a passionate kiss with him. When they pulled apart, Sara looked at the bracelet. "Will you put it on for me?" Sara asked.

"Sure," Grissom replied, taking the bracelet from the box.

Grissom held Sara's left hand in his and carefully brought the bracelet around her wrist, attaching the clasp. He held her hand a minute longer, admiring the way the bracelet looked on her wrist. I made the right choice. Sara caught his glance and turned her wrist over. "The combination of the gems and the white gold is beautiful," Sara spoke.

"Beautiful things for a beautiful woman," Grissom whispered, kissing the back of her hand.

Sara slid over onto his lap and settled her arms on top of his shoulders. "Charmer," Sara whispered into his ear.

Grissom took the opportunity to place a trail of kisses down her neck, heading toward the v of her shirt. Sara rested her left hand in his hair and carefully ran her right arm down his back. Grissom pushed Sara backwards so she was laying down on the couch, and leaned over her. Grissom removed her shirt and was reaching for the clasp of her bra when Sara spoke. "Not here," she managed to get out.

With a quick change of position, Grissom scooped Sara into his arms and brought her to the bedroom.

Following their lovemaking session, Sara lay cuddled in Grissom's arms. "We should probably get up and start getting ready to leave," Grissom spoke, kissing Sara's neck.

"I was all dressed and ready earlier, before you started this," Sara chided.

Grissom nipped her ear. "You weren't complaining then Ms. Sidle," he played along.

Sara turned over and kissed him on the lips. "We better go shower so we can get out of here," Sara spoke, tugging Grissom off of the bed with her.

"We have to stop at Cath's before we head to the hospital so we can get one of Lindsey's Christmas presents for her," Grissom spoke as Sara led him to the bathroom.

"Alright," Sara spoke, stepping into the shower.

Grissom followed Sara into the shower, and after they had washed up, both of them dried off and proceeded to get dressed. Both of them were out the door and heading toward Catherine's house within half an hour.

Grissom and Sara arrived at the hospital after making a quick stop at Catherine's house to pick up the MP3 player. Sara had used an old newspaper to wrap up the gift. When Grissom and Sara entered the ICU waiting room, no one was in sight. "I wonder where they went?" Sara stated.

They walked out to the nurses' desk. "Does Ms. Willows have any visitors right now?" Grissom asked the nurse sitting behind the desk.

"Ms. Willows was moved to a different floor," the nurse spoke, "her condition was upgraded about two hours ago."

After receiving Catherine's new room number, Grissom and Sara made their way back to the elevator.

When Grissom and Sara walked into Catherine's room, Lindsey, Nick, and Greg were already there. "Isn't there a visitor limit," Sara stated, noting how many people they had in the room.

"Yeah, but we're having a Christmas party," Nick said facetiously, "you're just in time to join us."

Sara looked around the room and noted who was missing. She's being too hard on him, he's probably killing himself right now. Sara walked up to the head of Catherine's bed and held the present in front of her face. "Griss made sure he got this for you," Sara spoke, "it's all ready for you to give it to her."

Sara placed the wrapped MP3 player in Catherine's hand and stepped back away from the bed. Lindsey was sitting on the other side of the bed, so Catherine brought the present across her stomach. "Linds, this is for you," Catherine handed the gift to Lindsey, "Merry Christmas."

Lindsey took the gift and placed it on her lap. "Aren't you going to open it?" Greg egged her on.

Lindsey turned over the gift so she could get to the tape, and she opened up the package. A smile appeared on her face when she saw what was inside. "Thanks mom," Lindsey spoke, trying to carefully hug her mother.

A small smile appeared on Catherine's face. "There are other things for you at home," Catherine spoke, "but I figured those gifts could wait until I get out of here. At least with that, you can listen to some music."

Lindsey nodded and threw the newspaper out. She sat back down in the chair and held onto her Christmas present. "So, you got moved out of the ICU," Grissom stated.

"Yeah. I was breathing fine without the ventilator, and as far as the doctors could tell, I didn't suffer any brain damage. Now I just have to get woken up all of the time because of the damn concussion. That and the fact that I can't sit up yet, and I've got this annoying brace on my neck."

"You'll heal," Nick reassured her, "it's just going to take some time."

"Where's your sister Cath?" Sara asked, trying to change the subject and gain information at the same time.

"She went home for a while. She figured she could get some rest while all of you were here."

After they all stayed to chat for a little while, the time came that Nick, Greg, Grissom, and Sara had to leave. They all said their goodbyes with promises to see her again soon. Once everyone had left, Catherine closed her eyes. "Is everything okay mom?" Lindsey asked, noticing that she had become quiet.

Catherine reached for Lindsey's hand, and Lindsey took a hold of it. "Yeah honey, I'm just tired. I wish we were home celebrating Christmas," Catherine admitted.

Lindsey nodded. She continued to think about something before she addressed her mother. "Mom, Warrick has been waiting here to see you. I know you're upset, but he's really worried about you."

If Catherine could have turned away, she would have curled up into a ball and just cried. Instead, she dropped Lindsey's hand and brought her hand up to her face to conceal any tears that might fall. "Lindsey, this is complicated. You don't understand how I feel right now."

"Mom, this isn't complicated. It doesn't make sense for you to just sit in here upset, and for him to sit out in the waiting room worrying about you. Just let him come see you so you can talk to each other."

"Lindsey, stop," Catherine stated, trying unsuccessfully to contain her tears.

Lindsey left the room and headed for the waiting room.

When Lindsey entered the waiting room, Warrick looked up. "Why aren't you with your mom?" Warrick asked.

Lindsey walked over to Warrick and grabbed his hand. "She's not going to say it, but my mom needs you," Lindsey spoke, "I don't know exactly what is bothering her, but you should go see her."

Warrick was extremely tempted to run down the hallway and pull Catherine into his arms, but he knew that wouldn't be the right move, and it wouldn't be possible with her in a hospital bed and with him on crutches. "Lindsey, the doctor said that your mother shouldn't get upset," Warrick spoke, trying to reason with her, "I don't want to go down there and upset her."

"Warrick, she's already upset," Lindsey stated, "this whole thing between the two of you is insane. It's not like you crashed the car on purpose."

Warrick knew that the whole idea could backfire, but he couldn't stand to think that Catherine was upset and by herself. He pulled himself to his feet, grabbed his crutches, and followed Lindsey back down the hallway. I hope I can fix this.

When Warrick entered Catherine's room, she had one hand across her eyes, and she was openly sobbing. Warrick made his way to her side, dropped his crutches, and grabbed her free hand. "Cath, it's okay, I'm here, everything is going to be okay," Warrick spoke.

Catherine pulled her hand away from her face and looked him in the eye. "I'm sorry for what happened," Warrick spoke, "and I wish I could take it back, but I can't. I'm sorry you're stuck in this hospital bed, and I'm sorry it's Christmas, but I can't change that. All I can do it be here for you, and all I want to do is help you."

Catherine reached her arms up, and Warrick tried to lean down and give her a makeshift hug. Warrick settled on holding her right hand in his left, and rubbing his right hand up and down her left arm in a soothing motion. "I'm sorry for pushing you away," Catherine spoke between sobs.

"Shh, it's okay," Warrick tried to shush her, "we can talk about this afterward. Right now, you're supposed to be resting. The doctor doesn't want you to be upset."

Catherine gave him a small smile. "We will have that talk," Catherine stated, determined to set things right between them.

Warrick nodded. "Right now you need to calm down and try to relax," Warrick spoke, "do you feel okay? Does anything hurt?"

"Warrick, I'm fine," Catherine assured him, pulling his hands into hers.

"Your daughter is persistent," Warrick spoke, trying to turn the direction of the conversation.

"Yes, she is. She was determined to get you down here," Catherine recalled, "where is she anyway?"

"Outside the door. She wanted to give us a few minutes alone."

Warrick leaned forward to kiss Catherine's forehead, but she put her hands on his chest, halting his progress. "Warrick, this is what we need to talk about. I need time to get out of this hospital and process everything before I make any decisions about this. I am in no state of mind to make the decision right now."

Warrick pulled away from Catherine. Catherine saw Warrick's face fall a little bit, and she tried to soften the blow. "Friends," Catherine stated, holding onto both of his hands.

"No matter what Cath, we'll always be friends," Warrick stated, squeezing her hands.

"Good," Catherine stated, squeezing his hands back.

"Do you want me to get Lindsey to come back in?" Warrick asked.

"Yeah," Catherine answered.

Warrick called out to Lindsey, and she stuck her head in the room. "Your mom wants to see you," Warrick stated.

Lindsey entered the room and walked over to Catherine's side. Warrick picked up his crutches and looked like he was going to leave the room. "Warrick, can you stay?" Catherine asked.

"I wasn't planning on going anywhere," Warrick reassured her, "I want to stay a while, so I thought I would grab a chair. I've got an ankle that will protest if I stand too long."

Catherine gave him a small smile. "Sorry," she spoke.

The three of them sat and talked, Warrick glad that Catherine would let him in, and Catherine glad that she had gotten past her momentary insanity. What about us though? There never really was an us. I don't think I can do an us. I'll get through this first, and see if I want an us. It's not just my decision, is it?