Spoiler: No Humans Involved

Disclaimer: These characters are the property of CBS

Thanks for the support. It means alot. I know the last two chapters were short. I will try to compensate with this one. We are tranistioning into the second half of the story. Hope it continues to hold your attention.

Sheila

Chapter 11

"Hey!" Catherine leaned over her face and grinned. "You are one lucky girl."

Sara's eyes looked around her. There were people everywhere, paramedics were leaning over her, while deputies and others milled about behind them. She wondered when they had all arrived. Her eyes blinked as her memories began to return. Fear, confusion, and Viktor. Large, mean Viktor grinning into her face and promising her pain and terror. For a moment, she surveyed the room for him, and felt relieved to have this many people between him and her.

She returned her eyes to Catherine. "Viktor?"

Catherine's smile faded. "He's gone, Sara. You're safe."

"Dead?"

"Yeah."

"And Dolly and her baby?"

"Dolly has a concussion, and the baby's okay. They are both on their way to Cedars."

There was another person's location she wondered about, but couldn't formulate the question as she considered the implications of Catherine's news. Viktor was gone. He would never hurt another Hannah again. She wanted that to make her feel fresh and new, but the reality was far too complex for that. Around her, she saw the chaos and commotion she had brought to her life and the lives of those who were her friends. Dead and injured people. A crime scene. And friends who undoubtedly suffered.

"I was stupid, Catherine."

"Yes, you were."

"I'm sorry."

Catherine scrunched her face up a little. "Yeah, well, Sara, we won't worry about it now. You're safe. But you and I will be having a serious conversation about this sometime soon."

Sara nodded. One of the paramedics lifted her arm, and prepared a needle for an IV. Sara tensed, and pulled her arm away.

"Sara."

"No needles!" The images of the last three days flashed before her, and her eyes filled with tears.

Catherine picked up her arm. She noted the needle marks, and saw a fresh one, not more than a day old. "He shoot you up?"

Sara's face reddened and she turned away.

"How many times?" Catherine's voice was firm.

"The first time, I thought I had injected the drug into my shirt, but there was residual. The second time I was held down. I am such a fool."

"Okay. So we aren't going to need to do much in the way of detox, it sounds."

"I don't want another needle."

"Yeah, but you need the fluids. Okay? So how about I hold your arm, and make sure everything is okay."

Sara turned her head away and a few sobs escaped. Catherine gently positioned her arm for the medic. She held firmly as the needle was injected. Sara grimaced and strained against the sensation. The paramedic hooked the line up to the IV and positioned it on the stretcher. Catherine reached over and turned Sara's face back to hers. Gently, she wiped the tears from her eyes. Then she leaned over to her ear and whispered: "Now the healing begins. You're going to be okay."

Sara closed her eyes against the tender attentions of her friend. Then she opened her eyes, and remembered the question she hadn't asked earlier. "Where's Grissom?"

"He's here. He's caught up in something right now. He'll catch us at the hospital." Catherine nodded at the paramedics, and they began pulling her stretcher through the crowd of people. Catherine kept a firm grip on Sara's hand, trotting alongside.

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Grissom saw the stretcher wheel through the living room, and he started to get up from the kitchen table where he was seated. Catherine caught his eye, and smiled. He relaxed back into the chair. Brass and Monroe sat at the table with him.

"Okay, the only problem I'm having here is that he didn't identify himself or warn him before he fired."

Brass glared at Monroe. "He was going to kill her!"

"All right, you know, Jim, I am not Internal Affairs, and you're not his lawyer. Okay? But IAB is on their way, and these are the questions they will ask. So excuse me for trying to prep your friend."

"He caught the bastard in the act of killing a woman. He reacted to save her."

"Do you think IAB is going to let you answer all of Grissom's questions for him? I mean, it's common knowledge around the department that he can speak."

Grissom found himself detached from the conversation being argued on his behalf. He wondered if they would say anything if he got up, and laid down on the leather couch in the living room. He could close his eyes, and try to organize his thoughts. Just rest for a minute. Try to slow the images racing through his head. He could somehow get control over them before they overwhelmed him. Running down the hall with Brass yelling after him to stop. Stepping into the open bedroom, and seeing the monster straddling a woman, and another woman lying in a heap beside him. There was a flash of steel, and he reacted. Shooting the man seemed like the most logical step. He was acting as would a monster, and needed to be handled as such. The explosion was amazing. Blood erupted like the most gaudy of fireworks. Then monster became a man who twitched twice and then lay still. The object in his hand that he had owned for many years, cleaned regularly, and fired at the range, had become a weapon. It's power and majesty displayed before him in the most intimate way possible. He was awed by it, and more than a little frightened. Today he took life, and the enormity of it made him feel separate from everyone around him.

"Gil. Gil! Are you with us?" Grissom turned his head to find Brass gesturing at him. He wanted to ask Jim if he had ever killed anyone but it felt like such a rude question.

"What?"

"So they want to interview you here at the scene. Now I don't want you to worry because you did exactly the right thing, and they are going to see that."

"Okay."

"And they are going to take your gun, and you're going to have to go on suspension. Just until they finish the inquiry. Probably no more than a couple of weeks. They do that in all police shootings. So I don't want you to worry--"

"I don't care."

"Okay. Well, nonchalant is okay, but I would prefer that you stick with sounding sincere."

"But I don't care, Jim. I don't care what happens. Maybe that will be different tomorrow, but right now I don't care." Grissom was beginning to show signs of life.

"Maybe you should do all the talking for him, Brass." Monroe said.

"He's in shock. They'll understand shock. Hell, we'll explain it to them."

A familiar voice sounded in the living room. Brass winced as Ecklie began issuing orders to CSI's coming in the door. Ecklie looked around and spied them in the kitchen. He came trotting over.

"Everyone all right here?"

"Yeah, we're just sitting here playing 'I spy with my little eye.' Want to join?"

Conrad ignored Brass. "I heard everything on the radio on the way over here. I was so shocked. I am glad to hear that Sara's okay though."

Grissom couldn't muster up the energy to deal with Ecklie.

"I want you to know that I will conduct a completely fair and impartial investigation into this shooting. I'm sure the evidence will tell us everything we need in order to bring this case to its most logical conclusion."

"We were hoping that you would come and inspire us with your words." Brass could not contain his surliness.

"Please tell Sara that I am confident of her full recovery, and that I will try to come and visit her as soon as possible."

Grissom stiffened, drawing in a sharp breath. Nobody moved.

Finally Ecklie spoke. "Well, I'm sure that she's going to want to be left alone for awhile. She doesn't need to deal with work issues right away."

"Right you are, Conrad." Brass was on his feet and steering Ecklie away from the kitchen. "Crime scene is down the hall, first door to your right. Let me just escort you."

Grissom dropped his head into his arms resting on the table. Maybe IAB wouldn't need eye contact. Maybe they would let him sleep between questions. Maybe it would be mercifully short. And he suspected it might be if he resigned on the spot. He considered the merits of such an idea. Tomorrow, he would see it as a huge mistake. But who the hell cared about tomorrow? Right now, he needed to get to the hospital, and find a nice, comfy chair so that he could sleep until it was time to see her.

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Nicky winced as he raised his head. The kink in his neck was radiating pain to his temples. He squeezed his forehead, and pulled himself into an upright position. It took him a minute to focus his eyes. Rubbing the stubble on his face, he looked around the room. Warrick was still there, stretched out long in a chair, his lanky crossed at the ankles. Greg was sleeping half in a chair, and half on the coffee table in front of him. The stillness of the hospital in the early morning was a little eerie. Lights on everywhere in the white, sterile environment, but no movement as if the place was abandoned. He stood up and stretched long. Then he shuffled down the hallway in search of a cup of coffee. As he turned the corner, he found himself right on top of Catherine. The coffee she was holding, dumped down the front of her shirt. Nick winced, "I'm sorry Catherine."

She just eyed him once as she rubbed on the brown stain with the napkin she was holding around the hot cup.

"Let me buy you another. Come on. Everyone's sleeping still. If the shirt doesn't come clean, then you and I have a date at the mall. Okay?"

She nodded, her blue eyes showing the strain of sleeplessness. She accepted his proffered arm, and followed him down the hallway.

"Haven't seen Grissom. Do you think they are still questioning him or do you think he was just smart enough to sleep in his own bed?"

"Neither." The exhaustion gave her voice a smoky quality. "He showed up about an hour ago. Here let me show you."

She took his arm and guided him in the other direction. At Sara's door, she carefully pushed the door in and motioned for him to follow. He looked over her shoulder, and saw Sara sleeping soundly. On a chair beside her bed, Grissom sat folded over, head laying on Sara's bed, one arm sprawled across her middle.

"Oooh! Somebody is going to get a surprise when they wake up." Nick let a grin grow.

"Yeah, my guess is that there will be a lot of hasty apologies, some awkward maneuvering around the subject, and then a clumsy segue into the mundane."

"Do you think they will end up talking about the weather?"

"Probably." Catherine smirked.

"Maybe this will be the straw that breaks the camel's back." Nick chuckled. "Wouldn't Ecklie love that."

"What do you think, Nicky? The two of them together. Good idea?"

"Are you kidding? They'll kill each other."

"Honestly, I am kind of rooting for them."

"It's really a moot point, isn't it? They can barely sit in the break room together for five minutes without a misunderstanding of epic proportions."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. Still, I'd love to film the wake-up of this lovely moment."

"I just want a cup of coffee and three eggs, over easy. How 'bout you show me where the cafeteria is. Breakfast is on me."

Catherine looked down at her stained shirt. "Sorry, Nick. 'fraid you got it on me first."

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Sara woke to find a man in her bed. Considering the events of the last three days, she should have been terrified, but the silver locks of hair and beard told her that this was a matter of a different sort. She lay very quietly and watched him. This was the first time she had ever seen him sleep. He looked so peaceful, snoring gently through his mouth. She wished the two of them could stay like this for days. She knew that when he woke up, it would be awkward. He would be embarrassed. She would be uncomfortable. And then she would have to see his eyes, and know how much she had put him through. So she stayed absolutely still, and soon her breathing fell into a rhythm with his.

At some point she drifted off again. When she awoke, there was a doctor in the room and Grissom was gone.

"Sara, how are you feeling?"

"Tired."

"Well, everything is looking good. Your electrolytes are in the normal range. Your fever is responding to the antibiotics. And you seem to be detoxing beautifully. I don't think we are going to have to keep you for more than another couple of days."

"I'd prefer to go home."

"Sara, you are on your way, but you can't be alone right now. You've put your body through a great deal. Not the least of which was a needle full of heroin."

"Believe me, I am not a danger to myself. I just want to sleep in my own bed. Hospitals are…not for me."

"You have been traumatized, you're recovering from what in your system was a drug overdose, you're fighting an upper respiratory infection, and you are undernourished. You can do what you want, Sara, but I'm not going to stay quiet on this. You should not be in your home alone."

"What if someone stayed with her. Made sure she got regular meals, her antibiotics, and kept an eye out for any problems." This voice startled Sara physically. She turned her head, and there he was, standing at the door with a coffee in hand.

The doctor turned to him. "I suppose that would work as long as she was seen by a regular physician within the first week."

"I have a couple weeks off. I'd be happy to do it. How about it, Sara?"

Sara stared at him. "You're kidding, right?"

"Not at all. I think it is a great idea. It will be quiet, relaxing. It will give me time to work on a couple of articles I have been meaning to write. And your only job will be to sleep, eat what I make, and do what I say."

"What would people think?"

He shrugged. "Nothing they haven't already been thinking for the last five years. I don't really care anymore. Do you care?"

She couldn't form a response.

"Right." Grissom turned to the doctor. "Go ahead and prepare the discharge papers. If she blinks in the meantime, I'll let you know.

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"Okay, really not a good idea, Grissom. Are you listening to me?" Catherine was leaning over Grissom as he studied the orders from the charge nurse.

"It's not a big deal."

"Ecklie is going to have a field day."

"I don't care." Grissom looked over the prescription bottles the nurse set out on the counter.

Catherine spied Jim Brass coming down the hall, and waved him over. "Did you hear what Grissom's plan is? He's going to take Sara home and stay with her. He's going to take care of her."

Brass smiled and slapped Grissom on the back. "All right. You go, Gil. It's about time."

Grissom lifted an eyebrow, and glared at Brass. "I will rest better because I will know how she is doing. She will rest because she will be in her own house. And I could use a quiet place to work on some notes that I want to pull together for a paper. It makes sense."

"Hey. Works for me."

"Idiot! You were supposed to back me up on this." Catherine slapped him on the back of the head. Brass winced, and skated beyond her reach.

"We're not having this conversation. Okay?" Grissom gathered the prescriptions and instructions into his briefcase.

"Somebody has to watch your back."

"And I am always grateful for that." He leaned over, and kissed a surprised Catherine on the cheek.

Brass nodded at him. "So, you going to call that lawyer I told you about."

"Am I going to need one?"

"Well, you shouldn't wait until you need one to get one."

"I'll call."

"And the PEAP counselor? When you going to start that?"

Grissom let out a sigh.

"Come on now, Gil. You have to talk to someone. It was a clean shoot. The right thing to do. But you still killed a man, and you got to follow procedure on this."

"I know what my responsibilities are." Grissom turned to leave, and almost ran into Sara. She was standing there against the wall, waiting. Wearing a man's oversized t-shirt, she looked small and vulnerable.

Grissom stepped back. "I didn't realize you were ready."

"You shot Viktor?" She looked startled.

Grissom nodded.

"I'm sorry." She stepped forward.

Grissom shifted imperceptibly and escaped her touch. "I am all ready. I'll be waiting in the truck."

Sara watched him as he hurried down the hall. Catherine walked up to her, and put her arm around her shoulder. Sara started to say something, but Catherine just shook her head. She squeezed Sara, and then steered her down the hall after Grissom.

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