"Stiff," he answered, taking his coat from the back of the door, "I had to wrap it up."
"Aspirin?"
"Took it already, there's more in my office."
"You sure you don't want to see the doctor about it?"
"I'll be fine. It's a lot better than when it happened, by the end of the week I should be as good as new."
Sara nodded and stood up from her chair. "Are you ready to go?" Sara asked.
"Yes, let's get going."
Grissom let Sara pass in front of him, and they both headed out to the car.
Grissom had put himself with Warrick for the night, hoping he could evade any questions from the rest of the team, mainly Catherine. They had a homicide scene, and there was plenty of evidence that needed to be processed. "Griss, do you want to catalogue bullets or cast footprints?" Warrick asked after a walkthrough of the scene.
Since the sprinklers had recently come on, there were many footprints left from the killers. Bullets had been fired all over the inside of the house, and there were plenty of casings and bullets to retrieve and catalogue. Neither job was conducive to Grissom's injured knee. "I'll take the bullets Warrick," Grissom replied, "you get started on the footprints."
The two separated, Grissom to stay in the house, and Warrick to go back outside and process the footprints.
By the end of shift, Grissom only had a few more bullets to catalogue. Although it was quite painful, Grissom was kneeling on the floor, for he found it to be the best position to pick up the casings. He had first tried bending at the waist, but his back had started to protest, so he decided to kneel, stick it out, and work through the pain. He had taken several breaks, but his body just wasn't cooperating. Just as he was finishing up, Warrick entered the room. "I just finished all of the prints outside," Warrick spoke.
Grissom finished putting the last bullet into a bag and labeled the outside. "Okay, I just finished here. We can get out of here and bring all of the evidence back to the lab," Grissom stated, pulling all of the evidence together.
Grissom put his feet under him and tried to get up, but his knee protested. Warrick wasn't going to say anything until he saw Grissom struggle again. "Griss, you okay?" Warrick asked.
"Yeah, I've just been on this floor for a while."
Grissom pushed off of the floor and managed to stand upright. However, when he took a step, Grissom stumbled when his knee gave out. Warrick grabbed a hold of his upper arm and kept him from falling. When he was sure that Grissom stood upright, Warrick let go of his arm. Warrick knew better than to question Grissom about his knee again. "Do you want me to drive back to the lab?" Warrick asked.
"Yeah," Grissom stated, pulling the keys from his pocket, "just give me a minute, I'll be out."
Warrick turned and left the house. Grissom grabbed the evidence and his field kit and slowly started to walk out of the house. His knee was protesting fiercely, for it felt like it was on fire, but Grissom made it out to the vehicle without incident. He pulled himself into the seat, and silence filled the vehicle during the drive back to the lab. I yell at Sara for pushing it too hard, and here I am barely able to walk. Sure, it's not exactly the same thing, but she's going to think it is.
Sara was waiting in Grissom's office when he got back to the lab. Thankfully the rest of the team had already left, and no one really noticed him limping down the hallway. Sara frowned when she saw Grissom struggle to walk into his office. "What happened?" Sara asked, concerned.
"Lots and lots of bullets," Grissom replied.
"Sit," Sara gestured to the couch.
"If I sit down I'm not going to get up. Let's just get out of here."
Sara stood up and put her hand across Grissom's lower back. "Are you going to make it out to the car?"
"Yeah, I can manage."
Sara dropped her hand, and the two of them walked out to the car. Sara got into the drivers seat and started their drive home. Sara attempted conversation, but Grissom wasn't very receptive, so they traveled home in silence.
"Sara, I'm going to go to bed," Grissom spoke, laying his jacket across the back of a chair and walking toward the bedroom.
"I'll go get you some ice," Sara stated, going into the kitchen.
When Sara entered the bedroom with an icepack, Grissom was laying in bed with his eyes closed. He had stripped down to his t-shirt and boxers, his head lay on one pillow, and he held an arm across his eyes. Although it was dark inside of the room, Sara didn't dare turn the light on, for she didn't want to make a headache worse if he was starting to get one. She walked over to his side and pulled the covers back so she could see his knee. He had unwrapped it before getting into bed, and from the light peeking through the door, Sara could see the slight swelling present. She carefully placed the icepack around his knee and pulled the covers back over him. "Do you need aspirin?" Sara asked, resting a hand on his shoulder.
"No, I took some about two hours ago," Grissom spoke, not moving, "thank you."
"I'm going to go sit in the living room for a little while," Sara spoke, rubbing his shoulder, "call me if you need anything."
Grissom stayed silent, so Sara left the room to go back out into the living room.
When Grissom woke up later that afternoon, he realized that the bed was still made next to him, and Sara had never joined him. Grissom tentatively tried to bend his left knee, and he was pleased when only a slight twinge of pain greeted him. He got out of bed and went to shower before going to find Sara.
After getting out of the shower and toweling off, Grissom pulled on boxers and a long-sleeved shirt. He carefully rewrapped his knee and put on a pair of sweatpants. He picked up the warm icepack off of the dresser where he had set it earlier and walked out into the living room.
Sara was laying on the couch, one arm dangling over the side. The forensic book that she had been reading was laying on the floor, and her other arm was resting behind her head. Although she did not look comfortable at all, she was sleeping. Grissom decided to take the icepack out to the kitchen and make some coffee before returning to Sara.
Grissom walked back into the living room after putting the icepack in the refrigerator and turning the coffee pot on. He admired Sara's sleeping form for a minute before running his fingers through her hair. She slightly stirred and her eyes drifted open. "You forget to come to bed?" Grissom asked, caressing her cheek.
"What time is it?" Sara asked, still staying in the position she was in on the couch.
"Four o'clock."
Sara brought her other arm behind her head and closed her eyes once again. "How's your knee?"
"It feels a lot better. Resting helped."
"Good, maybe you can manage to stay off of the floor tonight," Sara spoke, her voice clouded with sleep.
"I know, I was pushing too hard," Grissom stated, realizing she was nagging on him a little bit.
"That's what got you into this mess to begin with," Sara joked.
"Hey," Grissom feigned hurt as a slight blush crept up his cheeks.
Sara smiled and yawned. "I'm exhausted."
"Do you want to go lay down for a while longer?" Grissom asked, "If you're pretty tired, you'd probably be more comfortable in bed."
"Yeah, I'd be more comfortable out of these clothes too," Sara mumbled, slowly sitting up on the couch.
Sara stood up and put her hand on Grissom's chest. "I'm going to lay down, I'll be out in a little while," Sara stated.
Grissom took her hand in his. "Okay, I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but I'm going to start off with coffee," Grissom replied.
Sara nodded and retreated to the bedroom. Grissom walked back out into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee. He decided to sit on the couch and drink his coffee before deciding what else to do.
After Grissom finished his coffee, he picked up his latest forensics journal and walked into the bedroom. He was careful to be quiet, for Sara had fallen asleep, and he eased himself onto the bed. He turned on the dim light on the side table and put his glasses on. Grissom checked to make sure that Sara was still sleeping and started to read the journal. At least she's not angry.
Two hours later, Sara woke up and stretched her arms out in front of her. Grissom closed the journal and set it on the side table along with his glasses. When Sara started tilting her head from side to side to crack her neck, Grissom rested a hand on her shoulder. "You're stiff from sleeping on that couch, aren't you?" Grissom stated.
Sara turned over in the bed and looked him in the eye. "Yeah, it's not the most comfortable thing in the world for sleeping," Sara replied, "what are you doing on top of the covers?"
"I wanted to let you sleep, and I was comfortable. I was reading."
Sara nodded and turned onto her stomach. She put her arms above her head and rested her head on her hands. Grissom took advantage of her position and slightly shifted so he would be comfortable, but able to massage her back. Grissom started his massage at her shoulders, and Sara groaned as she felt him attack her tension. "That feels good," Sara spoke.
"Good," Grissom replied, "there is no way you can be that tight and comfortable."
They continued a light conversation while he worked the tension out of her body, but Grissom stopped after she had been quiet for a few minutes. "You're not falling asleep on me, are you?" he asked.
"What?" Sara mumbled, making it obvious that she had drifted off.
"You're really this tired?" Grissom questioned, fascinated that she was falling asleep again, "What did you do during shift?"
"My job," Sara stated, not going into any details, "it was nothing much, we just did processing."
Grissom turned Sara over so she was laying on her back. "Then why are you so tired?" Grissom asked, looking into her eyes.
"I don't know Griss," she groaned, "I guess I just have to get up and start doing something. Then maybe I'll have some energy."
"I can go make you some fresh coffee," Grissom suggested.
"Okay," Sara spoke, "I'm going to go hop in the shower. Maybe that'll wake me up."
Grissom and Sara vacated the bed, going to do their separate tasks.
When Grissom walked into the break room to give out assignments, Warrick, Greg, and Catherine were the only ones present. Warrick watched Grissom carefully as he walked in. Good, he seems to be fine today. I guess we don't realize that he's getting older, some things aren't as easy as they used to be.
"Where are Nick and Sara?" Grissom asked, puzzled as to why they weren't present.
"Well, Sara did come in with you, so she's got to be around here somewhere," Catherine stated, "and I saw Nick a few minutes ago."
Grissom glared at Catherine but did not speak. Nick and Sara entered the room a minute later. "Sorry Griss," Nick stated, taking a seat.
Grissom looked at Sara for an explanation, but she was looking away from him. Grissom proceeded to hand out assignments, putting Sara with himself for the night. While driving to the scene, he questioned her and Nick's tardiness. "We were talking about Nick's case," Sara clarified.
"Any problems?"
"No, he just had a question. I answered it and then we went to the break room. We didn't realize we were late."
"Oh, okay. Just remember that it is important that we get to our assignments as soon as possible."
"Sorry Griss, I forgot about that," Sara said facetiously.
Grissom didn't respond, and the two stayed silent the rest of the drive to the scene. Maybe he should have gotten some more sleep when I did.