Hmm, so we are coming along here, already on chapter Twelve…I did say once that I had planned for this to be originally five chapters long, right? Strange things happen when I start writing, the ideas expand…you guys are wonderful fuel for the mind, you know that?

R2R are at the bottom, scary, I know.


Chapter Twelve: Quarantine

Sara closed the locker with a sigh, glancing up at the clock. For the first time in a long while, she wouldn't have any overtime this pay period. She had been leaving as soon as shift was over for the last week now, heading over to see Greg. Sometimes Warrick would go with her, but today he had a meeting to attend. Still he met her in the locker room there, giving her a small smile.

"You doing okay?" he asked her quietly. Ever since that first night Warrick had made it a point to keep a closer eye on her.

Returning his smile she gave him a nod. "Yeah, I'm just going to head out, check in on Greg," she glanced down at the floor, still sitting on the bench. "The doctors said he wasn't doing all that well yesterday," she mentioned quietly. "Said they were probably going to take him out of ICU, to make more room for other patients. I want to be there, you know…for him when it happens, if it hasn't already, that is."

Warrick nodded grimly, "If something happened, they would have called," he encouraged her.

Sara stood up, pulling her coat over her shoulders. "I hope so," she turned back to him, "I mean, I don't want to hear it…but this waiting…it's too much for me."

"There is a good reason why the human fears the unknown," Warrick told her. "Tell him I said hi?"

Sara smiled, nodding, "I will."

It was only a short drive to the hospital, but traffic seemed to purposely hinder her; as if it could tell she was in a hurry. Twenty minutes later she pulled in to the visitor lot, parking at the first available spot, and hurrying inside.

After signing in, she made her way up the corridor, reaching up to push the doors open when she was stopped by a nurse. Sara gave her an uneasy smile, recognizing her as one of Greg's nurses, Helen.

"He's not in there anymore," the nurse told her quietly.

"He didn't?" Sara asked, her voice scratchy.

"No, no," Helen quickly reassured her, "Mr. Sanders just isn't taking visitors right now," she explained. "He came out of surgery earlier today and he's resting up. They had some complications, and he's not responding as well as we hoped to treatment."

"Surgery?" Sara spat quickly, stumbling backwards slightly as she found herself a little lightheaded.

"Come child, sit down," the nurse urged her, holding on to her arm as she guided her to the chairs. "There, do you want me to get you some water or something?"

Sara shook her head, looking back up at Helen. "No, I'm okay, but I could use an explanation. When did he go into surgery?"

Helen opened her mouth as if to answer, but closed it again, standing up. Sara followed her gaze, dumbfounded still.

"I'll take it from here."

The nurse nodded, leaving them after a slight pause. Sara only watched as Grissom sat down next to her, not saying anything for a moment. Then all the sudden she found her voice. "Griss, what's going on?"

Grissom gave her a small smile, "They found a match for him," he told her calmly. "I would have called sooner, but I wanted to wait until I was certain how he was holding up."

"He's going to be okay then?" Sara asked, pleaded would be more like it.

Grissom raised his shoulders in a small shrugging motion. "I don't know, honestly. His chances are certainly better, but still not good."

"How?" Sara wondered.

"Less than fifty," Grissom responded, glancing towards the door. "He was in surgery for most of the day, they won't go into details, but things didn't go all that well. Right now, they're just trying to keep him alive."

"I want to see him," Sara said softly, her voice withdrawn, childlike.

"I don't think…" Grissom started, only to stop. He was going to say that he didn't think it was the best of ideas, but the look on her face said differently. "I don't think you can," he said instead.

"Why not?" Sara asked, watching him. "I want to, if he made it through surgery, I should be able to see him."

"They moved him up to quarantine a little over an hour ago," he explained shortly.

She blinked, shaking her head, confused. "Why?"

"Infection," Grissom said, shrugging his shoulders, "That's all they will tell me. It shouldn't be too much longer though; they said his doctor would be able to fill me in some more after they finished things up."

"What do you think?" She wondered, looking down at her hands.

"I don't know," he answered softly after a short moment, "I want to believe that everything is going to be okay, but facts are facts…"

"You know," she said quietly, "don't you? They told you the odds, what are they?"

Grissom shook his head, but Sara wasn't persuaded so easily. "Griss, what are they? I need to know, please?"

"Twenty percent, of a full recovery," he answered quietly.

"What's not a full recovery?" she wondered, not sure if she wanted the answer.

"There's the rejection of the new liver, possibility of cancer and other diseases. There are many risks, problems, and considering Greg's health when he went in, he's trying to win a big battle."

"It's going to be an uphill battle all the way."

Both Sara and Grissom glanced up as Greg's doctor introduced herself, sitting down next them after shaking hands.

"As you are already aware, we ran into some problems during surgery. Mr. Sanders has been fighting off an infection for the last few days now, and this procedure has seemed to fuel it even more. With his immune system already weakened, we're concerned he may have picked up something during surgery. We've moved him into quarantine in hopes that will help."

"We're going to monitor him very closely for the next several days, to make sure the new liver isn't rejected, it's going to a little harder to detect on the account he already has a fever. As soon as the infection dies down, we can move him back into ICU, keep him there for a few weeks until he gets some of his strength back, and heals. If everything goes according to plan, then we will get him into a recovery program, get some nutrition back in to his body. It's going to take some time for him to adjust to eating daily again. That will be our main concern then."

"Will he be able to return to work?" Sara asked, unsure if she was feeling any better than before.

"We will worry about that later; it really depends on how his body reacts to treatment. We are moving real slow right now." It was vague, but hopeful.

Sara nodded, sighing as she leaned back in the chair. "Is there anyway we can see him?" Sara wondered.

The doctor fidgeted, standing slowly. "I can take you somewhere that you can see him, but you won't be able to go in the room. But are you sure about this? You may not like what you see."

Sara shook her head standing, "After everything I've seen I think I can handle this."

The doctor nodded, indicating to them to follow. Grissom was right behind Sara as the traveled several floors up. "Fifth window on the right," she told them, before leaving herself. Grissom walked next to her as they approached, Sara was holding back some, letting out a sigh as she watched through the window.

"A ventilator?" Sara asked, turning back to him.

Grissom nodded; he had already seen Greg like this, and though he knew it wasn't that unusual, it was still unsettling to see. "Most liver transplant patients will have a ventilator inserted to help with breathing right after surgery. Greg's case is no different; the doctors have already told me that he should have it out by tonight."

She shook her head, watching Greg through the window; the lights were dimmed, casting a shadow over his ashen face. "It doesn't even look like him," she commented quietly. Grissom grasped her hand in his, giving it a small squeeze.

"You really have been here all day, haven't you?" Sara asked of him.

Grissom nodded, "Yeah, pretty much. Come on, let's get to the lab, we won't be able to really see him for a few days yet."

Sara lingered a moment as Grissom walked on ahead, taking one last look through the window with a small smile. They still had a long way to go, but she was confident he would come out on top.

TBC


Look! I actually did them! I did R2R! Yay! I know…amazing huh? I actually did what I said I was going to do, only took a few chapters to get it done too.

As always, major thanks to everyone who reviewed, you guys are so great, I can't even describe how much fun it is to read the feedback you leave behind. And so, without further Ado, I proudly present, R2R! (Sorry, bit of a Disney moment there)

Jaded Ghost: Actually, by technical standards, Greg can die, but we just don't want that to happen.

Tripp3235: I've been trying to keep my chapters on the longer side, I think that they're more fulfilling that way. As far as money concerns, I wasn't sure how much to have Greg save up, but the operations are a lot of money, so I had to have him have some. Hope that made some sense. I think it was best to have Grissom give Greg the money without little or no thought, it's just seems…Grissomy…okay that sounded like a holiday, lol.

SLynn: First off, I absolutely love your stories. Just in case you haven't figured that out yet. And no, I'm not out to get you personally to cry, although that's not bad motivation:D. It took me a long while to come up with the liver transplant idea, did a lot of research to be a close as accurately correct as I could be. Catherine used to be my favorite character (aside from Greg that is) but she's slowly dwindling down, I don't like her very much in the new season. Too overpowering I think. And where would you ever get the idea that I'm mean? –glances through all the stories- okay…so maybe I am a little callous….

Spewilicious: Thanks! Stress factor is good; have to keep you on the edge of your seat somehow.

RiverRunsDeep: I would never kill Greg! Sure, he might die from some disease or accident I create, but I personally, would never kill him…though my ideas might.

Stormchilde: You have a liver sitting in your desk? –scoots away slowly- uh, when was the last time you cleaned that out? Lol! I thought that Nick finding Greg like that was a good way; I had to play with several characters to figure out what one would work the best.

LuvinNickyStokes: Hope you're feeling better, I know I am. Grissom's sources…I don't know? Lol, friends I would gather, I mean if he had enough to schedule surgery and go in for it right away in 'Inside the Box' I'm assuming he has some money stored somewhere…and true, ear surgery is a little different from a transplant. I personally left out some of the interaction between characters because I feared it would get to redundant, so I focused instead on mainly Sara and Greg, since they are my two favorites, and I added a bit of Grissom Greg interaction to top it off. They others may come in later, depends on how the story goes.

knuddel: I worked really hard on his reason behind getting the disease. I spent a long time researching possible ways, so I hope the outcome of the story is worth it, and so for, it's looking good.

Tyler Logan: I'm glad you are enjoying the story so much, but don't loose sleep over me, I don't want to be responsible for any accidents due to sleep loss. :D

lins: I wanted to put the part about Grissom looking like he had lost a son, because I feel that that type of look is the hardest to describe, and it sort of fit perfectly.

Puddleduck: I had to lighten the mood up somehow, and that seemed to work rather well. And honestly? I thought the liver from a crime scene victim was a cheesy idea…lol

Sharon Yes, you're review worked, glad you are reading! I will finish my other stories, I kind of write in bursts; it's been a little lagging lately though.

Ms. Elizabeth Granger: Well, the simple solution to that problem is write a sequel! I already have a sequel planned for 'Cold as Ice', which is also coming to a close in not too much longer.

Duckie24: I was hesitant about putting that part about Sara crying in, almost afraid that it would make it too overly dramatic, but I couldn't find another way to end it really. I really don't mean to stir up old memories, though it has for me, reminding me the last time I saw my Grandfather, I was only eight so it sort of really scared me, but now, I'm doing better.

Caroline: Thanks for the comments! I actually don't plan anything out, I just start writing and go from there, so the building of the suspense is totally it's own.

Jenny70529: Okay, I've heard of lab/research before, but never dispatch rotation, at least not for a lab. Then again our lab is pretty autonomous, for the most part anyways. I had the wonderful joy of experiencing our lab's attic today…I just love crawling on my hands and knees through the dark trying to read 10 point font off of six year old folders. Of course the others thought it was funny when I came out all dirty, I gather that's what I get for being the newbie. Although I can handle the dark and cramped part, it's the spider part I'm not to fond of. Anyway, after that long rambling, I'm glad you like the story!

Nickel Geek: Glad you like the story so much, I don't know quite yet how things will end as of yet.

witchbsword: Yes, in fact, it does. I did roughly three hours of research to find a cause for possible liver failure, and several more researching the condition/symptoms and outcomes of treatment, surgery, ect. I try and be really thorough about my stories, and this in one of the first ones actually that I have actually stretched the facts just a little. Everything follows for about ninety five percent accuracy, and about 5 percent altered to fit into the story. I am actually writing this ficlet off of Donny Osmond's song "Whenever You're in Trouble". I was listening to the song and was inspired to write a short story off of it, and it turned into this. The title was also inspired by a song as well; music is such a wonderful thing.