A/N: I miss Sara! I had to have her out of the way for a couple chapters, couldn't avoid it to further the story line, byt I'm happy to have her back. Jbr12476, I can't promise that Grissom is 'okay', but I think that he is doing better.

Chapter 9

The room was dark when Sara woke up. There was no moment of disorientation, no 'where am I?' She clearly remembered the pain, the 911 call, Grissom on the phone. Her last clear memory was opening the door to the paramedics. While she didn't know precisely what had happened, she wasn't surprised by her surroundings. She took in the sterile whiteness of the hospital room, the beeping of machines, and the IV line in her left arm. In the dim light she could just make out the clock hanging on the wall. 4:37. She had no way of knowing if she had been out for twenty four hours, or forty eight. Maybe more. Feeling around the bed she found a call button, and pressed it.

"So your awake Miss. Sidle." It had taken the nurse more then ten minutes to answer her page, and Sara had to wonder what was happening at four in the morning to otherwise occupy the hospital staff.

"How long..." Sara coughed, her voice hoarse from lack of use.

"You've been here for just about a day," the nurse informed her, understanding the unfinished question.

"What happened?"

"Your doctor will be in for rounds in about three hours. He can tell you about your medical condition. Is there anything I can get for you?" She reached out for Sara's wrist and felt for the pulse, silently counting.

Answers would be nice. She looked around the room.

"A phone. I need a phone please."

"It's pretty early. Why don't you rest for a while longer, and I can bring you a phone after breakfast."

Suddenly the urge to hear a familiar voice overwhelmed her. She attempted to sit up, but a pain shot through her stomach. Sara laid back down against the pillow.

"Why don't you go get me a phone now, or I'll get out of this bed and find one myself. Okay?" She knew she was being irrational. The nurse had done nothing to deserve her harsh tone, but she couldn't stop herself. She wanted a phone and she wanted it now.

It wasn't until the third ring that Grissom was able to wake up enough to reach for the phone, the ringing only just penetrating into his subconscious. He had been dreaming. Nothing that made sense, simply a random firing of neurons resulting in flashes of sight and sound. The ringing had played into the dream at first. Only when it failed to cease did he connect it to the real world. Groggily he reached for the handset on the night stand.

"I'm not coming into the lab. I don't care how many bugs there are."

"No bugs here. I promise."

"Sara?" Suddenly he was wide awake. "God, honey. I can't tell you how glad I am to hear your voice."

"Same here, Griss." Her voice was still a little hoarse.

"How are you?" Stupid question, Gil. How do you think she is?

"I'm fine. A little sore, but honestly I don't remember a time recently when I wasn't sore." She tried to be honest with him, as much as she could. After all, he'd seen her at her worst, and by some miracle he was still around. "I'm a little lonely, though. This place is quiet. Sounds too much like a visit to Doc Robbins's."

"I'll be there as soon as I am allowed. Is there anything you want me to bring?" He was out of bed now, and headed to the kitchen to turn on the coffee pot.

"Um... if you want to stop by my place you could pick up my robe and a couple of scarfs. I feel naked in this stupid hospital gown." Grissom now had his own set of keys to her apartment. They had never discussed it, or the reason behind him having them. Neither of them were ready for those conversations; the 'in case something happens to me' one, or the 'what are we to each other' one. Sara had simply left a key out on the counter one day, and motioned to it when he came over. That's for you.

"Anything else?"

"No. Just you."

He didn't figure that now, over the phone, was the place to mention the fact that he would not be the only person to visit her that day. The rest of the team was sure to come. That bit of news could wait.

"I've got to go, Griss. Nurse Ratchet is here with meds. I had to make her a deal. Ten minutes on the phone if I would take my pills without complaint and try to get some more sleep. You'd think that twenty four hours was enough sleep for anyone. I tried to explain that it was more sleep then I usually get on a good week, but she doesn't seem to care."

"Sleeping will make the time go quicker. Try to think of it that way. I'll be there as soon as visiting hours start."

"Thanks Grissom."

"Goodnight, Sara."

As soon as he showered and dressed, Grissom called a cab. Catherine had driven him home yesterday, while one of the guys drove his Tahoe to the CSI parking lot. While he waited to be picked up, he drank his coffee. It was strange, waking up while it was still dark outside. After so many years on graveyard, his internal clock had been completely reversed. Daylight made him sleepy, while the darkest hours of the night were when he was the most awake.

Twenty minutes later he was pulling open the front door to the lab. He strode past the receptionist desk with a nod, oblivious to the looks that followed him. Rumors were running rampant around the lab since last night. Only Brass, Al, and the night shift CSIs knew the truth about Sara. Stories traveled through the lab like lightening, each one bigger and more ridiculous then the last. Grissom had been fired. Grissom had a girlfriend, and they had eloped last night. Catherine was Grissom's girlfriend, and they had left work for a clandestine meeting. And then there was the recycling of the 'Lady Heather' rumors. Fortunately, Grissom was unaware of the whispered conferences in the rooms around him.

Nick was the first to see him.

"I though you weren't coming in this shift, man. Didn't Catherine make you go home to sleep?"

"I'm just getting a few things."

Warrick heard his supervisors voice and joined Nick in the hallway.

"Hey, boss. I have your keys in my locker. Want me to get them?"

"Thanks, Warrick."

Grissom followed the pair of CSIs further down the hall. Catherine caught up to them outside the locker room door.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were happy, Gil."

Grissom couldn't contain the grin. It covered his face.

"I actually am. Sara called me," he explained.

"Hey, that's great!" Nick exclaimed.

"How is she?" Greg joined the group congregating in the hallway.

"She yelled at her nurse. Threatened to leave if she didn't get a phone."

"You go girl." Warrick remarked. "Now, that's our Sara."

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. Sara forcing things to go the way she wanted them to was a good sign. The relieved look on Grissom's face was completely understandable now.

Grissom stood in the hall talking with his friends for a few minutes while Warrick retrieved his keys. As he started to leave, a though occurred to him.

"Guys, if you're coming to visit Sara..."

He was interrupted by a chorus of 'yeah' and 'of course we are.'

"Can you do me a favor and wait until this afternoon. I still have to... prepare her. She doesn't know that you guys were there yesterday, and I don't want to surprise her more then necessary."

Catherine walked Grissom out to the parking lot after he had everyone's agreement.

"Gil, I know Sara. She's not going to be happy, at least at first, that we all know. So if you need someone to take the heat, blame me. Tell her I was the one who called the boys in, okay?"

"Thanks, Cath. But I think she'll understand." I hope she will.

Sara was in shock. Emergency surgery. Hysterectomy. The doctor had just left. Most of what he had said was a blur, but a few vital words continually repeated inside here head. Hysterectomy. She had known that it was a possibility. Had read the word with clinical detachment months ago, when she was drowning in research on her disease. But the reality of what it meant had never sunk in. There was too much to think about, dealing with the chemo, the hair loss, the fear. She didn't have the energy or desire to focus on 'might be'.

She wasn't even sure how she felt about having children. There had never been a man, a relationship, that progressed far enough for it to be an issue. Okay, there had been one man. Grissom. But until recently she hadn't let herself hope that there was the chance of a relationship between them, let alone a future that might include children.

There had been a scare once, when she was in college. A few weeks when she thought that maybe she and her boyfriend, Ken, had screwed up. But the next week she had gotten her period, and had pushed the issue into the back of her brain, filed under 'someday.' Now someday was never. It should have been her decision to make, damn it, not some mass of cancerous cells run rampant.

Lost in her thoughts, Sara didn't notice that she was no longer alone in the room.

"Sara?" Grissom stood beside her bed, one hand holding a small overnight bag, the other reaching for her shoulder. He shook her gently to get her attention.

"Sara, I brought the things you asked for. A couple of extras, too. The new issue of Applied Theories in Psychodynamics came out this week. I picked up a novel for you to read too."

Sara still wasn't responding. She was facing the window, but Grissom could tell her eyes weren't focused on anything. He put down the bag and walked around the bed until he stood directly between sara and the window. Finally she looked at him, and he almost wished she hadn't. There were tears in her eyes.

"Grissom." Her voice was flat.

"What's wrong? He leaned down so that they were at eye level.

It was a minute before she responded.

"The doctor was just in here, and he... he told me..."

"I know... it's alright." He cupped her cheeks in his hands, and with the pads of his thumbs gently wiped away the tears before they could fall.

"What can I do to help you?"

"Hold me, Griss. Can you just hold me?"

He sat on the bed next to her, stretching out so that his entire frame covered the mattress. Careful to avoid the IV line, he pulled her on top of him. She curled up, hiding her face against his neck, taking comfort in the smell of him. There were no tears, no sighs, no spoken words. Sara's hands rested on Grissom's chest, Grissom's hands on Sara's back. Later there would talking, explaining, and yelling. For now the two lay as one, and drew strength from the simple union.

When the nurse came in an hour later, she found her patient asleep, and not alone. She tiptoes out of the room and closed the door behind her.

To be continued...