A/N: So, this is a short chapter. More of a chapterlet. But today was the Forth, and I had parties to go to and fireworks to watch. Couldn't let the day pass completely without visiting my CSIs, though.

Chapter 10

Grissom was the first one to wake up. Sara was still on top of him, hadn't seemed to have moved at all in the hour they had been asleep. He tightened his arms around her, holding her to him as close as possible. His movement caused the downy soft hair of Sara's head to rub against his neck. He wished he could let her sleep longer, but a glance at the clock on the wall revealed that afternoon visiting hours began in half an hour. If he didn't want her to be caught of guard when the others showed up, he would have to wake her up now.

"Sara, wake up."

At the sound of her name Sara burrowed deeper into the crook between Grissom's neck and shoulder. This time her hair brushed against the sensitive skin on the underside of Grissom's jaw, just under his ear. It was a little known fact, but Grissom was ticklish. He couldn't keep himself from laughing as she moved her head again.

The ground was shaking under her. Sara's first thought was of earthquakes, but she wasn't in California anymore. Finally she woke up enough to surmise that it wasn't the ground shaking, but the surface she was laying on; that would be Grissom's chest, which was rumbling with laughter. She lifted up her head to look at him.

"Griss?"

"Sorry, Sara. Your hair tickles."

Grissom is ticklish. Sara stored away that vital piece of information, never knowing when it might come in useful. She had many similar factoids, could have filled a file cabinet if she had written them all down. The way he took his coffee (one sugar, no cream unless it was the real stuff.) His favorite dessert (apple pie, hold the ice cream.) The way he smelled. And now this humorous fact.

"How long was I asleep?" Sara rolled to her side, where she could better see Grissom's face.

"We slept for almost two hours." Grissom also moved, stretching with his hands pressed to his lower back before moving off of the bed.

"Sara, I have to tell you something."

At that moment the door opened and a tray-bearing nurse entered the room. She laid the tray on the table beside Sara's bed. She fluttered around the room, opening the window blinds, checking the IV bag, taking Sara's pulse. As she spoke her hands moved to emphasize her words, reminding Sara of a younger Nora.

"You missed lunch, so I brought you a tray now. Brought enough for your friend too. Visiting hours start in thirty minutes. I suspect all your friends will be back today. There sure were a lot of them. Filled the waiting room. That older man, the one with the cane? He spent almost an hour talking over your case with your doctors. The younger ones, they kept asking the nurses questions. Every five minutes, it seemed, one of them would have something more to ask. Not that any of us minded. Your sure have some cute friends. I have to say, I liked the look of the blond one, with the spiky hair."

"What?" Sara finally found her voice. She turned to Grissom, who was doing his best to avoid looking her in the eyes.

"What the hell is she talking about?"

The nurse looked from Sara to Grissom. Apparently she had said something wrong. Unsure what it was, she decided that the best thing she could do was leave. Let them sort it out.

"You promised, Grissom. You gave me your word." Sara was angry. No one was supposed to know about her cancer. She had a plan. In a few more months she was hoping to be in remission. She'd be able to return to work, no one the wiser. The first time she 'saw' everyone in three months was not supposed to be in a hospital bed.

"I didn't tell anyone, Sara. Well, except Al. But they wouldn't tell me anything about you, and I needed someone who could tell me what was going on." A look of pain flashed across Grissom's face when he remembered the helplessness of sitting in the waiting room, not knowing what was wrong.

Sara saw the look and almost softened. Almost.

"Fine. They know." She was resigned to the fact, but that didn't mean she had to like it. "I want you to call them right now and tell them that they are not to come here and see me. I don't want any visitors."

"But they already..."

Sara looked at him in horror.

"They've already been here? Not just to the hospital, but here, in this room? Shit."

Catherine heard the raised voice of her coworker almost as soon as she walked off the elevator. Sara was definitely awake. Catherine didn't bother to knock, walking into the hospital room with her usual aplomb.

"You do a pretty passable impression of a teenager's tantrum, Sara. Sound just like Lindsey when I tell her she can't go to the mall."

The two occupants of the room whirled around to face the interruption. Their looks were almost comical, as they couldn't decide how to greet the visitor. Grissom was confused and grateful, but tried to pull off his normal I-show-no-expression look. It didn't work. Sara was upset, but more embarrassed, and didn't care who saw her expression.

"Hey Cath. I don't think that..."

"Don't think that you have to be here right now? You're right. Why don't you go down to the cafeteria and get something to eat. Even there food down there has to be better then what I see on that tray over there." In movements so quick he didn't know what hit him, Catherine had Grissom ushered out of the room. She turned too face Sara, who was openly glaring at her. As if that's going to scare me off. She knows me better then that.

"The guys wanted to come with me. I told them tonight would be better. Figured you'd want a little time to get ready before they came."

"I don't want them at all. They can come see me later. When I'm at home." And have the ability to lock the door.

"Nice try. They're coming tonight. But before then... whalla!" She held up the bag in her hand and opened it, revealing makeup and a folded bundle of cloth. "Pajamas, because no one looks good in one of those hospital gowns," she explained.

"Catherine, go away."

So much for the easy way. Time to take up the kid gloves. Hands on hips, Catherine squared off with Sara.

"The rest of the team is coming to see you tonight. They care about you, and need to see with their own eyes that you are okay. I know you feel like crap. I can't begin to imagine how horrible the last few months have been for you. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy, not even Ecklie. But you..."

Catherine's lecture was interrupted by Sara's laughter. She had expected Sara to be angry with her interference, or resigned, if she was lucky. She did not expect the spectacle before her. Sara was laughing so hard that there were tears streaming down her face. It was a couple of minutes before she could compose herself enough to answer Catherine's questioning gaze.

"Ecklie," she sputtered. "You were talking, and I got this mental image of Ecklie trying to explain to the sheriff that he need time of because he had ovarian cancer. Just imagine the rumors at the lab about that one."

"It sure would explain some things about him," Catherine responded wryly.

Grissom was surprised, when he returned to the room, to find Sara docilely sitting on the bed, allowing Catherine to apply makeup to her face. She was dressed in purple silk pajamas, with a floral print scarf wrapped around her head. Grissom's heart skipped a beat. She looked... happy.

"I brought you tea, and a salad." He set his offerings down on the table, moving the tray filled with hospital food out of the way. In addition to Sara's tea there were two cups of coffee. "Coffee, Cath?"

He reached out for Sara's arm, running his fingers over the sleek fabric. Catherine raised an eyebrow in speculation. I know a familiar gesture when I see one.

"Catherine, uh, convinced me that it was a good idea to let the team come after all." Her back turned to Grissom, Catherine rolled her eyes. Twenty minutes later she left, smiling to herself. How many years had she been wanting to do a makeover on Sara? Maybe not under these circumstances, but you take what you can get. More then anyone, she was aware of the power a little makeup can have on your image of yourself, and hoped that in some small way she had been able to help her friend.

Grissom and Sara were once again alone in the room.

"You look good."

"Yeah, right," Sara returned sarcastically.

"Sara, you still have the power to make me appreciate beauty."

Sara wasn't sure if she believed him, but the words were nice to hear.

To be continued...