Chapter 5 – Getting to the Airport
Sara got behind the wheel and pulled the car on to the main roadway. Grissom started to shiver so he reached over, turned the heat up higher and got comfortable in his seat. For some reason he still felt exhausted and the dull headache he woke up with was still lingering, even after the Tylenol Sara gave him. He was hoping that it was from lack of food, but since finishing dinner, it hadn't disappeared or gotten any better. Laying his head back against the seat, Grissom closed his eyes, the sound of the tires on the road lulling him to sleep.
While stopped at a red light, Sara looked over at Grissom and saw he had fallen asleep. His body and head were angled towards her with his arms crossed in front of his chest. She noticed that his face still looked flushed and that he started shivering again. Hoping not to wake him up, she gently placed a hand on his cheek, and then moved it to his forehead. He had a slight fever. Since she was almost sweating from the heat in the car, she took off her jacket and draped it over him to provide some additional warmth and make him more comfortable.
While Grissom was sleeping, he thought he felt someone touching his face and then covering him with something, but he didn't wake up. He had a feeling he was just dreaming, since he knew no one would be doing anything like that to him. Pushing the idea from his mind, he went in to a deeper sleep.
Forty minuets later, they arrived at Midway. The trip to the airport took longer than expected and they only had forty minutes before their plane was to take off. And unfortunately, the storm had come back in full force. It was still not cold enough for snow, but it was for sleet, and it was coming down harder than it did earlier in that afternoon.
Sara parked the car in front of the car rental booth and turned off the engine. She looked over at Grissom sleeping and smiled. She hated having to wake him, but they needed to return the car and check in for their flight. She began to gently shake him awake.
Grissom heard his name being called and felt a hand on his shoulder. He slowly opened his eyes and blinked a few times.
"We're here Grissom," Sara said, and got out of the car. She opened the trunk and started to take out all of their bags.
As Grissom became more aware of his surroundings, he saw that he was covered by Sara's jacket. A slight smile formed on his lips when he realized he wasn't dreaming. As he opened the door and got out of the car, he started to cough. Recovering quickly, he went to the trunk and helped Sara remove the rest of the bags. After all the bags were out of the trunk, he gave Sara back her jacket. "Thank you for this," he said.
Sara grimaced at the congestion in his voice and took her jacket. "It looked like you could use it more than I could. I hope it helped."
"It did." They grabbed their bags and headed to the car rental counter to return the keys. "Thanks," he said, and was overcome by another coughing fit.
"Grissom, you don't sound too good. Are you alright?" she asked with concern in her voice.
"I'm fine."
Once inside the building, Sara put her bags down next to a few of the waiting chairs. "Why don't you sit here and watch the bags. I'll take care of the car."
"If you don't mind…" Grissom handed Sara the paperwork for the car and took a seat. He couldn't believe how bad he felt. No matter what he did, he couldn't seem to get warm. Now that he was wet all over again, he doubted he would be warm for a while. The headache he had for the past few hours still wouldn't go away and the sore throat was getting worse. It now hurt just to swallow. And to join in with all that was the congestion he could feel building up and a cough. This was definitely the last place he wanted to be coming down with a cold. Not only did he not want to get sick while spending his last few hours alone with Sara, he absolutely did not want to show this vulnerability to her. She really doesn't need to see him at his worst.
Any lingering thoughts Grissom had were interrupted by Sara. "All set," she said, and grabbed her bags and one of Grissom's. "Let go get checked in for our flight."
Grissom reached to pick up his bags and saw that Sara had one of his. He tried to grab for it, but Sara wouldn't let it out of her hand.
"I've got it Grissom. Don't worry about it." She led the way outside and they proceeded toward the terminal for their flight, getting drenched in the process. "Since we were running way behind, I never had a chance to stop at the drug store. But hopefully if we get through the ticket counter line and security fast enough, we might have time to stop in one of the stores inside the airport."
"I doubt we'll have time. We've only got twenty minutes before our plane leaves." Grissom arrived at the ticket counter first and got their boarding passes.
With passes in hand, they walked in the direction of the line for security. Looking at the length of the line, Sara turned to Grissom. "I guess we won't have time. I'm sorry Grissom," she said sympathetically. "Is your headache getting worse? I have some more Tylenol in my purse. Just let me know if you need it and it's yours."
"I'll keep that in mind." Grissom suddenly felt the need the sneeze and tried to ignore the feeling. "If I remember correctly some airlines have packets of aspirin for their passengers." Sniffling, he continued, "Hopefully our airline is one of those. I don't want to use up all of your supply." The urge to sneeze was now coming on full force and he knew there was no way to stop it. With both hands full, one with his bag the other with his ticket, he turned his head away from Sara and muffled the sneeze into his elbow. Turning back towards Sara he continued, "Once we get settled in and have taken off, I'll see if they have any."
"Okay, but I have enough aspirin to get you through the flight, if you need it." She really wanted to comment on his deteriorating health, but decided against it. Grissom wasn't acknowledging it yet so she chose to wait until he either brought it up or it couldn't be ignored.
TBC