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Chapter 15 – The Move
It was 7am Sunday when Sara finally woke up. She looked at the clock and was surprised by the time. It was pretty late by her standards, but she realized she was still catching up on her missed sleep from the conference. On her way to take a shower, she glanced in to the bedroom when she heard the congested sound of Grissom's breathing. Seeing he was still sleeping, she went to take her shower.
When she came out thirty minutes later and saw Grissom still hadn't woken up, she decided to go to the store to pick up a Sunday paper. She grabbed a piece of paper from her desk and wrote a quick note to Grissom, in the event he woke up before she got back. She placed it on the nightstand in the bedroom and quickly left her apartment.
Sara returned fifteen minutes later. She dropped the newspaper on the coffee table and went to check on Grissom. He was still asleep, but she knew he had been up. His water was almost gone. She quietly walked in to the bedroom and took his glass. She made her way to the kitchen and washed it out. Refilling it, she brought it back to the bedroom. After closing the bedroom door, she went back to the kitchen, made a pot of coffee, and decided to make herself some scrambled eggs for breakfast.
With her breakfast and coffee in hand, she went to the living room. She put her plate and mug on the coffee table, and plopped down on the floor with her back against the couch. She started reading the newspaper as she ate, while keeping an ear out for Grissom.
Having read the entire newspaper and washed all the dishes, Sara returned to the couch and picked up her book to continue reading. If things continued the way they had the last day or so, she would be done with her book by the end of the day.
Around 11am, Grissom started to wake up and was overcome by a sneezing fit. After blowing his nose a few times, he decided to join the living and slowly made his way out to the living room. Seeing Sara spread out on the couch, he walked to the chair and fell in to it.
Sara put her book down and looked over to Grissom. "Good morning Grissom."
"Morning," he said, his voice so deep with congestion, it sounded like he said borning.
Sara started to laugh. "Grissom, you sound awful." Turning serious, she continued, "Have you taken any decongestant lately?"
"Not since sometime yesterday afternoon." He sneezed and started shivering.
Noticing that Grissom left the blanket in the bedroom, she got up from the couch and went to the bedroom. She grabbed the blanket, a pillow, and the box of tissues and walked back out to the living room. "Why don't you sit on the couch?" She placed the tissues on the coffee table and handed the pillow and blanket to Grissom.
"I'm fine here," he said while covering himself with the blanket. Not really wanting the pillow at the moment, he put it in his lap. "Thank you." Remembering that he needed to take the decongestant, he began to get up from the chair.
Sara saw Grissom getting up. "Stop. Where do you think you're going?"
"I need another dose of decongestant."
"Sit back down. Let me get it for you." Sara walked to the kitchen, popped out two pills from the foil packaging, walked back to the living room, and handed them to Grissom. Realizing he didn't have any water, she went to get his glass from the bedroom.
"Thanks, Sara," he said appreciatively, after swallowing the pills. "You know you are doing way too much for me."
Sara sat down on the couch and just smiled at his comment. "I don't mind," she said after Grissom met her eyes. "I don't know how well you feel, but are you up for another movie?"
"I don't know how long I'll last, but sure."
"Great." Sara got up and put in another movie, not telling him what movie it was.
When the title appeared on screen, Grissom looked over at Sara. "The Bill Chill?" Now why did you pick that one?" he asked while coughing.
"Same reason I picked the last one. You mentioned it once."
"Oh." He groaned a little as he tried to get comfortable.
"Grissom, will you please change places with me?"
He looked at Sara's concerned face. "Sure," he breathed. "I'll sit on the couch, but you don't need to move. We can share."
"Okay," she said with a hint of a smile on her face.
Grissom went over to the couch, sat down on the opposite side of Sara, and got comfortable.
"Mind sharing the blanket?" Sara asked.
"Not at all." He handed some of the blanket to Sara.
They watched the movie with Grissom only dozing off for a few minutes.
After getting up and putting the movie away, Sara realized what time it was. "Are you hungry at all Grissom? I don't think you've really eaten anything today."
"I haven't eaten anything yet. Guess I can try."
"I'll go make us some lunch. You just stay put."
As Grissom watched Sara heat up the soup for their lunch, he decided that it was now time to have his talk with her. He actually wanted to talk to her earlier Saturday, but he didn't have the strength then. "Sara, we need to talk."
Sara looked over at Grissom and was saddened by the seriousness in his voice and eyes. "We do?" she said, not wanting to hear to rest of the conversation, knowing that another big letdown was looming in the distance. This letdown being the one she never wanted to hear.
"Yes, we do," he said, motioning for her to sit down next to him.
Sara walked to the living room, sat down on the edge of the couch, and looked at Grissom.
Grissom could see the change in her expression and it saddened him. He really began to see what he'd done to her. "While lying around most of the weekend, I've had a lot of time to think." He wanted to make Sara smile, so he added, "Well, maybe not a lot of time since I've slept most of it away, but it ended up being enough." Not getting a smile, he continued. "Anyway, as I said, I had a lot of time to think."
Sara sat back against the arm of the couch with one leg tucked underneath her.
"Sara, there needs to be a change between us. Our friendship can't continue the way it is. I don't want it to continue the way it is. I know you went through a lot during Nick's abduction and after it…and so did I. I know you think it had no affect on me, but it did. And in a way I never thought possible." He looked up at her and took a deep breath to gather his thoughts so he could continue. Before he could continue though, he sneezed, which in turn started him coughing. Once the coughing subsided, he took a sip of water.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Sara got up from the couch to grab some cough drops from the bedroom. "It's too soon for more cough medicine. Here," she said, as she handed him one and returned to her spot on the couch.
"Thanks Sara." He coughed again and put the cough drop in his mouth. "First, you have to know that I've always lived my life for the crime lab. I've giving up having a private life in order to have a perfect public life. I always knew that if I ever had a personal life, it would get in the way and could possibly risk everything I've worked my entire life for." He looked up at Sara's sad face and was not surprised by her reaction. "But, that night after finding Nick, I kept thinking about what Walter Gordon asked me before he blew himself up."
Sara interrupted since it was the first time she'd heard anything about what went on between the two men inside the warehouse. "What did he ask you?" she hesitantly asked.
"He asked what Nick meant to me and how I felt seeing him in that coffin." He stopped to take another breath, feeling a little unsure at what he was about to reveal, but knowing he had to. Not being able to continue looking at Sara, he looked down at the floor. "While thinking about the conversation, my mind always turned to you and what you meant to me and if it had been you in that coffin. I honestly don't know what I would have done if it was you." He timidly looked up at her. "It was at that moment when I realized how much you meant to me, Sara. The thought that it could have been you, terrified me."
Sara gave him a shy smile. Unsure of what to say at this revelation and not really wanting to say anything, Sara moved closer on the couch to Grissom.
"The days after Nick's abduction, I really began to take a hard look at my life. For all these years I thought I was happy, but now I know I wasn't. In thinking about the possibility that it could have been you, I realized I was missing something important in my life." He looked down at his hands and started to play with the blanket. "I won't be truly happy unless I have you in my life, Sara."
At Grissom's words, Sara reached out and put her hands around his.
Feeling Sara's hands on his, he stopped playing with the blanket, looked up at her, and was taken in by her brown eyes. "Since that night, I've realized how alone I am and that I really have no life outside of the lab. I don't like it anymore. I'm ready to risk it all, Sara. I just hope I'm not too late."
Sara could feel her eyes start to well up with tears but blinked them away. "Grissom, you could never be too late." She couldn't believe what Grissom just confessed to her. He'd never opened up that much to her and she was a little in shock. At first she was scared at what he might tell her, but instead she got the complete opposite.
Grissom's eyes were fixed on Sara's and he gave her a warm smile. "I'm glad to hear that."
They both just sat there for a few minutes smiling and staring at each other until Sara heard the soup start to boil over. "We'll continue this discussion later," she said while smiling. She got up from the couch and went to the kitchen to get their lunch ready.
As they ate lunch, Sara continued to watch Grissom. He seemed to have been doing a good job of hiding his illness for the past few hours, but he was not able to do so as much anymore. Every chance he got he was rubbing his forehead, temples, or the bridge of his nose. He was constantly sniffling, and the look on his face also showed he was in pain and feeling just absolutely miserable. He was also just playing around with his soup, having only eaten a few spoonfuls when he first sat down. "Why don't you go lay down on the bed. You're still not feeling well."
"I think I will," he sighed. "Thank you for the soup Sara." He got up from the chair. "Sorry I wasted it. I'm just not all that hungry."
"Don't worry about. I'll put it in the refrigerator in case you want it later. Now just go lay down."
"Thank you. I still don't know how I can ever repay you." He slowly made his way to the bedroom. Partially closing the door behind him, he walked over to the bed and pulled down the covers. He got in the bed, laid down and fell asleep within minutes.
Sara finished up her lunch and put Grissom's left over soup in the refrigerator. She then washed the dishes and decided to straighten up the kitchen and living room.
TBC