Disclaimer: Nope don't own them or anything like it.
Spoilers: It's set Post Grave Danger so spoilers for Season 5 & 6
Author's Note: It's a darker story than others I've posted, no one beta'd so any errors our mine own. R&R let me know what you think.
Slowly Sara became aware of her body. She wasn't hot or cold, but not quite comfortably warm yet either. There was a familiar exhaustion verging on ache in her muscles, but she didn't doubt she'd be sore and moving would be painful for a few days. She was bruised and battered, but alive. Opening her eyes she took note of her surroundings the plain white walls and ceilings. The crisp cotton bedding and the steady hiss, beep and whine of machines around her. She was alone in her hospital room.
When they'd rescued Nick his hospital room had been filled with visitors and get well memorabilia. It hurt a little to be so alone. She'd expected at the very least to see Greg and Nick, but no one was there. Suddenly the memory of the bomb exploding came rushing back. They weren't here because they were hurt or injured. A single tear fell, then another until she was sobbing. It was hard to sob because each deep breath left her gasping at the pain in her chest. She wondered if the pain was from her heart breaking or actual physical discomfort. Sara was so focused on the pain she didn't hear the nurse's footsteps until she was there with an injection.
"Shh honey you need to rest. Everything will look better in a couple hours." Sara glared at the heavy set perky blonde but couldn't catch the woman's eye as she bent to insert the needle into the IV so Sara settled for glaring at her name badge. Tyree was written in bright pink and surrounded by pastel butterflies, ladybugs and dragonflies. Which made Sara think of Grissom, but before the tears could form the medication was already working pulling her back into a deep dreamless sleep.
Dr. Robbins leaned against the waiting room wall, he'd repeatedly tried to send the team home to get some rest, but no one had budged. Not that he was really surprised Sara had long ago found a place in everyone's heart so subtly that only her absence had them realizing how important she was to them. Looking around the room he watched the clusters of lab techs, cops and CSIs all waiting for word and their concern was almost palpable.
His attention switched from the people around him to the girl lying down the hall. Hank Pettigrew had waited for the CSIs to arrive so he could explain and reassure them that Sara was indeed alive and well. Not that what he said reassured her loved ones. The hypothermia had put enough stress on her body that her heart that had begun beating erratically until it stopped all together. The paramedics and ER doctors had stabilized her and now Sara was in the Critical Care Unit while the others waited to see her.
The Coroner understood their need to see Sara because it was the flip side of the grieving loved ones he saw everyday. This was one of those times when the reality didn't seem real until you could see and touch your loved one. It was the one thing the Crime Lab nightshift crew needed and had so far been denied. No amount of coercion or threatening had gotten the hospital staff to let any of them in to see her. The last word had been hours ago letting them know she was resting comfortably.
Shuffling over to Catherine he sat next to the woman who looked as exhausted as she probably felt. "Catherine these folks need to get some sleep and home would be the best place for them to get it. Sara's gonna need us all at our best to get this guy and take care of her over the next couple of days."
"She's gonna love that." Catherine smiled for the first time since Sara had disappeared. "I'll see what I can do, but I doubt some of them will budge." She'd glanced at the group in the corner, in unspoken agreement Warrick and Brass kept watch over Grissom, she and Greg focused on Nicky while Robbins and David kept an eye on everyone else.
Robbins nodded as he began his shifting gait across the room, Brass stood meeting the other man halfway. "Hey Doc you think between the two of us we could get Dr. Grissom into her room." Brass asked then grinning as Robbins smiled and nodded. Catherine spotted the pair as she got the last lab rat to agree to go home and wait for a phone call. They both wore mischievous grins with the kind of devious gleam in their eye that moms instinctively know and dread.
Robbins continued across the room to taking the now empty seat next to Grissom. The physician's eyes noted that Grissom seemed to have taken the brunt of wood shrapnel from the bomb blast. Luckily for them all it had only been a small amount of explosive under that stair, a poor man's version of the personal land mine. If someone had stepped on it both Gil and Sara would probably be dead now. Except they hadn't walked back up the stairs so when the bomb blew it wasn't been strong enough to do much more than blow fragments of wood. Everyone who'd been close to the stairs was covered in little cuts and contusions, but none were serious.
While the entomologist didn't really look any worse for the wear from the ordeal. Robbins knew that looks were deceiving because he'd looked into Gil's eyes. Only those brilliant blue windows to the soul revealed the injury subtle injuries to his soul. His friends had seen similar looks before on the hardest cases, but only three times did it seem this bad. The case with Sara's look alike Debbie Marlin, Holly Gribbs' shooting at a scene and Nick's abduction.
Looking at his friend sitting quietly on the uncomfortable chair staring at the paper cup in his hands studying the black coffee as if it held the answers he was seeking. Al realized that for Gil the pain of losing Holly Gribbs that first shift and the terror of watching Nick suffer in his underground coffin was incomparable to the agony of nearly losing Sara. Like their other friends the Coroner knew that the young woman was just as important to her supervisor as he was to her.
"Gil she's fine and we'll be able to see her in no time."
"We were nearly too late Al."
"You got there just in time Gil."
"Did I? Or am I already too late?" Gil's question confused both of his friends. Brass stood and gave Al a subtle nod of his head in the direction of the coffeepot. Robbins followed while Warrick took up the vigil next to Grissom.
