Chapter XXIII

Recovery

He didn't want to wear the mask. They understood why, they really did...but he needed oxygen. He lay there, in one of the degrading hospital gowns...an IV drip in his arm...He had almost died...the idea that he'd all but kissed the phantom lover known as death scared him far more then he wanted to admit.


Warrick weakly looked up when his door opened. He expected Grissom...or Sara...He was wrong. Sitting there in a pair of obviously borrowed scrubs in a wheel chair was Jim Brass. The care-worn police Capitan looked at him. "You missed me this much?" Warrick tried to laugh, but could only wheeze. Jim wheeled closer to his bed. It had only been a little while ago and Jim had been the one that they had thought would die. The man was on a very long road to recovery, but he already looked much better now. "And I heard that you got to wake up to Catherine, Sara and Sofia...I got Grissom." Warrick felt a grin coming across his face, "Hey, I even got a kiss from Sara." Jim gave him a dubious look, "CPR doesn't count." A new voice came from the door. "She saved his life." Both Warrick and Jim turned, Tina Brown, Warrick's soon-to-be ex wife stood there. Jim looked from Warrick to the lady in the door. "I'll be leaving then, don't want to miss dinner, they serve a mean jello here." Jim wheeled himself out.
Warrick, looked at the woman he'd married. "Hey." She gave a weak smile, "Hey...the uh hospital called me." He nodded, "Well, thanks for coming to see me." He looked and yes, she too, still wore her wedding band. She picked up his chart and looked it over, but she was only killing time. Finally she looked up, her dark eyes filled with unshed tears. "You almost died." Warrick shrugged, but knew that the matter was much more serious then a simple jerk of his shoulder. She sighed and moved closer. She reached out and took his hand, her own hands were trembling. "I got that call and I couldn't breathe, Warrick...maybe...maybe I was wrong...I still love you, Warrick Brown...maybe we can try again..."
The entire night shift was once again gathered in the waiting room. Hadn't only been a heartbeats ago that they'd been here...waiting for news of Jim's fight for life?

Catherine was still glassy-eyed with slight shock. Sara quietly sat by Sofia, who was filthy. Nick and Greg paced the room at different speeds. Finally, Catherine broke the taboo of silence. Remembering Sara's fast jargon filled explanation of Warrick's condition to the EMTs...she had to ask. "Where did you learn all that, Sara? The CPR and stuff."

Sara looked up sharply, almost as if she were surprised that someone had asked. Grissom turned to her too... everyone paused and looked at her. She only shrugged, "I did two years of Med School." Grissom blinked. "You never told me you wanted to be a doctor." Sara shrugged again and stared off past Grissom, back into her own past. "There's a lot of things you don't know about me...I really don't want to talk about it." The shutters came down over her eyes and her face went impassive, masking all feelings and emotions from everyone else. It was a skill that Sara was very adept at, hiding her feelings...hiding herself in plain sight. No one knew exactly what to make of Sara's confession, but the conversation was obviously one she would not continue.


Catherine walked down the hall. She could still see Warrick laying there, spread-eagle on the ground in that damn shack. So still...so pale, almost dead. She rounded the corner and made it to his door. Inside she saw him...and her. Tina, his wife, holding his hand, talking to him. Catherine turned, unable to watch anymore. She thought that maybe...she'd seen something in those amazing green eyes when they'd looked at her. He'd said that his marriage was over...and she thought that maybe she had a chance. She couldn't argue with the evidence though and it was screaming that Tina was still in his heart...she was still his wife...and that was something she could not...would not interfere with. A lump came to her throat and a too familiar pain cut through her heart. She'd missed her chance...again.
He thought he saw a flash of red-gold hair in his doorway and his heart momentarily lifted...it was not Catherine, though. It was only a trick of his eye. He lay there, with Tina holding his hand and he knew...he finally knew. His marriage was truly and completely over...if not on paper, then in his heart. When he'd been laying there, lungs starved for oxygen, consciousness slipping away, dying...His last thoughts had not been of his wife...but of the beautiful Catherine Willows and how much he wanted to see her one last time. He looked at Tina. She wanted to give it one last try, but he knew and was pretty sure that she did too...another try would be like beating a dead horse, cruel and pointless. He squeezed her hand one last time and then released it. "Tina...I think we both know that it's really over now." There were no tears, no regrets. Warrick took off his wedding band, bid his ex good bye and laid back against the bed, ready to sleep peacefully for the first time in a long time.

Author's Note: Wow...that's some heavy Cath-Warrick stuff...jeez I couldn't be any more blantent with it if I was running around with a giant sign...

All right, the Sara-wanted-to-be-a-doctor-thing. Yes, I have twitched the cannon around, just a smidge. Sara did two years or so of grad work at Berkley. I never really figured out why she quit half way through...doesn't seem very Sara-like...and no I don't go for 'Grissom's lecture was soo good that it altered Sara's entire life' idea either... There are many theories flying around...though I've not seen this one. If you stick around for the next two stories, you'll find out why it's relevent... This Dr. Sara thing is also a tip of my hat to Jorja Fox's ER charecter, Maggie Doyle (She was a surgeon doing her residency in and around the fourth season or so)