DISCLAIMER:Don't own it... No money made... Just for fun and enjoyment.

SUMMARY: Sequel to Displacement. The CSI team and their recently hired coroner Stephanie are back to work solving cases, sharing companionship and generally making their way through the dire world of criminal investigation with humor and friendship... This one will show the development of the relationship between Grissom and Sara and there should be some other surprises down the road as well. Romance/Drama/Angst/Mature Situations

RATING: M for Mature - I'm starting this one out at "M", since we won't be waiting quite so long for the smut this time out ;) Also, there is a sprinkling of language throughout the story.

A/N: I don't know about you guys, but that scene in "Bang Bang" just didn't do it for me... I wanted something much more graphic between Warrick and Tina, so I wrote the last chapter with that in mind... This chapter, however, should answer a few questions that may have popped up in previous chapters. :D And possibly raise a few more ;)

REVIEWS: I am always looking for ways to improve my writing, and your reviews let me know if I am hitting my mark. Thank you in advance for the time you take to read & review this story.


Chapter 47

As he cautiously approached the room, he could hear the faint sounds of her coughing. It sounded much more subdued than it had when he left in the late morning hours of the day before, but it was still obvious she was having difficulty. However, he was oddly surprised by the sight he beheld as he poked his head in through the door. Stephanie was sitting up in the bed, an oxygen tube wrapped tightly around her head and sitting just under her nose, a mister of some kind was busily dousing her with humidified air, and between coughs she attempted to drink from a thermos being held, alternately, by Sara, who was standing beside the bed. It looked to him as though she had finally turned the corner and his heart felt a great deal lighter because of it.

She spotted him at the doorway and motioned for him to come closer. That was when he realized Thomas and Grissom were nowhere to be found. Instead, he found Stephanie's mother asleep on the spouse's bench, with a blanket pulled over her and only Sara keeping vigil at her bedside. Warrick gestured around the room, but kept his voice low as he asked, "Did I miss the breakfast order? Or did you finally kick them all out?"

Stephanie shook her head as she strained to control her coughing for a moment. The frustration in her eyes prompted Sara to speak for her and she said, "Grissom finally convinced Thomas to at least go home, shower and change clothes. He figured the kid would fall asleep by the time he got back to their place." Sara spoke softly, but she kept her attention on Stephanie. When she handed her another tissue and held up the waste can for her to toss the last one, Warrick realized that the two had developed an oddly symbiotic rhythm to the situation.

He held up the bag in his hand and shrugged, "Then I guess this won't be necessary."

Stephanie was still coughing, and she motioned something to Sara, and then Sara relayed the question to Warrick. "She wants to know what's in the bag."

Warrick shook his head as he responded, "Just some clothes he aske-…" He stopped speaking when he noticed Stephanie motioning for him to give her the bag with a demanding gesture. "Yes, Ma'am!" He chuckled and shook his head in disbelief at her insistence, but he also figured he would have had the same idea if he was dressed in only a hospital gown.

She gave back the thermos to Sara, and immediately began to rifle through the bag. She quickly found a t-shirt to her liking and pulled it out to lay on her lap. Next, she found a pair of shorts that also held some promise. However, she found Sara shaking her head in contrast to that decision. "Catheter and Nurse Ratchet… I think you're gonna have to settle for just the t-shirt." She again motioned something to Sara, and it left her laughing through her hand, which was held up to her mouth. "Sorry… But she really does swear like a sailor when she signs."

Warrick tilted his head to the side and remarked, "She's not exactly saintly any other time, either." He then thought of a question that had been bothering him for some time and had to ask, "And since when do you know sign language?"

Sara just shrugged off his question, "Not long."

"And how do you know all the swear words?"

She shrugged at him again, and then looked conspiratorially at Stephanie, "It's her fault… That's what she started with."

He could not help himself, but to laugh. The two women had obviously been growing quite close since Sara's relationship with Stephanie's uncle had started, but he had no idea they had gotten that close. "Why does you two teaching each other anything scare the hell out of me?"

"Because you are a wise man." Grissom chose that moment to make his way past Warrick as he walked over to place a gentle kiss on Sara's cheek, he took the thermos from her hands and motioned for her to sit down. "Which reminds me… When did you start taking ASL lessons?"

Sara sat back in the chair beside the bed and shrugged her shoulders. "Not long, but I figured it wouldn't be a bad thing."

Grissom was confused as to why she would have thought such a thing. "Whatever for?"

"Eventually, I'll have to meet your mother… I thought it only proper to be able to talk to the woman…" She cocked an eyebrow and then added, "Without you, that is."

Grissom shot her a pointed look and exclaimed, "Why am I worried, now?"

Stephanie chuckled, sputtered and then managed to squeak out the words, "Because you are a wise man."

After they all laughed at Stephanie's return volley of his earlier joke, he felt compelled to ask a question regarding the other mystery there, "And just where did you learn ASL?"

There were a few more coughs and a couple of careful breaths before she answered, "Same place you did."

He shook his head and considered her answer to be comical and confusing. "Well, that's ridiculous… I learned it from my mother." He was met with a nod of her head and was visibly blown away by her answer. "What in the world would have possessed you to have her give you ASL lessons? And when did you see her? The last time she came to San Francisco to see me, you were only… What, ten or eleven years old?"

She took in a few more calming breaths, leaned back into the pillows when the accompanying coughs did not surface and then quietly remarked, "I lived… in L.A. for seven years, Uncle Gil…" She paused, took in another breath, stifled a small cough and then continued, "And she is… the only… grandmother I've… ever had."

Grissom nearly lost the swallow of coffee he had just taken into his mouth, and had to bring a napkin up to his face to wipe away the bits that had escaped. "What?"

Stephanie smiled at him through her weary expression, "Hey, she's the… one who started it."

Grissom gave her one of his disapproving looks and asked, "Started what?"

She took in another breath, sputtered a bit, spit something out into the tissue and aimed it at the waste bin Sara picked up for her to toss it into. Grissom found Sara's hand at his back and he turned to find a box of tissues being handed to him. He took the cue and pulled one out of the box to hand to Stephanie. She took the tissue and settled back down as she explained, "Graduation… From Berkeley… Told me to call her Grandma Mary, since I was… likely to be… her only… grandchild."

Grissom stood there in astonishment at the audacity of his mother, and more so because he had no idea that a relationship had been established between her and Stephanie. However, before he could respond to the revelation, Stephanie had one more thing to add, "And she… wants to know… when… the…" Her words were stunted by her breathing, but also by the fact that she was slowly drifting off to sleep. "The… wedding is…" All the air escaped his lungs in that moment and his face had turned a ghostly white.

He had not spoken to his mother about Sara, more than a passing remark since they had started their new relationship, and so he was completely surprised to learn she knew more than she had ever let on and that Stephanie was responsible for that knowledge. Just what have those two been cooking up all this time?

Before he had a chance to deal with all the implications of that knowledge, he was shaken once again by a groggy voice from the other side of the room. "I wouldn't mind knowing that one myself…" Elizabeth had stirred from her slumber to pin him to the board on the subject, "I have a cruise I want to plan, but I wouldn't want to miss anything so monumental."

He turned to look at Sara, who was leaning back in the recliner with her eyes half closed, to gauge her reaction. At first, he was hopeful that she had actually slept through that little exchange, but when her lips parted and she began to speak, he knew that he was doomed. "Don't look at me… I'm not that kind of girl."

Warrick could do nothing, except stand there and hope they kept the focus on Grissom, and forgot he was even in the room. But that hope was lost as well, when Stephanie woke with a cough, and regarded him as he stood motionless in the center of the room. "Hey… Do you need anyone to… go with you… to-tomorrow?"

It took him a minute to process that question, but then he realized she was referring to his appointment with the lawyers in the afternoon. He was not looking forward to such a wonderful experience, but he also wanted to avoid any more scenes like the one Catherine had unwittingly walked into yesterday morning. "Ah… I'm sure I can-…"

She started coughing out loud again, and they came in such a quick succession that the alarms from the monitors started going off. Sara jumped up to switch them off, and moved behind the young woman to pound firmly on her back, as she reached down and handed Stephanie an emesis basin. Stephanie continued to cough violently, and then she choked, coughed again and he could see her take in a deep, sharp breath of air. Her chest was heaving from the exertion, but she was able to finally spit something semi-solid into the basin as she hunched forward. Warrick started to back out of the room, but was halted by Stephanie holding up her hand to signal him to stay. After a few more moments, her breathing seemed to calm back down, and Sara helped her to lie back in the bed once more.

Sara gestured for him to grab the wet washcloth from the bowl on the other side of the bed, and to hand it to her. He picked it up and then took it to the small sink on that side of the bed to run some fresh water through it. Warrick carefully wrung it out and handed it over to Sara, who wiped down Stephanie's cheeks, before folding the washcloth and laying it over her forehead to cool her down. Warrick watched the display intently, memorizing each gesture and movement, because he knew someone else would have to take over at some point. He could see the exhaustion building up in Sara's eyes, and he decided that he owed the young woman at least as much care as she had given him during the difficult time he had been experiencing. Just when he thought Stephanie was drifting off to sleep once more, she put a hand on his forearm and whispered, "Take her home… Please?"

Sara had obviously heard the young woman's request and she had something to say about it, "I'm fine… I've had more sle-…" Stephanie halted her with her hand gestures and Sara could not find a reason to argue with what the woman had said to her, and so she finally acquiesced. "Fine… But I'm just going home to shower and change, got it?"

Stephanie winked at Warrick and then said, again in a whisper, "Thank God… I can… smell her… from here."