Chapter 11

Answered Prayers

Disclaimer: Characters not mine just the story.

Rating: M

Brass and Catherine sat in the hall of the surgical ward with Grissom. They had all just experienced the two longest hours of their lives when the doctor walked in.

"Grissom, Sara is in recovery now. We successfully stopped the bleeding without having to do any drastic procedures. Your son is in the NICU and so far is responding to our treatments. It will be a while yet till you can see him."

"Can I at least see Sara?" his voice barely over a whisper.

"Sure, follow me." She led him down towards the recovery rooms. Sara was still under the anaesthetics and looked to be sleeping peacefully. Grissom slowly and carefully took her hand and leaned in to kiss her forehead.

"Sara" he whispered "I want you to fight. You need to wake up and get better so you can see your baby boy."

And with his words Sara stirred and mumbled his name.

"Shhhh. Don't try to talk much you need your rest."

"Where's the baby?"

"He's upstairs in the NICU. They are taking care of him now."

"Him? We had a boy. Have you seen him? Is he alright?"

"Yes Sara. You had a son. No I wanted to check on you to make sure you are alright."

"Go and make sure he's safe Gil, for me."

"Ok but I'll be back. You get some rest. I love you." he leaned over and kissed her again before walking out to meet the doctor.

"Well I see she's responding to you. That's a good sign." said Dr. Hathaway.

"Can I see our son? She wants me to make sure that he's alright."

"Sure I can take you there. But you won't be able to hold or even touch him for a few days."

"I understand. I just need to see him."

She nodded and led him to the NICU. When they arrived Grissom was shocked at how many other infants were there, close to 8 was his count.

"Dr. Hathaway, are all these babies premies?"

"Yes, the youngest was delivered 4 days ago, at 27 weeks. She's a fighter and doing well. Ah, here he is."

Grissom looked into an incubator with a blue name tag that simply said 'Grissom' on it. The baby was sleeping, tho Grissom didn't know how. He had an IV in his arm, sensors on his abdomen, and a tube pushing pure oxygen into his nose. The nurses had put a tiny blue hat on his head, blue booties on his feet, and what Grissom thought was the world's smallest diaper he had ever seen. He stood in amazement and watched his tiny chest rise and fall rapidly, and his tiny hands clench and relax.

"Doc, is he in any pain?" he stated pointing at the bab'y's hands.

"No, it's a reflex that most newborns have. Instinct tells them to clutch to the mother. He's doing very well under the circumstances. The little guy was under a lot of stress. We are considering his condition serious but stable at the moment. The first 24 hours are usually where they will have the most problems if they are going to have any at all."

Grissom looked at her and said, "I bet your not that forward with the other parents are you?"

"No, your friend, Det. Brass told me that you deal with things better knowing the truth. Most people I deal with know the truth but can't stand to hear it. I must say he was right and you are taking this well."

"Thank you for being honest with me." He leaned close to the incubator and talked to the infant. "Hey little man. If your anything like your mother then you're a fighter. I'm sure you will be just fine." He touched the glass and whispered, "I love you son." He stood and walked back towards Sara's room with the Doctor. "When can Sara see him?"

"I'm sure by tomorrow she will be feeling much better and can see him. We will also need to try this afternoon and get her to give some milk so we can feed him. That is if she is planning on breast feeding him."

Grissom's face went blank. He didn't know hell they hadn't even picked a name out for the baby. They assumed they had plenty of time to decide. 'Duh Grissom, hello, practice what you preach. Assume nothing.'

"I have no idea what she was planning on doing. We weren't really expecting this to happen so soon."

"I understand. I think it would be best if she does. I'll be back in an hour to check her then she can go back to her normal room."

She left Grissom standing in front of Catherine and Brass who were sitting patiently waiting for Grissom to return.

"Well Gil, how are they?" Catherine said quietly and patiently waiting for an answer.

Once everything finally sank in that big brain of Grissom's he responded. "I have a son."

Catherine stood and hugged him knowing at the moment that was all he could say. She could tell that his brain was in overload soaking up all the information that he'd just received. Brass sat smiling with a big grin motioning to Catherine that he was going to pass on the news to the lab.

She stepped back and looked at his face. It was emotionless. "Hey, how's Sara?"

"They are going to move her back to the room within the hour. But she won't be able to see the baby till tomorrow. Geez Catherine, we haven't even thought of any names yet."

"Well now it will be easier. It's a boy so all's you have to do is think of boy names that sound good with Grissom."

He just glared at her and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah I guess it's not the most easiest of names to go with." he said smiling. It was the first time he had even tried to smile in the last 10 hours.

Several hours later Grissom was sitting with Sara holding her hand and helping her drink some water. She was still very exhausted from everything. Dr. Hathaway had come earlier to get some milk from Sara. She stated that they were going to feed the baby through a nasal tube to his stomach for a few days and if he was strong enough by then she could nurse him her self.

"Sara are you feeling alright? Would you like to try and eat something?"

"I'm not eating anything they serve here. And I'm feeling fine." she said pushing herself into a sitting position.

"Well I've got some connections on the outside, how about some soup and bread? I can have it delivered in 10 minutes."

She looked at him and smiled. "That would be excellent."

He turned and whipped out his cell phone and called Catherine. "Hey Cat, listen could you stop on your way over and get Sara some soup?" turning towards Sara he said, "What do you want?"

"Lets start with Vegetable for now. And some wheat rolls."

He repeated the order to Catherine and asked for a sandwich for himself. "She'll be about 10 minutes. Hey Sara. I was thinking, you know we haven't named the baby yet and I'm sure everyone including the nurses would like a name to call him by. I'm sure they are getting tired of referring to him as baby Grissom."

"Ok you first. Since you are the only one who has seen him yet."

"Sara he was sleeping when I saw him. He has no hair and I have no idea what color his eyes are."

"Well just spit something out and eventually we will come to an agreement. But I don't want it to be a name that when he goes to school there are several other kids in his class with the same name."

Sighing Grissom looked at the ceiling like he was expecting a name so be written up there.

"Oh and no multiple middle names."

"Your not going to make this easy are you?"

"Well it's a name that he's going to have with him the rest of his life Gilbert." she said smiling.

Grissom shook his head. He continued to think when a grateful disturbanced entered the room.

"Real food for the new mother." Catherine came in smiling. She handed Sara her food and gave Grissom his sandwich. "So why are we deep in thought?" she said looking right at Grissom.

"He's supposed to give the first suggestion for a name but he's thinking too hard. I think he's hoping I'll go for some weird Shakespeare name." Sara laughed.

"Don't worry about that. I'm trying to think of a good name." Grissom said taking a bite of his food.

"Well I've all ways like the name Aaron or Andrew. They both sound very proper. Actually my very favorite name for a boy is Samuel." Catherine said smirking.

Grissom was the first to speak up, "No Samuel. I'm not naming my son after your father."

"Hey I didn't know he was my father when I was pregnant with Lindsey and thinking of names."

Sara just smiled at Grissom and kept eating her soup. She knew that what ever name he picked out was going to have some higher meaning.

"Well I can tell you that I already have a middle name picked out, James, and I'm sure I won't hear any arguments about it."

Catherine and Sara just smiled and nodded in approval. Then they noticed Gil stop eating and look up.

"How about Gabe? Gabriel James Grissom."

Catherine said, "What does Gabriel mean Gil?"

"Gabriel in Hebrew means 'strong man of god'. And seeing the battle that he is fighting now when he is so helpless, a name of strength fits." He continued to eat as Sara and Catherine looked wide eyed at each other. Water began to form in Sara's eyes. She didn't think he would think of a name with such a meaning.

"Gil, I love it. We'll name him Gabriel James. Gabe for short."

They all sat and continued to eat in silence.

Later that afternoon the guys came to visit Sara before they went into work. Catherine wouldn't tell them what they had named the baby so they were arguing as who they named the baby after.

Sara was reading while Grissom was sleeping in the chair his exhaustion finally catching up with him. Nick Warrick, and Greg stoped outside the room and looked in though the door. Nick went in while the other two waited outside. He crept up to the side of her bed and kissed her forehead. He tried to be as quiet as possible as to not wake Grissom.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine. Warrick and Greg can come in too you know."

"We don't want to wake Grissom, Catherine said he hasn't slept in a while. Nor would she give us any information except you had a boy."

"Yes and so far from what I hear he is doing well. I will get to see him later today I hope. Gil has seen him, he said he has no hair and he doesn't know what color his eyes are. Oh and he named him Gabriel James Grissom. Gabe for short."

"Cool I'm going to tell the others be right back." Nick stepped out of the room and told Warrick and Greg the news. Greg couldn't hold in his excitement and squealed. Nick and Warrick quickly slapped their hands over his mouth and looked in the room in time to see Grissom stir back to consciousness. "Way to go Greg." Nick said as they all walked into the room.

"I'm sure it's not big deal you guys." Sara said to comfort Greg. "Hey Gil, are you awake?"

"Yeah I am now." he said looking at the trio in the room. "I'll give you some time to visit. I'm going to go check in on Gabe." He stood and leaned over Sara and kissed her cheek.

As the elevator doors opened Grissom yawned as he stepped out and headed towards the NICU. He saw several nurses rush into the room and he couldn't help stop the sudden chill that went up his spine. He knew there were other babies in there also, but he couldn't help but think it was his and he quickened his pace.

He stopped in front fo the large window looking into the NICU frantically looking for Gabe's incubator. He found is on the opposite side of the room. Grissom patiently waited out side watching Dr. Hathaway and the nursing staff work on another baby. After several tense minutes he noticed the doctor turn and walk out of the room.

She turned to him and said, "You can go in and see your son now."

"How's the other baby?"

She just shook her head and walked away. Grissom could only think what the parents are about to hear. And how they would react. How would he react if something happened to his son. He shook his head clear and walked over to Gabriel's incubator. The infant was awake. Grissom noticed that he had his deep blue eyes. He smiled as Gabe squirmed in his glass cage. Dr. Hathaway walked up and stood beside Grissom.

"He's very strong. I'm surprised that he's doing as well as he is. Since we fed him he's just come to life."

"Sounds like Sara. When she's so tired she can barely function, all you need to do is feed her and she's ready to go again in an hour or so. Of course that's just a temporary fix for her. But I can tell he has her spirit."

He didn't leave until Gabe had settled down and drifted off to sleep. As he passed the nurses station one nurse flagged him down.

"Mr. Grissom, I have a message for you."

"Thank you." he said and retrieved the piece of paper. He looked at the message after reading the first few written words he rolled his eyes.

'From Conrad Ecklie: Grissom we need you here at the lab ASAP.'

Right now the last place he needs to be is anywhere away from Sara and Gabe. He sighed when he read the note, and walked back to Sara's room. Nick, Warrick, and Greg had already left when he arrived.

"Hey Gil. How's Gabe doing?"

"God Sara he's beauitful. I wish you could see him. He has blue eyes."

"Well Dr. Hathaway just left and said I can go up and see him in the morning. Why are you looking like you were hit in the gut?"

Grissom held up the piece of paper and handed it to Sara. She took it and read it. "Why don't you call Catherine to see if she knows what the hell he wants. If it's truly an emergency, I won't mind if you go. I'm doing fine and it sounds like Gabe is doing better than expected. As long as you're here in the morning so I can go up and see him."

"I'm just going to call. Then we'll see if I need to go. Hell I don't even have a vehicle here. I've been wearing the same clothes for the last 20 hours without a shower." he said while dialing.

"Catherine, it's Gil. Hey do you have any idea what Conrad is up to? And why he needs me there?

"Well I heard something about the mayor's son found dead at their home. We are on our way there now. Brass is already there. I suppose Ecklie wants you there for mayoral support. Politics you know."

"Ok, look can you drop my Denali by here. I'll run and take a shower get cleaned up then I'll come help process for a few hours. But I need to be back here in the morning. Sara gets to go up and see Gabe."

"Ok we'll be there shortly, tell Sara we all said 'Hi'." And with that she hung up.

Grissom turned around and explained to Sara what was happening.

"Gil, it's fine I understand besides I was just planning on trying to get some sleep anyway. You go play politics for a few hours, then get your butt back here by morning. I'll wait for you if your going to be a little late."

"Ok, I'm not too comfortable with leaving right now but I shouldn't be too long. I love you." he leaned in a kissed her lips gently as if she would break.

"I love you too."

And with that he walked out and headed for the exit.

Sorry this chapter is a little long but once I started I couldn't stop. Just in case you were wondering I named the baby after a close friends who was a premie and is doing great now. The meaning of the name Gabriel in the story is true.