SLOW BURN

~ Chapter 20 ~

A/N: Sorry for the delay, the whole thing just got away from me again but I will rein it in, I promise!

"It's going to be okay, Sara." Reaching across, Grissom placed his hand firmly over hers, putting an end to the incessant finger drumming she'd started almost as soon as they'd sat down. "You heard what the guy doing the scan said; according to him everything looks good."

"He's a tech not a doctor." Glancing up at the clock on the wall, Sara sighed impatiently. "I think I'll wait until we hear it from someone with a medical degree before I start to celebrate."

"That tech probably does a dozen or more of those things every day, I'd like to bet that he can read them better than any M.D. in Vegas."

"Maybe," she conceded with a curt nod, "but I'd still like to hear it from Dr. Daniels." She drew in a sharp breath. "Why did they tell us to come in here when he clearly isn't ready to see us?"

Pulling his hand back, Grissom lightly scratched the area above his right eye; the annoying itch he was experiencing was a promising sign that the gash was beginning to heal but the bruised area surrounding it was still tender and he winced as his fingertips caught a particularly sensitive spot.

"I'm sure he won't be much longer," he commented as he, too, looked at the clock. "He's probably been running late all day thanks to seeing me first thing this morning." Grissom chuckled. "It's his receptionist that I feel sorry for; I bet the last thing she thought she'd have to deal with today was a pissed off Sara Sidle."

"Well, maybe that'll teach her to listen when I tell her that I need an appointment for my husband." She chuckled lightly. "I was a little rough on her, wasn't I?"

"Maybe a little, yeah, but it did get results. One thing you've got to remember though is that we're here about my stress levels, not yours."

With an exasperated sigh, Sara rolled her eyes at the comment. "How can you be so calm?"

"It's pretty easy actually," Grissom told her honestly. "The nausea's gone and so has the headache. I haven't felt dizzy or faint since I passed out on Friday and, thanks to your monitoring, we know that both my heart rate and blood pressure are back to relatively normal levels and staying that way." He offered her a reassuring smile. "Plus I spent the entire weekend either sleeping or watching television in bed so how could I not be calm? Whatever it was has gone, Sara; I really do feel good."

"You said almost exactly the same thing when you were in Florida," she pointed out as she moved her hand lightly across the mound of her stomach. "And the next day I found you unconscious on the floor."

Knowing that nothing he said would convince her, Grissom nodded towards her belly. "Kicking?"

"Yeah, has been all morning." Sara focused her fingers on one particular spot. "The little devil's starting to get some real force behind it now too, there's some definite jabs going on today."

"Probably unsettled because you're uptight and he knows it." He shrugged. "Or she, of course." Reaching across, he placed his hand protectively over the swell of her abdomen. "There's also the fact that you've barely eaten anything today which, I imagine, doesn't impress him or her either."

"I know," she nodded her agreement. "But, to be honest, I couldn't have faced food this morning; let's just get this appointment over and done with and then I'll think about feeding both of us."

"I'm sure he won't be much longer." Grissom checked the clock again. "Hey, we have to start thinking of names."

"I know we do but are you really sure this is the time and place to have this conversation?"

"Well, it's either that or we play I Spy," he joked, pleased to see her beginning to relax a little. "So, do you have any particular favorites?"

"Well, boy or girl, the middle name's a given so that's half the job done but when it comes to first names…" Sara shrugged self-consciously, "I've actually been kind of afraid to think that far ahead; everything's gone so smoothly so far, I don't want to tempt fate."

"You do know that, as scientists, we probably shouldn't be letting an abstract concept, such as fate, rule our lives, right?" Grissom chuckled at the disdainful glare she shot him." You're not tempting anything by choosing names, Sara; we're prepared in almost every other way for this kid's arrival, I think it'd be smart to come up with at least a couple of different options to name it before the birth."

"Perhaps." Still a little wary of the role providence may or may not decide to play, Sara shrugged. "How did you decide on what to name Ben?"

"Oh, he was easy." Grissom idly rubbed his chin as he thought back to his first few days of fatherhood. "Everything was so hectic and complicated that first week of his life; between Melissa taking off, him being in the NICU, Jim, Catherine and my mom all turning up," he shrugged, "I just wanted something simple and uncomplicated for him. I've always liked the name and it seemed to suit him so that was that."

"So we're after simple and uncomplicated for this one?" she asked.

"Not necessarily." Grissom shrugged. "For all I know you've always had a secret desire to call your daughter…" he thought for a moment, "I don't know, Persephone for example and, if that's what you really want to go for, then I'm all for it." He nodded slowly as he gave it a little more thought. "Actually Persephone Grissom might work, you know." His lips quirked up into a teasing grin. "It'll take a little bit of getting used to but, I think, eventually-"

"Eventually?" Sara almost spat the word out. "If you think, for a single moment that I'd even consid-"

"Sorry for the delay, folks." Pushing the door closed behind him, Dr. Daniels entered with an apologetic smile. "I wanted to go over every inch of the results before I spoke with you."

Quickly switching her attention from her husband to the doctor, Sara sat up straight in her seat. "You've got them back already?"

"Everything except the blood tests." Slipping into his leather office chair, he stared almost solemnly across at the couple seated on the opposite side of the large timber desk before fixing his attention on Grissom. "So, Gil…," he took a deep breath, "how long have we known each other now?"

"I…" Faltering slightly at the unexpected question, Grissom glanced first at Sara and then back at his doctor before offering the man a clueless shrug. "I'm not sure; fifteen years, twenty maybe."

"Twenty sounds about right." Tapping a couple of keys on his desktop computer, Daniels quickly pulled up Grissom's medical file. "So, I guess that means we've known each other long enough to cut to the chase when it comes to a diagnosis; no sugar coating, no beating about the bush, no bullshit, right?"

Glancing up, he watched as Sara reached across the short gap that separated her chair from her husband's and slipped her hand over his, her fingers tightening until the knuckles turned white in, what the doctor guessed, was a fairly even mixture of both comfort and fear.

"I mean, having dealt with each other for so long, it's probably best that I just come straight out and say it, correct?"

"I would prefer it that way." Grissom inhaled and slowly let it out as he turned his head to look at his wife. "I think we both would."

"Okay then." Staring at his screen again, Daniels nodded. "I don't know how you're going to take this, Gil but, according to your test results, you're absolutely fine."

"Excuse me?" Eyes widening in surprise, Sara sat forward in her chair. "How can he be fine after everything that's been happening?"

"Beats me but he is," Daniels grinned happily. "Of course, we won't get your blood work back for another day or two so I, perhaps, should have put a caveat on that but, going by the physical exam I gave you this morning along with your x-ray, ultrasound and EKG results, you have an absolutely normal heart that is working exactly as it should be."

"Really?" Despite his earlier assurances to Sara, Grissom was somewhat surprised by the findings.

"Really," Daniels confirmed as he read the screen in front of him. "I have to admit, when you told me what had been going on, I was expecting the worst which is why I started pulling strings to get those scans done today but the only thing I'm even mildly concerned about health-wise is that your blood pressure is still a little higher than I'd like it to be." He glanced across at Grissom. "You haven't taken any Caduet at all since early Friday afternoon, correct?"

"That's right," Grissom nodded. "To be honest, I was afraid to; I really didn't want to hit the floor again."

"Can't blame you for that." Scrolling through the file, the doctor double-checked his current prescriptions. "Both your blood pressure and cholesterol levels reacted so well to it that I think we'll just drop you down to a lower dose and see how that goes; if we can get that BP down just a touch more and keep it there I think we'll both be happy."

"So it was the medication that caused the problem?" Sara frowned, her hand still wrapped tightly around Grissom's. "One of the things that Helen suggested was that his blood pressure was being pushed too low."

"It's a possibility and, if that's the case, dropping the dose will definitely help but from what you told me this morning and the results I'm seeing this afternoon, I think it's probably been a combination of things." Turning from the computer, he smiled from one to the other. "From what you said, you were dealing with some stressful things last week and you topped it all off with a long-distance flight to Florida and back plus, throughout it all, you were battling, what sounds to me, like some sort of virus." He shrugged. "If I had to take a guess, I'd say that what happened to you last Friday was simply a case of an over-stressed system that decided to get your attention by shutting down for a while."

"So, the whole thing was a one-off?"

"I suspect it was," Daniels nodded. "Catching up on your rest over the weekend has allowed your body to both reset and recharge so, provided you don't have another week like the last one, I'd be very surprised if something like that was to happen again." He glanced back at the screen. "How's the heartburn been since Friday?"

"Not as bad but it still plays up now and then," Grissom shrugged. "Burn is definitely the right word for it; there are times when it feels like I've swallowed fire."

"Well, they don't call it acid reflux for nothing." Daniel's quipped. "Since it seems to have been a fairly major contributor to the way you've been feeling, I'm going to try you on Prilosec to see about getting it under control." Turning back to his keyboard, he spoke as he typed. "I'd also suggest that you pay attention to what you're eating to see if you can identify any foods or drinks that may be setting it off: things like chocolate, nuts, coffee, tea, cola drinks and alcohol are fairly common triggers for heartburn."

"So that's it then?" Sara asked hopefully. "No more tests or scans? No cardiologist?"

"I'm really not seeing the need for one." Daniels glanced across at her with a reassuring smile. "I can refer him if it'll put your mind at ease, Sara but, honestly, I think we'd just be wasting everybody's time."

"There's no need, Doc; I feel fine and, according to all the tests, I am fine so I'm more than happy to leave it at that." Squeezing the hand he still held, Grissom locked eyes with his wife as his lips curled up into a confident grin. "So no more worrying about me, okay? From here on out, everything's back to normal, honey; no more illness, no more passing out, just plain old boring normal."

Ten minutes later, Grissom slipped his new prescriptions into his shirt pocket and reached into the center console for his sunglasses as he made himself comfortable in the new Explorer's driver's seat.

"You sure you're all right to drive?" Settled in the passenger seat, Sara's eyebrows rose in question as she watched him adjust the rearview mirror.

"You were listening when he gave me a clean bill of health, right?" Satisfied that all was to his liking, he grinned. "I'm fine, remember."

"I know, I know." Relaxing against the seatback, Sara checked her watch. "Um, I told Lily that it would probably be late afternoon before we picked Ben up so do you think we could stop somewhere for food?"

"Hungry?"

"Kind of, yeah." She admitted almost sheepishly. "There's a deli not too far from here that does great sweet potato fries; I would absolutely kill for some of those right now."

"Then that's what you'll have," Grissom promised as he started the engine.

"And a large serving of black cherry ice cream too.

"Fries dipped in ice cream again, huh?" Grissom narrowed his eyes. "I thought we'd got past that particular craving."

"We had," Sara shrugged, "but, apparently, it's back."

Grissom curled his upper lip in disgust. "Well, if anything was going to trigger my heartburn I think it would probably be that."

"They do serve other things, you know; I'm sure we'll find you something safe to eat."

Sara popped on her own sunglasses.

"Oh, but before I forget," she waited until he looked back, "let's not play the 'Ben has to wake Daddy up' game for a while, okay; your stress levels might be good but if I walk into a room and find you laid out on the floor again, mine are probably going to go through the roof."

Cocking her head, she smiled sweetly at him.

"And, if you even suggest naming our baby Persephone again or anything else like it for that matter, I'm going to find those divorce papers we signed and I'm going to file them with the court… you got that?"

Grissom chuckled. "Yes, dear."

"Good, now let's get out of here; I'm absolutely starving!"

A/N2: Thanks as always goes to SylvieT for the beta.