SLOW BURN

~ Chapter 27 ~

The sun above was bright and hot, a nice counterpoint to the cool water that surrounded him. He was floating, suspended effortlessly on the surface, a trick of the fluid's salinity no doubt but, try as he might, he simply couldn't remember where he was or even how he got there.

"Gil?"

He turned his head, squinting in the glare and could just see Sara seated on the sand. Ben played at her side, his concentration set on the sandcastle he was building whilst the baby, shaded from the sun's heat by a white cotton shawl, was held protectively in the crook of its mother's arm as she raised the other to wave in his direction.

He tried to wave back, tried lifting his left arm out of the water but the movement caused a bolt of pain to race through his shoulder so he raised his right hand instead and managed a return wave.

The sky darkened above him and, looking up, he watched as a large bank of cumulonimbus clouds moved in rapidly from the west whilst, at the same time, a sudden surge of exhaustion washed over him, the bone-deep tiredness weighing him down in a way that he'd never experienced before.

"Gil!"

He looked back towards the shore, noting that Sara's wave had now become a frantic beckoning gesture. Ben was in the middle of destroying his castle, stomping each carefully constructed turret down to ground level while his mother tightened the shawl around his sibling as she looked up at the rapidly approaching storm.

He had to get in, had to get his family to safety but, as he attempted to turn over to swim back to shore, the pain in his shoulder made the task impossible. He gasped at the agony, unintentionally drawing in a mouthful of salty water that he struggled to cough up as the world around him suddenly turned black.

"He's retching! Quick, roll him!"

He had no idea where the voice came from and had no time to question it as he felt himself suddenly pushed over on his side as the salt water rushed out of his mouth.

"Okay, let's move him clear of that, I don't think he's going to want to wake up lying in it."

He heard muffled voices and felt something cool and wet wipe across his mouth but was too intent on wondering where the people had come from when he felt himself pulled backwards across the surface, the action intensifying his pain.

"He had a similar episode a couple of weeks ago, Craig."

He recognized the voice and wondered where on earth Helen had come from.

"He was conscious and alert by the time I got there but, according to his wife, he was out for over five minutes and, when I examined him, both his heart rate and blood pressure were low. Everything checked out normally when he saw his doctor on Monday but there's no way this isn't related to that incident."

He felt fingers press against the side of his neck and he wanted desperately to speak, to move, anything would do but he simply didn't have the ability.

"I'd tend to agree with you; you got a BP cuff and a stethoscope around here?"

"Of course, I'll go get them."

"And Helen? Tell her she can come over now, okay; I think we've tortured her long enough."

Her footsteps receded as she moved away and Grissom fought down the sudden anxiety her absence created.

Trying desperately to quell the growing panic that threatened to overwhelm him he relaxed almost instantly as a hand landed lightly on his hip and an all-too familiar voice sounded from directly in front of him.

"I'm here, baby." He felt her hand move from his hip to his hand and her fingers gently push their way between his. "But you're scaring me now so you have to wake up, okay?"

The fear dissolved instantly at her touch and he felt himself begin to float again as the blackness lightened into a soft grey. He gave up the struggle to move, calmed by the knowledge that she was there with him and that she was perfectly okay and, with that certainty in mind, he allowed himself to drift into a deep, dreamless sleep.

"You're his wife, right?" Squatting beside his unexpected patient's head, Dr. Craig Donohue studied the woman before him.

"Yes," keeping her eyes locked on her husband's face, Sara nodded. "Why hasn't he woken up yet?"

"He will when he's ready." Knowing from experience, just how scared the woman in front of him was, Donohue smiled reassuringly. "At the moment, he's hypoxic which explains why it's taking him a while to come around; a lot of oxygen is used up during a seizure and until the body can replace it, it can't quite operate as it should." He settled himself more comfortably on the grass. "On average, it can take anywhere from a minute to half an hour for that to happen but his breathing is nice and even now so he's definitely working his way back."

"He's going to be alright, isn't he?" Try as she might, she couldn't quite quell her fear.

"Without knowing why he had the seizure, it's hard to say but we've got paramedics on the way and, as soon as we get him back to Desert Palm, we'll do everything possible to answer that question for you." His eyebrows rose in question. "He doesn't have a history of convulsions?"

"No, not at all." Sara shook her head.

"Well, one-off seizures aren't all that uncommon and they don't necessarily mean that there's something bigger going on behind the scenes; a fever, an infection, even blood sugar fluctuations can bring one on." Donohue shrugged. "He may even have hit his head on the way down; that was quite a thump he took."

"Tell me about it." Stepping in behind Sara, Brass winced as he reached behind him in an attempt to rub his back. "That's a bruise I'm going to feel for a while."

"Oh, you poor baby." Returning from the house, Helen rolled her eyes in amusement at her new husband as she held out a sphygmomanometer and a stethoscope. "There you go, Craig; they're both a little on the old side but they still work fine." As he took them from her, she held up a pair of scissors. "I'll start work on getting that sleeve off."

At the words, Sara looked up for the first time, her eyes widening at the sight of the new bride. "Oh Helen, your dress."

"Just grass stains and a little vomit." Kneeling beside the other woman, Helen gave her a reassuring smile. "Believe me, I've had worse."

"Not on your wedding dress though."

"Don't worry about it, there's a dry cleaner near the hospital that specializes in stains like these and I've never seen him fail at a challenge yet." Reaching out, she slipped the scissors into the cuff of Grissom's jacket sleeve and quickly slit it up to the shoulder seam before looking up at Sara. "I checked on Ben while I was in the house and Greg said to tell you that you're not to worry about him." At Sara's distracted nod, she changed the subject back to the one that was currently on the younger woman's mind. "Did Gil say anything about feeling unwell again?"

"No, nothing," Sara thought for a moment. "Although I have noticed he hasn't been eating as much this past week or so."

Helen frowned. "Heartburn returned?"

"I don't know; every time I asked about it, he'd deny anything was wrong."

"Probably didn't want to worry you," Jim commented as he watched his wife switch her attention to his friend's shirt sleeve. "I'm pretty sure the heartburn was still an issue though; I saw him rub his chest a couple of times today but he shrugged it off." He thought for a moment. "Oh, and he had a problem just before the ceremony; said he thought he had a migraine starting up because of a blurred spot in his vision, he called it an aura."

"I don't think that was a migraine, visual disturbances can be a seizure warning sign." Applying the fabric cuff to Grissom's newly exposed upper arm, Donohue began inflating it before looking up at Helen. "He's bradycardic, pulse is currently forty-nine."

"But he seemed okay," Jim insisted as he looked from the doctor to Helen and then back down at Grissom. "We both joked about him keeling over during the ceremony but he was fine all the way through; he handed the rings over at the right time, he-"

"He never looked over." Sara butted in.

Jim's brow furrowed. "Huh?"

"When you and Kaylee were teasing each other at the end, he never looked over."

Keeping a tight hold on her husband's hand, Sara closed her eyes as she remembered what she'd seen.

'While everyone else was watching you two, I was watching him because it seemed weird to me that he wasn't reacting; he was still facing the front as if something had caught his attention but then he swayed a couple of times, took a step towards you guys and then started going down."

"That's what I saw too." Donohue confirmed as he kept his eye on the cuff around Grissom's arm. "He hit Jim in the back, twisted with the impact and fell the rest of the way to the ground."

"Which is when I turned into the stereotypical panic-stricken pregnant wife." Feeling calmer than she had just a little while ago, Sara managed a sheepish grin. "All I remember next is pushing past Greg with Ben screaming in my arms and rushing by everyone else as if my life depended on it; if Jim hadn't grabbed me and kept me back, I'd probably still be throwing people out of the way to get to him."

"You weren't that bad," Donohue chuckled. "In fact, compared to some of the relatives we deal with in the ER you were downright polite." Handing the sphygmomanometer back to Helen, he addressed both her and Sara. "Okay, his blood pressure is seventy-two over fifty-four which is lower than it should be but I'd rather that than it was through the roof. He hasn't complained of any chest pain or pressure in his chest lately?"

"No," Sara shook her head. "I'd have taken him straight to the nearest ER if he did."

"Well, we'll find out what's causing it soon enough." The faint wail of a siren sounded in the distance as Helen pushed to her feet, her gaze drifting over to the crowded marquee and her son standing at the entrance. "Jim, before that ambulance gets here, how about you go over and thank our guests for coming; tell them they're welcome to help themselves to food and whatever else is in there and apologize for us disappearing on them."

"You don't have to come to the hospital, Helen." Brushing a few errant leaves from his pants, Donohue kept his eye on his patient as he moved to stand beside her. "I can handle things from here."

"You really think our best man can collapse in front of us and we're just going to carry on as if it didn't happen?" Fixing him with a determined look, she shook her head, "No way; I'll go with Gil in the ambulance and Sara can travel in with Jim."

"Uh-uh," From her position on the ground, Sara shook her head determinedly. "I'm going in the ambulance too."

"There won't be room." Helen pointed out as her eyes moved down towards Sara's swollen belly. "And I'd feel much better knowing you were travelling safely in a car rather than in the back of an ambulance." She looked back up to meet the younger woman's indignant glare. "Honestly, Sara, you know what Jim's like; he'll probably have you there before we've arrived anyway."

"I guess so…" Sara's voice trailed off as, brow furrowing, she looked down at the hand still clasped in her own. "He's just started shaking."

"What?" Dropping to his knees again, Donohue leant in and felt Grissom's arm for himself before stripping off his suit jacket and shoving it beneath his head. "Dammit! Helen, I think he's going to-"

And, with that, the second seizure began.

Turning off Warm Springs Road, Catherine navigated her way along the streets that made up this particular part of Las Vegas. It was one of the older areas of town and travelling through it was something she usually enjoyed, the mixture of 50's and 60's style homes giving up a little slice of history that Vegas rarely let survive; however, with the information she'd been confronted with three hours ago still swirling through her thoughts, reveling in sixty-plus years of residential architecture was the last thing on her mind.

She slowed as she made a right onto Rosedale Avenue, a little taken aback by the almost completely empty street before her; she knew that Jim and Helen had planned a small wedding but she'd been expecting more than the two cars currently parked in front of their home. Pulling to a halt behind them, she frowned at the sight of Grissom's SUV parked almost haphazardly on the small patch of lawn in front of the house and, reaching for her purse, she exited her car and made her way towards the driveway.

Pausing at the entrance, she studied the Explorer more closely, her concern deepening as she noted one of the back wheels sitting in the middle of the small flower bed planted beneath the front window. If there was one thing she was absolutely sure of it was that the Gil Grissom she knew would never be so careless and cavalier as to leave his vehicle like that, especially on someone else's property.

Walking down the side of the house, she smiled at the sight of the wedding arch; knowing Jim as long as she had and having developed a firm friendship with Helen, she'd been looking forward to witnessing their marriage ceremony but fate had stepped in the way and she hoped they'd accept her heartfelt apology for missing it along with the surprise gift she'd managed to arrange for them.

She stopped as the rest of the backyard came into view, her brow furrowing at the sight of the almost empty garden and then sighed in relief as a solitary figure, both hands full with large cling wrap covered plates exited from the large marquee off to one side of the garden.

"Greg?" Catherine swung her arm out to encompass the entire backyard. "Where is everyone? And, please don't tell me that they didn't get married."

"Oh, no, they got married alright." Crossing to where she stood, Greg shifted the plates to get a better grip. "As for where everyone is, when three-quarters of the bridal party end up in the ER, there's not a whole lot of point in sticking around." He cocked his head back towards the large white tent. "Most of the guests grabbed a quick snack, had a drink to toast the absent bride and groom and then went home."

"The ER?" She frowned in confusion. "Why, what happened?"

"Grissom collapsed at the end of the ceremony," he told her bluntly. "Passed out, slammed into the groom, hit the ground and started convulsing." Greg took a deep breath as he replayed the image in his mind. "And then he had a second seizure just before the paramedics got here."

"What?" Shocked by the news, Catherine could only stare at the younger man. "But he was fine! I've been keeping tabs on him via Sara ever since he fainted at the house and I spoke to him just the other day," she shook her head incredulously. "He told me he was feeling good."

"Then I guess he lied," Greg pointed out simply. "Or, he really was fine and this has come on all of a sudden but, according to Helen, Sara's suspected something was up all week."

"Why didn't she say something then?" Raising her hand, Catherine massaged her suddenly throbbing temple. "And when is that husband of hers ever going to learn that things don't miraculously get better when you ignore them?" She sighed wearily. "And why the hell didn't someone call me when it happened?"

"We tried to, Cath," Greg shrugged. "I tried, Lindsey tried, even Ecklie gave it a go but your phone kept going to voicemail."

"Damn it." Pulling her cellphone from her pocket, Catherine stared at its black screen as her memory suddenly clicked in and she clearly remembered turning it off moments after locking her office door at the start of her afternoon debrief. "I could have sworn I turned it back on." Pressing her finger against the on button, she watched as the startup screen appeared. "So, do we know how Grissom's doing?"

"Brass called with an update about half an hour ago and said he finally came to just before they reached the hospital. They've got him on fluids as well as Valium to try and head off another seizure but his main complaints at the moment are a headache, nausea and, apparently, he did some damage to his shoulder when he fell so they're checking that out now."

"He always was an over-acheiver." Catherine shook her head then glanced at her phone as it began to vibrate in her hand with the backlog of texts and voicemail notifications that had been accumulating for hours. Ignoring them all, she pushed the handset back into her pocket with a weary sigh. "What's happening with Ben?"

"I grabbed him off Sara as quickly as I could after Grissom went down but the poor little guy's been upset ever since so Lindsey suggested taking him over to your mom's place; she took my car since his seat was still in the back while I stayed here to help Kaylee and Trent get some of this stuff tidied away. She should be on her way back by now."

"Helping Kaylee, huh?" Despite the circumstances, Catherine couldn't help but smile. "Sara told me she was going to introduce the two of you."

"She didn't have to, when I rushed Ben into the house to get him clear of the drama, Kaylee did the same with her niece and nephew so we ended up introducing ourselves."

"And?"

"And she's nice," Greg admitted as a light blush colored his cheeks. "I like her."

"Well, that's a start anyway." She jerked her thumb back over her shoulder. "Okay, I better get over to the hospital; I'm going to assume that's where Ecklie went."

"Yeah, he left about ten minutes after the ambulance did," Greg confirmed with a nod. "Hey, since that's where you're headed, could you take a couple of things along with you?" He cocked his head towards the house. "Sara left her purse here and I found Grissom's wallet and phone in the bedroom he and Brass were using before the ceremony." He shrugged. "I was going to drop them by later on but if you're going there now-"

"You could stick around here and get to know a certain someone a little better by any chance?" Catherine smiled. "Yes, I can take them with me." Her phone rang and, pulling it from her pocket she glanced at the screen. "If you want to go grab them now, I'll meet you out by my car."

Exiting the backyard, she hit the accept button and lifted the handset to her ear.

"Hi Mom." She walked back down the driveway as she listened to her mother talk, the background screech of a happy toddler lifting at least a little of the weight she felt she now had on her shoulders. "Yeah, I've heard all about it and I'm on my way there now; I'm sure they'll both be relieved to know that he's fine."

The sun had dipped just low enough in the sky to be annoying and, making her way north on Decatur Boulevard, Catherine squinted into the glare as she rummaged through the Acadia's center console for her sunglasses. She frowned as she failed to find them and then, remembering that she'd tossed them carelessly onto the passenger seat when she'd arrived at Jim's, she moved Sara's handbag forward so she could reach behind it and pull them out. Slipping them on, she sighed heavily as she tried to work out exactly what it was she was going to do.

Policy decreed that she had to notify Ecklie immediately of any possible breach or transgression within the lab but, given how long they'd known each other - and worked together – she felt almost honor bound to broach it with Sara first; to find out exactly what it was that had happened and, more importantly, why it had happened but Grissom's collapse had now made that all but impossible. Given the circumstances, she couldn't possibly confront Sara at the hospital and, with Conrad there already, there'd be little chance of keeping it between the two of them even if she could.

Approaching the intersection of South Decatur and Flamingo Road, Catherine noticed the traffic light turn red and the vehicles in front begin to slow but it wasn't until that exact moment that she realized that, in her distracted state, she was travelling at considerably more than the posted speed.

In a panic she slammed on the brakes, the contents of the passenger seat flying forward into the footwell as the SUV's momentum rapidly slowed and she breathed a sigh of relief as the vehicle came to a final stop less than a foot from the Toyota ahead. Hands still locked tightly around the steering wheel, she winced at the sight of the other driver's hand coming up, his middle finger raised in a clear critique of her driving and mouthed a silent 'sorry', knowing all too well that he was watching her in his rearview mirror.

The light changed back to green but she sat a moment longer, watching as the other traffic moved off and it took a horn beep from the car behind before she could finally loosen her death-grip on the wheel and lift her foot off the brake pedal enough to flip her turn signal on and cautiously guide her vehicle around the corner and into the parking lot of a nearby Circle K.

Parking away from the store, she sat for a moment as she struggled to catch her breath; it had been a long time since she'd come so close to being in an accident and the knowledge that she'd have been the one at fault had scared her. Staring down at the mess on the passenger side floor, she sighed as she slipped off her seatbelt and leant across to retrieve the contents of Sara's bag.

Pushing Grissom's wallet and both cellphones onto the seat, she quickly gathered the smaller items and placed them back in the bag, smiling to herself as she wondered if her friend knew just how many toy cars and crayons she was carrying around with her. With nothing else in sight, she felt for Sara's wallet, finally locating it just beneath the front of the passenger seat along with a travel pack of wet wipes and a 4" x 3" notebook which fell open in her hand and Catherine gasped aloud as she found herself staring down at a small glassine envelope and the off-white powder it contained.

A/N: Thanks to SylvieT for the beta of this chapter.