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It had been two weeks since the accident and Jim was still in his coma. Sara sat vigil by his bedside when she'd come off shift. She proudly wore her ring and made certain that Jim had his ring on as well. She sat at Jim's bedside, as per usual, with his hand in hers and stroked it with her thumb. She cried for him to wake up. Day after day, she cried; almost to the point where the tears would no longer come.
Grissom had been keeping an eye on Sara as had Nick. As Nick was one of her closest friends, he'd pick her up for shift and drop her at home afterward. He did this everyday. When she was on shift and at a scene, it was Grissom's turn to keep an eye out for her and make sure she was taking care of herself and her pregnancy.
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One morning, when Sara was at home, she was reading through Jim's will she stumbled across something most disturbing. There was a provision that stated that if Jim were ever in a coma or persistent vegetative state for thirty days, then he wished for life support to be terminated. Immediately after reading this, she rushed to the hospital and began trying to rouse Jim. About an hour after she arrived, Grissom showed up. She told him of the provision in Jim's will and how it worried her. Grissom stated that he knew this because before Jim got married, he was the one with medical power of attourney. However, after the marriage, medical power of attourney was shifted to Sara; only she didn't know it. He did manage to change that bit, but it was unattached to his will; separate.
Sara got up to use the bathroom and as she washed her hands she could hear talking coming from the direction of Jim's bed. She quickly dried her hands and rushed out to see Grissom talking to Jim who had suddenly awakened. Sara stood at the foot end of Jim's bed and looked at him and he looked back at her blankly. Seeing this, Grissom went to see the charge nurse and asked for his breathing tube removed. Within minutes the tube was removed and Jim tried to talk, but couldn't due to his sore throat. When asked how he felt, Jim was at a loss for words. When asked if he remembered Grissom or Sara he said he didn't. It quickly became apparent that Jim had some form of amnesia. He couldn't remember anyone, nor could he remember who he was or what his profession was. The truth was that Jim's amnesia might subside and it might not. There was no telling if or when he'd remember anything.
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It had been a week and a half since Jim had woken up and his memory still hadn't returned. He had been told that he was married to Sara and that he was a homicide detective, along with other little bits of information that everyone thought might prove of some use, but nothing seemed to jog his memory.
He was released this morning and when Sara showed up to collect him, she saw him dressed and sitting on the edge of his bed looking at a framed photo off the two of them. She knocked on the door jamb and entered only to have him look up at her with a blank expression on his face. He turned to look at her and gave a weak smile.
"We were happy." he said
A bit hesitant, she replied.
"Yes, we were."
Jim was ready to leave as he was going a little crazy sitting around his hospital room everyday. Sitting in the passenger seat as Sara drove them home, there were so many questions he wanted to ask, so many things he wanted to know about himself, about her, his job and his friends. The doctor said that taking him home might help him remember things a little quicker. So, as they pulled up his drive and Sara parked the car, she helped Jim inside and took his bag to the bedroom as Jim stood in the living room and looked around. He saw photos on shelves, commendations hanging on his wall and some ice hockey equipment propped up in the corner of his den with pictures of him in full gear-up.
Sara came from the bedroom and as Jim stood staring at the walls, she asked him if he was hungry; to which he answered that he wasn't. All he wanted to do was to remember what his life was like before the accident and for that he'd have to immerse himself in his previous life. First he'd try to familiarize himself with his house and Sara and then he move on to the lab and the precinct.
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Sara was asleep as Jim wandered through the house picking up photo frames, books and other little things that might remind him of something. He sat on the couch and began to flip through the channels as he tried to familiarize himself with the programming he might have liked to watch. After about an hour, he tired of the tellie and walked over to the bookshelf. He found several photo albums filled with photos of he and Sara, some of the team members in their off hours, a camping trip that the team took several years back, several photos of he and Grissom and other photos. He focused on the photos of people from his everyday life and tried to remember as much as he could. When he viewed photos of he and Sara he got a feeling in his gut.
He focused on those photos the most. They were always smiling and looked very happy; especially the wedding photos. The last photo he saw was one of he and Sara with his hand on her stomach. The writing beneath it read "And Babies make Four."
He didn't remember the wedding, but when he saw Sara he just got this feeling. Sure enough, he thought she was beautiful and was thankful that he had a woman to whom he was married and he didn't know if he liked children, he smiled when he saw the "Babies" photo. Either way, he was going to be a father whether he liked children or not.
Suddenly, there was a knock on his door and he got up and looked through the peep hole. He recognized the young man from the photo album. He was skinny, kind of on the tall-ish side and was wearing jeans, trainers and a t-shirt that read "Sometimes You Feel Like A Nut"; Greg. Jim opened the door and gave a vague look. Greg saw the photo albums on the coffee table and went over to the couch and picked one up. He and Jim sat on the couch and Greg helped him through the albums and photos. They sat and Greg explained the situation behind each photo as he was able. He had shown up to try to help Jim remember his past and was encouraged to see the albums on the coffee table.
"This is one from our camping trip at Meade a few years ago. See, that's you, Sara, Grissom, Nick and me. You got really bad poison ivy on that trip. You were scratching your ass for two weeks. But we all had a good time; especially Grissom who used the trip as an excuse to collect bugs." Greg explained
"Do we do things like that al lot? I mean, take group trips." Jim asked
"Not usually. You were very happy in your life at work and you loved your life with Sara. You've only been married a few weeks, but you two were dating for a while before you decided to get hitched." Greg explained
He looked down at the open album and saw the photo about the babies and smiled as he looked at the expression on Jim's face.
"Sara is pregnant? I had no idea, and I pride myself on my ability to sniff out interoffice gossip. She can't be that far along; you can't even tell." he said
"Yeah, I saw that one. Do I like kids?" Jim asked
Smiling heavily, Greg replied.
"You love kids; or at least you did. I think that once you hold your own child in your arms you'll come to appreciate just how much love one person can have for another. That love being different from your love for Sara; but being the love for your own flesh and blood. Your child will be the best of the two of you two. They'll have your intellect and Sara's curiosity and thirst for knowledge. And if you ever need a hand with him or her, don't hesitate to give me a call. I love kids and I'm great with them." Greg went on
"I'll certainly take you up on that." he replied
Looking over at Greg, Jim wondered how close they were, in light of his arrival at the house.
"We were friends. Not the closest of friends, mind you, but we got along well enough. That's the case with the rest of the team, save for you and Grissom. You two have known each other for, like, twelve years; at least. Last year you were shot and nearly died, but when you pulled through, the entire team was at hospital and we were all so glad that were still with us. It would have been a sad day, indeed, if we lost you. You're so important to all of us and we all love you; each of us in our own way. But make no mistake, you're loved by more than just Sara. When Nick was kidnapped a couple years ago and we found him, yours was one of the first faces he saw. It was an emotional time for all of us and yo kind of kept us all from losing our heads." Greg explained
By this time Sara had woken to the sound of voices in the living room. She dressed and came out to see Jim and Greg on the couch looking through the photo albums. She greeted Greg with a smile and shuffled into the kitchen for some coffee. While she set the pot brewing, she joined Greg and Jim in the living room.
"Catching up? Good. Photo albums are good. Sometimes images can jog one's memory." she said
"I got tired of flipping channels. I saw the albums and thought they might help me remember." he replied
"So, anything jog your memory yet?" she asked
"Nothing yet." he said
"Well, I suspect its only a matter of time. Are you guys hungry?"
"No." they both said at the same time
Sara went back into the kitchen and poured herself some coffee as well as some for Greg and Jim. She brought them their mugs and returned to the kitchen for hers. Coming into the living room and sitting beside Jim on the couch, she placed her hand on his knee.
"It'll happen. Just don't rush it. It'll come back on it's own." she assured him