"Sara" said Grissom when she finally picked up the phone.
"Gil, where are you?"
"Look, there was a shooting down at PD, I'm on my way to Desert Palms"
"Oh my God! Are you ok?!"
"Yea, don't worry I'm fine, but there were eight injured people and, um, Robbie is one of them"
"Oh, ok. Don't worry about us, I'll tell the kids you had some more work to do. Bye, call me when you leave"
"Thanks, Honey. Bye"
"Hi, my name is Gil Grissom, I'm with the LVPD crime lab" said Grissom flashing his ID card at the desk clerk at the Desert Palms ER "where can I find Robert Cooper? He was brought in about twenty minutes ago from the PD shooting"
"Oh, um…he was taken into surgery on arrival, the university and his family have been notified. If you'd like to wait, the waiting room is just through there" she said pointing at a door behind Grissom.
"Thanks, I think I'll just go wait outside"
As time passed, Grissom kept re-playing everything in his head. Robbie was his son. Robbie was his son and was in surgery. Robbie might die without ever knowing who he really was.
"Gil!" called Brass sticking his head out of the double doors of the ER to spot Grissom who was sitting on a bench leaning his head against the wall.
"Yea?" he replied sleepily; it had been 4 hours since they'd arrived and so far, three people were dead (James Fawler, the cop Samuel Jones and an innocent bystander, Mrs. Jackson).
"Robbie's out of surgery. The doctor wants to talk to someone…"
"Oh, yea…sure" said Gil standing up and accompanying his friend inside.
"Hi, Gil Grissom, Crime lab" greeted Grissom shaking the 40 something year old doctor's hand.
Returning the gesture. The man replied "Dr. Dean Colt. I just operated on Robert Cooper, I understand his mother has not yet arrived."
"She's landing in three or four hours…" said Brass as he walked away to answer his ringing phone.
"Very well, should I wait for her, or…"
"Um, no, tell me…" said Grissom
"Ok, Robert Suffered two gun shot wounds to the abdomen. One bullet, luckily missed all organs and was easy to remove, the other, however, hit a kidney and we had to remove it. We expect him to make a full recovery but it will be a tough one. He's young, so there shouldn't be any complications, we're keeping him in the ICU for the first two to three days, then he'll be moved to his own room."
"Alright, when can he receive visitors?" asked Grissom trying to sound more like a professional doing his job than a man preoccupied with his son's health.
"He'll only wake from surgery in one or two hours, after that, he'll be a bit groggy but you'll be able to talk to him" said the doctor smiling.
"Thank you." Said Grissom as the man walked away.
Two hours later, Robbie woke up and Grissom as allowed to see him, though the boy was awake, he was being kept on a ventilator and restraints until they were sure the anaesthesia had completely worn off.
"Hi Robbie" said Grissom approaching the bed where the scared looking young man was struggling to free himself from the restraints holding him to the bed.
"Robbie, don't try to speak. Blink once for 'yes' and twice for 'no', Ok?"
One blink.
"Do you remember what happened?"
Two blinks.
"Do you remember leaving the station?"
One blink.
"Do you remember tyres screeching?"
Instead of blinking, Robbie just frowned and looked at his hand where he'd formed a gun and was gesturing shooting.
"You remember the shooting?" asked Grissom.
One blink.
"Is that the last thing you remember? The noise of gun fire?"
One blink.
"That's ok, you'll be fine…" Grissom was interrupted by the boy fighting off his restraints again.
"Nurse?" called Grissom "could we remove these restraints?"
"They're for his own protection. We don't ant him getting scared and pulling tubes out…" explained the friendly looking nurse.
"Robbie, do you promise not to freak out?" Grissom asked the boy.
One blink.
"Please?" asked Grissom.
Sighing, resigned at both men's pleading blue eyes, the nurse obliged and within less than a minute, Robbie had the full us of his hands again.
This was when things got interesting: as Grissom looked around to find a pen and paper, he was surprised to see Robbie signing at him.
It's ok, I don't need paper
After a few moments of shocked staring, grissom sighed back.
How do you know how to sign? Do you have hearing problems? He asked worried that his son was suffering from his genetic deficiency.
Robbie shook his head. No; I learnt to sign because I volunteered at a school for deaf children back in New York.
Oh. How did you know I could sign? Asked Grissom
I read about a case you handled several years ago where a deaf boy got beaten up…
Oh…
Where's my mom?
She's on her way…what about your dad?
Dad? Grissom was sure that if the boy could have, he would have laughed my 'dad' walked out on us when I was three…but hey, I don't believe that he was actually my dad, so…
Really? How come? Asked Grissom
My mom always mentions my dad as a cool, intelligent guy. That is NOT Carl Cooper. Anyway, I don't need a father. Deciding to change the subject, Robbie continued how come you know how to sign?
Smiling, grissom began to explain how his mother had lost her hearing years ago and hoe he'd learnt to sign to be able to communicate with her. He even told him how he'd been close to loosing his hearing.
By the time the silent conversation was over, it was 7 am and the nurse came in to inform them that a Mrs. Cooper was there to see Robbie. So, Grissom bid the boy goodbye and left.
It was only as he walked out of the ICU that it hit him: Robbie's mom. Through all the time he'd spent thinking, Grissom couldn't remember any woman he'd dated whose surname was Cooper. He'd thought about asking Robbie but then he'd thought that would be a weird question, but now, she' was going to walk in here and he'd get to see her.
As Grissom thought this, a tall brunette with dark brown eyes walked into the ICU and stopped in her tracks when here eyes met his. Vivian! thought Grissom.
Though they were only there for a matter of seconds, they both got pretty good ideas of what the other was thinking. Grissom was sure Vivian had never thought she'd see him again, and her surprise was almost tangible. Vivian on the other hand, knew that look. Though she hadn't seen Gil Grissom in almost 19 years, she still knew that look, the one that held all of surprise, disappointment, hurt, anger and curiosity.
Knowing that Robbie was watching, they moved on in their directions as quickly as possible but not before silently agreeing that this wasn't just going to be forgotten.
TBC
Ok…onto chapter 4 then…
Oh, yea…PLEASE REVIEW…Don't make me beg…because I will…
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