A/N: Thank you all so much for the reviews! Its always great to read your kind words and perspectives on the story. Keep them coming :)

Here's Chapter 30! Enjoy!

The helicopter touched down on the landing pad and the medics quickly jumped to their feet to unload the stretcher. Grissom followed closely running with them into the hospital. Three doctors were their waiting for their arrival and immediately took to Sara. A nurse came over and cut Sara out of her clothing. Peeling it off of her layer by layer, exposing her skin.

Grissom knew her face was burnt and scuffed and her shoulder dislocated, but hadn't realized the extent of her injuries until her clothes were gone. Bruising covered her abdomen, cuts and abrasions ran up her sides. He felt sick.

Soon the doctors wheeled her away and stopped Grissom as he tried to follow.

"We're taking her into surgery. This nurse can show you to the waiting area."

"I want to go with her."

"You can't. Please step back and let us do our jobs."

"How long? How long is the surgery."

"Could take one to three hours." With that the doctor sprinted off past the double doors and Grissom was left standing there with the nurse, trying to usher him to the appropriate waiting room.

Grissom sat in the waiting room and rested his elbows on his knees, face in his hands. His mind kept drifting to memories of her, of their life together.

The time she wiped chalk dust from his check.

Her bouncing ponytail the day they met.

The way she'd smugly finish his crossword puzzles for him in pen.

Her lavender scented hair.

The feeling of her head resting on his chest.

The look in her eye when she realized she solved a case.

He wanted to cry. To break down right then and there. The exhaustion from the day finally getting to him, he felt delirious.

"Gil." Catherine's hand appeared on his shoulder as she took a seat next to him. He looked up to her. His face warn and tired. He was a mess. "Where is she?"

"She's in surgery."

Catherine nodded, "Have her parent's been notified?"

Grissom shook his head.

"Okay, well I can take care of that. I'll go get her next of kin information from reception."

"No. She doesn't have parents." Catherine furrowed her brows, "I mean—her father's passed away when she was a kid. She and her mom don't really talk."

"Oh." Catherine suddenly felt ashamed that she didn't know that about Sara. "Okay... what about next of kin?"

"You're looking at him."

Catherine's eyes went wide. Just how involved are they!?

"Hey guys." Greg took a seat across from Catherine and Grissom and handed each a cup of coffee. "So, I just went to Sara's apartment to get her some things..." Greg held up a key, "She gave me a key a few years back incase she ever lost hers or there was an emergency."

Grissom was looking down at his feet, only really half listening to the younger man.

"Anyway." Greg continued. "Apparently and Asian family lives there now."

Grissom looked up, "Yeah, she hasn't lived there for some time. I'll get her things later."

Greg and Catherine exchanged looks as Grissom hung his head once more. The waiting was killing him. He needed an updated, he needed to see her.

"Sidle. Family of Sidle." A doctor emerged and Grissom jumped to his feet. "She's doing well. My colleagues are finishing up the surgery now. She has a decent amount of recovery time ahead of her and will need to have someone to help take care of her. Who will be in charge of her recovery?"

"I will." Grissom spoke up. Catherine and Greg hung back but could here the conversation. Brass, Nick and Warrick joined.

"We'll need to talk through what that recovery will look like. Her skin is badly burned and will need bandages replaced every few hours for the first few weeks. Her dislocated shoulder is now immobilized. She'll be in quite a bit of pain and discomfort for a while. Other than that bruises and abrasions will just take time to heal on their own. I'll have a nurse write all of this down for you."

"Thank you."

"One last thing. She had quite a few old injuries that played up into this incident. An old fracture to a few of her ribs made it easier for them to break. Same with her left wrist." Grissom nodded sadly as the doctor spoke.

"They are very old injuries."

Catherine's curiosity was getting the best of her. What old injuries could they be talking about. Had she been hurt on a scene before she moved to Vegas? She continued to listen.

"Yes. The incidents are documented in medical history."

"When can I see her?"

The doctor looked at his watch, "She'll be transferred to her private room in the next 30 minutes. But she won't be awake for some time now. There's no way of knowing when she's wake up from this. She's been through a great deal of trauma."

"Thank you, Doctor." Grissom made his way back to his seat. Now surrounded by the whole team. They stared at him blankly waiting for an updated.

"She'll be out in 30 minutes or so." Was all he provided, but they had heard the whole conversation.

"She has fractured ribs?" Catherine spoke up.

"It seems so."

"From an old injury?"

"Mhmm."

"What old injury?"

"Catherine—" Brass warned.

"From when she was a kid." Grissom responded simply. "I need to go make a few calls." Grissom got up and excused himself, walking down the hall and out of earshot from the team.

"Catherine, the guy is going through enough. Now's not the time to pry."

"He's not the only one here who needs answers. She's our colleague, our friend."

"She's the love of his life." Brass spoke softly and Catherine exhaled.

"I'm just so confused by all of this."

Meanwhile down the hall, Grissom scrolled through his recent calls to find a specific number.

"Crow."

"Dave, It's Grissom." His voice was small and sad despite his best efforts to mask it.

"No. No. I saw the news, but they didn't release the CSI's name... Sara?" The end of his sentence was but a whisper.

"It was Sara." He confirmed, "She's coming out of surgery now... the doctors say she's going to be okay."

"God." Crows voice was angry and hurt, "I—I" He didn't have the words, hew knew not what to say.

"She's going to be okay." Grissom spoke again, trying to convince himself just as much as the man on the other line.

"Would it be alright if I came down there?"

"I think she'd like that very much." Grissom could hear typing and fumbling on Crows side of the phone.

"Next flight out is in two hours. I'll see you soon."

"Okay—Dave?"

"Yes?"

"One question... I—um... How do I... Should I, rather, contact Laura?"

He could hear Dave sigh heavily. "No. Not yet at least. Wait for Sara to wake up and let her decide. This news could cause her mother's mental state to lapse."

"Okay. Thanks."

Grissom rejoined the team in the waiting room to see jut Greg and Brass were left.

"We'll be here in shifts." Brass offered, "Catherine, Nick and Warrick left to get the evidence and paperwork squared away." He paused and looked at his friend, "Gil, maybe you should go home, get cleaned up. Swing by Sara's place and get her some things to make her comfortable here."

Grissom just shook his head and gave no verbal response.

"Dr. Grissom." A nurse read his name off of a form and he quickly stood, "I can take you to her room now if you'd like to see her." He nodded and followed her back down a hallway. She opened a door and let him inside.

There she was. Dressed in a hospital gown, covered in wires, monitors and IV drips. Bandages lined the right side of her face. He sat down at a chair by her bedside and picked up her limp hand, cupping it gently in his. He kissed her hand and rested his head on the bed. Then finally, he allowed a few stray tears to escape from his eyes.

The steady sound of the monitors beeping let him know that she was okay. She was going to be okay. He sat there diligently by her bedside for the next three hours praying that she'd wake soon. Then suddenly, he felt her fingers move within his grasp. He quickly lifted his head off the cot.

"Sara?" His voice was small and soft. "Sara?" He tried again and slowly her eyes began to flutter open.

"Gilbert." She managed through wrangled breathing.

"Shhh. It's okay. You're okay." He grazed his hand over her hair. "Here." He quickly brought her water with a straw."

She then started to look around. White walls, white ceiling, wires and tubes. She went to lift her right shoulder and yelped in pain.

"Honey don't move." He clicked the button for the nurse. "You've dislocated your shoulder. They had to perform surgery on it." He watched as her eyes began to panic.

"Gil." She managed as tears began to stream down her face. He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"Shh, honey. Please. You're going to be okay. You're okay now. You're safe." He squeezed her hand a little tighter. Then the nurse came in and assessed her levels, her chart and administered some more pain medication. Then just as quickly the nurse left.

"You found me." She managed.

"Of course we found you." His hand continued to run over her soft hair. "I can't live without you, Sara." He looked deep into her squinted eyes, "I love you."

She managed to smile through the pain. He had never come out and said those words to her before. A fact that was not lost on either of them.

"Gil..." Her speech took a lot of effort, "You shouldn't be here too long. It'll look suspicious. I'll be okay."

He simply shook his head, "Sara... they know. They all know."

"What?"

"I couldn't hide it through this."

She closed her eyes briefly, "What does this mean for us?"

"I don't know yet. But we'll figure it out. Don't worry. You're okay, and that's all that matters now."

"Can you tell me what room Sara Sidle is in?"

"I'm sorry, she's not taking visitors at the moment."

Brass heard the exchange happening at reception and stood to see the man standing here.

"Sir?"

The man turned to see Brass standing there.

"I'm Captain Brass with the LVPD, you're looking for CSI Sidle?"

"I am." The gentleman stuck out his hand to shake Brass' "I'm Dave Crow, an old friend of Sara's. Is she okay?"

"She's fine." Brass was wary of the man, never having heard of him before.

"Is Dr. Grissom here?"

"He's with her now. I'll see if he can come out." Brass disappeared down the hall and made his way to Sara's room for the first time. He looked through the small window on the door to see Grissom sitting at her bedside, talking softly to her as he held her hand. Brass entered, knocking on the door as he did.

"Hey Champ." He smiled and watched as she quickly pulled hand away from Grissom's.

"They know." Grissom reminded her.

"How are you feeling." Brass patted her leg.

"I'll be okay." She managed a smile through the pain.

"Gil, can I speak with you outside?"

Grissom nodded, "I'll be right back."

"I'm not going anywhere." She quipped back.

They stepped outside the room and Brass turned to him, "A man name Dave Crow is here to see Sara... Do you know who that is?"

Grissom nodded and smiled, "Yeah."

"Mr. Crow." Grissom approached the man in the waiting area who stood to his feet at the sight of Grissom.

"Grissom. How is she?"

"She's good. Come, she'll be happy to see you." Grissom lead him to Sara's room and opened the door for him.

"Dave?" She squinted to see him better.

"Hey sweetie." He took up the seat Grissom had just occupied and held her hand, "You gave me quite the scare you know."

Grissom closed the door to give the two some privacy and went back out to the waiting room.