Sara continued to stand there and watch her team race around the track without a care.
Nick slowed his cart down, letting Catherine wiz right past him. He got out and placed his helmet in the cart, then walked around the fenced area to stand next to Sara.
"Have fun?" She smiled at him, but he could see the pain in her eyes.
"Yeah. And you will too. It just takes some time." She gave him a quizzical look to continue the facade, "C'mon Sara, you can't fool me." He placed a supportive hand on her shoulder, "I've been there. Remember?"
Oh she remembered. Thinking about nick surviving in the coffin was one of the things that helped give her the strength to free herself from under that car. Thinking about nick surviving in that coffin was also what led Grissom to her doorstop. She would be eternally conflicted with that memory.
"Having trouble sleeping?"
"Among other things."
"I wont sugar coat this for you. It wasn't easy. I don't think I slept soundly for a year. Always sleeping with one eye open kind of thing. That and the night terrors. Are you getting flashbacks?"
She nodded.
"Does Grissom know?"
"Why?"
"It's important for you to let people help you in order to make it through this, Sara. If you can't talk to him about it then talk to me—or Greg. But you've got to talk to someone. Trust me. It'll just keep gnawing at you until it consumes you."
"Thanks Nick. But I'm fine, really."
He gave a sad smile, "You don't have to be strong all the time. It's okay to need help." There was a brief moment of silence before he decided to lighten the mood a bit, "So... You and Grissom."
Sara let out a small laugh, "It's weird for you guys isn't it?"
"Um.. Yeah. Kind of. When did that all happen?"
She thought about telling him the truth, that Grissom was so moved and shaken by Nick's abduction that he realized he was wasting his life. But she decided to go the simpler route. "Two years or so ago."
"You work with a group of trained observers and none of us saw that coming. Well done."
She laughed again, but abruptly stopped at the nudging pain in her ribs, "We didn't mean for it to happen like this. It started off as a secret because that was easier while we figured out what this really was, and then eventually it became easier and easier to just not tell anyone."
"I'm sure the secret made it fun." Nick winked.
Sara reflected on this for a moment. The secret of their relationship was something the two had carried around for some time now. Even before they really got together. Was this going to change their dynamic?
"Hey guys." Greg jogged over and pulled his helmet off. "You get tired of me driving circles around you?" He jabbed Nick playfully. "You know," He lowered his voice, "That girl at checkout has been eyeing you."
"Oh yeah?" Nick glanced over to see the pretty blonde behind the register and excused himself to go chat her up.
"No she wasn't." Sara looked at him questioningly.
"I know, I just wanted some time with you alone." He flashed his famous greg smile her way. "I'm not going to ask how you're doing, I already know your answer will be 'fine'."
"You know me well. But I am fine."
"I know. But I also know you have another week before the doctor and lab allow you to come back to work. And you've got to be going stir crazy being home that lone."
"I've got Hank."
"Hank?" Greg's face went into total freak out mode.
"Our dog."
Greg let out a laugh from deep within his belly, "Phew. For a second there I thought you had a kid and named it after your ex-boyfriend." The statement earned a toothy grin from his friend, "You two have a dog?"
"We do." She spoke simply. She missed this easy banter between her and her friend.
"Alright, well I'm off tomorrow. How about I swing by and you me... and hank, go do something."
"I don't know.. there's really not much I can do." She nodded again to her arm.
"Come on, it'll be fun."
"Okay." She conceded.
The next night Sara watched from the breakfast bar as Grissom got ready for work. A hot mug of lemon tea in her good hand.
"We could have really used you last night. The whole case was a mater of physics. Could a semi tire's rubber behead a boy?"
"It could, you figured that out without me."
"Yeah, but I bet we could have done it in half the time had you been there."
She smiled, "You don't need to butter me up."
"I'm not." Grissom bent down and put some kibble in Hank's bowl, then whistled for him to come eat. "Greg tells me he's taking you out on the town tonight."
"Out on the town? I don't know about that."
"I'm sure it'll be nice to get out of here. You've been cooped up for weeks.
"Yeah. I'm looking forward to it."
Grissom placed a quick kiss on her lips, "I've got to run." Then a knock at the door. Grissom opened the door to see Greg standing there.
"Hey.. boss."
"Hey Greg. I'm just headed out. I'll see you tomorrow night." Grissom walked passed Greg who then walked through the threshold of the loft.
"Hey." Sara walked up the stairs to greet him. A trotting Hank followed and bulldozed right into Greg. Greeting him with slobbery licks and a wagging tail.
"Hey buddy. You must be Hank."
She watched as he took in his surroundings, having never been in this loft.
"You know," Greg started as he looked at the book shelves, "I went by your apartment while you were in surgery, to get you some things so that you'd be comfortable when you woke up."
Sara bit her lip, she had completely forgotten about the extra key Greg had.
"You could only imagine my surprise when I was greeted by an Asian family!"
"I'm so sorry Greg." She laughed a little.
"You know what Grissom tells me when I got to the hospital? 'Oh, Yeah, she hasn't lived there for sometime.' And then he just walked away."
Sara laughed a little harder now, "Sounds about right." She softened her tone, "We've lived together for a little over a year now. And we moved here about 7 months ago." She didn't love to share details of her life with Grissom, it was new to even be able to talk about it, but she figured Greg would be appreciative to feel like he's in the loop again.
"What do you have there?" Sh noted a bag in his hand.
"Oh this?" He raised the bag up in gesture, "This is our fun night." He pulled out a six back of beer, popcorn and two movies. "I figured you weren't up for a full Sanders-night-on-the-town just yet."
"This is perfect."
Greg got settled on the couch and queued up the movie while Sara popped the popcorn and grabbed a bottle opener. The two resumed their usual movie-night banter as they had in years previous before their monthly movie nights became so scarce.
Greg had left a few hours ago at this point and now Sara laid in bed, alone. Waiting for Grissom to get off of work. She stared at the ceiling as she laid in the dark. She had already read most of a book to try to preoccupy her mind, but nothing was working. She took out a canister of pills from her night stand. Sleeping pills the doctor had prescribed her on her last visit. But she hadn't taken any yet. The last time she took sleeping pills was in foster care, she realized. Her night terrors were scaring the other children.
She sighed heavily and swallowed the pill dry. Soon her eyes grew heavy, and fighting back sleep was no longer worth it.
Grissom came home to find Hank wasn't laying by the front door like he normally did. He made his way back to the bedroom to see him laying diligently by Sara's side. Sara, he noted, was fast asleep. Glancing at the clock, he smiled, realizing she'd actually gone to bed at a reasonable hour.
He tip toed around the room getting read for bed before finally slipping into the sheets beside her. He inched closer to her, filling his senses with her sent. He smiled, It felt so good to have her there with him again. He curled up behind her, careful not to move her bad arm and drifted into sleep.