5 months earlier
Grissom finally had an end date for his project. He would be home by the time Sara was 24 weeks into her pregnancy. They excitedly read parenting books and shared what they had read in each one. Sara was adamant that the baby would be in their room for the first year and Grissom saw no reason to disagree. As they prepared for Sara's next ultrasound, they agreed that they wanted to know every detail they could about their unborn child and while neither had a particular preference for a boy or a girl they were keen to know which it would be. Because Sara had been so unwell and lost weight, she didn't yet appear obviously pregnant - although she had started wearing clothes that would hide the little bump she had. Grissom had commented on the fact that she was looking thin, but he knew that some women struggled with morning sickness and didn't bring up his concerns. He knew she was doing her best and had an incredible medical team supporting her.
While she still had very little appetite, she was no longer vomiting frequently, and was able to work her normal shifts without feeling sicker. She did consider telling DB so that he could find someone to cover for her when she took maternity leave, she decided that another few weeks wouldn't make a huge difference and she was still set on the idea of telling everyone their news together. Still, she was amazed that her friends hadn't noticed a change in her - but they all had their own distractions at the moment and she found herself excited about the secret she was keeping. She couldn't wait to see their faces when Grissom came home and they announced the reason for his return!
Sara felt herself coming back into consciousness. The faint smell of coffee was still in the air, along with the scent of hospital. Next came the pain. She started to remember previous bits of awareness and tried to piece together what was happening. She felt a hand holding hers tightly, and could feel rain on the same arm. Rain in a hospital didn't make sense though, did it? As she tried to fight her brain into putting pieces together, she recognised Greg's voice in the room. He sounded distressed. Oh. Suddenly it hit her that Greg was crying. Panic began to rise in her. Had someone died? One of their friends? Had there been an incident in which she was injured and someone else killed? But she could just barely make out his words when he said her name. Why was Greg crying her name? She couldn't be dead if she could hear and feel him, could she? Sara tried to fight through the fog to figure out how to help her friend. She couldn't bear the thought of him crying for her. Focusing with every bit of strength she could, she tried to squeeze his hand. After a minute, she was rewarded with a gasp. She had done it, she had squeezed his hand, and his crying had suddenly stopped. She felt a wave of relief. But it had taken all her energy to muster up the focus to squeeze his hand back, and she quickly drifted off again.
Greg would not admit he had broken down in tears while holding Sara's hand, but he excitedly texted Nick, Brass, Catherine and Morgan to tell them all that Sara had squeezed his hand. This wasn't a twitch, or a brief movement of her mouth. Sara had squeezed his hand and held it tightly until his tears had stopped and he gasped. He momentarily panicked when her grasp on him relaxed, but he was too excited to worry. He still held her hand while he did a victory dance, texting with the other. And while the morning didn't happen as he had planned with Poker and Coffee, he knew things were looking up.
The night had been busy at work. It seemed every criminal in Vegas was active, as the team dealt with a ridiculous number of robberies, assaults and petty crimes. Fortunately, the evening did pass without any new bodies, allowing Doc Robbins and David to catch up on the backlog of autopsies.
Nick was at his third robbery scene for the night when he got Greg's text, and he took a moment to smile before getting back to collecting evidence. Why were the criminals so stupid as to leave behind their fingerprints, their DNA, and in this particular case - their wallet. At least it should be quick to wrap up before he got to the next scene - a jewelry store robbery where the thief literally waved at the camera.
Finn was carefully documenting the evidence from a brawl at a pub that had gotten out of hand. There were hundreds of photographs to be taken of the blood stains spattered all over the room. It had taken 4 ambulances to collect all the seriously injured, and another 8 men had been taken to the hospital in police cruisers. She was excited to recreate the fight based on the blood evidence left behind.
Morgan was responsible for the myriad of petty crimes, and honestly felt like stabbing herself with a spork would be preferable to dealing with the numerous scenes she attended, none of which yielded much evidence and would likely never even see a courtroom. But here she was, fingerprinting a home where they were adamant that their precious kitty had been stolen by a neighbour - despite the window being open plenty wide for a curious cat to let himself out. Greg's text was the highlight of her night, and she promised to update him and Sara on how things turned out with their stolen kitty. Before Morgan had even finished at the scene, Sir Marshmallow had returned to the open window and let himself back in with a meow.
Catherine woke up feeling well rested for the first time this week. She read Greg's text, and she knew today was going to be a good day, she was sure of it. She messaged Grissom asking for an update on his ETA and he told her he was stuck on the boat waiting to be cleared to come ashore. Two phone calls and 15 minutes later, he messaged that somehow his ship had been bumped up in priority and he would be on his way to the airport within the hour. She replied with his reservation number for his flight to Las Vegas, and advised him that a driver would be waiting for him. He had a room booked at the Eclipse, and she would give him no more than 12 hours from when he checked in until he had to come to the hospital.
Next, she made coffee and breakfast for herself and her mother despite knowing her mother wouldn't be up for a few hours. She pottered around the house for an hour, tidying things up, throwing laundry in and washing up the dishes before she was satisfied with what she had done. She scribbled down a quick list before heading out the door - she had shopping to do!