Brass was the first to join Greg in Sara's room that morning. He listened and watched as Greg animatedly described Sara squeezing his hand and holding on, his face lighting up like a Christmas tree. Looking at Sara, he agreed she was looking better. In fact, he wouldn't hesitate to say she was actually looking almost normal again aside from the various monitors and the hospital gown.
Nick and Morgan arrived together, having come straight from work. Finn had decided to pull a double to complete her blood spatter analysis, but asked for updates. Morgan told everyone the story of the not so stolen kitty, and Nick told of the quick identification and arrest of the thief caught on camera. He turned out to be the owner of another jewelry store down the street. Greg and Brass joined in telling stories of criminals whose stupidity made their jobs easy.
"We had this one man who insisted he couldn't possibly have stabbed his neighbour. Swore up and down it wasn't him, he was home in bed with his wife. Well not only was he still covered in the victim's blood, with the knife in his kitchen, but we found him by following the bloody footprints from the scene. Oh, and it was all caught on video. He tried to plead not guilty and insisted on a trial. Jury came back so quick that we hadn't even had time to leave the room!" Brass told them, and everyone laughed. Doc Robbins came in at the tail end of the story and shared his own.
"Did I ever tell you about the rat that we had in autopsy once? I swear we spent the entire shift chasing down this little demon and then the power went out! Sure enough, there was a fried rat in the fuse box. We did a necropsy on him, since he was evidence, and it turned out he had eaten black tar heroin. It broke the case, if I remember correctly" Doc told the group.
"I hate to break up the party here, but could you give us a few minutes with Sara?" Dr. Mark asked as he entered the room with a nurse. "We just need to see how she's doing today, and then Maria will get Sara cleaned up a bit." Catherine quickly rushed in behind them, and handed the nurse a bag.
"Could you dress her in this?" She asked. "Sara's husband should be home tonight. I thought she might like to be in something other than a hospital gown." Maria was about to refuse, but looked in the bag and saw that somehow Catherine had managed to find a dress that was designed for hospital patients. "I heard about these from a friend. They have all the right openings and they're easy to put on even when the patients can't move independently. It might make her feel a bit better, when she wakes up." Maria nodded, and with a quick thank you from Catherine, everyone left the room.
"Good morning, Sara! I hear you've been starting to come back to us. I'm Dr. Mark, I've been treating you since you've been here. I'm just going to check you over and see how you're doing today and then Maria, your nurse this morning, is going to give you a quick bath and get you changed into a clean dress that Catherine brought in for you. Your vitals all look good, this morning. Definitely much better than they were when you came in. And now I need to check your incision. You've got a few stitches here but they're looking nice and clean, no sign of infection. Everything is looking like it should. You're doing a lot better now, Sara. Now I'm going to give your hand a squeeze and if you can hear me, squeeze back nice and tight for me." He waited quietly. "Or you could try opening your eyes for us if that's a bit easier? Any other sign you can give us that you're with us, Sara?" A moment later, he felt her hand move in his. Not quite a squeeze, but definite movement. "That's great Sara! I'll let you rest now while Maria gives you a quick bed bath. But I do hope you'll keep letting us know you're in there. You've got a lot of very worried friends who would love to see you wake up soon." He made a few notes in her chart, then smiled at Maria and left the room to update Sara's friends.
Maria set to work, carefully and gently bathing Sara. She noticed the effort that Finn, Catherine and Morgan had taken to care for their friend. Carefully, Sara was washed head to toe and her hair washed and patted dry. Her bandages were changed, and then Maria carefully dressed Sara in the soft dress that Catherine had brought in. The fabric felt like silk and was covered in a rich purple butterfly print. The colour suited her well, and Maria smiled knowing that her patient was well loved and would look her best when her husband arrived. Finally the bed was changed, and she quickly changed the linens on the cot as well.
"You look beautiful." She told Sara before opening the door to let her friends back in.
While Sara was being cleaned up, Brass asked Doc to join him for a walk so they could talk. Several minutes passed in silence before Doc spoke up.
"What's on your mind, Jim?" Brass paused, still unsure what to say.
"Did you know about what happened 4 months ago?" He asked carefully.
"At the time, no. But when Catherine gave me Sara's file after she was brought in, I had my suspicions based on some of the tests they were running."
"How could no one have noticed?" Brass asked. "I mean, we spend all day with her. I've been going over it in my mind since the doctor told me. She looked sick but we just didn't mention it. And she didn't tell anyone? I mean, wasn't she supposed to have at least told her supervisor? But why wouldn't she tell us, we would have been happy for her."
"Well, a lot of women are anxious. There seems to be this unwritten rule in society that says you don't tell anyone until 12 weeks, after they can start testing for birth defects. And Sara has always been intensely private. She may have been scared about how it would affect her job, or she didn't want to be treated differently. And I suspect she was scared about the idea of parenthood itself. You and I both know how it can turn your life upside down. Maybe she just needed time to get used to the idea, and then when it ended she didn't want people to know. And we all had a lot going on with DB's granddaughter and Finn being kidnapped and Ecklie getting shot. She probably didn't want to add to everyone's stress."
"You're right. That sounds like Sara." He paused, unsure if telling Doc all he knew was the right idea, but he needed to talk to someone. "The doctor said she had been seeing her physician. Wanted to try again but then Grissom filed for divorce. She wanted a family." Brass paused hesitantly. "But the surgery they did... she won't be able to have a baby now." His voice cracked. "They said she had an infection, from the miscarriage. And the abscess burst." Doc nodded.
"And that's what was making her so sick." He said. "I suspect she may have had hyperemesis, which would have made it difficult for her to eat or drink. And while it normally goes away after a miscarriage, Sara's infection could have had the same symptoms. Pregnancy is a normal thing, but I think a lot of people aren't aware of the risks involved, and the complications that can arise. Sara had a rough time. But the good news is that she should recover now." He tried to reassure Brass. "If the infection is gone, and the remaining fetal tissue is removed now, there's no reason she shouldn't recover completely. The liver and kidney damage has cleared up and her heart seems to be fine now."
"Yeah, that's what the doctor said. But I just... I don't know. We didn't know any of what was happening in her life. Look where she ended up. And then I'm the one who had to sign for the surgery. How could I be trusted to make that call for her?"
"I don't think you're the one Sara will blame, Jim. And you didn't make the decision for her, you let the doctors make the decision that they felt was best. Sara trusts you. Don't think she didn't, just because she wasn't ready to share this with you."
"I know. I know. I still worry though."
"I know you do. Let's try not to get ahead of ourselves now though." They both sat in silence for a few minutes.
"Do you think this is why Grissom filed for divorce? Because he didn't want to be a father?" Brass asked. "Or was he trying to cut himself off from being hurt again?"
"I think the only person who can answer that is Grissom."