Grissom found himself startled awake by an alarm on the hospital ward. After a brief moment of disorientation, he remembered where he was and quickly rolled over to check on Sara.
"It's not her room, it's down the hall." Catherine told him. "She's fine." He nodded, then stood up and stretched.
"Did I miss anything?" He asked
"Dr. Mark came to see her and she woke up enough to talk to him for a few minutes. He gave her a rundown of what happened and did a quick exam. She's improved a lot since yesterday." Catherine explained.
"How much did he tell her?" Grissom asked.
"Just the longer version of what you told her. Malnutrition due to weight loss, complications with heart liver and kidneys, then the infection and the abscess being removed." Catherine told him. "He asked if she had any questions but she didn't seem ready to ask. Went back to sleep a few minutes later and she's been out for a couple hours now. I haven't heard from Brass so he's probably still sleeping, but if you're ready to go back to the hotel room to shower and sleep you can."
"No, I'm staying." Grissom interjected quickly.
"OK, but you need to go at some point. Morgan and Finn want to visit Sara before work tonight, and Nick and Greg will be back. I suspect Hodges will want to come by since he knows you're back." She smiled when Grissom shuddered.
"I don't think I need to see Hodges yet." He admitted. "Or at all?"
"Good luck with that." Catherine replied. "But I can keep him away from here for now. And he doesn't need to know where you're staying."
"Thank you." Grissom replied, relieved, as he watched Sara.
"She's looking a lot better." Catherine told him. "Even got her to drink some apple juice."
"She likes orange juice better." Grissom replied without thinking. "Or I guess, she used to."
"We can ask the nurse to find us some." Catherine reassured him. "And we can ask Sara what she wants to drink. I'm sure she'll wake up again soon." Grissom nodded, and they sat in silence for several minutes.
"So who are Morgan and Finn?" Grissom asked, curious about the visitors Catherine had mentioned.
"Oh, you're gonna love this. Morgan is one of the new CSIs. She's young. But you'll never guess who she's related to." Catherine told him gleefully as he shrugged. "She's Ecklie's daughter!"
"Ecklie's daughter?" Grissom asked, suddenly feeling very old as he tried to remember if Ecklie ever mentioned any children.
"She was estranged from him after her parents divorced. Stayed with her mom. But she's working night shift here now and he's making a real effort to be close to her. Sara has been helping mentor her in a way I guess. And Greg is definitely very interested in her." Catherine explained. "I also heard a rumour about her and Hodges. And then Ecklie and Hodges' mom. It was a whole thing apparently." Grissom raised an eyebrow. "I know, I know, you aren't one for gossip. But you asked!"
"I did. So she works with Sara. And who is Finn?"
"Finn is new to the team. I only met her a couple days ago. She used to work with DB - he's the new supervisor, after I was demoted. So he brought her in when I left. From what Nick has said, she's great at what she does."
"That's good."
"You know, things just weren't the same after you left." Catherine told him. "But they keep going, even without us."
"That they do." He agreed. "But I don't regret leaving CSI to follow Sara."
"Do you regret not following her when she came back?" Catherine asked boldly.
"At the time, I thought I was making the best choice."
"And now?"
"I should have come back with her." He admitted softly, reaching out to take Sara's hand. Memories played through his mind as he watched her, thinking of all the little choices that seemed to take him away from her. He asked himself for the hundredth time what had seemed so important he couldn't be home with his wife instead of travelling all over the world. Catherine remained silent, watching her friend as he was lost in thought, wondering if he even knew when things had gone so wrong. Neither seemed aware of time passing until an orderly came in with a meal tray.
"The nurses ordered dinner for her." He explained, setting the tray down. "When she wakes up, see if she can try something. Or if she has any requests, we'll see what we can do."
"Thank you." Both Grissom and Catherine replied in unison, before Grissom turned to Sara.
"Sara? Honey? Would you like to wake up and try some dinner?" He leaned towards her as he squeezed her hand, hoping to wake her up. Catherine lifted the lid off the tray apprehensively and laughed.
"You've got jello, juice, and vegetable soup here. Not exactly what I'd call dinner, but at least it's all vegetarian. Look, even the jello is labelled plant based!" Sara's weak smile was the first indication she was waking up. When she opened her eyes, both Catherine and Grissom beamed.
"What would you like to try first?" Grissom asked, gesturing to the tray.
"Orange juice." Sara told him and watched as he carefully opened it and placed a straw in the cup, bringing it to her lips as Catherine had done earlier. She took a sip and made a face.
"That's disgusting." She told them, and Catherine looked at the label.
"Yeah... maybe we should find you some real juice. This stuff is... sad." Sara nodded.
"OK. I'll try the jello. Surely they can't screw that up, right?" She asked hesitantly. Catherine took the cup of jello from the tray to open it while Grissom grabbed the spoon. Carefully he scooped up a small bit and brought it to her lips. Sara tasted it, nodding.
"Well, it's better than the juice." she admitted. "Let me feed myself." Catherine placed the cup on the tray and turned it so it was over the bed, and glared at Grissom until he handed Sara the spoon. Slowly and clumsily she managed to scoop some up and bring it to her mouth without spilling it. Grissom hovered, ready to wipe up a spill or take over, but Sara continued to feed herself more steadily with each spoonful. "See? I can handle it."
"Do you want to try the soup?" Catherine asked, and Sara shook her head. "Or we can ask for more jello?"
"You know what would be good?" Sara asked. "That soup from the vegetarian place near the diner. And real juice."
"Consider it done. Do you want me to ask Finn or Morgan to pick it up on their way here later, or do you want me to go now?"
"Later is fine. Ask Greg, he knows where it is." Sara told her. "And I'm not sure I'd trust Finn to get the juice... she'd get mimosas." she added with a smile, and Catherine laughed.
"Somehow that doesn't surprise me. Do you want me to message Greg? Or do you want to call him? He'd love that."
"No, just text him. And make sure I'm awake when he gets here." Sara told her before turning to Grissom. "Did you get some sleep?"
"Yes, Catherine made me have a nap." He grumbled.
"Good." Sara told him, watching him for a moment. "Actually, could you go get me some orange juice? The one with the blue label. I can't remember what it's called."
"Of course. Do you want me to go now?"
"If you don't mind. You know which one I mean?"
"Yes. I think I saw some in the vending machine downstairs." He stood and Sara nodded.
"Thanks." She told him as he left the room.
"So how are you feeling?" Catherine asked gently.
"I don't know." Sara admitted. "I hurt. I'm tired. But I want to go home."
"Yeah, I get that. Are you ok with him being here?"
"Yes? But confused, I guess. I don't know what to say or what he expects." Sara admitted. "It's just too... weird."
"I can send him home if you like. Finn and Morgan want to visit before work, and you know Brass and Greg and Nick will be by too."
"Maybe just one or two at a time?" Sara asked, feeling overwhelmed. "And I think... I think I might want some time alone, too."
"Consider it done." Catherine said. "You're the boss! Although we can blame the hospital, say they only want one or two visitors at a time now that you're awake. Do you want me to head out for a bit so you can be alone?" Sara shook her head.
"No, not yet." She said quickly, realising that she needed Catherine right now. "You can stay. Or Brass if he wants."
"He hasn't left here without one of us kicking him out since you were brought in." Catherine told her. "It meant a lot to him when you asked him to stay."
"I'm glad he was here. I'm glad all of you have been here." Sara told her, trying to remember her brief periods of awareness. "It was weird. I knew all of you were here even if I couldn't see or hear you. Greg, he brought coffee? And he cried. I thought it was rain at first. And then I wondered who died when I realised he was crying."
"No one died." Catherine reassured her. "He was just worried about you. We all were."
"I still can't believe you flew back here." Sara replied.
"I was on the first plane I could get after Nick called. You're family." Tears welled up in Sara's eyes.
"We're family." She repeated.
There will be a lot of crappy hospital food in this fic. Sorry! But seriously, I remember being post op and the food they kept bringing me was inedible. It's the only thing I remember from a week long stay.
Let me know if you're still reading and enjoying!