When breakfast finally appeared, Sara promised herself she would eat whatever was on the plate no matter how bad it looked, smelled or tasted. Anything to avoid the meal replacement drink, or the NG tubes. Her resolve, however, wavered when she uncovered her tray to find congealed scrambled eggs with some wilted greens next to it. Grissom and Brass watched her carefully as she poked at it with a fork before reaching for the cold toast.
"You know, if they want patients to eat, maybe they should give them something edible." She said irritably as she spread jam on her toast and then took a bite.
"Yeah, that doesn't look so appetising." Brass admitted as he eyed her tray. "Do you want us to go get you something else? Or I can call Catherine?" he suggested. Sara continued to chew on her cold toast and sighed then nodded.
"Why don't I go get you something?" Grissom offered, eager to be helpful. Sara perked up a little bit.
"Are you sure you don't mind?" She asked.
"Not at all. I'm sure I can find something better than cold toast and whatever that is." he said, pointing at the sad pile of green on her plate. "But we should check to see what you're allowed to have. I don't want to make you sick."
"OK." she grumbled a bit and pushed the call button. The nurse came in to see Sara chewing on her toast and glaring at her tray.
"Oh wow. Your first meal and its eggs for breakfast." She said sympathetically.
"Can we get her something else to eat?" Grissom asked. "I'm happy to go pick something up, we just wanted to check what she's allowed to have."
"Nothing too heavy for now. We'll start her on light, simple foods first. I can go find some yoghurt if you'd like? And some cereal?" Sara nodded eagerly.
"Please, it has to be better than this." She said.
"OK, I'll see what else we can find. But yes, you're welcome to have someone bring you your own food, just check with us if you're unsure." The nurse told her. "I'm sorry about the food here. It isn't always this bad."
"Not your fault." Sara told her. "But I want to get out of here and I don't think that" she pointed at the eggs "is going to sit very well." The nurse nodded in agreement, and promised to be back as soon as she could. Grissom stood up a minute later.
"I'm going to see if we can get you some fruit. Or is there anything else you'd like?" He asked her.
"You don't have to. Yoghurt should be fine." She insisted, and he raised an eyebrow at her. "Ok. Fruit sounds good. Thank you."
The nurse returned 15 minutes later with a cup of peach yoghurt in hand, as well as a small package of cereal.
"You're not the only one looking for something better to eat." She reassured Sara. "We have to restock our fridges, I think. I hope this is ok."
"It looks much better." Sara told her, opening the cereal and yoghurt. She carefully spooned up some of each together and ate it. "It's good."
"Excellent." She picked up Sara's chart from the end of the bed, and made a few notes, quickly glancing at the monitors still tracking Sara's heart and other vitals. "Enjoy your breakfast. I think Dr. Mark will be in to see you soon as well. Let me know if you need anything else." She said, and then left Sara to eat.
"How is it really?" Brass asked her when the nurse had left.
"Better than those eggs looked. And much better than that drink earlier." Sara told him. "But I'm looking forward to eating real food, at home." She emphasised the latter.
"I know. One step at a time." He reminded her gently and she rolled her eyes.
"So when did Grissom come back?" She asked, changing the subject.
"Maybe an hour or so before you woke up." Brass told her. "I think he's a bit jet lagged."
"That's to be expected. Where was he?"
"Somewhere off the coast of Mexico, headed towards Hawaii I think." Sara nodded, seeming unsurprised. Somehow it made sense. They sat in silence while she ate before Brass decided to broach the topic they had been avoiding.
"Do you want to talk about what happened?" He asked gently.
"Which one?" Sara asked with a huff.
"Any of them." Brass said. "If you need or want to talk about any of it, I'm not a bad listener." He told her and her expression softened.
"I know that, Jim. I'm just not good at talking." She said.
"That's ok, too. You don't have to be good at it. But if you want to, I'm here." He said, reaching forward to grab her hand.
"Thanks. I'll keep it in mind." Sara finally told him. After another period of silence, she spoke up again. "So what did you and Grissom talk about while I was asleep?"
"I told him he'd better not hurt you again." Brass replied immediately.
"Did you consider that maybe I'm the one who hurt him?" Sara asked.
"How long have I watched you two?" Brass asked her. "It's been 13 years since you moved to Vegas, and I can't even count the number of times I've seen him screw things up when it came to you. So no. We all knew that he was the one who did something stupid." Brass said firmly but with a half smile. Sara refused to meet his gaze though as she looked down at the sheet partially covering her.
"No, this time it was my fault." She said quietly. "And I have no idea how to fix things." Brass reached to lift her chin to meet his eyes.
"Sara, he doesn't agree with you there. He said the exact same thing and blames himself for you ending up here. I think the two of you need to talk and you might find it's easier to fix things than you think."