Morgan was the next to arrive at the hospital. She had texted both Catherine and Greg to let them know she was on her way and to make sure she wouldn't be intruding. She fully intended to stay long enough to say hi, see if Sara needed anything, and then let her rest. As much as she cared about Sara and had been as worried as the others, she also knew Sara would be exhausted and there were many friends who wanted to see her now that she was awake.
Catherine let her know that Greg was with Sara, while she had gone for a walk and to get a late dinner. Sara was awake and had eaten, but if Morgan could get her to try to drink more that would be great. Morgan smiled at the message, remembering how Greg had once said Catherine was once like Grissom's work wife, and the mom of the team.
When she arrived at Sara's room, she knocked on the door before ducking her head in to ask if Sara was up for a visit. Sara smiled and invited her in, so Morgan pulled up a chair next to Greg.
"It's great to see you awake!" Morgan said cheerfully, handing over a small gift bag to Sara. "I didn't know what you'd like. Greg said no flowers, because they don't last. I thought I'd go for useful, instead." she said shyly as Sara opened the present to reveal lip balm, moisturiser, and citrus scented body wash, shampoo and conditioner. "When my dad was in hospital he complained that their soap smelled too much like work. It reminded him of the morgue." Sara grinned.
"Yeah, I hate the smell of hospitals." Sara told her. "This is great, thank you. But you didn't have to do that."
"I know, but I wanted to bring something. Next time I'll bring food, but Greg beat me to it today. Or you can let me know if there's anything you want picked up."
"I'm hoping I'll be home soon enough to not worry about needing anything else." Sara told her. "What have I missed at work? Any good cases?" Greg snorted.
"Tell her about the cat!" he insisted and Morgan obliged, adding as many details as she could remember to entertain Sara.
"I can't believe you spent that long collecting evidence only to have him waltz right back in!" Sara said with a grin across her face. "I didn't even know a missing cat qualified as a case."
"He was a purebred something. Long hair, short face. Very white. Very expensive." Morgan explained. "But I think when they called it in they may have said that their baby was missing. It worked! But argh, what a waste of time. And I had cat hair all over everything."
"I would have walked right out of there as soon as I found out it was a cat." Sara insisted. "What a waste of time."
"It was. But it was also pretty funny. You should have seen the look on the owner's face! She was horrified that her precious baby had gone outside. I'm sure she had fun trying to bathe him after that."
"Now that would have been fun to see. It might have even made up for all that wasted time to watch that!" Greg interrupted.
"There were other scenes to process." Morgan pointed out. "And we all wanted to get out of there on time."
"True. We had somewhere else to be." Greg agreed, and Sara raised an eyebrow at him. "Here, silly. We've all been rushing out of work so we could check on you and see how you were doing." Sara ducked her head a bit, not sure what to say.
"Hey, you'd do the same for any of us." Morgan told her, Greg nodding his agreement. "So we're here for you. Until you throw us out." Sara smiled.
"Well hopefully I'll be out of here soon." she told them.
"You'd better work on getting off those tubes then." Morgan suggested. "Why don't you have some juice now. Which one do you want?"
"Or a popsicle! I can go grab them from the freezer." Greg jumped in quickly. Sara shrugged.
"Sure. I'll try one." she agreed and Greg quickly jumped up to retrieve one. "How has he been coping?" Sara asked Morgan as soon as he left the room.
"He's been worried. We all have. But he's also been the most optimistic and certain you were going to be fine." Morgan told her. "He's tried everything to wake you up, though. He brought in coffee to wave under your nose, and popcorn and movies. I think he had a movie marathon the one night with running commentary. We even caught him trying to tickle you awake!" Sara groaned. "He just wanted you to be ok. He feels like he's been a bad friend, hasn't been there for you when you needed him."
"Greg's a great friend. And he should know that. I just... I don't like to share my problems with other people. And it's been a rough go for everyone over the past few months." Sara explained sadly. "And I guess... I worried he, and Brass, and Nick would think less of me. They were Grissom's team and friends before mine. I didn't want to lose them as friends."
"I've never met him, only heard about him from everyone else. But I don't think for a moment that Nick or Greg would think less of you, no matter what the situation. Greg especially, he just adores you. He would follow you to the moon and back if you led the charge. In fact, I think the only one at the lab who wouldn't take your side is Hodges, but even he could be persuaded." Morgan tried to reassure her. "But either way, we're here for YOU. You are our friend, and we care. So let us help, ok? Even if you don't want to talk about it." she finished as Greg came in.
"What doesn't Sara want to talk about?" he asked, handing Sara two popsicles.
"It doesn't matter, Greg. I just told her that we're here to help even if she doesn't want to talk." Morgan explained.
"Yup, we are. I mean, I might try to get you to talk about it, because you know you'll feel better, but even if you don't want to talk, we're still gonna be there for you. And trust me, everyone is going to be watching to make sure you're ok now. We aren't going to miss the signs again." Greg rambled.
"Not that we're going to be staring at you and scrutinising you." Morgan interjected pointedly.
"No, definitely not! That's not what I meant!" Greg tried to backtrack, making Sara smile.
"It's ok guys. I get it. And I'll try to be a bit better at asking for help." Sara agreed, gesturing with the popsicle she had chosen. "And to start with... can someone open this for me? It's like trying to break into a safe." Morgan quickly picked it up and tore it open, handing it back to Sara with the wrapper still around the stick to catch any drips.
"See, easy. It's ok to ask for help." Morgan told her. "But I should probably get going soon. I've got some paperwork to do before shift. Oh, and I forgot to tell you, Ecklie says take all the time off that you need. And he said he hopes you're feeling better soon, but he didn't think you'd want him to visit. If you do, he's happy to do so though."
"Thanks Morgan. And thank your dad for me. But I'm good, I think I've got enough visitors for now." Sara said. "Have a good night. Good luck with the paperwork. And I'd love to see a picture of Sir Marshmallow if you find one when you're doing your notes!"