DB was once again at the office early. His wife wasn't thrilled at the extra hours he was putting in but she understood that they were essentially down two CSIs with Sara in hospital and Nick and Greg taking turns staying with her. He looked at the paperwork that was accumulating rapidly, and then flipped through today's new assignments. Everyone would be working solo tonight, and he knew that wasn't ideal. Greg, especially would be distracted. Maybe they needed to borrow someone from swing or days. At times like this he wished there was some kind of substitute CSI program available, much like teachers had to cover their sick days at schools. It would be helpful when things like this occurred - and it was surprising just how often they had someone off with serious illness or injury.

As he was working his way through Sara's open cases to reassign them, his phone rang. Seeing it was Catherine, he answered quickly.

"Sara's in surgery." Was Catherine's abrupt greeting, before she explained what little she knew. Nick and Brass were there, and all they could do was wait. He was relieved when she went on to explain that someone had finally managed to get ahold of Sara's husband and that he had appointed Brass to make decisions in his absence. It meant that they would finally have more information from the doctors - although it obviously wasn't much good to them right now if she'd had an unexpected medical event requiring surgery. As he took it all in and processed the information, he was concerned for his team. He would go to Ecklie after the conversation and ask about borrowing someone to help pick up the slack. He promised Catherine he would pass on the updates to the team, and she let him know that Nick was updating Greg. While DB knew Greg would still come in for his shift, there was no way now that he could be left to manage a case on his own, so he decided to pair him with Finn, and give Morgan a second case. He could help her with it if need be. Finn could maybe take one or two of Sara's cases, and the rest could be divided between Nick and Greg.

Hours later, Sara was wheeled back into her room, and a surgeon found her friends waiting in the lounge. She asked to speak with Brass, and told Catherine and Nick they could join Sara in her room.

"Sara's back in her room now. The surgery went well and the anaesthetic should have cleared her system. We were a bit concerned how her body would cope, but despite her poor health she came through it all beautifully. I'm confident that we've removed the infection and she's stable. Unfortunately we had to remove her uterus and fallopian tubes and the left ovary, but the right was less damaged and was left in place - so she should be able to avoid early menopause" She spoke confidently, not noticing how awkward Brass appeared. "Dr. Mark will be back to speak with you in the morning, but I'm confident she should start to improve now. The infection is gone, and I think we've got a lot of the other issues under control." She smiled, and Brass tried to as well. "I really think she's going to be ok." Her attempts to reassure him were sincere, and she was confident in the good news she was delivering.

"Good. That's good. Thank you." was all he managed to say quietly before she turned and left.

He paused a few moments before he went into Sara's room, needing to see her for himself. Catherine and Nick had taken the chairs, leaving the cot for him to sit on. He sank down and looked Sara over, and was reassured by the monitors indicating all was well. He knew there were new bandages and a nasty incision hiding under the sheets and hospital gown, but he tried to focus on the surgeon's confidence that Sara would be ok. And he hoped she wouldn't blame him for signing away her chance at having children. After some time had passed, Catherine spoke first.

"So what did the surgeon say?" She asked cautiously, but hopeful.

"Oh, yeah. She did good. The surgery went well, despite how sick she was. Said that she came through it beautifully. She thinks Sara's going to be ok, just needs some time to heal. They removed the infection and the damage wasn't as bad as they first thought. And no reaction to the anaesthetic, so that's good too." He explained.

"Great. That's good news! Isn't it?" Catherine asked, and Brass nodded. Nick watched them both.

"So what's got you so down then?" Nick asked, confused that Brass's demeanor didn't match the optimistic words.

"Just worried about her. That's all." Brass said. "And worried about Grissom. Why didn't he answer his phone? And I know, I know you said he's on his way back" he nodded to Catherine. "Guess I'm just wondering if that's the right call. If he couldn't even be bothered to answer a call from her doctor... maybe... maybe we should just leave him be. I mean, I know if I got a call that Ellie's mom needed something, I'd do damn near anything for her. And I... well you know how bad things between us got. Things must have been pretty bad for him to file for divorce." The three sat in a thoughtful silence for what seemed like eternity before Catherine finally spoke.

"If Sara doesn't want to see him, I'll be the first to throw him out of here. But until we know for sure, he needs to be here. What those two had... you don't just fall out of a love that strong. I don't know what happened between them. I don't know why on earth he filed for divorce. But Sara didn't sign anything. She shoved the papers away in her desk."

"And you know, when I was at her place, there was no outward sign she wanted to cut him out of her life. She still has her wedding ring and pictures in her nightstand. There are photos of the two of them all over the house. His books, his bugs... it was all there. So even if Grissom may have been ready to walk away from Sara, she wasn't ready for that yet. Maybe this will be the wake up call he needs." Nick shared.

"I hope you're right, Nick." Brass sighed. A knock at the door broke the silence they had settled into.

6 months earlier

4 weeks after her positive pregnancy test, Sara had been to see the doctor to confirm the pregnancy and have a dating scan done. She had tried to put it off until Grissom could get home, but as always happened, he was held up. Finally he told her to just stop waiting and go, and to send him pictures until he could get back. The appointment went smoothly, with the doctor being almost as excited as Sara. Grissom was able to call while she was there, and the doctor played the baby's heartbeat for him to hear. Sara cried happy tears, and she could hear Grissom sniffling as well. Sara was 8 weeks into her pregnancy and everything looked perfect.

"The baby looks like a little tiny bee, Gil! It's our little Honey Bee." She told him. "They let me see the heartbeat, it just made it feel so real. We're going to be parents!" Her excitement was contagious, even thousands of miles apart.

They discussed what she would do about work. Sara promised to be more careful, but she refused to tell anyone until Grissom was home. She was adamant that once he was back, they would invite the team out for breakfast and share their big news - Grissom was moving back to Las Vegas and they were having a baby. In the meantime, she didn't tell him just how sick she was feeling or that she was having trouble keeping food down. Hiding it at work was becoming problematic, but she was careful. She did stop working extra hours and even took the occasional sick day on days she was struggling the most. No one commented or seemed to notice, or if they did then they didn't dare say anything.