By the time Brass arrived at the hospital, Greg was already there. He and Nick sat on opposite sides of Sara's bed, talking to her and holding her hands. Nick stood to let Brass take his place and stretched.
"OK, I need to go for a quick walk. Anyone want one of those breakfast sandwich things? And coffee?" Nick asked, seeing Greg and Brass nod. "Be back soon. Don't wake her up while I'm gone, ok?" When he left the room, Greg leaned down to Sara's ear.
"Now would be a really good time to wake up." He told her as he squeezed her hand. "Come on, Nick would be so annoyed! It would give us all a laugh." Brass was about to roll his eyes, but stopped when he saw the sheet move tightly. He and Greg both turned towards the end of the bed and saw a definite twitch of her foot. Greg grabbed the nurse call button and pressed it, and a nurse came in a moment later. "Her foot moved!" Greg told her excitedly. "Does that mean she's waking up?"
"It's a positive sign." The nurse reassured him. "It might mean she's coming around, but it might not. I've notified the doctor on call that she's started moving. Call me again if you see any other new signs of movement or consciousness." She told them before leaving the room to answer another call button. Greg's face lit up with excitement and he practically wiggled in his seat.
"See, she's waking up!" He told Brass.
"She might be waking up." Brass reminded Greg. "Give her some time. She's recovering from a lot."
"I know. But I can feel it. She's coming back to us." Greg insisted. "Right Sara? You're going to open your eyes soon, and laugh at us all for worrying so much. And none of us are going to leave you alone. You have no idea how much we all want to take you out for dinner. And breakfast. And movies! Oh, and Finn and Catherine have mentioned spa days. Hey, did you know you've got pink sparkly toenails? I mean, I haven't seen them. But Catherine took a photo of what Finn did and showed us. We've all been so worried, so why don't you just open your eyes. Even just one eye? Let us know you're getting better." He coaxed while Brass watched, amused. Of course Greg would have to mention the nail polish. And as much as he wanted to believe Greg's optimism, he still worried. He knew that Sara waking up wasn't going to be all sunshine and rainbows.
Sara felt groggy and disoriented. She had no idea how much time had passed or what had happened. The familiar smell of hospital told her whatever it was, it wasn't good. She was vaguely aware of a familiar voice nattering away, and could feel a hand grasping hers. Not Grissom's. The voice might be Greg, but the calm, weathered hand definitely wasn't. It must be Brass, she thought. He would visit her, wouldn't he? She couldn't make out the words Greg was saying, but could hear the excited tone. She tried to smile at his happiness. That familiar nagging pain in her abdomen had changed. The moment she recognised pain she knew something was different. Her skin hurt. Maybe she had been stabbed. She was trying to piece together smells, feelings and sounds but it was all too exhausting and she quickly fell back into a deep sleep of chaotic dreams.
"She tried to smile! I swear, I saw a smile on her face for a second!" Greg squealed. He would later deny he could make such a noise, but Brass was certain it was a definite squeal.
"Yeah, I saw it too." Brass admitted. Sara's heart rate had increased a microsecond after the brief smile faded, but it leveled out a minute later. Both of them watched Sara intently for another 10 minutes, and were disappointed when nothing happened.
Nick returned with food and coffee, and as expected was disappointed he had missed seeing Sara smile. They all spoke to her as they ate, taking turns squeezing her hands gently. At one point Greg reached over and tried to tickle her neck, causing Brass and Nick to look at him like he'd lost his mind.
"I just thought I'd try something different." He defended himself.
"I think that verges on creepy, Greg." Nick argued just as Morgan entered the room.
"Greg's being creepy?" She asked.
"I was just trying to tickle her and see if it would wake her up!" Greg explained, annoyed. "Squeezing her hand and talking isn't doing anything."
"I think if tickling was effective the doctors might have already tried that." Brass pointed out.
"I mean, Greg does have a point. If someone tickled me in my sleep, I'd be awake in a second to wring their neck." Morgan reasoned.
"In that case, carry on Greg. I'd love to see Sara wake up and wring your neck." Nick teased. Greg just huffed, and picked up his coffee. Brass and Nick moved to let Morgan sit down.
"So do we have any more news?" Morgan asked the three and Greg quickly answered.
"She moved her hand, and her foot! And I swear, I saw her smile. Brass saw it too. The nurse said it was a good thing. It could mean she's waking up."
"Could, Greg. Not does mean." Brass reminded him.
"She smiled. She's coming back to us. I know it." Greg would not be discouraged.
"I'm with Greg. It's a good sign, and I think she's going to wake up." Nick insisted. "Morgan?"
"I'm not getting involved in this one! But I hope you're right. And just in case you are, could someone hand me the hair brush? I'm sure she doesn't want to wake up to a mess of tangles." She pointed to the brush on the window ledge, and Nick handed it to her with all three men watching as Morgan carefully brushed Sara's hair, only looking up when Catherine entered the room.
"Oh good, I forgot to brush it yesterday." Catherine said as she dragged a chair over, and then pulled a stick of lip balm from her purse along with a tube of moisturiser. She handed them to Brass, who was sitting across from Morgan and he raised an eyebrow before standing up and gesturing for Catherine to take his place. While Catherine set to work, Greg excitedly updated her on Sara's morning. Catherine couldn't help but smile and agree with Greg. This was good. Sara was improving. Grissom was on his way back. Things were going to be ok.
Reviews? Please?
Fluff and happy is coming, I promise. And a few more hiccups. And possibly humour?
What do you want to see aside from Grissom coming home and Sara waking up?