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Chapter 2: Coming Around

"I had to hold on... I couldn't let Sara fall..."
Grissom's words ran through Sara's head over and over again as she slowly processed the scene of the homicide Catherine had assigned to her and Nick. Since Grissom wasn't able to work, the scene that he and Sara had been working had been passed off to dayshift.

"I had to hold on... I couldn't let Sara fall..." Sara still couldn't believe what she had heard.

The rest of the team had just smiled at each other when they heard Grissom's words. The doctor had raised his eyebrow at her. "You're Sara?" he asked her. She nodded slowly, staring back at Grissom's room. "I'll see what I can do to make it so you can visit him whenever you want, all right?"

"You can do that?" Sara had asked in surprise, and he had smiled at her. "I am his doctor." He patted her on the shoulder, and nodded goodbye to the rest of the team. "I guess I'll be seeing you later. Have a nice day; I'll take good care of Mr. Grissom."

"Sara... Sara!"

"Huh?" Sara's head jerked up as Nick called her name, jolting her back to the present.

"Are you finished yet?"

Glancing around the crime scene, Sara cringed. Normally, she would have been finished processing by now and ready to go. "No," she muttered as she forced her brain to focus on the task at hand. "Not yet, just give me a minute."

With a sigh, Nick began to help her. "Thinking about Grissom?" he asked quietly, grinning at the red tinge that appeared on her cheeks as she shrugged. He shook his head. "Well, I guess I should have known you wouldn't be able to concentrate tonight."

Sara glared at him. "What are you talking about?"

Nick's grin grew even wider. "Come on, Sara. Grissom's hurt, and we all know how you feel about him. And the only person who can't see that Grissom has a thing for you is Grissom himself." He shrugged, and turned back to his work. "Well, he might just be too chicken to do anything about it."

"Can we change the subject now?" Sara snapped, and Nick obliged with small smile. "Sure," he said sweetly, "why not?"

"Will you cut that out?" Catherine growled at Sara, who was tapping her pen against the break room table with little to no semblance of rhythm as she waited for Greg to get back to her with results.
Sighing irritably, Sara slumped lower in her chair and glanced up at the clock. Seeing where she was looking, Catherine's face softened. "You want to go see how Grissom's doing?"
Sara shrugged, non-committal, but the look on her face told Catherine all she needed to know. Sighing, Catherine glanced at the clock too. There was only fifteen minutes left of shift. She smiled wryly, thinking that it was amazing that Sara had lasted this far into shift, she was so wired.
"Go," she told her friend. "I think he'd like to have someone there with him. I know he hates hospitals."
"But I still have to work the case with Nick," Sara protested, suddenly nervous now that she was being allowed to actually go and see Grissom.
"Go ahead, Sara," Nick said suddenly from the doorway with a smile. "I can finish up here – it looks pretty open-and-shut. We have the prints on the knife, Jane Coyle in custody, and as soon as we get the test results back from Greg we'll have all we need."
"Assuming the DNA results are conclusive," Sara said immediately. "Grissom would be mad if he knew you were guessing."
Nick shrugged, and grinned. "I'm not guessing, exactly, and what Grissom doesn't know can't hurt him. Go see him."
Sara glanced back at Catherine, who nodded. "Go ahead."

Fifteen minutes later Sara walked into the hospital, and made her way to Grissom's room. He was awake and staring at the ceiling, eyes blank as though he was lost in thought. His forehead was creased with pain.

"Grissom?" Sara called his name softly.

For a moment he didn't respond, and then his eyes focused on her, and he gave her a small smile. "Shift over already?" he asked, voice hoarse.

Sara shook her head and slumped down on the chair beside his bed. "Catherine let me go early... How are you feeling?"

He let out his breath in a sigh. "Bored. Wish I could get back to work."

"I meant how do you feel physically," she told him, raising her eyebrow at him.

Grissom gave her a look. "Great. Never felt better." Sara chuckled quietly, hiding her surprise that they were talking with each other so comfortably.

Suddenly she was serious. "Listen, I'm sorry I got mad at you the other day when we were... hanging there. I should have realized you were hurt."

"How would you know?" Grissom asked matter-of-factly. "I wasn't about to tell you."

"I..." she began, but he continued as though he hadn't heard her.

"The way I've been acting lately, of course you wouldn't have thought there was anything weird about me being mad at you." He glanced at her, his face emotionless, his words now carefully chosen. "I didn't mean to yell at you. I couldn't let you know I was hurt. I didn't want you panicking, afraid I was going to get us both killed."

He sighed to himself as he finished. And what happened to the speech you practiced all damn night? he thought irritably, weren't you going to talk to her and work things out?

"Grissom," Sara leaned forward to look him in the eye, interrupting his inner-monologue. "I don't blame you for anything, and I wouldn't have blamed you if we'd fallen. It would have been hard enough holding on without that nail jammed in your chest."

For a long moment they were both silent, and the room was suddenly thick with tension. I shouldn't have said anything, Sara thought to herself miserably. Then she sighed. Well, now that you've ruined it anyway...

"Um..." Grissom glanced at Sara as she started to speak, and she immediately looked down. "About what happened..."

"What?"

"Last night, when we came to visit you here... do you remember that?"
Grissom eyed her for a moment, feeling nervous suddenly as he realized what she was talking about. "A little bit," he lied, "I remember seeing you guys. Catherine said something to me. That's about it."
Sara gave him a long look. "Is that all?"
"Yeah." He could feel his heart racing. Why couldn't he just tell her the truth?
"You sure?" He gave her a look, and she sighed. "Well, you said something..."

Suddenly, they were interrupted by a doctor. Crappy timing, Sara fumed silently as the woman moved forward and introduced herself as Dr. Connors. "You must be Sara," she said as she smiled at Sara, who only nodded back. Dr. Connors must have been smarter than she looked, because she took the point, and got down to business, leaving Sara alone.

When she was finished giving Grissom his pain medication and checking his bandages she turned to go, but Grissom stopped her. "When is the soonest I can get out of here?" he asked, his voice tinged with impatience.

Dr. Connors took another look at his chart. "You can probably go home today. You'll have to speak with your regular doctor, Dr. Hale, before you'll know for sure. He may want you to stay a little longer for observation. You'll also have to have someone who can stay at home with you, and take care of you until you're fully healed."

"But I don't have..."

"I could stay with him," Sara interrupted, refusing to look at Grissom. If she was with him all the time maybe they could talk about their relationship, and maybe repair their friendship at the very least.

Dr. Connors nodded. "Well, Dr. Hale should be in at seven o'clock to start his shift. Talk to him then, and I think you'll be able to go home."

At seven that morning, Sara pulled up in front of Grissom's apartment, and glanced over at her charge. Dr. Hale had come in early for shift and had cleared Grissom to go home, on the condition that Sara or another of the team stay with him until he was fully healed. He also stressed that whoever stayed with him had to keep him quiet, and make sure he didn't move around too much. He had then proceeded to give Sara an impromptu class on how to change Grissom's bandages properly.

"You all right?" Sara asked Grissom quietly, noticing how pale he was.

"I'm fine," he replied absently. "Glad to be out of the hospital."

Sara wasn't convinced, but she let it go at that and got out of the SUV, going around to the other side to help Grissom out. She knew normally he would have been out and trying to walk by himself; the fact that he waited for her to help him told her that he was still in pain. No more pain meds for a while yet, Grissom, she thought silently.

When he was safely on the ground, Sara quickly closed up the vehicle and locked it before turning back to Grissom and putting a hand on his left arm. As they started to walk, she felt fear race through her for a moment as he swayed dizzily. He steadied himself quickly though, and no words were spoken as they walked slowly up to his apartment.

"You should probably lay down for a bit," Sara said as she flicked on the lights in his apartment. When he didn't respond, she glanced at him. "Do you want to lay down?"

"Sure," he murmured, and Sara could hear the weariness in his voice.

"Come on," she replied, guiding him into his room. As he sat down on the bed, a flash of pain ripped across his face, and Sara gripped his arm tightly to steady him. "Are you all right?" she asked anxiously. He nodded, but his jaw was clenched, and his hands were shaking a tiny bit.

Realizing he wasn't going to admit anything, she sighed and helped him lie down and take off his shoes. "You sure you don't want to get changed?" she asked, and he gave her a crooked grin.

"Yes. I don't think I'd be able to do it myself, but I don't think I'm quite ready to have you dressing me either," he murmured as he closed his eyes tiredly.

"Right," Sara replied, pleasantly surprised that he was joking with her. Slowly, his body relaxed and his breathing became deep and even, and she couldn't help but reach out and touch his cheek gently. She nearly drew back in surprise when he turned his face towards her hand, but then she smiled and ran her other hand lightly through his hair.

She would have stayed there all day with him, just sitting with his face against her hand, but suddenly her cell phone rang. Grissom jerked awake, his cry of pain stifled quickly as he slumped back down to the bed trembling and panting, his good hand clutching her arm. "Just hold on a second," she snapped into her phone as she answered it quickly.

"Shit." She swore as she leaned anxiously over Grissom. "Grissom? Oh God, I'm sorry Grissom." The look in his eyes was one of fear and pain, and suddenly all Sara wanted to do was protect him. Gently, she slid her arm under his shoulders and moved closer to him, gently prying his hand from her arm and catching it in her own as she pulled him against her. "It's okay," she whispered softly, seeing the pain slowly recede from his eyes, and the fear be replaced with an incredible exhaustion. "Everything's going to be fine. God, I'm sorry Grissom."

Normally, she never would have considered doing this, but he needed someone so badly right now, and it seemed to comfort him. With a trembling sigh, he buried his face tiredly in her shoulder and relaxed as once again sleep claimed him.

When Sara had finally calmed herself down again, she put the phone to her ear with her free hand. "Sidle," she said, careful to keep her voice quiet so as not to disturb Grissom again.

"What the hell just happened? I could hear you, is Grissom all right?" It was Catherine, sounding worried and upset. Sara had phoned her earlier to tell her that she was taking Grissom home.

"He's all right," Sara replied, "he was just sleeping; when the phone rang he woke up with a jerk."

"Oh damn," Catherine muttered, and Sara could hear the guilt in her voice. "Is he all right?"

"Yeah, he's fine," Sara reassured her. "The pain scared him more than anything, I think. He's asleep again now; he'll be all right."

Catherine sighed. "I'm sorry," she began, but Sara cut her off.

"Hey, it's not your fault, I should have turned it off."

"Well, I just wanted to phone to see how he's doing. Do you think you could take tomorrow night off to stay with him? I don't like the idea of him being alone for that amount of time just yet."

Sara glanced down at Grissom, sleeping soundly against her. She smiled. "Yeah, I can take off as much time as I need. I've got plenty of vacation time to use up anyway."

"All right," Catherine said, relief evident in her voice. "I know you two haven't been... haven't been the greatest friends lately."

Sara sighed. "Yeah, well..." She let her sentence trail off quietly. She had no intention of discussing this with Catherine. "I guess I'll talk to you later, then?"

"Sure," Catherine replied, amused at Sara's obvious evasion of the subject. "See you."

After Catherine had hung up, Sara turned off her phone and placed it on Grissom's bedside table. She wasn't taking any more chances. "I'm sorry," she whispered softly to the sleeping Grissom again, and then she relaxed, her arms encircling him carefully as she, too, let herself sleep.

It was five in the afternoon when Sara woke suddenly. She realized immediately that Grissom had turned away from her, and his face was creased in pain. He was mumbling her name, the fear in his voice evident. "She fell... couldn't hold on... Sara... Sara..."

"Grissom!" Sara gently touched his face, trying to wake him before he got too upset and ripped out his stitches. "Grissom, wake up!"

It was a few minutes before his eyes snapped open, and he tried to sit up. "Sara..." his voice was hoarse and fearful, and his eyes looked for her desperately.

"I'm here," Sara soothed as she pushed him back down gently. She could feel his heart drumming wildly against his chest as he gasped for breath. "I'm here, you're all right. Everything's all right."

"Sara..." he murmured her name again shakily as he buried his face in her shoulder and lay trembling in her arms. For the longest moment, the only sound was that of his harsh breathing as he slowly calmed.

"You were dreaming about the accident," she said softly, and the words seemed to hang in the air, as if inviting him to discuss the dream, or forget about it if he wished.

"I let go," he finally whispered against her shoulder, and Sara suddenly knew he was talking about more than just his dream. "I let go, and you... we... fell. I couldn't hold on. It hurt too much... I was scared. But falling... it was worse... it was the worst feeling I've ever felt in my life."

When he hesitated to go on, Sara gently let her forehead rest on his temple. "It's all right," she reassured him, "everything's all right."

Taking a deep breath, he leaned into her. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry I hurt you. I'm sorry I was too scared to trust you..."

"Shhh." Sara stopped him quickly. "It doesn't matter anymore," she told him firmly, "as long as you promise to stop running from me."

Grissom turned his face towards her and stared into her eyes. "All right," he replied, unable to keep the pain from his voice as he sank back into her arms. "All right. I promise."

"Good," Sara whispered with a small smile, "it took you long enough to come around." If you weren't so worried about Grissom, she thought to herself, you'd be dancing right about now. "We're going to have to discuss this later," she said reluctantly. "It's time for some more pain meds, I think."

"I think so too," Grissom replied tiredly. As she went to stand up, he suddenly caught her hand in his own, and she turned to look at him. "Can I kiss you?" he asked softly, hesitantly.

"You don't have to ask," she replied just as softly, as he raised himself up slightly and kissed her gently. When he finally pulled away, Sara couldn't contain her smile. "I'll be right back," she whispered as she reluctantly got up from the bed.

She returned with a glass of water and his pills, and he painfully pulled himself up into a sitting position to swallow them. When he had downed half of the glass of water, he handed it back to Sara and eased himself back onto the bed again. "How long until it kicks in?" he muttered quietly.

"Twenty to thirty minutes," Sara replied matter-of-factly. Grissom smiled a little at that, and for a moment his face was free of pain and weariness.

"Thanks, Sara," he said. "For everything."

For a moment she hesitated, but then she lay down beside him again and resettled her arms around him carefully. For a moment she waited to see if he would pull away. He didn't, instead turning his face towards her again. "You're welcome, Gris," she murmured, smiling.

For a moment they lay there silently together, tired and sleepy. "I love you," Grissom whispered suddenly, and Sara grinned against his mouth as she leaned into his kiss.

"I love you too," she replied quietly. "I have for a long, long time."

As Grissom relaxed in her arms, he sighed. "You know... what I said last night... about holding on because I couldn't let you fall?"

Sara stared at him in surprised. "I thought you said you didn't remember that!" she exclaimed.

Grissom smiled against her neck. "I lied..." He paused for a moment. "What I said... I meant it."

"I know, Gris," she whispered, "I know."

The End