Best of Intentions

Nana was at her side in an instant. “Ok sweetie just breathe for me. That’s right. Good. Now can you stand? Ok let’s get you over to the couch.” Grissom watched helplessly as Nana and Catherine took care of Sara. When she indicated the pain was in her lower abdomen he panicked.

“Shouldn’t we take her to the hospital?”

Nana ignored him and continued talking to Sara while massaging her stomach. “Alright hon just relax. Are you bleeding? Do you feel nauseous or dizzy? No? Good. Now just lie back and relax. You’ll be fine. ”

Nana took a couple of throw pillows and put them under Sara’s knees letting her get more comfortable. Catherine found a heating pad in one of the boxes for the bathroom and put it on Sara’s stomach over a wet towel while Nana talked to Grissom.

“Hon you have to calm down. She’s fine. Now don’t argue with me, she is. She’s in pain, but it will pass. As long as she’s not bleeding she’s fine. I could feel it in her stomach. This is muscle pain, not cramp pain. Cramp pain would be a bad thing. And even if it were, there isn’t anything a hospital would do for her except send her home to wait it out.”

Catherine came over and sat next to him. “She’s right Gil. At eight weeks the doctors look at it as if you lose the baby, that’s life. If she starts bleeding or getting nauseous with the pain, then we’ll take her to the hospital. But for now all we can do is get her comfortable.”

Sara lay there in tears when she felt Grissom start stroking her hair. “I’m sorry I was such a bitch earlier.” “Hey don’t worry about it. Your hormones are going crazy and you’re not yourself. It happens. You just relax.” He sat watching her start to drift off to sleep when she suddenly got up and headed for the bathroom again. Nana and Catherine saw her go and waited. Soon Catherine heard sobs coming from the bathroom and was right there as Sara opened the door.

Grissom wasn’t sure how it happened but before he could think Catherine had Sara heading for the car, Nana had some guy they called “Tiny” help him into the car next to her, and they were on their way to the hospital. Once they arrived Sara was whisked away to the back leaving Grissom to handle the admissions paperwork. By the time he was taken back to see her she had already been examined, blood was being drawn and she looked much more calm.

“There you are. I was starting to wonder if they were ever going to let you in here.”

He smiled. “I was starting to wonder that myself. So what have they told you?”

“Well after they went through the standard ‘are you being abused’ questions they did an exam and said the blood isn’t coming from my cervix, so it’s not the baby. They’re running blood work to double check, but so far it looks like the baby is fine.”

Grissom breathed a sigh of relief when the doctor came back in with a cart. “OK Mrs. Grissom let’s take a peek at this little one while we wait on your labs to come back.” He maneuvered the cart around Grissom’s wheelchair and smiled. “Now I know why the name looked familiar. You’re the professor they brought in last week. Well then let’s get this set up and peek. You two have had enough drama for a while.”

The gel was spread over Sara’s stomach and he turned the screen away from the two of them. His eyes never left the screen until the nurse came in a few minutes later with the results from Sara’s blood work. “Just as I thought, your levels look great.” He turned the screen to Grissom and Sara. “And so does your baby. Heartbeat looks good, everything here looks fine. Now over here is what may have been the problem.” He moved the wand and Sara winced when he pressed it down a little. “This spot here looks to have been a cyst. Sometimes after ovulation a small cyst forms and it dissolves on it own. It looks like this one ruptured instead, so that’s probably where the bleeding came from. It wont hurt the baby or anything and now it should dissolve itself. Just take it easy for a couple of days since your side will be a little sore, and get in to see your OB/GYN.”

Sara got dressed while Grissom went back to the waiting room to pass on the news. Catherine looked almost as relieved as he was that Sara and the baby were both all right. He waited for Sara while Catherine brought the car back around and it wasn’t long before they were on their way back to their home. Grissom wasn’t sure how to approach the subject that was on his mind with her, so he just jumped in.

“Sara, I’d like you to think about something for me. I’d like you to take a leave of absence from the lab. Now before you get mad, just listen. I know you’re good at what you do and I know you’ll be careful. But there are so many factors you can’t control I just think it’s too risky while you’re pregnant.”

“Actually I was thinking the same thing.”

Grissom and Catherine were both stunned. “You were?”

Sara nodded. “Yeah. Thinking I was losing the baby was killing me. The whole way into the hospital I kept telling myself that if the baby were ok, I would do anything to keep it that way. Even if that meant letting you coddle me and giving up my job. So yeah, if you’re ok with it I’m ready.”

Catherine looked at her “And after the baby’s born?”

Sara shrugged. “Cross that bridge when we come to it.”


(Seven weeks later)

Grissom opened the front door and went inside calling for Sara. It had been an adjustment getting used to them both being home all day, but it was worth it. He had until fall term to heal from his injuries Trent had inflicted, and Sara kept busy getting the house finished just the way she wanted it. Without the time constraints of work, she could take her time and not wear herself out with one project.

He found her on the back patio doing yoga. She had read it was a great way to keep in shape during pregnancy and he had started taking classes as well as part of his physical therapy. His arm and shoulder had healed and his knee was well on its way to recovered. He wore a brace on it, but at least he could walk. He couldn’t wait until he could get rid of the brace and drive again.

“Alright Mrs. Grissom. Hit the shower or you’ll make us late.”

Sara looked at him with a clueless look. “Late? Late for what honey?”

He couldn’t help but smile. “You know what. Late for our flight. You know. You. Me. Chicago. Night game at Wrigley field.”

She had to laugh. The closer it got to the day of the game, the more like a little kid he became. “Ok Ok. I’ll hit the shower. You don’t do anything stupid at these ball games do you?”

“Of course not.”

“Uh huh. So you don’t drink, yell at umpires, sing, and throw peanuts at people?”

“Well yeah, but that’s not stupid. That’s tradition.”

(Later that night)

“I cannot believe you bought that Griss.”

“What? Oh come on it’s cute.” Sara rolled her eyes. “A Cubs jersey, jacket and hat for the baby? What if the baby is a girl?”

“Since when can’t girls like baseball?”

Grissom hugged Sara close as they made their way to their seats. “What I can’t figure out is why people keep looking at me like that.” Sara noticed people watching them and was a little unnerved herself. “Who knows? Maybe they’re trying to figure out where this sexy man came from.” They were even more puzzled as people started telling Grissom they loved him and his show.

Security stopped them before they got to their box. “Sir I think you’re heading the wrong direction. You’re supposed to be..”

Just then the announcer introduced the person throwing out the first pitch and the security guard kept looking from Grissom to the jumbo screen. Sara looked at the screen and couldn’t believe it. “Griss I think I know why people are staring at you.” Up on the screen was the spitting image of Gil Grissom. Sara had to ask someone who that person was and the woman looked at her like she was from another planet.

“Oh my God you don’t know? That’s William Petersen.”

Sara just looked at the woman. “So? Never heard of him.”

The woman laughed at that. “What you don’t watch TV at all? His show CSI is the number one show in the country.”

Grissom smiled and peeked over his sunglasses at them. “That explains why she hasn’t seen it. It’s too much like work. I actually watched it a couple of times. Horribly inaccurate, but if you can overlook that sort of thing I suppose it could be interesting.”

The woman did a double take when she saw Grissom. “You look so much like William Petersen. I bet you get that all the time.”

“Actually no I don’t. And frankly I can’t see the resemblance.”

Sara laughed. “Oh but I can. And now that you’re actually working with people you might hear it a time or two. Especially from your students.”

By now everyone around them had noticed Grissom’s remarkable resemblance to the actor and were eavesdropping. A man next to Sara jumped in “Oh you’re a teacher?” Sara jumped in to take the heat off of Grissom. “A professor actually at UNLV. Now Dr. Grissom, are you finally going to tell me how a born and raised California boy came to love the Cubs?”

Grissom laughed. “Are you sure you want to know? Ok. Growing up around L.A. everybody loved the Dodgers, the Yankees, the Giants; you know all the ones who dominated everything. The Cubs hadn’t been to the World Series since 1945, but they didn’t give up. Every season they walked in thinking this was going to be the year. And the fans, they were right with them every step of the way. Every game on TV showed the fans having a good time and having fun at the games. In LA, if the Dodgers weren’t winning, the whole town was down on them. The Cubs just reminded me of myself. Just waiting, biding their time, and just when you think you’ve seen it all, surprise. There they are winning it all.”

Sara saw the people around them smiling and shook her head. “Well Griss I think you’ve officially been adopted by Chicago.” Grissom laughed and glanced up at the jumbo screen as they were showing William Petersen watching the game. “You don’t really think I look like that guy do you?” Sara looked at the screen and then at Grissom. “Well a little. But he doesn’t look as good with a beard as you do. But I’m probably biased.”

The woman behind them laughed. “I’m not and I can tell you one thing. You may look like him, but you’ve got a nicer butt.”

Sara put her arm around him letting her left hand drape around his neck. “Well I certainly think so.” The woman saw the ring and just nodded as she turned back to the game. The move did not go unnoticed by Grissom. “A little possessive are we?”

“When some woman is checking out my man’s ass, you know it.”

After the game they returned to their hotel and Grissom’s enthusiasm had Sara laughing hysterically. “Gil I don’t think I’ve seen you this excited about anything.”

“Why wouldn’t I be? I mean it’s a Cubs game, we had great seats, they won, and I got to spend the day with my lovely wife. Besides it’s the baby’s first baseball game and they won. Now that’s special.”

They slid into bed and Sara began to drift off to sleep quickly. But not before she heard Grissom beginning what had become a habit over the past few weeks. He started by kissing her forehead, her hand, and finally moving to the slight bump of her belly and started to whisper.

“Hey little one. You were so good today and let mommy have a good time. Ok are you ready for your story? Once upon a time there was a beautiful castle and in that castle lived Sara, the dragonfly princess….”