At the End of the Day

There are few lessons in life that hold the greatest importance. We live, we learn, and we carry on, taking all that we know to be true with us, even if it hurts the most. This life is as delicate as an Amazon rose, as interesting as a piece of uncut crystal, as quick as the passing of an hour to God. Single elements coming together to form the reason why we can't stall on our lives another minute.

This realization hits us full force as we watch our friend and colleague being rushed away after spending twelve hours in a false nonexistence six feet in a subterranean sea, threatening to take him away at any second. Through all of this, Death was no longer a distant happening, a lingering feeling that constantly passed us by in favor of a weaker soul; it became a full manifestation of our greatest fear and worst reality that seemed like an ingenious plot to an Edgar Allen Poe story.

The flashing lights have faded away, and we're still standing here near the death mound, unable to move or comprehend the enormity of what just happened…

O-O-O

Greg sat slumped over in the Tahoe long after he and Grissom arrived at the hospital. His heart still raced with uncertainty and the adrenaline still flowed through his veins, knowing that Nick was not entirely out of the woods yet.

He'd done his best to intervene with the rescue. He did what he was told to do, yet somehow, he felt he didn't do enough. This time he definitely felt like the youngest member of the team. He had not taken the initiative like his other coworkers did. He just stood idly by, watching in horror as his friend was practically being eaten away by fire ants. Greg decided that he wasn't going to let his friend die like that, yet he still didn't feel like he did enough.

Greg felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned and smiled slightly at Sara's offer of comfort. Her eyes were silently saying, "Let's go," and he followed her. Her eyes held a redeeming softness that he'd never seen before and he realized then that everything would be alright.

Greg slowly stepped out of the Tahoe and Sara grinned slightly, putting an arm around his shoulders and they walked together into the ER, becoming an aura of hope amid the chaos that had broken out around them.

O-O-O

Sometimes, we realize what's been missing out of our lives when all the faces become a big blur and you hardly realize anyone exists anymore. We pass each other in the hallways and give each other no more than the acknowledgement that it's late at night and that we're on. We've grown accustomed to the quiet solitude and to accepting change even though it may not be for the better, while the need to feel something back builds against itself until it becomes a gaping vacuum that lets you know that hey, maybe some things can be as they once were without you this time…

He'd said it plain and clear. No more tension, no more of this game of supremacy.

Grissom wanted his team back. There would be no ifs, and, or buts about it. It wasn't an easy thing, accepting your own mortality. He never realized just how much every person of his former team meant to him until they ended up on the brink of death. He took personal responsibility for the way everyone was right now: shocked, terrified, disbelieving.

Being a man used to be alone, valuing his privacy, he made the job more important and his team members took it how they wanted, and now, he saw the result.

Grissom leaned against the wall, rubbing away an oncoming migraine, wishing that things were so much different than they were now. But no amount of wishing could take him away from the very real sight of Nick's parents sitting together, hand in hand, huddled together, silently in prayer that their only son would recover.

O-O-O

Something inside him told him that he wasn't cut out for this anymore.We tell ourselves lies that make us ignore the destiny that had been right in front of our faces for so long. The lies then become truths that we conduct ourselves with day in and day out…and we find ourselves in a never ending search for what we really want out of our lies that it becomes an indomitable struggle against what we really want…

O-O-O

Catherine saw him sitting there, removed from everyone else, making himself feel a guilt that he didn't need to feel…at least didn't need to feel alone. She sighed and crossed her arms over her chest and slowly made her way over to him and sat next to him.

She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed. She had the reassurance that Nick would recover physically and that the hours of fear and worry were finally over. But there was still one thought that plagued her mind and fed upon her scratched surface of her worst possible nightmares. The thought made her repel Warrick when he tried to make her more comfortable, and she stood up, feeling angry, looking down into his tired green eyes.

Thoroughly confused, Warrick furrowed his eyebrows, too exhausted for her anger.

"What?" He asked softly. "Did I do something wrong?"

She crossed her arms over her chest.

"No," she snapped. "It's nothing that you did."

"Then what?" He asked, not in the mood to argue with her.

"I'm sorry," she hissed. "But, I really wonder what goes through your head sometimes."

"What the hell are you talking about?" He asked.

"You said that you wouldn't be able to hold on long if you were in that coffin," she said angrily. "That you would have given up."

"And it's true Catherine," Warrick said. "I'm not as strong as you think."

"That's not even it," she whined. "Even if you weren't strong enough and you thought about giving up…"

She gave up her argument and turned away from him.

Warrick came over to her tentatively and he was surprised when she didn't move away from his touch on her shoulder. Instead, she leaned into his touch and turned to face him.

"Even if you wanted to give up," she continued sadly. "I hoped that you would think of me."

His heart skipped a beat and he looked into her powerful, passionate, alluring blue eyes and saw her emotion in them.

"I just hoped that you would think of me as your strength and something to live for because," she closed her eyes, mustering up as much courage as she had left. "I love you."

Warrick slowly took her into his arms.

"I want you to know that," she sighed. "Even if you don't feel the same way."

Warrick pulled away from her gently and cupped her cheeks in his hands.

"I love you," he whispered back to her. "Now that I know how you feel, I can live and survive no matter what happens."

Catherine grinned and didn't resist when he leaned in to steal a small kiss from her.

They both knew that this was no time for romance, but at least there was some promise of life in a world that could try to stop it in an instant.

O-O-O

And at the end of the day, when we've been given a second chance to do things right and to reinsert ourselves back into the daily grind of the rest of the world, at least we know that our hearts are beating and the sureness that none of us will ever feel or be the same. And I have learned that life waits for no one.