Chapter Two

Nick sat silently in the hospital, staring at the wall over the doctor's shoulder. The doctor tried to engage Nick in conversation as he carefully cast Nick's hand. Nick remained silent, thinking about the three broken bones in his hand, thinking about Warrick. When the hospital discharged him, he went looking for the officer who had dropped him off, but the officer had left. He sighed. Normally, the first person he would call would be Warrick. Warrick would pick him up and offer him silent support, while he let Nick talk it out, but Nick couldn't call Warrick. He'd never be able to call Warrick again. The next person he would normally call would be Sara. She would talk him through it, calmly asking the right questions. He couldn't call her either. He thought about calling Grissom, but he decided he wouldn't know what to say to him. More than likely, Grissom would drive silently, refusing to speak. Besides, he thought, Grissom had more than enough to deal with at the moment. Nick looked down at the phone in his hands. He opened it up and dialed. "Hey Cath? It's Nick. I'm at the hospital…Desert Palms. Can you pick me up?"

He waited outside, sitting on the curb until he saw Catherine's car pull up. Slowly he opened the passenger door and took the seat next to her. He looked over at her. Her eyes were red and puffy and her cheeks were tear stained. It had been four and a half hours since he had found Warrick's body. He had cried the entire time. He wondered if Catherine had done the same. He gave her a sad smile. "Thanks Cath."

Nick watched as Catherine's eyes traveled down to his hand. "Nick, what happened?"

"I punched a wall." He shrugged his shoulders and watched her nod.

"When you found out about Warrick?"

"After I found his body."

Catherine looked over at him incredulously. Her eyes widened. "You were there?" He could only nod.

"What happened?"

Nick took a deep breath. "I was still in the diner when he left. We heard shots fired. I ran out and saw his car in the alley." He paused and choked back a sob. "I opened his car door and his body fell into my arms."

"Nick, I'm so sorry. I know what it's like when the body of someone you care about falls into your arms."

"Sam Braun was killed in front of you."

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry."

"Me too."

"Uh, yeah." He turned forward and looked down at his hand. "Cath, do you think we could stop by the pharmacy first. I have to pick up some painkillers. The hospital gave me a few, but told me to pick up some more." He pulled a prescription from his pocket.

"Sure." Catherine looked over at him. He was still facing forward, but he could feel her eyes on him. He was about to say something to break the uncomfortable silence when Catherine spoke first. "Where to afterwards?"

"Home, I guess."

"Alone?"

Nick nodded. "Yeah. It'll be alright. I promise not to punch any more walls."

"Why don't you stay with me for the next couple of days? We could pick up some things from your place before heading to mine."

"Are you sure?"

He was awarded a smile. "Yeah. You shouldn't be alone right now, and it would be a comfort to me if you were around. We all need family at a time like this."

Nick smiled at her. "Thanks Cath."

Grissom sat in his office trying to concentrate on the paperwork in front of him. He was trying to get his mind off of Warrick, but his thoughts kept wandering back to the limp body dangling out of the car. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He thought back to the young man he believed in, the man, who for so many years, seemed to be the glue that held the team together. Whenever he closed himself off, or Nick became too empathetic, Catherine too selfish or Sara too involved, Warrick had held them together. He was the rock, up until the past year when Nick began to fill that role and Warrick began to self destruct. Grissom cursed. In the past, he was the one to help Warrick through things. And where was he when Warrick needed him? He was too full of his own self pity to help. That realization fueled Grissom's anger even further.

He tried to push the thoughts to the back of his head and refocus on his paperwork. It all seemed so pointless and he was about to give up when a knock sounded on the door. He looked up and saw Ecklie looking meek and tentative in the doorway. It was a look he had never seen on Ecklie before. "Have you found anything out yet?"

Ecklie slowly sat down in the chair across from him. "The gun found in the car was the same gun used to kill Warrick. It was wiped clean, no usable prints. We're trying to trace the weapon but haven't come up with anything yet."

He was disappointed by the lack of information. He sighed. "Thanks Conrad." He looked back down at his paperwork.

"We're doing everything we can Gil, but if it was someone in the department, they could have slipped into the diner or PD or even joined the cops running out to the alley. At least ten cops ran out of that diner when the shots were fired."

"And none of them tested positive for GSR?"

"No."

"So the shooter just disappeared?"

"It looks that way. He could have just slipped into the building. Everyone around here was so confused as to what happened, we may not find anything, but we'll keep looking. We're still in the process of tracing the gun."

Grissom looked down at his watch. "Thanks. If you'll excuse me, there's somewhere I need to be." He stood up.

"You aren't going to try to conduct your own investigation, are you?"

He looked across at Ecklie, who was now staring him down. He dropped his head and shook it. "No, I won't compromise the investigation."

"Then where do you have to be Grissom?"

"Somewhere else." He brushed past Ecklie on his way out the door.

As he drove away from the crime lab, he was consumed by guilt. He had failed as a supervisor. He had let Warrick down. As he thought about everything he could have done to prevent Warrick's death, he grew angrier. He tried to hide his rage as he reached his destination, but it merely lay momentarily submerged.

She felt very tired as she carried her bag through hoards of people, looking for that one familiar face whose glance could ease her pain. Around her, family and friends were hugging as they greeted one another. Tourists were talking animatedly, excited to be in sin city. People were smiling, laughing, embracing. She still didn't see him. She walked closer to the exit and she saw him, leaning against news stand, searching through the crowd. He looked as tired as she felt. Her heart ached. She made her way towards him, stopping right in front of him and dropping her bag. Needing to feel him, she moved forward to embrace him. Before she could hug him, he reached down and picked up her bag. "Here, I'll take this."

Sara felt tears spring to her eyes. She nodded and when he turned and walked towards the exit, she followed. After placing her bags in the truck, Grissom moved to the passenger door and held it open for her, but he did not speak. She climbed in and watched him move around to the driver's side. He drove, looking straight forward.

She sat in the passenger seat, examining him. His shoulders sagged, his eyes were void of life, yet his breathing was not shallow or slow, but quick. She wanted to comfort him. She tentatively placed her hand on his forearm. When he only glanced down at it before looking back to the road, she withdrew the hand and placed it in her lap, looking down at it. "Gil, I…"

"Sara," he interrupted her. He looked over and his voice grew soft. She watched him struggle to speak. "Where were you planning on staying?"

Her head shot up. Panic set in. She had planned on staying with him, but his question threw her off balance. She looked over at him, trying to figure out what he had meant. Was he trying to keep her comfortable, or did he not want her to stay with him? A look of despair crossed her face as she realized he had asked where, not asking her to go home with him. The tears that had been resting in her eyes began to descend down her cheeks. She turned her head and looked forward, steadying her voice. "I, uh, I guess I'll get a hotel room."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him nod. "Okay. Any one in particular?"

She shook her head. He drove her to the Golden Spike Hotel and Casino. "It's close to PD and the rates are reasonable, so it should be convenient for you."

"Thanks." Sara exited the car. She went in and talked to the man at front desk. After registering for a room, she made her way back out to the car, stopping outside the passenger door. "They have a room, so I guess I'll stay here." She paused and looked at him through the open window. "Do you want to come up? I think we need to talk."

He shook his head. "Not right now."

"Will you call me later to talk?" When he didn't respond, she looked at him. "Why won't you speak to me?"

"I can't right now."

"Gil…" She opened the door and sat down.

"Sara, this isn't the time. I need to be alone. I need to process everything. Warrick is dead." His voice rose at each word he said. She saw his knuckles turn white as he gripped the steering wheel.

"I am very much aware of that Grissom, but I'm scared. I don't like the way you are shutting me out right now. I need to talk to you."

"Okay." His voice grew quiet and even. "If you need to talk, then talk."

"I need to know what's going on with you…with us. We used to find comfort in each other when we needed to deal with things."

"You never looked to me for comfort six months ago."

She sighed. "No, I'm sorry, but I thought we worked through all of that."

Grissom turned towards her. His voice remained even. "You thought you could just come back here and pick up where we left off, everything between us would be alright? Did you think you could just act like nothing happened, like it didn't nearly kill me when you left?"

"Gil, that's not fair. That's not what I thought."

"Not fair Sara? You left me. You walked out on us, and why? Because life got tough? That's not a reason Sara. God, after all the time it took us to get together." His voice dropped off as he spoke the last words.

Sara felt her anger rising. "It took so long to get together because of you Grissom, not me, you."

Grissom's voice grew sharp. He glared at her. "You're going to bring that up? That's history."

She steeled herself. "That history is relevant."

"Fine. You want to blame me for the time it took us to get together? It took us so long to get together because we weren't ready, not just me Sara. You weren't ready either. You had to work through some issues, but we moved past those issues, your issues, my issues and we were together, facing things together. Then you left. You had to go it all alone. Well, you should be able to go it all alone now too. You don't need me." Grissom's shoulder's dropped. His head fell against the steering wheel.

Sara looked over at him. She began to plead. "I was scared. I was afraid of breaking down in front of you."

He lifted his head. "No, I don't believe that. You weren't scared of the breaking down. You were scared that I would reject you." His statement caused her anger to rise further. It began to match his. And, almost as if he could sense it, "And now you're mad because you know it is partially true."

"So you're a mind reader now? You've never been able to read people before Grissom. Don't pretend that you can now. You have no idea what I felt then, or what I feel now."

"No, I didn't know what you were feeling. You never told me. You just left. You didn't even have the courage to tell me."

"I had to leave."

"You could have spoke to me, told me you were leaving. No, you left a note. I understood why you left, I really did, but I still don't understand why you left the way you did. I didn't understand where I stood with you. I still don't. The team never knew where they stood. You just disappeared. Warrick needed you. He needed me and I was too absorbed in my own self pity to help him."

"So this is my fault? Go to hell Grissom." She stepped out of the door and turned back to look at him. "Why are you acting like this? Why now Grissom?"

She watched the anger play across his face. His voice grew loud, startling her. "Because Sara, if you hadn't left, Warrick might not be dead."

She was stunned into silence. When she found her voice, it was flat. "I can't believe you just said that." She turned and ran up to her hotel room.