A/N-Sorry been very busy at work but things are slowing down so I will hopefully be able to publish more chapters sooner. Thanks again to my beta Slappywhite. :) Now onto the story.

"Nick, any luck in following that blood trail?" Catherine asked as she found Nick examining the Tahoe further.

"No. Are they coming with scent dogs?" he asked.

"Yes, they should be here soon, but we still don't even know if it's animal or human blood." She said to him. She looked at the back of the Tahoe with him. "It doesn't look like the way they would leave it."

Nick's cell rang. "Stokes…yeah, who's is it, Wendy?…Shit. Okay thanks." He hung up and looked grimly at Catherine. "Wendy got a match on the blood. It's Sara's."

Catherine's eyes widened in alarm. "We have to find them." He nodded in agreement.

The K-9 unit came a couple minutes later and Nick led them to where he found the blood. The dog took off once it caught the scent. Nick, Catherine, and Captain Brass all took off running with some uniforms after the dog.

The dog stopped a moment further up, sniffing at something. The CSI's and officers ran up and looked closer. "There are two distinct blood pools here, had to be from two different people," Nick said upon closer inspection.

"Or two different wounds on one person," Brass said as he looked down with them.

Catherine looked worriedly at Nick. "Their case involved two people who were shot multiple times. They supposedly bled to death."

"Well, Sara was obviously bleeding, since the sample came back as her's. We have to find them soon. They've been out here several hours now," Nick said nervously.

"I'll call to have the medical chopper on stand by for when we need them," Brass told them.

"The dog still has the trail," the K-9 officer told them.

"Okay, let's keep going until we find them," Catherine said as they all followed the dog.

They seemed to get deeper into the woods until they ended up seeing something up ahead. They could see the dog running towards what looked like a camper. "Hold the dog back. Look what we have ahead," Brass said to everyone.

They all drew out their guns and slowly approached the camper. Brass nodded to the others as they stepped back. He knocked on the camper's door. He could hear rustling inside. He pointed to his officers to be ready.

"Who's out there?" A voice yelled out.

"Las Vegas Police Department, open up. We need to ask you some questions," Brass yelled out.

Nick looked down where he was standing and saw more blood. "This is probably our guy," Nick whispered to Brass and pointed down to the blood right near the door.

"Be ready," Brass warned everyone quietly. The door opened suddenly and a man with a camouflage cap holding a semi-automatic rifle came out. He was about to fire at them when Brass shot first, hitting him in the shoulder, causing him to drop the rifle. He cried out in pain.

"That's what happened when you try to shoot at cops," Brass told him.

Nick was staring at the camper and saw movement in a curtained window. "Someone else is in there," he whispered.

Brass nodded and motioned for one of his officers to go in. "We know someone else is inside. Come out with your hands up. We have you surrounded."

Inside Denny held his gun in both hands. If he was going to go down, he was going to go down fighting. He came running to the entranceway, firing. He managed to hit one officer before getting hit himself multiple times.

"Denny!" the other man yelled out as he was having handcuffs placed on him.

Brass went over and felt for a pulse on the man known as Denny. He was dead. The officer that he had shot had his bulletproof vest on and was not injured.

Another officer came out of the camper and announced that no one else was inside. Nick went over to the man in cuffs and stood over him as he was kneeling on the ground. "Where are our friends?" He demanded.

"Hopefully dead by now," Jones spat at him.

Nick got in his face. "If they're dead, you'll never see the light of day again because you'll be behind bars in maximum security prison for life."

Jones just sneered and kept his mouth shut.

"I think the dog has their scent again," the K-9 officer announced.

"Let's go, Nick," Catherine said as she followed after the K-9 officer and his dog. Nick ran with them. The dog stopped in front of a bunch of bushes, barking. Nick could see the roof of a vehicle over the top.

"There's a vehicle behind here." They ran around the bunch of bushes to see a black van with no windows but in the front. They looked in the cab and saw no one. Catherine looked at the back door area and saw blood. "Nick, come over here." She pointed out the dried blood to him.

Nick tried to open the back doors only to find out they were locked. "Sara? Greg? Are you in there?"

He turned to Brass after getting no answer. "One of them has to have a key for this."

Brass went over to the wounded Jones. "Where is the key for the van?" Jones just snickered at them. Brass smirked back and nodded to his officer. Jones struggled as the officer started digging in his pockets. The officer produced a set of keys from his right front jeans pocket. The man grumbled in response.

"Here Nick, try these." He tossed the keys to him. Nick started trying the keys. The first three out of six were a bust. He was getting very frustrated and cursed. It was the fourth key that unlocked it.

He looked at Catherine briefly before opening it. She looked at him in fear as he opened the doors. The sight and smell as they opened the doors made them panic. The smell was a mix of sweat and that metallic blood smell. The sight petrified them. Their friends' bodies lay closely next to each other. Blood had pooled at the doorway.

Catherine gasped as she saw Greg's bloody foot first and then could see his shirt covered in blood. Nick saw Sara's leg wrapped up but could also see that her blouse was bloody.

"Sara! Greg! Can you hear us?" Nick yelled. Nick tried climbing into the back of the van to get a better look at them. He felt Sara's pulse first. She was still breathing and had a steady pulse. Next he felt for Greg's and had trouble finding it at first and panicked. Then he finally found it, although it was weak.

"We need to get them help now."

"The medical chopper is already on the way," Brass told them.

With the others assistance, they managed to pull Sara out first since she was lying partially on top of Greg. They heard her moan as they laid her on the ground outside.

"Take it easy, Sara. You're safe now, we got you," Nick said to her.

"Greg," she mumbled.

"We're going to get him now," Catherine said as she took over for Nick, who was going to help get Greg out.

"Jesus," Nick gasped when he could see the amount of blood that Greg had obviously lost. His face was as pale as a ghost. "Where's that damn chopper?" He yelled out as he helped lay him on the ground. He noticed his breathing was poor too.

"Come on, Greggo, hold on. Help is coming," Nick pleaded. He kept pressure on his stomach wound.

The paramedics arrived shortly and took Greg first. They stabilized Sara while waiting for more help to come.

"Where's my help? I'm shot here too," Jones yelled.

Brass turned sharply and glared at him. "You'll be lucky if we don't leave you here for the bears to find and eat you up," he smirked.

Jones scowled and struggled against his restraints.

Catherine ended up going with Greg to the hospital while Nick went with Sara, who had lost consciousness again.

"How's she doing?" He asked the paramedics.

"She's lost a lot of blood but I think she should be okay. It does not look like the bullets hit any major organs," the one paramedic told him.

He looked down at her. "That's good to hear." He thought about how she initially left due to being a victim like she had been with Natalie Davis. Now here she was, back and it happened again. He dreaded telling Grissom the news.

Nick met Catherine at the hospital briefly to find out if anything was new with Greg's condition. She told him she did not know anything. He told her to keep him informed. He was heading back out to the scene with Ray to collect more evidence.

Catherine paced the waiting room nervously waiting on news for either of them. This was the first major incident under her supervision. Luckily or unluckily she had experience from prior events under Grissom to remember procedure on.

She could not believe Sara and Greg were involved in this. Both had been involved in prior incidents and now once again. She knew Sara had at first left due partially to what happened to her. She did not think Sara would ever be a CSI again after this incident.

She held off on calling Grissom as Sara requested. She did try to contact Greg's parents but had to leave a message. She tried to make it sound not too cryptic.

"Mrs. Willows?" A woman in scrubs came into the waiting room asking. Catherine turned around to face her. "Yes, I'm Catherine Willows."

"Good, I am Dr. Ellis. I was told you came in with Sara Sidle?"

"Yes, I did. I'm her boss. We work for the LVPD Crime Lab. Do you have news on her?"

"Yes, I do. She's coming out of surgery. She lost a bit of blood but she's been given transfusions. Her injuries are not too serious, no major arteries or organs hit. She does have some muscle damage that will need some physical therapy but overall she is very lucky," Dr. Ellis told her.

"That's good to hear. Do you know about Greg Sanders condition?" Catherine asked, knowing he was in worse condition.

"I'm sorry. As far as I know he is still in surgery. Dr. Velez is in OR 3 with him. I'm sure he'll update you as soon as he can. You'll be able to visit Ms. Sidle soon. Now, I must be going." Dr. Ellis left Catherine feeling only slightly relieved.

A half hour later she walked into Sara's room. She was pale against the cream colored sheets. She could see her shoulder bandaged up under the hospital gown. She sat down in the chair by the bed.

She sat for a few minutes before Sara's eyes began to flutter open.

"Sara, it's me, Catherine. You're in the hospital," she said as her eyes focused on her.

"Greg?" Sara whispered to her. She felt so drained and numb but she remembered what had happened.

"He's still in surgery. Do you want me to contact Gil now?" Catherine asked her.

Sara shook her head. "No, I'll tell him when I am better, don't want him worrying."

Catherine frowned, wondering why she would not want her husband to know but then again she wondered why she came back to Vegas alone, anyway. "Okay, I won't contact him but what if he finds out on his own?"

"I'll worry about that if the time comes," she replied softly.

Catherine smiled. "Still stubborn I see."

Sara gave a small grin. "Yep." Her face turned more serious. "Greg is going to make it, right?"

Catherine wanted to stay positive. "I'm sure he'll be fine. The doctor's are good here. Why don't you get some rest? I'll leave you alone for a while. When I come back I'll have news on Greg, I promise."

Sara nodded and closed her eyes as she was finding it hard to keep them open anymore.

Catherine went back out to the nurses' station to see if she missed any news on Greg's condition. They said he was still in surgery. She chewed on her lower lip in worry. She decided to check on their suspect and see how he was doing.

"What about a Stanton Jones? He was brought in with a police escort."

"Ah yes, he is in recovery room 5. I believe they are waiting to move him," the nurse told her.

"Thanks." Catherine went over and found Brass questioning the suspect. He saw her and stepped out a moment, leaving Stanton Jones with another officer.

"How are Sara and Greg?" He asked her. "No word on Greg yet but Sara is going to be okay. I already saw her briefly," she told him.

"Hmm," he mumbled. "Well this guy is now trying to pin all the blame on his dead partner, saying he was the one who shot them and put them in the van to die. Unfortunately he forgot he shot at us so that makes him guilty anyway," Brass smirked.

"Sounds like a charmer. I just hope he gets what he deserves," she said.

"Well once Sara or Greg identifies him, he is done for I say," Brass said.

"Yeah, that's true. Okay, well I'll be in the waiting room for Greg," she told him.

Catherine had just hung up with an update from Nick when a doctor in scrubs came looking for her. The doctor approached her with news.

"We just finished one surgery on him. The bullet wound to his abdomen caused some damage to his kidney and he had a collapsed lung. He lost a lot of blood and required several pints for transfusion. We stopped the bleeding from his foot but because of his current condition we're holding off on that surgery until later. He's having problems breathing on his own so he is on a respirator currently. He's still in critical condition at this point. We'll be watching him closely for the next 24 hours."

Catherine frowned, not liking the sound of his condition. "When can we see him?" She asked him.

"I'll have someone notify you when he is ready to have visitors, probably in about thirty minutes." He excused himself and left Catherine with her worries.

She sat waiting for word when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around, startled to see Nick's concerned face looking at her.

"Sorry, I said your name but you seemed not to hear me. Do you have any word on Greg yet?" He asked her.

She nodded her head. "Yes, I'm just waiting on them to tell me what room he is in. They said he is in critical condition and is on a respirator."

He shook his head woefully. "If he dies…we can't loose another member of our team…our family," he said, feeling emotionally distraught.

"I know, I know. I feel the same way. This is just so frustrating," she sighed.

A few minutes later they were told where Greg was and that he could have one visitor at a time, even though he was unconscious. Catherine went first since she had been waiting the longest.

She walked in and chewed on her bottom lip as she looked at the condition he was in. A tube went from the noisy respirator into his mouth, medical tape holding it down. Dark circles rimmed his closed eyes. Several more items were attached to him and going to machines. It was like the only things keeping him alive were the machines.

She took a moment to talk to him even though she knew he probably could not hear her. "Greg, I know we tend to treat you like our kid brother and don't give you the respect you truly deserve, but I wanted to let you know our team would not be the same without you. So you better stick around. I mean who else knows as much about old Vegas as you do? Who else gets so excited when they find a key piece of evidence? Anyway, you have to pull through this. I refuse to lose another member of our team, you hear me? So come back to us." She wiped away at tears that had suddenly come to her eyes. He was going to be fine. He had to be, she told herself.