Title:Last Drink Tonight

Author:Nicksfriend

Disclaimer:I do not own or have any sort of connection to CBS or the CSI franchise...wish I did though, it would be nice to have a little extra cash.

Summary: A trip to a missing person is interrupted by a drunk driver.

Desert Palm

ICU

Grace was working with her new patient that had just arrived,hoping that Nick would sleep for a while, he hadn't done so well with the sitting up in a chair activity, he was still in too much pain to tolerate it for a very long period of time and was quickly placed back into bed.

He lay quietly now, eyes closed and the only sound coming from her patient was the sound of the heart monitor and his O2 sat monitor that was attached to his finger. Respiratory had just given him some good breathing excercises and he seemed to be completely exhausted.

As she finished attaching her new patient to the monitors she heard Nick's monitors blaring, they were sounding a problem. Grace quickly walked over to his bed, the neurologist had arrived seconds before Grace, seeing for himself that Nick was having a problem.

Dr Leonard looked at the monitor and noted his patient's sats had dropped significantly, he took his stethoscope from around his neck and placed it on Nick's chest, wondering what was causing the problem."Grace, draw some blood gases from his arterial line and get a stat chest x ray,he really sounds diminished in his left upper lung field." The doctor looked at the pallor of his patient and the blue tint to his lips.

"You want a VQ scan,to rule out a pulmonary embolus?" she asked as her hands were already drawing a needed vial of blood for the blood gas from Nick's arterial line.

"I'm thinking more of a pneumothorax actually, one of his fractured ribs probably caused a problem." Nick was now awake and moaning, feeling desperate for air, an oxygen mask was placed over his face and Dr Leonard looked around to Grace, "Page Dr Holt now!" his voice frantic as he watched his patient begin to struggle.

Grace nodded and stuck her head out of the cubicle and instructed the unit clerk to page Dr Holt, xray and respiratory stat then returned to work on Nick with Dr Leonard.

Within minutes the x ray tech rolled in with the portable machine and quickly placed the board behind Nick's back then snapped a picture of his chest, then just as quickly disappeared to get it processed and read.

"Grace, pull up ten milligrams of morphine and give five now IV push, and then draw op ten of Etomidate in case we need to intubate him." Grace was quickly drawing up the morphine and after she rubbed the line with alcohol she pushed in the med but the results were not what she expected, her patient was still screaming out in pain, his chest pain was killing him. She proceeded to pull of the Etomidate just in case an endotracheal tube needed to be placed.

"His sats are dropping, eighty-two percent on full rebreather,you want to intubate?" the ICU respiratory therapist had arrived and was shouting out the numbers,preparing an intubation tube for the doctor in case it was needed.

The unit secretary appeared at the door with a portable phone,"X-ray!" she handed the phone to Dr Leonard.

"After listening for a few seconds he announced,"He has a pneumo, he needs a chest tube now!" Grace quickly reached for a package off the shelf and handed it to the neurologist but just as she did Dr Holt entered the ICU unit with Grissom in tow.

"What happened?" Dr Holt's voice appeared angry as he walked into he cubicle and saw that his patient was crashing.

"He has a pneumothorax in his left upper lung field, xray film is on the way up. His blood gases are showing that he is acidotic, his sats are low at 82 percent and he is having problems with his breathing accompanied by severe chest pain." Dr Leonard explained as he drew up a syringe of Lidocaine as the nurse unsnapped Nick's gown and pulled it down to his waist, knowing that his patient needed a chest tube now.

Nick's eyes grew wide as he peered above the oxygen mask, he watched the people at work and the pain in his chest grew even worse. He was unable to speak due to his struggle to get air into his chest as he attempted to keep up with what the staff were doing. His arm automatically going to his chest, like a splint so that he could get a better breath.

Dr Holt quickly donned a sterile gown and gloves, then masked as did the rest of the other staff including the man who was not medical personnel. Grissom stood at the top of the bed and looked on, nobody had told him to leave and he doubted he would be able to hear anything anyways above the groans of his CSI, his friend.

Dr Leonard continued,"We gave him five of Morphine but it didn't do much. He's still in a whole lot of pain."

"Grace, push another five of morphine." Dr Holt ordered then turned to see that Grissom was attempting to get his patient to calm down."I need a scalpel." he ordered as Grace rubbed the area with antiseptic, a scalpel was handed to the doctor,"Okay Nick, I need to insert a tube into your chest,you have what we call free air between the visceral and parietal pleura of your lung, it is causing your lung to collapse, so we need to insert a tube to remove this air." he grabbed a piece of gauze and wiped the area he was about to inject with Lidocaine," Understand Nick?" he looked down to get an idea if his patient was able to grasp anything he had said but even in his patient's drugged state Nick gave him a nod and he proceeded.

"There's going to be a big stick, it feels like a bee sting, ready?" He asked, knowing that regardless he had to move forward,pressing the needle into Nick's side, into the fourth intercostal space, attempting to numb the area before he made the incision for the tube.

"Sats are 76 percent" The respiratory therapist called out,allowing the doctor to know that his patient was getting worse.

Nick was attempting to grit his teeth and bare it, the stranger above him holding his hand now, attempting to comfort him with words he could not hear. The only sounds his ears were allowing were the sounds of his own heartrate drumming a fast beat into his ears.

"Nick, my name is Grissom, I am your supervisor at the crime lab where you work. I know you don't know who I am but I need you to listen, okay." he paused to see the doctor place the syringe into Nick's chest, feeling Nick's grip on his hand tighten."I need you to try and relax, just breathe, that's what the doctor wants you to do, just breathe." His voice calm and low, for Nick's ears only, but the man was not hearing or responding to the words.

Nick looked up, a panic was building inside of him and he felt as if his chest was about to explode, the pain in his chest and now in his side was all he could focus on right now and he knew it was going to get worse, the doctor was still working and soon would be cutting and he felt as he wanted to just die, the pain was that intolerable.

Dr Holt withdrew the needle and handed it to Dr Leonard, knowing he would need more to numb the intercostal nerves."he then took a scalpel, hoping that the area was numb enough but knowing his time was limited,he quickly made a small incision then laid the used instrument on the metal tray Grace had placed on the table beside him,"Roberts clamp!" he felt a little panicked himself, seeing the sats were still dropping and he wanted to avoid his patient going into respiratory arrest.

Grace handed the clamp to the doctor and knew that this was going to be painful for her patient. She took a grip onto Nick's right arm, feeling that he might try to fight the painful procedure, seeing the the man on the other side had secured Nick's left arm.

Dr Holt took his index finger and stuck it into the incision followed by the clamp and applied firm pressure, the clamp quickly found the deep fascia and Dr Holt looked up to see that Dr Leonard was handing him the syringe again, but Nick was hurting and he was attempting to get to the thing that was causing him unbearable pain, Grissom and Grace held firm grips on their patient, a tech on the foot of the bed attempting to keep his good leg and his broken leg still.

"No, no, no, please stop,please!" he was yelling through the plastic mask, his mind filled with the pain of the insertion of the clamp and the pain he felt in his chest,"Oh God, please stop, please!" tears running down his face, the pain evident in his gravelly voice. He felt as if he were suffocating,and that somebody was stabbing him in his chest.

Grace and Grissom tightened their grips but Nick wanted to get away from the pain and his body attempted to escape by moving away, Dr Leonard grabbed his patient firmly and held him in place as Dr Holt continued to numb the area where the intercostal nerves lay."Nick, I'm almost done, hang in there buddy." Dr Holt hoped to calm his very upset patient.

Grissom wanted to help his CSI but felt as if he were failing miserably. The panic in Nick's eyes was familiar though, he had seen it when Nick had been told that there were explosives underneath him in the box, the feeling that after suffering all that he had suffered that he was still going to die anyways,the fear apparent in his eyes. He knew what he had to do,"Nick, I need you to listen. Can you hear me." his voice now loud in the small room.

Nick's panic continued and he continued to fight, then Grissom felt it was the only thing that might work,"Pancho!"

Nick's movements stilled and his eyes went up to meet the man's eyes, a look of uncertainty in his gaze.

"Pancho, you need to listen to me, the doctor needs you to relax, and allow him to do his job, I promise it will make your breathing better." he paused a second, seeing that he had gotten Nick's attention then continued," I promise. Just relax." he squeezed Nick's hand, watching the man nod his head in understanding and attempt to follow his directions.

Nick's movements completely stopped, the familiar name, the familiar voice was coming from the man above him, he nodded in understanding as the doctor found the pleural cavity, a sound of air gushing out was heard in the small area, as the doctor opened the jaw of the Roberts clamp, again he was inserting his index finger to widen the tract into the pleural space, then picked up the chest tube and inserted it into the opening.

Nick's eyes closed, exhaustion and pain finally causing him to lose consciousness, his body visibly relaxed as Dr Holt stitched the tube into place after attaching the tube to an underwater seal.

Grissom felt Nick's hand and arm relax, he saw the exhaustion in his friend's face, the color returning. He was unable to let go, feeling that if he let go he might lose the connection, the one he knew he had made in the past few minutes.

"Mr Grissom, thanks for your help, I'm sorry that you had to see your friend this way." Dr Holt apologized as he continued to stitch the tube in place. He glanced over to see the paleness of Grissom's face.

"I think it was the best way for us to meet actually." he spoke low, keeping his eyes on Nick's face,the bruises and cuts still evident.

The doctor nodded, he had seen the recognition in Nick's eyes too,someone familiar."Grace, we will need a follow up film to check the position of the tube and his lung." Taking his stethoscope and listening to Nick's lungs again, an improvement could be heard but would need to confirmed by x ray.

Grace nodded and picked up the phone to make the call herself then started to clear the used instruments, reattaching some of the cardiac leads that had been pulled off during the procedure, the respiratory therapist was getting a second set of blood gases and Dr Leonard was charting on Nick's chart, it had been a close one for their patient and they all knew it,and each wondered what else the man would endure.

Time to give thanks:

Gregalicious:I'm neither man or woman, but I am a figment of the imagination....I just love to write!Thank you for reading,I know that this chapter was inspired by your dream....or was it my dreams...probably a combination of both!

Murgy31...How long...well that depends on feedback,,if the readers want more I will give more. Thank you for reading!

Snowwhitecsi...You might want to rush to the hospital...I really think he needs you now...and thank you so much for reading!

Nickyfan...Guten Tag! I am a little versed in the German language but not fluent...I love that you are reading and if you need some help then I might be able to give you some translation. What are you studying? I do appreciate you reading....thank you so much!!!

stokesgirl...Julia will get her opportunity to give baths, remember Greg's adjoining bed is empty and will have to be filled.... someone will need to care for our guys!!!! and Sara is such a bad girl when it comes to Greg...that brother/ sister bond was definitely there even though in real life I think they dated. Thanks as usual for reading...you just get me!

angel1002...this chapter was very much inspired by your review, I wanted to give some detail, I love to do this and this is why I am writing this story right now to pump up those writing juices with something that I am very familiar with, and that is why I am being such a procrastinator on Chicken Pox, I want to get it right for you and thank you so much for for reading and reviewing! I really appreciate it!

SuzSeb...If you don't see your words coming into fruition girl then you are blind...I gave it the only way I could...Hope you enjoy!!!! Thank you, your reviews inspire me as always! Thank You!And you are so right about Grissom thinking that Nick had the perfect life, he just doesn't know how far from the truth that really is...Great Point!

Audrey2419...You' e so right on with Sara...but in a way I think it is a coping mechanism, her dry sense of humor, her playfulness with the boys, it keeps her from expressing what she really feels. I got your PM...honestly I thought you passed out from exhaustion reading and posting lovely pictures of Nick.....but thank you...your words are inspiring this writer!

Stander's Fan....All I can say is hold on...soooon!Can't say much more or I could ruin the story for you but you will get that moment eventually!Thanks for your review,,,wow....You guys really know how to make me feel good! Thank you for reading! Since you like medical...well, hope you like this chapter...You inspired like so many readers...it is about the reader!