Sara thought she was still dreaming at first, when she saw that she was wrapped up in Gil Grissom's sleeping form, but then she saw that they were in a hospital bed and Grissom's leg was all bandaged up. Sara then felt her own head, which was throbbing a little, and noticed that she too was bandaged up. Touching her bandaged head was like releasing water from a dam. The memories of the casino hold-up flooded into Sara's mind. She remembered the blood, the screams, and the masked men, but mostly, she remembered Grissom kissing her cheek. Knowing that in her current state she needed rest, Sara let herself drift back into a peaceful sleep with Grissom being none the wiser of her awakening.
One Day Ago
"LAS VEGAS SWAT TEAM, EVERYONE DOWN NOW! WE HAVE THE PLACE SURROUNDED!"
Grissom and Sara both hit the floor with a thud upon seeing the armed men, their hands still tightly grasped together. Nick slid back down the wall still supporting an unconscious Greg. Catherine immediately dropped the gun in her hands and hit the deck beside Warrick. The armed bad guys surprisingly did the same.
The Swat team began arresting the creeps left and right. Warrick spoke up when one of them tried to haul Catherine up off the floor and arrest her.
"She was trying to save us when you came in!"
"I'm sorry Sir," the cop replied, "but she was holding a gun, so we have to take her into custody."
"She's a CSI!" yelled Sara.
"Its okay guys," whispered Catherine, breathless, and with that they escorted her and the other thugs out of the blood stained, beat up casino.
"Grissom," Sara pleaded, "we have to do something!"
"First," Grissom said in a commanding tone, "we need to get ourselves checked out. We both have some serious cuts and bruises."
"But Grissom!" Sara persisted.
Grissom then put his finger to her lips and kissed her cheek. This silenced her.
Nick smiled at the scene he had just witnessed. He then looked down at the limp body in his arms and realized how he should be honest about his feelings as well. Greg was a great friend, but Nick had never told him. Nick decided then and there that once Greg was awake, God willing, he would tell his little buddy how much his friendship has meant to him all these years.
Nick was pulled out of his thoughtful state by the feeling of a weight being lifted off of her shoulders, literally. Paramedics had started coming in and were immediately putting people on stretchers. As Greg was fastened onto the stretcher, his eyes fluttered open. He was going to speak, but Nick held up his hand.
"It's okay Greggo, save your strength. I'm coming with you. I'm not going to leave you alone."
Greg gave Nick a small smile of recognition and then his eyes fluttered again and closed.
Meanwhile, paramedics attended to Sara's bump on the back of her head, Grissom's leg wound, and Warrick's scratches from his fight with one of the thugs.
"You probably have a concussion," the paramedic said as he pointed to Sara, "you'll need surgery to remove that bullet," he directed to Grissom, "and you," he said to Warrick, "probably also have a concussion and should have an exam done to make sure there is no internal bleeding from your wrestling match."
"I'm fine," all three CSI's sighed at almost the same time.
"Yeah right," laughed the paramedic as he made way to help Grissom onto a stretcher.
"This must be hard on you guys," the paramedic continued, "two crimes in the same casino, on the same day, and the burglars from the first still at large and all."
Warrick and Sara were too stunned for words, but Grissom managed to squeak out, "What?"
"The Liberace necklace thieves have robbed another casino. The information on what they took hasn't been released yet, but I heard the cops talking about more jewelry on loan from a museum."
"Those guys who held us hostage weren't the robbers?" asked Sara.
"No, the police have had double duty trying to deal with both crimes. The only thing I know about this second robbery is that they've escalated."
"How have they escalated?" Warrick questioned, already knowing in his gut he did not want to know the answer.
"They killed two people this time."
Just as Sara, Grissom, and Warrick were registering this, they heard the police chief yelling to his officers, "GET IN YOUR CARS! WE'VE LOCATED THE BURGLARS AND ARE IN PURSUIT!"
