At the hospital, Barbara and Richard were sitting in their son's hospital room when Alexx and Virginia walked in. They wanted check on Speed before officially calling it a night.
"Knock, knock," Alexx said softly. She walked into the room, Virginia behind her. Barbara looked up, her eyes still swollen and red from crying.
"Oh, hi Dr. Woods, Nurse Parker," she said still sitting in the chair next to Speed's bed. She was holding his hand.
"Please Mrs. Speedle, call me Alexx. I'm just here to check up on Timmy before I call it a night," Alexx said giving both of Speed's parents a smile. Richard and Barbara got up and headed outside to wait.
"We'll step out and let you two do what you need," Richard said.
Alexx and Virginia waited till Speed's parents were out of the room before checking Speed's vitals. "All right Timmy, tell us how you're doin' baby," Alexx said looking at his gunshot wound while Virginia checked his vitals. Virginia noticed his blood-pressure was elevated and his heart rate had dropped lower than normal.
"Hey Alexx, his blood pressure is elevated and his heart rate is low," Virginia said writing the information down in Speed's chart.
Alexx quickly looked at the numbers and reached for a thermometer. Being that he was hooked up to breathing tubes taking his temperature wasn't as easy. The thermometer read: 102.5. Alexx looked at Virginia worriedly. Something wasn't right. They looked at his skin. It was pale and clammy. It all went downhill. The machines started beeping and going off.
Barbara and Richard came rushing in. "What's happening Alexx? What's happening to my baby?" Barbara cried out.
"Mrs. Speedle we don't know, but you can't be in here right now we need to work," Virginia said pushing them out into the hallway.
Total chaos filled the hospital room. Alexx, Virginia, and the rest of the crew were working hard to bring Speed back.
It took a total of fifteen minutes before they got his heart rate back to normal. "We need to find out what is causing this right now. This cannot happen again. I don't care what anyone says," Alexx said out of breath. "I want x-rays, blood tests, scans, whatever it takes to figure what is happening."
Four hours later, Speed was being wheeled back into the ICU. Alexx and her team had discovered several shattered bone fragments still lodged in his shoulder from when the bullet passed through him. He also a severe infection.
Alexx found Richard and Barbara sitting in the waiting room. He was holding her hand as tears fell from her brown eyes. "Mr. and Mrs. Speedle," she began to say.
"Is he going to be all right?" Barbara asked terrified.
"You're son is fine now. We found several bone fragments from when the bullet passed through him, which in turn caused an infection. Right now he's resting comfortably," Alexx started. "He's stable and we see no complications, but we still have him on a breathing tube." Barbara was speechless. She tried to speak but nothing came out.
"What, I mean how? I thought that Dr. Stanley took everything out?" Richard asked shocked.
"Apparently not sir, there were a lot of bone fragments left in your son. He probably couldn't see them all. You can go see him in a minute. Nurse Parker will come and get you when he's all set. Now if you'll excuse me I need to go call Lt. Caine."
Virginia walked into the waiting room. Barbara immediately asked a question. "Nurse Parker, do you think Timmy is going to ever wake up and have a normal life?" Barbara asked. Virginia didn't know what to say. Frankly she had no idea. Barbara saw the look in her eyes. "Please, Ms. Parker, I want the truth."
Virginia hesitated a moment. "Truthfully, in my professional opinion the situation could go either way. We'll just have to wait and see." Her eyes were full of sympathy for the distraught parents. She didn't know how they were keeping it together like they were. If something like this ever happened to her little girl she wouldn't know what to do. Sydney was her everything. "But from what I hear and have learned he's a very strong willed person, he'll pull through this… I also heard he is very opinionated and sarcastic," Virginia added with a smile.
"Can we go see him now?" Barbara asked.
"Yes of course come follow me. How are you guys doing?"
"We're hanging in there… do you have any kids Ms. Parker?" Mrs. Speedle asked.
"Yeah, I have a little girl. She's five and the light of my life. I can't imagine what you guys are going through right now. I wouldn't even know what to do if anything happened to her," Virginia said her eyes getting misty.
Over at the Nurse's station, Alexx was on the phone with Horatio. It took him a few rings to answer the phone. "Alexx, what's up?" Horatio asked wondering if Speed was all right.
"Horatio, it's Tim. We had to rush him into the OR," Alexx informed him.
"What? Alexx what happened? Is he okay?" Horatio asked shocked. He thought Speed would be out of the woods by now.
"He's fine now. He has an infection. Virginia and I came to check on him one last time. She noticed his blood pressure was high, and his heart rate was low. We ran some test and found out there were bone fragments from the gunshot wound. We rushed him into the OR. Dr. Stanley must not have seen them when he was first brought in. Speed is stable right now. I waited until after we did the surgery to call you. I have a feeling you have a certain CSI by the name of Lauren with you," Alexx said. Horatio was speechless. For a minute she thought he had hung up. "Horatio, you there?"
"Yeah…yeah, I'm here Alexx, and yes Lauren is here with me. She had a rough night."
"How is she?" Alexx asked concerned.
"She's fine, now that she's has some food in her stomach. She's sleeping the alcohol off. We'll be there as soon as we can. I'm going to give her a little while longer. He is okay isn't he, Alexx?"
"Yes, he's stable now, Horatio. Right now we need to be worried about getting his infection cleared up."
"Okay, we'll be there as soon as we can." With that the two said their goodbyes and hung up.
Barbara and Richard were standing outside Speed's room when Lauren and Horatio arrived. Barbara locked eyes with the woman who cared so much for her son and would do anything for him. She walked at a fast pace toward Lauren taking her in a hug. Lauren stumbled a bit. The effects of the alcohol hadn't fully worn off.
"Why does this have to keep happening, why?" Lauren cried out.
"I don't know honey. I really don't know, but I can feel it he's going to be fine now. I guess you could call it mother's intuition."
"I can feel it now too. He's going to be all right," Richard chimed in.
Horatio was off talking to Alexx. Richard took a closer look at Lauren. "Lauren are you okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine… the bar and I got a little too friendly. It's slowly wearing off. The hangover is what's going to get me. I can already feel it coming." Lauren laughed then said, "You know Speed would be laughing at me right now."
"Yes, he probably would be," Barbara said wiping tears away from her eyes. "Why don't you go on in honey? I think he would like to hear your voice."
Lauren nodded. "Did Horatio tell you we caught the person who did this to Speed?"
"Yes, he did honey and thank you for all that you've done," Richard said.
"I'd do anything for Tim and his family," Lauren said with a smile.
She stopped just outside of Speed's hospital room. She had an idea. "Listen, you guys have been here for two days straight plus a plane ride. Why don't I call my brother and he can come take you to our place. You can shower, get some real food, and sleep in some real beds." Speed's parents protested, but Lauren wouldn't hear of it. "No, you have no choice. Go to my place get some rest, food, and showers. Let me call my brother. There's no need to take a taxi."
"Thank you so much again, Lauren," Barbara said thanking her.
"It's not a problem." Lauren quickly made the call and Ryan was on his way over.
Lauren walked into Speed's hospital room and grabbed a chair. They had given him a bigger bed it looked like. Lauren smiled. The thought of snuggling with him crossed her mind, but she refrained from doing so. "Hey Speedo, it's me again, Lauren." She gently grabbed his hand. "Guess who we caught? We caught the crazy people who did this to you. It was your new doctor, his nurse, and you're crazy-plastic-surgery-obsessed ex-girlfriend, Pam."
Tears started forming in the corners of her eyes. "It felt so good when Ryan, Horatio, and myself figured everything out." It was then she realized Speed was never told about Ryan. "Oh, guess what, Ryan is a CSI now. Horatio hired him today. Can you believe it?"
Lauren intertwined her fingers in his. He looked so helpless. "Tim… you need to wake up okay. It doesn't have to be today or tomorrow, but you need to wake up. I need you in my life and so do your parents, Calleigh, Eric, Alexx, and Horatio. I don't want to lose another friend again. When I lost Brad my whole world spiraled out of control. I had never cried so much in my life until now. I love you." Lauren continued to talk to him about different things for a little while longer until her eyes became heavy and she fell asleep with her head on his bed.