A/N- Well just when you thought things could not get worse...

Chapter 21

When she woke up and noticed Greg was not in bed, she became alarmed and called out his name.

He came into the room a few seconds later, holding a coffee cup.

"Sorry, I woke up and wanted something to drink," he said coyly.

She was sitting up in bed and staring at his cup.

He noticed her looking at his cup. "It's not alcohol if that is what you think. It is coffee."

She bit her lip, hating that she had jumped to that conclusion in her head and that he knew it. She decided not to respond to it and change the subject instead. "What time is it?"

He looked over at his bedside clock. "It is 5:23 am."

"Did you sleep some then?" She asked him.

" A few hours, I guess," he shrugged. He still looked out of sorts to her. Then she heard what sounded like a stomach growl. She knew it was Greg's.

He knew it too as he looked down and touched his stomach with his hand.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "When was the last time you ate?"

He looked at her lazily. "I had some peanuts at the bar."

She scowled at him. "Greg, seriously."

He looked down at his feet. "I don't know. I think I had a bag of chips at lunch."

She looked at him incredulously. "That's it? A bag of chips and some peanuts? Do you enjoy starving yourself, Greg?"

He gave her a pained glare then walked out of the room.

She knew it was not the best thing to say but she was frustrated and concerned. She got up and followed him out into the living room. He was sitting down in a chair at his kitchen table with the coffee cup still in his hands. She took a seat at the table. She gazed at him, as he stared blankly at his coffee.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you by saying that. I'm just so worried about you, Greg. I've never seen you like this before."

"I know," he said quietly, while still gazing into his coffee cup.

"Look, why don't I go out and buy us something to eat from that convenience store down the road from here, since I noticed earlier you have nothing in here to eat."

He looked up finally. "I'll go," he offered, thinking he could use the fresh air.

"How about we both go? Is that okay with you?"

He nodded. "Sure."

"Okay, give me a couple minutes to freshen up and we will go."

He just simply nodded again.

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He was planning on doing his final job in Vegas that day, but he needed a few things for himself before he left town right after the job.

It was still very early morning and the clerks at the convenience stores during those hours were never too awake to notice him. He would just go in, grab a few items he needed and be out in no time. Then he would be ready for his final act in Las Vegas.

He wore his cap low on his head and had grown out his hair some. It was not blonde anymore, but a light brown now. He looked through the aisle with canned foods, things he could eat easily on the road with him. He did not notice the couple that walked in through the door.

"What do you want to eat?" Catherine asked Greg, who slowly followed behind her.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Food."

She smirked at him. "Funny, seriously what do you want?"

His eyes were roaming the store. "Whatever," he responded.

Catherine sighed and went to the freezer area. Greg still followed behind but stopped in his tracks when he saw a man in an aisle by the entrance. He at first thought his mind was playing games with him, but the more he looked at the man he knew he was real. With his heart racing, Greg quietly came up behind Catherine.

"Catherine, Troy Drye is here, towards the front of the store," he whispered in her ear.

"What?" She exclaimed to him. He turned her so she could see. She did not recognize him at first, but then she saw him from the front and saw those eyes.

Greg was dialing 911 on his cell phone while Catherine was still staring at Troy. Troy looked up and recognized the blonde staring at him.

He quickly went for his gun he had hidden under his shirt.

Catherine went low to the ground pulling Greg down with her when she knew Troy recognized her. She reached into her purse and took out her personal gun that she recently acquired for herself.

Greg was shocked when she pulled it out. "When did you get that?" He asked her in a rush.

"When I knew those two were still on the loose. I'm not taking chances anymore."

The clerk screamed when she saw Troy with the gun. Troy quickly shot her to shut her up. She fell behind the counter.

"So the two CSI's who lived just happen to be in the same convenience store as I am this morning. How perfect this is! Now I can finish off the job I should have before."

He shot in the direction to where the two ducked down.

"Come out, come out wherever you are," he yelled to them.

"Stay down," Catherine told Greg as she edged out towards the corner of the shelving unit to get a good shot at Troy.

"Catherine, wait until the real cops get here," Greg begged her.

"He's going to come for us and shoot us if I don't get him first," she told him.

Greg was already a nervous wreck and this was not helping any.

Catherine got a view of Troy's leg and aimed at it. She fired but missed as he had seen her pop out. He shot in her direction and nearly hit her.

Troy moved closer to the back of the store, where Catherine and Greg hid.

Catherine saw him moving and quickly got up and shot at him. She hit him this time and she saw and heard him go down.

"I'm going to go check on him," she said to Greg.

"Just stay here, please. I can hear the sirens, backup is almost here," Greg told her.

But Catherine was in cop mode. "You stay here. I just want to check on him."

He cursed to himself as she started to walk away from him.

"Troy, backup is almost here. Just give yourself up," Catherine said as she rounded the aisles to the one he was last in.

She rounded the shelving unit very carefully and saw Troy sprawled out on the ground, blood coming from his stomach. She could see he was still breathing. She held her gun on him as she moved to take the gun out of his hand.

Suddenly he quickly opened his eyes, raised his gun and shot at her.

Catherine tried to move out of the aim but she was too close. She fired off her own gun as his bullet ripped through her chest.

Her bullet hit Troy in the neck, causing him to finally go unconscious.

Greg heard the gunfire and then Catherine cry out. His heart went to his throat and he got up from his hiding place and went around to see Catherine laying on the floor bleeding. He felt paralyzed for a moment, seeing her lying there, blood pouring out of her chest.

He finally ran over to her, collapsing to his knees at her side, not even caring if Troy was still alive or not.

He gently raised her head into his lap and took off his jacket and placed it over the hole in her chest where the blood pooled out. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was shallow.

"Catherine, don't you dare do this to me now." He caressed her face with his other hand. "Please, don't do this. Please don't die!" Tears fell from his eyes.

He was still pleading with her when suddenly he felt someone lay his hand on his shoulder. He had been so lost in his own world he did not even hear when the cops came in. The cops tried talking to him but he did not even hear them.

Brass came to the scene as fast as he heard it was a Troy Drye sighting. He was stunned when he walked in and saw Greg cradling Catherine who was unconscious and bleeding.

When he saw the officers trying to get Greg's attention, he went over to help them out. He just heard Greg mumbling, "Please don't die."

"Greg," he said as he laid his hand on Greg's shoulder. Greg looked up at him, with tear streaked cheeks.

"The paramedics need to see her now. They will take care of her."

Greg nodded slowly in understanding and then watched as the paramedics gently take her from him and started working on her.

Brass helped Greg to his feet, but Greg's eyes stayed on Catherine.

"Can you tell me what happened here, Greg?"

Greg stared at Catherine as the paramedics worked on her. "I told her to wait for the cops to come. She insisted on taking care of Troy herself. I did not even know she carried a gun on her all the time until now. I did not see what happened. She told me to stay out of the way and I was glad to. I should have helped her."

"There was nothing you could have done Greg."

"No, I could have done something," Greg said as his gaze stayed on her.

Grissom and Sara arrived on the scene. "What happened here?" Grissom asked as he saw Catherine being put into an ambulance.

He saw Brass standing next to Greg who was covered in blood.

Brass stepped away from Greg, who was now just staring at his blood covered hands.

Brass pulled Grissom and Sara to the side. "What happened, Jim?" Grissom asked again.

Brass spoke in a low voice. "We got a 911 call that Greg must have made, that Troy was spotted here in this store. When we came upon the scene, we found 3 people shot, one being the clerk, our guy Troy and then Catherine. Greg was holding her. He does not seem to be injured; he would not let the paramedics check him though. He's really shaken up. He said he did not see what happened, only that Catherine had her gun on her and she went after Troy."

Sara looked over at Greg. He was very pale and still staring down at his blood covered hands. "I'll go over to him," she told Grissom.

Brass continued with Grissom, walking over to where the paramedics still were checking over Troy. "He was shot twice, once in the abdomen and once in the neck," a paramedic told them.

Sara went over to Greg. "Greg, are you injured? Let me take a look at you, Greg." She said to him in a caring voice.

Greg did not impede her from checking to see if he was injured. He did not do anything. He just stared out into the dawning horizon, towards where the ambulance had taken off with Catherine.

Once Sara was satisfied that he was not injured and only had Catherine's blood on him, she stood in his line of vision and stared into his empty eyes.

"Greg, are you going to be okay?" She asked him. He did not respond. She felt the cold breeze blow and realized he was shaking. It was a cold November night and he only had on his blood stained t-shirt. He had given up his jacket to stop Catherine's blood.

"I'll be right back, Greg." She ran inside and saw Grissom. "Hey Gil, Are you okay here alone? I think I should run Greg to the hospital. He seems to be a bit out of it and he is shaking. I want to get him out of the cold and make sure he is okay."

He nodded. "I already called in Nick and Warrick to assist me. Go ahead. Here take my jacket for him. I'll meet you at the hospital later when we are done here. Call me if you have any news on Catherine."

She nodded then headed back out to where Greg stood in front of the store. She handed Grissom's jacket to him. "Here, to cover you up."

He looked down at the jacket and put it on, but still did not say anything.

"Let me take you to the hospital, Greg. We can see how Catherine is doing."

He simply nodded and followed her to her car.

During the ride to the hospital he remained silent. She did not push him to talk at all.

She led him up to the nurses' desk as they entered the hospital. "We are wanting to check on the condition of Catherine Willows," Sara said as she showed her CSI badge.

"I believe she is still in surgery. If you take a seat in the waiting area we will notify you when we have news," the nurse said to Sara. She glanced over at the man who was with her and saw the blood on him. Then she proceeded to ask Sara. "Does he need to see a doctor?"

Sara looked over at Greg, who was staring down the hallway. "No, he is not injured. He was there when Ms. Willows was shot."

"I see. Well you two can take a seat then over there and we will call you when we hear something."

Sara was worried about Catherine's condition, but was more worried immediately about Greg who had not spoken a word to her yet.

"Hey Greg, you know the doctors are great here. Catherine is in good hands. I am sure she will be fine," she told him. He nodded slightly. She thought it was a good sign at least that he was listening.

Sara suddenly noticed Lily and Lindsay come into the hospital. She got up and went to them immediately.

"Sara how is she? Gil just called and let us know," Lily said in a worried voice.

"She's still in surgery," she told them.

Lindsay noticed Greg staring into space. "What's wrong with Greg? Was he hurt too?"

Sara shook her head. "No, he's not hurt. He's just not taking it too well. He has not said much since I've seen him."

Lindsay looked at her Grandmother. "I'm going to go over and talk to Greg."

Lily nodded. She and Sara watched as Lindsay went over to Greg.

Lindsay sat next to him in a chair. She put her hand on his. "Greg, you know mom is a fighter. She is going to be okay."

Greg looked over at Lindsay, seeing Catherine in her face and smiled a little. "Yeah."

Lindsay leaned her head against Greg's shoulder. He could not help but put his arm around her. He knew she needed comforting as she had tears in her eyes.

Lily and Sara joined them as they waited for news on Catherine to come.