Author: Nicksfriend

Rating:k

Spoilers: For Gedda

Disclaimer: They do not belong to me...that is for sure.

Author's note:This is my seventh CSI fic.

Grissom sat in the room by himself, he opened the box with the first case files that Warrick and Nick had worked together as a team,he couldn't help but to smile at the two men's different methods of investigating.

His concentration was broken as Brass walked in and plopped himself in a chair,"That is one demanding woman,she reminds me of my ex." he looked exhausted and Grissom couldn't help but smile at the man's remarks, it was quiet evident that Jim was more than a little enamored by the woman.

"Sounds like you like Dr Roberts." Grissom quipped, hoping to get a reaction from his friend.

"Well, she does have a good bedside manner." He winked at Grissom, who gave him raised eyebrows.

"You find anything yet?" He asked as he took off his jacket and took a file from the box.

"Just got started actually, I had to wash the dishes first." Sara had requested his help in the kitchen.

Brass made the sound of a whip, then buried his head in the file.

"Yeah, you have room to talk." he looked up to see Brass smile.

"Guys, you need any help?" Sara asked as she walked into the room wondering what the boys had been talking about before she entered.

Grissom reached in and pulled out another file,"Yes." Handing the file to Sara and motioning for her to take a seat in the room.

"Actually, I have a great memory, and I just don't remember anything that ever really ca;;ed my attention to a killer in the LVPD station." she took a seat with the file, already opening it up to read.

"Well,I have an eidetic memory and I don't either but that doesn't really mean anything, it could have been an accidental discovery, something Warrick might have recently been exposed to again." He reached into another box and pulled out the files of the most recent cases.

"Where's Catherine?" Grissom asked, thinking out loud.

"Watching the security system right now, Riley is helping with Nick and Gregg is having the time of his life with the equipment Brass brought back." Sara couldn't help but to smile at his child like behavior when he saw the new equipment.

"Who's paying for all this?" Grissom asked, wondering if his department was going to have a big bill.

"I'll bill it to Ecklie after the case is officially closed. It's his case anyways." Brass smiled as he continued to read through the file, he knew Ecklie would be having a cow when he saw the bill but he would have to get over it.

"He'll have to answer to his boss,wouldn't I like to be a fly on the wall." Sara couldn't help but to smile at the thought of Ecklie seeing a bill larger than his entire year's budget and getting reamed for it by the director.

"Yeah, he will." Grissom remarked, also giving then a little grin.

Nick's room

Riley sat beside a sleeping Nick's bed, he was restless and was evidently dreaming about his friend. Catherine had informed her that Nick had found Warrick at the crime scene, that he was unable to attend the funeral or either wake for his friend.

Just listening to the rumor mill at the crime lab, Warrick and Nick were like brothers, the best of friends. Her father, the psychologist, had always told her that most work relationships were stronger than most family relationships, given the amount of time spent together in the workplace.

Evidently Warrick and Nick's relationship was extremely close, best buds. She knew that it had really effected Nick from the team's conversations, being the new person was difficult enough given the best of circumstances, now it was actually the worst of situations, a team mate murdered and another one with two attempts on his life in less than a week.

Riley's thought were interrupted as Nick began to mumble.

"Warrick, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry man." he mumbled in his sleep, beads of sweat rolling down his face, the fever had broken again, the doctor would be happy.

"Nick, it's okay. You're safe, everything is fine." she wanted to comfort her co-worker but really didn't know too much about him, except that he was a great guy,but according to some, he loved the women too.

He opened his eyes and attempted to focus on the face of the person talking,"Drink."His lips were dry and his throat hurt from the suctioning device earlier.

Riley walked over and retrieved a glass of water from the sink then held it to his lips, he wanted to gulp it but he didn't want to end up in another coughing fit so he took a small sip then pushed it away, it was warm and tasted like metal."Bottle water next time." he coughed a little bit then gave her a small grin.

"Sorry, it was the closest thing I had at the moment, I'll do better next time," she gave him a smile.

"Where's Dr Jekyll?" he asked as he looked around the room.

"Dr Roberts? She's in the kitchen getting something to eat and if I understood her correctly she was going to fix you something too." she grabbed the thermometer and shook it down and gestured for him to open his mouth.

Nick obeyed and opened his mouth and then clamped down on the glass thermometer, he closed his eyes, the effects of the drugs still felt, when he felt the glass leave his mouth he opened his eyes again to see Dr Roberts."You again?"

"You love me, it's just hard for you to show it Mr Stokes." she smiled as she looked at the low grade fever, a big improvement over the past few hours. "Think you can eat something?"

"What?" he attempted to lift himself up in the hospital bed but if he was weak before, now he was absolutely just wiped out.

"Let us help Nick." Riley offered, hitting the button for the head to lower,"Okay, just scoot yourself up a little, using your legs."

Nick complied and was able to push himself up,"Okay?"

"That's perfect Nick." Riley hit the button again and lifted his head to a sitting position.

Dr Roberts brought a tray over to the bedside and sat it down,"I want to keep you on clear liquids, I don't think your body can tolerate solid food yet."

That was actually a good thing, he really didn't have much of an appetite so jello and soup were just fine with him."No problem."

Riley took a look at the broth and cup of jello and knew Nick was not going to be able to feed himself, his hands were too shaky."Do you mind if I feed you?"

He gave her a look of embarrassment and shook his head,"I can do it."

"Okay, tough cowboy, if you can." she lowered the bedside rail and lowered the bed so that Nick could turn and reach the food.

After a few attempts he was able to sit up, with assistance from Riley and Dr Roberts."Yum, green jello." he reached down to pick up a spoon, his hands shaking,"Why are my hands shaking?"

Dr Roberts walked over and observed Nick's hands shaking,"The medicines for your breathing will do that,maybe I can change you over to Xopenex." she made a note on a sheet of paper and walked over to the box that Jim had brought her earlier. She looked through it and found what she was looking for and walked back over to Nick's bed,"Xopenex has less side effects, we'll try it and see if helps."

Nick nodded to the change. Riley also nodded in agreement, she was very familiar with the drug,"Can I help you now?" she asked seeing that Nick could barely hold the spoon.

"Yeah." he acquiesced to the assistance offered by his new team member.

She spooned the jello up and placed in his mouth, she almost laughed at his facial expression,a look of tasting something nasty on his face,"This taste terrible. Sugar-free?"

"Don't be picky Mr Stokes, I could have made it to go in your IV, it wouldn't taste at all then." she gave him a 'eat it and quit complaining' look.

He looked up at Riley and mouthed,"I hate her." then opened his mouth to take another bite.

Riley wanted to laugh out loud but she feared ticking off the doctor herself so she just smiled and fed him the jello.

The Security Area

Catherine let out a big yawn as she starred down at the cameras,nothing was moving outside, no alarms were going off, she was tired and bored.

"I need a bathroom break in here somebody." she spoke out loud, not seeing anybody for over two hours was starting to give her abandonment issues.

Grissom popped his head out of the room with the files,"You yell?"

"Yes, I need a potty break." she stood and stretched sore muscles, then started for the upstairs,"I'll be back in a while."

"How long does it take for you to go potty?" Grissom asked as he took a seat.

"As long as it takes Gil, as long as it takes." she walked up the stairs and disappeared into her room.

"I'll never understand women." he glanced down at the monitors and relaxed into his chair, it might be a while before he saw Catherine again.

Basement

Gregg set up his new makeshift lab in the windowless roomy area, it was perfect. He had taken the small refrigerator in the bedroom and placed it in the room ,along with all the equipment Brass had brought back with him, if felt familiar and rather exciting to have his own little lab.

He set up the cultures of Nick's sputum and placed them in the refrigerator. Dr Roberts also needed some blood tests run, a CBC and a BMP. He gathered the syringes,gauze, and alcohol pads then headed upstairs,he just hoped Nick wouldn't punch his lights out when he saw the needles. The one fact he knew about his friend was that he hated needles.

He would have his hands full with an irate Nick. He was kind of glad Dr Roberts would be there, she could tame his outbursts, he hoped.

Nick's Room

Dr Roberts was hanging an antibiotic when Gregg walked in the room,"Hey Mr Sanders, you come to draw the blood?"

"That was subtle." Looking over at Nick, who was now giving him the evil eye,he walked over and watched as Riley quickly stood back, a very upset Nick was on the other side. "Hey Nick, I need to draw some blood." his voice almost cracking from fear that he would upset his friend.

"No Gregg." Nick replied starring at the needle in Gregg's hand.

"Either he does it or I'll do it, your choice Mr Stokes." Dr Roberts no nonsense voice echoed through the room, everybody had their eyes on Nick.

"Gregg, you have one chance, so get it right." he held out his right arm and watched as Gregg placed a tourniquet around his upper arm and rubbed his antecubital area with alcohol,he then stuck the needle in and withdrew the three vials of blood, an extra one just in case the doctor thought of something else. He then withdrew the needle and placed a gauze bandage over the site."It's done." he smiled but saw that Nick was not smiling back.

He quickly gathered the blood and left the room, Nick rolled to his side and was going to close his eyes when the doctor showed up at the bedside with a jacket.

"I'm not cold." he responded, seeing that Riley was leaving the room,evidently she knew what was about to happen and didn't want to be a part of it.

"It's a percussion jacket, it helps the infection in your lung from getting hardened,it also helps you to get rid of the mucus and clear your bronchials. It gives your chest a slight tightening feeling. The respiratory therapist usually does it but the jacket will deliver it for a longer period of time.

He sat up enough for her to apply the jacket and watched as she connected the hoses , when she turned it on, it felt okay for the first few minutes then his shoulder started throbbing, the feeling that his heartbeat was in his shoulder started,"This isn't working."

Dr Roberts felt her patient wasn't giving it a chance until she walked around the bed to see his face, he was in pain,severe pain, she quickly turned off the device and removed the jacket,"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I am now." he closed his eyes and wished the pain to end.

"Here, take this, it'll help with the pain." she offered him two pills.

"What is it?" he asked, he hated the effects of drugs.

"It's just a mild narcotic, it's Toradol, it's great for pain and it's nonaddictive." she explained to her patient.

"Okay." he took the pills and then the offered water, he closed his eyes and hoped that the pain med would react quickly. He was getting tired of being sick.

Dr Roberts placed his nasal cannuli around his face and into his nostrils then set it on two liters a minutes and reattached his sat monitor, his saturation level was in the mid nineties, satisfactory for now.

She reached over and turned off the light in the room, she wanted to take a nap, the nights for respiratory patients was always the worst.

This is a taking care of business chapter...necessary to the story as a whole.