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When it all came back to him it was like an explosion inside his head. It all sped past him like the fast-forward of a DVD. He had hit Catherine instead of Mrs Jansen. At least he thought he had. Oh God, what if he had killed her. Oh no. How could this have happened? He had find out. For that he first had to get up. That's were things started to get complicated. As soon as he started to push himself up, he was held down again. Opening his eyes, might be a good idea. In doing so, he came face to face with a severe looking nurse.
"Mr. Stokes, please hold still, so that we can examine you."
He mumbled something unintelligibly, and tried evading her grasp.
"Please Mr. Stokes, keep calm you will be fine." This time her tone was irritated.
He only semi-registered what she said and got up to a sitting position.
"Mr Stokes, I will be forced to give you a sedative if you don't calm down", she threatened.
~~~~
Brass' head had cleared up fairly quickly. In spite of the bumpy ride in the ambulance, which had done he great job of further jarring his injured arm, he felt pretty decent right now, all things considered. He suspected that the painkillers played a fairly large role in this. Anyway, now that the previously excruciating pain in his arm was reduced to a dull ache, and that the fuzzy feeling has receded, he was ready to get the day's events in order. Everything was nice an fine up until the point when they had walked into the living room and opened the drawers in the base of the couch. Then it was all blurry, clarity recommencing sometime on his ride to the hospital, where he still was, waiting for Gil Grissom and his gang to show up, which should be any minute. His expectations were fulfilled promptly when Gil and Sara came hastily walking down the corridor towards him.
"Hi, Gil."
"You okay", Gil seemed surprised to see him sitting on a bench in the corridor. "The doctor just told us you had been shot."
"Grazed ",Brass corrected him. They are even letting me go, so it can't be serious. "Where are Nick and Catherine?"
Grissom and Sara both stared at him in response.
"We thought you could tell us. Nick is at the hospital. He's fine, but still in shock. Catherine wasn't in the house with you. "
"Last thing I remember she was there, Brass commented dryly, his outlook had just turned bleak. I take it Mrs Jansen is gone as well."
"Yes, police are looking for her right now", it was the first time Sara spoke.
"There was an uncomfortable pause", both Sara and Brass were looking at Grissom, expecting him to give an order, anything. Grissom seemed to become aware of this. "Okay, Sara you stay here and wait for Nick to wake up, call me as soon as he does. I will drive you home, then get back to the scene", he said turning to Brass.
Brass was about to complain that he was not inclined to spends the remainder of the night on his couch, watching TV, but thought better of it.
~~~~
On the drive, he told Grissom what little he remembered of the events. Before he dropped him of at his house, however, Grissom's cell went off. It was Catherine.
"Catherine, are you okay?"
"I think so", her voice was shaky.
"Where are you?"
"I'm not sure, it looks like a basement or garage. She hesitated. Mrs, Jansen is here, she's dead. There are more dead bodies here."
Grissom could pick up voices in the background.
"Catherine, who else is there? What are those noises?"
"I don't know, there is someone in this building, whatever it is."
"Grissom, there is blood all over me, I think I'm injured", her voice, usually very sure, was suddenly insecure. It was evident that she was still in shock.
The noise in the background increased, shouting.
"The police is here," Catherine said.
"Good, tell them what happened." He was just about to continue when he noticed that Catherine had switched off.
"She okay?" Brass asked, only having had their end of the conversation.
Before Grissom got a chance to answer his cell rang again, this time it was Warrick "Grissom, we found both Catherine and Mrs Jansen, in the basement. Some kind of concealed chamber of horrors. Looks like Catherine's been hurt, but nothing too serious. An ambulance is bringing her to the hospital right now. Look, you better get here, there are a lot more bodies."
~~~~
Return from the land of oblivion was all but gentle, it was accompanied by a violent assault of sensory information, sounds, feeling and smells. Voices, footsteps, a soft surface underneath, something lying on her, covering her, antiseptic smell. When she tried to turn away from the evil disturbances, a sharp pain in her side persuaded her otherwise and jerked her completely into reality. The white ceiling, white wall and antiseptic smell combined into the picture of a hospital room. A quick self assessment revealed, a bandaged spot in her side, she looked at her hands. Bruised knuckles, signs of a struggled, her training kicked in. She remembered being in a room, concrete floor, cold, several bodies wrapped in clear plastic sheets. Mrs Jansen on the floor, dead, her clothes covered in blood. The blood must have been from her injury in her side. Had she struggled with Mrs Jansen and been knocked out during the struggle, but then how had she shot her, assuming it had been her. She didn't remember whether she still had had her gun. It was frustrating. She pressed to calling button, hoping she could get some information from the nurse.