Nick wondered what was next in the grand tour of his psyche.  Although he was a little more relaxed now that he was back in Kristy's presence.  Something about her was soothing for his overwhelmed mind.

"How much longer do you think I'll be here?" he asked her softly.

She shrugged and gave him a sad smile.  "Why?  Tired of my company already?"

"No.  I think I'm gonna miss you when I wake up."

Kristy's eyes teared up.  "You're so sweet Nicky."

"I get that a lot," he said with a teasing smile.

She turned back to the horizon ahead.  "Oh, here we are," she said when she spotted the figure in the distance.

"Who now?"

Kristy gently grabbed his arm.  "Nick, whatever happens, stay calm.  Okay?  I'm here every step of the way.  I'll help you in any way I can."

Nick studied her face.  She looked genuinely worried.

"Who is it Kristy?"

"Hi Nick," a voice greeted as the figure approached.  Nick felt his blood run cold.

"I swear that man is a handful," Brass heard his nurse complain to another as he neared the nurses' station on the way to Nick's room.  "He won't stay in his room for more than twenty minutes.  How is he supposed to recover if he doesn't take his meds and actually get some rest?"

"He's just worried about that friend of his," the other nurse assured.

"I understand that.  But he should understand that he's just making himself weak.  And what good would it do his friend then?"

Brass proceeded to roll past the station, unnoticed, and thought about the truth of that statement.  But at the moment he didn't really care.  He could rest once Nick was out of the woods.

When he entered Nick's room he found Catherine and Grissom keeping vigil.

"How is he?"

Grissom sighed and wiped a hand over his tired eyes.  "He has a low grade fever from his wounds, so they want to keep him in the coma for awhile longer."

"He's seems kinda restless," Catherine supplied softly.  "Like he's dreaming."

"How are you doing, Jim?"

Brass looked at Grissom.  "Wonderful invention, pain killers.  Right now everything is just a dull ache.  So, where's the rest of the party?"

"Sara went with Warrick to get some dinner," Catherine explained.  "I think she wanted to make sure he got something besides McDonald's.  Archie was here for a few hours, then he and Greg headed back to the lab to see if they could help."

"After Nick wakes up and is released," Brass said, "I think we're all entitled to a long vacation.

"I second that," Catherine saluted with her cup of coffee.

Greg and Archie poured over blood samples, fiber samples and soil samples attempting to connect the three suspects in custody to the shooting.

Greg was frustrated.  He was ready to borrow a page from Warrick's book and go beat them until they confessed.  But he wasn't intimidating like Warrick.

Maybe he could get Archie to go down too, and do his Karate-Kid-Kung-Fu thing.  Whatever it was that Archie studied.

He rubbed his eyes and tried to concentrate once more. 

"How you doin' over there?" Archie asked.

Greg simply let out sigh.

"That good, huh?"

"I just wish we had to other shooters."

"And the guns would be nice too."

"Yeah, there's that."

They heard a commotion outside the room and looked up to see O'Riley struggling with another suspect being brought in.  Three uniforms came over to help.

Greg and Archie got up and went to O'Riley.

"Another shooter?" Greg asked.

"Yeah.  No weapon in his car though.  I'm sure they all dumped them during the chase."

"Probably," Greg agreed.

"That guy sure didn't want to go quietly," Archie said.

"No.  He ran every red light and caused a couple pile ups before we could stop him."

Archie looked thoughtful.  "Every intersection is equipped with traffic cams, right?"

O'Riley scratched his head.  "Sure.  Why?"

The AV tech smiled.  "If you can get me the tapes from the route the shooters took, I can find you the guns."

Greg felt a smile come to his face.  "You're a genius.  Almost as much as me."

"I'll get my men out to collect those tapes," O'Riley said.  "You could have them as soon as tonight."

"Good deal."

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AN:  Sorry to keep you guys waiting for an update.  RL got in the way.  *Way* too much goin on at work and with my family.  But anyways, here's the latest chapter for ya!  Hope you like.