It was another four hours before the surgeon came to speak to them. Warrick's grandmother had arrived and was sitting with her grandson. The CSI's had gone back to the waiting area.

"Are you the people with the male MVA bought in early this morning?" He asked as he walked up to the group.

"Yes, Nick" Catherine was the first to respond, "How is he?"

"Are any of you family?"

"No, his family is in Dallas. They are on their way here though."

"Please take a seat." He continued once they were all seated. "I would normally only discuss this with family but as they won't be here for some time...The surgery went well. We have placed a small shunt in the back left hand side of his scull to allow drainage of fluid. Fluid build up is very common in this type of head trauma. It would appear his head went left when the car was hit and impacted quite severely with the side of the car. At this stage we don't know if there is going to be any permanent damage until he wakes up. Brain damage occurs in approximately 35% of this type of head trauma so we have to wait and see on that. The shunt will hopefully be able to be removed within 48 hours. The next 24 hours are going to be critical. If he survives that then he has a strong chance of a full recovery. He is in ICU at the moment but that is going to be limited to family only until he is more stable. If his family wish to speak to me directly when they get here you can have me paged by the desk there. My name is Doctor Howard" He pointed to the nurse's station. With a small nod and after a round of 'thank yous' he left.

"Wow," Greg didn't know what else to say. He supposed it was good news. As good as could be expected considering the circumstances. No one else seemed to be wanting to talk. All lost in their own thoughts.

"I need a cigarette," Sara declared and walked outside. Catherine followed shortly after. She hadn't smoked in years but she could really use one now.

"I'm going to call Brass and let him know how the boys are and find out if he knows anything about the accident yet," Gil also walked outside.

Greg was left alone on the chairs. He felt useless. He had never been in a situation like this before. Never had to under go the agonising hospital wait. Grissom was right, waiting was the hardest part. He could feel his eyes start to sting as the tears he had held back so far threatened to spill over. His best friend was in the hospital rapping on death's door. Nick probably didn't even realise that he was his best friend. But he was. He let a few tears spill before he wiped them away and pulled himself together. 'Be strong man.' That is what Nick would say.

*************************

"Brass, it's Grissom,"

"How did Nick's surgery go?"

"He is out of surgery but not out of the woods yet," Grissom continued to fill Jim Brass in on the Nick's condition and that Warrick should hopefully be released tomorrow once he had some rest. "How have you gone?"

"We managed to get prints off the wheel. Scum bag didn't even bother to wipe it before he ran. Running them now. If we get a hit it should be in the next few hours. I will need to come in and talk to Warrick see if he remembers anything about the accident. Any idea when he will be awake?"

"No, I'll call you when I think he is up to it."

"OK, well Archie seems to think that there may be some traffic camera's on Holloway that we may be able to get some film off if they were facing the right direction. He is talking to Department of Transport now and getting them to send the feed over to the lab. If we get this guy and we can't prove he caused the accident he is going to get a slap on the wrist for steeling a piece of shit car. I filled in everyone here at the lab. They were all pretty shook up. Warrick and Nick are damn popular you know. I wanna get this guy. We all do."

"Jim, let the evidence speak for itself, don't speak for the evidence. Don't make this personal."

"Guess what Gris, this is personal. I'll speak to you later."

The line went dead. He hoped Jim didn't do anything rash. He smiled to himself, 'Jim, rash, never!'

He started to walk over to Cath and Sara who were sitting on a cement wall smoking when his phone rang. Looking at the caller ID he didn't recognise the number. "Grissom, CSI."

"Mr Grissom, it's James Stokes here. We are at the airport if you are still OK to pick us up? If not we will just grab a cab."

"No, no, not at all Mr Stokes, I will be there as soon as I can. I will pick you up outside the arrivals terminal in 15 minutes."

"How is he?" Grissom heard the fear in Nick's father's voice. The last they had heard was their son was fighting for his life while having brain surgery. Now the surgery was over but he was still fighting.

"He came through the operation well. He is still in critical condition obviously but doing as well as can be expected. I promise I will explain everything when I see you."

A long sigh, "Ok, thank you. See you soon."

"Was that Nick's parents?" Cath asked. Gill nodded. "Ah...... do you want me to come with you to the airport? They are going to be upset and .... Well ... sometimes you aren't real good with emotional situations."

"I was hoping you would offer," Gil admitted.

"Ok, let's go then."

They waved goodbye to Sara who was going to go back in to Greg and sit with Warrick for a while.

********************

Warrick was just waking up as Sara and Greg walked into his room. His grandmother was by his side holding his hand.

"Hey there man, how ya feelin'?" Greg asked as he drew up beside him.

"I feel like I was hit by a truck. What the hell happened?" Warrick still appeared a little groggy which was perfectly understandable considering what he had been through.

"Shhh, honey. Don't you go worrying about that now. You just rest up." Warrick noticed his grandmother for the first time. "Gramma, what are you doing here? What the hell happened?" Sara could see Warrick was getting concerned about his predicament.

"Warrick, you were in a car crash. You got a nasty bump on the head and your arm is broken but other than that you are OK. Now do what your Grandmother says and rest. No need to worry about anything now." 'No need to tell him about Nick just yet' she thought.

Warrick did lay back, forehead creased in a frown, but his eyes were closed.

Greg and Sara took a seat beside his bed, ready to continue the waiting game.

"Nick was with me, wasn't he?" Warrick opened his eyes again as he started to remember what had transpired.

Sara and Greg shared a look, they also noticed Warrick Grandmother, Emma, look over at them. She didn't want to worry Warrick unnecessarily, but Sara wasn't sure they had a choice. "Yes, he was but he is resting up too so just relax OK."

Warrick nodded, seeming to accept that answer, but then he looked at Sara and Greg and knew that they were holding something back. "Guys, what's wrong?" Again Sara and Greg shared a look, trying to decide how much they should tell Warrick. "Nick's not....." he couldn't finish the thought.

"No, no, he's not ....." Sara couldn't say it either. Tears started to spring up in her eyes. Sara knew Warrick needed an answer. "He's not good though." Sara started to fill Warrick in on Nick's condition, and when she started to cry and couldn't go on, Greg kept going and between the two of them they managed to tell Warrick the full story.

Warrick lay back in bed, eyes wide, tears brimming in them. "I can't even remember what happened. I remember ribbing him about my date and then......I woke up here. Oh man, his family... has anyone called his parents?"

Sara nodded, "Grissom's picking them up from the airport as we speak. If we feel this bad I can't even imagine what they are going through."

They all lapsed into silence. Each person lost in their own thoughts.