---------------Grissom's House--------------
Grissom was just about to leap at the man, when his cell phone rang. They both glanced at it, unsure of what to do. The gunman picked it up, looking at the caller ID. "Who is 'Jim Brass'?" he asked Grissom.
"He's one of the guys working the case with me," Grissom responded. Then, thinking fast, "He saw your note and he knows that I always keep my phone on, so he'll call the cops if I don't answer." The man glared at him from behind the ski mask.
"All right, answer it." the man opened the closet door and flung Catherine to the ground. She crashed into the side table, her head connecting painfully with the corner. The man aimed at her. "Go ahead, Dr. Grissom, answer it... Just remember what will happen to your girlfriend if you say something wrong."
"She's not my girlfriend." Grissom retorted as he flipped the phone open. "Hey Jim." He tried to keep his voice casual, painfully aware of the danger he and Catherine were in.
"Gil! What have you been doing, I've been trying to call you for like half an hour?"
"Sorry, Cath stopped by, we've been going over the case."
"All right, first of all, your tail isn't there. They lost you when they left the hospital, and (If you want some more good news) a neighbor just called in a DB - Frank O'Connor."
"You can't be serious...." Then he remembered what Catherine had asked when she first arrived. Do you know that it was the husband, or could it have been his - Brother! Grissom realized. She had been sleeping with her brother-in-law... her husband's identcal twin! That was why we didn't know she was having an affair; DNA said she'd only been sleeping with one guy.
"Yeah, can you believe it? Our only suspect was just murdered. Great."
Grissom looked at Catherine. The man had been watching Grissom, and his gun had slipped slowly away from Catherine. She had been creeping away, careful not to attract the gunman's attention. Grissom tossed her the phone, and tackled the man, in order to give her time to talk to Brass.
"Brass?" Catherine yelled into the phone. "Brass, he's here!! He's at Grissom's place!" The two men wrestling with each other crashed into her, and the phone was crushed. The man pinned Grissom to the floor and reached for his gun where it had fallen to the floor. Catherine kicked it out of his reach, and pulled tried to pull him off Grissom.
When the woman knocked the gun out of his reach, he thought of another, more personal, way to accomplish his mission. He had his hands around his enemy's throat when he felt someone try to pull him away. Turning, he rose to his feet, kicking the semi-conscious man at his feet into unconsciousness. The girlfriend (no, not girlfriend... coworker, maybe?) had grabbed the gun from off the floor, and was pointing it at him.
"You don't really want to kill me, do you?" he asked innocently, trying to charm her. Catherine looked at Grissom's motionless shape on the ground and thought of Sara in the hospital. Yes, I do! she thought.
Johnny O'Connor could see the decision in her eyes. He lunged toward her and Catherine pulled the trigger 3 or 4 times. The man staggered back, clutching his shoulder. He dropped to his knees, bleeding profusely from the wounds in his arm and side. Catherine watched him closely as she checked Grissom's pulse. Strong - Praise God! She could hear the police cars pulling up outside, and sat back, her gun still aimed at O'Connor (just in case), waiting for Brass.
Brass rushed into Grissom's house, followed by several paramedics. Grissom was lying on the floor, Catherine sitting on the ground next to him, a gun still clutched in her hand. On the other side if the room, a man swathed in black lay bleeding from several gunshot wounds. Two medics placed Grissom on a stretcher, as another spoke with Catherine.
"I'm fine," she protested.
"Ma'am, you should go to the hospital, you need stitches." Catherine had a deep cut on her head from the table.
"Catherine, go to the hospital." Brass pleaded, worried about her. Seeing her resolve grow stronger, he added "Come on, it'll just take a few minutes. We've got everything here." Nodding slowly, Catherine climbed into the ambulance with Grissom.
------------Desert Palm Hospital------------
Nick walked into Sara's hospital room. How did I end up the one to have to tell her this? He approached her bedside, seating himself on the seat next to her. "Hey Sar'?" She looked up at him, puzzled by his tone of voice.
"What's wrong?" Nick took a deep breath, and started....
Notes: okay, so it's not much longer than the last couple chapters, but I'm working on it. Thanks for all the reviews!