Gil stood in the doorway to Greg Sander's room. He had been moved out of ICU and was now in a private room.
"…and in further news, regarding yesterday's horrific bombing of the Las Vegas Crime Lab, police have said there are no suspects yet, but they are following all leads. The official death toll is at two. Both of the deceased were lab technicians. Meanwhile, lab technician Greg Sanders has been moved out of ICU and is said to be recovering. There has been no further change on the daughter of criminalists Gil Grissom and Catherine Willows. Kathryn Hope Grissom remains in the ICU ward of Desert Palms Hospital where her parents are said to be keeping a round the clock vigil…"
Greg glanced at Grissom. "No change?"
Grissom shook his head. "Catherine won't leave her side."
Greg sighed. "I should have waited for her. I should have gone with her…"
"And then you'd both be in the same situation," Gil fired back. He softened for a moment. "I actually came here to thank you."
Greg raised an eyebrow. "Me? What did I do?"
"You went back in."
"I had to. Katie was still in there."
Grissom nodded. "That's what I'm thanking you for."
"Thank me when she walks
out of here," Greg
replied. "But I appreciate the gratitude." He squirmed in his bed,
trying to find a comfortable position. "She will walk out of here,
won't
she?"
Grissom looked him in the eye. "Yes."
***************************************************************************************************************
"Man, this sucks," Warrick said, kicking the dirt off the pavement.
Sara sent him a look. "Would you stop doing that?"
"Why am I being a litterbug?"
Sara was about to reply
in kind when Nick stood
between them.
"Okay guys, we're all tired and upset. Let's keep it cool, okay?"
"How can there be so much evidence, and no suspects?" Warrick growled. "And why the hell is Ecklie working the case?"
"Because apparently we're too emotionally involved," Sara replied. She glanced at Warrick. "Imagine that."
Brass came out before the
three could get into a
shouting match. "Okay we've got a lead."
The three turned to him.
"What kind of lead?"
"The good kind. You guys want to go for a ride?"
Nick narrowed his eyes. "I thought this was Ecklie's case?"
"I'm not asking Ecklie, I'm asking you three. Do you want to go for a ride?"
"Lead us to the car," Warrick said.
***********************************************************************************************************
Gil stood in the doorway to Katie's hospital room. His heart almost broke at the site of his wife curled up beside their daughter. She was whispering to her, mostly telling her how much she loved her.
"Cath?"
Catherine looked back at him and smiled sadly at him. "I just needed to be closer to her."
He walked over and sat in the vacant plastic chair. "That's okay. I know the feeling."
"How's Greg?" Catherine asked, turning her face back to her daughter and resuming stroking her hair.
"He's doing okay. Sore and uncomfortable, but okay." Grissom didn't tell his wife about thanking Greg. That was for later. Discussing Greg was for later. Now was for their daughter. "I rang Nancy. Lindsey's doing okay. Nancy didn't send her to school today. Apparently reporters are all around the house."
Catherine closed her eyes. "Bastards."
"What have you been talking to Katie about?" Gil asked, moving to the other side of the bed and taking his daughter's other hand.
"About us. About Lindsey.
About what we're going
to do when she gets better." She looked up at Gil. "About how much we
love her."
"She knows that, Cath," he murmured. "And you know that this was not your fault. She would hate knowing that was what you were thinking."
"But she doesn't does she?" Catherine said, a tear slipping down her face. "All she knows is what she's lived so far. Lived with her mother giving her to someone else because she was too damn scared to handle it. Her mother not being there when she should have been."
Gil looked at his wife
sternly. "Catherine,
Katie would still have gone to CSI that night. In all likelihood so
would you
and I. You didn't do this."
"Then how come I feel so
responsible?" Catherine asked, the tears
falling again. She was about to wipe them away with her hand when she
felt
Katie's hand move. Her eyes widened and she looked up at Gil. "Her hand
moved."
His eyes widened and
looked at her. "Are you sure?"
All she could manage were a rapid succession of nods. She bent down to whisper in her daughter's ear. "Katie? Honey? Open your eyes if you can hear me. Please sweetheart."
Katie's eyes began to flutter and slowly opened, squinting against the light. She tried to talk, but couldn't because of the tube in her mouth.
"I'll get the doctor," Grissom said, racing out of the room.
Catherine smiled a watery smile at her daughter and stroked her hair. "Hey baby. Everything's okay. You're okay."
The doctor rushed into the room with Grissom and a nurse. They checked her vitals and the doctor smiled at Katie.
"Hello there Kathryn. Nice to meet you. We're going to take the tube out now so when I count to three, I want you to breathe out as much as you can, okay?"
Katie coughed as the tube came out and the nurse helped her drink some water.
"Mom?" Katie asked, trying to find her mother in the room.
"I'm here baby. I'm here," Catherine said, taking her hand and holding it. "You're okay. You're doing so well."
"Do you remember anything about what happened?" the doctor asked Katie.
She nodded. "Went to my locker and then there was a huge bang. Stuff was flying everywhere and there was smoke everywhere. Then I heard Greg…" Her eyes widened. "Where's Greg?"
"He's fine," Gil said,
smiling at his
daughter. "He'll be glad to know you're okay."
***************************************************************************************************************
"Alright!" Warrick said, closing his cell phone.
"What?" Nick asked.
"That was Gris. Katie's
awake and she's doing
okay."
"Now all we have to do is find the creep that did this," Jim said.
"Where exactly are we going?" Sara asked. "We've been driving for an hour. Not to mention the three stops for directions."
"Got a tip about someone that used to be employed at CSI and got laid off," Jim explained.
"Really?"
"His name is Barry Leeward. Apparently he used to work piecing together bombs and such at CSI."
"Handy," Nick commented.
Brass nodded. "We thought
so. He got laid off
for tampering with evidence…multiple times. The investigators suspected
he had
his hand in a few pies."
"Hands in pies and tampering with evidence. Plus he worked with bombs? Sounds like a suspect to me," Warrick said.
***************************************************************************************************************
Part 18