Previously on 'As The Lab Turns'

Ecklie let out a panicked squeak and then went limp as his heart rate broke through the earth's atmosphere and went into orbit.

"Ecklie." Catherine spoke softly. When he didn't respond she spoke a little louder. "Ecklie." She checked his pulse and then her eyes went wide as she realized that she had been a little too much for his heart to take. Getting her presence of mind, she climbed off his lap and called 9-1-1 as she buttoned her blouse.


"We believe that an increase in blood pressure dislodged a clot in his brain resulting in a cerebral hemorrhage. It's surprising that he survived the initial episode and I'm afraid that his chances of waking from his coma are pretty remote." The stoic looking chief of staff at Desert Palm Hospital delivered the news about Ecklie in a succinct fashion to Catherine and Brass.

"We understand. Thank you." Brass replied before the doctor turned and walked away. The homicide detective glanced over at Catherine. "I put a call into Atwater on the way here."

Catherine let out groan and sat down in the nearly deserted waiting room. "This is going to create nothing but chaos."

Brass furrowed his brow and sat down next to Catherine. "It seems to me that things are already pretty much chaos."

Catherine narrowed her gaze at Brass suspiciously. "You're not referring to my indiscretion with Warrick are you?"

Brass quirked an eyebrow at her. "Was it really an indiscretion? I've always gotten the feeling that things went a little deeper between you two."


"I can't do this, Mia." Warrick let out a groan.

"But you already have." Mia's voice was sultry in the flickering light the television was providing. They had indeed put in a classic movie, in Mia's bedroom, but neither one of them had paid much attention to it and now they lay tangled in her sheets.

"I'm cheating on Catherine." Warrick was having serious regrets.

"Define cheating." Mia reasoned that if they weren't actually dating each other that Warrick was fair game.

"Mia, I'm flattered." Warrick let out a deep throaty chuckle as he recalled just how flattered she'd made him feel. "Trust me." He looked over at Mia and furrowed his brow. "If I wasn't in love with Catherine…"

"You're in love with her." Mia looked at him in disbelief. Based on their conversation in the break room the day before, she'd gotten the impression that his relationship with Catherine was purely physical and casual in nature.

"Yeah." He winced because he knew that he'd hurt her and that had never been his intention, of course, he wasn't really sure what his intention had been since he clearly hadn't been thinking when he'd suggested they get together in the first place. "I'm sorry."

Despite the fact that she found Warrick incredibly attractive, she didn't want to compete with the man for his own affections. If he was already in love with someone else, she wasn't going to waste her time. Mia wrapped a blanket around her body and climbed out of the bed, glancing back at Warrick who still lay underneath the sheet. "I think you should go."


"No one will ever believe you, Gil." Heather had a look of triumph on her face, but failed to recognize the sound of the door to the room opening until it was too late.

"Yes, they will." Greg sounded smug. He had heard enough before he'd opened the door to confirm what he had suspected.

Grissom looked visibly relieved. If he had been physically capable, he would have gotten out of the bed and summoned help.


"Nicky, I was thinking." Sara's voice had a clingy quality to it.

"Yeah?" Nick's lips were paying particularly close attention to her earlobe at the moment while they waited for the coffeepot in his kitchen to finish brewing.

"We're together almost all the time, and I know that technically you're my boss…" Her words trailed off as her courage faltered.

Nick pulled away and looked into her eyes. "What is it?"

She nibbled her lower lip. "It just seems a waste that you live here and I live a few miles away."

Nick quirked an eyebrow at her. "Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?"


"Well I guess for now it looks like we're back at the beginning." Brass had a sardonic smile on his face as he and Catherine headed towards Grissom's room.

Catherine smirked. "I know you're not going to remain the assistant lab director for very long."

Brass feigned shock. "What? You don't have confidence in me?"


Warrick stopped at Mia's front door and glanced back at her. She was standing there in her robe with a hurt expression on her face. "I'm really sorry."

Mia let out a frustrated sigh and met Warrick's gaze. "Truthfully, I'm not. But I would hate to be Catherine right now. If you really love her, you shouldn't have ever come home with me."

"I know." Warrick's voice was edged with regret.


"You're serious." Brass registered a bit of shock on his face and sank down in the chair next to Grissom's bed. "That was Lady Heather? And she's Sophia's twin sister?" He glanced at Greg who was still wearing a smug expression. "And where's Sophia?"

"Apparently in Australia with Ecklie's full knowledge." Greg informed him. "When Ecklie found out that Heather was Sophia's sister, he decided to use her to try and bring down the nightshift."

"And she might very well have done it too." Grissom added a bit bitterly. "How did I not see through her?"

Catherine patted his arm and smiled at him reassuringly. "It doesn't matter now; she's in jail and Ecklie, well Conrad's in intensive care."

Grissom looked shocked. "What?"

"He had a cerebral hemorrhage, Gil." Brass informed him. "Something caused his blood pressure to spike and that was it. He's in a coma, but the doctor's aren't holding out a lot of hope for him."


"What do you think that I'm saying?" Sara looked nervous.

"You want to live together." Nick concluded.

Sara swallowed hard. "Sort of."

Nick looked a little confused. "What do you mean 'sort of'?"

She slid her arms around his neck and tried to relax. "How much does your promotion mean to you?"

Nick was really confused because the conversation was not going the direction he thought it was. "Not as much as you mean to me." He meant what he said, but he also thought that this was what she was hoping to hear.

Sara nibbled at her lip again and then whispered very softly as she looked into his eyes. "I think we should elope."

Tune in next time for another episode of 'As The Lab Turns'...