Warrick stood quickly, disturbing the cards on the desk in front of him. He'd seen the look on the doctor's face and felt it in his gut that something had gone wrong. A quick look at Grissom confirmed his boss had the same thought. "Hey, Doc. You're out early…what's going on?" he asked, trying to keep his voice casual.

"Well, the tear was a bit more extensive than I first thought. It's repaired, but his pressure's dropping. Not much I can do if there's not enough blood in his system. Problem is, we don't have any blood banked here."

"What about a transfusion? He can have whatever I've got."

"We could do a transfusion but we have no way of doing a type and cross match so… is there a way to find out Nick's blood type?"

Sara had her cell phone out and was dialing the lab when Grissom blurted out, "He's B negative."

Warrick and Sara stared at him. "You all gave blood at the beginning of your stay at the lab. We needed it in case of cross-contamination on evidence- bloody noses, cuts, that sort of thing. Warrick, you're O positive, Sara you're A positive. I'm O positive. Nick's B negative."

Dr. Lawrence shook his head. "Won't be able to use any of you I'm afraid."

"I'm O negative, for what it's worth…" came a voice from the front doorway. "Why do we care?" Brass asked, walking over to join the group.

Grissom filled him in on Nick's condition, and began to talk about clumping and Rh factors, but Brass just held up a hand. "I take it my blood will do, then? If Nicky needs a fill-up, he's welcome to it. Just leave me a quarter tank to get home on, huh, Doc?" He already had his coat off and was gamely rolling up a shirtsleeve.

"No problem, Detective. We'll leave you plenty."

"Please, Doc. You're gonna stick a needle in me, least you can do is call me Jim."

"All right, Jim. Right this way." He led Brass to the back, shutting the door behind them.

………………………………...

An hour or so later Sandy came out with Brass, a fresh gauze pad taped to his inner elbow. She poured him a cup of the orange juice and pressed some cookies into his hand. "You're a good friend, Jim. When this is all over I'm sure Nick will tell you how grateful he is."

"Hmph. The kid'll probably wonder why he's got a strong craving for twelve year old scotch and hard looking blondes," Brass joked.

She smiled and patted his shoulder, then hurried back to rejoin the surgical team.

Sara bluntly asked the question they all wanted to ask. "What's going on in there?"

Brass sighed. "The only medical knowledge I have is gleaned from watching ER. They've got him opened up, but I'll be hanged if I know what they're doing… … there's a lot of blood, I'll say that much. I can see why he was down a quart or two."

"Why so long? I've donated plenty of times and it was never that long."

"Yeah, well I wasn't filling up a little bag. I was filling up Nicky. Arm to arm."

"Did the sheriff find anything on our friend?" Warrick asked, trying to change the subject.

"Nah. Guy's in the wind. Sheriff and his men know their stuff but they aren't finding this guy any time soon. Sara, how'd you make out with the stuff the guys got at the scene?"

She filled him in on what they'd learned about Polk and his history.

"So somewhere along the line this nutcase made himself a saint? He may be seriously disturbed but at least he's got a healthy ego, huh?" That was Brass. Keep bad thoughts at bay with jokes. "So what's going on here? Gin rummy? Always a favorite. Care to deal me in?"

The four sat playing gin rummy, badly. Half-heartedly. When they realized they'd played the last hand for twenty minutes without anyone making a meld they realized that no one was paying attention to the game and by mutual agreement the cards were put away.

Sara got up and immediately began pacing the small room. By the fourth circuit it was getting annoying but no one had the heart to ask her to stop.

The rear door opened and the four waited as Gene Lawrence came out, his face unreadable.

As the leader of the group, it was up to Grissom to ask. "So how did it go?"

"He's stable. The tear is repaired and the transfusion has his pressure back up. I don't think we'll need the airlift. If you guys can hang around town 'til tomorrow, you can bring him home to Vegas with you. If you can stand some more time here in Mayberry, Mr. Brown," he said with a small smile.

"Ah, he told you about that, huh? Sorry, Doc. Hey, you did all right by my boy. Thanks, Doc. I mean that."

"It felt good to work the old ER muscles a bit. I remember now why I stayed thirty years. So. You guys must be exhausted. I can make a call over to one of the motels in town; see if I can get you some rooms. At least you could catch a few hours of sleep. He won't be ready to leave until late tomorrow. Things oughta be opening up around seven for breakfast. Nothing more you guys can do here. Go. We'll hold down the fort here."

The fort…

Grissom realized they hadn't called Catherine in what…six hours? Had it been that long? She must be going out of her head… at least I have good news to give to her now.

He pulled out his cell phone and gave her a quick call. She answered on the first ring and her voice had that worried mom edge to it. He filled her in on the good news, gratified that it was good news he could give. "We're bringing him home later today, Cath. I know…me too. I'll call when we get into town."

After hanging up he asked the others if they wanted to take the doctor up on his offer of a motel. The other three shook their heads.

"I think we should just stick around a while longer. C'mon. Poker this time. I'll even play with wild cards since we're playing with a girl," Warrick jabbed playfully at Sara.

"Deal 'em out, gambling boy. Five-card stud. Wait, Warrick…can you play without real stakes?" she asked innocently but with a wicked grin.

Warrick feigned an injury to his heart and smiled back, picking up the cards and dealing five to his three friends. This was more like it; like the poker games they'd get together in the break room on slow nights, or at Nick's place on their rare nights off together. Though having Grissom there was a new addition. And of course, there was someone missing. He loved playing poker with Nick because the Texan was completely unable to bluff; he wasn't capable of keeping that wide grin off his face when he'd get a hot hand, then he'd get ticked off when everyone would fold. Gonna have to get another game together soon. It's been too long…

………………………………

Time flew by and it was early morning. Tom and Jerry had already left for home, hands shaken heartily and thanks laden on them. Sandy had popped out to let them know that Nick was still sleeping but his pressure was good and his fever was down. She thought he'd be ready for transport by the afternoon.

Warrick ran out to the town café and brought back breakfast. He'd wanted to get pancakes, but thought it would be wrong since they were Nick's favorite, so he settled for bagels and muffins and more coffee was replaced in the empty thermos from Doris Green's kitchen.

Sara packed up the equipment into her Denali, glad that Brass had suggested they take two trucks. They'd been counting on bringing their guys home and had needed one truck just to carry the equipment.

Brass went out for a final check in with the sheriff. As he suspected, nothing. The deputies had transported in the bodies, the coroner's okay waived considering Lawrence was the coroner for the area. The local funeral home was arranging for pickup and storage until the victim's families had been notified. He noticed a news van from a mid-state affiliate show up. Small town- surprised this was kept under wraps as long as it was…never takes long for them to smell blood… I'd better warn the gang to hole up in the clinic or they'll be getting a visit from a nosy reporter.

By the time he got back he was gratified to hear that the doctor had given the clearance for Nick to go home. Sandy went back to get him ready for the trip as everyone packed up their stuff, keeping an eye out for news hounds.

Sandy said Nick would need some help so Grissom and Warrick went back to find Nick sitting on the edge of the table, Gene Lawrence standing by. Nick's shirt was on but unbuttoned, leaving visible a thick white pad of gauze taped around his stomach. He was still pale and he also had a gauze pad taped to his face. His fingers explored the bandages on his belly then his hand rose to his face and he gave a questioning look to the doctor.

"The cut on your face," the doctor explained. "I threw it in for free. Nice tiny stitches. I worked in LA remember, the land of the vain," he said laughing. "You probably won't even have a visible scar."

Grissom grabbed the IV bag still connected to Nick's hand and Nick threw an arm around Warrick's shoulder and the two men helped him slowly out to the truck where they made him as comfortable as possible in the back seat. Grissom hung the IV bag on a hook over the door that was meant to be used for dry-cleaning.

The three returned to the clinic to thank Gene and Sandy. Gene had already called ahead to Desert Palms and they had a room all set for Nick.

Sara and Warrick took off in their truck, and Brass drove the second. Grissom climbed into the front passenger seat and, after checking to make sure Nick was set, pulled on his seatbelt and eased his head back, knowing they had a long trip ahead of them, but glad they were finally headed home.

A/N: One last chapter to go, just to sew things up - pun intended.