At present, there were only the usual night shift personnel in the building, everyone else that had yet to come in for the night, had been called and told not to report.
From behind the glass panes of the window walls of Jim's office, Sara watched as one person in particular brought in several IV stands with banana bags attached to them. Jim sat at his desk tooling with some photos he had loaded on from the previous "Man's" weekend. In front of him was a photo of a friend of his in a rather exaggerated pose, wielding a long heavy duty Mag-Lite in his hand; underneath, Jim had typed in "keeper of the flame". As he looked at this photo, he laughed to himself; this startled Sara from her semi-peaceful state.
"What's so funny?" she asked
"Oh, nothing. Just a photo from this past weekend." Jim replied
Jim changed his gaze to Sara and felt for her. You see, Jim, unlike Sara, was in no way ill; not even in the least. While everyone else was busy puking their guts out or spiking with fever, Jim was feeling healthy as a horse. He stood from his seat at his desk and motioned for one of the Haz-Mat personnel to approach him. Opening his office door, he pulled a slip of paper from his pocket.
"If I give you the keys to my car, can you get some things for me?" he asked
"I'm really not supposed to, but I guess so, Captain"
"Great. In the boot is a sleeping bag, a duffel bag and a case of wine. Please bring them to me."
Handing the keys to the man, Jim breathed a sigh of relief and turned, approaching Sara. At present, she was lying on her side, hand over her stomach and grimacing with discomfort. He knelt beside her and took her delicate hand in his. With his free hand, he brushed some stray locks of hair from her face and gently planted a kiss on her forehead.
"Everything will be better in a few minutes. I have some things in the car that may be of some help to you as well as I. Several changes of clothing, some toiletries as well as some Cipro from my flu last week; I've got a few prescription's worth. I also have a case of red wine that I picked up on my way back into town tonight. Since it looks as though we're gonna be here for a while, we might as well make the most of it, as much as we can"
he explained
Sara, still queasy from listening to Jim, just nodded her head in affirmation and left it at that. She had not purged for quite some time, so Jim thought that things might be improving somewhat. This was a good thing, he thought; the last thing he wanted to see was Sara with her head buried in a bucket and the horrible sounds she made as she heaved into it.
In the DNA lab, Grissom was caring for Greg who had a fever of 102.4. He, himself, was feeling a bit ill, but nowhere near as ill as his poor lab tech. He had taken his own temperature not long ago and was slightly glad to see that it was only at 100.1. While Greg was curled up on a table in the far corner of the lab, Grissom was busy analyzing the contents of the package he'd received. His nose was firmly planted between the eye-ports of a microscope when his head began to spin and he felt his stomach turn. With the speed of Mercury, he rushed over to the sink and no sooner had he reached it, he began to whistle into it. After several minutes of projectile vomiting, he brought his head out of the sink and reached for a paper towel. Finding none, he turned on the tap and as cool water splashed into the palm of his hand, he wiped his face clean and rinsed out his mouth.
In the break room, Catherine, Nick and Warrick were trying as best they could to relax while they watched the throngs of protectively suited personnel walk the corridors. The door opened and in came two people with IV stands in tow. Nick snapped his head up and looked at them.
"What the hell are those for? You're not sticking me with any needle." he stated
"Sir, we need to do this to make sure you stay hydrated. Rest assured, this is in your best interest." one of the people replied
Sitting in his office, Jim waited for the Haz-Mat guy to return with the items he had requested. Pacing the floorspace of his room, Jim was momentarily oblivious to Sara's nauseous squirming. Only when he saw the man with a hand truck carting his things, did Jim stop pacing. He opened his office door and gestured for the man to set things down in the corner of the office. Having unloaded Jim's belongings, the man went to leave, but was caught by the elbow, by Jim. Standing, he watched as Jim pulled out his wallet and removed two twenty dollar bills. Handing them over, Jim was shocked when the man refused, but as Jim persisted, the suited man relented and accepted the tip.
Going through his pack, Jim pulled out his toiletry kit and removed a pill bottle. Dumping two pills into the palm of his hand and re-capping the bottle, he set it on his desk and walked over to Sara. He had also taken a bottle of Gatorade, so when he kneeled in front of Sara, he gave her the bottle and the pills.
"Take these, hun. If you can keep them down, you'll feel better in a bit." he explained
"These the antibiotics?" she asked
"Yeah, they are. They're a mega dose, so hopefully, they'll kick whatever this is right out of your system"
"Thanks, man. How come you've got so many"
"Well, I hate going to the pharmacy, so I let the insurance pay for the first script and pay for the refills up front and in cash." he explained
Going through the rest of his belongings, Jim found a fleece blanket, some herbal remedies, several changes of clothing, some of which would be suitable for Sara and his waiter's tool. Even though it was still early in the evening, Jim thought he'd have a drink. He looked over at Sara and saw that she was shivering a bit, so he unfolded the fleece blanket and draped it over her. After a while, she stopped shivering and Jim left her to check on the rest of the guys.
In DNA, he found Grissom honking into the sink and Greg passed out, still very warm. Approaching the young lab tech, Jim gently placed his hand on his shoulder and jostled him a bit. Slowly opening his eyes, Greg saw Jim and promptly recapitulated into the small trash basin beneath him. Looking across the room to Grissom, Jim made his way over and laid a comforting hand on his back. Gil snapped up and gazed at him through glossed over eyes.
"Man, you two look like hell." he joked
"Yeah, well, we don't feel much better." Gil replied
"I've got some herbals in my duffle bag that might help you all out"
"Really, what've you got?" he asked, slowly sinking to his knees and curling up on the floor
Jim helped Gil to another table in the lab and as he climbed onto it and lay on his side, Jim told him what he had.
"I've got some Gaultheria procumbens, some Echinocystis lobata and some Monotropa uniflora. They should help with the fever, chills and upset stomach. I'm reluctant to give it out until people stop heaving. I've got enough for everyone in the lab to get at least a couple of doses. I'll go to the break room and see how the others are doing." Jim explained
"Jim, how come you're not sick?" Grissom asked with closed eyes, grasping his stomach
"Well, I had the flu last week and was on antibiotics, so maybe that's got something to do with it." he theorized aloud
In the break room things weren't much better than they were in DNA. Catherine was asleep and showed no signs of nausea and Nick and Warrick were as green as the Jeffersonia diphylla that Jim had in his herbal kit. It was a closely guarded secret that Jim was an amateur alchemist and he wanted to keep it that way, lest he be teased to the same degree that Gil was about his bugs. Jim had read books on medicinal herbs and plants to the point that if he were stuck in the woods for any length of time, he could survive on Mother Nature's bounty without getting sick, that is to say that he knew the edible plants from the poisonous ones.
Back in his office, Sara was doing slightly better than she was when he had left. She was still sweating, but her shakes had stopped and she was no longer an anemic shade of green, but now, more like a pink rose. One thing that Jim had neglected to mention that he had was a portable dvd player. It was no bigger than a lap top and had very good resolution to it. He pulled out several dvds and approached Sara, who was now sitting up and a bit more alert.
"Hun, I've got some films here if you're feeling up to it. You can just close your eyes and listen if you like" he explained
"Whatcha got?" she asked sweetly
"Well, let's see here, we've got Pretty Woman, Steel Magnolias, Terms of Endearment, The Evening Star, Witches of Eastwick, The First Wive's Club..."
Looking up at Jim, Sara offered her best smile, considering her physical condition.
"Oh, Jim. You never said you were a fan of Chick Flicks"
"Well, that's a closely guarded secret. And since you're the only one that knows, if it gets out, I'll know who spilled." he said in low husky tones "And you'll get a spanking."
"Yeah, promises, promises." she managed
Jim just shot her a look and went back to his dvds.
"Full Metal Jacket, Stigmata, Bicentennial Man, Lord of the Rings, all three of them, Ladyhawke, Drumline and Pirates of the Caribbean. So, anything you like?"
"Yeah, how bout' Ladyhawke. I've seen it a bunch of times and I can just listen to it." she replied
"Ok, here it is and I'm gonna play nursemaid to the gang"
Herbals in hand, Jim made some rounds and distributed some temporary relief to those that had stopped vomiting. Catherine was out like a light and Nick and Warrick were still watching the Haz-Mat people filing in and out, wondering what their fates would be.