A/N: I know I'm repeating it, but thanks so much for your reviews. I love to read them  Also a very big thank-you to Fish for Beta-ing and for the discussions I have with you. Rianne… thank you… you know why. Let's start with chapter 4!

Chapter 4

Nick and Catherine walked to the entrance of the hospital. They stood in front of the elevators. Catherine pushed the button and waited. She looked at Nick. He was staring off in the distance and wasn't aware that she was staring at him. His mind seemed to be on Sara. She placed her hand on his shoulder. He looked at her and Catherine smiled at him. She tried to think of what she should say, but the elevator doors opened. Both of them stepped inside. She pushed the button for the second floor and waited until the elevator stopped at the second floor. They stepped out and walked to the desk in the hall. The woman at the desk didn't notice their presence.

'Excuse me?'

'Yes, what can I do for you?'

Catherine took her ID tag from her belt and showed it to the woman. 'I'm Catherine Willows and this is Nick Stokes. We're from the crime lab and we're investigating the shooting of Sara Sidle. We would like to have the bullet.'

She looked at them. 'Ehm... don't you need a warrant for that?' She said insecurely.

'Not if you give it to us voluntary.' Nick moved closer to the desk. 'It would help us a lot.'

The woman looked from Catherine to Nick and back. 'Ehm... I think I need to call doctor Corris for that.' She took the phone and dialed a number. 'Can you come to the front desk please? There are people from the crime lab and they're asking for a bullet. Yes. Okay. Thank you.' She turned to Catherine. 'She's coming. You can wait here.'

A few minutes later Doctor Corris arrived. 'How can I help you?'

Nick took the lead. 'We're from the crime lab, and we're investigating Sara's case.' When he realized that Catherine was looking at him, he corrected himself. 'I mean Sara Sidle's case. Can we have the bullet?'

'I'll see what I can do.' She walked away and came back with the bullet in a plastic bag. 'Here you are, I hope it will help to solve your case.'

'Can we go and scrape her fingernails ?' Catherine knew that the chance they would be allowed was very low, but she had to ask it. When she saw that the doctor didn't understand the question, she added: 'She may have scratched her attacker; there would be epithelia's under her nails.'

'How long does it take to do that?'

'Probably less than five minutes.'

'You can, but you can only go in for five minutes.' With that the doctor walked away towards the corridor to the left.

Catherine took her gloves and the things she needed from her field kit, but Nick stopped her. With a look of seriousness he faced her, 'Please let me do it...'

Catherine hesitated. 'You know you're only there for the evidence...'

Nick nodded slowly. 'I know that...' He took the field kit from her and put his gloves on. He walked towards Sara's room without looking back.

When he arrived in the corridor, he could see that Grissom was standing by the window. His hand was on the glass. Nick walked over and stood beside him. Grissom seemed not to notice his presence; he was still focused on what lay beyond the window. Nick tried not to look past the window, he was afraid of what Sara might look like. He faced Grissom and decided that he should say something. 'Gris?'

Grissom looked at him. 'I'm going in... to collect evidence... from under her fingernails.' He knew how hard this had to be for Grissom: he couldn't be with her, even when he had more right to be in there.

'I want to do this. Give me the kit.'

The way Grissom said those words scared Nick, he had never seen him like this. His tone was so resolute that Nick almost gave the evidence kit to him, but he didn't. 'I can't give it to you... you can't do this... you're too involved.' Nick tried not to say it too impersonally.

Grissom's glared at Nick, 'I'm your supervisor and I want to do this. Give the kit to me.'

Nick was not going to give in. If Grissom wouldn't listen to what he had said, he would have to say something else. He didn't want to be harsh, but because Grissom didn't want to listen, he had to. 'Gris... you're not on the case. I can't let you do this. The evidence would be inadmissible in court. I'm sorry.'

Grissom turned away. Nick didn't know what to do, so he stayed next to him, waiting for his answer. 'Nick? I'm sorry... I shouldn't have responded like that. You're right, I can't do this.' 'It's alright. We all are upset by what happened.' He walked to the door and placed his hand on the handle.

He entered the room and closed the door behind him, slowly; he didn't want to wake her. He placed his field kit on the table on the right side of the room and took the things he needed. Then he turned around so he could see her. He was not frightened by what he saw. Despite of the fact that her eyes were closed and her skin was unnaturally pale, he still could see a spark of the Sara he knew. Her face held a stubborn expression; he saw it in her eyebrows. He smiled, the fear that she would die disappeared: she was too tough to give up.

He walked to her bed and sat down in the chair. He gingerly took her left hand and scraped under her, he did this very carefully, so he wouldn't hurt her. When he was done with her left hand, he placed it back on the bed and took her right hand. He did the same with her right hand as he had done with her left and then placed it back on the bed. He sealed the envelope and signed the label. '

He took off his gloves and put them in another bag. He signed that label too and looked at his watch. He still had two minutes left with her. He pulled up the chair and had a seat. He placed a hand on her cheek and waited for her response. Would she wake up? If she did, would that be a good sign? Would she be in pain? He glanced at her face and saw a frown appear. Her eyes opened. She regarded him with a confused look. 'Hey Sar...'

She swallowed and tried to say something, but nothing came out: the oxygen mask made it impossible to talk. He lifted it for her.

'Nick...' She tried to smile at him, but Nick saw that it was filled with pain and weariness. He knew he shouldn't keep her awake, she needed to sleep. 'I think you need to sleep, okay?'

Sara closed her eyes and when she opened them again, he could see that she was about to cry. Her eyes were filled with unshed tears. Nick held her hand. 'Hey... it's okay...' He took a tissue out of his pocket and dried her eyes.

She inhaled and looked at him. 'I'm so sorry... I'm... tired... pain... I'm sorry...'

Nick placed the mask back on her mouth. He kissed her softly on her forehead. 'Don't be sorry... Sar, I need to go but I promise you that I'll be back. You have to sleep, okay?' She looked at him and nodded. He stood up and left the room.

In the meantime, Catherine was looking for Grissom. She looked in the hallway, where she left him, but he wasn't there. Would he be with Sara? Probably... she knew Grissom, he would never leave her alone: out of all the people he knew, Sara was the one he cared the most about. She walked to the corridor where Sara was located and saw the two men standing in front of the window. She walked over to them and stopped when she was beside Grissom. There was a heavy silence between them.

Catherine looked through the window at the young woman. Sara was lying on her bed, very peaceful. After what seemed like a long time, Grissom placed his hand on the window. 'She's pregnant...'

Both Nick and Catherine looked at Grissom with obvious shock. No-one said a word: they didn't know what to say. Catherine felt very uncomfortable: was it his child? Could she take that for granted? And if it wasn't, whose would it be? And how would Grissom take that, if there was another person in Sara's life? She knew she had to say something. 'Is... is it yours?'

He still didn't look at her. 'I don't know... they asked me to give permission to abort the baby if... if it would harm her.'

Catherine looked at Nick first and he looked back. She saw that he didn't know what to say either. Then she looked at Grissom. The expression on his face told her nothing, but the way the words were said made so much clear to her: she had never heard him talk this way, so sad and painful. 'Oh... Gil, I'm so sorry for you...'

He remained silent. 'We... we have to go back to the lab. You know you can call me?' Grissom seemed not to hear it. Catherine placed a hand on his shoulder and shared a look with Nick. Then they turned around and left him there.

Warrick was making his way to Greg's lab. He lingered in the doorway and looked at Greg. He was adding a fluid to the test tube with a pipette. It was a surprise to see him working with so much dedication. Greg used to bounce through the lab on heavy metal, but the radio was off. Warrick walked over to the lab technician.

'Warrick.'

'Yeah... do you have results for me?'

'The hair you gave me? It's dyed, it is under the microscope.'

Warrick walked over to the microscope and looked through the ocular. He could see that Greg was right. But they wouldn't get the guy just with a dyed hair. 'Do you have more for me? Did you run it through CODIS?'

Greg looked at him with disappointment evident on his face. 'It's XY, but nothing came up in CODIS. I'm really sorry.'

Warrick bit his lip. 'That's a shame, because my fingerprints came up blank as well. Nothing in AFIS. Damn.'

'Do you have other evidence?' Greg felt that he had to say something to cheer Warrick up, although he knew he couldn't say something to make him feel better.

'I hope the bullet will give us more information... but, to be honest, I think the odds are low. Dammit Greg!'

'Hey man... you can't help it, it's not your fault. Don't blame yourself.'

Warrick looked at Greg, and managed a weak smile. 'I don't blame myself but I just want to get the guy. I feel obligated to do that.'

'How is she?' Greg asked with an unsure tone. 'I don't know... I haven't seen her. She's a fighter, though. She's going to be okay.'

Greg smiled at him, that's what he needed to hear. Warrick made his way back to the garage, maybe he would find something he missed in the car. He hoped he would find something, but deep in his heart he knew that they wouldn't get the guy.

I'm already thinking of the next chapter and I'm looking foreward to write it. Maybe I'll be a little late, because I have an English book to read and a literature exam to make (I'm sure that I'll pas it, have read all the books). I hope I'll post it next week. If not: thanks for your patience!