Thanks so much for the reviews everyone! Really glad people are liking the story so far. I'm still actively working on it but I do already have another seven chapters written to buy me some time lol! Here's the next part
Sara stomped into the breakroom, filling her mug from the half empty coffee pot before slumping into a chair.
"You look about as good as I feel." Off the raised eyebrow Greg quickly backtracked. "Not that you look bad... I mean... We're both tired."
Sara cracked a smile. "Breathe Greg. You're right. Plus I'm frustrated as hell, we've got nothing in the way of leads, next to no evidence and we don't even know how Nick is doing. Why hasn't Warrick or Grissom called any of us?" The brunette huffed out a breath and downed the rest of her lukewarm coffee.
"I'm sure we'll hear from one of them soon, we're still waiting on results from Hodges and Archie, and I saw Catherine heading to the garage a while ago to tackle the trash. We'll figure this out Sar and we'll do it for Nick."
Sara smiled as Greg squeezed her shoulder.
Suddenly a loud bang and the sound of breaking glass, chased by screams shattered the quiet of the lab.
Sara sprang to her feet and dashed to the door of the break room with Greg, eyes darting around the corridor.
"What the hell was that?!"
Before Greg could respond Hodges sprinted round the corner, clutching his arm. Sara briefly thought it was the fastest she'd ever seen him move. He skidded to a stop in front of them, panting.
"Explosion... Garage... Me and another lab tech hurt."
Both Greg and Sara traded looks before taking off in the direction of the blast, the former grabbing a fire extinguisher as he passed.
"Catherine!"
They ground to a halt outside the garage, shards of glass crunching under their feet. Smoke was quickly filling the hall, flames licking the doorway like parched tongues. Greg immediately pulled the pin on the extinguisher, aiming it at the fire and firing CO2 to try and get them under control.
"What the hell happened here?" Captain Jim Brass rounded the corner followed by Detective Vartann and a uniformed officer.
"Something exploded in the garage. We think Catherine was in there looking for evidence in Nick's attack."
"Fire's out!" Greg yelled before charging through the door, followed closely byt the others. "Catherine!"
Smoke billowed around the room; small fires burned in sporadic places. Greg made a beeline for them, tackling them one by one. The others moved around the dark room, shielding their faces against the acrid air.
Sara scanned the area, squinting against the gloom until she could make out a large shape against the side wall.
"Brass! The dumpster!"
The five of them sprinted towards the upturned dumpster, its lid pressed against the wall of the garage. Wordlessly they spread themselves around the three sides, grasping whatever they could and planting their feet for leverage.
"On three!" Brass shouted and they all tensed. "One! Two! Three!" All heaved in unison and the dumpster gave a little, the searing sound of metal against concrete screeching in harmony with the alarms resounding around the building. But it hadn't moved enough to lower the lid.
"Again!" Greg yelled this time. "One! Two!" No one waited for three, pulling and tugging at the lump of metal, feeling it give inch by inch. One more hard tug and the lid fell open, reverberating against the hard floor. Brass and Sara moved as one, rushing to the front and shoving the metal box further from the wall, giving them room to kneel. Brass pulled a flashlight from his pocket, aiming the thin beam inside. The light hit a blue jumpsuit, too large to be Catherine.
The dumpster moved again, sending a hail of trash and two bodies onto the lid.
"Grissom!" Sara moved towards her boss but the arrival of EMTs halted her progress. She moved out of the way, one grasping Grissom and pulling gently, the other wrenching Catherine's prone body from his arms. Feeling something missing Grissom began to rouse, fingers clawing the air as the paramedic placed an oxygen mask over this face. Noticing his eyes were open the other man addressed him.
"Can you stand?" He merely nodded, rising on shaking legs and allowing his right arm to be slung over the paramedic's shoulder. His eyes meanwhile never left his friend's form as she was lifted into Brass' waiting arms and carried to clean air, her eyes closed above her matching mask. Grissom felt himself moving and willed his legs to comply. The next sensation he felt was the hard floor beneath him. Squinting against the bright lights of the lab corridor he pulled the mask down and spoke, his voice coming out as a rasp.
"Catherine?"
"The other paramedic has her, she started coming to as they carried her out. She's ok." He closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall, coughing slightly.
"There was a bomb, in one of the trash cans."
"We'll get to that, now can you please let this guy do his job?"
A light was passed over both eyes, his arms and legs moved. He shook his head, attempting to rid himself of the ringing in his ears.
"We should get you checked out at the hospital." Grissom's head was shaking more furvently and he was pulling himself to his feet before the sentence was finished. He scuttled along the corridor, Sara and the discarded paramedic trailing in his wake.
Voices caught his ears and he turned, crossing the threshold into his office. Brass was kneeling in front of the couch, holding the oxygen bottle that was connected to a now fully conscious Catherine, her paramedic sitting to one side and busily checking her vitals.
In a rare display of emotion Grissom crossed the room, dropping down beside Catherine and enveloping her in a hug, taking care to avoid the mask she was holding to her face. He felt her free arms come to rest on his back.
"I'm ok. A little banged up but ok." Her voice was hoarse and muffled by the plastic. Pulling back he looked at her face, frowning at the blood seeping from her hairline.
"You should go to the hospital."
"Only if you go first." The mask removed and discarded to the side.
"Cath..."
"Don't start with me Gil Grissom. You should still be on oxygen." She nodded towards the doorway and the redundant paramedic holding the oxygen tank. Grissom rolled his eyes but gestured for it to be brought over, ingoring Catherine's triumphant grin as he placed the mask back over his face.
"Now that we know you guys are going to be ok, you wanna fill me in on what the hell happened?" Brass leaned against the edge of Grissom's desk, watching Catherine wince as the paramedic began cleaning the cut on her forehead. Before either could respond Greg charged into the room, his face draining of colour as he took in their battered appearances.
"Gris... Cath... God I'm so sorry. I should've checked the trash can at the scene, if I had..."
Catherine shook her head.
"Greg it's not your fault. We've all done it, especially with a time sensitive case. And we're fine. Desperately needing showers, but fine."
"So the bomb was in a trash can from Nick's scene?" All four CSIs nodded and Brass' expression darkened. "Bit of a coincidence don't you think? Three CSIs targetted in less than 24 hours?"
"That's a bit of a stretch Jim, that bomb could've gone off at any time. From the brief look I got at it the thing was pretty basic."
"If that's true then how come the two of you just happened to be in range when it went off?" He didn't wait for an answer. "I need to make a call." He brushed past Sara and was out the door before anyone could object.
"This cut need sitches, we need to take you to the hospital ma'am."
"Not a chance, can someone get Doc here? He can patch me up."
Sara called down to autopsy while Catherine and Grissom signed the necessary forms to say they wouldn't be going to hospital.
Hodges entered the office, passing the retreating paramedics.
"That was some explosion, knocked me right off my feet! Two guys from the fire department are in there now, had to get one of them to look at this cut on my arm. He said I'll be ok though."
Even Sara, who was the closest had trouble locating the miniscule nick on his left forearm.
Grissom and Catherine exchanged looks.
"Thank you for your concern David, it's truly touching," Grissom quipped, drawing the younger man's attention to them.
"Jesus! You guys look like hell!"
"Being blown up tends to have that effect," Catherine commented dryly, shifting her position and wincing as she put her weight on her left hand; the move didn't go unnoticed by Grissom.
"Why didn't you tell the paramedics you were hurt?"
"I'm fine, it's just a little tender."
He rolled his eyes and stood, grasping her uninjured hand and helping her to her feet.
"Sara I'm taking Cath to Doc Robbins, get her head stitched and have him take a look at her wrist."
The brunette nodded. "As soon as the fire department are done Greg and I will start processing." The aforementioned wandered back into the room, putting his phone back in his pocket.
"Just spoke to Warrick, he said Nick has improved a bit so he's on his way back here to help out. The doctors are keeping Nick sedated and on a breathing tube for the time being, until the swelling in his throat goes down."
"Let's suit up then partner, I'll meet you at the locker room." Sara watched Greg go then turned to the older couple. "We've got this you guys, don't even think about trying to get involved."
Catherine smiled gratefully. "Thanks Sara."
"And Griss? Get Doc to check you out too, you barely let that paramedic touch you."
"Oh I'll make sure he does," the strawberry blonde cut in, nudging him gently in the ribs. Both women frowned in concern at the gasp of pain he let out. "Come on, Doc can take a look at that. Now who should've told the paramedics they were hurt?"
Sara watched them go, chuckling at Grissom's grumbled response before heading off to meet Greg.
*
For once I haven't ended on a cliff hanger! I know, it's a shock to me too haha!
Lily
-x-