Nate once again helped Brodi stand as Lauryll was led away shrieking and crying. Nate gave Brodi's shoulder a squeeze while Zoe practically flew down the hall towards them. She gave Brodi a rather exuberant hug, then kissed him lightly on the cheek and on the side of his neck.

"OK, come on and give him room. Brodi, you need to sit down, brother, until they get a stretcher up here for you."

Brodi looked at Nate, confused. "Stretcher? Why?"

"Dude, don't you FEEL that? I got you out of the way, but that knife still made contact. I wasn't fast enough. Come on now, sit down."

Brodi looked down at a seeping red stain on his shirt. "Oh."

Zoe rolled her eyes. "Dude, you are a piece of work, you know that?" She pushed him back against the wall. "If you're not going to sit, at least let us take a lok at it to see how serious it is."

Nate raised Brodi's arm above his head as Zoe lifted his shirt. She pressed lightly above the wound with a tissue. "Doesn't look dangerously deep, but you'll need to go to the hospital and get it cleaned out and stitched." She looked up at Brodi as Nate removed the injured man's shirt completely and pressed it to the wound. "Brodi? You OK, babe?"

Brodi blinked and looked down at Zoe. "What's that?"

"I said, you OK? Good, here comes the stretcher."

"I'm fine. Any word on Elise?"

Zoe nodded. "Rahzel got her to safety, and she's already headed to the hospital to get checked out. Crap, Nate, I think he's going into shock."

Nate nodded. By this time, the stretcher had been pulled up beside them and the paramedics were moving in to take over. Zoe moved out of the way and one of the paramedics took Brodi's arm and started moving him forward. Nate stepped in when Brodi blinked, shook his head, and pulled his arm away.

"Brodi, we're going to hand you over to these guys, OK? They'll take care of you."

"Hmmm?" Brodi said again.

"Your side, buddy. You need it stitched up." Nate stole a concerned glance at Zoe. "Go with them and we'll meet you at the hospital to bring you home."

Brodi let himself be led to the gurney and sat down willingly. Nate looked again at Zoe in consternation. There wasn't enough blood loss to cause the level of confusion Brodi was displaying. Maybe the stress? Brodi had never been one to crack under pressure, but the last several weeks had been one issue after another. Lack of sleep? He wondered. Again, he'd seen Brodi get on a course with no sleep at all and pull a gold out of the air. None of it made sense. Besides, he'd been perfectly alert not ten minutes ago—and he'd come downstairs out of a dead sleep.

Nate looked around at the CSI types bagging things up. He walked over to an officer he knew, and after exchanging a brief pleasantry, got down to business.

"That dagger she had," he pointed to where she had dropped it. "Test it to see if it's laced wit anything."

His friend raised an eyebrow. Nate pointed to Brodi, who was currently fighting one of the paramedics trying to get oxygen tubing around his head. Zoe was trying to soothe him, but it didn't seem to be working. "He hasn't lost enough blood to be that delirious. And the man is NEVER belligerent." He started back towards Brodi. "Just check it out."

"Brodi!" Brodi looked over as Nate reached his side. "What's going on, man? You need to let them help you."

"Mr. Ford? Brodi—it's just oxygen. I know it's annoying, but it's just a precaution, OK. Your friend Zoe was telling us you've had a collapsed lung within the past couple of months, and you had a bout of pneumonia? It's just a precaution until we make sure everything's OK."

Brodi looked over at Nate, who simply nodded. "It's OK, dude."

"We're going to start an IV, too, OK? Get some fluids in you."

"I…I'm fine."

"Yes, sir, I understand. But we're going to need to get you stitched up. You've lost blood, we don't want you dehydrated on top of that."

"Let them start the IV, Zen. Come on, get a hold on yourself."

"I think I have an answer."

Nate looked around at his officer friend, who was holding up an evidence bag containing a small syringe. "Did you see this during the struggle?"

"Well, you know, I was a bit concerned with keeping that knife out of my friend's back."

"He grabbed her so that we could get Miss Riggs away?"

Nate nodded.

"I'm betting she dosed him with something. Don't know what was in it, and the glass is broken now, but she probably had it ready for him and got his hip or back in the struggle." The officer looked over to the paramedic starting the IV. "Check him for puncture marks once you get the urgent stuff taken care of. It's a small needle, but if she used enough force or caught him at an angle, he'll probably bruise."

Nate looked over at Brodi and felt a surge of anger. Damn it, what else was going to happen to him? Brodi was completely complacent now, letting himself be poked and prodded while he stared into space.

"OK, we're going to move him, sir, before the window of time to safely stitch up that wound closes."

Nate nodded. "Do it. I'll meet him at the hospital. Look, he's not normally so agro'd. We think he was drugged."

The paramedic laughed. "It's OK. You'd be surprised at what we see, and we know not to take it personally. He'll be fine with us, won't you, Brodi?"

Brodi didn't respond; whatever was in his system was obviously taking a full hold by now. The paramedics started off, and Nate turned and walked over to Zoe.

The punk princess was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed in front of her, trying to look casual as she gazed over the chaotic scene. Only the rapid twitch in her foot gave away that she was anything but casual.

"Zoe?"

She looked up at him. "Yeah?"

"Want to ride with me to transport those two home?"

"Sure. You might need some help getting our wounded snowbirds in the door. But, uhm, my car, OK? I don't want to be trying to lift 200 pounds of Buddhist surfer into your truck if he's still loopy later."