A/N-sorry it has taken so long. has been giving me major issues in uploading. Someone gave me a tip on how to work around it. Thanks PurpleArmadillo
Chapter 13
It was Wednesday and it had been six days since Greg last saw Aaron James. He had managed to stay busy enough with work and then with Eve that he hardly thought about him.
Eve and him had decided to move in together since he spent so much time over at her place. Her place was the wiser choice since it was bigger and located centrally for both of them. He had slowly been packing his things when he had a chance and moving them over to her place. He knew moving in with her was a huge step for him, but he was ready to do it.
The shift started off slow. Warrick and Catherine were out on a breaking and entering out in North Las Vegas. Sara had the evening off. Greg, Nick and Grissom were in the lab working on some unsolved cases.
Greg had just finished talking with Mandy about some fingerprints that came up with no match when Grissom found him.
"Greg, you are with me. We got a hit and run off the Strip, off Flamingo Rd. Nick is headed out already to the scene with Brass. We will meet them there."
"Any details on it yet?"
"No, not yet. Grab your stuff and meet me in the parking garage."
Grissom drove to the scene while Greg sat as passenger. Grissom's cell phone rang.
"Gil, it's Brass. Is Greg with you?"
"Yes, why?"
"Gil, we have an ID on the hit and run victim. It is Eve Dunn, Greg's girlfriend." Grissom glanced over at Greg who was looking out the window at the bright lights of the Strip.
Grissom took in a breath. "Are you sure?"
Brass continued in a serious tone. "Yes. She was leaving work apparently. It happened in the parking garage. She has been taken to Dessert Palms in critical condition. It does not look good."
Greg now noticing Grissom's slightly grave expression watched him as he spoke on the phone. "Okay, call Sara in to help Nick out. She'll understand. I'll take care of things on this side. Thanks Jim."
Greg felt something uneasy come over him as he heard Grissom tell Brass to have Sara come in and he would take care of things on his side.
Grissom put away his cell phone and changed lanes on the highway to get into the turning lane.
"What's going on? Why are you changing direction? I thought we were heading to Flamingo Rd?"
Stopped at a traffic light, Grissom looked at Greg grimly. "Greg, the hit and run victim is Eve Dunn. She has been taken to Dessert Palms. We are going there now."
Greg felt like he had just been punched in the stomach. "Wha…what? Are they sure? She usually is home by now. It can't be her."
Grissom stared back at the traffic light, as it turned green. "Brass said he is sure. It happened in the parking garage at the Rio."
Greg's mouth was agape in shock as he continued to stare at Grissom in disbelief. He felt his heart racing. "Did he," he hardly wanted to know but had to. "Did he say in what kind of condition she was in?"
Grissom continued with his eyes on the road to the hospital. "He said she was in critical condition." He glanced over at his young CSI, who was now staring straight ahead at nothing in particular, trying to remain clam, but Grissom could tell he was shaken by the news.
"We'll be there in five minutes and you can find out for yourself on her condition." Greg did not say anything more. He remained painfully silent, staring into space. Grissom was never that good in situations like this. He thought for a moment what it might be like if he found out similar news about Sara, who he had been seeing secretly.
"You said she is a strong, energetic woman. I am sure she is and will pull through this."
Greg barely heard what he said. "Yeah," he mumbled, but not really realizing he said it. His mind was racing. He had seen her earlier that day before she went into work. He remembered her wearing one of his favorite suits that she would wear. It was a sharp looking forest green skirt and jacket set. It really showed off her legs and the green made her own green eyes pop. He remembered kissing her goodbye as she walked out the door, her lips lingering over his for a few seconds longer than normal. She had been in a particularly spunky mood that morning after their active night. They had made plans to try to schedule a little getaway for couple days. They were both going to put in for a couple vacation days and go out to Lake Mead to spend sometime away together. She had been so excited about it.
He could not believe that suddenly she was fighting for her life. He would not believe it until he saw her for himself. It had to be a mistake. She did occasionally leave work later than other nights, sometimes being invited out by her friends or co-workers, but she would usually give him a call or leave a message. But then he remembered she usually did it once she got home; he had not heard from her yet that night.
He took a shuddering breath as they pulled into the emergency room parking area. Grissom did not bother slowing him down when he ran out of the Denali and through the doors of the ER. Grissom joined up with him at the ER check-in desk.
"I'm here for Eve Dunn. She was brought in as a hit and run victim." Grissom could hear the nerves in Greg's usually calm voice as he asked the black haired female nurse at the desk.
The nurse saw his LVPD CSI vest and Grissom in his next to him and freely gave the information to them after looking it up on her chart. "She is in surgery right now, up on the 3rd Floor."
Greg looked to Grissom, who just nodded his head for his youngest CSI to go on ahead. "I'll catch up with you, after I call Brass again." Greg's brown eyes betrayed his worry as he thanked Grissom and headed to the elevators.
Greg could hardly wait for the elevator doors to open up. He went up to the nurses station there and asked again about Eve. This time an older woman, with graying short hair and kind blue eyes was behind the desk.
"The hit and run victim. Yes, she is still in surgery at the moment. You can take a seat in the waiting room and I will have the doctor's see you when they are done. And you are with the Las Vegas Crime Lab?" The nurse could see that this was more than just a normal follow up with the victim by the look in the CSI's eyes.
"Yes, Greg Sanders, but she is also my girlfriend. Do you know how bad she is? I have not really heard any details."
"I know she came in with numerous internal injuries and was taken straight into surgery. She was in critical condition. The doctors will do everything possible to take care of her, Mr. Sanders." The nurse tried to give the worried young man a comforting smile.
Greg nodded to her and slowly walked over to the waiting room but could not take a seat. He was too nervous to sit, so he paced. There were only a couple other people in the waiting room at that hour of the night. He noticed a younger couple, probably around the same age as him and then a man about 70 something sitting and waiting, looking just as impatient and worried as he felt.
He glanced up at the clock on the wall. It read 3:23 am. He continued his pacing until he saw Grissom step out of the elevator. He came up to Grissom.
"She's still in surgery. The nurse is not sure how long it will be yet. Can they tell how this happened?" he asked Grissom.
"Brass said there was one witness who was not close by but saw from a distance what happened. Brass said the witness saw her walking across the garage to her car when suddenly this car pulled out of another spot and came straight at her, hitting her. The car kept on going, never even slowing down." Grissom watched Greg as he tried to maintain his composure.
"So it seems like it was intentional then?"
"They are not sure yet. Why don't you just take a seat for now until you hear from the doctor? I have to check in with the others. I'll be right back." Greg nodded and watched as Grissom headed to the elevator again to go downstairs to use his cell phone.
Greg finally took a seat and just stared down at his hands, wracking his brain at how this could have happened to someone like Eve.
The nurse who he had spoken to earlier came up to him with a small plastic bag. "This was just given to me. These are the items that were found on her when she was brought in."
Greg thanked the nurse and then just stared down at the contents of the bag. His hand shook as he held the bag that contained an emerald and diamond ring that she had said her parents gave to her that she always wore on her right hand and the small, gold heart necklace that he had given her a couple weeks ago. He closed his eyes and prayed that she would wear these again.
