Chapter 14
It was 6:54 am and Greg's nerves were pretty much shot. It had been over three hours since she had been in surgery.
Grissom had to excuse himself to get back to the lab, but Greg understood. They would not normally wait at the hospital for a victim to come out of surgery. They would come once the victim was able to communicate or collect their belongings.
Greg had kept to himself, sitting in a chair away from others. He was trying to think about what could have happened. He wanted to know what evidence Nick and Sara had found. He just wanted answers to anything at this point.
His wish was about to be granted as he saw a doctor in green scrubs coming towards him.
"Mr. Sanders, I am Dr. Myers. I am told you are a CSI and Miss Dunn's boyfriend?" Greg nodded his head. "Yes, I am."
"Well then, Miss Dunn has been taken to ICU now. She is still in critical condition. She suffered from several bruised and broken ribs, one of which caused a lung to collapse. She had some other internal bleeding which we were able to stop. More importantly, she had a cerebral contusion and skull fracture. We had to do surgery to relieve the bleeding on her brain. As you probably are aware the next 24 hours are critical to her recovery. Do you know if her family has been contacted?"
Greg could not believe he did not even think of contacting her brother. He was in Chicago and he needed to know.
"No, I am sorry. I did not think of it."
"Oh, no worry, I am sure one of our nurses probably took care of it. I will find out for you."
"When can I see her," Greg asked Dr. Myers.
"Give us about another half hour to get her settled into ICU, then you can go in and see her."
"Okay, thank you." The doctor gave Greg a sympathetic smile before leaving to return to his work.
Greg got out his cell phone and text messaged Grissom letting him know that Eve was now out of surgery. Grissom had asked to be notified on her condition once Greg knew.
After about twenty minutes of pacing, a nurse came up to Greg and told him he could see Eve now. She told him where she was. Greg was familiar enough with the ICU area of the hospital to find his way there.
As he walked down the hall towards the room, his stomach clenched from nerves and worry. He was about to see the woman he loved in God knows what kind of condition.
He came to the entrance of her room and stepped in slowly. He felt his heart sink deeper as he saw her. She was hooked up to a ventilator to help her breath. Her head was all bandaged up from her surgery. She was so very pale.
He came up closer and took a chair next to her bed. He observed her closely. She did not have any visible bruising, but she just looked so ghostly pale to him.
The hum of the ventilator rattled his nerves a bit. He took her right hand into his. Her hand still was warm which made him feel better.
"Hey Eve. It's me, Greg. I've been here waiting for the doctors to let me be able to see you." Greg closed his eyes a moment, not knowing what to really say. What do you say to someone who more than likely cannot hear you?
"I just need you to get better soon," he said softly, squeezing her hand. He looked at her with the tube in her mouth to assist her breathing. He felt a shudder run down his spine.
"Whoever did this to you is not going to get away with it. I promise you that." He started to feel anger build up inside him, where the fear had been. The sneering face of Aaron James popped into his mind and then it struck him. Aaron James had to be behind this. He had seen Greg with her a few times. He could have been following her around too, but she would not have noticed him.
Just as he was going over all of this in his head, Sara stepped into the room. "Greg, how's she doing?" Greg got up and motioned Sara to follow him outside the room.
"She's still in critical condition. Surgery was almost 4 hours." Sara looked compassionately at Greg. She laid a hand on his arm.
"I'm sure she will be fine. Look who she has to come back to," she grinned a little, trying to cheer Greg up some.
Greg did not take the bait. He wanted to know details. "So what did you find at the scene? Did anyone see the driver of the vehicle?"
"No one saw the driver's face. It was too dark at the time. We did find skid marks and Nick is back at the lab trying to match treads to find out the make of the car. The witness only knew it was a dark colored sedan of some sort." Greg thought about the car Aaron James had been driving when he saw him last. It could have very well been the same car.
"I think I know who might have done this," Greg said to her with an intense look in his dark eyes.
Sara looked surprised at him. "She had enemies?"
"No, I do. Aaron James. It's payback. It has to be."
Sara was skeptical and thought Greg was jumping to conclusions. "I don't know, Greg. Stalking you is one thing; trying to kill someone is another."
But Greg grew more certain about it as he thought about it. "No, listen to me. He has the motive. I killed someone he cared about, his brother, now he does or attempts to do the same to me, in the same method."
Sara was still unsure. "Do you think he would be that stupid? That obvious?"
"Well, his brother was not the brightest by not running away when he could have, then coming right at my vehicle when he knew I was with the police department. I mean did he honestly think I would just let him throw the rock through my windshield?" Greg saw Sara's troubled expression. He rubbed his hand over his face. He realized he was letting his emotions control him and had to refocus.
"Sorry, I know I sound a bit obsessed about this, but Aaron might be thinking he is covering his tracks well enough. I mean I doubt he is stupid enough to use his own vehicle, even though I know when I saw him last he was driving a black Acura. But look into him, please, for me. I just have a strong gut feeling on this."
Sara thought about what Greg said and even though she still had her doubts, she had to follow through on any lead. "Fine, I will keep him in mind as we process the evidence, but listen you have to stay out of his. You do not need to get in trouble with the Under-sheriff if he found out about you secretly trying to work a case you are personally attached to."
Greg rolled his eyes. "I know. Grissom already told me before he left to head back to the lab a few hours ago. I am officially not on this case, but it does not mean I cannot know about it or I cannot inform you of things!"
Sara was a bit taken back at how defensive Greg was being but then again he was under a lot of stress with the situation. She could see it in his eyes that even though he looked like he was dealing with everything okay, his eyes told another story.
Sara was concerned for him. It was amazing how much he had matured since she first met him as the wacky DNA lab tech with crazy hair and always in a good mood. But ever since his incident with Demetrius James, he had become a lot more serious about things in general. Lately, though his mood had improved a lot, which she knew Eve had been a major factor in that. She hated to think of how Greg would be if Eve did not recover.
"Greg, perhaps you should take a couple vacation or sick days off while Eve recovers."
Greg turned his head and looked through the window into Eve's room. He watched for a few seconds as her chest rose and fell with the help of the ventilator. He sighed and looked at Sara.
"I'm not sure what I can do for her right now. I was in there and felt helpless." Sara felt for him.
"Just be there for her, for when she wakes up. And let her know that you love her."
"I do, you know. I really do love her. I would have never thought I would have been a one woman guy." His face and tone were somber. Sara squeezed his arm showing support.
He gave her a small smile. "Just get whoever it maybe who did this to her."
Sara smiled at him. "Look who you are talking to! You know we will." She had to get back to the lab to help Nick process the evidence.
"Oh wait. I have her stuff too." Greg walked back into Eve's room and grabbed a sealed bag, then pulled out the other bag out of his vest pocket that held her jewelry.
"Here, you'll need these too to process." He handed the bags over to her.
"Ah yes, I came for those too and almost forgot. Thanks. Let Grissom know what you decide about taking time off. He was the one who suggested I tell you."
Greg nodded his head. "Okay. Keep me updated." Sara nodded and gave him a hug before she left.
Greg really appreciated her coming and taking the time to talk some. He was glad her and Nick were on the case, along with Grissom. They would not let him or Eve down.
