His body ached all over. He had been lying awake now for a couple minutes in the hospital bed. No one was there when he woke up and he felt an incredible fright at first, not recognizing his surroundings. But then the beeping of the machines and the pain in his back brought him to the realization he was in the hospital. It seemed to be daytime by the light filling the room.
He felt lonely just lying there alone in bed. He felt too weak to try to talk or move, so instead he stared blankly at the white wall across from him. In his mind he replayed what he remembered. The last thing he remembered was Ty coming towards him, telling him he was going to die then he remembered a gunshot. He was not sure if he had shot the gun or someone else had. He realized he did not know if Catherine was okay. Panic started to rise in him as he thought that Catherine could have been badly hurt or killed even.
He heard the door open to his room and looked to see a nurse come in. She had been monitoring his heart rate when it rose suddenly.
"Mr. Sanders, you are in the hospital. Everything is okay, no need to panic," she spoke to him softly, trying to calm him down.
"Catherine," was all he managed to say in a low hoarse whisper. His throat was so dry.
The nurse thought for a moment, trying to figure out whom he was asking for. Then she remembered the woman CSI who came in with him.
"Oh you are asking about Ms. Willows. She is fine. She is at home resting now, I believe. She was here last night with you, but you were still unconscious."
Greg closed his eyes in relief hearing she was okay.
"How is our patient, Kim," a male voice asked. Greg opened his eyes back up and saw an older doctor standing next to the nurse. He smiled at Greg when he saw him open his eyes.
"Nice to see you awake, Mr. Sanders. How are you feeling this morning?"
"I hurt all over," Greg managed to say weakly.
"Well, that is to be expected. We will increase your pain medication for now, so you do not feel so much pain. We have not contacted your family yet. Do you want us to do that now?"
Greg shook his head slightly. "No, not now, please."
"That is fine. We expect you to make a full recovery anyway, though you have some nerve and muscle damage which will require some physical therapy when you are ready."
Greg simply nodded in understanding. He was feeling extremely tired again. The doctor could see he was having trouble keeping his eyes open.
"We will let you get some more rest. You need a lot after the blood loss you suffered." He told the nurse to increase Greg's pain meds.
Greg drifted back to sleep with the help of the increase in the morphine drip in his I.V.
Even though Grissom had told Catherine to take the day off, she still joined Brass at the hospital to question Tyler Renning.
Catherine briefly stopped by Greg's room only to find out he had been awake but was now sleeping again.
Tyler Renning had one wrist cuffed to the bedside railing. He lay stoically in the bed as Brass and Catherine entered his room
"Mr. Renning, we'd like to ask you a few questions. You requested to have Jessica Myers released in exchange for our CSI's lives during the time you held them hostage. Is Jessica Myers your partner in the series of murders that took place in rural roadside motels in the past week?"
Tyler's eyes darted back and forth between Brass and Catherine before resting on Catherine.
"Jessie would have liked you. Yeah she would have enjoyed herself with you."
Catherine gave Brass a disgusted looking glance.
"So who picked out whom you killed, was it you or Jessie?"
Ty grunted. "We shared in the choosing. First night was my choice. Second was hers. It was like that. They all were so easily duped. So simple it was child's play."
"What made you still kill on your own without your partner," Catherine asked him.
Ty smirked. "It was all a set up to trap one of you cops and hold you hostage. I wanted you, Darling, but the smart-ass kid was left alone in the room, so I took my chances with him. He spotted me before I could drug him, so when he ran for the door, I had to stop him somehow. So I tossed my knife at him and that was it. Down he went and I had my hostage. Then you came around and he became difficult again. Stupid kid, I think he actually had a death wish the way he was tempting me." He grinned maliciously at Catherine.
Catherine fought hard not to slap that smug look off his face.
Brass saw that he was getting to Catherine. He changed back to Jessica. "Jessica is now claiming she does not know who you are."
"What!" Ty raged. "That little bitch turns her back on me now. If I am going down for these so is she. I only got caught trying to save her ass. She was the stupid ass bitch who got sloppy and got caught. Her and her damned drug use made her stupid at times."
Brass smiled at Catherine who returned the smile. The two killers were going to end up turning on each other, they hoped.
"So much for true love," Brass grinned at Tyler. Tyler tried to go at him but was held back by an officer. Brass and Catherine simply smirked and left him for the time being.
Nick and Sara walked into Greg's room. He opened his eyes as he heard people enter his room.
"Hey G, how are you doing," Nick said as he stood next to Sara who pulled up a chair.
"Better than yesterday." Greg gave them a strained smile.
"Yeah I bet. We are just glad to hear that you are going to be okay," Sara smiled at him, then added, "hey at least you are finally getting some much needed sleep."
Greg glared at her for a moment before breaking into a small grin.
Brass walked in with Catherine hanging behind him. "Hey guys, we need to talk to Greg about what happened. Can you excuse us? They only want two people in here at a time."
Greg nodded that it was okay for Nick and Sara to take off.
"We'll be by later on. Get better soon," Nick said as he left. Sara gave Greg's hand a squeeze before leaving herself.
Greg had not seen Catherine behind Brass when he first came in. Now he saw her and felt a wave of relief wash over him seeing her for himself that she was okay.
"Hey Greg. How are you feeling?" Brass was the one to ask him.
"Fine, I guess," Greg responded with little emotion. He glanced at Catherine, who merely smiled at him.
He noticed a bandage on her face and remembered seeing blood there when Ty had been by her. He remembered that being his reason to take a gun into his own hands again and deal with the situation. He had not thought he would ever be put in a situation again where he felt a need to handle a gun with purpose to use it to cause damage. He had been wrong. He swallowed back the memory and refocused on Brass who had asked him a question.
"I'm sorry can you repeat that again," he asked warily.
"Can you tell us what you were doing when you noticed Tyler Renning in the room?"
Greg sighed, dreading having to retell what happened, but he knew it was inevitable.
"I had found a diamond earring under the bed. I had just bagged it when I sensed someone in the room. I turned around and saw him with a syringe in his hand."
Greg went on to tell them how he managed to knock the syringe out only to be knocked back down and almost strangled before he kicked him off and ran for the door.
"I had my hand on the door to open it when I felt the knife hit me in my back. I lost my concentration and before I knew it he was slamming me against the door, then ripping the knife out of my back. I remember him dragging me across the floor by my arm. I gave him a hard time. He didn't enjoy that very much. Then we both heard Catherine calling my name. He quickly put the knife against my throat, telling me to keep quiet. Then Catherine came in and I assume you know the rest."
Greg had retold the events as emotionless as though he had seen it happen to someone else. Brass and Catherine both picked up on it but did not address it.
"I'd like to hear your side of the event though, Greg." Brass said to him.
Greg closed his eyes, feeling his chest tighten up with anxiety. "I'm really tired, guys. Can we continue this later on?" He looked at them both, and then fixed his eyes on Catherine, pleading with her.
She could sense he was not ready to go into further details yet. She spoke up before Brass could respond.
"Jim, his doctor told us we should not tire him out too much. I think it can wait until tomorrow."
Jim looked at her and sighed. "Yeah sure. Sorry Greg," he said turning back to the pale young man. "We can continue this tomorrow. You get better, okay?"
Greg feigned a smile at Brass. Brass satisfied, began to leave. He noticed Catherine not following him. "Catherine?"
She glanced at him. "I'll be just a couple minutes." He nodded okay and left her in the room with Greg.
Greg watched Catherine as she sat down in the chair by his bed. He really was tired now and he hoped Catherine was not going to ask him things he was not ready to answer.
"I'm glad to see you finally awake. I had been by earlier when you were asleep."
"Yeah, well I really am tired again and not sure how long I'll be awake for you." He shifted some on his side and she noticed him grimace from pain.
"I won't keep you long. I just wanted to have a chance to thank you."
Greg looked at her curiously. "Thank me for what?"
"For what? For thinking of me before yourself, although I still think you are crazy for doing what you did."
"What I said back there holds true. You have a family to think about," he replied unaffectedly.
"Your life is important too, Greg. Don't think that it is not," she said seriously to him.
He searched her face for a moment. Did she think he was suicidal? "I don't think that."
She just gave a strange look.
He finally spoke up again. "Look I really am tired now. Can we continue whatever this is later?"
She gave in and sighed. "Yeah get some more rest. You need it. I'll see you tomorrow."
He gave her a faint smile before closing his eyes. He fell asleep almost immediately.
She remained seated there, watching him sleep. She only now noticed some bruising around his throat, most likely from where he said Tyler tried to strangle him. She felt another tinge of guilt rip through her before she decided to go back home to her daughter.