Apologies for the very late posting of this new chapter. It's taken me a while to get some free time to write out another chapter….and I've kind of gotten into CSI: Miami now…well, actually, more like developed an addiction to Tim Speedle. So apologies and I hope you enjoy reading the new chapter. Please consider reviewing at the end.

CHAPTER 7

Three days passed by.

Grissom was relieved that Alex had not reappeared and that the uneasiness he had subconsciously carried in his gut for the previous few days had finally dissipated. It had been replaced to a certain degree, however, with niggling concern about his wife.

Sara appeared, outwardly at least, to have put her brother out of her mind. She didn't speak about him, nor did she show any inkling that she was anything but completely resolved in her decision to cut him out of her life.

In private, however, she found that her thoughts flittered back to her brother more frequently than she had liked. There were pangs of guilt, kicks of anxiety and, most painful of all, the cold lump of loneliness that had taken up residence deep within her chest once more. But, she continued to work through it with a silent resoluteness that her husband found both admirable and worrying.

He respected her silence and her need for space. He had learnt over many years dealing with Sara, that the most effective way he could support her was to flit around the edges - be nearby without suffocating her with attention.

With that in mind, he had arranged with Conrad Ecklie and Catherine Willows to make use of the crime labs facilities for his research project over the period of a week after Alex left - just to be nearby in case Sara had needed him.

He drove Sara to work and passed an enjoyable half an hour chatting with Catherine, Nick and Greg in the break room before their shift commenced. He talked and laughed freely and, once again, realised how much he missed the camaraderie of long term team work. And yet he remembered also how the job he had loved so much had become so terribly draining. Going to work night after night had become a chore. He would develop anxiety before the start of each shift, starting from the night Warrick Brown had been killed and ending the instant he walked out of the lab for the final time as a full-time employee. He watched his ex-colleagues head out of the room and breathed a sigh of relief that he only had the luxury of visitation rights these days instead of employment. He had the liberty of a quiet chuckle and being able to quickly change the subject whenever the subject of him returning to the team arose.

He downed the last of his coffee, pushed himself up from his chair and headed out to the corridor. He was looking forward to spending a few hours by himself having 'fun' with the mega expensive pieces of equipment that belonged to the Las Vegas Crime Lab. He was looking forward to using them for his own research interests instead of having to solve the mystery of another poor souls tragic death.

He spotted Sara in the AV room working through surveillance footage and gave a smile as she turned and spotted him.

Smiling back, she gave him a small wave before turning her attention back to the footage of Mandalay Bay's wave pool. She had several hours of security footage to trawl through as she attempted to pinpoint the final movements of her murder victim. It was a tedious job and she would much rather be out in the field or analysing physical evidence, but she knew that the video evidence would be crucial in helping her unlock the mystery of her victim's death and would, hopefully, lead to an arrest and conviction.

She sat, almost transfixed by the images, for 2 hours. Her head was beginning to hurt from a combination of the position she was sitting in and the hours of staring at the computer monitor. She pushed herself to her feet and stretched out her back before heading out of the small AV room and poking her head into the layout room. She paused and watched her husband poring over books, journals and photographs. He would stop reading periodically to make notations in a note book before returning to his reading.

He paused mid-scrawl and turned his head to the door, suddenly aware of being watched.

The corners of Sara's mouth curled into a smile as they locked eyes.

"Hey." she said simply.

Grissom raised his eyebrows playfully at her.

"Hey yourself." he replied, turning his attention back to the desk as he finished writing the sentence he was working on. He jotted down the last couple of words and capped his pen before tossing it into the centre of his notebook and flicking the cover closed.

Turning back to Sara, he smiled back at her.

"Are you ready for a break?" he asked cheerfully.

Sara nodded and held out a hand towards him.

Pushing himself up from his seat, Grissom strode forward and took her hand in his as they headed down to the break room together.

"How's your night shaping up?" he asked as he poured a cup of coffee and handed it to his wife.

She shrugged as she took it and headed to take a seat on the sofa.

"Slow." she replied. "Video surveillance does not an exciting evening make."

Grissom smiled and took a seat next to her. Sara stifled a yawn and dropped her head backwards onto the edge of the sofa closing her eyes.

"God, I'm so tired…." she groaned.

Grissom glanced at her and shrugged.

"Well, you've had a lot to deal with lately." he replied.

Sara nodded but didn't open her eyes.

Grissom reached out and took her coffee cup from her hand and placed it on the coffee table instead before bringing his hand up and drawing her head down onto his shoulder and wrapping his arm around her, stroking her hair until he felt her start to relax.

Sara rested for only a moment before she heard it….

"Sara Sidle to reception. Sara Sidle to reception."

Sighing deeply, she hesitated for a second and felt Grissom take a deep breath in sympathy, before she sat back upright.

"Come on, honey." he said quietly as he pushed himself to his feet and held out a hand towards her. Taking it, she allowed herself to be dragged to her feet and guided through the break room door.

They headed in tired silence out to the reception desk at the entrance to the department.

"Judy, you paged?" Sara asked the receptionist, a second before she caught sight of her husbands line of sight and recognised the tight line of concern his lips made.

Closing her eyes briefly, she heard Judy's buoyant voice tell her she had a visitor before she reopened them and followed her husbands gaze. Seated in one of the hard plastic chairs in the waiting area was the dishevelled figure of her brother - shirt untucked, jeans caked in dirt below the knees, and eyes just as wild as they had been during their last encounter.

"Alex…." she murmured under her breath.

"Sara, I need your help."

Sara sighed deeply and felt Grissom tense up beside her.

"We've been down this road before, Alex." she heard him say. "Why should we think it would be any different now."

Alex swung his gaze from his sister to Grissom. Sara was shocked at the pure hatred that radiated from his eyes - it only lasted a second before he gained control once more and turned his expression back into a vulnerable little boy, But this time Sara had his measure. She reached beside her and placed a steadying hand against her husband's arm.

"Leave, Alex." she said firmly - although Grissom could feel the slight tremor of emotion pulsing through her fingers as they clung onto him. Alex turned his gaze back to his sister. "If you really want help then I will give you the address for a shelter and will put you in touch with a drug and alcohol specialist, but you are not welcome in our house until you have proven that you have sorted your life out."

Alex's eyes narrowed and he took a step closer them.

"You bitch." he spat out, his voice rising in intensity as he continued. "You stupid, hypocritical bitch!"

"Hey!" Nick's voice sounded from several feet behind them. Grissom glanced back and waved him over with one hand while he held Sara back with the other.

"Nick, escort this man out please." he called out to the younger man. "Judy, call security please."

"Alex!" Sara shouted at her brother, but his hostility was still firmly directed at Grissom.

"Shut your mouth!" Alex screamed at him. "I'm gonna kill you, you son of a bitch! You smug, son of a bitch! You think you're so much better than everyone else? You're nothing. You deserve to die you smug, bastard and I'm gonna be the one to take you out!"

"Alex! Stop it!" Sara was visibly upset now. "Stop it! Please!"

But Alex was beyond reason. He was red in the face and sweating hard.

Grissom pulled his wife into his arms and held her as the tremors overtook her entire body. She buried her head against his shoulder and he felt her take a deep, steadying breath but he didn't drop his gaze from where his brother-in-law stood.

"C'mon, man." he heard Nick say - his Texan drawl suddenly much thicker than normal, "Do the right thing, man, and walk away."

What happened next was almost a blur. Grissom saw an erratic jerk rip through Alex's body - although it was mostly obscured by Nick. Then he saw Nick almost convulse backwards. He heard him call out in distress and saw a flash of deep red as he hit the ground hard and curled in on himself. Then he saw Alex take off - running like a mad man - out through the front doors of the department.

It all happened as if in slow motion.

Placing his hands on either side of Sara's shoulders, Grissom moved her abruptly out of the way and hurried to Nick's side.

"Judy!" he called urgently, "Get paramedics here, now!"

Sara spun around, oblivious to what had happened, and stood in shocked disbelief watching her husband roll Nick onto his back. The Texan was clinging onto his left flank, sweat forming across his forehead and his eyes glistening with pain filled intensity. He was moaning softly and reached a hand out to grab hold of Grissom's sleeve.

Grissom touched his hand briefly in sympathy before moving it to gently ease up his shirt and expose a narrow stab wound which was steadily pouring blood.

"It's OK, pal." he murmured quietly as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a clean hankerchief. Placing it over the wound he pressed down hard, trying to stem the flow of blood. Nick groaned in pain and his head dropped backwards onto the floor, eyes shut tight.

"Stay with me, pal." Grissom continued, reaching out his free hand to gently tap against the side of Nick's face until he opened his eyes again, "Nick? Stay with me…"

Sara blinked back shocked tears as she wrapped her arms tightly around herself. She watched as if in a dream as thick, crimson blood soaked through the hankerchief and seeped between Grissom's fingers. Deep, red blood.

"Sara….."

"Sara!"

Suddenly everything sped back up to real time. The urgent calling of her name finally fell into place with the movement of her husband's lips. It jolted her back into action.

"I need to stop this bleeding! Find me something to use as a pressure dressing." Grissom was saying, voice calm but urgent.

Brain finally kicking back in, Sara spun around and ran down the corridor to the locker room. At the back of the room was a door leading through to the bathroom and showers and against the wall was a large metal shelving unit stacked with clean and folded towels. Grabbing an armful of towels, she raced back down the corridor and thrust one into Grissom's outstretched and bloodied hand.

Hugging the rest to her chest, she watched as he folded the towel even smaller and pressed it hard over the top of the now soaked through hankerchief. Nick seemed to be barely conscious by this point and Sara felt the ever present sting of tears in her eyes.

Suddenly, she heard it. Distant, but getting closer every second.

Sirens.

Help was on its way.

OK, nearly there now. Please take a minute and hit the review button. I would really appreciate it.