Another chapter up….(finally!). Thankyou to all the people who have submitted reviews. I have had some difficulty in accessing my account and haven't been able to reply to all of them individually - but they are all much appreciated….so, if I haven't replied to your review, please take this as a personal THANKYOU : )
Sara stood and watched, horrified, as the paramedics worked on Nick. Grissom pushed himself up from where he crouched on the floor, and went to stand by her side - his hands covered in blood. Distracted, she handed him a towel, which he accepted.
In the minutes it had taken for the ambulance to arrive, Jim Brass had appeared and had already started organising officers to look for Alex. He was talking on his cell phone while he kept on eye on what was happening in front of him
Nick's eyes were still open but Sara doubted he was truly aware of anything happening around him.
"BP 70 on 40. Pulse 160." one of the paramedics said calmly as they placed an oxygen mask over Nick's nose and mouth.
"IV in." the other replied as she leaned over his chest with a stethoscope. "Breath sounds clear on both sides."
Nick started to lose the fight to stay conscious.
"Mr. Stokes?" called one of the medics as he rubbed his knuckles against Nick's breastbone. "Nick? You need to open your eyes and stay with me, OK?"
A frown flickered over Nick's face and he swiped hopelessly at the oxygen mask as his eyes flicked slightly apart. He groaned in pain under his breath and his head lolled to one side.
"It's OK." the medic murmured quietly as Nick was transferred onto the waiting stretcher. "You're OK. We'll have you in hospital before you know it."
Nick started to get more restless as the paramedic fastened the safety restraints across his chest and legs.
"OK?" she asked as she looked towards her partner.
The second paramedic glanced up at her and nodded back.
"OK." he replied. "Let's move. On three. One….two….three."
At the signal, the stretched was lifted upwards until there was a clicking sound and it was at a suitable height to be wheeled out to the waiting ambulance.
"We're taking him to Desert Palms." the paramedic called back to Grissom as he slung the emergency treatment bag over one shoulder and helped his partner manoeuvre the stretcher.
"OK." Grissom replied. "I'll follow you there."
The paramedics wheeled Nick out of sight and Grissom let out a deep sigh, turning to glance at his shell shocked wife before he finished wiping his hands on the towel and tossed it onto the floor. He suddenly became aware that they were no longer alone. Turning, he noticed how several more people had joined them, all standing well back and watching the events unfold.
He didn't know what to say. He felt just as shocked as his wife looked.
"Gris."
Looking up he saw Greg walking towards him, pulling gloves on as he spoke.
"We're going to need you to change before you go to the hospital. You're clothes are evidence now."
Grissom raised his eyebrows as the realisation set in. How quickly things change, he thought. There was a time in the not too distant past when that would have been forefront in his mind, now, he realised, he hadn't even thought about it.
Nodding, he looked once more at his wife.
She still looked shell shocked - staring at the smeared blood pool as if transfixed by its deep crimson colour.
"What the hell happened?"
Catherine's voice projected down the corridor and made Grissom swing around. She looked tense - face clearly expressing her concern - as she strode purposely towards the group of onlookers.
"Hodges said Nick's been stabbed?" she asked Grissom incredulously.
Grissom nodded, suddenly feeling as exhausted as his wife looked.
"It's a long story." he replied. "Nick's lost a lot of blood and is en-route to Desert Palms. I'll get changed and go to the hospital."
Catherine brushed a hand forcefully through her hair and stood, hands on hips, demeanour all business.
"OK." she replied. "I'll find Ecklie and see if he can cover for me for a few hours. I'll drive. You go get changed."
Grissom glanced once more at Sara.
"Will you be OK?" he asked her quietly.
Sara gave the briefest hint of a nod before turning and stalking back down the corridor.
Catherine glanced at her as she walked past and frowned before turning her attention to Greg.
"Are you OK to process the scene here by yourself?" she asked matter-of-factly.
Greg looked at her, shrugged his shoulders and nodded.
"Yeah, sure." he replied. "I'll go get my kit."
The last couple of bystanders finally filtered away as Greg disappeared down the corridor. Catherine and Grissom stood together for several moments longer - both gazing for a brief moment at the tacky pool of their colleagues blood.
Grissom's hand came up to scrub at his face - stopping just short as he remembered it was caked with Nick's blood.
Catherine returned her attention to him.
"Go get changed." she said simply. "Bag up your clothes for processing and get a scrubs top from the doc. I'll meet you in the break room in 20 minutes."
He gave a wan smile at the tone in her voice. Certain and in control. He had never had any reservations about leaving the team from a management point of view. He knew they were in good hands. Catherine had been his right hand man - or woman - for all the years he had been in charge of the unit's night shift and he had no doubt that she would manage the leadership position.
He watched with a mixture of pride and amusement as he was proven right.
Catherine and Grissom arrived at Desert Palms hospital 45 minutes later to the news that Nick had been taken into surgery almost 20 minutes earlier.
They were directed to the intensive care waiting room and spent almost 2 and a half hours drinking coffee and chatting about life in general - anything to keep their minds off the worry they felt about Nick.
Catherine filled Grissom in on how Ray Langston had developed as a CSI, and how Riley Adams had left abruptly - albeit with a parting shot at Catherine's leadership.
Grissom sat and listened in respectful silence. Truth be told, he had already heard about the drama's surrounding Riley's departure from Sara. And it hadn't come as a complete surprise to him. He had had certain reservations about Riley's ability to mesh in with the team. She had been almost over-confidant - exuding a cockiness that grated the eternally humble Gil Grissom's patience. She had strode into a department suffocating in the grief of losing their much loved colleague, Warrick Brown, and had seemed oblivious to the need for compassion and space. But he had not had any choice. They were short handed and needed someone with experience to fill the void on short notice. And it had been taken mostly out of his hands. Conrad Ecklie had conducted the interview and hired her.
So, her abrupt departure had not come as a shock to him at all.
When Catherine finished debriefing, Grissom simply rested his hand on her arm and gave her a smile - a smile of understanding and of wisdom.
"Don't give it another thought, Catherine." he said quietly. "It was a tantrum by a spoilt little girl. You are a wonderful leader."Catherine's eyes met his and he could see the emotion in them. She had overcome a lot of prejudice in her career and had worked twice as hard as most men to get to the position of supervisor and Grissom knew how the criticism would have wounded her.
"I could never have done my job without you." he finished.
Catherine reached out her hand to cover his and gave it a squeeze.
"Thankyou." she said in almost a whisper.
Grissom gave her a sincere smile in response.
Catherine had missed her friend more than she could say. The two of them had worked highly effectively as a team - as partners. She had remembered one case when they had been mistaken for a married couple. It had made her smile. Their relationship could never be more than platonic - she was quite sure they would kill each other within a week if they had to live together - however, working together they were in tune with each other. She knew she could count on him completely.
Well, she could count on him for almost anything.
He was hopeless with administration work.
"Excuse me. Are you here for Nicholas Stokes?"
The voice cut through Catherine's reverie and she looked up to see a middle aged nurse dressed in scrubs standing in the doorway. Catherine and Grissom both rose to their feet.
"Yes." they replied in unison.
"We're his colleagues from the crime lab." Catherine said.
The nurse smiled reassuringly and walked further into the waiting room.
"He's doing fine." the nurse said, raising both her hands up to quell their obvious anxiety. "He's out of surgery and we'll be transferring him up here to intensive care within the next 10 minutes. My name is Clare and I'll be looking after him today. Mr Mark Hargraves was operating and will be up later to talk with you. Have his family been notified?"Catherine and Grissom exchanged a glance. They assumed Ecklie would have taken care of that by now. It was yet another part of the job that Grissom did not miss.
"His parents will have been called." Catherine replied. "They are in Texas but will, no doubt, be on their way."
"OK. I'll be back once he's been settled in and you'll be able to have a brief visit - but I'll warn you now, he'll be out for a while yet. He's had major surgery so don't expect too much in the way of communication." Clare finished.
"Thank you." replied Grissom as Clare turned and left.
He turned and shared another glance with Catherine then took his seat again.
It was almost 40 minutes later that the surgeon finally arrived. Grissom was still sitting patiently in his seat, but Catherine was pacing back and forth with anxious energy.
The surgeon entered the waiting room still dressed in his surgical scrubs and strode briskly towards the two colleagues, hand outstretched in greeting.
"I'm Mark Hargraves." he said without prelude. "I operated on your colleague."Catherine shook his hand and introduced herself before finally settling back into her seat next to Grissom.
"Mr Stokes had received a deep penetrating stab wound which had lacerated his spleen. He had lost a significant amount of blood by the time he arrived in theatre with a nick to the splenic vein. He's an extremely fortunate man that the knife didn't hit his splenic artery or he wouldn't have made it to hospital in time. As it is, we've transfused him with 8 units of packed cells and we're topping him off with a 9th unit now. The injury to his spleen was too severe to repair so we've had to remove it. It shouldn't cause him too many problems long term - fortunately for him we can still lead a normal life without our spleen. Our main concern at the moment is infection. Stab wounds are notoriously prone to infection. He's receiving broad spectrum antibiotics intravenously and we gave him an antibiotic peritoneal lavage intraoperatively. Now, we just need to see how he responds."
Grissom shrugged with his eyebrows at the influx of information. It wasn't the first time that Nick had been described as 'lucky'. Several years earlier, Grissom and Catherine had been sitting in a waiting room similar to the one they were currently in hearing about how lucky Nick was to have survived being buried alive in a Perspex coffin. Grissom wasn't sure that the term 'lucky' was apt. Nick's survival in both cases was due to his tenaciousness and mental toughness and there was surely nothing lucky about being in the wrong place at the wrong time more than once.
"Can we see him yet?" Catherine asked quietly.
Mark Hargraves stood and nodded, gesturing them to follow him through to the intensive care unit.
"He's still heavily sedated, but come on through." he said. "Just a few minutes."
Catherine and Grissom shared yet another glance.
There was definitely a feeling of déjà vu.
Thankyou for reading. Apologies again for the lateness of posting this chapter. Now please consider hitting the review button. I really enjoy reading each and every review and appreciate it more than I can say….