Gil tried not to laugh when Cassandra came out of the bathroom of the amusement park. "You alright?"
Cassandra glared at him. "I just spent five minutes barfing in there! How would you be?!"
Gil smiled. "You could've told me you didn't do well with roller coasters and I would've dropped the idea"
"Usually I'm fine with them" Cassandra replied as they started walking down one of the paths towards the parking lot. "That final drop was just a little much for me"
Gil nodded. "Fair enough. I just found the way you handled it interesting. Showed no signs of weakness until you got off the roller coaster. You were even fine for a couple of minutes when we got off. That shows me a lot about your behavior. You can get through a case and won't let it phase you until it's over"
"Depends on the case" Cassandra shrugged.
Gil glanced at her. "Hm. Yet you still have doubts about yourself"
"Again, spent five minutes barfing" Cassandra pointed out.
Gil chuckled. "True. Alright, where to now? Want me to drop you off at your place? You just moved across from Nick, right?"
"Yeah, but that reminds me. When do visiting hours end at the hospital?"
Gil glanced at his watch. They had called it a day earlier than usual, so it was about 7:30. "They're still open for two hours. Wanna see Nick?"
"Yeah. I mean, obviously it wasn't my fault he went flying out the window, but I was still there when he went out and was there when he passed out, so I kinda owe a visit to him"
Gil nodded. "Understandable. The hospital's only a few blocks from here. I'll drive"
--
A few minutes later, Gil and Cassandra had gotten to the hospital and had gotten Nick's room number and were headed to the room when Cassie literally walked into Greg, causing her to fall backwards.
"Oh, sorry, Newbie" Greg helped her up. "You okay?"
"I'm fine, 'Greggo'" Cassandra smirked.
"Here for Nick?" Greg asked.
"Of course." Gil crossed his arms. "You?"
"You think I'd leave my friend like that without at least checking up on him?" Greg smiled. "Grissom, you don't know me at all!"
Gil smiled weakly before pointing down the hallway to their right. "I've had a victim in the same room Nick's in now. It's first door on the left. Let's go"
The three turned the corner and went into Nick's room, smiling when they saw the Texan was watching T.V.
Nick saw Greg and Gil first. "Hospital cable sucks" he announced, then spotted Cassandra. "Hey, there's the last pretty face I saw before I blacked out"
Greg saw that Cassandra blushed. He grinned, taking the moment to his advantage. He and Cassandra had already become close, so he enjoyed joking around with her. "Pretty? Her? Nah, Nick, I think it's the drugs talking" he winked at Cassandra when she playfully gasped and whacked him in the arm.
"Anyway," Cassandra moved away from Greg and sat down in the chair beside Nick's bed. "How've ya been?" she cracked a smile when Greg put his elbow on her shoulder and leaned on her. She put her elbows on her knees and also went forward so he had more of a surface to lean on.
"I told you I've had worse, so naturally, I'm fine. A bit shaken and my back's sore, but I think I can go home tomorrow and be ready for work that night" Nick replied.
"I don't think so, Nick" Gil shook his head. "You can probably go home, but rest for a couple of days,"
"Aw, come on, Griss! I'm fine!" Nick argued.
Greg looked at his boss. "Yeah, can't you tell? Your teacher's pet is arguing with you!" he ducked to avoid the wallet Nick had thrown at him. When it hit the ground, Greg picked it up. "Thanks, bud. I needed a few extra bucks"
"Gimme that!" Nick snatched his wallet back.
"Not even a twenty?" Greg asked, sticking out his lower lip.
"No" Nick replied. "Bad Greg. Very bad Greg"
"Woof" Greg replied, then whimpered like a dog.
"Not workin' on me, Sparky" Nick replied.
"Do I get credit for trying?" Greg asked.
"No" Nick replied.
"Evil" Greg muttered.
"That's what they call me" Nick replied with a smile.
Everyone smiled at him, secretly wondering how he ever kept positive with all the times he ended up in a hospital.
--
As Nick had hoped, he was allowed back at the crime lab about three days after he was released. However, how his friends were treating him on the job wasn't what he had hoped for. Warrick, Ronnie, and Cassandra didn't even leave a ten-foot radius of him. Nick and Warrick were originally supposed to go deeper into the house, but when they found quite a lot of blood and shattered glass around the living room, they stayed with the women.
"Guys, really, I'm fine," he told them after he had bagged a pair of scissors with blood on the tips. Tom Knight had gone away for both attempted murder and normal murder since they succeeded in proving he killed John, and now they were on a new case. A family that was slaughtered in their own home.
"We'll believe that in a week after nothing happens to you" Warrick replied, stepping over a toy train set.
Nick scoffed. "I don't get hurt that much!"
Cassandra snorted. "That's not what I figured after you told me those stories about your past here, then a day later I watch you fall out the window" she said matter-of-factly as she took a picture of blood spatter on the wall.
Warrick chuckled. "I knew I'd like you, Cass"
"Glad you do" Cassandra smiled and took another picture of a pool of blood on the opposite wall from the spatter. "Ugh. These poor people"
"You're not kidding"
Everyone turned and greeted Catherine after she made her entrance statement and joined them. She stepped over the blood pool and started walking around, looking at the floor. She bumped into Cassandra in the process. "Oh, sorry"
Cassandra looked up and smiled. "It's okay, I-" she froze, seeing something behind Catherine. "Uh… guys… you may wanna see something…"
"What?" Warrick asked.
Cassandra took the small flashlight she had in her belt loop and shone it on one of the pictures.
The three others turned to see where she was shining it, and let their jaws dropped, seeing that the light was hitting a picture of Sara with a woman none of them had seen before. They looked back at the dead body a few feet away, where David was, writing up notes.
"Hey Dave, can you flip out Jane Doe over for us?" Nick asked.
"Yeah, sure" David nodded and pushed the dead women upwards.
The other five looked from the body to the woman next to Sara in the picture.
"That's her," Catherine reported. "Any I.D yet?"
David shook his head. "Nope"
Nick looked around. "I don't even see a purse or anything. Robbery, maybe?" he suggested.
"I can call Sara and see who it is" Cassandra shrugged.
Catherine nodded. "Do that. I think we're good here. I'll have the police log you out of the scene"
"Thanks" Cassandra carefully made her way out of the room and outside, pulling out her cell phone as she did so.
--
"Our vic's name is Sofia Crane" Cassandra announced, walking into the meeting room a couple of hours later.
"Oh, you decided to come back, huh?" Nick asked playfully with a smirk.
"Bite me" Cassandra growled at him before sliding into the seat next to him. She looked Gil in the eye before looking away.
Gil regarded her for a moment. "Cassie, you got our victim's name, that's a good thing. It's a start"
Cassandra looked at the other CSIs in the room. "You didn't tell him how I got it, did you?"
They shook their heads.
Gil blinked. "Got what? The name? Is it important? Why is it an apparent big deal on my part? … and why am I asking so many questions?"
Cassandra sighed. "Grissom, there was a picture at the scene today. It was our victim with Sara"
Gil raised his eyebrows and leaned forward, interested. "And?"
"Well, we couldn't find any I.D of our vic anywhere, so I called her…" she swallowed. "She gave me our vic's name… and said that she's coming back to Vegas two days from now"