A/N: Hi hi :) New chapter time. Thank you to those who have left thoughts and reviews. Don't forget I can't reply if you sign in as a 'guest'.
A huge thank you to my current supporters – Nat, Mrs Crabby, Dbackfan, AliceC, ChristineS, Jillian, IngridT, Tracer85, NiniZ, Jamie M, NancyB and Lottie.
Always, thank you to calim for the beta, suggestions and friendship :)
Will the team find the shooter?
On we go…
Chapter 33
Sara hadn't moved from Grissom's bedside, her full attention focused on him. Then voices pierced her concentration coming from the other side of the door.
"Yes, that's right, Doctor Grissom."
Frowning at the sound of the unfamiliar male voice, Sara pushed herself from the chair and approached the door. Looking through the glass window she spied two uniformed officers talking to a nurse.
Stepping through the doorway, she folded her arms. "What's going on?" she asked.
The two men turned her way as the nurse looked at her.
"Hey, Sara," one of the officers said.
Taking in the man's features and then the other, her eyes then passed over their name badges - Simpson and Luiz. She recognized them from PD and a few crime scenes, but she didn't know either of them personally.
"Hi," she replied.
"Director Roby sent us," Luiz told her. "Our orders are to ensure yourself and Doctor Grissom are watched and protected at all times while you are here."
Sara's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "Oh.…"
"I was just explaining," the nurse cut in, "that non-medical personnel aren't usually allowed to linger in the corridors of trauma or even be in here for that matter."
"Well, that makes sense," Sara agreed.
"But," the nurse continued, "given the circumstances, we can make an exception."
For the first time since she'd set foot in the hospital, the realization of their current location suddenly dawned on Sara. They were in Desert Palms. A place they were pretty convinced housed someone who was a killer or, at the very least, in cahoots with one. And whichever one it was, they had it out for her husband. His unconscious body in the room proved that now. They wanted to kill him. Were they now offering up the opportunity to finish the job on a silver platter by being in that building?
She swallowed, eyes falling back to the officers. "I'm glad you're here. Thank you."
"It's our duty, Sara," Simpson said. "One of us will always stay on the door and we'll make regular sweeps in this ward to make sure there is no funny business going on."
A wave of relief passed over her. She felt better but not completely comfortable and the fact she'd left her gun in the hotel room suddenly wasn't helping either.
"Two rules gentleman," the nurse said. "Do not go into any of the patient's rooms unless it's an emergency and please stay out of the restricted areas."
Simpson nodded. "Not a problem, Ma'am."
"Good. Then I will inform his doctor and the medical staff of your presence."
She flashed Sara a smile before backing down the corridor.
"How's he doing?" Luiz asked.
"Considering everything that's happened, he's doing all right," Sara said. "Thanks for asking." He gave her a smile and Sara pointed over her shoulder. "I better get back to him."
Luiz nodded. "We'll be right here if you need anything."
Giving him the best smile she could muster, Sara headed back into the room, immediately seeing Grissom looking at her when she neared the bed.
"Hey," she whispered, her smile growing as she leaned close and kissed his forehead. "I step out for a minute and you wake up. How typical is that?"
"Where were you?" he asked.
Sitting down, she took his hand. "Just outside. Max sent two officers to guard the door."
His eyebrows lifted. "Oh."
Her lips pursed. "That's exactly what I said. But it's a good thing."
Grissom cleared his throat. "I'm not sure needing police protection is… ever a good thing, my dear."
Clearing his throat again, he let out a cough.
Lifting a hand, Sara felt his forehead. A little silly really considering his current condition but her wifely instincts were in overdrive.
"How are you feeling? You sound a little better than you did."
"Very thirsty," he admitted, once again clearing his throat. "Feel like I've eaten a bucket of sand."
Leaning over, Sara hit the call button. "I'll ask if you can have some water because I'm not sure."
Letting out a soft sigh, he just stared at her, like stared and Sara frowned.
"Have I told you lately how beautiful you are?"
The words that came out of his mouth took Sara totally by surprise and her eyebrows hit the ceiling.
"Um," she stuttered. "Probably." Pursing her lips, she whisked fingers through his hair and continued. "Not sure you've ever told me that from a hospital bed before though."
As he managed a smile, Sara looked over her shoulder hearing footsteps as a nurse came in.
"Ah," she said, walking around the bed. "We're awake."
"For a little longer than the first time," Sara told her. "So far anyway."
"How are you feeling, Mr. Grissom?" she asked, taking a look at the blood bag.
Grissom's head tipped the nurse's way. "Please. Only the wife calls me Mr. Grissom when she's annoyed with me." Sara smirked. "Call me Gil. And I feel like I've had the longest sleep ever."
"Pretty natural after what you've been through and you're on a pretty hefty dose of painkillers as well." She looked at him. "Do you have any pain coming through?"
"Shoulder feels a bit sore," he admitted. "Didn't really feel it before."
The nurse nodded. "Well, we'll be due to change your dressings in the next hour, so it may be time for some more medication before we do that. The doctor will be by to check on you soon so he can make that decision."
"Can he have some water?" Sara asked. "I wasn't sure."
"Of course," she said, looking at Grissom. "The more the better. It will help get that blood pressure up. I'll bring some fresh in and some straws. It will be much easier to use those for now while your movement is limited."
"Thank you," Grissom replied gratefully.
The nurse nodded. "I'll be right back."
CSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSI
Catherine looked over the large blood pool on the ground by the car. She then gazed at the car door and the smeared blood running down it before glancing at the shattered window. A shudder ran through her knowing who that blood belonged to. This case was now really personal. Not just to Grissom and Sara but to her, too.
Glancing through the hole where the glass used to be, she spotted Allie, flashlight in hand, checking the back seats.
"Any signs of the bullet?" Catherine asked.
Allie shook her head. "No." She pointed through the gap. "There's a dent and burn type mark on the center console. My suspicion is the bullet ricocheted off there and went through the passenger window."
Catherine looked to where Allie was suggesting and then to the broken passenger window.
"Very possible. That would also explain how the passenger window was broken."
Stepping back she turned to see Max approaching. "Do we know who this car belongs to yet?"
Max nodded. "Yeah. A guy staying in the hotel. Reception found the license number on his hotel record. He was in the casino."
"Have we spoken to him?"
Again, Max nodded. "On vacation from Texas. Been here 3 days. He said the car hasn't moved since he arrived."
Doing a 360, Catherine looked around the entire area.
"It was a set up. Shooter knew we'd follow the note. They probably watched for a while, knew the car hadn't moved. Could have even been watching Gil and Sara since they arrived and knew their routine. Gil really was sitting duck."
"Yeah," Max agreed.
Blowing out a long huff, Catherine shook her head. "Bullet could be anywhere, and I assume we still have no idea where the shooter was?"
"We'll know both when we can track the trajectory."
The women turned to see Folsom behind them pointing across the street.
"I'd wager my paycheck our shooter was in one of those apartments."
"In order to track the trajectory," Catherine said, "we'd need the exact point of impact and exit."
"Yep," Folsom agreed.
Catherine looked at Max.
"You know what that means," Max told her.
Nipping on her lip, Catherine nodded. "I do but… I don't know when we're going to be able to do that."
Max folded her arms. "I know, but it's going to have to be soon because we can't hold this entire car lot forever. And the longer we wait, the less chance we have of getting anything from the shooter's location if we find it."
Letting out a sigh, Catherine nodded. "I'll give it another hour then I'll call Sara and try and get an idea of how long it might be."
"Okay," Max agreed.
CSICSICSICSICSICSICSI
Pouring a glass of water, Sara dropped a straw into it and turned to her husband.
"Keep still, okay? I'll bring the glass to you."
Very carefully sitting on the edge of the bed, she lifted the glass and directed the straw towards his mouth.
"My right arm is fine and still works," he said. "You know that, right?"
Pausing before the straw hit his lips, Sara looked right into his eyes. "Humor me. Until the doctor says so, you keep still. Believe it or not, you were just knocking on death's door."
His right eye twitched. "Okay," he conceded.
"Good." She guided the straw to his lips, and he began to suck. "Not too fast. Choking is the last thing we need right now."
"Ugh huh," he mumbled, slowing down the speed at which he was drinking but still, the glass was soon empty.
Pulling it back, Sara looked at it. "Damn you were thirsty. Do you want some more?"
Letting out a yawn, Grissom shook his head before dropping it back to the pillow and closing his eyes.
After putting the glass down, Sara placed a hand against his cheek, gently whisking her thumb back and forth across his beard.
"You're still tired. Why don't you sleep a little more?"
"Hmmm. You should rest, too."
Smiling, Sara couldn't deny she felt a little tired. Not only because of the stress of what had happened, but their night hadn't been a particularly good one for sleeping either.
Leaning close, she kissed the tip of his nose. "We'll see."
CSICSICSICSICSICSICSI
Hearing a noise, Sara's eyes opened to see a nurse by the bed removing a blood pressure cuff from Grissom's arm. Yawning, she rubbed a hand over her eyes realizing she must have dozed off.
"Do you know what time it is?" she asked a little groggily, eyes drifting to her husband to see he was still sleeping.
"Almost 2pm," the nurse told her. "You haven't been asleep too long."
Sara recalled checking her phone around 1pm so no, she hadn't. But something was better than nothing not that she'd intended to go to sleep.
Rubbing a hand over the back of her neck, she yawned. "How's his blood pressure?"
The nurse smiled. "Getting there."
"That's so good to hear. Has the doctor been by?"
"He has," the nurse confirmed. "I'm to give him a page when Gil wakes up and he'll be back."
"Oh, okay."
Saying that, Sara felt her cell vibrating in her pocket and got up. Taking out the phone, she saw Catherine's name and headed across the room.
"Hi Cath."
"Hey you. How's Gil?"
"He's doing okay," Sara said as she turned to face the bed. "Halfway through the last blood transfusion and his blood pressure is a little better. Woke up a few times. Drank some water. Thankfully, better than I was expecting."
"Everyone will be so relieved to hear that."
"Yeah," Sara agreed.
There was silence for a moment before Catherine spoke again.
"Listen, we need Gil's help."
Sara frowned. "Help?"
"Yeah. We have no way to find the bullet or the shooter's location without tracking the trajectory. And in order to get that we need…"
"To know where the bullet hit him," Sara finished for her.
"And left him," Catherine added.
Sara knew the importance of processing crime scenes, especially ones so public. If it wasn't done quickly you could lose that valuable clue needed to crack the case and in this particular case, finding the bullet was essential.
"When does Max want to try?" she asked.
"Tonight, if possible," Catherine told her. "You know the lasers are much better in the dark and being outside it will be the best time. We can come over there at any time you just let us know when."
Nipping her lip, Sara took a few steps back towards the bed.
"I'll have to speak with Gil and his doctor. He's going to need to move so you can get photographs of his wounds so, I don't know if that's possible yet or not. It's going to hurt him I know that much."
"I know, honey," Catherine replied sympathetically. "Unfortunately, we need the exact entrance and exit wounds to put on the dummy or we'll never find what we need."
"Are you calling my husband a dummy?"
Catherine laughed and then did Sara.
"Would I ever do such a thing?"
"Not to his face," she said with a smirk, switching the phone to her other hand as her arm was beginning to ache.
"Hey, careful Mrs. Grissom or I'll bring you more of my pants."
"Oh, hell," Sara chuckled. "Please no."
Catherine laughed again. "I can go by the hotel and get some things for you and bring them with us later. How about you send me a text with what you'd like me to grab along with a time if we're able to come and see the patient."
"Okay," Sara agreed. "His doctor will be by as soon as he wakes, so I should be able to let you know in the next hour or so."
"All right. Talk to you later."
Sara nodded to herself. "Bye, Cath."
"Love to you both. Bye."
Hanging up, Sara slipped the phone back into her pocket and moved back to the bed. One thing was definitely playing on her mind now. The unavoidable pain that would be thrust upon him when he had to reveal his wounds. Both physical and mental.
A/N: Poor Grissom be super sore :P
