The roads had not been plowed and there was at least a foot of snow on the ground, and what's more, the roads were icy as well. The plan was to plow the roads when the snow let up, but it was still snowing out and didn't show any signs of letting up. It was a miracle that Grissom had made it all the way back to Jim's cabin without freezing or dropping dead. With Grissom laying on the floor, on his back, Jim checked him over for broken bones and such while Sara called for rescue. She was told that in order for an ambulance to get to them the roads would have to be plowed first. She was also told that a plow truck would work it;s way to them followed closely by an ambulance; the time to get there would be at least an hour. Sara was also told that, in the mean time, to keep him still, try to stop any bleeding and keep pressure on any open wounds.

Jim had started a fire to keep Grissom warm and listened as Sara spoke of what she'd been told. She knelt down beside Grissom and felt his head for any open wounds. She found the knot on the back of his head and the gash on the left side of his face, from his brow line to his upper cheek was still bleeding as was the gash on his forehead from slamming into the steering wheel. She went to the kitchen and filled a bowl with hot water and grabbed a couple of washcloths from the bathroom along with her toiletry kit that had a small sewing kit in it. Jim had determined that Grissom didn't have any broken ribs or anything else broken and as Sara returned, she asked Greg to bring her a bowl of ice cubes. She had to stop his bleeding and the best way she knew to do that was to stitch him up herself. Setting the bowl of ice on the floor, Greg watched as Sara placed a dry washcloth on his forehead and placed several cubes of ice on top of it to numb the would. She would suture the wound on his cheek first.

She rubbed his cheek and brow with an ice cube and immediately began to sew him up. She'd rub more ice and stitch some more and would repeat this process until that wound was completely sewn and the bleeding stopped. Next, she moved on to the gash on his forehead which had been numbing all the while she was sewing up his other cut. She removed the washcloth and sewed up his forehead within a matter of minutes.

His bleeding stopped, Grissom was laid in front of the fireplace and covered with a blanket. Greg removed Grissom's shoes and rubbed his feet to in order to try to restore blood circulation to them. He had started doing this as Sara stitched him up and continued until the colour came back.

For the better part of an hour Greg and Sara were tending to Grissom while Jim stood on the front porch waiting for the plow truck and ambulance. He stood out there for the better part of an hour and a half before he saw the lights of the plow truck approaching followed by the ambulance. As the truck approached, Jim flashed the porch light on and off to signal that the ambulance should stop at that house. Seeing the light display, the ambulance stopped right in front of Jim's cabin and the medics jumped out and carried a gurney with them.

Inside, Grissom was still in front of the fire and as one of the medics knelt down beside him to check his wounds, Sara stated that the only way she could stop the bleeding from the head wounds was to suture them. The medic was surprised at how good of a job she'd done and asked how Grissom had been while he was waiting for rescue. Greg told him that he'd been rubbing Grissom's feet to get blood circulating back into them and that Sara had done an assessment of his ribs and torso and had found nothing broken. The only real wounds were on his face and those had been tended to. However, as a precaution, the medics took Grissom to the nearest hospital where he was admitted for overnight observation.

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The ambulance had just left and Greg, Jim and Sara tried to go to sleep, but for all the night's excitement it was damn near impossible for any of them to sleep. To try and tire herself out, Sara went outside, grabbed a snow shovel from behind the cabin and began to dig Jim's car out. This was difficult because when the plow truck had come by the direction of the plowed snow landed in such a way that Jim's car was nearly buried, as was Greg's. Thinking that some physical exertion might help, Greg helped Sara dig Jim's car out and after about two or three hours the car was free on all sides. Sara gave the shovel to Greg and helped him dig his car out. His car was much smaller than Jim's so the snow was about halfway up the side of the car.
All in all, they were out there until just about sunrise. Jim had offered to help the two with their cars but was told that everything was well in hand and to go back inside and read a book or watch the tellie.

Greg and Sara came in from the freezing cold and immediately went to bed, as they were tired beyond belief. As for Jim, he had gone to bed several hours before and when Sara climbed into bed with him she snuggled up behind him and used his body heat to get warm. The feeling of her cold feet was enough to wake him and as he opened his eyes he sighed.

"When'd you get here?"

"Couple of minutes ago. You want I should put on some thick socks?" she asked

"No, you're fine. Your feet will be warm in a few minutes." he said, trying not to shiver

Within a few minutes Sara's feet were no longer cold and she was beginning to warm. She slept for several hours until Jim woke up to use the bathroom. Having done his business, Jim went downstairs briefly to check the snowfall. It was still snowing and the night's shoveling seemed to have done little good as it was still snowing and there appeared to be an additional six inches on the ground. He grumbled and went back upstairs and climbed back in bed. As Jim settled himself Sara woke, but only slightly.

"Its still snowing. Looks like another six inches. Do we want to get out of here today and spend the rest of the holiday in Vegas? I think that'd be the best idea." he said

"Yeah. Sounds like a plan." she said, rolling over

Downstairs, Greg was just waking and when he saw the snow out of the guestroom window he cursed aloud. Even though he'd only gotten a few hours of sleep, he decided to get up, get dressed and do some more shoveling, as he would be leaving today; heading back to Vegas. He wanted to get started before Sara or Jim would wake and need the shovel themselves. Dressing warm and lacing up his boots, he went outside and began to work on getting his car out. He was out there for a couple of hours and when he had dug his car out he went back inside and packed his bag up then went into the kitchen for coffee.

He left without telling anyone, but left a note. Climbing into his car, he set out for home. On the way out of Tahoe he spotted Grissom's smashed up car by the side of the road and decided to stop and remove any of Gil's bags or anything else that Grissom might hold to value. Having loaded Grissom's belongings into his car and set out for the hospital to see if Grissom was ready to be released.

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Laying in the ICU, Grissom was going crazy from doing nothing. His wounds had been re-sutured and he had been given an x-ray and nothing was broken. However, he did have a slight concussion from the bang he took to his head. By the time Greg showed up Grissom was about to leave AMA. Speaking with the charge nurse, Greg was given charge over Grissom and he was released.

Climbing into Greg's car, Grissom asked after his bags and Greg said that he'd picked them up on his way to hospital. The drive back to Vegas was long and Grissom fell asleep during the trip. He didn't wake until Greg arrived at Gil's apartment. Greg nudged Grissom awake and as he climbed from the car, Greg handed him his bags and watched as Gil disappeared up the stairs and into his apartment.

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Packing their bags and heading out, Jim and Sara had little trouble getting out of the snow, as Jim had dug the car out shortly after Greg had left. Since Jim had driven all the way up to Tahoe, Sara decided it was only fair that she drive the way back. So, climbing behind the wheel, she got comfy, familiarized herself with the inner workings of the car and once she'd done that, they were off.

They made it home in record time and once they had unloaded the car they sat on the couch and watched the fire that Jim had built in his fireplace. Staring at the tiny fire dancers was almost mesmerizing and within a half an hour they were asleep in each others arms.