CSI Las Vegas Nick/Warrick #06 Pain
TITLE: Death Got Nothin’ On Me
AUTHOR: Becca/MusingDarkly
FANDOM: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
PAIRING: Nick/Warrick
GENRE: Slash
PROMPT: #06 Pain
RATING: PG-13
WORD COUNT: 2836
SUMMARY: Warrick never felt so helpless.
WARNINGS: Kidnapping
NOTES: There are spoilers for Grave Danger, but seeing as it’s been a while since the episode, it’s probably safe.
DISCLAIMER: If I owned them, I’d be rich. Since I am poor, I obviously don’t own them.
Warrick was pissed off, but he couldn’t let it show. He took a deep breath, and held it. Not the smartest move he knew, but hey he was pissed. After a minute he let it go, knowing that if they did find Nick, and he’d killed himself, Nick would be beyond pissed. As in raising him from the dead to kill him pissed. Taking another deep breath, Warrick stood up and went to help Catherine with the evidence they had found at the scene. The tape was outdated, at least for Vegas, so Nick hadn’t bagged it. Warrick was walking into the lab just as Catherine left it.
“What’s going on?” His voice was steady, he was grateful that he’d long ago learned to act calm when he was freaking out. “Shouldn’t we be processing that cup?”
“Grissom just beeped me to the AV lab.” Warrick followed Catherine, trying to keep up with her worry-hurried pace. Grissom was sitting with Archie, an envelope in his hands. Archie’s gloved hands were placing a tape into one of his high-tech machines. As they entered the lab, Archie hit play.
“Son of a Bitch…” Warrick’s face turned stony seeing his lover trapped in a box. When the feed turned off, he clicked the button again, just wanting to see his Nicky. He sat in front of the computer, watching until Catherine made him move. Said that he needed to take his mind off it, help process the evidence, and maybe feel less useless.
“Sure Cath, what do you want me to do?” Warrick sometimes wondered if she knows about their relationship, Nick always reassured him that she was just guessing. The thought of Nick’s always smiling face when he teased him about Catherine made Warrick bite back a sob.
“Cross reference any cases in which a Styrofoam cup was a major piece of evidence. Start in the late ‘90’s.” Warrick nodded. He went to the break room, and started running the information. Catherine was right, he felt better. Especially when he found a case that not only matched the Styrofoam cup, but the address the messenger picked up the package from.
“Gris I have a lead.” Warrick practically ran into the office. Grissom wasn’t alone, but it didn’t matter. Judge and Jillian Stokes knew all about his relationship with their son, and how they had to be discreet about it. He wanted to hug Nick’s mother, and cry. She’d treated him like a son, and now they couldn’t even comfort each other when they needed to.
“What is it?” Gil was suddenly all business, ignoring the vibes swirling around the room, but then again the man had yet to notice the obvious interest that Greg and Sara had in him.
Warrick took a deep breath and smiled, trying to act confidant. “I was searching our cases for the past 10 years, looking for cases that involved a Styrofoam cup being major evidence. I found a few, but there was one, the address that the messenger picked that package up from. It was the scene of a murder.” Grissom’s face suddenly looked hopeful, thinking they had finally caught a break.
“Was anyone ever convicted of the murder?” Warrick nodded.
“A girl named, Kelly Gordon. Still in prison, but her father swore revenge on the department. The evidence was flimsy, and she swore she didn’t know about the murder until after it happened, but the DA decided to go ahead with the case.” Warrick rested against the door jamb reading out the basic details of the case for Grissom.
“So you’re telling me that my son was kidnapped by a man whose daughter was put in jail by you?” Judge Stokes soft Texan accent was more pronounced as he realized that a psychopath had taken Nick.
“Yes sir.” Warrick answered. Gil had already picked up the phone, calling Brass to have Kelly Gordon to PD. Gil dismissed Warrick and returned to talking to the Stokes. Warrick went to the AV lab, deciding that watching the live feed was the only thing that would make him feel better now. He knew that Gil wouldn’t let him interrogate Kelly with Brass, knew that Gil felt he needed to be there. Warrick just breathed, clicking the button every two minutes. Until he saw Nick looking at the gun.
“What are you doing Nicky?” Warrick started panicking. “Don’t do it Nicky!” Standing up Warrick looked at his lover in disbelief. The suddenly everything went dark, Warrick felt his heart stop. “YOU SON OF A BITCH!” He felt like he was going to cry, staring at the screen in shock. Then the screen took on a greenish hue, and he could see Nick moving. “Oh,” His anger flowed out of him with a single word, “You’re still alive.” Taking another deep breath Warrick left the lab.
“Warrick?” Jillian Stokes always knew when she was needed. Warrick was suddenly very glad Nick had introduced him to his family. Jillian followed Warrick to the locker room, waiting for him to sit down.
“Why?” He asked her before folding himself into her arms. He let his tears run freely, feeling Jillian’s falling on his hair.
“Sometimes God gives you a push in the right direction…” They sat like that for a while, neither noticing the flow of people coming into the room, only to turn around and leave. Slowly Warrick sat up, hugging Jillian tight.
“Yeah but what is the right direction from this?” Warrick shook his head, helping Jillian stand. Both exiting the room, he saw that it was daytime now. Judge Stokes came over and gripped his wife’s hand. Nodding at Warrick, the Stokes went to find a place to sleep.
“Warrick we got a call, the kidnapper blew himself up.” Warrick let out a breath before nodding at Greg. He grabbed the key from Greg’s hand and headed for the Tahoe. The drive to the warehouse that had been the drop point was quiet, Greg shooting sympathetic glances in his direction. He ignored the looks, and got out, grabbing his kit.
“Hey I found a trigger wire. Maybe…once we reassemble all the components, we’ll be able to tell where the bomb came from. Maybe that…” Greg started to say.
“Yeah, maybe, maybe, maybe. Maybe if we count up all the damn “maybes”, maybe Nick will be alive!” Warrick kicked at a plastic container near him, it splattered Greg and the evidence he was processing. “YOU KNOW WHAT I’M SAYING?” Warrick was pissed, at himself not Greg, not Catherine, no one else. He’d flipped Nick for the trash run, they both could have done it.
“Was that necessary? Never mind my clothes, look at the evidence.” Greg was irritated, but then tension was running high for all of them.
“Damn.” Warrick’s answer was no where near an apology, but it was all he could manage. He threw his clipboard down and walked outside, needing the fresh air, and the space, to think clearly.
“Hey, Warrick, hey. Hey, how you holding up?” Catherine asked from behind him.
“I’m not.” Warrick wanted to cope, wanted to be able to be process the evidence like Catherine and Greg, but he couldn’t.
“I know.” She replied, her voice soft.
“I can’t help thinking it could have been me in that box, you know? We flipped a coin for that trash run.” Warrick’s voice was cracking, and he didn’t care anymore.
“Hey Nick is not inside a box because of the flip of a coin.” Catherine’s voice was firm.
“If that was me, I would have…” Warrick mimicked shooting himself in the head. He knew he would have given up.
“Hey you know what? I know you. I don’t believe that. Okay?” Catherine was adamant, and he had to sigh. No matter how well she thought she knew him, she didn’t know what would happen if they didn’t find Nick.
“No. You’re wrong. I wouldn’t have lasted this far. Catherine, if something happens to Nick, if we don’t bring him back in one piece…” Warrick trailed off, knowing if Nick didn’t come home the lab would be short two CSI’s.
“Hey, guys, come here. I found something.” Greg seemed excited, and Warrick allowed himself to hope. He walked over to where Greg was standing. Checking that he had their attention, Greg poured some liquid out of the container Warrick had kicked. Warrick saw what he’s found at once.
“There’s something there.” Warrick started running his fingers along the edge the liquid had cleaned. Feeling his way around, he found the second edge. Catherine and Greg found the other two, grabbing a crowbar, Warrick hoisted the concrete slab covering. Seeing the dirt, Catherine grabbed two shovels, handing one to Warrick. They dug until Warrick’s shovel hit something.
“It’s plexiglass.” Catherine noted.
“Nick!” Warrick called.
“Nick?” Catherine leaned down, brushing away the dirt from the box.
“Nick! Hold on there Buddy!” Warrick brushed away the last of the dirt.
“Nick?” Catherine still held hope until she saw what was in the box. “It’s a dog. It’s a dog.” She broke down, crying. Warrick held her, rubbing her back to calm her down.
“We’ll find him.” Warrick promised, half for Catherine, half for himself. He could see Greg’s disappointed face, and Brass radioing in to send the paramedics on their way. It had all been a false alarm, and that hurt more than anything.
Warrick took the box back to the lab, figuring out how it worked. He worked in tandem with Catherine and Greg. Hodges hovered, asking questions before Greg sent him to run the trace from the box. After a few minutes Warrick spoke, giving them the deadline.
“All right, based on this battery and what's running off of it, and the fact that we kept the damn light on for as long as we did, I figure Nick's got another ninety minutes left, now.” Warrick was cursing himself, his stupidity. Taking a deep breath he set the timer on his watch. Ninety minutes, his stupidity had cut his lovers life down to ninety minutes.
“Grissom has something.” Catherine’s voice cut Warrick’s mental scolding short. He followed her to the layout room. He watched, slightly detached as Archie and Greg cut the area down.
“Okay, I’ve got the web cam trace down to here.” Archie drew a slightly lopsided circle on the map. Greg looked at the circle before adding his own.
“And the data from the black box in Walter Gordon’s truck gave us a 23-mile travel radius.” The overlapping area was small, checking the information in his hands Warrick gave them the final count.
“Okay, I’ve got two nurseries in the overlap area. Here and here.” Adding two x’s to the map he watched the wheels turn in his teammates heads.
“Wait, wait. Wait, wait. Kelly Gordon, the daughter, worked with plants. Hold on, hold on.” Sara ran out of the room. A minute later she was back, looking triumphant. “You guys, Nick is here.” She touched a finger to one of the x’s. Warrick checked his watch, half an hour left.
Twenty minutes later, Warrick was running down the lines of trees that was the orchard. He held a wireless signal tracer, and held it to the ground. The machine was silent, but Warrick still held his breath, wishing for the beeps that would indicate they’d found him, found the right place, the right nursery.
“HE-E-EY! I’m picking up the web cam transmitter!” Catherine’s voice rang through the rows, Warrick started breathing again. He raced through the trees following Catherine’s voice. “THIS IS IT! I FOUND IT! IT’S HERE!” Her shouts made Warrick run faster, trying to get there quicker. “I FOUND IT! I FOUND IT!” Warrick arrived, bending over with his hands on his legs, taking deep breaths. Catherine was bent over a pipe, shouting. “Nick, Nick we’re here!” She kept shouting even as Warrick and the other officers dug. Suddenly his watch beeped. Time was up.
“I hit something.” Warrick glanced at Catherine before throwing the shovel to the side. He knelt on the side and started wiping away the dirt.
“We got you Nicky!” Catherine shouted into the pipe again. She was looking at the officers who were now brushing off the plastic box that held Nick. She kept talking reassuringly into the tube, hoping that Nick could hear her.
The dirt was finally cleared enough for Warrick to see his lover’s face, and for the second time in as many days his heart stopped. Nick was lying there, fire ants crawling all over him, tissue sticking out of his nose, bites making his normally golden skin red and blotchy, and a gun under his chin. “Hey!” Warrick fought to keep his voice steady, “Hey! We got you, man! Hey, Nicky!” Warrick watched as Nick wiped away the water droplets from the top of the box. “Nicky! Yeah. Hey, hold on there.” Nick didn’t move the gun, his eyes blinking at the sudden influx of light. “Hey, put that down. Put that down.” Nick’s arms were shaking, but he didn’t move the gun from it’s position. Warrick tried one more time, “Put that down. We got you. We’re gonna get you out of here.”
Greg was panicking, Warrick could see him out of the corner of his eye. Taking a closer look at Nick, Warrick realized his lover was still being eaten by the fire ants. He looked around and spotted a fire extinguisher. “Hang in there.” He said, half to Nick, half to Greg. “Oh my god. We need that fire extinguisher! Give me that fire extinguisher!” Warrick tried to stay calm. Greg ran over to the truck and grabbed the extinguisher. “Those ants are getting at him man!” People scrambled around Warrick as Greg returned with the extinguisher. Warrick grabbed the shovel he’s been using and pried open the box. Gil called to Greg distantly, and Greg sprayed Nick with the extinguisher, each short burst killing ants. “Hang on, buddy. Hang on. Almost had him.” Motioning for the officers to return to cleaning off the box.
“Get the paramedics.” Warrick was thankful that Sara had enough presence of mind to call for them. He turned back to Nick quickly though.
“Hang on. Hang on. We’ll kill those ants, okay? You listen to me.” Warrick was talking nonsense, he knew it, but he had to keep talking. “Yeah.” Vaguely Warrick heard a phone go off, and listened with half an ear as Catherine talked to whoever it was. He lifted the lid of the plexiglass coffin Nick had been confined in, and motioned the officers to help him lift. “One, two, three.” He called down the line.
“Everyone out of the hole. The box is ready to explode!” Catherine yelled. Warrick almost broke down crying. Not another thing to ruin it all, they’d found Nick, they’d found him and now they couldn’t save him!
“Are you kidding?” Brass was as close to the edge as Warrick was by the sound of it.
“Get out of there, NOW!” Catherine yelled. Everyone else climbed out, but Warrick couldn’t move. Not now, they were so close.
“I’m not leaving without Nick.” Warrick might as well have announced their relationship with that statement. Catherine was desperate in her pleas.
“There are charges under the box.” Catherine cried, close to tears.
“I’m not leaving here without him.” Warrick moved his hand into the box further, letting his fingers trail over Nick’s hand, offering comfort.
“Warrick, Catherine’s right. Get out of the hole now.” Grissom’s tone told Warrick that this wasn’t up for negotiation. “I know what we’re gonna do. Just trust me.” Warrick looked down at Nick, letting his fingers touch his hand one more time before reluctantly getting out of the hole. He looked back, watching as his lover pounded on the box. He kept watching even as Grissom shouted orders to the officers.
Warrick waited until Grissom motioned him over. He leaned down and gripped Nick’s hands as soon as the lid was removed. “I got you. I got you.” He leaned in, tightening his grip. “Lay still. Lay still. It’s okay. It’s okay.” Warrick kept Nick laying down, almost breaking down when he heard his lover’s broken voice answer him.
“Okay. Okay.” Warrick smiled and helped the officers attach the rope to Nick’s waist. Kissing Nick’s hand as discretely as possible Warrick moved back and waited. Grissom shouted at the men some more, moving in to say something to Nick before backing up and giving the order to drop the dirt. Moments later they tugged the rope and Nick flew through the air, even as the coffin where he had been housed blew apart. Warrick moved around Grissom and held his lover. The paramedics made him move, but as one he and Catherine got into the ambulance. He grabbed Nick’s hand when it reached for him, Catherine’s hand rested on Nick’s leg. Warrick finally allowed himself to break down. They had found him.
AUTHOR: Becca/MusingDarkly
FANDOM: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
PAIRING: Nick/Warrick
GENRE: Slash
PROMPT: #06 Pain
RATING: PG-13
WORD COUNT: 2836
SUMMARY: Warrick never felt so helpless.
WARNINGS: Kidnapping
NOTES: There are spoilers for Grave Danger, but seeing as it’s been a while since the episode, it’s probably safe.
DISCLAIMER: If I owned them, I’d be rich. Since I am poor, I obviously don’t own them.
Warrick was pissed off, but he couldn’t let it show. He took a deep breath, and held it. Not the smartest move he knew, but hey he was pissed. After a minute he let it go, knowing that if they did find Nick, and he’d killed himself, Nick would be beyond pissed. As in raising him from the dead to kill him pissed. Taking another deep breath, Warrick stood up and went to help Catherine with the evidence they had found at the scene. The tape was outdated, at least for Vegas, so Nick hadn’t bagged it. Warrick was walking into the lab just as Catherine left it.
“What’s going on?” His voice was steady, he was grateful that he’d long ago learned to act calm when he was freaking out. “Shouldn’t we be processing that cup?”
“Grissom just beeped me to the AV lab.” Warrick followed Catherine, trying to keep up with her worry-hurried pace. Grissom was sitting with Archie, an envelope in his hands. Archie’s gloved hands were placing a tape into one of his high-tech machines. As they entered the lab, Archie hit play.
“Son of a Bitch…” Warrick’s face turned stony seeing his lover trapped in a box. When the feed turned off, he clicked the button again, just wanting to see his Nicky. He sat in front of the computer, watching until Catherine made him move. Said that he needed to take his mind off it, help process the evidence, and maybe feel less useless.
“Sure Cath, what do you want me to do?” Warrick sometimes wondered if she knows about their relationship, Nick always reassured him that she was just guessing. The thought of Nick’s always smiling face when he teased him about Catherine made Warrick bite back a sob.
“Cross reference any cases in which a Styrofoam cup was a major piece of evidence. Start in the late ‘90’s.” Warrick nodded. He went to the break room, and started running the information. Catherine was right, he felt better. Especially when he found a case that not only matched the Styrofoam cup, but the address the messenger picked up the package from.
“Gris I have a lead.” Warrick practically ran into the office. Grissom wasn’t alone, but it didn’t matter. Judge and Jillian Stokes knew all about his relationship with their son, and how they had to be discreet about it. He wanted to hug Nick’s mother, and cry. She’d treated him like a son, and now they couldn’t even comfort each other when they needed to.
“What is it?” Gil was suddenly all business, ignoring the vibes swirling around the room, but then again the man had yet to notice the obvious interest that Greg and Sara had in him.
Warrick took a deep breath and smiled, trying to act confidant. “I was searching our cases for the past 10 years, looking for cases that involved a Styrofoam cup being major evidence. I found a few, but there was one, the address that the messenger picked that package up from. It was the scene of a murder.” Grissom’s face suddenly looked hopeful, thinking they had finally caught a break.
“Was anyone ever convicted of the murder?” Warrick nodded.
“A girl named, Kelly Gordon. Still in prison, but her father swore revenge on the department. The evidence was flimsy, and she swore she didn’t know about the murder until after it happened, but the DA decided to go ahead with the case.” Warrick rested against the door jamb reading out the basic details of the case for Grissom.
“So you’re telling me that my son was kidnapped by a man whose daughter was put in jail by you?” Judge Stokes soft Texan accent was more pronounced as he realized that a psychopath had taken Nick.
“Yes sir.” Warrick answered. Gil had already picked up the phone, calling Brass to have Kelly Gordon to PD. Gil dismissed Warrick and returned to talking to the Stokes. Warrick went to the AV lab, deciding that watching the live feed was the only thing that would make him feel better now. He knew that Gil wouldn’t let him interrogate Kelly with Brass, knew that Gil felt he needed to be there. Warrick just breathed, clicking the button every two minutes. Until he saw Nick looking at the gun.
“What are you doing Nicky?” Warrick started panicking. “Don’t do it Nicky!” Standing up Warrick looked at his lover in disbelief. The suddenly everything went dark, Warrick felt his heart stop. “YOU SON OF A BITCH!” He felt like he was going to cry, staring at the screen in shock. Then the screen took on a greenish hue, and he could see Nick moving. “Oh,” His anger flowed out of him with a single word, “You’re still alive.” Taking another deep breath Warrick left the lab.
“Warrick?” Jillian Stokes always knew when she was needed. Warrick was suddenly very glad Nick had introduced him to his family. Jillian followed Warrick to the locker room, waiting for him to sit down.
“Why?” He asked her before folding himself into her arms. He let his tears run freely, feeling Jillian’s falling on his hair.
“Sometimes God gives you a push in the right direction…” They sat like that for a while, neither noticing the flow of people coming into the room, only to turn around and leave. Slowly Warrick sat up, hugging Jillian tight.
“Yeah but what is the right direction from this?” Warrick shook his head, helping Jillian stand. Both exiting the room, he saw that it was daytime now. Judge Stokes came over and gripped his wife’s hand. Nodding at Warrick, the Stokes went to find a place to sleep.
“Warrick we got a call, the kidnapper blew himself up.” Warrick let out a breath before nodding at Greg. He grabbed the key from Greg’s hand and headed for the Tahoe. The drive to the warehouse that had been the drop point was quiet, Greg shooting sympathetic glances in his direction. He ignored the looks, and got out, grabbing his kit.
“Hey I found a trigger wire. Maybe…once we reassemble all the components, we’ll be able to tell where the bomb came from. Maybe that…” Greg started to say.
“Yeah, maybe, maybe, maybe. Maybe if we count up all the damn “maybes”, maybe Nick will be alive!” Warrick kicked at a plastic container near him, it splattered Greg and the evidence he was processing. “YOU KNOW WHAT I’M SAYING?” Warrick was pissed, at himself not Greg, not Catherine, no one else. He’d flipped Nick for the trash run, they both could have done it.
“Was that necessary? Never mind my clothes, look at the evidence.” Greg was irritated, but then tension was running high for all of them.
“Damn.” Warrick’s answer was no where near an apology, but it was all he could manage. He threw his clipboard down and walked outside, needing the fresh air, and the space, to think clearly.
“Hey, Warrick, hey. Hey, how you holding up?” Catherine asked from behind him.
“I’m not.” Warrick wanted to cope, wanted to be able to be process the evidence like Catherine and Greg, but he couldn’t.
“I know.” She replied, her voice soft.
“I can’t help thinking it could have been me in that box, you know? We flipped a coin for that trash run.” Warrick’s voice was cracking, and he didn’t care anymore.
“Hey Nick is not inside a box because of the flip of a coin.” Catherine’s voice was firm.
“If that was me, I would have…” Warrick mimicked shooting himself in the head. He knew he would have given up.
“Hey you know what? I know you. I don’t believe that. Okay?” Catherine was adamant, and he had to sigh. No matter how well she thought she knew him, she didn’t know what would happen if they didn’t find Nick.
“No. You’re wrong. I wouldn’t have lasted this far. Catherine, if something happens to Nick, if we don’t bring him back in one piece…” Warrick trailed off, knowing if Nick didn’t come home the lab would be short two CSI’s.
“Hey, guys, come here. I found something.” Greg seemed excited, and Warrick allowed himself to hope. He walked over to where Greg was standing. Checking that he had their attention, Greg poured some liquid out of the container Warrick had kicked. Warrick saw what he’s found at once.
“There’s something there.” Warrick started running his fingers along the edge the liquid had cleaned. Feeling his way around, he found the second edge. Catherine and Greg found the other two, grabbing a crowbar, Warrick hoisted the concrete slab covering. Seeing the dirt, Catherine grabbed two shovels, handing one to Warrick. They dug until Warrick’s shovel hit something.
“It’s plexiglass.” Catherine noted.
“Nick!” Warrick called.
“Nick?” Catherine leaned down, brushing away the dirt from the box.
“Nick! Hold on there Buddy!” Warrick brushed away the last of the dirt.
“Nick?” Catherine still held hope until she saw what was in the box. “It’s a dog. It’s a dog.” She broke down, crying. Warrick held her, rubbing her back to calm her down.
“We’ll find him.” Warrick promised, half for Catherine, half for himself. He could see Greg’s disappointed face, and Brass radioing in to send the paramedics on their way. It had all been a false alarm, and that hurt more than anything.
Warrick took the box back to the lab, figuring out how it worked. He worked in tandem with Catherine and Greg. Hodges hovered, asking questions before Greg sent him to run the trace from the box. After a few minutes Warrick spoke, giving them the deadline.
“All right, based on this battery and what's running off of it, and the fact that we kept the damn light on for as long as we did, I figure Nick's got another ninety minutes left, now.” Warrick was cursing himself, his stupidity. Taking a deep breath he set the timer on his watch. Ninety minutes, his stupidity had cut his lovers life down to ninety minutes.
“Grissom has something.” Catherine’s voice cut Warrick’s mental scolding short. He followed her to the layout room. He watched, slightly detached as Archie and Greg cut the area down.
“Okay, I’ve got the web cam trace down to here.” Archie drew a slightly lopsided circle on the map. Greg looked at the circle before adding his own.
“And the data from the black box in Walter Gordon’s truck gave us a 23-mile travel radius.” The overlapping area was small, checking the information in his hands Warrick gave them the final count.
“Okay, I’ve got two nurseries in the overlap area. Here and here.” Adding two x’s to the map he watched the wheels turn in his teammates heads.
“Wait, wait. Wait, wait. Kelly Gordon, the daughter, worked with plants. Hold on, hold on.” Sara ran out of the room. A minute later she was back, looking triumphant. “You guys, Nick is here.” She touched a finger to one of the x’s. Warrick checked his watch, half an hour left.
Twenty minutes later, Warrick was running down the lines of trees that was the orchard. He held a wireless signal tracer, and held it to the ground. The machine was silent, but Warrick still held his breath, wishing for the beeps that would indicate they’d found him, found the right place, the right nursery.
“HE-E-EY! I’m picking up the web cam transmitter!” Catherine’s voice rang through the rows, Warrick started breathing again. He raced through the trees following Catherine’s voice. “THIS IS IT! I FOUND IT! IT’S HERE!” Her shouts made Warrick run faster, trying to get there quicker. “I FOUND IT! I FOUND IT!” Warrick arrived, bending over with his hands on his legs, taking deep breaths. Catherine was bent over a pipe, shouting. “Nick, Nick we’re here!” She kept shouting even as Warrick and the other officers dug. Suddenly his watch beeped. Time was up.
“I hit something.” Warrick glanced at Catherine before throwing the shovel to the side. He knelt on the side and started wiping away the dirt.
“We got you Nicky!” Catherine shouted into the pipe again. She was looking at the officers who were now brushing off the plastic box that held Nick. She kept talking reassuringly into the tube, hoping that Nick could hear her.
The dirt was finally cleared enough for Warrick to see his lover’s face, and for the second time in as many days his heart stopped. Nick was lying there, fire ants crawling all over him, tissue sticking out of his nose, bites making his normally golden skin red and blotchy, and a gun under his chin. “Hey!” Warrick fought to keep his voice steady, “Hey! We got you, man! Hey, Nicky!” Warrick watched as Nick wiped away the water droplets from the top of the box. “Nicky! Yeah. Hey, hold on there.” Nick didn’t move the gun, his eyes blinking at the sudden influx of light. “Hey, put that down. Put that down.” Nick’s arms were shaking, but he didn’t move the gun from it’s position. Warrick tried one more time, “Put that down. We got you. We’re gonna get you out of here.”
Greg was panicking, Warrick could see him out of the corner of his eye. Taking a closer look at Nick, Warrick realized his lover was still being eaten by the fire ants. He looked around and spotted a fire extinguisher. “Hang in there.” He said, half to Nick, half to Greg. “Oh my god. We need that fire extinguisher! Give me that fire extinguisher!” Warrick tried to stay calm. Greg ran over to the truck and grabbed the extinguisher. “Those ants are getting at him man!” People scrambled around Warrick as Greg returned with the extinguisher. Warrick grabbed the shovel he’s been using and pried open the box. Gil called to Greg distantly, and Greg sprayed Nick with the extinguisher, each short burst killing ants. “Hang on, buddy. Hang on. Almost had him.” Motioning for the officers to return to cleaning off the box.
“Get the paramedics.” Warrick was thankful that Sara had enough presence of mind to call for them. He turned back to Nick quickly though.
“Hang on. Hang on. We’ll kill those ants, okay? You listen to me.” Warrick was talking nonsense, he knew it, but he had to keep talking. “Yeah.” Vaguely Warrick heard a phone go off, and listened with half an ear as Catherine talked to whoever it was. He lifted the lid of the plexiglass coffin Nick had been confined in, and motioned the officers to help him lift. “One, two, three.” He called down the line.
“Everyone out of the hole. The box is ready to explode!” Catherine yelled. Warrick almost broke down crying. Not another thing to ruin it all, they’d found Nick, they’d found him and now they couldn’t save him!
“Are you kidding?” Brass was as close to the edge as Warrick was by the sound of it.
“Get out of there, NOW!” Catherine yelled. Everyone else climbed out, but Warrick couldn’t move. Not now, they were so close.
“I’m not leaving without Nick.” Warrick might as well have announced their relationship with that statement. Catherine was desperate in her pleas.
“There are charges under the box.” Catherine cried, close to tears.
“I’m not leaving here without him.” Warrick moved his hand into the box further, letting his fingers trail over Nick’s hand, offering comfort.
“Warrick, Catherine’s right. Get out of the hole now.” Grissom’s tone told Warrick that this wasn’t up for negotiation. “I know what we’re gonna do. Just trust me.” Warrick looked down at Nick, letting his fingers touch his hand one more time before reluctantly getting out of the hole. He looked back, watching as his lover pounded on the box. He kept watching even as Grissom shouted orders to the officers.
Warrick waited until Grissom motioned him over. He leaned down and gripped Nick’s hands as soon as the lid was removed. “I got you. I got you.” He leaned in, tightening his grip. “Lay still. Lay still. It’s okay. It’s okay.” Warrick kept Nick laying down, almost breaking down when he heard his lover’s broken voice answer him.
“Okay. Okay.” Warrick smiled and helped the officers attach the rope to Nick’s waist. Kissing Nick’s hand as discretely as possible Warrick moved back and waited. Grissom shouted at the men some more, moving in to say something to Nick before backing up and giving the order to drop the dirt. Moments later they tugged the rope and Nick flew through the air, even as the coffin where he had been housed blew apart. Warrick moved around Grissom and held his lover. The paramedics made him move, but as one he and Catherine got into the ambulance. He grabbed Nick’s hand when it reached for him, Catherine’s hand rested on Nick’s leg. Warrick finally allowed himself to break down. They had found him.