This is the sequel to "Hero." It take place 4 months after. The words in bold are song lyrics from the song 'Hero' by Chad Kroeger. They indicate breaks in the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to CSI or the song.
Warrick practically ran into the crime lab, the cool air rushing at him felt a lot better than the Vegas desert heat he had just escaped from. He paused for a second to catch his breath and looked around him, scanning the people in the labs and hallways. Unsatisfied, he made his way to the locker room and found Catherine and Sara sitting on one of the benches, looking at an old yearbook. He poked his head through the door and and cleared his throat to get their attention.
"Hey, where's Nick?" He asked when Catherine turned to face him.
"Nice to see you too." She answered sarcastically.
Sara shrugged. "Haven't seen him. You should know, you live with him."
Warrick sighed. "You would think that would make it easier." He turned to leave, but Catherine stopped him.
"Wait." Warrick turned back around, still in the hallway except for his head. "Why do you need to see Nick so bad?"
"I gotta ask him if I-" he stopped short, catching himself just in time. He shook his head and shrugged slightly. "Guy stuff." He slipped out and headed for the break room, almost knocking Grissom over in the process.
"Jesus Warrick...be careful."
Warrick turned so he was walking backwards and asked, "Have you seen Nick?"
"Yeah, he's in the beak room with Greg."
Warrick turned so he was walking the right way and made it to the break room in record time. Nick and Greg were sitting at the table, drinking coffee and talking about something that was apparently hilarious.
"There you are." he said, causing Nick and Greg to both jump a little. "Is your cell phone broken?"
Nick was still smiling from his conversation with Greg, but it was starting to fade a little at Warrick's behavoir. "No..." He unclipped it from his belt and looked at it. "5 missed calls...oops. It's on silent." Warrick rolled his eyes. "Sorry man. What's up?"
Warrick joined his friends at the table. "I really need to talk to you about something." He said.
As if on cue, Greg's beeper went off, and he looked at it and smiled. "Sweet. Hodges' has my results on my first stripper case." He said, a little too happy. "I'll see you guys later." He gulped down the last of his coffee and threw the paper cup in the trash before he left.
Nick turned back to Warrick. "What's so important?" He asked.
Warrick's sudden rambling was barely understandable. "Alright, this is gonna sound stupid, and sudden...but it just kinda came to me last night and I don't know what to do so I figured I'd ask you because...well I really don't know why but it seemed like a good idea and-"
"Woah woah woah." Nick said, putting his hands up and slowly shaking his head. "Calm down bro. I barely understood what you just said. What's going on?"
Warrick took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. He looked back up at Nick, who was smiling slightly. "Okay. Last night, I was thinking about me and Catherine, and how good things are and everything. And we've been together for five months-"
"And eight years." Nick said, his smile growing.
Warrick rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless. "Shut up. Anyway, I was thinking that maybe I should ask her to marry me, ya know? Cuz like...why not? It's a good idea right?"
Nick nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it is. So why don't you just ask her?"
Warrick sighed. "Cuz it's not a good idea man. It's too soon, isn't it? I just got divorced a little over 6 months ago, and I don't want that to happen with Catherine."
"Then it won't. You've known Catherine a hell of a lot longer than you knew Tina. You've been in love with Catherine longer than you've known Tina man. You guys love each other, and you know this is what she wants. She's a girl, that's all they want."
Warrick laughed. "Yeah, good point...but what if she says no?"
Nick shrugged. "Why would she?"
"I don't know. But what if?"
Nick shook his head. "If you always worried about the what-ifs, you'd never do anything. You gotta take a chance. What's worse, wondering what if she says no, or wondering what if she had said yes?"
Warrick sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I hate it when you're right."
"You must hate it a lot then." Nick said, grinning widely.
"What are you grinning at?" Warrick asked.
"Nothing...just my little Warrick's growing up." He said mokingly, and jumped out of his seat when Warrick lunged at him. Nick didn't get too far before Warrick had him in a headlock and was digging his knuckles into Nick's head playfully.
"I can still kick your ass Nicky." Warrick said, holding Nick in place as he tried to fight him off.
"You know I let you win so you don't look bad." Nick said laughing.
"Don't you guys have work to do?" Grissom asked his two CSIs, who were in the middle of a wrestling match, when he walked into the break room.
Warrick released Nick from the headlock and pushed him into the counter after Nick punched him. "Actually, no we don't." Warrick said, dodging another punch thrown by Nick.
Grissom shook his head and smiled. He had never seen anything like Nick and Warrick's friendship, and it never failed to make him smile, no matter how bad a day he was having. "Good. Then I'm sending you two with Catherine out on a 419 at some abandoned warehouse. Get going." He said, waving the guys out of the break room.
"Shotgun." Nick said as he beat Warrick out the door and started running down the hallway.
"Oh hell no!" Warrick said, chasing after him. Grissom laughed and poured himself a cup of coffee. He sat down at the table and got started on his crossword puzzle.
Someone told me
That love would all save us
Catherine pulled up behind Brass' Tahoe outside of the rundown warehouse. There was two officers there with him. They were leaning up against the side of the building, and looked pretty bored.
"Hey guys." Brass greeted when the CSIs walked up to him. He had dark circles forming under his eyes, and he was paler than usual.
"You okay?" Catherine asked in her motherly tone.
"Yeah, just a bit of a fever I guess." Brass said sighing.
Catherine nodded and turned towards the warehouse. "So what do we have here?"
Brass followed her gaze. "Male DB. No ID. Looks to me like a gun shot to the head. It's a pretty busy night, so David should be a while."
"Who called it in?" Nick asked.
"Anonymous 911." Brass answered, exhaustion creeping into his voice.
"Of course." Warrick said, looking around for any signs of a car or another person. Brass started to sway on his feet a little, and suddenly started falling backwards. Nick quickly stepped behind him and caught him before he hit the ground.
"Brass...Brass, you okay?" Nick asked as he gently lowered the captain to the ground and let his head rest on his legs. Brass' eyes fluttered open, and he looked up at the worried CSIs.
"I'm fine." He answered, and tried to get up, but Nick held him back.
"You should get home and get some rest, you look aweful." Warrick said, kneeling down next to Nick.
"Thanks 'Rick." Brass said sarcastically.
"Hey, you." Catherine said, waving over one of the officers leaning up against the side of the warehouse. "Come here." The officer walked up next to Catherine. "Please take him home, and call Gil Grissom at the crime lab to check on him."
"Yes, ma'am." The officer said nodding. Nick helped Brass into the police car, then stepped back as they pulled away.
"Alright, let's get going." Catherine said, leading the two younger CSIs towards the door.
"Body's on your right about 10 feet past the door." The officer said, not bothering to move.
"Thanks." Warrick said. He followed Nick and Catherine inside. The main part of the warehouse was a little bigger than a basketball court. The concrete floor was covered in dirt and dust, as were the panels of lights, giving the room an eerie feel. It was dim and cold, the moist air giving the CSIs goose bumps. There was a single door on the back wall of the large room. There were several thin, rotting wooden beams running parallel to the longer walls. A few stray peices of insulation hung from the beams and wires were visible above them. Four large wooden chairs were against the far wall near the door, and five or six stacks of boxes were against the wall on their right.
"I'm guessing this place hasn't been used much in our lifetime." Nick said, shining his flashlight on the decaying boxes.
"Thanks for saying 'our', Nicky." Catherine said with a smile. She circled the body laying crumpled on the floor, his legs bent awkwardly underneath him. There was a single gun shot wound above his right eyebrow. She snapped a few photos of the body and wound before turning to Nick. "Wanna see what's in that room back there?"
Nick put his flashlight on the door and shrugged. "Why not?" He carefully made his way to the door. The knob didn't turn easily, and he had to use his shoulder to unstick the door. When he got it open, he slowly stepped inside. There was a single wooden beam like the others running from the doorway to the back wall over an old, large oak desk. Behind the desk on the far wall was a single normal sized window. The glass was covered in dust and dirt, like everything else. The ceiling was the same as in the room behind him, dusty light panels showing the small rooms age.Nick swept his flashlight over the entire room and didn't find anything. "Nothing back here." He called to Catherine, leaving the room. He walked back over the door they had entered through and looked for any signs of forced entry, but didn't find any. He dusted the doorknob, and again came up with nothing. He sighed in disappointment. "No signs of forced entry or any prints."
"Same here." Warrick said, pointing to the lightswitch next to the door.
"Cheer up you guys. There's plenty of footprints, and something always turns up."
The guys sighed, but nodded in agreement. Suddenly, there was a loud gunshot from outside. Catherine and Warrick dove to the ground, but Nick didn't have time. Someone had pressed something cold and hard against the back of his head, and taken his gun from its holster.
"Don't do anything stupid, pal." The voice was deep and menacing. Nick slowly raised his hands and tried to keep his breathing under control. He had dropped his flashlight when he heard the gunshot, and it was now on the ground and pointing at Warrick, so Nick could clearly see the look of terror on his best friend's face. Two more men came in from outside, both holding guns.
"Hello." The skinnier of the two said, an evil smile on his lips. "Please toss over your weapons, or your friend over there dies." He said, motioning to Nick.
Nick shook his head. "Guys, don't-"
The man holding the gun to his head pressed it harder against him. "Shut the hell up."
Warrick and Catherine reluctantly tossed their guns over to the man who seemed to be in charge. He was a little shorter than Nick with short, curly blonde hair and bony facial features. Typical hollywood bad guy. His two companions were much taller and heftier than him, both with jet black hair slicked back against their heads and round cheeks. Typical hollywood bad guy sidekicks.
"Cell phones too, if you don't mind." Warrick and Catherine obeyed. "Grab his too, Ray."
"Sure thing, boss." Ray unclipped Nick's cell phone and tossed it to the guy in charge. The other guard had moved behind Warrick and Catherine, who were still on the ground.
"What are we gonna do with them, Sammy?" The guard asked.
"Let's have a little fun. Tie them up in those chairs over there in the back room. There's rop in the truck."
Ray dug the gun deeper into Nick's skull. "Don't try anything." He grabbed Nick's shoulder and spun him around, then pushed him in the direction of the door at the back of the warehouse, gun aimed at the back of his head. Nick heard Warrick and Catherine get up off of the floor and follow him. Once they were inside, Ray motioned for them to stand up against the left wall. "Jake, go get the rope from Sam." Ray said, never taking his eyes off of his three hostages. Jake returned a few moments later with Sam, carrying three chairs and a long length of rope around his shoulder. Warrick and Catherine were forced into the smaller of the three chairs, while Nick was pushed into a smaller, flimsier one. They were all tied tightly to their chairs with their hands behind their back, Warrick and Catherne up against the wall, and Nick sat facing them.
"Sit tight." Sam said. Then they were gone, and the three CSIs were left alone.
A few minutes of silence past, although it felt like hours. No one was sure of what to say. They were all in their own state of shock. Then Nick finally spoke.
"Are you guys okay?" He asked softly.
They both nodded. "Yeah...we're good. You?" Warrick asked.
"I'm fine. Can you move at all?"
Warrick and Catherine briefly struggled against their ropes, but to no avail. They then tried to move their chairs, but they were too heavy. Catherine sighed. "No...we can't."
Nick took a deep breath. "I can't move against the ropes, but my chair's lighter than yours and a lot looser..." Warrick and Catherine could see the gears trurning in Nick's head. "I have an idea...Warrick, put your feet against the bottom of the chair." Warrick positioned his feet in between Nick's legs and under the seat of the chair. "Alright...now on the count of three, kick me backwards, and I'll push off, and hopefully the chair will break when it hits the ground."
Catherine looked skeptical. "Nick, what if it doesn't work, or you get hurt?"
Nick shook his head. "It's okay if I get hurt if we can escape." He said. Giving her no time to argue, he looked at Warrick and nodded. "One...two...three." Warrick put all his strength into his legs, lifting them up and kicking forwards. At the same time, Nick pushed off the ground as hard as he could. Their combined effort lifted the chair off the floor and sent it backwards, crashing against the floor hard. Nick's left wrist hit the hard concrete, followed by his body weight and the chair. He bit his tongue so he wouldn't cry out when he felt his wrist snap. The sound of his wrist breaking mixed in with the splintering of the chair. He rolled into his right side and began wiggling out of the ropes. In a matter of minutes he had the ropes off and was slowly getting to his feet.
"Are you alright?" Catherine asked, the worry obvious in her voice.
Nick grasped his left wrist with his right hand. "Yeah...just broke my wrist I think..." He didn't even have time to think of what to do next. The door flew open, and Ray came bounding in and froze when he saw Nick standing in the middle of the room. He ran at Nick, grabbing him by the neck and brining him across the room, slamming him up against the wall next to the door he had just come through. Nick's feet were at least three inches off the ground, and he was gasping for breath through Ray's tight grip on his throat. Ray covered Nick's mouth with his hand. Nick bit down as hard as he could until he tasted blood. Ray yelled in pain and pulled his hand back, holding it up to look at the deep cut from Nick's teeth. He drew his gun from his belt and shoved it into Nick's mouth. Catherine closed her eyes and turned her head away, and Warrick just stared helplessly.
"I've had enough of you." His finger tightened on the trigger, but stopped upon hearing the voice from the doorway.
"Don't waste it, Ray. Just tie him up." Sam said, annoyed.
"But...boss, he-"
"I ink he peificly ed tie e up." Nick said, his words incoherent around the gun barrel between his teeth.
Ray removed the gun. "What?"
Nick turned his head and tried to spit the taste of metal out of his mouth. "I think he specifically said tie me up." Warrick chuckled and received a glare from Ray before he turned back to Nick.
"So you're a funny guy too..."
"Ray!" Sam said, his voice demanding. "Just tie him up."
Ray nodded in understanding. "Okay, boss." He raised his gun above his head and said, "Sweet dreams." to Nick before bringing it crashing down on the side of Nick's head, knocking him out cold.
But how could that be?
When look what love gave us
