A/N: This is for The Bickering Kingdom. Hope you like it. Based on "The CSI Effect" and how the events affected Russell and Julie afterwards.
The red digits were illuminated brighter than the car radio. The wires were tangled and messy, wrapped around each other, intertwined in a dizzying spiral of colors. The sun beat down on the front of her car; scorching the glass window and making her skin feel like it was on fire. Maybe she was on fire, she thought, as the inability to move was weighing on her heavily. She normally had boundless energy, bouncing around the lab, down the cool bluish hallways, at crime scenes, scaling dumpsters and digging endlessly through mountains of evidence. But now, here she was, forced to sit completely still or else she would die. The bomb squad agent was completely encased in his protective suit and she never felt more vulnerable in her entire life as she watched him carefully maneuver closer to her car.
"Just relax," the agent told her calmly but she was shaking violently, her hands gripping the steering wheel tight even though the car was parked.
The red digits blinked back at her a full eight minutes of time left to disassemble whatever contraption was attached to her vehicle. Eight minutes seemed like a long time but at the slow pace she observed the bomb squad agent moving, she wondered if she would die here. It was certainly not how she imagined she would go. Working in this field of death she imagined a peaceful one for herself at a ripe old age. She did not picture herself blowing up into a million little pieces in the parking lot of the Las Vegas Crime Lab. She tried to stifle the whimper that she had been holding in but it escaped and the agent heard. He looked at her with sympathy as she tried to steady her breathing, failing, and instead whimpering again.
Russell paced behind the metal barrier the bomb squad had put between him and Julie as she sat trapped in her car, sitting on a bomb. He had to see her, to know she was o.k. But all he could see was the outline of her inside her car. The other agent blocked his view. When his phone rang, he snapped "What?" into it angrily.
"CSI Russell," a chilling robotic voice spoke to him "CSI Finlay's life is in your hands, now tell me, who am I?"
Startled, Russell hung up on the caller, thinking it was some kind of sick prank call. He regretted it instantly.
The red digits on the clock suddenly changed from eight minutes to less than a minute. Julie jumped, startled upon seeing it.
"No," she breathed horrified "the clocks down to one minute."
She yelled at the agent near her and when he saw the clock his eyes grew wide in horror.
When Russell heard that declaration on the walkie talkie, his heart sank.
"Do something," he pleaded with the agent close to him "she's gonna die."
"She's already dead," the agent said sadly.
The phone rang again and again Russell answered.
"Ready to be reasonable," the voice spoke "tell me, who am I?"
Russell paced with the phone in his hand, the voice making his blood boil.
"You're the Gig Harbor Killer," Russell admitted begrudgingly as the call was ended.
The clock went blank, no red digits blinked angrily at her. The doors unlocked with a sudden snap making her jump violently in her seat. The agent yanked open the door now that he knew it was safe and practically broke her arm when he pulled her out of the seat. She swayed, unsteady on shaky legs as he guided her away from her nightmare. The parking lot blurred in front of her, her head felt foggy, but suddenly, Russell's face swam in front of her.
"Jules," he sighed relieved pulling her forcefully into his arms and hugging her tight.
He could feel her shaking in his arms. She lingered, letting him hold her for a few extra minutes, fighting against another whimper but it escaped her again. When he heard her, his heart broke into a million pieces. He hated himself for hesitating for that one moment before admitting that the Gig Harbor Killer was at large again. How could he be so stupid? She meant so much to him and he almost lost her today because of his unwillingness to reopen the case that haunted them both for so long.
Russell finally let her go but he kept one arm around her as he led her over to the ambulance. He insisted that she be checked out for injuries even though she had not moved for a good forty five minutes while trapped in the car. When the paramedics cleared her he offered to drive her home but his phone rang again. He felt his heart sky rocket in fear. It couldn't be Gig Harbor again? The caller ID showed him it was Ecklie calling. He sighed, only half relieved as he answered.
"My office, now," Ecklie ordered then hung up.
"He wants to talk about this case," Julie said in a hushed tone, her voice cracking with the raw emotions of the past hour "we should give him all of our notes from Seattle."
"We aren't doing anything," Russell said "you are going home, I'll deal with Ecklie."
And he turned to leave before she could argue with him.
As Russell expected, the meeting with Ecklie was grueling and involved officially reopening the Gig Harbor Killer case, something neither of them wanted to do. When it was over, all Russell wanted to do was go home and talk to Barbara and Maya to warn them of the potential dangers that may arise from the reopening of this case.
Julie didn't know how long she had been sitting on the bench in front of her locker back at the lab, all she knew was she couldn't bring herself to leave it. She tried to wrap her head around today's events; that bomb, Gig Harbor, Shaw, and Russell. All of those images flashed before her, each one getting mixed up and making her heart race with fear and her stomach ache unpleasantly. What would have happened if she had died in that car? She shivered imaging her co-workers picking up the tiny pieces of flesh that would have remained had that bomb detonated; her flesh, her blood. She curled her hands into fists, feeling her nails dig into her skin as she tried to stop herself from crying.
"You don't do that remember?" she tried to psych herself out into being tough like everyone expected her to be.
But the reality of how close she came to dying today and other days prior was weighing on her heavily. In this moment she didn't know where to run, or who to run to if she should tell Shaw or not. Or maybe John? Would any of them care? Probably not. Or if they did it would be fleeting just like all the other men she had tried to connect with.
As she sat there lost in thoughts of her own mortality coupled with thoughts of desperation, longing for someone but feeling worthless of their company at the same time, a loud voice exploded from the doorway.
"Hey, I thought I told you to go home?" Russell was yelling at her.
She jumped, startled and stared at him with tear filled eyes.
"I can't," she mumbled helplessly "the case, Gig Harbor-
"I told you I was handling it," Russell said approaching her "if you don't leave now Jules I can write you up."
"For not wanting to leave work?" she challenged him "yeah right."
"For not taking care of yourself," he said, fighting back her stubbornness with logic.
"Yeah well look where that got me," she snapped crossing her arms, hugging herself "a one way ticket to-
"Stop it," he interrupted "you don't learn do you?"
"What?" she spat back.
"To let people help you Jules," he concluded "you go around trying to shut everyone out and when something like this happens you won't let anyone in."
She couldn't fight back with any sarcastic stubborn remark because she didn't have one. He was right. But what was she supposed to do, just trust everyone who had let her down before? Fat chance. She tore her eyes away from him to focus on her open locker door but instead of leaving, he sat beside her.
"It's o.k. to be scared Jules," he reminded her.
"I'm not scared," she snapped but couldn't hide her sniffling.
But she couldn't lie to him. They both knew that. Her tear filled eyes, shaking body and stubbornness told him otherwise.
"We,"- Russell started to say then changed it to "I almost lost you today Jules" patting his chest where his heart was when he emphasized "I"
"I don't ever want to feel like that again," he continued "lost, scared, helpless, I need you Jules, whether you like it or not."
He pierced her with such a sincere look of caring and concern it made her heart ache with gratitude for all his unconditional positive regard.
"I was scared," she said in such a hushed tone he could barely hear it and he suspected she whispered so that neither she, nor anyone else would, it was meant for him.
That was the last thing she said to him before falling forward, letting him hug her again as she cried out everything she had been holding in since the moment her eyes landed on that bomb.
"It's o.k.," he soothed "I won't let him hurt you again Jules, I promise."
Because now the fire had been lit, the passion to pursue was growing; they had to catch Gig Harbor this time. There was so much more at stake, Maya, Kerry Torres and now Jules. And he couldn't lose his heart.