Authoresses' Notes: Hey, everyone! Sassy and Giggles have returned with the second part of "Grave Danger, Love's Embrace". First off, though, we'd like to thank csinumb3rstlk lover and JMMendiola for adding GD,LE to their Story Alerts; we're glad you wanted to know when it updates, because that shows interest in the Story.
Part One focused a lot on Sassy's OC, Fleur Bouchard, and how she was dealing with her boyfriend's disappearance and Part Two is focussing more on Giggles' OC, Carmen Jones, and how she's dealing with everything. So, without further ado, we give to you… Part Two! Please, Read, Review, and Enjoy!
Disclaimer: No, unfortunately Sassy and Giggles do not claim ownership of anything related to the "CSI" franchise; that right belongs exclusively to Anthony E. Zuiker. They do own Carmen Jones, Fleur Bouchard, and any other characters mentioned herein that are unfamiliar to the Franchise.
Chapter Summary: SPOILER ALERT! The Vegas CSIs, and their two Miamian friends found Nick at the Nursery, thanks to Grissom's knowledge of the bug world. Reunited, how are the CSIs and their friends going to deal with the Aftermath?
Part Two of Two:
"Three, two, one; heave," Warrick counted; with a unified grunt, the three lifted the top off and threw it aside.
Grissom had to grab Fleur's waist quickly as, sobbing, she and Nick's hands found each other and hung on desperately. "J'taime, Nikko. I love you, so much," firmly anchored by Grissom's hold on her, she leant over and lightly brushed a kiss to his blistered lips. "Just sit tight, Cowboy."
"Oh, God… I love you… I love you…" Nick sobbed, tightly gripping her hand as she pulled back a bit, leaning somewhat into Grissom; both were so focused on Nick, that they didn't notice Sara's displeased look at their position.
"We gotcha, Nicky; we gotcha," Warrick assured, rubbing his friend's leg soothingly. "It's gonna be okay, Buddy…"
"Alright, bring that over," Grissom called over his shoulder and the Hoe driver carefully drove it over.
"Nick, listen to me, okay?" Fleur spoke softly, trying to get a handle on herself. "I need you to hold your breath, and close your eyes; when you open them, you'll be out of here. Alright?"
Nick nodded, squeezing her hand one last time, brushing a light kiss over her bruised knuckles, before he released her and she was helped out of the hole by Greg, who pulled her over to the line of people that had a hold on the rope that Grissom was hooking onto his belt.
"Okay, Pancho; get ready," Grissom warned, taking a hold of the rope in behind Fleur. Obediently, Nick closed his eyes tightly and held his breath. "Now!"
As soon as the dirt was dumped, the group pulled back sharply and Nick came flying up from under the dirt, propelled by the blast that took place a mere moment after he left the confines he'd been stuck in for twenty hours. "Sh, it's alright, now…" Fleur was the first person to recover; she shook the debris off of herself and, ignoring the sting of the scrapes she'd gotten that night, hurried to Nick's side and knelt, taking his head gently into her lap. She ran a shaking hand through his hair, cooing at him as he stirred slightly and looked upwards and directly into her darkened hazel eyes, "We found you… we found you…"
"Stay with me?" He whispered hoarsely, clasping the hand that sat on his shoulder in his own, "My Beautiful Guardian Angel…" He was convulsing slightly, which she knew was an after-effect of the prolonged exposure to the Fire Ants.
"Always, Mon Amour… always and forever," she murmured, leaning down and pressing a kiss to his forehead before she stilled and allowed the Paramedics to load him onto a stretcher. He kept a tight grip on her hand, afraid if he let go that she'd disappear and she did the same; turning to Grissom, she spoke in a voice that, despite its slight shakiness, brooked no argument, "I'm going with him to the Hospital in the Ambulance, Gil."
"Of course," he smiled, relief evident in his features.
"I'll come with you," Catherine spoke up, stepping up into the Ambulance after Fleur got in and re-clasped Nick's hand in her own. "We'll see you at the Hospital, Gil."
Grissom nodded, "We'll meet you there," he promised. When the Ambulance pulled away, he turned to Conrad Ecklie and informed him, "I want my guys back."
)) Slight POV Change ((
As the Paramedics loaded Nick into the Ambulance and it roared away, Greg realized that Carmen hadn't come back with the Officer when they went to flag down the Ambulance. "Gris, have you seen Carmen?" Greg tried not to worry, telling himself that he'd just missed his girlfriend's return.
Grissom frowned, concern creeping back into his aged, but still handsome, features. "No; I haven't. Sara, Warrick?"
"No, Officer Davids came back, but Carmen hasn't. You don't think something happened to her, too?" Sara bit her lip, worried.
Warrick shook his head, clapping his friend on the shoulder. "The last two days've taken their toll on everyone, man. Maybe she just needed a few minutes to re-collect herself?"
"She has been focusing on helping Fleur through this entire ordeal," Grissom nodded in agreement. "Why don't you go look for her, Greg? The three of us can handle the Scene ourselves."
"Thanks," Greg gave them a fleeting smile before he took off, frantically trying not to think about what might've befallen the intelligent brunette. He scoured the area, using his skills to decipher what direction his wayward girlfriend had taken with the Uniform, as Fleur often referred to the Officers as. "Maybe… maybe she's waiting at the SUV?" With this new hope, he raced past curious Officers as he headed straight towards where the CSI Team had left their vehicles.
Coming up on his SUV, he spotted a wisp of curly light brown hair behind the back fender. "Carmen, Babe?" He slowly crept his way around the parked vehicle and found a troubling sight: his girlfriend was slouched on the ground with her arms wrapped around her curled up legs, rocking backwards and forwards in what should've been a soothing motion; however this seemed to make her crumble more as the moments past, her face wet but no longer spilling tears. "Carma?" When she flinched violently, looking at him with a deer caught in the headlights look, his heart broke for her; she'd spent the last two days taking care of not only her broken best friend, but the entire Team and none of them had thought about how she had been holding up.
Greg could only stand there, his heart breaking more with each moment those swimming jade eyes stared at him as he became more and more unsure as to what to do; he'd been to many Crime Scenes with much more disturbing visuals, yet this was terrifying him as nothing else had yet. Something about the seemingly delicate woman he was proud to call his girlfriend breaking down in front of him made everything he learned about handling victims obsolete and meaningless.
"… Greg…" She whispered brokenly; this whisper caused something in him to click into place and he realized that, for the first time in the entirety of their relationship, that instead of it being him in desperate need of her, Carmen needed him.
Taking a deep, steadying breath, Greg moved so that he was no longer standing a few feet in front of her and sat down next to his hysterical girlfriend. "I'm here… it's gonna be okay, Babe," he soothed, wrapping his arms around her shaking shoulders and drew her to him so she was partially across his chest.
He rocked them side-to-side in a calming motion, ignoring Carmen who, despite melting into his tender embrace, kept murmuring, "I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" into his neck.
Instead, he made soothing sounds, whispering to her frequently, "It's okay… stop apologizing… Nick's gonna be fine…"
The broken woman, usually teeming with passion, was only a fragile shell and kept shaking her head and repeating herself; Greg couldn't help but compare her to a broken record, stuck on repeat and immediately felt contrite.
After a while, Carmen quieted, breathing in his scent and taking in his voice as he took to humming in an attempt to soothe her. She startled to find that she liked this new, sweetly soothing side of her boyfriend compared to his usual goofy and witty demeanour. As a rule, when she thought of her boyfriend, she thought of an adorable, fun-loving, rubber-glove-on-head, monster-mask-and-goggles wearing boy stuck in a man's body who often paired with her usually mischievous best friend to prank unsuspecting friends and enemies alike. Greg hadn't noticed that she'd come out of her trance-like breakdown state and dropped a kiss on her head, softly telling her, "I got you, Babe. We'll get through this together 'cause I love you too much to let you do it yourself."
"I love you, too, Greg," she sighed, her voice raw from her crying; a little smile crept onto her face momentarily when he let out a startled yelp and tumbled to the side with her still clinging to him.
His startled brown eyes took in her appearance, relief evident when he realized that she was, once again, in the present: her jade eyes were blood-shot and, like everyone else on the Team, rimmed in dark circles, with her mascara streaked from her tears, and her blotchy cheeks were so red that he thought they'd make Santa Clause's look carnation pink. Despite this, he still felt she was the most beautiful woman he had the pleasure to see. They just laid like that, her on his chest with her face inches away from his, for a minute that seemed to stretch for an eternity as they stared into their lover's eyes; her jade eyes seemed to dance and sparkle as the thought that their friend was going to be alright while his eyes devoured her own hungrily, thankful that she came back to him.
With a sigh, Carmen broke their eyes contact and sagged against his strong form with her face buried in his neck; after a few moments, she felt one of his arms wrap itself around her waist to rest lightly on the back of her dirty jeans while his other made itself a home cupping her neck. "Greg?" She lifted her head a bit and made eye contact once again, seeing his eyes over-flowing with relief and love, and allowed herself to be guided into a gentle kiss. She had a momentary flash of surprise, but smiled lightly into the kiss and held as tightly onto him as he was onto her. She thought it was the stress of the last few days, but she could have sworn that she felt every emotion he poured into that one kiss and deemed it "their" kiss: his desperation, relief, concern, anger, and, most of all, his over-whelming love for her.
She drew him closer into her, and he invited her advancement as neither thought of how inappropriately they were acting in public. Greg imagined that, through their kiss, he could feel her every thought, and each emotion that pounded through her: her concern for their friends, relief that Nick was going to be alright, her pain and grief over the entirety of the situation, and all of the heat of the love she held for him. They continued this, drawing the support of their significant other, their Life Force, and relished in the connection they held. After several eternal minutes, they pulled apart and stayed wrapped in each other.
Breathing equally as heavily as he was, Carmen spoke with a slight giggle, "Thanks, Greg; I… I needed that, I needed you, and you came." Realization of the fact that they just made out heavily behind his CSI vehicle caused a dark flush to blossom across her cheeks and, realizing the same thing she did, Greg began to laugh heartily as she giggled helplessly. After a few moments of this, they quieted. "We should get back; the others will be worried."
"Yeah," he nodded, smiling softly at her as he wriggled them to a sitting position, just as his cellphone rang. "Hello?" He answered it.
"Greg, it's Grissom; we're just wrapping up the Scene," Grissom replied. "Were you able to find Carmen?"
"Yeah; she was having a few moments to herself by the cars, Gris," Greg brushed a hand through his spiky hair, wrinkling his nose when dust fell from it and Carmen was hard-pressed not to giggle at him as they listened to Grissom repeating his words to Warrick and Sarah. "She's okay now; we were just about to head back to mine to grab a shower and then we're heading to the Hospital to see Nick. Catherine or Fleur call yet?" He asked cautiously with a glance at his watch and gaped at the fact that over an hour had past in seemingly minutes.
"Fleur called Warrick when neither you nor Carmen answered your phones," there was a dryly humorous note to Grissom's voice as he answered. "Nick's going to be fine; very sore for quite awhile with the bites he acquired, but he's in a room resting right now. She was quite worried for you two, however."
"We'll text her on the way. How's she doing?" Carmen took the phone from her boyfriend, causing him to playfully growl at her; he didn't realize that his growl gave her an idea.
"Exhausted. Catherine took the phone from her and told us that she was having a Paramedic take a look at her. Fleur wasn't happy about it, according to the shouts we heard in the background with her insisting that she was fine. I'm sending Sara and Warrick home, as well, and Sara's going to take a change of clothes to Fleur so she can get out of hers before she goes to sleep."
"Okay, thanks Gris. We'll see you later?"
"Of course; Ecklie wants a meeting in ten hours of all of the Crime Lab staff to go over the entirety of the ordeal," Grissom agreed. "My advice would be to get some sleep while you still can… but I know you won't."
"Nah; I'm too wired. Later, Boss," Greg hung up and with a sigh, got up off of the ground; he extended a hand to his girlfriend who couldn't help but smile at him as he gently helped her to her feet before he led her to the passenger side and opened the door for her.
"Thanks, Greg," Carmen quietly told him.
"No problem, Babe," he gave her a grin and, despite the grime and the dirt and the shadows under his eyes, she saw the "spiky blonde haired Casanova", as Fleur laughingly called him often, she fell in love with four years ago.
"Ooh, Greggy, before I forget, do you think we could stop off at that Arts and Crafts store on the way?" She spoke up as he started his vehicle; her eyes were on the screen of her cellphone which she'd left on the seat as she texted her best friend to let her know that they'd see her in a bit.
"Yeah, sure; why?" Greg kept his eyes on the barren road and jerked the wheel to the left, but quickly corrected himself when his girlfriend answered with a coy tone,
"'Cause, if we cut the fun short, we'd have enough time to make monster masks, so we can scare the Hospital Staff and give Fleur and Nick a laugh," she hid a smirk at the uncharacteristicness of her tone and her sentence; it was more something her best friend was wont to say, especially with the flirtatious tone. When he stared at her, completely speechless, she demurely pointed out, "Sweetie, eyes on the road, please."
"Where did that come from?" Greg turned his eyes back to the road, much to her relief, but eyed her from the corner of his eyes, "Did you hit your head, Babe? You hate it when Fleur and I play pranks like that."
She grinned, "Let's just say I had some… hot… inspiration." She giggled when he stomped on the breaks and got out of the SUV, walking around to her side and opening her door.
"Get in the driver's side; if you keep channelling Fleur like that, I'll end up crashing," he told her matter-of-factly, causing her to giggle deviously as she slid over to the driver's side and, waiting for him to get into the passenger's seat, began driving again with a wink at him.
"Someone's gotta be crazy, Sweetie," Carmen replied mischievously; she stopped at an intersection and, leaning over, pecked him quickly on the lips before she continued driving as he looked at her like she was his Rubik Cube.
"Weird. But, I think I might like this new side of you, Sexy," she flushed when he said this, as she'd been worried that his silence meant she'd said something wrong. "Mm… Monster Mash, here we come!" He grinned when his girlfriend's laughter filled the vehicle.
Meanwhile, in the Hospital, Nick was resting when Catherine entered the small room the Hospital Staff had secured a resistant Fleur in. "Fleur, Honey, you know better than that," she scolded lightly; she was, of course, referring to what could only be described as Fleur's temper-tantrum not even twenty minutes before.
"I'm sorry, Cath," Fleur averted her hazel eyes and allowed her matted red hair to hide her ashamed face from her friend's view.
Catherine sighed, sitting down beside the younger redhead and, gently pushing her hair back, replied, "Fleur, I know you're sorry; you don't have to apologize. I expect that you'll be staying with Nick for a bit, until he's healed enough to come back to work?"
"Of course," Fleur nodded solemnly, "I don't know what came over me, honest, Catherine, but I think it was the fact that the last time I let Nick out of my sights… He was kidnapped a few days later."
"I understand, Honey, I do; but you've gotta stop blaming yourself," at her friend's sharp, frightened look, Catherine gave a little smile, "Gil's not the only one to have caught onto your self-blame. It wasn't your fault. What will be your fault is Nick blaming himself if he was to hear about how his girlfriend neglected herself while she took care of everyone else."
"You wouldn't!"
"I would; and if I don't, I'm sure his mother or father will…"
"… they would, too," Fleur sighed, burying her face into her bruised hands.
"It's only because we love you, Sweetpea," the two redheads looked up to see Judge Bill Stokes filling the doorway. "Now, if you agree and co-operate with the Nurses, includin' gettin' cleaned up, we'll make sure that another bed will be put into Nicholas' room for you."
"You would?" The young woman's face lit up as she rose on slightly shaky legs and walked to the older man, embracing him, "But, how? It's completely against regulation."
"Don't you worry none, Sweetpea; you forget the Missus and I argue for a livin'," he chuckled, kissing her forehead. "Now, go get yourself cleaned up and we'll see you in a bit, alright? Run along now, Blossom." He ushered her out of the door and into a waiting Nurse's hold; when she was gone from sight, he turned to Catherine with gratefulness in his dark eyes, "Ms. Willows, I can't thank you enough for takin' care of our Blossom; goodness only knows what my Son would do if somethin' were to happen to her."
Catherine smiled at him, "It goes both ways, Judge Stokes; the only thing that kept Fleur going was the hope and determination that we'd find him. They're good for each other."
Several days later found a more-or-less healed Nick and Fleur in the visitation room of the Las Vegas Women's Penitentiary. "Are you sure about doing this, Nick?"
"As sure as I am that I love you," he answered, lightly brushing a kiss across her lips. "It's just… something that I have to do, you know?"
"I understand," she nodded in acceptance and stood against the side as he went over and sat in front of Kelly Gordon.
"You're the one?" Kelly asked, cutting straight to the chase.
"Mmhm, yeah." He cleared his throat, "Yeah; back atcha."
After a few moments of silence, she spoke, "What do you want me to say? That I'm sorry?"
"Nah, you didn't do anything to me; your dad did, but you didn't. And, I think, your dad did what he did just 'cause he love ya so much." Annoyed, Kelly hung up the phone and Nick gestured for her to pick it back up again. "Hey, Kelly; Kelly. Pick it up," he choked out. "Pick it back up."
"She your wife?" Kelly nodded over at the short redheaded woman who was eying her with a promise of pain in her eyes.
"No; girlfriend, actually. Someday, I hope she'll be my wife, though," he gave a throaty chuckle. He cleared his throat again, "In a few years, when you get outta here? Don't take it with ya."
"That's it?" Kelly questioned after another charged silence, trying to keep the emotion out of her voice.
"Yeah, yeah."
She stoically hung up and told the Officer, "We're done here."
Just before she exited the area, Kelly turned around and witnessed the short redhead walk over to where the CSI was still sitting, kneel at his side and, turning him to face herself, gently wiped away his tears as she said something to him; whatever she said brought a slight smile to his face and he grasped her hands in his, bringing them up to his lips to kiss both of them. Together the two stood, him helping her back up, and left the Penitentiary with their hands linked together. When she got back to her cell, Kelly sat on her slab with her pillow clutched to her chest as she thought about what the CSI had said…
Don't take it with you.
Finite.
Authoresses' Notes: Well, there's another completed story in our "Relations" CSI/CSI: Miami universe. The Story was actually longer, but Sassy and Giggles cut out a number of scenes, to make it flow smoother for the Reader. We will be posting a "Cut/Extended Scenes of Grave Danger, Love's Embrace" fic in a bit, which will contain all of the Scenes that didn't make the final cut or that we had to shorten.
We hope everyone enjoyed reading GD,LE as much as we enjoyed writing it; as said in Part One, "Grave Danger Part One and Two" are two of our favourite Episodes, at the same time as being two of our most hated. Everytime we watch it, even though we know it backwards and forwards, we keep being terrified that the CSIs wouldn't find Nick in time. That's what makes it such a great episode!
Oh, and we'd really appreciate anyone who Alerts/Favourites us or our Stories to leave just, even if it's one sentence long, a short Review to tell us WHAT you like about our Stories; it'd be really helpful to know what we're doing right and what we can improve on. Thanks!
The duo of Sassy and Giggles accept the "Three C's": Comments, Compliments, and Constructive Criticism. Good, bad, or in-between, it doesn't matter to us. Thanks to those who R&R!
- Sassy and Giggles