Catherine shook her head slowly before she finally spoke. "Could you repeat that please Jim?"
Brass sighed and nodded slightly. "Harry Walker, the man driving the car that hit Nick that night, will not be charged with anything. The DA said that he wasn't legally drunk, it was dark and foggy out, he has no other offenses and it's being ruled as an accident. He just wants it to go away as fast as possible."
"So he's just letting that guy off with nothing?" Warrick asked on the verge of yelling.
"I disagreed with him as much as any of you do and I tried to change his mind, but he just won't. I was in his office for two hours, but he didn't budge at all," Brass said with a sigh. He looked at Nick, who was standing off to his right. "I'm sorry kid," he said sadly.
"If he wasn't 'legally' drunk, then why did he hit me? It wasn't foggy out at all, I could see fine. It wasn't just an accident, something had to have caused it," Nick said.
Brass shrugged lamely. "I know, but there's nothing more that can be done. Trust me, if there was, I'd do whatever it took to get some sort of justice out of it, you know that."
Nick nodded slightly. "Yeah, it's just too bad that things don't always work out that way." He then muttered some excuse about getting results from Mandy and left the break room, leaving his team behind him.
"I bet the DA would change his mind if he had to see how Nick is now," Brass said angrily as he sat down in a chair at the table.
Greg shook his head slowly. "I still can't believe it happened," he said.
"None of us can Greggo," Grissom said, using Greg's nickname, which was a rareity for the supervisor, but the nickname had been given to Greg by Nick, so it seemed only fitting. "Things like this should never happen. But unfortunately, we know all too well that they do, every day. Without it we wouldn't have a job."
"I don't care if I was unemployed if it meant that I didn't have to see Nick like that," Greg said, looking at Grissom from across the table.
"I second that," Catherine said as she ran her hand through her hair. "But even if he could get some sort of closure from it, I bet it wouldn't do him any good. It did nothing for me when I got it for Eddie and Sam. Some things just can't be fixed."
"This can't be," Warrick said. "He knows it, we all know it. That's the worst part, nothing can make this better."
"You can," Grissom said. "You can't fix it, but you can make it a little better and a little easier on him. You're his best friend."
Warrick nodded slightly. "I know, I just don't know what to do or say to him."
"Nothing," Grissom replied. "Just listen to him and be there with him. He's lost a helluva a lot, but he hasn't lost everything, even though right now it feels like it to him."
Warrick found Nick sitting on the roof with his back against the wall encasing the staircase on the inside. Warrick found Nick sitting there with his knees drawn up to his chest, just like he knew he would. Warrick sat down next to him and rested his arms on his knees in front of him. Nick didn't look over at him, but he did continue to stare out at the bright lights of Vegas in front of them from their perfect view atop the Las Vegas Crime Lab.
Warrick wished he knew what to say. He knew he should just be there for Nick no matter what, but he still felt like he should be able to say something. There must be something that he could say to make Nick feel somewhat better, but there was nothing that came to mind no matter how hard he thought about it. It had hurt Warrick enough when it happened, he couldn't even imagine the pain Nick was in. What do you say to someone who lost their wife and daughter, on their birthday?
Luckily for Warrick, Nick knew exactly what to say. "This fucking sucks man," he said quietly.
Warrick looked at Nick. "I know buddy."
"I don't even care about that stupid guy," Nick said, shaking his head. "It wouldn't have changed anything anyway. But I wish there was nothing that needed to be changed. This should have never happened."
"But it did," Warrick said slowly. "And as much as it sucks, you can't change it Nicky."
Nick nodded slightly. "I know," he whispered. "I just wish it had been me and not them."
"Come on man, don't think like that," Warrick said.
"I can't help it. I was with them. I was right there. I survived, and they didn't. That's all I can ever think about. They're all I can ever think about," Nick said as he finally looked over at Warrick.
"I wish there was something more I could do for ya man," Warrick said sadly. "But we can get through this, I know that much for sure. It's gonna be hardest thing ever, but I think we can at least try."
Nick smiled slightly. "If I had lost you too, I would be completely insane by now. I'm well on my way right now, but you're giving me a fighting chance at sanity."
Warrick smiled back a little. "Glad to know I'm doing something productive."
Nick was still smiling when he looked back at the lights of the city, but it slowly faded. As Warrick looked at him, he realized a lot about his best friend seemed to be fading. His eyes seemed lighter and emptier than usually did when they were such a dark brown, full of energy and life. His hair even seemed lighter, but that was because it was constantly messy because he kept running his hands through it to try and keep them from shaking. Nick's overall demeanor seemed faded and washed out compared to his usual vibrant personality and physical being.
Nick was quieter than he usually was. He wasn't sarcastic and funny like before, which was understandable given what had happened to him. He wanted to be the same as before, but he knew he never would be again because who he was, was now gone. Chelsea and Jenna had been his whole life. Of course he loved his friends and family and his job, but nothing even came close to what he felt for them. And now, without that huge part, he felt totally lost. His heart felt utterly destroyed, and nothing would be able to fix that.
Warrick had doubted that Nick would be able to kill someone since the day he had met the man because of his personality. But now, as he stood behind him and had his arms wrapped around his chest holding him bad, he started to doubt his previous assumption and hoped he would never be proven wrong. He didn't doubt that if he let Nick go, something bad would happen to the man Brass was pulling away in the opposite direction. Then Ecklie came out of nowhere and stood behind Brass, not moving at all, forcing the captain to stop pulling the man out of the lab.
"What's going on here?" Ecklie asked in an annoyed tone.
"He threatened my life," Brass' guy said, pointing at Nick.
Ecklie looked at Nick, who nodded. "Hell yeah I did."
Ecklie looked back and forth between the two men. "Do you two know each other?"
"I'm Jake Harris," Brass' captive said. "Nick's just mad that I care."
"No, I'm mad that you're being a jackass and trying to piss me off, again," Nick replied. "He's Chelsea's ex," he added for Ecklie's edification.
"She's your ex too now because she's dead," Jake said harshly. "She wouldn't be if she had stayed with me."
"You tried to rape her on numerous occassions," Nick almost yelled. "You're so fucking diranged, you need to get help."
"You say that like she willingly had sex with you. Your daughter was that of a rape, everyone knows it. She was only with you because she was too afraid to leave you because you told her you'd kill her," Jake said, trying to put on a show for Ecklie.
Ecklie looked at Nick. "What is he talking about?"
Nick shook his head. "I don't know. He's just pissed off that she left him because all he wanted from her was sex, and she didn't love him. That had nothing to do with me."
"Bullshit," Jake said. "This has everything to do with you and what you did to your wife and kid."
"What are you talking about?" Nick yelled.
"You raped both of them all the time, Chelsea told me all about it."
Ecklie looked at Brass, who looked pissed off. "Okay, get him out of here," Ecklie said, and Brass gladly obeyed. Ecklie then walked over to Nick, who had finally been released by Warrick. "You're gonna hate me for this Nick, but I honestly have no choice."
"No choice in what?" Nick asked.
"Jake filed a report, that's why he was here. I didn't put it together because I just read it briefly, but then I saw this. We're going to have to investigate it because of what it allegedly involves."
Ecklie didn't need to say it, but all three men standing there knew what he was talking about. Nick had been accused of raping not only his wife, but also a child, and those matters can never be taken lightly.
Nick nodded slightly. "Fine, you're not gonna find anything, I never did anything to them."
"I know, I believe you, but there's no way around it. There's also no way around this either; the sheriff and DA both want you to go back to counseling."
Nick frowned. "What?"
"They were skepitcal about you coming back to work so soon after what happened and they think it's for the good of everyone because of all the bad things that have happened to you," Ecklie said.
Nick shook his head. "Why do they get to decide?"
"Because they tell me what to do, unfortunately."
Nick laughed humorlessly. "Fine, I'll go back and see the guy that I hate and that hates me, for them, while there's an investigation on me on whether or not I raped my wife and kid, who died on my birthday. Ask them if there's anything else I can do for them."