Walk in the Woods Conclusion

By: Kristen


Deputy Reynolds stared at the body of his superior. He had not pulled out his service weapon, but acted guarded around the CSI. The younger man checked for a pulse, even though there was brain matter spilled onto the ground.

Warrick felt a pang of sadness for the officer, but was just relieved he'd gotten through to the local search and rescue and that they were on their way. He had explained to Reynolds what had happened, but the younger man seemed very uneasy.

"CSI Brown, I'm just not sure about all this. Miles was a guarded person, but what you're telling me is a little hard to swallow." The young deputy swiped away a strand of his blonde hair.

"I understand, officer..." Warrick was going to elaborate when both men heard a rustle coming out of the forest. Both men turned to see Ned Jenkins stumble out of the woods.

Warrick and the Deputy rushed forward as the ex-military man fell to his knees, blood stained the front of his shirt and jacket. He looked up, still clutching his rifle. Warrick bent down next to the wounded man, who was chuckling quietly to himself.

"Ned? What the hell happened, Ned?" Deputy Reynolds asked as he ran his hands over the man searching for the bullet wound.

Warrick finally saw the hole in Jenkins' chest; dark blood dripped over the man's pants.. Reynolds tried to stanch the flow with his fingers, obviously ill prepared to give any amount of first aid. Jenkins weakly pushed helping hands away.

"Did... d-did y-you get help?" he rasped.

"Yes, I did," Warrick replied.

The deputy ran to his car and rushed back with a blanket and first aid kit from his seat. He pulled out big bandage and pressed it down on the wound that was bleeding way too heavily.

Ned Jenkins actually smiled. "Good man. T-told ya...I'd t-take care of things."

"Ned... what's been..."

Jenkins turned to the frantic deputy. "T-there are two CSI's y-you need to help." Jenkins held the younger man's gaze for a moment. "Poor, Reggie... Y-you had n-no clue. M-me and Miles...have h-had...our ...s-secrets."

Warrick sat back at the dying man confessed several sins to the younger officer. All Warrick could do was hold onto the mountain man as his voice faded along with his life. Warrick's face paled as time seemed to drag on. He heard the sound of helicopters ahead. It was too late for Ned Jenkins, but Warrick hoped they were still in time for Nick.

Warrick stared at the heat sensors in the helicopter. He knew there was a team on the ground heading in the direction where Greg and Nick waited for them, however, the CSI knew it would take them a while to find his friends. Warrick had insisted that he ride with the medic's, since he convinced them he could point out where the other CSI's were from the ground.


The criminalist perched very close to the edge of the chopper, knowing they were minutes away from their destination. Deputy Reynolds had been silent on the ride, but he remained acutely aware of their surroundings, giving directions to the flight crew. After talking with Ned Jenkins for the briefest of moments, the younger officer knew about where they were headed.

Warrick gripped the sensor when it showed two heat sources.

"I see them!" he yelled.

The pilot acknowledged him, checking his instruments as he guided them down. Warrick had participated with Search and Rescue operations before and he got ready. The helio got closer to the tree tops. A medic whose name badge read Steve readied himself. The CSI would have to wait for the Search and Rescue medic to descend first, then he could follow. After getting the all clear, Warrick went down the rope carefully. Despite his desire to repel down quickly, he knew that getting caught up in tree branches were not going to help the situation.

Keeping calm, he descended to the ground. Warrick landed and quickly undid his clasps and safety straps. He scanned the area, where he finally spotted Greg waving him and the medic over. Warrick closed the distance between them in several quick steps.

The CSI grabbed Greg by the shoulder. "How's Nick?"

The lab tech's expression was hard to gauge. "Let's just get him out of here."

The medic followed the pair of CSI's as they bent down next to Nick. Warrick gave his friend a warm smile. "Still laying around I see." Warrick hid his frown. Nick struggled to sit up, but it was apparent he was too weak to do so.

"T-took you long enough." Nick simply replied.

The medic crouched down and wrapped a blood pressure cuff around one of Nick's arms. He inflated the cuff as counted the CSI's pulse with his finger. He spoke into the portable radio attached to his shoulder. "Pulse 60, BP 120 over 55."

Quickly the paramedic inspected Nick's leg, pulled out a heavy bandage and applied pressure to the wounds. His patient hissed in pain, and the medical worker wrapped adhesive tape, securing the dressing in place. Steve undid the buttons of Nick's coat and ran his hands over the man's ribs and up to his collarbone.

"Any other injuries, or pain anywhere, Mr. Stokes?"

"N-no, just, m-my leg." Nick tried not to flinch as the medic examined him.

The medic quickly refastened the buttons, wrapping the coat securely. "Been having a hard time keeping warm?"

Nick didn't respond at first, trying to gather his wooly thoughts. His head felt like someone was squeezing it with a vise. "Yeah, it's so damn cold out here."

Warrick stayed on his haunches close enough to observe, but allowing room for the medic to work on his partner. "Anything I can do to help?"

The medic shook his head"Sorry, Mr. Brown. I'm working fast to prep for the ride."

Warrick grit his teeth, but nodded. He looked over at Greg, who was staring at the unfolding drama; he was shivering slightly in the cold. Warrick noticed the absence of younger man's shirt for the first time. He squeezed the young tech's shoulder. Greg gave him a small smile. Both men watched silently as the medic continued to work.

Steve pulled out a penlight and shined it in each of Nick's pupils. "How else are you feeling, Mr. Stokes?"

Nick coughed slightly. "B-been better."

Steve chuckled. "I bet." The medical worker uncoiled a roll of IV tubing. "Do you have a headache? Any dizziness?"

"Yeah." Nick felt drained and so very tired. He just wanted to close his eyes and fall asleep. He was aware of the medic working on him, felt the fiery pain of his leg as it was jostled. Nick tried to answer the medic's questions, but it was just difficult paying attention to the man's words.

Greg took a step closer. "He's been showing signs of confusion, and he got sick to his stomach."

Steve nodded his understanding. The medic set up a pole and a bag of fluid, still speaking to Nick in a calm tone.

"I'm inserting an IV to give you fluids." Steve then pulled a tank and an oxygen mask from his bag. "I'm placing this over your nose and mouth to help with your breathing."

Steve dug through his pack and pulled out an odd looking device. Nick gave him a strange look.

The medic smiled,"I was informed ahead of time about the nature of your injury. This is an air cast, with a built in pump. I'm going to wrap it around you leg, and then inflate it."

Steve wrapped the plastic around his patient's leg and strapped it securely. "This might hurt, but I need to stabilize the bones before we go up."

Nick mutely nodded. He balled up his fist and banged it on the ground in pain, as the pressure was increased around his injured limb. The air pump hummed as it finished enclosing his leg.

"In a minute or two we're going to place you in a stretcher and haul you up." The medic started an IV and communicated into his radio.

The group on the ground had to wait for the stretcher to be lowered. Warrick and Greg anxiously walked over to Steve, who was monitoring the progress of this part of the rescue effort.

Both CSI's nervously stood next to the medical worker. Warrick folded his arms over his chest. "How's he doing?"

The medic faced them for a moment. "Its hard to tell, sir. He's got a weak, rapid pulse. Blood pressure's high from trying to increase the blood flow in order to make up volume loss from the injuries. Despite the fact that he feels like he's freezing. Mr. Stokes feels very warm to the touch, from an infection I'm afraid. "

The stretcher was almost down and Steve looked at it. "I've got to get him loaded in; you can help me with that guys. He's conscious, which is good. We'll have to let the ER docs take care of him."

Warrick's jaw tightened. He closed his eyes as a thousand thoughts ran through his brain. He quickly opened them and began to help the medic get Nick onto the stretcher.

"Am I going to go up there with you guys" Greg asked. He'd been with Nick for the past couple of hours, and now it seemed he was going to be left behind. Was he just supposed to walk back out of here?

Warrick almost dismissed the idea of the tech going with them. They didn't have the time, nor the room. However he looked at the man's expression. The over confident, boisterous kid was gone, and a very concerned young man who had spend the last few hours looking after a friend stared back. Warrick would get Greg on that chopper.


Search and Rescue was met by an awaiting team of emergency personnel. Warrick and Greg had to hustle to keep up with the doctors as Nick was rolled into a trauma room. People swarmed the CSI, the medic shouting the needed information and the nurses and personnel responding.

"Got a male Caucasian, early thirties with a crush injury to the lower left leg caused by some sort of animal trap. Probable broken tibia."

A nurse was using a pair of scissors to cut away Nick's chinos as another care worker was stripping his shirt and placing EKG leads to his chest.

Steve continued to rattle off vitals. "Pulse is thready at 130. BP's 110 over 50 started one IV on site, an additional large bore IV en route. Patient had basic care given and emergency assistance was not started for at least three hours after onset of trauma."

"I need a crit, people," A doctor yelled.

Warrick and Greg watched from the doorway as doctors barked orders for blood, x-rays, and a slew of other tests. As Warrick tried to get closer, the two CSI's were ushered out of the ER room into the hallway.

"Hey! We just wanna be..."

A nurse cut off the bullheaded CSI. "Look you can wait here in chairs. You're only going to be in the way."

Greg gripped Warrick's shoulder and steered him towards a group of vending machines. "Look, we can't do anything right now. He's going to be fine," the tech tried to reassure the worried CSI.

Warrick took a deep breath, his eyes bored through the closed doors to the ER room. Suddenly his fist lashed out and punched the coke machine. "This whole damn thing could have been prevented. Damn it, Greggo, how did it get so out of hand?"

"That's what I'd like to know."

Warrick spun and saw Gil Grissom standing behind him.

"Gris? How did you get here so fast," Warrick asked, puzzled.

Gil Grissom gave him one of those expressions that indicated the answer was plainly obvious. "You called me over an hour ago. I checked which hospital search and rescue was bringing Nick to." Grissom pointed his finger to the floor. "This one. I got here just a few minutes ago. We may be over an hour away from your crime scene, but when you go by air it's a lot less."

Warrick scowled, the stress and emotional turmoil were obviously taking its toil on him. "You got our people heading back over there?" His mind still on the case, Warrick didn't want anything else to get screwed up.

Grissom crossed his arms. "I sent Catherine and Sara over there. I'd imagine they'd arrive in over an hour. From what I understand, we have two crime scenes to investigate?"

Warrick bit his lip. "Try three vics to process. We have the original site of Chris Robinson's' murder; which by the way is the same site as Sheriff Miles' deceased business partner."

Greg's eyebrows shot up in surprise. He hadn't heard this tidbit, but knew better than to interrupt a report being presented to Grissom.

The CSI continued his summary of events. "We have Sheriff Miles' body right in front of the Tahoe, and Ned Jenkins who died right in front of the main clearing." Warrick shook his head in disgust. So many lives lost.

Grissom stood there silently, processing all the information. He fiddled with his glasses. "Seems your walk in the woods wasn't so simple."

"It certainly wasn't a visit to grandma's house," Greg added dryly.

His quirky sense of humor was lost on the others. Grissom and Warrick gave the tech a stern look and Greg shrugged.

Their supervisor glanced back towards the trauma area. "How's Nick?"

Warrick's grim expression returned. "They're working on him now. It's a nasty injury."

Grissom appeared thoughtful; his voice was quieter, more reserved. "We'll make sure that CB radios are kept on us at all times from now on."

There was no accusation in his tone, even though Warrick still blamed himself for not thinking about that earlier. Warrick tried to push those darker thoughts away for another time, and turned to look at Greg.

"You did a good job looking after Nick, man. You can definitely handle tough situations."

Greg allowed himself a sad smile, but he still felt totally inadequate. He knew that he needed a lot more time in the field and had things to learn. He was glad to have helped in some small measure on this case.

Grissom turned to the wild man of the DNA lab. "Heard you provided some key leads. Interesting." The older man looked at both his CSI's. "Now the two of you should change into some fresh clothes, get something to eat."

Expecting the protests"You don't have a say in this. We can't do anything for Nicky right now, so let's just get you two cleaned up. You look like hell, you know."


Nick Stokes' entire body felt like lead. No, that wasn't exactly the right description, but it was the only one that came to mind. He felt wiped out, like he had run a marathon and simply collapsed from the exhaustion. The last thing he recalled was some crazed trip into a helicopter and being rushed into an ER room. Doctors were swarming like bees, inserting needles and tubes into every part of him. He'd simply succumbed to darkness, the pain, shock and exhaustion finally consuming him.

He wasn't in the middle of the woods anymore, but in all the melee, he didn't know where Warrick and Greg had disappeared to. For a moment he thought he might be alone, but the constant beeping of a heart monitor and whispered voices around him seemed to contradict that thought.

His leg wasn't a mass of pain and agony any more; no it was more of a numbed tingle. His eyes felt like dead weights, but he finally managed to open them. The room he was in swam into view, a dim light coming in from somewhere. He blinked several times and heard the scuffle of feet and a creaking sound from a chair being pushed aside.

"I'll go get the doctor."

That was Grissom's voice, but all Nick could see was the two concerned faces of his two friends peering down on him. He sort felt uncomfortable being the object of attention.

He cleared his throat. It felt terribly raw and sore. "Hey, guys." His voice was very faint to his own ears.

Warrick felt relief at the sound of that Texas drawl. He gave a forced smile. "Hey man, good to see you awake."

Greg hovered at the other side of the hospital bed, his eagerness obvious at the huge smile on his face. "Nick, dude. You finally decided to grace us with your presence."

Nick chuckled. "Jeesh, can't a guy get a little sleep?" He wanted to sit up, but didn't have the strength to do so. He took stock of his situation, noting an IV in his arm that went up towards two different bags of fluid. There were tubes in his nose providing him with oxygen. A blood pressure cuff was wrapped around his right arm. It automaticly squeezed his arm every few minutes. Sighing, he looked at his friends, "How long do I have to be here?"

As if on cue, the hospital room door opened, revealing Grissom and an oriental man in his late forties. The man smiled at Nick and flipped through a chart in his hands as he approached the bed.

"Mr. Stokes, good to see you awake. I'm Doctor, Chin. I am the resident in charge of your care."

The doctor scribbled some notes into his chart from some of the various machines, noted the BP inflate, and started to take a reading from it. After he was done with that, he carefully lifted the blanket covering his patient. Nick's had a halo cast, with metal circles around the leg, and little rods going in to stabilize the bones.

Warrick and Greg stood next to Grissom as the physician made his inspection.

"How is he doing?" Grissom asked as the doctor placed the sheets and blanket back into their original place. Nick looked at the doctor expectantly as well, taken aback at the condition of his leg.

"You broke your fibula bone in two places and cracked your tibia. Surgery was performed to set the bones and sew up the three wounds in your leg. You lost a significant amount of blood. We gave you several transfusions as well a hefty dose of antibiotics. The metal halo cast will keep your leg immobile and leave room for the bandages on the puncture wounds."

Nick swallowed. "It didn't seem too bad out in those woods."

"On the contrary, you were in pretty bad shape when you brought in. You were in deep shock and losing blood fairly steadily. If you had been out there for much longer, your situation would have been quite critical."

"What about infection?" Grissom asked, ever the scientist checking for variables.

Dr. Chin glanced over at Grissom. "An infection was already setting in, but it hadn't really developed. It's still a very real worry, so we have Mr. Stokes on some heavy antibiotics. The trap had not been laced with poison, which was a concern at first."

Warrick was clenching his fists and Greg seemed like he was staring at some spot in the wall next to the physician.

Nick shifted slightly in bed, feeling the numbness of his leg give way to that familiar sharp stabbing sensation. He grunted."So, I get to leave when?"

Dr. Chin crossed his arms and seemed to study his patient. "You'll remain here for at least three or four days. With the rods in your leg, you will be out of action for some time. The puncture wounds can still expose your leg to infection, which could spread to the bones themselves. Once the wounds in your leg heal a bit more, you'll be released to your regular doctor.

Nick shook his head. "How long will I be kept out of the field?"

Dr. Chin crossed his arms. "Atleast twelve weeks depending on how you respond to physical therapy. You'll be on crouches for some time, and have a slight limp for a while."

Warrick patted his friend's arm. "Could have been a lost worse, man. You'll be back to normal sooner than you think."

"You'll have to pass a medical test to regain field status." Grissom didn't catch the angry look that Warrick shot his boss.

"Great," Nick mumbled. After a moment of awkward silence, he looked at Warrick. "What the hell happened out there?"

Dr. Chin excused himself as the four men launched into forensic jabber.

Greg, Grissom, and Nick were a captive audience to Warrick's tale. The CSI talked in a clinical and mostly unemotional manner, except at the mention of Jerkin's death.

"Miles really thought we'd bungle the investigation or something," Nick was still confused over the idea that the lawman felt they would be so careless as to not investigate the death any further.

Warrick shrugged. "The Sheriff didn't count on Greggo on finding the original set of coordinates. He thought he had time to move the body and we'd be left with a cold crime scene."

"His backup plan was to kill several crime scene investigators?" Greg asked astonished.

Warrick scrunched up his face. "Nah. I think his plan was to incriminate Ned Jenkins if we found the original site. I think he was going to set up him up by planting that scrapbook and kill him. Make it seem like he caught the bad guy."

Grissom stood motionless. "But he didn't have time to do anything. He had his regular duties and you guys showed up much earlier than anticipated."

Nick played with his IV site and stopped. "Who's the DB then?"

"We'll know more when Sara and Catherine ID the body" Grissom added. "They'll be by to visit they said, when they are done at the lab They were here earlier, but you were in surgery."

Greg shook his head. "All this and we still don't know who the original victim was."

"But we will," Warrick said.

"We'll also know what kind of illegal business Miles was into." Grissom thought out loud.

"Probably something with his partner went bad" Greg speculated.

"I think Ned Jenkins knew that Miles had killed someone, maybe even helped cover it up. I got the impression that the guilt of hiding that information for whatever reason: loyalty, or fear over the government and his land had finally taken its toll on the guy," Warrick reasoned. He never liked the hermit, but in the end, the guy didn't deserve to die like he did.

The three CSI's noticed that Nick's eyes had drifted shut. Grissom motioned towards the door and left the room. Warrick and Greg remained behind for a moment.

The older CSI looked over at Greg. "You still want to go into the field after this?"

Greg let a smile spread over his face, lighting it up. "Of course I do."

"It can also be dangerous," Warrick said, his voice low.

"I want to get the bad guys out there," Greg said seriously.

"Your role in the lab is as important as what we do" Nick said with his eyes still closed.

"Aren't you supposed to be sleeping" Greg asked jokingly.

"Kind of hard to do with people in my room," Nick replied in a tired voice, but still with a hint of humor.

"We each play our part, Greg." Warrick looked at the younger man. "But if you want to know the truth, we can use your skills out there."

Greg beamed proudly. "Of course you do. Who else is going to keep you two out of trouble? Maybe even next time, I'll bring bread crumbs along for us to follow back."

"You better be glad I'm stuck in this bed, Greggo," Nick threatened lightly.

Warrick looked at his partner. "I'll take care of him, don't worry."

Warrick headed towards the door, signaling the tech to follow suit. "Get some rest, Nick. We'll see you tomorrow."

"Oh, Greg."

The tech turned around inside the doorframe. "Yeah?"

"I want my phone back, when I get out of here."

"Sure thing, man." Greg turned towards Warrick who had one eyebrow arched. "As soon as I'm done cloning all his fine lady friends' digits." Greg winked at his partner.

The two CSI's left the hospital, heading towards those cursed woods instead of going home.

"You think we should be going over there?" Greg asked.

"I'll guarantee you, that's where Gris, went."

Greg thought for a moment. "Am I still stuck taking photos?"

Warrick sent him a glare. "Don't push your luck man."

"I've think we've done enough of that for one day" Greg mumbled and readied himself for one more jaunt into the forest.

Fini


Authors notes: I want to thank everyone who has sent me comments as well as encouraged me "strongly" to hurry. I tried posting quickly while allowing enough time for people to read and catch up. What makes me the happiest was knowing that many of you felt that I kept in canon with the characters: that their actions, reactions, dialogue was respectful and in tune with the show. That beyond anything makes me smile after spending time on this. Of course its cool to know that the action and suspense quickened the pules a little too -) Walk in the Woods was my return to fanfiction after several years, and it got my muse into overdrive!

Many thanks go out to my beta Kristen! Just like films, books, and even fanfiction its so important to have a wonderful editor and friend to bounce off ideas and whose not afraid to offer feedback.

I hope to return in a few weeks with another story. I'm almost done with it and then after edits, I'll start posting so keep a look out!

Until then!

michon , Lady-Of-The-Rings

Thanks for your kind words, I hope this last chapter answered all of your questions -)

nicol-leoraine

Glad you enjoyed everything. My next fanfic, is another CSI story. I have not written ER for many years, since they most of the main cast left. Its not the same without Benton or Mark.

P.L. Wynter

Wow! Thanks for your wonderful response. As I said before, I'm glad the characterizations seem real. As for my favorite eppy? I can't just say one.

Season 1"Who are You""Boom"

Season 2"Stalker""Primum Non Nocere"

Season 3"Let The Seller Beware" "Inside The Box"

Season 4"Turn of the Screws" "Eleven Angry Jurors"

Peacful River

I'd never kill Nick! I like to add comical things inbetween the angst gives the reader a break, plus I could imagine Greg snooping in Nick's cell phone.

c1

Wouldn't want your neighbors to get too mad at you -) Glad I had the tension in there.

CSI Sam

Well this is the end. Like I said next story should be a few weeks away. Glad things flowed so well for you. Comments like that fuel my spirit to try harder on future things and improve my writing so you can enjoy even more the next time.