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Chapter Ten: CSI Meet the FBI
The New York Crime Lab, New York
"Danny!" Lindsay called out. "Oh Mac, how could this happen?"
Stella answered for him. "I don't know, but we don't have time to…" More of the windows shattered, sending broken glass flying across the room. The water was knee deep now and still rising. "We need to leave, get out, now!"
Stella grabbed Mac's hand, who grabbed Lindsay's hand. They ran together through the water, making their way to the entrance. The glass doors were gone now, broken from the flood rising waters. Then a voice called behind them. "Lindsay, are you there?"
Lindsay turned around in surprise. "Danny, I thought you were outside, leaving for the airport!"
He didn't answer, but instead got a mouthful of water. Lindsay reacted immediately and ran over to his side. Stella pushed Mac to the entrance. "Go without me, I'll get Lindsay."
"Stella, the flood waters are getting deeper every minute, if you don't get in a cab to leave to the airport now, you'll end up getting washed away by the water!" Mac exclaimed. Stella tried to walk away from Mac, but he wouldn't let go of her hand. "I'm not losing you again."
"You won't," replied Stella. "Just let me do this, or you'll lose both Paige and Danny."
Mac stared at Stella in shock. Oops, she thought. I just called Lindsay, Paige. Now he'll know I've found out Lindsay's secret.
"Did you just say…?"
Stella pushed him outside and ran back into the water filled lobby. Chairs, phones, plants, and tables were now floating in the water. Pieces of glass floated on the surface of the water and Stella had to watch out for any other windows that might break from the pressure of the flood waters. "Danny, Lindsay, get over to the entrance now!"
She fell down into the water as she ran towards Danny and Lindsay. The water was cold and sent a chill down her spine. She recovered quickly and got up from the water. "Danny, Lindsay, can you hear me?"
"Yes," Danny called. "We're over here, by the check in desk!"
She spotted Danny waving his hands and she tried to run as fast as she could. With the water already knee deep, it made it hard to even walk. When she reached them, she put out her hand. "We've got to hurry or else we won't make it to the airport!"
Danny grabbed Stella's hand, and she saw that Lindsay had already been holding on to Danny's hand. They made their way to the entrance and to the front steps of the New York Crime Lab. "Look!" Lindsay called.
Stella looked at the scene in front of her. The rain was starting to flood the roads. "Stella!" a voice called. She saw that Mac was in the front seat of a cab, waiting for her. "Get in the car, quick!"
She quickly obeyed and opened the car door. "LaGuardia Airport," Stella ordered to the cab driver.
He immediately started the car and drove through the flood watered streets. Stella watched in horror as the city of New York was drowned in the water. The home she had known for so long was now vanishing before her eyes. She had grown up here, lived here for all her life. And now, it was all going to be gone. In forty eight hours, the city of New York would truly be destroyed and washed away by the floods. Lindsay had been right after all, she thought. New York would become of what had happened in the movie 'The Day after Tomorrow'.
As the airport came into view, Stella let out a sigh of relief. They had made it to the airport, now they just had to make it out of the city. They got out of the car, happy to see the water had receded a little.
Mac led the way into the airport. He met up with the rest of the CSI team. "Hey!" exclaimed Flack. "We thought you'd never make it."
"Well, we did," said Mac. "For a second, I thought we'd never make it out of the crime lab."
"I'm glad you did," Flack said.
Stella looked at the lines for each airline. "Did you guys stop to think about where you are going?"
"I know where I'm going," said Mac.
Stella nodded. She knew he would go to Chicago, since he had grown up there. But she was still undecided about where she would go, and she didn't want to leave Mac go to Chicago alone. "I'll come with you," she said. "I'll go to Chicago with you."
Mac smiled. "Are you sure that's where you want to go?"
"Yes," replied Stella. She had to go with Mac to Chicago. If she didn't, she would lose one of her best friends.
"Samantha!" exclaimed Lindsay. Everyone turned to look at her. "The FBI agent, Samantha Spade, she's here!" In the distance, Stella could see the blond haired FBI agent, sitting in one of the chairs besides Jack Malone and by another woman she didn't recognize. Lindsay ran over to her, finally sounding happy for the first time that day.
Samantha looked up to see Lindsay coming towards her. She got up from the chair and greeted her with a hug. "Paige, thank God you're all right."
"The others," Lindsay whispered and she nodded behind her.
Samantha nodded her head to show she understood. "You're all wet, what happened?"
"The New York Crime Lab was filling with water from the floods," explained Lindsay. "You must have been lucky."
"Our building was starting to fill with water too," said Samantha. "We just got out in time before it got worse." The CSI team was now walking over to Sam and Lindsay. "Mac Taylor, Stella Bonasera, Danny Messer, it's nice to see you all again. Sorry, but I don't exactly remember all of you."
Hawkes stepped forward and shook Samantha's hand. "Sheldon Hawkes."
A smile appeared on her face. "I talked to you in the lab one day, now I remember you."
Jack Malone went over to Flack. "We talked a few times, Don Flack?"
"Yep," replied Flack. "And you're Jack Malone, right?"
"Yes," said Jack.
Elena got up from her seat. "Sorry, but I don't think I've met any of you."
Jack signaled for her to come over to him. "This is Elena Delgado; she works with Sam and me. She was assigned to Stella's case, but she hadn't gone to the New York Crime Lab like Samantha and I had."
Stella went over to shake her hand. "I'm Stella. And yes, I did go missing and that's the case both Jack and Samantha worked on."
Elena nodded. "It's nice to meet you."
Adam and Sid appeared by Stella's side. "Adam Ross, I'm a lab technician, so I was never really able to meet you guys." He shook hands with Jack, Samantha, and Elena.
"Sid Hammerback, the medical examiner at the New York Crime Lab, you wouldn't have seen much of me since I'm always in morgue," Sid introduced himself.
Lindsay spoke up again. "Where are you going?"
"Well, the three of us are going to Chicago," replied Sam. "What about you?"
"I don't know," Lindsay admitted. "Anywhere would be nice, if I could just get away from this hurricane."
There she goes again with that 'everybody hates us' voice, Stella thought. I hope she doesn't go somewhere 'dark and gloomy'.
"Stella and I are going to Chicago," said Mac. "When does your flight leave?"
"Eight o'clock," Sam replied with a sigh. "Right now, we're waiting for the rest of our team to show up."
"What do you mean, 'show up'?" a voice asked behind her.
Sam turned around to see Vivian Johnson walk over to her. "Vivian!"
"Sam, Jack, Elena, where have you been? How long have you been waiting for us to 'show up'?"
"For at least thirty minutes," replied Elena.
"Well, we've been waiting for you in the waiting room for thirty minutes!" exclaimed Vivian.
"Why didn't you bother calling us?" asked Jack.
"I didn't think you'd have your phone on you," said Vivian. "I thought maybe you lost it in the flood or something." She saw the CSI team standing beside Sam. "Who are you talking to?"
"We're the CSI investigators that work for the NYPD," Mac quickly answered. "There's not enough time to reintroduce everyone, though."
"Vivian, where are you going?" asked Sam, with concern in her voice. "Jack, Elena, and I are going to Chicago, so…"
"Chicago, thank God, I thought I was the only one," said Vivian.
"Are the others coming with you?"
Vivian nodded. Sam let out a sigh of relief. They're lucky to have their team all go to the same place, Stella thought. Would the rest of the CSI team accompany her and Mac to Chicago as well?
"I was going to go to Miami, but Malone and Spade talked me out of it," said Elena.
"At least we'll all be together," said Samantha. She turned to Lindsay. "Do you want to come to Chicago with us?"
Stella knew why she had asked her that. Samantha Spade must being helping Lindsay figure out if she was Paige Hobson or not. If she came with them to Chicago, Lindsay would be able to keep in touch with the FBI agent. If she decided not to go with them, her chances of figuring out who she really was would be hard.
"I don't know, like I said before," Lindsay answered. "I could go to Montana, where I grew up…"
"Could you excuse us for a minute?" asked Sam.
Jack nodded his approval.
Lindsay and Samantha walked over to the little waiting area she had been sitting at a few minutes ago. Samantha took a seat; Lindsay decided to stay standing. "Paige, you have to come to Chicago with us. If you don't, I won't be able to stay in contact with you and help you find out your identity."
Lindsay was fighting back tears. "I don't think I want to know who I am anymore." She paused. "Every night since you found Stella I've been crying myself to sleep. Today, I cried in the lab twice, without anyone knowing about it. I can't face the truth; I need to get away from it."
"You can't hide from the truth Paige," said Samantha, taking Lindsay's hand to have her sit down. "I know it's a scary thought to think that you may not be Lindsay Monroe or Paige Hobson. But you can't ignore it forever; you'll have to find out sooner or later. Otherwise, you'll just keep crying and won't be able to focus on what's important."
Lindsay lowered her head. "I wrote my name on a bathroom stall in the lab. I wrote, "Paige Hobson, Thursday, March 27, 2008." I wanted someone to find out my story, share my feelings. But with the storm, no one will find the signature, since the building will probably be gone by the time I leave New York."
Samantha put her hand on Lindsay's chin and raised her head. "That was a good thing that you did back there. I'm glad you want to make the step to having more people know about your story. But I think it's a good idea that you give yourself a little time before making your story public." Lindsay wiped a tear from her face. "Can you do one thing for me and try not to cry anymore today? I don't want you to have to worry about this right now."
Samantha took her hand off Lindsay's chin and waited for her reply. "Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you for everything you've done for me. I'll come to Chicago with you."
Samantha blinked her gratitude, and they went to join the others. "Have you guys decided where you are heading to?" she asked as she walked up to the group.
Sid spoke up first. "I would love to go to Chicago with you guys, but I'm planning on going to Denver. I have relatives there."
"Me too," said Adam.
"You have relatives in Denver?" questioned Sid. "Maybe I should invite them over for Thanksgiving one time."
Mac laughed at that, Sid had invited him over for Thanksgiving once so he wouldn't have to spend the holidays alone.
"Ah, thanks for the offer Sid, but I was agreeing to the fact that I'd love to go to Chicago with the others," explained Adam. "I was thinking about heading back to Phoenix."
Stella remembered that Adam had come from Phoenix; he hated the cold weather, especially snow, and considered temperatures below eighty five degrees cold. She wondered how Adam had been able to make it through the winter of New York, since it had been a long, cold winter the previous year.
Lindsay turned to Danny. "Where are you going to go?"
"I'm coming wherever you go," he replied. "Lindsay, I couldn't leave you behind. I would be devastated."
"You know I don't like you, right?" she asked him.
"I know, but I still can't leave you go somewhere by yourself," said Danny.
"Flack and Hawkes, you're the last two that haven't said where you are going to fly to," said Mac.
"Chicago's fine with me," Hawkes replied. "I don't know about Flack…"
"Hey, I'm all for Chicago too!" exclaimed Flack.
"So we've got a lot of people heading for Chicago," Samantha concluded. "I guess we'll be seeing you on the flight."
Mac nodded. "You should make your way to the waiting area; the rest of us will get our flights."
The CSI team said their goodbyes to Jack, Samantha, Elena, and Vivian. Then they said their goodbyes to Adam and Sid, who would not be accompanying them to Chicago. Stella hugged both Adam and Sid; she would miss having them around. Mac gave both of them a formal handshake and wished them well in their new homes. Danny and Hawkes talked to them for a minute or two, then said goodbye. And Flack, well, he does what Flack does, which in pretty much say goodbye and good luck. Then he waved to them and went back over to join Danny and Hawkes.
Lindsay stayed farther away from the group; she just nodded her head to Adam and Sid. Stella wanted to push her over there to at least say something to the two of them, since she would never see them again. But Stella didn't want to even try; she might end up getting in an argument with Lindsay because she was so…well how did Lindsay put it again? She seemed too dark and gloomy. In other words, she seemed too depressed to talk to anyone expect Samantha.
When they were done saying their goodbyes to Adam and Sid, they walked over to the end of the line for a United Airlines flight. The wait was only about ten minutes long and soon they were checked in for the eight o'clock flight for Chicago O'Hare International Airport. The six CSI investigators made their way to security, where once again, they met up with Jack and the others. Stella's eyes widened when she saw the line for security.
"At least you only checked us in for one bag, Jack," said Elena.
And that was when Stella first saw the bag Samantha was clutching so tightly. What does she have in there? Stella thought. Could it possibly have something to do with Lindsay being Paige Hobson? She didn't bother asking, she couldn't let the FBI agent know that she had figured out about Lindsay being two people. She walked alongside Mac as they made their way through the security line.
"Thank God that was quicker than the last time I went through security!" exclaimed Vivian.
"You should have heard about the prank Malone pulled on Sam," said Elena.
"Yeah, he made me wait through a line for thirty minutes after he had booked a flight for me to learn a thing or two about manners," Samantha explained.
"She was going to try to get ahead of everyone in line because she was a FBI agent," said Jack. "I wanted her to wait in line like everyone else."
Stella laughed at that, she knew Mac would have made her do the same thing if she had tried to pull off the whole, "I'm a CSI investigator, so you should let me get my ticket first," thing. When it got silent again, she decided to ask, "Where's our gate?"
"C4, thank God we don't have to walk that far," replied Samantha.
Stella was glad for that too, but she knew that it would be a long wait before the flight actually left. She looked at one of the clocks in the hallway. It was only five thirty, and they still had two hours to wait in the storm.
The CSIs and FBIs have made it safely to the airport. Will the others be as lucky? Well, we'll find out what happened to the doctors later, but first we should see how Lilly is doing...