Alex lifted her head and was confused for a moment.
Where am I?
Lights and crowd noises forced her fully back into consciousness, and she groggily looked around at her friends. She grinned, yawning.
"God, guys... What time is it? How could you let me sleep on the table?"
Jo smiled back at her. "Obviously you needed a nap. We realize you older girls need those-"
"Hey!" Alex tried to pretend she was insulted, but her grin gave her away. "You just watch yourself, you young whippersnapper, or I may whack you with my cane!"
They all giggled and Alison took a sip of coffee, smiling at her over the rim.
Man, I'm glad she's back to her old self again.
The diner was busy despite the fact that it was coming up to 3 in the morning, but Alex had learned long ago that this city didn't operate on normal hours.
"Well, so much for getting halfway through my essay tonight." Yvonne smirked.
"Yeah, well... We've all been working hard, so I think we deserved a night of hanging with the girls and talking crap. And they're not due until Friday; we have lots of time." Alison took another bite of her donut.
Alex yawned again and stretched. "Guys, I need to get going. I was supposed to be getting up early tomorrow..."
She felt herself flush involuntarily as she thought about getting together with Nick for breakfast. Alison smiled at her, but again said nothing. The knowing look in her eyes was enough to make Alex grin back at her.
"Um, can you take me back to my car, Al? I need some sleep... Or some more sleep." She smiled sheepishly.
"Yeah, no problem. You mind if I drop these two off first? They're on the way back to campus."
"Why? They're young and tireless... They don't need as much sleep as us golden oldies." She smirked at Jo and the younger girl whacked her lightly, laughing.
"Screw that! Alison, take us home first. Grandma here can wait her turn."
They all laughed again and Alex realized how good it felt to smile again. They all settled up with the cashier and made their way outside to Alison's car.
"Well, I'm finding lots of fried wiring here, but I have no way of telling whether it happened before or after the explosion. I'm going to take it back to the lab." Catherine stood in the remnants of the chem lab, looking at Grissom.
"Good. Call me when you have something."
Grissom resumed examining his section of the chem building and she made her way through the piles of rubble. All the CSI's were concentrating on that site for now, trying to figure out what had caused the explosion. Well, all of them except Nick...
She spotted him still slogging away with the crew in the other building, or what was left of it, digging down through the mangled layers of concrete. She wanted to go over and check in with him, but she figured he was so focussed right now it would be a shame to make him stop and start thinking about everything again
As if sensing her watching him, Nick suddenly stood up and looked behind him, wiping his gloved hands on his already dusty pant legs. She made her way towards him, smiling compassionately.
"Hey there. How're you holding up?"
She almost didn't want to hear his answer as she noted the deeply entrenched sorrow behind his gaze. Her heart moved into her throat and she swallowed with difficulty as he shrugged hopelessly.
"There's nothing. We're not finding anything."
She decided to work the angle he'd just presented her with. "Well, that could be a good thing, couldn't it? Maybe you're not finding anyone because there's no one to find."
He'd been thinking the same thing for a while now, and it was this hope that was secretly keeping him going... And keeping him sane.
"God I hope so, Catherine."
His eyes tightened and he chewed at the inside of his lip, striving to keep himself together. He looked at his watch for distraction. 2:40 am.
She rubbed his arm kindly, feeling more useless than ever. "I... I gotta get this to the lab. Can I get you anything?"
He smirked at her sadly and shook his head. She made her way towards her SUV, knowing exactly what Nick really needed. Or who.
If only she could help him.
Alison and Alex drove back towards the school, singing along to the radio together as OutKast blasted from Alison's car speakers.
Alex shouted over to her friend. "Did you put this system in yourself?"
"What?!!"
Alex reached over and turned the volume down to a more conversational level and Alison laughed as she repeated her question.
"No, an ex-boyfriend put it in for me. It was pretty much all he was good for, in the end. He used to be an installer for an audio/video place."
"Well, whatever. This stereo is kickass."
And it was almost always set at top volume, as far as Alex could tell. At least it had been all night tonight. Grinning to herself, she looked out her window as she thought back to her teen years, when she and her friends had spent many an evening cruising around town with the stereo cranked...
She suddenly swivelled her head around as a black Denali drove past them going in the other direction. She hadn't seen who was driving, but she felt a little nervous excitement anyway, images of Nick dancing through her mind. She smiled as she continued to look out the window. She was nervous about how breakfast would go, but she was hopeful that Nick would be understanding about her bizarre moods that past week...
"What the...?"
Alex turned to ask Alison what was wrong, but before she could ask she saw a barrage of flashing lights ahead of them down the street, close to the university. As they drew nearer, she realized it was the university.
"My God... What's going on?" Alex strained to see past the truck that was now stopped in front of them.
They weren't moving, and after a minute Alex climbed out of the car to get a better look at what was happening down the road. She scanned ahead, squinting to see what was going on. She relayed what she could discern back to Alison.
"Well, it looks like there are a ton of emergency trucks and stuff up there... Lots of people moving around. I just can't see what they're all doing there."
"Are we going to be able to get through?"
"I don't think so... There's a cop up ahead and he seems to be turning people around..."
Hmmm. How am I going to get my car?
"Listen, I'm sure I can get through up there somehow on foot, so why don't you just pull a U-Turn here and get out of this traffic. The parking lot's not far."
Alison frowned. "Are you sure? I don't mind waiting.."
"Nah, I'll be fine. The place is crawling with cops, so it's not like I won't be safe."
"Well, alright... But call me on your cell if you can't get to your car for whatever reason and I'll come back and get you."
"Cool. Thanks. And I'll see you tomorrow afternoon."
She shut her car door and made her way towards the chaotic scene ahead. She was surprised to see a helicopter appear overhead and noted the call sign letters of a local TV station on the side of it.
Wow, whatever this is, it must be big.
She frowned as she reached in her pocket to make sure she had her car keys, and felt relief as her fingers touched the metal ring. Then she checked the other side for her cell phone. As she pulled it out, she noticed she had another message.
She flipped her phone on and queued up the message, but she couldn't hear anything over all the noise. She moved off to the side a bit and tried again...
Was that Nick?
She wasn't sure, but it had sounded like him. Unfortunately, she couldn't make out what he'd been saying.
Hopefully it'll be quieter when I get inside the car.
Brass looked around at the mad activity all around him and sighed.
Everybody loves to check out a tragedy.
He had been sticking near the front with some other officers, trying to keep the press and other unwanted spectators back behind the crime scene tape. He couldn't believe so many people would be sticking around at this time of night, but evidently they were because the crowd wasn't getting any smaller. In fact, it actually seemed to be getting bigger...
He decided to do a quick loop back around the fallen buildings and see what they'd come up with so far.
As Alex drew nearer to the bigger crowds, she could finally see what had happened.
What the...? My God.
Where the computer lab and the building beside had once been, now there was only a partial shell of one left standing. It reminded her of pictures of bombed areas from the various wars they'd seen in the last few decades. She could see people combing through the annihilated structures and shuddered.
But we were just there a few hours ago... What the hell happened?
She walked towards the scene in shock, unable to comprehend what she was seeing.
Nick stopped moving and stood stock still as he heard a worker call out that she'd located someone else under the rubble. He slowly turned as the woman began to gather assistance to continue digging the body out.
Like a zombie, he moved forward, unable to look away. He stopped breathing as they cleared some debris away from the face...
A woman.
He sucked in a few deep breaths as he realized it wasn't Alex. He leaned back against a chunk of concrete and tried to stop his hands from shaking again.
But in his heart, he knew it wasn't looking good.
Alex tried to move past some people so she could get a better look at what had happened. She was still in a dazed state of astonishment over the melee before her. She found herself pressed against the yellow police tape that cordoned off the scene, still doubting her own eyes.
When did this happen?
She felt the cool plastic of her cell phone in her hand and looked down at it, wondering if she should call Alison and let her know what was going on, but she realized she'd never be able to hear her.
Slowly, she started to come to her senses and looked around her at all the onlookers.
Why are all these people just standing around here? What are they waiting for?
Feeling suddenly like a morbid crime scene observer, she started to make her way back in the direction of her car. As she got closer to the street that led to the parking area, a policeman blocked her way.
"Sorry miss, but you can't go this way." He had to shout over the noise of the helicopter, which was hovering nearby.
Alex frowned and shouted back. "But my car's in there. I need to get my car."
He looked confused. "Sorry, what was that?"
She shouted at him again and he looked skeptical. "Did you say your car is back there? Where exactly?"
Alex gestured behind him and raised her voice again. "In that parking lot, right there."
His brows went up and Alex wondered what the problem was. Had something happened to her car?
That'd be just my luck.
The policeman grabbed his radio out of his belt, watching her with wonderment. He'd been the one to go around and pull all the plate numbers of the cars in that lot to see if they could piece together who might still be in the computer building.
"Miss, were you in the computer lab earlier?"
"Yeah... I can't believe what I'm seeing here." She turned back towards the carnage and shook her head. "When did this happen?"
He didn't answer as he radioed one of his colleagues. "Warren, I've got a woman here who says she was here tonight; she has one of the cars we checked from the parking lot."
His radio crackled in response. "Say again?"
The officer scowled over his shoulder at the helicopter. "Son of a... I said, I have a woman who was inside the computer building earlier tonight. I'm going to send her over."
"Roger that."
He looked at Alex as he lifted the section of yellow tape closest to them and pointed to another officer on the opposite side, nearer to the actual devastation. "Miss, can you please go see that officer over there? He'll need to question you."
Alex felt surprised once again, but did as she was told.
"Shoot... Wait... What's your name?"
But she didn't hear him over the din as she made her way to the other officer.
Brass made his way back towards the crowd, relieved that the latest body hadn't been Alex. He hadn't seen Nick around for a bit, but he was sure the CSI was still making his way through the mess, trying to find her.
Man, life ain't fair.
He was almost to the police tape when he stopped suddenly, astonished.
Or maybe it is once in a while...
He moved quickly towards the woman and the officer that hovered under a spotlight tower.
"No, the power went out and we decided to go for a coffee break."
"And when was this?"
"Oh, I don't know... Around 11:30?"
"And who was with you?"
"There were 4 of us. The other girls were Alison Stone, Yvonne Madras, and Jo... er, Josephine... Uh... I can't remember her last name."
The cop looked at some notes he had. "Josephine Walker?"
She felt puzzled. "Yeah, that's it. How did you know that?"
"We have a record of all the people who swiped their security cards in tonight before the power went out. Since none of you could swipe back out, we were uncertain who might have still been inside after the explosion."
Alex's eyes widened and she felt her pulse rate reacting. "Officer, what time was the explosion?"
"11:46."
She felt as if someone had knocked the wind out of her.
"What?!!" She ran her fingers through her hair in agitation. "But... But that was just after we left..."
The officer nodded slowly.
"Oh my God. Was anybody hurt?"
"I'm not actually at liberty to say right now, but it's a relief to take 4 names off the suspected fatalities list, let me tell you."
It suddenly sunk in.
Oh my God... They thought we were in there when it happened.
She started to shiver and she wrapped her arms around herself.
And we almost were...
Then she frowned.
I can't believe we didn't hear the explosion... We must have been just out of the parking lot when the explosion ocurred.
Then it clicked: Alison's stereo.
We must have been so close... And yet we didn't hear a thing. I can't believe how lucky we were.
She felt another chill run down her spine as she started to grasp how close she and her friends had come to being killed... And how many people might actually have been killed.
"God... How many people did you think were-"
"Alex Winters, where the hell have you been?"
She turned quickly at the loud voice and saw Detective Brass moving towards her, shaking his head in amazement. He had a strange expression on his face, but he definitely seemed relieved to see her.
"Detective Brass?"
"Listen kiddo, I'd love to chat but I have a feeling there's someone who really needs to see you right now. Follow me."
He started to walk away and Alex had to run a bit to catch up. "I don't understand?"
He stopped unexpectedly and she almost ran into him. "Alex, we thought you might be somewhere under all that..." He gestured towards the disaster before them.
She frowned back at him with chagrin. "Yeah, I know... I had no id-"
"Alex, Nick's working here tonight."
He'd said it so softly that she shouldn't have heard him over all the noise. But she did.
Her hand went to her mouth and she looked towards the crews working in the rubble.
Oh God.
Brass saw all the comprehension he needed to in her panicked eyes and he put his hands on her arms, speaking gently to her.
"Stay here, OK? I'm going to go get him. Don't move."
She couldn't control her racing heart and her hands began to shake as she scanned the faces around her for Nick. She couldn't shake the feeling of guilt as she realized what he must be going through right now. She knew how she'd feel if their places had been reversed...
Brass jogged through the clumps of workers, trying to locate his young comrade. "Nick! Nick Stokes! Where are you?" People lifted their heads as he moved amongst them, but Nick wasn't one of them.
Damn it. Why can't it be easier to tell someone the good news for a change?
He kept looking.
Nick had tried to resume digging after they'd found the woman's body, but he couldn't get his hands to stop shaking. Feeling suddenly as though he was too tightly strung, he'd dropped what he was doing and moved quickly towards the front of the building, where it was clear... And where he could breathe. The guys working around him knew what was going on and looked after him sympathetically.
It was starting to occur to him that he didn't know if he could handle it if he did find Alex...
He reached the clearing in front and pulled off his gloves, wiping his hands on his pants again nervously. It was more an attempt to stop them from shaking than trying to clean them off.
He drew in a couple of deep breaths, trying to clear some of the concrete dust out of his lungs...
And then his breath left him completely as he saw a familiar figure not 30 feet away, looking around frantically.
Alex stayed roughly where she was told to, but she couldn't keep from wandering back and forth, looking at every face that moved around the site. Even when she stood still momentarily, she couldn't keep from tapping her foot nervously.
Oh, Nick... Where are you?
She moved to the left again and tried to see past some guys who were pushing a big chunk of concrete aside...
Was that Nick behind them?
She frowned.
No.
She moved back to the right and scanned the ever-moving crowd of people searching the scene. Her eyes moved back and forth desperately...
Until a lone figure standing motionless in front of the building caught her eye and she gasped.