Chapter Twelve

If I fall along the way
Pick me up and dust me off
And if I get too tired to make it
Be my breath so I can walk

Matchbox 20 - Bent

The roads were clear, much to Grace's delight. The snow had thawed last week leaving the concrete clean and slush free. The sun was bright and warming the earth as she adjusted her NYPD baseball cap so the visor kept it out of her eyes. It was perfect conditions to play street hockey.

The winter chill was still hanging in the air but Grace didn't care. She was wearing a black long sleeved shirt underneath her worn, powder blue Wonderwoman t-shirt, over dark jeans and well used roller blades. Black elbow and a knee pads protected her joints, as one of the other players attempted to smash into her, forcing her to twist out of his way in the final second. He missed by a hair's breath, sailing past her and slammed into the car parked up on the curb. In her hands she clasped the wooden hockey stick even tighter as she ducked under another player's arm and weaved past another, her eyes intent on the goal.

The Goalie's azure eyes fixed on her as she accelerated faster, drawing her arm back for the shot at the open left hand corner. She pelted the orange plastic ball at full force, watching it sail through the air. The Goalie's hand shot out snatching the ball from it's trajectory with his glove before holding it up in triumph as he stripped off his hockey mask.

"Yea, What up!" Adam yelled out loud waving the ball for Grace to see."You liked that didn't ya Grace? Thought you were gonna score but your not."

Grace flipped him her middle finger, before removing her NYPD cap and wiping the sweat off her forehead with her sleeve. Layered up in these clothes and being this active was the kind of tiresome activity she needed before going home to bed to sleep off the next twelve hours.

A car horn blared, Adam shouted the warning, picking up the net as their group divided themselves so that the car could drive through their patch of road. Grace skated after Adam as he set the net down and waited patiently for the game to continue.

"Thanks for inviting me today." Grace uttered, snatching up her water bottle and chugging from it as they watched the Black Sedan drive past.

"No problem, I forgot how competitive you are. The way you took out Kenny back there was ruthless." Adam recounted as the two of them progressed into the middle of the road again, carrying the goal between them.

"Kenny thinks girls can't play hockey." Grace complained clutching the orange ball tightly in the same hand as her hockey stick. "He got a taste of his own medicine when he tried smashing me before."

The ball slipped from her glove as she set down the goal post, she cursed trying to juggle her stick and her water bottle at the same time.

"Can you get that?" Adam called out to a young dark haired girl crossing the street as the ball rolled past her.

The girl ignored him and continued jogging towards the house on the opposite side of the road, passing a parked white van. Grace rolled her eyes at the self absorption of teenagers as Adam tossed his hockey mask to her took off after the ball. He crouched down, peering underneath the car it had rolled under before sliding his hockey stick in after it and hooking the ball with the curved end. He rose to his feet, orange ball clasped in his hand and held it up for the rest of the players to see.

"I got it..."

The explosion seemed to come out of nowhere. Grace felt the rush of heat hit her before she hurtled several feet through through the air. A bellowing roar erupting in her ears as she jolted back onto the ground hard. Her hand slapped out automatically just like her judo training taught before her neck and head had a chance to connect with the concrete. Her ears were ringing like crazy, the sound was piercing through to her brain as she lay flat on her back staring into a complete blank canvass of blue above her.

It hurt, every inch of her body was aching in response from her contact with the ground. Debris was crashing down around her, she used her arms to shield her face from flying shards of wood and shrapnel that rained down from God knows where.

Her heart was beating a mile a minute in her chest, she could feel the palpations before closing her eyes against the mist of dust that was descending upon her. She didn't know how long she lay there in the aftermath of the explosion, it could only have been minutes but it felt like hours creeping by until her adrenaline finally kicked in and forced her to her feet.

Adam was on his hands and knees, shakily clambering to his feet barely inches away from where the van had ploughed into Kenny's Jeep. She didn't want to think what had almost happened, she was thanking God for Adam's quick reflexes.

Adam stumbled a couple of steps, his azure eyes searching the scene, trying to piece together what the hell had just happened. His eyes were wide and blood shot as he took in the sight of chaos around him. Grace was already moving forward as he made tentative steps towards the devastated ruins of the house, disorientated. Streaks of blood was running down his face from abrasions on his on his forehead, his mouth twisted in a silent grimace of horror.

Grace's hand came to rest on in the centre of Adam's chest as he proceeded to take short, wobbling steps. She was relieved to find that he was still here, his heart still beating as he took in her ghostly features. His hand reached out, grasping limply underneath her elbow as he took harsh deep breaths.

"Adam, stop walking for a second alright? Can you hear me?" Grace asked, her hand coming to rest on his bearded cheek to divert his wavering attention back to her.

"Grace" he said her name as if seeing him for the first time. "You ok?"

Shock.

Grace had seen it enough times at Crime Scenes to recognize it straight away. At least that's what she was hoping right now, the gash in the creases of Adam's forehead looked pretty deep but she couldn't tell from all the blood that was still seeping out of it.

"Yea, I'm fine." Grace said guiding Adam to a clear edge of the pavement.

It was a white lie, every single muscle in her body was protesting against her movements but she could handle the pain, it reminded her that she was alive and that the blast could have turned out a whole lot differently.

"Come on Adam, we need to sit down." she said, her arm slipping around his waist to help lower him to the curb without another bump.

The sound of sirens were already echoing through the streets of Brooklyn, it wouldn't be long before help arrived. Grace just had to keep it together until then.

Already Grace could feel her own nerves beginning to falter as the rush of adrenaline began to fade from her system. Her knees went weak, she inhaled deeply to steady her traitorous synapses before lowering herself to the ground in a kneeling position in front of Adam. Her own hands were trembling as she tore part of her already ripped T-shirt off from the main body of material before bunching it tightly in between her fingers.

"I need you to keep your head still a sec so I can mop up some of this blood." she told Adam, using her thumb and forefinger to stretch the flesh on Adam's forehead to take a better look.

It didn't look as deep as she first thought but there wasn't a chance on hell it was going to close on it's own. It was likely that Adam needed stitches. She pressed the wad of material just over the abrasion before taking Adam's hand from on top of his knee and guiding it so he was holding the material in place.

"Keep the pressure on it." she ordered, checking over the rest of his body for any visible injuries.

"We were lucky Grace..." Adam said between deep breathes. "We were so lucky."

"Don't think like that." she shushed, her gentle hands cupping his scruffy features between them so they were staring directly at each other. "I need you to stay calm and stay focused right now. Can you do that?"

Adam's free hand enclosed around her wrist, squeezing it for reassurance as he nodded.

The fire truck was already turning into the street quickly followed by EMS and NYPD Squad cars. She didn't even have to look twice at the black SUV amongst them to know that Mac was behind the wheel as the SUV came to a close concise stop. Grace was relieved to see Sheldon already jumping out of the car, his dark eyes crinkling at the edges in concern as he fixated on them. Mac was already tapping his arm and pointing in the direction of the first ambulance where the owner of the house was being helped into.

Mac was upon them in seconds. His hand came to rest on Grace's shoulder, rubbing across it briskly in relief before he took control of the situation.

"Grace sit down." Mac said firmly, his hand guiding her into a sitting position on the pavement next to Adam.

Grace obeyed. She put her hands on her knees to hide the persistent shaking that was beginning to assault her entire body. The adrenaline was gone, she thought, taking a deep breath and grinding her teeth together against her treacherous body. She inhaled, clenched her fists and counted to four before releasing them again as she exhaled.

She remembered the last time that this had happened, it had been three years ago when she'd walked into a crime scene with a blast pattern. It had been insane see the devastating consequences of a bomb and then to experience the trauma first hand...

She could never forget the way her throat tightened when she saw Don being loaded into the back of that ambulance, while paramedics packed his chest full of gauze and cotton pads to stop the bleeding. His face had been so deathly, she had felt the coldness rush through her as as the stretcher went by.

That familiar disassociated feeling was back, the one where her mind took a step back from the reality for a few moments as it sized up the extent of the threat and related it to the last time they had been in this position.

There was shouting going on around her, someone was pushing a paper bag into her hands and telling her to breath as Mac vanished into the crowd. Adam's arm snaked around her waist, pulling her closer against him so the two were huddled together both trembling. His presence was soothing, she knew from their past conversations that he had used to do this with his younger sister when his father's rage had been out of control.

"We're safe now." he muttered, bending his head low to her ear as she breathed in and out of the brown paper bag.

A tall shadow fell over Grace, blocking out the heat from the sun, she already knew without having to raise her eyes that it was Don was towering over her. She tilted her head up, meeting his surprised blue eyes. His face was unreadable as he placed the pieces together from her elbow pads and roller blades. He had known she was out with Adam today, as for what they were doing he was clueless until now.

"Your not supposed to see this." she informed him, her cheeks colouring with humiliation as she replaced the paper bag over her mouth.

As luck would have it Don would have had to have been one of the first responders, apparently he had been at the same crime scene as Hawkes and Mac. She was hoping to at least have cleaned herself up before they're paths crossed.

"I've seen worse." he shrugged, running a hand through her tangled mass of hair. "You ok?"

Grace nodded, before removing the paperbag from her face to speak.

"It just reminds me of last time, and it's taking me a few minutes to calm down and remember that's not you in there." she said before breathing into the bag again.

Don crouched down in front of her, his hands were on her forearms rubbing up and down them with his skilled palms. His eyes were on hers, wide and intense giving her open access and letting her see everything inside them. He was worried and scared, he hadn't expected to walk into this chaos and see her sitting in the middle. Beyond his concern there was a determination in there that she saw every time he stepped onto a crime scene. His dedication to the job, and now when she allowed herself to look deep enough his dedication to her.

"I'm right here." he told her. "And so are you."

"I know, I know." she said, raking a hand through her hair.

That didn't make it any better but as far as Don was concerned Grace could have looked like the crazy bag lady that marched up and down Broadway and he still would have fallen in love with her. His eyes dropped reviewing the way in which she held herself, she winced every time she made a movement, she caught him looking and scowled.

"Its bumps and scraps Don." she reassured him, as he gestured towards the paramedics nearby.

"Just do me a favour and get checked out. It'll take a load off my mind." he persisted as the paramedics swooped towards her and Adam as Don rose to his feet.

Grace sighed her agreement as he stepped away reluctantly to let the paramedics take over.

It was time to get back to work.


Nothing prepared you for the site of a bomb blast, Flack thought, standing in the centre of the safe zone amongst the rubble, staring at the open front of the demolished house. He would see half of the rooms from here as could the majority of people in the street.

It never failed to amaze him how much devastation could be caused by wiring a few oil drums together and attaching a timer. They were lucky nobody else had been hurt, a couple of the hockey guys had manage to uncover and drag out the only remaining occupant of the house, he was currently being whisked away in the first ambulance to County General.

It could have been worse, he thought as his eyes lingered on the van, tipped on it's side, the metal twisted outwards from the explosion.

His eyes came to rest on Grace as she glared at the paramedic who was checking her blood pressure. The powder blue Wonderwoman t-shirt he was used to seeing her in was ripped and torn along the chest and back. He thanked God she had been wearing another long sleeved shirt underneath otherwise they would have been picking bits of gravel out of her skin for days.

Her hair was a mess, it was a birds nest of debris and tangles, her pale face was smudged with God knows what. The elbow and knee pads had protected her body from any joint pain and he knew they had been lucky in the fact she was suited up for hockey.

It could have been worse, he told himself averting his gaze back to the house. It could have... but it wasn't.

"Detective Flack." a woman's voice drawled from nearby diverting his attention from the fray as he turned around to face her.

Agent Beth Stevensen was picking her way over broken panels of wood and sheets of metal as she stepped towards him. Her light brown hair was tied back into a pony hair at the back of her head, her emerald eyes were already drifting past him reviewing and assessing the damage to the premises. Her fair skin was flushed as she stepped towards him with purpose, wearing a navy blue FBI windbreaker, with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows.

If there was one thing he liked about Beth Stevenson it was the fact she was always ready and willing to get her hands dirty.

"The FBI wants you to know that our resources are at your full disposal." Beth uttered, her eyes taking in the disarray in front of her.

"Is that right?" Flack asked with a sarcastic lilt, tilting his head to the left as he raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

"Yea." Beth reported, placing her hands on her hips. "I appreciate your scepticism but contrary to popular belief your actually in good standing with my department and with a car bomb like this we need to act quickly."

"Catching a serial killer like Henry Darius will do that for ya," Flack said with a shrug before turning his attention to the task at hand. "I got my guys taking statements from the witnesses and canvassing houses to see if anyone's got an connection to the van."

"I'll keep you informed on any intelligence that we get." Beth promised before addressing her needs. "Can we run through what happened here?"

"CSI's Sullivan and Ross were engaged in a game of street hockey when the van blew..."

"Ross as in Adam Ross? Crime Lab Adam Ross?" Beth interrupted, her voice raising an octave as she spoke.

Her hand covered her mouth, a gesture Flack associated with concern and horror.

"Yea, two of our guys were caught in the blast." Flack recounted, puzzled by Beth's behaviour.

"Is he ok?" she asked abruptly, grabbing Flack's arm in a vice like grip and shaking it as she waited for an answer.

He recognized this behaviour, he had seen and been on the receiving end of it many times himself over the years, he had felt over friends, over family, just now over the woman he loved.

"He's got a deep laceration to the head otherwise, yea I think he's ok. He's over there." Flack told her, pointing at Adam who was in deep conversation with a uniformed police officer, clasping a cotton pad to his head.

Beth was off in a shot, Flack watched her retreating back, his mouth ajar as she stalked up to the injured CSI just as the the uniformed officer backed away. Adam turned to face her, imminent surprise registering on his rugged features as Beth wrapped her toned arms around his neck. Adam's free hand looped around her waist. He buried his face in Beth's hair clasping her even closer. Flack could see that Adam was talking, his hand smoothing up and down Beth's spine as he spoke. The words he couldn't hear, but he knew that they were heartfelt from the expression on Beth's face as she pulled away.

He hadn't known that Adam Ross was seeing anybody and he certainly wouldn't peg a smart girl like Beth to hook up with a guy as child like as like Adam, then again what would he know? His own situation was far from normal. Watching the two of them interact he knew their emotions were genuine. They cared deeply for each other, it was in their eyes, the intimacy behind each of their touches. Flack found he was happy for them, they both deserved a little sunshine in their lives.

He turned his own head to focus on his own ray of sunshine, still perched on the edge of the ambulance, looking bad tempered as one of the uniforms took her statement.

It seemed it was gonna be a long day for everybody.


Hey guys, another Adam chapter for you!

Special thanks to Nat for helping me struggle through the future chapters.

Lov: I know I'm glad she's taking that step. We get to see how it progresses for the next few chapters.

Bel: I hope you enjoy this chapter! Lol I hate trying to write romantic scenes but these two make it so easy! I always imagine that Don is an excellent skater.

Chris: lol I imagine Don to be that caring sort of guy. He's so lovely. I would hate Val Day too after that!

Sam: I'm glad you loved it!