A/N: Written because I love Racefh853629!


October 12, 2006. 10:48 PM; EST

--

"Finally you decide to call me back!" Tess practically shouted into the phone, beyond annoyed at

Greg for ignoring her messages and calls all day. "For all I know you could've been killed today you asshole."

"Tess?" She heard a voice asking on the other end of the line. A voice that wasn't Greg's. "Am I speaking with Tess?"

"Yeah," she said, growing a bit more concerned and confused by the moment. Someone called her from Greg's phone–and it wasn't Greg. "Who's calling."

"Warrick Brown," the voice offered. She relaxed immediately. Warrick was one of Greg's co-workers. One she'd grown fond of over the years of knowing him. "I'm sorry I didn't call you sooner."

"That's fine," she offered as she noticed the worry in his voice. Her stomach fell and she moved to the side of her bed to sit down. "Something happened to Greg, didn't it?"

"Well he's okay," Warrick wasn't convincing. She could almost hear the wheels turning as he searched for the right words. "But there's been an uh–accident."

"Oh," she breathed, barely audibly. "He's okay though? Just... not okay enough to call me himself and tell me what happened."

"He's alive," Warrick said slowly. They were quiet for a moment before he finished, "He's stable. The doctors told us he'll be fine. Back to work in no time."

"What happened!" She demanded not liking the sound of words like 'alive' and 'stable' they were terms people only ever used when they weren't sure they were true–or going to stay true. "What kind of accident?"

"Greg was on his way to a scene," Warrick started. "On his way he came upon a group of individuals who were beating a man. He phoned in for back-up but I guess dispatch wasn't responding fast enough. He tried to break up the group in order to save the victim's life. All he was able to do was distract them though. Instead of beating the other man to death Greggo got the brunt of the beating. We found him in the alley approximately seven minutes later. He's at Desert Palms hospital right now, and he's gonna be okay."

"Wow," she said, trying to take it all in. Greg had nearly given his life to save a stranger's. Something she ought to be very proud of him for. Instead she was furious. "And you're sure he's going to be okay? I mean he was nearly beaten to death..."

"He's going to pull through this one," Warrick promised her. "I heard a few minutes ago that he's already starting to wake up. He's just a little groggy. My wife's on his ward tonight, she's keeping me posted."

"Good," Tess said. "That makes me feel better."

"I'll let you know if anything changes," he offered. "I mean anything. I'm at the hospital right now checking in on him. And we're going to catch the whole group of bastards who did this to him."

"Oh I know you'll catch them," she said feeling completely confident. Greg's co-workers and team were some of the best investigators out there. Another moment passed in silence before Tess spoke up again, "Mind if I ask you something?"

"Go for it," Warrick agreed. "I'm you're only line in on our side for the next few minutes."

"How come you called me?" She couldn't help but be curious as to why Warrick had taken time out of his busy day to call a friend of Greg's from the other side of the country.

"Oh, that was Greg's idea," he teased her with a short chuckle. "Well, sorta. He was trying to text you when we found him. Plus I saw that you'd called five or six times. I figured someone ought to let you know what was happening."

"Well, thank you." Tess got up from her position on her bed and started moving around her room with ferocity. She piled items of clothing and necessity onto her bed and grabbed for her suitcase. "Do you think I could ask for one more favor?"

"Pick you up at the airport?" He asked before she could even hint. She wondered if Greg talked about her so much that she'd become predictable to a group of near-strangers. "I'll have to borrow my wife's car–which she won't appreciate. But sure. Will you call me before you board to let me know when you land?"

"Sure," she agreed. "It'll be the first flight I can actually catch. And thank your wife for me, if you don't mind. I owe you both one."

"No problem," he said before giving her a phone number. She logged the number into her phone and thanked him again before saying goodbye.

They said their good-bye's quickly and Tess looked at the heap of clothing and other matter on her bed. It was enough to get her through a few days. She grabbed for her laptop which sat comfortably at the top of the pile and started looking up flights. There was one available to her in exactly six hours but she'd have to buy her ticket when she arrived at the airport–it would do. Just to be sure she checked the other Airlines for an earlier flight out and decided that the first she found would have her in Vegas the soonest.

She got up and moved down the hall to the bedroom adjacent to hers. Their apartment was small but not too tiny for the two of them to live comfortably. Neither needed much room to roam and both preferred the cozy feeling of being tucked away someplace small and tidy.

Standing outside the doorway she heard voices in the room she was approaching. Voices and bouncy fast-paced music. Her daughter was still wide awake watching cartoons. She knocked on the door and waited for the gentle, tiny, voice to tel her to come in.

"You're supposed to be sleeping," Tess warned her only daughter and other best friend in the world. "Lights out in ten minutes, okay kiddo? We've got a really early morning."

"Mommy were you crying?" The girl asked, pushing the blankets away from her and grabbing her mother's hand. She pulled her down so that she was sitting on the bed. "What's wrong Mommy?"

"I wasn't crying sweetie," she informed her little girl. "I was just a little worried about something. I'm going to take you to your dad's house in the morning, okay?"

"No," Tess couldn't help but smile at her daughter's nerve sometimes. She didn't know many six year-olds that would tell their mother no like that. "Mommy what are you worried about?"

"Oh it's grown-up stuff sweetie," she said with a gentle smile. "But Mommy's going to have to go out of town for a couple of days. I'll be right back though and then you won't have to go to Daddy's any more for a while."

"I don't think so," the child said not sounding convinced in the slightest. "Did somebody get hurt?"

"Yes," Tess said, realizing there was no point in lying to her child. She'd made the mistake of being honest with her child from the start–about everything. So now there was very little the too-grown-up kid missed. "Your uncle Greg was in an accident."

Tears flooded in the child's eyes before either one of them could think of anything to do to stop it. Seeing her child begin to cry made Tess well up a second time that night, this time a few tears fell from her eyes. They were both sniffling loudly when Jamie finally forced out a question. "Is he okay?"

"He's just fine sweetie," Tess promised her. "Remember his friend Warrick? He called and told me that everything's gonna be okay. And Warrick doesn't lie–ever."

"All grown-ups lie Mommy," the child informed her. "Can I come with you?"

"No honey," Tess said, wanting so badly to bring her. "You have school and your sleep-over on Saturday. And Daddy wouldn't want us going away without checking with him."

"Don't tell him," Jamie offered, as though it was the solution for everything.

"I'm not going to lie to your Father," she said. For effect she turned and looked at her daughter and added, "Jamie."

"All grown-ups lie," her tiny daughter said, looking her square in the eyes. "Mommy."

"You're a little shit," she said to her daughter as she got up and started collecting a few items. "Go put these in the suitcase on my bed. And then you have to get to sleep, our flight is really early in the morning."

"Okay," the child said, grinning from ear to ear. "Thank you Mommy."