Ties by SLynn
Summary: Kidnapping, competition and change. Lots of change. Takes place approximately three months after the end of 'Appreciation'. Sixth in the ill-named 'Happy Enough' series. Greg/Sara and Nick/OFC
Spoilers: Up to 'Nesting Dolls'
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I'm just borrowing and will return them all when I'm done, virtually untouched.

Notes: Not to jinx this, but I think I may have found my place in this again! Thanks for the encouragement, and reading, and to RivenSky and Tripp3235 for the help!

Chapter 25: Blame

They'd sat in the waiting room for well over an hour, Brass having joined them briefly only to be called away again, before hearing anything new.

Finally Karen came out of the ward, her face a mask of grief.

"How is she?" Hodges asked, having reached her first; nearly everyone had gotten to their feet as soon as she'd been recognized.

"Sleeping," she answered, looking about her in a semi-daze. "She's still asleep."

"What did the doctor say?" asked Warrick.

"I don't…" Karen began, but stopped to rub her forehead in a distracted gesture. "He said a lot… mostly we just need to wait. Amy had some pretty bad bleeding and some broken… I need to call my parents. Can you… I just need…"

"Yeah," Warrick said quickly, taking her by the arm and steering her through the crowd. "We'll go to the phone. Take a break. Alright?"

Karen nodded, shutting her eyes for a moment in an effort to hold back her tears.

As soon as they had left, Hodges turned to Sara and Greg.

"How bad do you think it is?"

"How bad did it look when she was brought in?" Sara asked, knowing Hodges had been with Amy at the time.

"There was a lot of blood," Hodges answered after a slight pause. "Mia and I tried to stop as much as we could before the paramedics got to the lab, but it didn't seem… She woke up in the ambulance but was in a lot of pain… I don't think she was hit anywhere vital. I don't know."

"What about you? Are you okay?" Sara asked indicating his bandaged head.

"This?" Hodges returned, trying to sound unconcerned. "This is nothing but a scratch. I'm lucky she has such…"

Hodges stopped cold, seeming to realize what he was about to say, and turned his back to them abruptly.

"It's probably the baby," Jacqui mused out loud. "Shock. God."

"How far along is she now?" asked Sara.

"Twenty-seven weeks, I think," the other woman returned.

"Twenty-nine," Greg and Hodges corrected in near unison.

"She can't have the baby, yet, can she?" Sara questioned.

"Might not have a choice," Jacqui provided.

"I've… I've got to go," Greg said suddenly, shaking his head and walking toward the exit at a rapid pace.

"Wait," Sara called after him, catching him just outside the door. "Go? Where? Where can you possibly have to be that --"

"I can't stay here," Greg interrupted in a rush. "I can't. My skin is crawling, okay? I can't sit here and watch and wait and not do… I have to do something."

"Do something," Sara repeated. "Do what? Greg, there's nothing we can do right now."

"I know," he fired back as he looked at the floor, "and it's just making it worse. I can't just sit here. I can't."

"So we'll take a walk," Sara suggested. "We'll walk a few times around the hospital and…"

"Sara," Greg interrupted once more, still talking a mile a minute, "I really think I need to be alone right now. It's a lot. It's a whole lot and I'm not… I just need some time to let this all kind of sink in before I can deal with it. With any of it."

"Okay," she said, trying hard to keep the hurt out of her voice. "If that's what you need. How long…"

"Not long," he cut in, sounding a bit ashamed. "Not long, I promise. I just need to pull myself together. That's it. I'm sorry…"

Sara nodded and gave him as much of a smile as she could manage. Greg nodded and then turned and left, walking so quickly down the corridor that he was soon out of sight.

Nick sat in the dimly lit room holding Amy's hand and waiting.

Karen had just left, reluctantly, to inform her parents of what was happening. The realization hit her as they'd been sitting there that they were still in the dark about the whole situation. Nick offered to call for her but Karen declined either because she thought she might handle it better or that it would be easier to accept coming from her.

Nick didn't argue with her; he couldn't. He was dreading coming face-to-face with Amy's mother Lynn again. No doubt she would blame him.

Not that Nick didn't think he deserved it.

The only thing Nick could think about now was that if he'd only listened to Greg none of this would have happened.

This whole time Nick thought he'd been doing the right thing by allowing the plea; that he'd been doing the right thing by not putting them all through a trial; but he'd been so wrong.

Greg must have known. He must have known that she'd try something like this. That Ortega would find a way to get even, to escape and make them all pay.

It wasn't fair.

This was all his fault and he should be the one to pay, not Amy or Charlie.

Not their daughter.

Nick buried his head in his hands, looking up only when he felt Amy stirring in her bed.

"Hi," he said, trying his best to sound upbeat.

"When did you get here?" she asked, still clearly not herself.

"Not too long ago," he answered, still trying hard to smile but mostly it came out as a grimace. "How do you feel?"

"Sleepy," Amy said, turning to look around the room. "Am I in the hospital?"

Nick, his throat suddenly too tight to speak, only nodded. He could see in her eyes as the events of the afternoon all caught up with her. He squeezed her hand tightly as she once more looked around the room, this time with tears in her eyes.

"Dave and Charlie," she said, her voice cracking as she spoke. "Where are they? What… I can't remember…"

"Don't worry about them right now," Nick tried, but Amy wasn't about to let it go.

"What happened to them?" she repeated, louder this time.

"Dave is fine," Nick finally relented. "He's here still in the waiting room. He rode in with you."

"And Charlie?" she asked.

"Amy, you need to calm…"

"What happened?" she demanded.

"He… He didn't make it, Amy," Nick finally conceded. "I'm sorry. I'm…"

Amy covered half her face with her free hand, the other still being held tight by Nick.

"Did they catch her?" she asked shakily. "Did they…"

"You don't have to worry about her anymore," Nick said firmly.

Amy nodded, taking the statement at face value.

For a time, neither of them spoke. Amy turned her face to the window, a few tears sliding down her face, seemingly bracing herself for what might come next.

"Was anyone else…" she began, still looking away and unable to finish the question.

"No," answered Nick, glad that there was at least that positive bit of news.

He watched as Amy took a better look at her surroundings. As she noted the machines beside her, the IVs, the fetal monitor strapped to her stomach.

"And the baby?" she asked, her voice so soft he had barely heard her.

"Maybe I should call the doctor and let him --"

"No," she cut in sharply. "Tell me. Whatever they told you, tell me. I'd rather just know now…"

"She's going to be fine," Nick said with as much confidence as he could muster.

Right now he knew that he had to be strong, to show her that he wasn't afraid so that she wouldn't be.

"But…"

"It's precautionary," he interrupted, knowing what she was about to say.

"Then why can't I hear the heartbeat?" she asked, tears welling up in her eyes. "I know how these work, Nick. My mom's an OB, remember? You can always hear the monitors. Always."

"They turned it down," Nick insisted, getting up and going to the machine. Turning it so that she could see it as well. "See. They just turned down the volume so that you could rest. That's it. I swear."

Amy nodded, watching the screen with interest. Seeing for herself that Nick was indeed telling her the truth. There was the heartbeat, strong and steady, displayed at the bottom.

Running a hand across her stomach she felt the baby kick and tentatively smiled up at Nick.

"It's going to be alright," he reassured her.

But Amy's face had fallen again as she had begun to stare at the monitor once more.

"What?" Nick asked. "What's wrong? Are you…"

Amy shook her head impatiently before pointing to the monitor in disbelief.

"What is it?" asked Nick, looking as well this time.

"Am I having contractions?"

Sighing, Sara returned to the waiting room to Jacqui and Hodges curious expressions.

"He's fine," Sara lied halfheartedly. "He just needed a few minutes alone."

"Can't blame him," Jacqui returned. "As close as he is to Charlie and Amy. It's all happened so fast…"

Sara only nodded and then tried to turn the subject.

"Where is everyone? I expected this place to be…"

"They've been in and out," Jacqui said as the three of them each took a seat. "Ecklie was here until they brought Amy up. Archie is still at the lab, they've got him pulling tapes. Mia and Bobby are still being questioned, I imagine. They questioned us here."

"Bobby's the one that did it then?" Sara asked, unable to stop investigating despite herself.

"Yeah," Jacqui answered. "I don't know what would have happened if he hadn't of been there. Kept his head and he was about the only one. Of course, you don't expect that to happen at the lab or anywhere, do you? But Bobby was very collected."

"Shock," Hodges added. "I'd gone into shock. Bobby saw I was alright and then snapped at me to help Amy. I don't think I'd ever heard him snap at anyone before. Mia joined me soon after and Jacqui…"

"Bobby had me help him with Charlie. He never had a chance."

Sara closed her eyes and bowed her head, thankful she hadn't had to witness the scene firsthand; it sounded like a nightmare.

It felt like a nightmare.

No one spoke again until Warrick returned with Karen. Instead of taking a seat with them, Warrick led Karen back to the door of the ward first. As soon as she was inside he made his way back, sitting down and sighing heavily.

"Well?" Hodges asked.

"Amy's okay," Warrick confirmed. "Their big concern is the baby right now. She went into labor, but the doctors were able to stall it. They're doing everything they can but Karen doesn't sound very optimistic about it."

"Her parents on their way?" asked Jacqui.

"Yeah," Warrick answered. "They're getting on the first plane they can."

"Can we see her?" Sara asked.

"No," Warrick said. "Just family right now. Karen said maybe after Amy wakes up, but not until they know more about the baby."

"That makes sense," Jacqui said with a short nod.

"Where's Greg?" Warrick asked, lifting his head slightly and looking around the room having just noticed the other man was missing.

"He needed to get out of here for awhile," Sara explained. "He shouldn't be gone long."

Warrick fixed Sara with a stern look.

"What?" she asked.

"He didn't leave the hospital, did he?"

"No," she answered quickly. "He just said he wanted to take a walk."

"You're sure?"

"Yes," Sara returned, growing irritated. "Where would he --"

Sara paused, mentally replaying the conversation in her mind: the tempo of Greg's words; the restless fidgeting; the way he hadn't been able to meet her eyes.

"Son of a bitch," she muttered, getting to her feet and taking out her phone.

"What?" Jacqui asked sounding concerned.

"He lied," Sara said, shaking her head as she put the phone to her ear. "He lied to me about where he was going and now…"

She trailed off as she heard not only Greg's phone ringing in her ear, but in the waiting room as well.

"And he dumped his phone," Sara continued angrily as she shut her cell and picked up the ringing one a few seats away.

"Calm down," Warrick said as he held up his hands. "I'm sure he just went back to the lab. Greg didn't want to leave in the first place, that's probably where he is."

Sara looked as if she wanted to believe that, but couldn't quite do it.

She was mad, but she was also worried.

Greg hadn't been himself lately. He hadn't been taking his medication, or sleeping, or thinking straight for weeks. That and he had lost a close friend today and another close friend was still in the hospital; it was too much. Add to it the guilt Greg himself had admitted to feeling and Sara was very, very worried.

"Let's go see," Warrick suggested, taking Sara by the elbow. "We'll drive over to the lab and take a look. I'm sure he's there, Sara."

Sara nodded and made toward the exit hoping he was right.