Disbelief
"Paige Landry may not be dead," Grissom said aloud, taking that information in.
"Nick took the sample from the Patterson case himself, so she couldn't have faked that," Greg said.
"And yet her DNA doesn't match the murdered woman, who was supposed to be Paige," Gil said, chewing on his lip. "How did they fake that?"
Greg shrugged. "Do we really want to know?"
The medical staff kept Nick sedated. He was conscious here and there, but kept in a haze to keep him from damaging his lungs. He didn't like it, but he was always too tired to argue.
Based on the bits he heard from Sara and Warrick, he was healing. It'd been a week already since the fire, and he knew he'd have to stay a bit longer too. He didn't mind that.
He had nowhere to go. Nick exhaled deeply and shut his eyes.
Part of him wondered what the rest of the team was doing. He worried about them; he didn't want them to become targets by investigating this whole thing. But he could only worry so much, and he could do very little beyond staying awake.
Nick's sparse thoughts were interrupted by a friendly nurse.
"Good morning, Mr. Stokes," she said. "How are you feeling today?"
It was the same question every morning. Nick just nodded from his drug-induced stupor.
"We're going to move you to a different room today," she said. "You're well enough that a few more days, you can go home." While she meant that in a chipper way, Nick bet she didn't realize his home had been burnt to the ground.
He nodded again, and fell back asleep.
His sleep was disturbed later by the motion of his bed. Someone was wheeling him and his IV away, probably to that room the cheerful nurse spoke of.
"Oh, I'll take him down," a voice said. He heard the nurse say something, but Nick didn't really focus on it.
He was pushed along. The sterile air whipped by his face, and that's when he realized how fast they were moving. He opened his eyes.
The tiles in the ceiling passed by. Nick rolled his eyes around, trying to glance at the nurse. It wasn't the usual nurse.
In fact, he didn't know who it was, but something about her was familiar . . .
And then it hit him. Nick gasped, drawing the woman's attention. She glanced down at him and smiled.
Nick tried to say something, but felt her clamp a hand over his mouth.
"Shhh," Paige said. "Stay quiet. It'll be all right." She clicked a button attached to his IV, and Nick felt himself give up on staying awake.
"Gone?!"
Brass nodded. "The two cops . . . well, one went for coffee and the other said he'd meet the nurse and Nick in the room they were moving him to."
"He just disappeared?" Grissom asked, the anger rising in his voice. Brass shook his head.
"No. The nurse said another nurse came along and offered to move him, at Dr. Craven's suggestion," he said. "Of course, neither the nurse or Dr. Craven know who this woman is. But I pulled surveillance."
Grissom held up a hand. "Let me guess. Paige Landry."
Brass nodded. "But there's more I think you should see."
Catherine stared blankly at the screen, stunned by what she saw. The surveillance footage from the hallway by Nick's room showed two men. Ten minutes after Nick was moved, they suspiciously entered Nick's old room. Three seconds later, they came out, looking very angry.
Catherine followed them throughout the hospital on the footage they had. The men went to Nick's new room, only to emerge with the same disappointment.
"So let me get this straight," Warrick said from behind her. "Paige Landry intercepts Nick during the room transfer, and somehow escapes with Nick from the hospital. Ten minutes later, two goons come in looking for Nick."
"I thought they were on the same side," Sara piped in. "It looks like maybe that's changed."
"Are we saying that Paige . . . intervened on a possible hit on Nick?" Warrick asked. No one wanted to give her that much credit.
But they hoped that. Because Nick was in Paige Landry's grasp.
Nick woke up in a dim room. As he groggily opened his eyes, he saw a plush arm chair, a richly covered couch, Oriental rugs, and dark walls. He frowned.
Where am I?
He tried to sit up, but his ribs screamed against that. He groaned and lay back down. What am I lying down on? It was another couch, just as richly covered in red and gold fabric. A fleece blanket covered his hospital-gown clad body. His breathing hitched as panic started to set in.
Nick suddenly saw her.
Paige.
She leaned against a counter by a kitchen area, watching him.
"Hi Nick," she said with a relaxed smile. Nick's heart sped up, thumping so hard in his chest that it hurt. His breathing sky rocketed, which just hurt him even more. He clutched his chest.
Why is she here? What is she doing? He couldn't think straight, and the pain from his injuries just hurt him more and more. Fear just added to the problem.
The last time he'd seen her alive, Paige tried to coax him out of the CSI lab. She'd threatened him. An image of her lifeless body flashed in his mind. She's dead.
As if she read his train of thought, she said, "I'm not dead." Nick's eyes went to hers. "It wasn't my body."
Then whose was it? He shuddered to think of that.
"How are you feeling?"
Nick felt a rise of anger go through him. What type of question is that? She lied—she tried to---
--and then whoever tried to kill me!
It was disjointed at best, but he wasn't concerned with that. He must have looked as upset as he felt, because Paige frowned.
"Nick, come on," she said. "Talk to me." She walked to his side, and sat on the edge of his couch. Nick flinched at the close contact, and tried to shrink away into the couch. Paige noticed, and she tired not to show any disappointment. However, her eyes looked mournful, hurt by his reaction.
Nick didn't care.
"Where are we?" His tone wasn't kind—it was a demand. Paige pursed her lips together.
"In a safe place," she answered simply. She had that controlling look on her face, like she knew everything and wasn't going to tell. It frustrated Nick.
He tried to move, tried to get away or lunge at her, but instead, he just cringed at the pain that resulted from his attempt. Paige almost jumped back until she saw his expression. She laid a hand over his chest.
"I'm sorry," Paige said. "I don't have any pain killers. Your IV ran out awhile ago." He glanced at his hand, where the IV used to be inserted, but it'd since been removed. "Do you want something to drink, or eat?"
Nick stared at her.
"Maybe not," she said. She took a deep breath. "Nick, please give me a chance to explain. I brought you here because they were coming after you again."
Nick rolled his eyes. "Like they didn't do a good job on me before."
"I know," she said. "I'm sorry about that. I tried to convince them that it wasn't necessary."
"Wasn't necessary?!" Nick exclaimed. He winced at the sudden outburst's effect on him, but that didn't stop him. "Do you realize that my life was fine before I met you? Then I get drawn into your little game and suddenly have several guys trying to kill me!"
She sighed. "Look, I tried to make it right—"
"When? When you had a knife at my neck at the lab?!"
"No!" She stretched out her hands and gritted her teeth together, as if trying to calm down and control herself. "Nick, please. Give me ten minutes."
Nick didn't want to give her anything, but he didn't have a choice. He didn't know what she was planning, what new trick this was. He didn't nod, but just stared at her to begin.
"I thought they wouldn't hurt you. I thought they just wanted to scare you," she said. Her voice quivered. "And then, I knew how serious they were. So I convinced them to make it seem like I was murdered, like Christian."
"Who they killed also," Nick pointed out. She shot him a look.
"I know that now," she said. "Which explains a lot, if you'll let me continue. Now, after you found the body, my employers were still unconvinced about you." She stopped, and Nick desperately wanted to jump in but he waited.
"I didn't think . . . I don't know what I thought," she said, her voice suddenly softer. "But I didn't expect them to try to kill you." She took a deep breath. "By the time I found out, it was too late. But then I learned you survived! And I knew . . ."
Nick stared at her, even though she was avoiding his gaze. "Knew what?"
"I knew they would try again," she said, finally looking at him. "And I couldn't let that happen. Not to you."
"But they haven't come again," Nick said. And suddenly a thought hit him. He knew why she took him. "They were going to try again. At the hospital."
Paige nodded, relief washing over her face as he seemed to believe her. And he was.
But there still were too many questions.
"Why?" he asked. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Why did you rescue me, when you know how bad they are, and still work with them?"
Paige stood and began pacing the oriental rugs. "I'm on the run. By now they know I helped you. I'm a target as much as you, more so even."
Somehow that wasn't comforting to Nick.
"They won't stop until they find a reason to, and right now they think the only reason to stop is if you die another way," Paige said. Her statement made him think about the severity of it all.
"What about you?" Nick asked. "What am I supposed to think, after everything?"
She sat back down by him, and laid a hand on his arm. "I don't know. But I probably would still be working with them, unaware and unfeeling, if it wasn't for you."