Chapter 9

Author's Notes: Hey guys, I am sooo sorry I haven't updated in so long! But my exams are next week, so I have to study and crap, as well as the teachers who are throwing every stupid assignment they can think of, and I haaaate it! However, I just had my last real school day of Semester 1, so I can stop worrying about it! Yay!

------------------------------------------CHAPTER 9--------------------------------------------------

"Nigel Crane, I assume?"

Uttered almost fearfully as she backed up, bright blue eyes transfixed on the gun in his hands, which she suddenly realized belonged to Nick. How this man had gotten it, she didn't know, but she would probably find out soon enough.

"That's, t-that's right, Nigel Crane, and you are Danielle. Danielle Marie Ryan, originally from Oakville, Ontario, Canada…how c-could I f-forget you? You s-stole him f-from me." The nervous stutter might have been amusing, had he not also had the gun aimed right at her heart.

"Stole who…?" Maybe if she kept him talking, she could find a way to get away…her hands groped behind her, trying to find the table, which she knew was only a foot or so behind her. Meanwhile, Nigel was talking, and she could just feel the hate emanating from his voice.

"You s-stole Nick! He was going to be my best friend and you, you little bitch, y-you just gave a little flirty smile and a flip of your bleach blonde hair, and you had him at your b-beck and call. He was brainwashed; he doesn't really love you. I-I mean, how c-could he? You aren't even his type, I k-know for a f-fact that he prefers r-redheads." Nigel was rambling on and on, and she had no choice but to listen, cowering slightly as he waved the gun around for emphasis, sure it was going to go off at any moment.

"L-look, c-can't we just t-talk about this?" Dani suggested hopefully, hands finally finding the table behind her, wishing that she knew where her gun was. However, it was probably sitting at the lab, in her locker. Idiot that she was, she didn't keep any sort of protection around the house.

"No, no, no, you see, I can't just talk about it…in order for Nick to s-start paying attention to me, he has to s-stop seeing you. You know, I t-tried already to divert his attentions. I t-tried to s-shoot you, and I thought that as soon as I found him, he'd be vulnerable and he'd n-need a friend." The gun raised higher, now aiming directly at her face. "H-however, he n-never left the hospital. I never g-got the chance to t-talk to him. B-because of y-you!" Obviously the point of the first attack was not to dispose of her permanently. Just put her out of the picture long enough so that Nick's attentions would be able to be focussed on Nigel.

"You're insane, Nigel…" Quiet, her hands finally found her glass of apple juice, and her hand clenched around it, as she tried to think, tried to plan. "Nick doesn't like you. He thinks you're a psycho. Get over it." Dani cringed, waiting for him to react.

"That's w-what I knew y-you would say." He said, and suddenly he cocked the gun in his hand, aiming directly at her forehead. "N-now it's t-time to get you out of the w-way…Nick will be my friend…and no one else's…"

Suddenly, she flung the contents of the glass into his eyes, causing him to automatically turn away, trying to shield his face with one hand. Taking the opportunity, she tried to grab the gun, wrestling with the more muscular Nigel, and she screamed when the gun went off, smashing one of her lamps into smithereens, but burning her fingers badly, forcing her to look go, and fall back onto the ground with the force.

Apparently she'd managed to dislodge the gun from Nigel's grip, and she heard the gun landing, as well as a panicked yell from the doorway, which she vaguely recognized as Nick's voice. Everything suddenly seemed to be moving in slow motion, as she yanked herself to her knees, lunging for the gun, but then it was snatched away just before she clasped it. Her fingers were burning, but it seemed more like a dull ache, and every sound was muffled, including the sound of banging on the door and yelling.

"So, you thought you could get away, huh?" There was no trace of nervousness or stuttering now, just cold rage and vengeance, as the gun was once again cocked. Suddenly, before anything could happen, there was a loud smashing sound, breaking through the vacuum she had been sealed in and everything suddenly returned to her with a whooshing sort of feeling.

"Get away from her, Nigel!" An angry voice, with just a bit of fear, which her fear clouded mind immediately grasped on as an anchor of hope. Nick? What was he doing here? How had he gotten into her house? What was Nigel going to do?

"Why hello Nick…I was just n-n-negotiating with your ex-girlfriend here." Nigel was still looking at her, and still had the gun pointed at her, unfortunately, leaving no opportunity for escape. Dani was suddenly aware of how much her hand was burning and took a moment to glance down at it, noting that it was already blistered. Ex-girlfriend…if Nick doesn't get him to get that gun out of my face, I'm going to be ex-living too.

"Ex-girlfriend? Negotiating? What are you talking about Nigel…?" He's wary, and she cautiously raised her head a bit, able to just see him over the arm of the couch, which her head was lying just behind. He doesn't have his gun out…why doesn't he have his gun out? "Just put the gun down, Nigel…ok, we can resolve this without violence…" Dani felt almost pathetic, hearing how unafraid Nick sounded. Just calm and collected, telling a suspect to put down his gun.

"I can't do that, Nick…you see, she's the only thing that stands between you and me." Again with the best friends crap, Nick would never socialize with this psycho even if his life depended on it. Or mine… If only Nigel would just turn away. Just for a split second, so she could hurt him. As if translating her thoughts, she saw Nigel turn away for just the barest of seconds, and suddenly her feet were connecting with his knees and he was down. Scrambling to her feet, she started to reach for the gun, but then Nigel had it up. Suddenly time slowed down for the second time.

The sound of the gun cocking echoed in her ears, and her mind froze, halfway between flinging out of the way and standing up, and the gun lowered, aimed at her. Suddenly something connected with her side, sending her flying out of harm's way and then there was the sound of gunshots. Two, in quick succession and panic suddenly went flying through her brain; the pain of landing forgotten as suddenly everything started to move normally again. Nick. He was bleeding. He was on the ground. Oh my god.

"No!" A pain-wracked scream and it took her a few moments, in which she had crawled to Nick's side, to realize that it had come from both her and Nigel at the same time. "I-I didn't mean to…w-why did he…how could he?" These mutterings from Nigel were lost on her, as she tried weakly to stop the blood flow from Nick's torso with her hands. He looked at her, almost as if he were half-asleep, and words formed on his lips, and she burst into heart-wrenching sobs.

"I love you…" Then his eyes closed, and suddenly pain and grief dissolved, and rage filled her vision, and suddenly her mind zeroed in on the gun holstered at Nick's side. Before she knew what was happening, she was standing, and the gun was aimed directly at Nigel, who had dropped his gun in shock at what he'd done.

"You bastard. You son of a bitch, you killed him…you killed him, you bastard!" Her voice slowly rose in decibel level, as she moved closer, gun on him, fully ready to pull the trigger and end his miserable existence. "I'll be Nick's best friend…I'll be his only friend…" She mimicked, not caring how cruel it sounded.

Suddenly her monologue was ended as another voice sounded from the door. "Freeze, police!" Her head didn't turn, as she recognized the voice as none other than Jim Brass. "We need paramedics ASAP, officer down!" This was the part where her mind detached from everything. Hollow eyes watched as Nigel was taken away, but the gun never left her hands until Brass gently took it away, saying something to her in a low voice, which failed to make it through her mind.

Nick's dead…Nick's dead…oh my god, Nick's dead and it's all my fault… Her mind was stuck on this, as if she was a broken record, and finally, Brass led her, ever the gentlemen, towards the police car, telling her to just wait out here. Or something along those lines. One by one, Grissom, Warrick, and Catherine each came up to her, and tried to talk to her, but she gave no response, just continued to lean against the police car, staring at the house blankly.

Someone must have eventually noticed her hand, she supposed, for at some point someone led her towards an ambulance, where a paramedic was waiting. Something about the friendly looks of the female made her say something. Just three words. "Nick's dead…" It was emotionless, nearly robotic, but the paramedic looked at her sympathetically.

"Who's Nick, honey?" The voice was the only sound or sensation that registered. Not the pain of her hand as she applied ointment and a bandage. Not the police sirens. Just this one sympathetic voice that didn't know who the greatest man the world had ever known was.

"He…He…was a great man…he saved me…" Again, she was mechanical, eyes and voice dead, as if the gun had pierced her and not Nick. However, the woman's next answer snapped her back to the real world so fast it nearly hurt her ears and her neck as she swung her head back at her. "W-what did you say?"

"Nick's not dead, sweetheart…the paramedics took him to the hospital ages ago…he was fluctuating when they loaded him into the ambulance though, so I don't know…" Whatever she was saying was lost on Dani as she wrenched her hands away, the bandages falling to the ground, and scrambled away, towards her car, not caring as she heard Brass try to stop her.

Nick was alive…but would he still be when she got there?

((-takes deep breath- Wow…that took a lot of effort…I hope this was good guys and I apologize again for taking so long…did I get too dramatic or anything? Please review…bye!))