Chapter 10

The hospital waiting room was full of the rustling of fabric, small children coughing, and hushed tones. All this silence made her nervous, and the way that people kept looking over at her strangely wasn't helping either. Not that she could blame them, she supposed, looking down at herself. Her clothes and hands were covered in blood, and one hand was blistered and swollen from her burn. Every so often, she glanced towards the receptionist desk, trying to see if they'd heard news on Nick yet. Not surprisingly, he'd been taken directly to surgery when he got here, and she wasn't able to see him until afterwards, if everything went smoothly.

She was surprised they'd even told her anything, considering she'd burst into the waiting room, tear-stained and blood-stained, pushed past whoever was standing at the counter, and demanded to know where Nick was. Danielle had been pretty hysterical, not understanding why they couldn't tell her where he was, and it had taken a bit to calm her down enough to get her to give Nick's last name and what was wrong with him. Then they'd told her that he had gone into surgery, and it could be as long as a few hours, because of how much blood he'd lost.

Having been instructed to sit in the waiting room until they called her, she'd done as she was told, refusing any medical attention, saying there was nothing wrong with her. How long had it even been? Glancing at her watch, she clumsily tried to wipe the blood off so that she could see the time, but it was useless, the blood had already dried. Glancing around, her eyes landed on a clock on the wall, which said that it was nearing one o'clock in the morning. Which meant it had been only two hours? It had felt like an eternity.

Finally, a nurse came up to her, clearing her throat and Danielle looked up, blinking slowly. "Miss. Ryan?" The nurse seemed uncertain she was speaking to the right person, but Danielle nodded and she continued. "Mr. Stokes's surgery went fine, and his vitals are fairly stable, and we can allow you to see him…" The nurse had barely finished her sentence, when Danielle was up, the familiar fire burning in her eyes. "R-Room 321" The nurse stammered out as answer to her unasked question, and Danielle walked with a purposeful stride, heading to the elevator.

As she walked along the third floor, which she recognised as the ICU, she felt sick, looking at the horrible state the patients she walked by were in, and afraid that Nick had been permanently damaged. What if he couldn't speak, couldn't hear, couldn't see…couldn't love? Finally the room number leaped out at her and she stopped, staring up at it before carefully pushing it open. A doctor was just leaving, and he smiled sympathetically at her.

"Your friend was very lucky, Miss. Ryan, but I think he'll pull through now…the shots didn't hit any vital organs. The sedatives haven't worn off yet, so he won't wake up for an hour or so and won't hear you if you speak to him." Rules, rules, so many rules, regulations, which all came down to one thing. Don't touch him, he's fragile. Nodding dumbly, she pushed open the final door, her eyes afraid to see what was there.

Nick was lying on the bed, head propped up slightly by a pillow, with skin so pale it resembled sour milk. His eyes were closed, and, looking, she could see a tube that connected into his wrist, red liquid pouring in from a small bag. Blood transfusion. Type AB Positive. Rare blood type, he was lucky they had enough to give him. Those thoughts swirled through her mind, while relief that he was alive at all filled her to the very brim. What would she have done if he had died? Shaking these thoughts from her mind, she walked slowly over, as if afraid that he was going to awaken with her movements.

Carefully pulling a chair over to the side of the bed, with her back to the door, she sat, taking slow breaths, just staring at the figure in front of her. Reaching out a hand, she took his, feeling how cold it was, and trying to ignore it. For a long time, there was no sound in the room except their breathing and the constant beeping of the heart monitor that sat on the other side of the bed, showing the pattern of his heartbeats. Communicating without communicating, Danielle just held his hand, waiting, tears of relief flooding her eyes, making everything swim and blur, but she hardly noticed.

The door opened behind her, but she didn't realise someone else was in the room until someone put their hand gently on her shoulder. Jumping a bit, she turned her head, seeing that it was Warrick, and she returned his weak smile. "Hey." She said hoarsely, and he nodded, pulling a seat up next to her, looking at Nick, and she saw that he seemed incredibly calm, despite it all.

"How is he?" He asked, and she opened her mouth to answer, swallowing. "I…he's stable. T-the doctors think he'll pull through. He should wake up in not too long." She answered, her blue eyes suddenly picking up on the cast that wrapped around his torso. That's how the bullets missed his vital organs, they'd hit his ribs. Warrick was nodding, then turned to her, looking serious.

"What about you?" This, Danielle didn't answer right away, considering the answer in her head. How was she? Panicked, sore, relieved, scared, upset, guilty…was it her fault that all this had happened? Remembering that Warrick was still waiting for her answer, she cleared her throat and smiled weakly.

"Fine." She lied, not looking at him, still holding Nick's hand, even though he was still sedated. "I'm fine. I'm just a bit sore…the nurses took care of me though…" Her hand had indeed been bandaged at one point, though she wasn't positive when exactly. Warrick nodded again, though she had a feeling he didn't believe her. He probably didn't want to press her, though. Not when her emotional constitution was very fragile…it threatened to break at any moment.

Suddenly Nick stirred, and Warrick wasn't even there. Nigel Crane didn't exist…the doctors didn't exist…this room didn't even exist. There was just her and Nick as he opened his dark eyes slowly, looking around, obviously dazed and confused. She swallowed and forced a smile on her face as his eyes fell on her and he looked relieved.

"Hey sweetie." She said hoarsely, smiling widely in spite of the tears of relief on her face. "How are you feeling?" Warrick didn't say anything, and carefully stood up, backtracking silently out of the room, knowing that the pair would want to talk alone. Nick shook his head a couple times and blinked to make sure that Danielle was really there, and that he wasn't seeing things.

"I'm a little sore…what happened? Where's Nigel? Are you ?" His never-ending line of questions were silenced as she put a finger to his lips quickly, stemming the flow before it overwhelmed her.

"One at a time, hun…you saved my life, that's what happened and Nigel's gone. Taken away. Forever, I hope." Shaking her head, she looked down at her hands, her brain going back to those few seconds that had separated her from being a murderer. Even if the murder would have been justified. It had been so close…had Brass been only ten seconds later than he had, she swore to God, she would have pulled that trigger and ended Nigel Crane's miserable life.

"Are you ok, Dani?" Nick asked, having seen her expression. "What's the matter, what happened?" Hearing his concerned voice brought her back to the present and she forced a smile on her face, and nodded.

"I'm fine…I was just wondering what I would have done without you…" She said, wiping away a tear with one hand, and smiling at him in relief and sadness, letting her guilt and despair rest in the back of her mind. "You scared me, you know, don't you ever do that again." She said, running one hand through his hair, as if to brush it away from his face and he caught her hand halfway back to her lap, and looked at the bandage sternly.

"'I'm fine', huh?" He said, raising his eyebrow, and she laughed, kissing his cheek lightly, as they both laughed. "What happened to your hand?" He asked as she pulled it back, using her un-bandaged hand to caress his cheek, smiling.

"Just a little burn…" Danielle replied airily, and gave him another kiss, grinning. "Warrick and probably the others are outside, I'm going to go get them, alright?" He nodded, and she gave him one last kiss before standing up and exiting the room, an extra bounce in her step with the knowledge that Nick was safe.

Warrick was outside, accompanied by Greg, Archie and other members of the nightshift she didn't even know the names of, and, though Warrick, Greg and Archie did a good job of keeping them at least three feet away from her, they all wanted to know how Nick was. Bombarded with questions, she finally took a firm hold on Warrick, Greg, and Archie and dragged them into the room, closing the door with a slam behind her and locking it. "Holy geez, who are all those people?" She asked, and Warrick and Greg laughed while Archie answered her.

"Nick's got quite a fanclub, most of whom would love to see the two of you break up so they could sink their hooks into him." He explained, chuckling at the look on her face. "What, you think you're the only one who ever noticed Nick's looks and charm?" There had only been about five of them and that constituted a 'fanclub?' Shrugging, she rolled her eyes and directed them inside, following them, but remaining towards the back so that the guys could have their 'male bonding', which involved explicit details of the girls who hung around outside, and how they'd saved his girlfriend from death by trampling. It was quite humourous to listen to, and she smiled, sitting on a chair as other members of the team came in and out.

Finally, everyone had visited, and Grissom had (amazingly) given her the next night off, so she didn't have to worry about getting sleep for work the next night, and just sat by Nick, both of them whispering quietly to each other. Their nightmare was over, and nothing could possibly hurt them now. Everything seemed just…perfect. Smiling, she watched as he drifted off to sleep, and kissed his forehead before settling down in her chair, embracing the welcome escape into sleep.

((Alright, I'm sorry it took so long to update guys! I'll update sooner next time, I promise! I'm not sure where I'm going to go from here, does anyone have any suggestions? Make sure to tell me if you do! Alright, see you later!))