Disclaimer: These characters are the property of CBS, inc.
Spoiler: Unbearable
I am so tired. Don't be surprised if this chapter lacks a little something. I had trouble feeling a flow. We are moving somewhere, so please be patient. You are all so kind to come along with me. Again, your comments keep me writing, and I appreciate them so much.
Sheila
Chapter 11
Afraid of the Light
It was hard to breathe. Every inhale brought stabbing pain. Danny opened his eyes. The sky was orange, and the setting sun could be seen through the departing storm clouds. The ground was wet, but the sky was dry. He tried to shift but his chest screamed in protest. He was able to move one arm, and his hand traveled across his chest and settled on the area of pain. He lifted his hand, and saw what he feared. Blood dripped off his palm. He moaned his frustration. Again, he tried to lift his body up on his elbows, but he didn't have the strength to lift off the ground. A ringing began, and for a minute, Danny didn't differentiate from anything else around him. Slowly it dawned on him that this was a cell phone. His hand fanned across his body looking for his cell, but he felt nothing. The ringing seemed to originate on the left side of his body, and he couldn't reach it with his right. He tried to move his left arm, but the pain radiated from the wound on his chest, culminating in a howl. Slowly, wincing against the pain, he dragged his arm alongside his body until he found the smooth shape of his cell phone. He tried to raise the phone onto his chest, but the effort was excruciating. He was only able to prop it up against his body. He was then able to slide his right arm across his body until it connected with the plastic surface of the phone. Gripping it tightly he dragged it up to his face. The message light was flashing frantically, and with his right hand he stabbed at the recall button. For a moment, he couldn't discern if the phone was dialing, and then he got a familiar gruff voice. "Where the hell are you hiding?"
Danny was surprised at how dry his mouth had become. "Jack."
"Yeah. Were you expecting someone else?"
"I'm in trouble." His voice was a harsh whisper.
"Damn straight you are."
"I need help, Jack."
There was a silence on the other end. "Danny?"
"He shot me."
There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end. "Danny, where are you?"
"I don't know. I'm bleeding."
"Where are you hit?"
"Upper right chest."
"Shit! Danny, you gotta help me here. Where do you think…what are the landmarks around you?"
"Mountains to the west…creek bed nearby."
Danny heard Jack shouting for maps and Brass.
"Jack, how long does it take for a man to bleed out?"
"Believe me, Danny, you're not that lucky. God wouldn't deny me the opportunity to tell you face to face what an idiotic stunt this was."
Danny grinned through the pain.
"Danny, talk to me." Jack sounded anxious.
"I saw him too late. He was right here."
"Is he still in the area?"
A wave of pain washed over Danny and he groaned.
"Danny?"
"I don't see him. I don't see Sara."
"Okay, you need to just relax. I have deputies who are trying to track the creek right now."
A gray curtain fell over Danny and he felt like he was floating. The phone slid off his chest, and he listened with some detachment as Jack called his name over and over. His eyes were heavy, and the anxiety in him lost its focus. He struggled to stay awake until he lost all sense of awareness of his circumstances.
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Danny woke to tremendous pain in his chest. A weight was bearing down with some force. He howled his disapproval and tried to push at the weight.
"Easy, Danny."
Danny opened his heavy lids. He saw grey curls and a beard bending over him.
"Stop it." He groaned.
"You've lost too much blood. I'm afraid that direct pressure is the ticket until help gets here."
Danny's mouth was thick with thirst. "He was here, and he got away."
"He didn't get very far." Grissom was tearing his own shirt, and folding it tightly.
"You saw him?" It was all Danny could do to keep his eyes open.
Grissom brought the bundle down on top of Danny's wound. Danny moaned loudly.
Grissom was silent for a while, and then began talking, careful not to look at Danny's face. "He's dead. About a hundred yards from here. Two bullet holes in him. One in the head and one in his thigh. You don't remember this?"
Danny shook his head slowly.
Grissom picked up the poncho and showed Danny the big hole burned in the center of it. "You shot him through this."
"I don't remember."
"He probably shot you first, and you returned fire without thinking about it."
Danny remembered lying there in the rain fumbling with his poncho while the monster stood over him with a shotgun. He must have fired before losing consciousness.
"He's dead."
"Yeah."
"Sara?"
Grissom shook his head and shifted the pressure on the wound.
"You have to go look for her."
The older man pursed his lips and didn't answer.
"You don't have time. We have to find her."
Grissom sighed. "It's dusk, Danny. Be dark in fifteen minutes. No full moon."
"I killed him. Now he can't…lead us to her."
Grissom ignored him, keeping all of his attention on the wound. Already, it had bled through the many layers of Grissom's shirt, and Grissom shifted Danny so that he would have better access to the bullet hole.
"I'm sorry." Danny said, grimacing against the ache of movement.
"You did what you had to do."
"But—"
Grissom shook his head. "Danny, there was no guarantee that Sanchez would have lead us anywhere. My guess is that he liked games every bit as much as Hatfield."
There was shouting in the distance. Grissom rose to his knees and waved wildly. When he was certain that he had been spotted, he returned to Danny's pressure bandage. "Help's here, Danny."
Danny didn't hear him. He had again floated away from the pain.
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Catherine found him seated on the front steps of the Sanchez place looking out into the starry night. Despite the hour, lights were in the house, and a constant stream of deputies roamed the yard between the house and where Brass had set up a command post. She thought about wandering down there, but Brass' exhaustion had left him with nothing a snarl for most responses. Grissom seemed unaware that she was standing two feet away from him. She had a choice between Brass' growl and Grissom's silence. She chose silence. She sat next to him, and pulled her knees up close to her chest. "Kind of cold out here."
Grissom sighed and she cursed herself for reminding him that wherever she was, Sara was probably cold as well.
She licked her lips and tried again. "I just talked to Jack. Danny is stabilized. Still in serious condition, but it was a clean through and through. No major organs nicked."
She turned her face and looked at him. "He reminds me of you. Gruff exterior, but real love and concern for the people who work for him."
Grissom brought his hands up to his face and rubbed vigorously. "What day is it?"
"Wednesday, March 2nd, 2 a.m."
"Did I eat today? Do you remember?"
"You had a sandwich. I made sure you finished it. And you had an apple."
He nodded.
"The last of the evidence flew out four hours ago. Once it is processed, Warrick, Nicky, and Greg are headed up here."
He turned and glared at her. She threw her hands up. "They're not asking anyone for permission. They're just coming." Then she lowered her voice. "They have a right to be here."
He returned his attention to the starry sky. "Cath, if you were given five minutes with Eddie to tell him anything you wanted, what would you say?"
She let out a low whistle. "Uh…okay. I guess I would tell him that I loved him, and that I missed him. I would also tell him that it killed me watching him deteriorate the last years of his life. He used to be a kind man. I would tell him that this is how I will chose to remember him. Kind, exciting, handsome, loving, a good father."
He sat silent for a long time. Then he looked at her and said, "I would tell Sara that my heart aches for every second she's not there. I would tell her that I deserve that pain for the crap I've put her through all these years. I would tell her that, living or dead, she is my world."
Catherine dropped her head into her hands. "Good god, Gil, you are a mess."
Grissom ponders this idea for a moment and then nods. "Can you remember why I pushed her away all those years? I can't seem to remember what my reasoning was."
Her face rose up from her hands. "I think it centered around you being a big dork who was afraid of love."
"Yeah, that's it." He nodded gravely.
She chuckled. "If you get tired of forensics, we could rent you out as entertainment at parties."
"Do you wish you'd had a second chance with Eddie?"
"Gil, I had 39 chances with Eddie."
"I wish I had a second chance." He whispered.
"Come on." She took his arm and pulled him to his feet. She led him to the fleet of squad cars on Sanchez's land. She opened the door to one, and pushed him inside. "Close your eyes, Gil. I'm going to on watch for her tonight. I promise."
Grissom leaned back against the seat and let out a deep sigh. In seconds, he was asleep. She watched him for a few moments, and then walked off to deal to slay the dragon Brass.
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Jack Malone sat in the back of the squad car watching the landscape as it flew by. He appreciated the enormity of the view. He liked the mountains and the striking landscape everywhere. It was more majestic to him than the relative flat and dusty country around Vegas. The drive back out to the Sanchez ranch would take another hour or so. He knew that another opportunity to get uninterrupted sleep would not happen again for some time. But the events of the last few hours were too visceral to give him much peace.
Danny getting shot was almost more than his exhausted mind could process. The image of finding him laying there, blood soaking his entire chest, and Grissom trying to stem blood flow flashed itself over and over in his mind. Jack had held his breath all the way to the hospital worried that Danny would bleed out or arrest on the way in. But his agent made it all the way in without a crisis. Despite his repeated outbursts about Danny's foolishness, he felt nothing but relief when the emergency room doctor reported that he was stabilized.
Danny lie in a hospital bed now with any many drugs in him as the doctors dared. Danny would do nothing but sleep for at least another day. Jack wanted to follow the same impulse, but his body was too wired with adrenaline to relax. He got no more than 2 hours seated at Danny's bedside and then he was up and ready to go. It was clear to him that a brown haired woman named Sara was becoming very important to him.
He settled his head against the backrest and tried to relax himself long enough to get a few more minutes rest. He remembered that he hadn't called New York and he cursed himself. Avoiding this any longer would mean frustration among a staff that already was less than impressed with his communication skills. He thought about whose cell to call and then settled on calm, mature Vivian. He brought the phone to his ear and waited for her voice. "Hey Viv, this is Jack. How's it going?...How are things on the Stevens case?...Good work. Tell Martin I said that…Don't really know when I am getting back. Still looking for the woman, Sara Sidle….We got Hatfield's partner though. Actually Danny got him. Shot him dead…Say Viv, I should tell you that Danny got shot as well…No, no, he's going to make it. Doctors have stopped the bleeding. No major organs were pierced. He's going to be his old self very soon…Shot in the chest, actually the upper right quadrant, near the collarbone…Really Viv, he's going to be just fine. I promise…No, nobody needs to come to Reno. You all have plenty to do…Yeah, sort of a long story. Suffice to say, our boy Danny is not a cautious man. Went chasing after Sanchez without back-up. Nearly got himself killed…Oh, he'll be hearing about it. I guarantee that…No Viv, he's sleeping…I promise. If anything changes I'll call…Me? I'm okay. It's a..well, nobody's getting much sleep. Tell everyone that Danny is good. Okay? Talk to you soon…Bye Viv."
He pocketed his phone and leaned back against the seat. They were nearing the ranch. His sleepy eyes caught a flash of white as he was passing a large oak in a meadow off the road. His eyes started to close, and then he thought about what he saw. He thrust forward as if catapulted, and yelled, "Turn around now!"
TBC
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