Appreciation by SLynn
Summary: An art heist, an arsonist and a lot of angst. Takes place approximately four months after the end of 'Precious Things' This is the fifth in a series. Greg/Sara and Nick/OC
Spoilers: Up to 'Nesting Dolls'
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I'm just borrowing and will return them all when I'm done, virtually untouched.
Chapter 23: Into the Woods
Nick and Charlie watched as Sara and Greg went into the house through the front door.
"Where to first?" Charlie asked.
"Let's start out here and work our way around back."
Charlie nodded. He wasn't going to be collecting, just watching and hopefully learning more about what crime scene analysts did.
The house was in obvious disrepair and looked as if it had been broken in and out of several times. The yard, which they were presently combing through, was equally bad. Overgrown and littered with trash of all kinds.
"I hear congratulations are in order," Charlie said after a brief pause.
"News traveled that fast?"
"You'd be surprised," Charlie answered, shaking his head. "Brass told me, actually. Heard it from Grissom I think."
Nick nodded and smiled.
"Amy wanted to tell you when she saw you next but…"
"Its fine," Charlie said waving him off, "you don't have to give me an excuse. I'm sure you've both got other people to worry about. I'm just happy for the both of you."
"Thanks man."
"So," Charlie said, scanning the weeds with his flashlight, "how do you tell what's relevant?"
"In all this?" Nick questioned with a smirk. "It won't be easy. Most of it looks too old, worn, like it's been here too long to be important."
"New trash," Charlie commented, mostly to himself. "Got it."
Nick kept looking, but smiled at that.
After looking through the front yard they moved to the right side, deciding to sweep the building counterclockwise. So far they'd yet to find so much as an errant footprint. As they did Charlie's phone, set to near silent, rang and he stepped back a few feet to answer it. Nick continued on toward the back of the house.
Nick was just beginning to think they'd never find anything when he spotted a small stack of newspapers very near the back, at the corner. Snapping off a few photos, he reached down and flipped through them. There were at least three papers there, all from the last week.
Taking a few steps back to get a wider shot of the photos, the back yard just in view, Nick just caught movement in his peripheral sightline.
Casting a quick glance up, he saw Greg.
It was just Greg on the back porch looking out into the wooded backyard.
On second glance, he saw it wasn't Greg.
The man caught his eye this time. Stared at him for half a minute and Nick knew what he was going to do. He was calling out to the man even as he began to run after him. Charlie, a few feet away from Nick still and unable to see the intruder immediately shut the phone and went for his gun, following Nick into the backyard. Charlie too called out for the man to stop, making sure to identify himself as a police officer before continuing in the pursuit.
The man had a good head start. He jumped the chain link fence that surrounded the house and went straight into a wooded thicket. Nick and Charlie didn't have much of a problem following him at first, but soon it began to get difficult. The man was still running fast, but they could hear him just ahead of them.
The terrain changed as well. The house, they hadn't realized, was located near a creek.
Nick and Charlie slid down the incline and came to rest at the bottom.
It was absolutely still.
Nick took a moment to un-holster his gun as quietly as he could. Charlie made eye contact with him and indicated with a nod that he'd go left. Nick nodded once in return and turned to the right.
Nick moved carefully forward, scanning the bushes as best he could on either side. The creek bed didn't have traditional high walls but more weather worn sloped ones on either side.
Finally, after several yards and tense minutes, Nick saw what he needed to see. White sneakers.
Leveling his gun, the action alone catching Charlie's attention, he got ready.
"Step out slowly," he said, loudly after clearing his throat. "Get your hands in the air and come out. Now."
"Okay, okay," came a much younger voice than he'd anticipated. "Just don't shoot me."
Charlie was now standing off to the side, gun leveled at the sound of the voice. He waited until the man cleared the bushes and was standing several feet in front of Nick, hands in the air, before putting it away and taking out his handcuffs.
He stepped over to the man, not much more than a boy, and put the cuffs on him one at a time.
"How old are you?" Charlie asked once they were secure.
"Sixteen," the kid stuttered.
Nick shook his head and put his own gun away, not believing this was happening.
"Right now I'm placing you in custody for evading the police. Do you understand?"
"Yes."
"Good. What's your name?" Charlie continued to ask.
"I don't have to tell you, do I?"
"It's up to you," Charlie said, shaking his head and mentally cursing cop shows everywhere, "but this will be easier if I can at least get that."
"No way."
"Have it your way," Charlie returned before turning him around and patting him down for weapons.
In the process he found a wallet. Charlie opened it up and took out the driver's license.
"Okay John Davenport," Charlie said, pocketing the wallet for the time being, "let's get you to my car and place you under arrest. You know your rights but you know I've still got to read them to you for it to be legal, right? Let's get started."
Nick led the way as the three of them made the slow journey back toward the house. All the time Charlie was reading the teenager his rights and Nick was shaking his head. He wasn't sure why the kid was there, probably the house was a local hangout, but that wasn't important. What was important was that this kid wasn't that big of a threat, especially now that he was under arrest. They'd had perpetrators return to scenes before and it hadn't always been this easy.
As they finally came up the embankment Nick froze completely in his tracks.
"What's the…" Charlie had started to ask but stopped immediately upon seeing it for himself.
The house that they'd just been at probably twenty minutes ago was now completely engulfed in flames.
They hadn't seen it from where they'd been but now they could. Now it was easy to see, burning bright before them.
Charlie hesitated only a second before pulling his phone out and dialing nine-one-one to report the fire.
Nick had other ideas.
He turned immediately to the teenager in custody and nearly hit the roof to see that he actually had a smile on his face.
"Did you do this?" he questioned loudly, stepping into his space.
John Davenport didn't answer, but he did step back. And he laughed.
"Did you do this?" Nick practically yelled this time. "My friends…"
Charlie hung up his phone and pulled their suspect back, stepping between the two of them before Nick got out of hand.
"Calm down," Charlie said, "they're probably out. Fire engines are already on their way. They got a call not long ago about the fire, that had to have been one of them."
Nick turned back to the building, astonished. The entire back of the building was in flames.
They made their way carefully toward the front, staying as close as they dared and looking for both Greg and Sara as they went without luck. They could hear the sirens now as the trucks began to pull onto the scene.
Charlie was quick to lock their only suspect in his car once they made it to the front of the house. Nick was still staring at the house, the front of which was also on fire.
"They didn't get out," he said under his breath, shaking his head in disbelief.
Charlie was already talking with the fire chief, explaining the situation and indicating that two CSI's were believed still inside.
As the fire truck unloaded and began to initially douse the building, an ambulance and two police cruisers pulled onto the scene.
Nick knew he was in shock and he knew that he needed to snap out of it. Quickly. It wasn't easy to do. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion.
It seemed like forever before the firemen were able to really begin on the building.
He couldn't hear anything between the roar of the fire and the blaring of the sirens. All he could do was wait, and he hated to wait.
But it looked like they were making progress.
The flames weren't as high as they had been and finally, firemen were going inside, but only two.
Nick began to pace. Charlie felt his frustration; he was frustrated himself. He knew that Nick was close to both Greg and Sara and couldn't imagine it. Hell, he was fairly close to Greg. All there was to do now was hope.
After an eternity of waiting the doorway was silhouetted with the outline of two men, one nearly dragging the other. This time Nick knew there was no mistake; it was clearly Greg with him.
The fireman took him just down the steps before handing him over to two other waiting firemen and then rushing back inside himself.
Nick moved forward but Charlie held him by the arm, refusing to let him go further. At first Nick began to pull out of his grip before it dawned on him why. They hadn't moved Greg to the ambulance; they'd instead laid him out on the grass.
The two men watched from a distance as the paramedics moved in with oxygen and began to work on Greg.
Nick didn't see any burns on Greg, which was good, but he also didn't see Greg's chest moving.
Without realizing it, he found he was mumbling 'come on' under his breath as he began to pace.
The paramedics weren't giving him CPR though, not yet. Oddly enough, they'd propped up his legs. Nick couldn't help but move closer and saw that Greg was at least breathing, albeit shallowly. He couldn't tell if Greg was conscious or not until he heard the paramedic nearest him ask a question and just caught a slight head nod in return.
Relief flooded over him.
Greg was alive and communicating, for now that was enough.
Turning his attention back to the house, he wondered what was taking so long to bring out Sara.
As he was looking away he heard a low gasp drawing him back to Greg. They'd injected him with something and were hooking him up to an oxygen mask.
The man that had been between the two of them now stood and moved back towards the ambulance, presumably to retrieve a gurney. As he did Nick saw that Greg's eyes were open now and that he was looking straight at him.
Nick watched as Greg mouthed a word over and over, but with the mask he couldn't tell what it was. Unable to stand back any longer, Nick moved over and leaned down next to him and just as he knelt down he realized what Greg had been saying. What he'd been asking.
'Sara'.
Greg was looking at him, hopeful for an answer, still moving his lips to form her name beneath the mask.
Nick didn't have the words for it. Couldn't say it. Couldn't tell Greg that she wasn't out yet. But he didn't have to.
He gave one fleeting glance back to the house and Greg knew for himself.