Xin Qian, though her ankle was obviously broken, and swelling something horrible, continued sprinting to where the woman's voice was coming from. She could hear Sara telling her to get back to the car so they could walk in this calmly and make sure it wasn't dangerous, but she wanted to help.
Soon the pain from her ankle caused her to stop running, there was sweat dripping off her body as though she was standing in a shower, and she seriously felt like throwing her lunch at the wall, but she limped slowly toward the side of the building.
"" "" "" ""
Sara couldn't get the girl to stop, but obviously her ankle did, about three yards away from the side of the complex building she started to limp. Seeing as of the fact that Xin's blood was on Sara's hands, meaning that if Xin died Sara was to be held responsible for it, Sara started after the girl.
She didn't make it very far, before she was even three steps away from her car she heard a gun being emptied and Xin screaming. Sara started to run toward her, but got a boot in the back, forcing her to the ground. She could tell she had a gun to her back. She started moving trying to get the person to get the gun away.
She felt around her waist trying to find her gun, she was shocked to find it missing, it took a minute for her to realize that she had left the gun sitting in her car, she had been in such a hurry to save Xin that she had forgotten her gun.
"" "" "" ""
"Stay down!" A man with a gun was standing over Xin Qian, "Unless you want me to shoot a round in to your head.
Xin Qian whimpered, she was already bleeding and was in excruciating pain, and there was a man binding her legs together and a woman binding her arms behind her back, then a man threatened to kill her.
"" "" "" ""
Sara had been so worried about the young girl that she hadn't noticed that the man standing above her had released half of a round into her back, she was laying in a puddle of warm, sticky blood, her own blood.
"Are you ready to meet your friend before you die?"
Sara nodded, earning herself a hard punch to the face, "Don't hurt her" earning yet another punch
"" "" "" ""
The next thing Sara saw was herself being tossed in to a Budweiser truck. Her captor had his dirty fist in her mouth so she couldn't scream at him. So, Sara was basically willing to be thrown in to the truck.
"Xin? Are you alright?" She saw the limp form of the girl she was supposed to watch, bleeding out of her stomach and her arm. "Xin?"
Xin didn't reply giving Sara the horrible feeling that she was dead, but she didn't want to give up on the girl so she crawled over to where she was crumpled. There was blood just gushing from her wounds; If Sara didn't do something the girl would surly bleed out. Thinking quickly Sara cut part of her shirt off with the knife she happened to have in her pocket and wrapped it around the girls wounds.
"" "" "" ""
"Shu Fang, where is your sister?" Nick hung up his cell phone, "I've been tryin' to reach Sara and Xin Qian fer half an hour!"
"They at crime scene" Shu Fang started edging closer to her mentor, "You know, being worried bad for back" She started to rub his back affectionately.
"What are you doin'?" Nick spun around shocked, that Shu Fang had touched him, much less flirted with him.
"Rubbing mentor's back," she smiled, "Nick look angry at Shu Fang. Shu Fang do something wrong?"
"Yes, Shu Fang do something' wrong" Nick projected at the girl, "You have no right to touch me."
"Shu sorry." The girl walked back over to her corner of the room, secretly crying. She didn't understand what she had done wrong; All she had done was try to calm Nick down; All that ended up doing was making him angry at her. She decided to run out of the room as quietly as possible.
"" "" "" ""
20 minutes later Greg and Catherine walked in to the room where Nick was steaming, "Hey man, what did you do to Shu Fang? We walked passed her on the way here, she was sitting on a bench with silent tears dripping down her face. All we could get out of her was something in Chinese."
"I projected at her" Nick looked at the floor, "I was kind of steamed, because Sara and Xin Qian weren't answerin' when I called their phones, so I yelled at her"
"Dude, she has a major crush on you, what'd she do to set you off?" Greg stared at him seriously.
"Nothin' that should have made me yell at her" Nick was still staring at his feet, "She saw I was mad, so she started rubbin' my back, and I blew up" Nick saw the entire seen replayed in his head.
"You yelled at her for making a move!" Catherine glared at him, "Looks like you're going to have a nice three months"
Nick glared at her and walked out of the room, looking for Shu Fang.
"" "" "" ""
"Hey Shu" Nick walked up the obviously distressed girl, "Sorry 'bout earlier"
Shu Fang looked at him with sad eyes, "Shu no mean to hurt Nick, Shu try to calm Nick, help Nick".
She stared at him for what seemed like ages, she found him so attractive. She knew he thought she was just a little girl.
"Shu, would you like to go out sometime? We can go where ever you want". He sincerely looked at her as though she was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes on. And he knew she was.
"You only say that because you made Shu Fang sad, and do not wish for pink slip" She didn't believe what she saw on his face. As much as she would have loved to, she didn't, "But Shu go against better judgment and go out with Nick"
Nick smiled, "You won't regret it". He took her hand and walked her back into the lab.
"" "" "" ""
Back in the truck Xin was still yet to say anything. She was awake, but didn't say anything, Sara was really worried about the girl. "Xin, please say something, like my name, or something".
"Sara, Xin hurts, no energy to talk," And that was all she said.
Sara had run out of material to cut and Xin was still bleeding all over the place. Xin don't worry, the truck has to stop for gas eventually. Then we'll make an escape".
"And go where? Xin in no condition to walk, we in middle of desert, if try to escape either heat or bullets get us".
Sara knew that her comrade had given up hope to live, but she wasn't about to give hers up. She looked at the girl miserably. She knew that if she hadn't pulled over, Xin would be safely finding trace evidence at a night club. Not dieing in the back of a beer truck.
After another two and a half hours of watching Xin sleep the truck pulled over. And a man opened the door to the trunk, and picked up Xin, as his partner picked up Sara. They carried the two girls into a shack and set Sara down, and started punching her until she fell into unconsciousness.
"" "" "" ""
The first night of Xin Qian's and Sara's capture had ended and the second one had started when… "Grissom!" Shu Fang ran into her boss's office, "Look at this!" She started waving a tape around in the air. He took it. "Police bring to Shu!"
Grissom popped the tape into his VCR and pressed play:
"Hello LVCL." A female's voice sent chills through Grissom's body as a shot of Xin Qian and Sara chained to a wall, was shown on the screen., "Recognize anything? You should. Cause these two CSIs are worth millions on the black market, but we can make more money by threatening their lives for cash". Sara was barely clothed and Xin was bleeding out of multiple body parts; both incredibly bruised and unconscious. "So unless by midnight, every night, we find 13 thousand dollars sitting next to the old cactus, we'll shoot the brunette. And if you fail again we'll shoot the foreigner. We'll even be kind enough to let you watch it on live input, placed on every channel and on every computer."
"So," a man entered the frame, "Until that time, we will give you a recording everyday to show you that they are, in fact, alive and well alive"
"Shu, are you there?" Grissom waved his hand at the girl
"Shu here" And with that she ran off
"" "" "" ""
Nick and Shu Fang sat silently on the floor in the break room; Nick trying to comfort his girl. He didn't know what was wrong, but he wasn't about to ask either. Shu had been walking with Nick to get some coffee from Greg's 'secret' stash, when she broke down and fell to the ground. He stroked the girl's perfect black hair as she sat crying in his lap.
Greg was surprised when he found the pair on the floor. He had just walked in to innocently get coffee when ,alas, he finds Nick on the floor with the younger girl in his lap, stroking her hair, and rubbing her back with his free hand.
"Nick!" Greg accused, "What is your problem? She's 12 years younger than you, you shouldn't be touching her that way!"
"Greg," Nick warned, "Why does it matter to you?"
Greg just grabbed his coffee and walked out of the room angrily.
What Greg had said had gotten Nick thinking though "She is 12 years younger than me and a co-worker. And here I am takin' a feel when she's in her time of need. What does that say about me?"
He immediately stopped touching her, took his hands off of her, and helped her up. "Sorry Shu, Greg's right, we shouldn't be doin' this."
She looked disappointed, "Why does matter what Greg think? Shu no mind. Shu go to far? Make Nick mad again?"
She looked disappointed, "Why does matter what Greg think? Shu no mind. Shu go to far? Make Nick mad again?"
"No Shu's fine, you didn't do anything' wrong. It's just I have to work with these people and if they think I'm taking advantage of you, they'll never get off my back".
"Shu get it, Shu leave, no make people think Nick bad man". And with that she walked out of the room , slightly disappointed. She had been enjoying the physical contact with the man, but she knew he wanted her to leave.
"" "" "" ""
Soon enough Nick and Shu Fang were walking down the hallway together when Warrick Brown walked up, "I heard you got a feel, how was she?" He pointed at Shu Fang.
Nick glared at the man, "Rick, if you want to keep your dignity or anything' else fer that mater, I advise you shut up and leave us alone".
"Wow that good? I think I might take her off you for a day or two." Warrick started his hand toward the girls shoulder, but she grabbed his arm and twisted her body so that his arm followed her motions.
"Enough Shu for Rick?" She spat at the man, "And Nick told Shu, you were nice man." Warrick glared at the couple as he rubbed his arm.
"" "" "" ""
"Sorry 'bout that Shu." Nick had taken Shu Fang to his office trying to get some privacy. It didn't work. Grissom almost knocked his door down trying to get in.
"What's this I hear about you taking advantage of your pupil?" Grissom asked, "I've heard several times that 'Nick got a feel, on the foreign chick' or from people who talked to Warrick, 'Nick said the foreign girl is good enough to knock your dignity and everything else off' Would you mind explaining?"
"Shu do!" Shu stood up, "Nick comfort Shu, cause Shu sister is dying. Greg walk in, get wrong impression, tell whole lab Nick using Shu."
"What! Xin Qian is dyin'! Where's Sara?" Nick burst out.
"Sara dying with Xin, both captured and shot".
"Nick, is this the whole story?" Grissom ignored the statements made by Nick and Shu Fang.
"It's the whole story. And after Greg came in and accused me, I had Shu leave so I wouldn't start usin' her."
"Nick thought of using Shu?" Shu asked ,hurt, "I thought Nick love Shu".
"No, no, I didn't think of usin' Shu, I was afraid that I was usin' you." Nick stared at her with the same look of sincerity that he had used when asking her out. "Greg made me think that it was wrong for me to hold you, like I was takin' advantage of you."
Shu Fang stared at the ground, as she walked out of the office. She soon realizd her mistake was walking out with out a guard.
"" "" "" ""
Greg walked up to her quickly and abruptly stopped right in her line of vision. He squatted down in front of her.
"What you want?"
"I was just thinking, if Nick was good enough for you, what you would think of me? So, I decided to come find you and ask you to go on a date with me."
"Shu know what Shu think of Greg. Shu think Greg is pig! Dirty, nasty man! Shu never go on date with you. Shu never date man who ruin Nick dignity and make Nick sound like bad man."
"Well, I heard you did that to him already. Warrick told me that Nick said you were enough to knock a man's dignity off, and everything else for that matter."
"Nick try to tell horrid man that he knock crap out of him, in front of crime lab. Horrid man take wrong way, think that Nick tell him how good Shu feel."
"Well, the way it looks and sounds is, that Nick is using you, just trying to get laid." He laughed at her.
Shu Fang stared at Greg Sanders, he enjoyed her pain. "Nick using Shu? Confused. Nick tell Shu he love her, Nick lie?"
"Nick lie," Greg confirmed, "He lied to you, just trying to use you, gain enough trust from you to get himself laid. The second you sleep with him he's going to go back to treating you like he did last night."
The next thing Greg knew, Shu Fang had her head on his shoulder crying. Greg just stayed where he was for 20 minutes, with the girl's head on him, soaking his t-shirt.
They didn't move until Nick walked up, at which was the exact moment Shu Fang stood up, followed by Greg, who wrapped his arms around her tiny waist. Though she was only 4' 11" and he was 5' 10" she felt right at home in his arms, much more comfortable than she ever had in Nick's. They walked down the hallway.
"" "" "" ""
"That asshole!" Nick was sitting in his car yelling at the radio, "Tellin' the entire lab I took advantage of the girl, just so he can steal her from me!"
Warrick saw his friend screaming at someone in the car, so he opened the passenger door and got in, "Hey Nicky".
"What do you want?"
"To ask you who you're screaming at, and to apologize"
"I'm screamin' at my radio, and why do you want to apologize to me?"
"What'd the radio do to you?"
"In my little world right now, it's Greg."
"Sanders? The Lab Rat? I want to apologize for what I said earlier, when Greg told me you had been using her I got angry, so I took it out on you guys."
"Yeah Sanders, and why'd you get angry?"
"Cause she's like me, the Minority, trying to fit into the United States when no one wants you, but you want to help them, even if they won't take it. And, I thought that you were one of the only people who wouldn't take advantage of someone in the Minority after knowing me for damn near eight years. So, when Greg told me you have been using Shu Fang, I decided to take it out on you. Little did I know that I would end up insulting Shu Fang as well."
"You know good and well I would never do anythin' like that to anyone, minority or not." Nick looked his friend in the eye, "I love her."
"You've known her for 36 hours and you know this?"
"It's like an instinct, pullin' me farther in, but she doesn't feel the same way about me," Nick took his eyes off Warrick moving them to the steering wheel, "Anymore."
"What do ya mean, anymore?"
"Greg got to her, I said somethin' causin' her to leave the room, when Grissom came to settle the case. Well, about half an hour later I found her cryin' on the man's shoulder. Then she stands up and he stands up, puts his arm 'round her waist and they walk of together. Greg has to have said somethin' to her, got it through her head that I am usin' her. That all she is, is one of my lousy attempts to get laid."
"Just give it some time. Shu Fang will see right through Greg and come back to you."
"" "" "" ""
"Greg no use Shu?" Shu asked, worried.
"Greg no use Shu," the lab tech reassured the girl as he gently grabbed her waist, "Something wrong?"
"Did Grissom tell you?"
"Did Grissom tell me what?"
"Xin Qian and Sara dying, that why no one can contact, they being held hostage. Unless Vegas pay three million a night, Xin and Sara shot to death."
"That's horrible! Is Vegas paying?"
"Grissom tell me nothing. My sister being murdered and he have no decency to tell me if he know anything, or if they pay for the lives."
"I'm sorry, babe." He looked her in the face. His lacked the sincerity that Nick's had. Instead it was filled with contemplation, and thoughts of evil things to do to her.
"Your face lack sincerity, nothing like Nick."
"Where did Nick's 'sin' cerity get you? Trapped in a lousy chance for the man to sleep with you."
"Did you make up stories about Nick?" Shu accused. "You use Shu! Not Nick!" She started pushing at Greg's chest, trying to get him away, screaming for Nick.
"Shu, you scared him off, he's not coming back," Greg smiled wickedly, "Looks like your stuck with me for a while."
Now the girl wasn't just screaming for Nick, she was screaming for Catherine, Warrick, Ecklie, Grissom and Nick, but no one came. What if the shift had ended, so the only people that were left were Shu Fang and Greg, at least until swing shift started.
Soon Shu Fang gave up hope and gave in to Greg. Realizing too late that her mistake was going into sound proof room with someone who had only just earned her trust. How was she supposed to know that sound couldn't go out of the room?
"" "" "" ""
"Well I'm going to go shower and get ready to go home, see you later Rick" Nick climbed out of the car.
"" "" "" ""
When Nick walked past the lab on his way to the locker room, he noticed Shu Fang in her panties and socks, unbuttoning her blouse. He burst in to the room yelling at her.
"Nick!" Shu stopped messing with her shirt and ran up to him, "Greg bad pig!" She hugged Nick as hard as she could, "Shu sorry, Greg tell Shu that Shu just a lousy attempt for Nick to get 'laid'. Shu sorry, Shu believe Greg. But Shu just attempt for Greg to get laid!"
The next thing Nick knew Shu had her face in his chest and his shirt was wet. "Shu, it's ok. I'm here." He wrapped his arms around her, which was hard seeing as he was one and a half feet taller than she was. "I forgive Shu, I was never mad at Shu."
"You sure?" She looked at him, worried that he might say no.
"Yes Shu, I'm sure. Now let's get your jeans and shoes, re-button your blouse, and I'll take you home."
Shu nodded, took her clothing articles from Greg's desk and walked off with Nick.
"" "" "" ""
Shu, for some odd reason, had been too lazy to put her clothes back on, so Nick had taken her jeans and shoes. So when Warrick was leaving the building, he noticed the sight of Nick fully clothed and Shu Fang, partially clothed with Nick carrying the articles not on her. Warrick got the wrong impression so he rushed up and gave Nick a nice pop to the jaw.
What was that fer?" Nick yelled at his friend. Warrick pointed at Shu Fang. "Well Rick, if you're lookin' for someone to punch for her lack of clothing, you'd be lookin' for Greg."
Shu nodded, "Greg pig." She ran over to Nick and started using her blouse to clean up the blood coming from his nose and lips.