Chapter 2 by: Kristen

The bomb exploded and propelled Nick into the air. He felt the heat sizzle his back for the briefest of moments, till he was slammed into the ground. It was a good thing that there was not more explosives behind the blast, or the CSI would have broken his back from such force.

Nick lay sprawled out on a landscape of rocky soil. His entire body shook from his horrendous ordeal. At first he could not hear anything. His ears still rang from the explosion, but then he felt it.

Human contact.

He was out...no longer trapped. It wasn't a dream or a cruel hallucination. Nick heard the worried voices of his colleagues...his friends. Nick managed to roll over to his side, despite being told to keep still. He'd be damned, if he stayed face down, breathing in dirt.

Dust still filtered down from the air. Dozens of people swarmed the area. Police gathered around in a weird version of a circle. Each officer tried to get a glance at the fellow colleague each of them tried so hard to save. Most of them stood back, giving room to the crime scene investigators that surrounded their coworker. The sounds of an ambulance in the background could be heard. It was the only thing to break the sullen silence that seemed to have descended over the family of CSIs.

Nick's broken and half-croaked cries, drifted throughout the night. Grissom, Catherine, and Warrick encircled him.

Sara, Greg, Ecklie and Brass stayed close.. too stunned...too relived to budge.

Nick trembled uncontrollably. He tried to reach out to someone, and both Grissom and Warrick immediately took his shaking hands. Grissom gently stoked Nick's hair, and wiped away the dead remains of ants that still lingered on his face. The young criminalist was unable to contain his emotions, he cried, tears steamed down his face. His gaze was went back and fourth between the two men who leaned over him. It was like he could not pick either of them to lock eyes with, as he was overcome with anguish.

Warrick never let go of Nick's hand. He leaned over his ear and whispered calming things. "Nick, you're safe man. It's all right, I promise. Shhhh, everything's fine."

Warrick was unable to control how his voice faltered, he sniffed and kept back his own grief for the sake of his best friend.

"Get me a jacket." Grissom ordered. Ever the collected one, the supervisor wanted to help prevent shock.

The supervisor turned around to search for his request. Nick felt the absence of the man, and instantly tried to curl up on himself. Instinctually all he wanted to do was get into a fetal position. The shakes were getting worse and it was as if the criminalist was slipping into the throws of an emotional meltdown.

Warrick saw his friend begin to collapse in on himself. Reacting quickly, he grabbed Nick's shoulders and pulled the other man close to him. Warrick Brown did not care if every eye in the department was on him. He wrapped both arms around Nick and gently hugged him. Warrick allowed himself a long, steady breath.

Nick was alive.

"Its all right, bro." Warrick felt his own face wet with moisture.

Sara went to Gil's side, heavy coat in hand. Grissom took the offered item and covered his shivering CSI with it. Grissom adjusted the garment, so it would not slip off the criminalist. Nick's head was resting against Warrick's chest, and the supervisor saw the CSI stare at him. With great difficulty, Nick held out his other free hand, and Grissom took it in his own.

Catherine came over with a damp cloth that she gathered from on of the search and rescue guys. She gently cleaned away the dirt and grime off of Nick's face.

Nick's sobs quieted and remained somewhat collected till the ambulance pulled up and the EMTs sprang into action.

Warrick moved up further in the ambulance to allow room for Catherine. There had been no arguments about procedures from the EMTs. This was a very special case. Warrick continued to hold Nick's hand as they loaded him in. Nick squeezed back hard, as if the other CSI was a life line. Nick's fingers trembled and his whole body shook. None of it mattered. Warrick held on.

The criminalist became the anchor to humanity for the overly distraught man. Warrick touched Nick's shoulder as he quietly became unglued. The medic began to give Nick oxygen. When the mask was placed over his face, it just seemed to be a natural reaction to fight him.

"Its, okay parnter..let em give you some more air. " Warrick encouraged, when the medic looked over at him for help.

Nick was at risk of hyperventilating, his breathing had been rapid and irregular. He was sweating bullets and his eyes were glassed over in a daze. It was obvious that he was struggling to calm down and relish in his rescue. However, he'd only managed a few shaky, deep breaths, when the panic would begin again.

The medic kept the Forensics' jacket over his patient for a sense of security and to help continue to battle shock. A much needed IV had been inserted in the his right arm. The EMT tried to avoid the angry swelling of ant bites, but that was near impossible. The CSI's vitals were closely monitored as the worried paramedic tried to keep things under control. After instructions from the hospital, the EMT gave Nick a shot of Epinephrine to help combat the poison from the ant bites.

Catherine snaked her hand under the heavy jacket and touched Nick's leg. She hoped the combined contact from her and Warrick would continued to aid and relax her friend. She used her other hand to wipe away the tears that all ready stained her face. Nick was still shaking, his legs lurched as if hit by spasms, while his arms still buzzed uncontrollably despite his best efforts.

The ride was entirely too long. Maybe a dozen cop cars, and other vehicles belonging to the lab raced after it. When Nick was unloaded and rushed into the ER, things became a storm of chaos.

Nick's arrival and the particular circumstances surrounding his ordeal had been communicated to the emergency room staff. Rules were broken again as Catherine and Warrick ran alongside the gurney as it was directed to a trauma room.

It was the extreme bright white light overhead that started it. Nick couldn't shield his eyes with all the bustle of actively around him. The quietness of the ambulance ride was now shattered by too much stimuli for a man who had just been shut off from outside sensations for the last twenty-four hours. The safety of his jacket was removed and there were so many damn voices shouting all around him.

Nick tried to keep from loosing it all together. The intensity of the light overhead, just reminded him of that damn bulb that had tortured him by his feet when he was inside that Plexiglas hell. He tried to drape his left arm over his face to block the intrusiveness. Despite his efforts otherwise, it was gently put back along his side. His mind flooded with uncontrolled fear, when Warrick's hand slipped away, and he was left at the mercy of strangers.

His training kicked in, the rational thoughts told him that these people were just trying to help. However, all those nice and neat ordered ideas were not in control of his mind right now. Nick had lost his tenuous connection to all that was real and plunged back into his nightmarish world. Then the panic started all over again.

"N-nnno," he stammered, and weakly lashed out to find his partner.

Warrick tried to grab Nick's hand but was pulled away.

"Let go of me!" He yelled. "He needs me!"

Warrick brushed past angry doctors who were just trying to work on his partner. He glared at the older head physician. "You know the situation here, let me by." He growled.

The ER doc nodded, and Warrick grabbed Nick's flaying hand again, instantly calming him down. "I'm right here, buddy. Not goin' anywhere."

Warrick planted himself right beside Nick as a permanent fixture, whether or not the doctors wanted him there.

The lead trauma doctor knew this was a special matter, but he sighed anyway. The older man looked at his team of residents. "What we got people?"

"BP's 60/40, pulse 140, his sats are 93." One of the nurses rattled off as she replaced the EMTs oxygen mask with one of their own.

Nick concentrated on evening out his breathing, but it was nearly impossible. He still quivered, despite some attempts from the nurses who talked sweetly to him. His skin felt like it was on fire. The pain from the ants had slowly morphed to numbness, but now it felt like his skin was crawling all over again.

He squeezed Warrick's hand harder.

"Let's get these clothes off him, and look at these ant bites." The sympathetic doctor leaned over his patient. "Mr. Stokes, do you have any allergies to insect venom?"

It was so hard for him to focus on the man's question. Nick shook his head no, his throat was too dry, he just couldn't speak. Just the mention of those creepy crawly things caused him to wiggle around. His shirt was being cut away along with his jeans. Nick's exposed and eaten away body felt like it was on view for everyone to gawk at. He closed his eyes. How was he ever going to face any of his coworkers normally again? The Texan turned his head towards his partner, begging him with his eyes to please ignore what he was witnessing. He strained his neck and searched out Catherine as well. A nurse quickly covered him with a sheet, relieving him of just a bit of his anxiety.

Catherine remained huddled in the corner as she tried to stay out of everyone's way. She gasped as her friend's clothes were stripped, a blanket draped around his waist to give him some dignity. His arms were covered with hundreds of swelling bites. There wasn't a patch of skin on his arms that were not swollen.

The rest of Nick's body had been spared somewhat. It seemed that despite his ordeal, his shirt had remained tucked into his jeans. His stomach and chest had bite marks, but it wasn't a sea of irritation like his poor arms. His thighs had been spared somewhat. The little critters had managed to go under his jeans and seemed satisfied at chopping away at his lower legs.

The head physician called over his shoulder. "Lets give him 5 mg of Diazem."

The doctor looked over at the other CSIs. "We're giving him something to help relax him."

The physician looked at a female resident. "Let's give him 20 MG of Deltasone, for the inflammation, 20MG of Diphenhydramine, and 40 MG of Ibuprofen, on board as well."

Nick was injected with a number of drugs to combat the insect venom, as well as anti-inflammatories and pain medication. The sedative hit the CSI's system, and his hand slipped out of Warrick's.

The criminalist stepped back towards Catherine as the nurses started to apply cool compresses to Nick's arms and face. The head physician glared at the investigators and knowing they had dozens of people anxiously waiting a progress report. Both of them left, as the staff continued to tend their friend.

The lobby emptied out a bit. A few hours ago it was littered with police officers, lab people, and criminalists. As much as Conrad Ecklie was proud of the lab's support. It wasn't going to do anyone any good to hang around and clog up Desert Palms. The Director huddled everyone together and thanked them for their efforts. He then kindly asked them to leave after promising them that they would be kept informed of the progress made here tonight.

Ecklie wandered the halls almost adrift and somehow stumbled into the corridor that held the remnants of the old graveyard shift. Sara Sidle spoke in hushed tones with her boss, Gil Grissom. Warrick Brown and Greg Sanders looked entirely too deep in thought. Each criminalists would let their eyes drift over towards a door that was closed shut.

Ecklie felt like an intruder somehow, but he was going to find out how one of his employees was doing. He wasn't the cold-hearted bastard that everyone perceived him to be.

All four CSIs turned around at his approach. They stared at him, as if they were studying his intent.

Grissom walked up to the director and nodded politely. "Conrad."

"How's Stokes?"

Warrick Brown seemed to stiffen at the question. Greg just stared back down at the floor. Sara, who went by her boss's side, seemed to shiver slightly.

Gil regarded the man in front of him somewhat stoically. "He's settled into a room. His doctor is with him right now."

The director looked around. "Where are his parents?"

"They were pretty upset. Nick's father took his mother to her hotel to try to settle her down. They are both very exhausted." Sara replied, her own weariness present in her voice.

Ecklie nodded. "And Catherine?"

Warrick looked at his superior. "They didn't want to further sedate him till he was given another examination. He asked that we leave."

The director looked a bit baffled, as if the explanation didn't quite sink in.

Warrick shook his head frustrated. "He freaked."

The rest of the group seemed to find interesting points on the wall, or the ceiling to study.

The lab director's eyes dropped, his mouth became a thin line.

Warrick folded his arms and leaned his back against the wall. "Cath went back in at his doc's request."

The door opened, and the same physician from earlier appeared. The group of criminalists gathered closer and the doctor smiled wanly. "I don't have to remind you people about hospital policy concerning immediate family. I spoke to his parents earlier after he was admitted, but they gave me permission to speak to all of you."

The doctor cleared his throat, hoping the group would give him a little space. No one really had the energy to move out of the way, so the physician resigned himself to the fact these people were on the end of their rope.

"Mr. Stokes is doing fairly well. He's exhausted and needs rest. A nurse will be in shortly to give him something to help with that. He can't seem to fall asleep without the aid of a sedative, which to be frank, isn't quite surprising."

The doctor took a deep breath, it would seem he had quite a captive audience. "We're replacing his fluids. I want to monitor him for several more days and keep an eye on those bites. The level of toxions will be watched very closely as we contiune to montior any possible damage to his heart."

The doctor watched four worried people, pale a little bit further. He cleared his throat. "Mr. Stokes had an allergic reaction to the insect venom. Normally this takes place after a previous reaction, but his body just couldn't tolerate the sheer amount of bites that it received. We used subcutaneous injections in the trauma room and the rest are being given intravenously.

He's responding well to the medication. With the extent of the bites on his arms especially, I want to make sure they do not get infected."

"That's good. " Greg responded softly.

The doctor looked around. "I had a psych consult done before he was settled. Mr. Stokes is not a danger to himself or to others." The older man gazed around. "Do you have a plan for when he goes home?"

The criminalists were quiet. It is obvious that the overly stressed and exhausted group has not thought that far ahead.

"Well, I suggest that someone stays with him for a while. I'm sure you have your own therapists. Our department head was adamant that he starts seeing one right away."

"Its mandatory." Conrad Ecklie nervously looked around as four sets of eyes stared at him. "We'll make sure he gets all the best care possible." The director amended

The physician stuffed his hands into his pockets. "He also said in Mr. Stokes' current state of mind, that someone should be with him at all times for his first few days at home. I have other rounds to make. Please keep your visits brief, no more than two people at a time."

With that last order, Nick's doctor left his coworkers with many decisions left to be made.

TBC...

Author's notes: I'll let Shacky make comments to people when I post her next chapter. Just want to say that all stories need abeginning. As stated in the summary, this was going to start from events in the eppy, then go foward. We wanted to kind of establish thoughts from those chracters. From now on this story takes place after the events. Hope you enjoy.

I had to break tis chapter up, so the next one will be mine as well.

Take care- Kristen999