Night Shift
Part 8
When I woke up that afternoon Nick was still sitting in the chair next to me bed, he was asleep. I knew he had probably stayed with me all night. The door opened a crack and Grissom stuck his head in. I raised my left hand and waved him into the room.
"Just came to make sure you were doing alright," he whispered so as not to disturb Nick.
"Better, I just want to get out of here," I told him.
"That could be a while; doctors want to make sure you're okay." He said.
"So you came in the brighten my day with good news then?" I asked jokingly. He shook his head, a shadow of a smile flitted across his face.
"That to," he said.
"How's Sara doing?" I asked.
"She's okay, should be going home in a few days. Complaining about spending to much time in here,"
"I know the feeling. I don't suppose you know how long I'm going to be here?"
"A day or two and then you get to go home with your nurse here," he nodded in Nick's direction.
"Great," I muttered. Grissom raised his eyebrows a little.
"I thought you would have given anything to have some free time with him,"
"I would. What I don't like is having to depend on him."
"You'd prefer to do everything yourself?" He asked.
"It's always worked before; at least it used to," I said.
"Exactly, so maybe it's time you told him everything," he said.
"He knows all about my father and what happened then,"
"I'm talking about the rest. The drinking, the drugs. Everything Phoenix. People in love don't have any secrets from each other. At least that's what I've heard,"
"I don't know if I can,"
"Do you love him?"
"Yeah,"
"Then tell him, he might not understand even after you tell him, but at least he'll know."
"That's an awful lot to tell him. First he finds out about my father and then the bastard comes back for a surprise visit. What if Nick doesn't understand?" I asked.
"Have you asked him how he feels about it? When your father kidnapped you he was worried about you and I mean really worried. You don't just stay around for the good stuff; you have to be there through the bad as well. That's what being in love is." Grissom was good, I'll give him that.
"You seriously think he wants to be sitting in one of these uncomfortable chairs all day and night?"
"I guess not," I muttered.
"I'm not trying to make you feel guilty, Phoenix. Can you look at Nick and honestly say that you wouldn't do what he's doing right now if it was him lying in that bed and not you?" He asked. I didn't even have to think before I answered.
"Hell no, I'd sit on a bed of nails if I had to," I replied.
"Then tell him, if you want your relationship with him to go anywhere then he's going to find out eventually." He stood up.
"You know for a guy not in a relationship you know an awful lot about it," I told him, smiling to let him know I wasn't being rude.
"Discovery channel," was all he said as he slipped back out of the room. I went back to sleep only to be woken up half an hour later by a nurse who came in to tell Nick it was time to leave.
"I'm staying right here with her," he told the nurse, in a tone of voice that suggested that he'd have to be dragged out.
"I'd prefer if he stayed. If you don't tell anyone and I don't tell anyone then we're not going to get in trouble." I said. She was young, probably hadn't been working here very long, after a moment she nodded.
"If anyone catches you in here I didn't know," she said.
"Sure," Nick said. As soon as she was gone he turned his attention back to me. No time like the present, I thought.
"There's some more stuff about me that you need to know," I said.
"Oh, like what?" He asked.
"You already know that I don't drink and there's a very good reason for that," and I told him everything in all its gory detail, leaving nothing out. He didn't interrupt me once while I talked and he didn't seem all that surprised by the story I had to tell either.
"You look like you already knew," I said to him when I finished.
"No, I had an idea. There's usually two reasons why a person doesn't drink; they've seen what drink can do to someone else or they're an alcoholic. You seemed to know how it was from the point of view of someone who's been there." He grabbed my hand and held it to his mouth.
"You're not upset?" I asked
"Am I supposed to be?" He asked in return.
"I don't know, I was expecting you to run out of here screaming like a little girl." I said.
"That's the problem, my little girl scream isn't very little girly." He smiled at me.
"Well that's a good thing,"
"Yeah, now get some more sleep before that nurse comes back in," He said.
When I woke up the next time Catherine sat in the chair that Nick had been in.
"Morning," she said.
"You send Nick home?" I asked her.
"To get something to eat, he doesn't seem to want to leave you." She replied.
"Can you do me a favour?" I asked.
"Yes," she said.
"Make sure he goes home and gets some sleep, he probably needs it."
"That's a little easier said than done,"
"Keep at it. If there's one thing I've learned about you it's that you don't give up easily,"
The door opened and Nick came back in with a cup of coffee in one hand.
"What are you beautiful ladies talking about?" He asked.
"About you goin home to get some sleep, shave, changed clothes. That sort of thing," I told him. He sat down in a chair, setting his coffee on the nightstand.
"I'm not leaving you here alone," he said.
"Shouldn't you be getting some rest?" He picked up the book and flicked it open. I knew he hadn't even got past the first chapter.
"Yeah, I should be. But see and here's the problem there's this guy that I really like and I'm a little worried about him cos he isn't getting much sleep himself. Now if I knew that he was at home getting a few hours of sleep then I'd probably be able to rest myself. Know what I mean?" I smiled slyly at him.
"Hint, hint," Catherine added. Nick laughed a little and closed his book.
"Okay, okay, I get the message," he said. He glanced at Catherine and she seemed to get the hint.
"I'll be right outside," she said. Nick leaned over me, kissing me.
"You sure you'll be all right?" He asked.
"Positive," I replied.
"Call me if you need anything," he smiled down at me.
"You'll be the first. Now go," I gave him a small push in the direction of the door.
"I'll be back in a few hours,"
"By which stage we'll both be well rested. That is assuming that you actually leave here."
He waved to me as he pulled the door closed after himself. I didn't want him to go, what I wanted to do was beg him to stay with me. But I had actually listened to what Grissom had said to me, I'd never really had that before. Well except for Grissom, but that was different. I looked on Gil Grissom as more of a father figure; someone who was the exact opposite of my real father, someone you can go to for advice, and while sometimes…okay; most of the time I didn't like it, it was usually good advice. An older nurse came back in with a cheery smile on her face.
"Your entourage finally left, I see," she said.
"Took a little persuading, but he eventually decided that I wasn't the only one who needed sleep," I said.
"Doctor said you might be able to go home tomorrow," she said.
"Please don't say that, you'll get my hopes up and then I'll be told that he made a mistake," I joked.
"Well you want to look your best for that young man when he returns later, don't you?" She asked.
"Much better, no stubble burn this time," I smiled at Nick.
"I can think of better places to give you stubble burn," he whispered in my ear.
"Is that all you think about?" I slapped his arm.
"No, sometimes I think about what I'm going to eat next," he kidded.
"Well…whatever floats your boat, I guess," I said.
"So did you see the doctor yet?" He asked. I looked down at the grey t-shirt and blue jeans I wore.
"What do you think? When can we go?" I was dying to get out of here.
"Grissom, Catherine and Warrick wanted to be here, but they're all working a case," Nick held the front door open for me.
"My fathers' case," I said.
"Yeah," Nick ran his hands through his hair and I knew that talking about it was uncomfortable for him.
"What's for dinner?" I asked, quickly changing the subject
"Well I was going to have something extremely tasty and hot," he kissed me hard on the lips.
"I don't know about you though,"
"Not going to happen," I told him.
"Aww, why not?" He complained.
"Wrong time of the month," I said the words that send most people diving for cover. Except for Nick, he just gave me a blank look.
"Huh?" Was all he said.
"It's that time of the month, sorry Nick," I said.
"What are you talking about?" He asked.
"I thought science included biology," I muttered.
"It does, but what does it have to do with this," he said.
"Do I really need to give you the birds and bees speech?" I asked. He continued to stare at me blankly, after a moment it dawned on him though.
"Oh! That," he said.
"Yes, Nick, 'THAT'," I smirked at him, shaking my head as I sat down on the couch.
"So, dinner. What do you want?" He asked.
"Whatever you can cook sounds good,"
"So take out then?"
"Or take out's good to,"
Nick grabbed he phone and dropped onto the couch next to me, throwing one arm around me. A minute later he hung up.
"Pizza's on its way," he said.
"When are they interrogating him?" I asked.
"This afternoon sometime," he replied.
"Call Grissom find out when," I ordered.
"Phoenix-"
"I want to be there for it, Nick," I looked into his eyes. He stared back at me for a long moment and then sighed.
"I'll see what Grissom says," he said in resignation.
"What time is Brass gonna talk to him?" Nick asked as soon as Grissom answered.
"Yeah, she wants to be there for it," he continued when he apparently got the answer.
"I'll tell you what, Grissom, when we come in you can tell her that," Nick said tiredly. He hung up the phone.
"In an hour and a half," he told me.
"Thanks, Nick," I said.
Nick parked in a space between Grissoms and Warricks cars. He turned to look at me.
"You know you don't have to do this," he said.
"I know," I got out of the car and we walked in together.
"Grissom wants to see you first," he said, just as Grissom was coming towards us.
"How are you feeling, Phoenix?" He asked. If another person asks me that question I'm going to kick them, I thought. But I couldn't exactly say that to my boss.
"Not to bad, boss," I said. Warrick came out of one of the labs and saw us.
"Couldn't stay away, huh?" He asked.
"Yeah, regular workaholic, that's me," I said good naturally.
"Warrick's going to join me in the interrogation room," Grissom told me. He glanced at Nick, who nodded.
"Want to walk on over there now, bro?" Nick asked Warrick. The two of them walked ahead of us down the corridor towards the interrogation rooms.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Grissom asked me quietly. I laughed a little nervously.
"No, but I'm doing it anyway. Think it's something I need to do," I said. Grissom nodded, as if he understood.
"Okay, but you and Nick stay in the observation room next door until we're finished, alright?" He said.
"No problem, boss," I said.
I watched as they brought him into the room. Nick took my hand in his own and put the other against my back, letting me know he was there for me.
"Don't worry, he can't see you through the glass," he said. Grissom and Warrick sat down across the table from him, Brass leaning against the wall.
"I knew you'd be here, Mr Grissom," my father was the first to speak.
"And you also know why you're here, Mr Benning," Grissoms voice was neutral.
"I get the big man himself, I must be pretty important," My father said.
"When someone kidnaps one of my CSIs I usually make it a point to be here," Grissom said.
"Kidnap? How can a father kidnap their own child, Mr Grissom?"
"Knocking her out, tying her up and leaving her for dead is hardly is probably not something she would have agreed to if you'd actually asked her." Grissom said.
"So I went a little overboard, what can I say?" My father spread his hands, palms up.
"You don't have to say anything; the evidence speaks all on its own. You tried to murder her, you succeeded in murdering Flora Mason, Nancy Horton, Nora Talbot, Allison Martin and you are an accessory in the murder of Regina Tilson." Grissom placed at photograph of each woman on the table as he said their names. My father didn't even look at them.
"They reminded me of my daughter. That curly brown hair, those eyes and the body…well, the body pretty much speaks for itself. I have no doubt that you're Nick Stokes can vouch for that fact." He said. I shuddered at his words and I felt Nick rub his hand across my back.
"It's okay," he whispered to me.
"So you just killed them because they reminded you of your daughter?" Warrick spoke for the first time since the interrogation began. My fathers' eyes flicked to him briefly.
"It's a little more complicated than that, Mr Brown," he said.
"Complicated?" Warrick asked.
"That's the problem with girls. They're so…beautiful when they're children, but then they grow up and they all change. Phoenix always had a problem with her mouth even as a child, she was rude. I tried to stop that in her, make her a better person. She was sexy and I couldn't help myself. No man could," my father said, there was a dreamy smile on his face.
"You're wrong about that. A lot of people wouldn't do what you did to her." Grissoms voice was tinged with anger.
"How exactly does a seven year old act 'sexy'?"
"Well she was good at it. She'd look at me with those wide, innocent eyes of hers and I couldn't stop myself." My father said.
"Well, where you're going you won't be destroying anyone else's innocence." Grissom said.
"To jail? Yeah I know. But if anything's worth going to jail for it would be that," my father smiled at Grissom. I made a gagging noise, I felt like I was going to get sick.
"You want to get out of here?" Nick asked me.
"Yeah," I whispered. Nick opened the door and led me from the observation room; I leaned up against the wall in the hallway.
"You hear that?" I asked derisively.
"It was worth it!" I barked a humourless laugh. Nick didn't say anything; he just stood next to me holding my hand. That was all I really wanted anyway.
"And there she herself. Hey, Phee," My fathers voice broke the silence. I glared at him as he came towards us, despite the fact that Brass was holding him by his cuffed hands.
"Get the fuck away from me!" I snarled at him.
"Now is that anyway to speak to your father?" My father asked.
"Do to hell!" I screamed at him. He started laughing, his whole body shaking with mirth.
"We could have had a good time, just you and me. You don't need him," he nodded in Nicks direction.
"He doesn't understand you like I do. But like everyone else in your life he'll leave you and then I'll be there to pick up the pieces of your shattered little life." He smiled at me. I couldn't help myself; I lunged at him, fully intent on kicking the shit out of him. Nick got between us and held me back from him.
"Not in Nevada, Mr Benning, in Nevada we have this little thing we like to call the death penalty." Grissom told my father. Nick held me behind him as he turned to face my father.
"I love Phoenix, which is a whole lot more than can be said for you," the words ground out of Nick. I knew now that he had somewhat managed to calm me down he was letting his own anger come to the surface.
"I have no plans for leaving her, now or ever. In fact if she'll have me I'd marry her. Get him out of here!" Nick looked at Brass. Nick kept himself between my father and me as Brass led him past us. I don't know whether that was to stop my father from talking to me or to stop me from trying to rip his throat out. I watched as they disappeared around the corner. Warrick nudged Grissom with his elbow and nodded in the direction that Brass had just taken. As soon as they were gone Nick turned to me.
"Hey, you're crying," he said gently. He wiped away my tears with his thumbs.
"Yeah, haven't done that since I was a kid, sorry," I mumbled.
"Don't apologise. Anytime you need a shoulder to cry on, you know who to call," he said.
"Only when you're wearing one of your good shirts," I joked lamely. He chuckled a little, as he hugged me.
"Did you mean what you said?" I asked.
"What did I say?" He looked down at me.
"You said if I'd have you then you'd marry me," I said.
"Did I say that?" He asked. I looked up at him, a little embarrassed.
"It's okay if you don't want to," I told him.
"I never said I didn't want to. I just don't remember actually saying it," he said.
"I hate it when you confuse me," I said. He let me go and got down on one knee.
"What…Nick get up before someone sees you!" I hissed at him.
"I don't care if they see me. I want to do this right." He said.
"Ni-" I started.
"Excuse me, I'm the one who's supposed to ask, don't interrupt." He said. I looked around expecting someone to come around the corner any second.
"I realise that my timing may not be perfect, but it's the sentiment that counts, or so they say." His eyes held mine.
"Phoenix Matthews, will you marry me?" He asked. I mumbled something.
"Is that a yes?"
"Yes, it's a yes," I said. He jumped back to his feet, grabbed me around the waist and lifted me off the floor, swinging me around
"Woohoo!" He yelled and then kissing me.
"I take it that you're happy I said yes," I smirked at his reaction.
"You could say that," his smile was wide; he held my hand as he led me down the corridor.
"That makes two of us," I said. He looked back at me as we went through the CSI lab. Grissom and Warrick had been joined by Sara and Catherine who had showed up a few minutes earlier.
"She said yes!" Nick yelled to them. I blushed a bright red.
"Nick!" I cried.
"What?" He turned innocent eyes to me.
"Nothing," I muttered. He looked so happy I didn't want to burst his bubble. Catherine, Sara and Warrick were smiling at us.
"Said yes to what?" Grissom asked, wiping the smile from Nicks face. Nick looked at me.
"Is he serious?" He asked.
"And some say he's a genius," I said. Catherine slapped Grissoms arm.
"You know what, Gil," she said. Sara hugged me and then Nick.
"Congratulations,"
"Isn't it a little earlier to have asked her that?" Grissom asked.
"Stop torturing the kids," Catherine told him. Then there were a round of hugs and handshakes as they all congratulated us.
"They've been together how long? A month?" Grissom said.
"Gil," Catherine gave him a warning look and Grissom wisely decided to shut up. He shook Nicks hand and the hugged me.
"It's about time you deserve some happiness. I'm happy for you, Phoenix," he said.
"Thanks, boss," I grinned at him.
THE END
Or is it?