Chapter 6

"I'm sorry." Gemma whispered. Warrick, having been in a half-sleep stooper, jolted awake.

"What?" He leaned forward.

"I'm sorry" Gemma repeated in a soft whisper. Tears were in her red-rimmed eyes.

"What for?" Warrick took her hand in his, concerned about her emotional state.

"I let your baby die." Gemma broke into sobs.

"No Darling! No, no, no! It wasn't your fault!" Warrick insisted. Seeing that she wasn't going to calm down, he put the side rail down and crawled onto the bed beside her. Gentle as he could, he wrapped his arms around her. "It wasn't your fault."

"I should have taken better care." Gemma whimpered, pressing her face into his shoulder, seeking the comfort he offered. "I let your baby die!"

"Our baby." Warrick corrected in a whisper, kissing her temple. "There wasn't anything you could have done. The baby was murdered. I was so afraid I'd lose you too……..I'll get whoever did this. I promise…..I'll kill the monster!"

"No!" Gemma's tears stopped as she looked up at him worriedly. "I want him in prison, not you. I need you here with me. You promised me forever."

"Yeah, I did." Warrick kissed her face, finding places that wasn't bruised or swollen. "You've got me forever. In fact,…..forever doesn't seem long enough for me."

Catherine came into the hospital room quietly and stopped at the foot of the bed. She saw that the two occupants of the bed were sound asleep, holding one another closely in the small bed. She stood there a moment, watching them sleep, feeling a twinge of jealousy curling around in her gut.

"To be loved like that." She thought, slowly backing out of the room. She found a seat in the hallway, suddenly feeling depressed. Warrick was a good man, loving and devoted to his family. Catherine had tried marriage, it had only caused heartache for her and her daughter.

More than once, she'd thought about Warrick in that way. Wondering how it would be to be loved by a good man. She never attracted good, decent men like him. She always seemed to find the bad apples of the bunch. She knew that there had been times that Warrick had looked at her in interest. There was once that they nearly kissed, only stopped by the approach of another. It hadn't been work risking their friendship or career to chase the fleeting desire.

She didn't resent Gemma. She was happy that Warrick had found someone who made him happy. Catherine wanted what Gemma had with Warrick, but not Warrick. She wanted love. She wanted devotion. She wanted a man she could feel safe with. She wanted a man who could lay there, holding her as he chased away her pain and sorrow. She took a deep breath, steeling herself to the fact that that kind of love just wasn't in the books for her.

"Cath?" Greg Sanders was suddenly standing in front of her, holding a bouquet of roses. He looked like the Greg of old, hair every which direction, ratted jeans, an old Guns and Roses concert shirt that had seen better days. The image of him standing before her like that, made her smile. "Whatcha doing out here?"

"Hi Greg……they're asleep." She looked towards the door. "They've had such a rough time…..I didn't want to disturb them."

"You okay?" Greg sat down beside her, looking worriedly at her.

"This is pretty petty of me…..I'm just sitting here, feeling sorry for myself. I'm a little jealous of what they have. Go peek in at them……you can see how much they love each other."

Greg got up and peeked into the room. Coming back, he was smiling. "Rick is really lucky, I mean to have found Gemma. Too bad Gris didn't have another daughter for me."

"It still amazes me that he has one." Catherine chuckled. "Should have known that Gil would find a way to make Warrick his son."

"You think he set them up, by having Warrick protect her last year?" Greg looked shocked by the idea. "I mean, did he want them to hook up?"

"He's always treated Warrick like a son." Catherine shrugged. "I know his first concern was to have Gemma and Jess safe……but maybe…..in the back of his mind, he considered the possibilities."

"They really are good together. I don't think they'd be mad if he had." Greg looked back at the room with a smile then shrugged it off. "Come on, I'll by you some dinner." Greg held out the roses to her, bowing elegantly. With a wry chuckle, Catherine accepted.

"Come on, Goof." She rose, taking him by the arm, she led him to the elevators.

Nick glared at the woman who was glaring back at him. "You don't believe me?" She demanded, "Have you questioned the mother? Followed her?"

"I have no evidence for that!" Nick snarled. 'No judge is going to give me a warrant because you think you see dead people! I'm a Scientist! I believe in what I can see. What I can prove."

It amazed him how angry this woman was making him. He generally got along with everyone. It took a lot for someone to make him mad. This woman pissed him off every time she spoke to him.

"I've told you the truth! Look into that and you'll find your precious proof!" She spat out the word as if it were a curse word. Poking her finger into his chest, she insisted, "Those girls could be being hurt right now because you are too busy hum-hawing around, waiting for proof. You're an uncaring as-butthead! That is what you are!"

"Look…..I'm really sorry you feel that way. A CSI has to deal with the evidence. We can't just go around on feelings and hunches!" Nick was shocked. No one had ever called him a butthead. (and he knew what she had almost called him) No one had ever called him uncaring. Grissom had constantly been on his case for making cases too personal. Even Warrick had said that he was too empathetic to the victims. Now this woman, this stranger was saying he was too hard hearted?

"What about Mr. Pearson? He died trying to help you. Are you telling me, you don't believe that he knew you were in danger?"

"No." Nick sighed. "I believe that he knew something was up, but there's still no way to prove it."

"You disgust me! Those little girls are in danger and you're sitting here, twiddling your thumbs! Waiting for proof!" Lucy flared, her cheeks flaming red with her anger. "Would you still be alive if your friends had done nothing but wait for evidence?"

"What?" Nick's head whipped around to face her, so hard that he felt muscles snapping in protest. "What are you talking about?"

"I think you know exactly what I'm talking about." She looked at him, seeing his pallor, she grew contrite. "I'm sorry to bring it up but, I had to make my point. These girls are as good as in a box like you were. Time is ticking away for them."

"My hands are tied." Nick informed her.

"Well, mine aren't! Lucy snarled, hurrying out the door. Slamming it loudly behind her. Nick sat there, fuming. Lucy was right and so was he. The girls were suffering because of his inability to do anything. He felt the pressure and guilt riding heavily on his shoulders.

Jumping up, he hustled after her. He caught up with her as she got into her car. "Alright, what do you suggest we do?"

"Debra showed me a place. I'm going to try and find it."

"Let's start at the lab." Nick climbed into the Taurus. Lucy shot him a glance, but didn't say anything as she started the car. To fill in the silence, he added. "We've got some extensive map programs, maybe we can pinpoint the area."

"You sound as if you believe me?" Lucy looked at him with new interest.

"I never said that I didn't believe you. I've just stated that I can't run a case on the word of a clair-uh….medium."

"Thank you for that!" Lucy smiled at him, a big Julia Roberts type smile. Nick quickly turned away from her. It was bad enough that she could make him mad enough to spit nails, she didn't need to make his pulse raise too.