Gil Grissom sped across town with Catherine and Greg riding silently in the car with him. They had all be upset to hear that their team was out working the case without a police escort. The news that one of them had been injured had sent them flying to the car.
"Why can't they tell us who it is?" Greg inquired. "At least tell us how bad it is."
"As far as I know, they don't know yet." Grissom replied. He didn't let on, but he was as worried as Greg was. Those were his guys out there. He wanted to get there, to see if they were okay. Once he assured himself that they were, he planned on ripping them a new one for going against protocol.
"Don't touch that door, Nick." Lucy warned as they approached yet another door. "It's the same as the one that got Warrick."
"Good to know." Nick stared at the door with a frown. "I want you to stand over here, against the wall." He took her hand an moved her to the side. "Are you sure it's the same type of rigging?"
"Metal stick, set to fly out when you open it." Lucy nodded.
"Hmm, okay, I've got an idea." Reaching over to the doorknob, he unlatched the knob with out opening the door. With a quick thrust of his foot, he sent the door flying open as he pivoted back on the other leg, slamming himself against the wall, safely out of the way.
The steel rod was still reverberating when he caught his breath. It had shot through the doorway and embedded itself in the wall across the room. "Geez!" He swallowed roughly. No wonder Warrick hadn't been able to avoid it. Not only had his back been turned, but the sucker had been speeding. He promised himself to check out the rigging of this particular trap when this day was over.
"I suppose you still don't believe me." Lucy hissed angrily.
"Give it a rest." Nick snapped back.
"No, I don't want to give it a rest." Lucy continued. "You've been on my case all along. Making snide remarks, insulting my abilities. You even had the nerve to compare me to the-"
Nick grabbed the back of her head, yanking her toward him as his mouth came down to silence her tirade. After kissing her breathless, he pulled back and grinned.
"Just shut up. Let's go find the kids." he told her before heading on.
"You…..that……" Lucy stammered as she followed him along. "Why did you do that?"
"I wanted to." Nick shrugged, laughter in his voice as he added. "I thought you needed it."
Lucy didn't reply. She stopped starring up a set of stairs in the middle of the hallway they were traveling through. "Nick?"
"What?" Pausing, he turned to face her. He looked curiously up the stairs as she did.
"They're up there. They're frightened. Warrick scared them when he screamed. They think the men are coming back for them. They're crying."
"Are there anymore traps?" Nick questioned, worried about ascending the stairs.
"No, but they're so frightened."
Nick frowned, his pulse racing at the thought of finally finding the children. "Lizzie Holcomb!" He called up the stairs. "Kelly!"
There was no response, so Nick took a couple steps up the stairs. He heard his footfalls echoing up before him, understanding how frightening the sound might be to the girls. "Girls? My name is Nick Stokes, I'm here to help you!"
Nick took a few more steps, calling out to the girls as he did. "Lizzie? My name is Nick, I'm with the police. We've been looking for you for a long time? Are you okay?" There was still no answer, Nick looked questioningly at Lucy who looked nervous and hopeful at the same time. "Kelly? Can you hear me?"
Still no answer. Thinking about Jessica Brown, he thought about conversations he'd had with her. "Kelly? What's your favorite color? Mines blue, but I have a little friend who tells me that pink is a much better color? She wears it all the time." He continued to climb, chattering as he did. "Her name is Jessica. She's four. She likes monkeys and Barbie's. She's my pal. She likes to sing songs? Do you guys like to sing songs? She likes songs like…..The Wheels on the Bus. Ya know that song? The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round. The wheels on the bus go round and round, all through the town." Nick began to sing.
"The wipers on the bus go…….what do they do?" He questioned. "Do they go back and forth? I can't remember…."
"Swish, swish, swish." A small voice called out quietly. Nick smiled with relief.
"Yeah, that's it Kelly. The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish all through the town." He made it to the stop of the stairs, glancing back at Lucy, who motioned for him to go to the left. "What's next Kelly? The door or the windows?"
"The babies on the bus go waah, waah, waah." The little voice carried on.
"Yeah, that's right. Then the Mommies on the bus say hush baby hush, hush baby hush." Nick opened one final door and saw a row of jail cells. In the very last cell, the two girls huddled together. Stopping in front of the cell, he knelt down and looked at the girls through the bars. "Hi girls. I'm Nick."
"I like that song." The littlest girl looked up at him through her teary eyes, her face stained with old tears.
"Me too." Nick felt a lump growing in his throat. "Let's get you out of here, and we can sing it as long as you like." Rising, he looked around, spotting an axe laying in the corner. "Cover your eyes girls." He warned before he began to hit the hinges with the blunt side of the axe. It didn't take much to get the decrepit hinges to come loose. He swung the door open and rushed inside. Both girls held out their skinny arms to him and he gladly encircled them into his embrace.
"There's a lot of people that will be glad to see you guys." Nick told them as they hugged him tightly. Lucy quietly entered the room, watching them quietly. "So many will be happy."
"Not Mom." Lizzie finally spoke. "She's gonna be made. She wanted us gone. She tole the men that."
"We can talk about that later. First, let's get you guys out of this place. Look, here's my friend Lucy. She helped me find you." Nick introduced the girls to the woman as he lifted Kelly and handed her to Lucy. "Let's get out of here." Lifting Lizzie into his arms, he headed out the way they came.
They were met downstairs by a swarm of police and rescue workers but the girls refused to leave the security of their arms. By the time he had exited the building he had heard from several people that Warrick and Sara had been taken to Desert Sands but would both be okay.
Nick carried Lizzie all the way to the awaiting ambulance with Lucy following behind with Kelly. Placing Lizzie onto the awaiting gurney, he turned to face the angry face of Gil Grissom.
"I gave you the simple task of keeping Warrick out of trouble. Not only do you fail to do that, but you drug Sara into it and allowed them both to get injured."
"Have you ever managed to keep Warrick out of trouble?" Nick questioned dryly. "Or keep Sara out of something as big as this?"
"That's not the point Nicky." Gil frowned. "Not only did your two teammates get hurt, but you brought a civilian into the mess."
"I tried to make her wait in the car. You know what they say about redheads and being stubborn. Catherine has got nothing on this one." Nick shot a grin at Lucy who was standing close to where Kelly was being checked by the paramedics.
"You saying that you're not to blame for any of this?" Gil questioned.
"No….if anyone has to be blamed, it might as well be me. Warrick's going to be benched due to his injuries that should be enough punishment for him since he's entitled to a little slack lately. Sara, as you say, was just along for the ride. I'll take the blame."
"Very noble of you Nicky." Gil grinned. "But not necessary. You guys found the girls. You'll be heroes."
"The girls should be the heroes." Nick shrugged then grew serious. "You need to have Lizzie interviewed, she said some incriminating things about her mother. We might have a case on her after all."
"You've done good Nicky. Really good." Gil nodded, turning off to talk to someone about something. Nick turned to see Lucy climbing into the ambulance with Kelly. The woman smiled at him as the door shut.
Nick thought about the kiss he'd given her. He thought about the way her mouth had given under the pressure of his. It had felt wonderful. Nick felt the desire to kiss her again, and decided that he soon would. He thought maybe he finally understood Warrick's inability to stop smiling when he thought of Gemma. He climbed into the ambulance with Lizzie, eager to see Lucy at the hospital.
Today was looking like it'd be a good day.
The End
Thank you for sticking with me while this story played out. I'm seriously considering a third chapter to this series, so if you have any comments or criticism, PLEASE let me know!