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Sara began banging on the door with all of her might.
"Nick!" She screamed through the window. She fumbled with doorknob, attempting to open it. She then remembered the spare key in the aloe Vera plant. She dug up the soil, and stuck the medal in the slot. She opened the door with full force.
"Oh my god Nicky," Sara said as she put her fingers to his throat. His pulse was rapid, she felt his face, and what surprised her was the fact that it was cold as ice. She kept her hand to his face as she dialed Grissom's number.
"Grissom," He said as he picked up the phone
"Gris, you need to get over here now," Sara said as she grabbed a blanket off of Nick's couch.
"Where's 'here'?" Grissom asked as he got off of his bed.
"Nick's. He called me because his chest hurt. I lost him over the line. That was 15 minutes ago," She said as she looked at her watch.
"OK. Feel his pulse," Grissom said as he slipped on pants.
"Already did," Sara said as she covered Nick with the entire blanket.
"And?" Grissom asked with a frantic tone.
"Oh. It's fast and is going at a constant speed. He's cold to the touch," Sara said as she felt his face again.
"OK stay calm. Don't call the ambulance. I'll be there in ten. Talk to him until I get there," Grissom said as he put a jacket on.
"OK," Sara said as she sat on her knees.
Grissom snapped the phone shut and rushed out the door. Sara picked up the phone and called Warrick.
Warrick slowly opened his eyes as he realized that the phone was ringing from the bathroom. He jumper out of bed, and ran to the phone. He threw it open and put it to his ear.
"Brown," Warrick said as he rubbed his eyes.
"Warrick, you need to get over Nick's as soon as you can," Sara said as she sat next to Nick.
"Why? What's wrong?" Warrick asked as his eyes grew wider.
"He called me about his chest. It's too long of a story to tell you over the phone. Just get over here now," Sara said as she snapped the phone shut.
"Did you call the ambulance?" Warrick asked as he heard the phone go dead. He closed his phone and threw on his shoes. He ran down the hall to wake up Jordan.
"Jordan wake up," Warrick said as he shook her awake.
"What?" Jordan said as she sat up.
"You need to wake up, we're going to Nick's," Warrick said as he threw on a jacket.
"Why?" Jordan said as she jumped out of bed and threw on her flip flops.
"I'll tell you in the car you just gotta hurry up," Warrick said as he left the room for her to get dressed
Jordan through on some clothes in record time and met her dad in the living room. They walked out side, locked the door, and drove over to Nick's, Warrick sweating bullets the entire way.
Grissom walked through the partially opened door at Nick's.
"Sara," Grissom said as he knelt down next to her.
"He's really, really cold," Sara said with glossy eyes.
Grissom put a hand to Nick's face, and the icy cold feeling made him pull his hand away. He looked at Sara and began to ramble off orders.
"Sara, go into the bathroom and grab a towel. Run it under warm water, ring it out, and bring it back," Grissom said as he pointed in the direction of Nick's bathroom.
Sara took off on a mad dash to help. As Sara entered the bathroom, Warrick and Jordan entered the house running.
"What's going on?" Warrick asked as he got on his knees next to Grissom.
"Who called you?" Grissom asked as he placed a finger to Nick's throat.
"Sara. What's going on?" Warrick asked for the second time.
"Nick's called Sara because of his chest pain," Grissom said as Sara walked back in with a towel. Grissom grabbed it and placed it to Nick's forehead, neck, and chest.
"Warrick, go into Nick's medicine cabinet and grab the blue bottle, hurry," Grissom said as he removed the blanket so that he could a get better access to Nick's abdomen.
Warrick ran into the bathroom and flew open the cabinet. He knocked over all of the other bottles of medication to fine the blue one tucked in the back.
While Warrick was in the bathroom, Nick began to scurry. He moved his head and squinted his eyes.
"Grissom?" Nick asked as he grabbed Sara's hand.
"Yeah Nicky, what happened," Grissom asked as Warrick came back into the room.
"My chest," Nick said as he grabbed his chest.
"When was the last time you took one of these?" Grissom asked as he popped the cap off of the bottle and geld up a yellow pill with red writing on it.
"A week after what happened," Nick said as he looked to the ground ashamed.
"Nicky," Grissom said, about to chastise him. "Do you think you can take one of these?" Grissom asked as held it in his palm.
"Yeah, I think," Nick said as he moved his eyes around the room and looked at all the familiar faces. He spotted Jordan in the corner of his living room holding back her tears, just as Sara tried to.
"Jordan can you get me some water?" Grissom asked as he looked at the girl.
Jordan jumped at the request and got Grissom the water soon after. Nick tilted his head back and let Grissom drop the pill to the back of his throat. Nick grabbed the glass of water from Grissom and swallowed the pill down. He took in a breath of air as he sat back in the normal position. He sighed as he slowly got his breathing underway.
The group sat there watching over Nick, making sure that every little sigh and tear that he made was remembered.
"Do you think you can stand buddy?" Warrick asked as he grabbed Nick's hand.
"Yeah, maybe," Nick said as he pushed himself onto his knees.
Grissom and Warrick grabbed his forearms while Sara grabbed his back. They led him to the couch where Jordan removed the newspapers and the remotes. They sat him down and helped him shift his feet onto the couch.
"Shouldn't we call the ambulance?" Jordan asked as she looked at her dad.
"No," Sara, Grissom, Warrick, and Nick all said in unison.
"No ambulance," Warrick said as he stared at Jordan.
"OK," Jordan said as she looked at Nick.
Sara, Grissom, Warrick, and Jordan all slept over at Nick's that night. Jordan fell asleep quickly, but Sara, Warrick, and Grissom kept a close eye on him as he slept. The alternated shifts of who placed the warm cloth on his head. They took his pulse every half hour or so. The dawn crept through the shades. Their tired eyes squinted as Nick's house lit up with the fresh morning sunlight. Nick also woke up as the sounds of people in his house shook him from his slumber. He opened his eyes to see Grissom and Warrick standing over his couch with cups of coffee in their hands.
"Hello sunshine," Warrick said with a smile.
"Hello buttercup," Nick said as he sat up.
He looked at Grissom with an ashamed look on his face.
"Nick, what were you thinking?" Grissom said as he gripped his coffee cup.
"I don't know," Nick said as he laid back down and covered his eyes with his arm.
"You could have died," Grissom said as he walked a little closer.
"Yeah I know," Nick said as Jordan began to wake up.
"We won't tell anyone if you promise to continue taking it," Sara said as she walked into Nick's view.
"No," Nick said as he looked he trio examining him.
"Nick, you don't want Ecklie to find out about this do you?" Warrick said, blackmailing his friend.
"You wouldn't," Nick said as he sat up.
"Yes. I would," Grissom said as he looked at Nick with fire in his eyes. "If you're not gonna take care of yourself, then we're gonna have to."
"You don't understand. That stuff makes me depressed. I can't work with that stuff in my system," Nick said as he attempted to stand but fell into Warrick and Sara's ready arms.
"Than you need to talk to your doctor because unless you start using this stuff, Ecklie will be up your ass because I WILL tell him," Grissom said in a pissed off tone. He sighed and took in a breath.
Silence fell over the room as everyone looked at Grissom.
"I'm just looking out for you Nick," Grissom said as he let his arms fall to his sides.
"I know," Nick said as he ran a hand through his hair. "Thank you."
"No problem," Sara said as she sat a hand on his shoulder.
"Thanks for getting here so fast," Nick said as he looked up at Sara.
"Your tone scared me cowboy," Sara said as looked down on him.
"Sorry," Nick said as his eyes welled up with tears. He looked at Warrick and at Grissom with an apologetic look.
"Well, you're obviously not going to work today," Grissom said as he shook a finger at Nick.
"What? Why not?" Nick asked as he sat up suddenly.
"Because Nick. You're not even able to stand on you own so what makes you think you can work?" Grissom asked as he poured himself another cup of coffee.
"Yeah you have plenty of P.T.O. anyways man," Warrick said as he slapped his shoulder.
"That's not the point. I wanted to work on this case," Nick said as her looked up at Sara who knew how he felt.
"I know. But just give it a day or two. I'll make an excuse," Grissom said as he got on the phone.
"Alright. Thanks Gris," Nick said as he pushed himself more under the blanket.
"Yeah, you owe me big time," Grissom said as he dialed the main phone for the lab. He walked into another room so that he could get a better excuse.
"Good morning," Jordan finally said as she was finally recognized by the group.
"Hey," Nick said as he looked at her with a smile.
"What happened last night?" Jordan asked as she rubbed her eyes.
"I'm not sure," Nick said with a chuckle.
"You scared us," Jordan said with a serious look.
"Us?" Sara asked, surprised that she was considering herself one of the group.
"Yeah he scared me. Did he scare you?" Jordan asked as she looked at Sara.
"Yes, he did," Sara said with a lop-sided smile.
"Then he scared us," Jordan said as she pointed a finger at Sara and then at herself.
"Good point," Sara said with a smile.
"Can I use the bathroom?" Jordan asked Warrick.
Warrick pointed to Nick without responding. She then realized that she needed to ask Nick on a count of it being his house.
"Oh. Sorry," She said as she smiled.
"It's no problem," Nick said with a smile.
"May I use your bathroom Mr. Stokes?" Jordan asked with a smirk.
"Yes, you may," Nick said as he pointed to the bathroom.
She got onto her knees and than her feet and walked into the bathroom. She closed the door and than looked at where the mirror would usually be. Instead she looked at an opened cabinet with pill containers in the sink. She picked up the bottles and placed them back in the cabinet. But of course, her curiosity clouded her judgment. She looked at the bottles which had sticky notes on them. One read "Anti-inflammatory take 2 with meal". Another read, "Insomnia take one 2-3 hours before planed sleep time". A green bottle with a yellow sticky note read "Aspirin take 2 with water". And one read, "Pain killers, as many as needed". The hand writing looked similar to hers. She stopped her nosiness as she realized just how jacked up Nick was. He had pills for almost everything imaginable. She put the pills back into the cabinet.
She closed the mirror and ran the cold water. She threw it on her face to wake her up. She dried her face and than went to the bathroom. She looked around the bathroom and laughed at how guyish it was. He had a masculine shower curtain which had matching hand towels and a matching soap dispenser. The trash can was empty and cologne, a toothbrush, toothpaste and a razor lined the sink. She flushed the toilet and washed her hands she walked out into the living room where the TV was now turned to the morning news and Sara was at the stove cooking breakfast.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Jordan asked with a smile.
"Can you cook?" Sara asked as she realized how stupid the question.
"Yeah she can," Warrick said as he looked over his shoulder at Jordan. They smiled at each other before Jordan turned her attention back to Sara.
"OK, sure you can help me," Sara said with a smile.
The worked in silence as Sara scrambled the eggs and Jordan cooked the bacon. Jordan broke the silence between them.
"I'm sorry about what I said. It was rude," Jordan said as she grabbed a piece of bread and began buttering it.
"No, I'm sorry," Sara said as she waved the apology away. "I was rude. You'll find out that I'm very territorial," Sara said with a smirk.
"Me too," Jordan said with a wide smile on her face.
"Well how about that? We have something in common," Sara said with a wide eyes and a toothy smile.
They laughed as they continued cooking. Nick and Warrick were in the living room watching the news.
"The Las Vegas Police Department is still on the hunt for the 'GHB Killer' in eastern Las Vegas. The 'GHB Killer" has had 4 victims, the fourth found this morning at the Drive Thru on 9th and Michelle. The girl appeared to be drugged, raped, and than tortured. No suspects have been called in for questioning. If you have any information on these killings, please call your local authorities immediately," The women on the TV said. Warrick sat on the couch shaking his head as the fact that a fourth girl was found sunk in.
"How can somebody do that?" Jordan asked with a piece of bread in her hand.
"Not somebody; something. No human could do that. Only the scum of the earth could have done that," Nick said over his shoulder.
"So is that what you guys couldn't talk about the other day?" Jordan asked as she continued buttering toast.
Warrick looked at Nick who shrugged his shoulders. He didn't know whether to say yes or no. Warrick opened his mouth, about to answer when Grissom came out of Nick's spare room with determination.
"We have a new lead," Grissom said as he put on his jacket.
"What's going on?" Sara asked as she turned of the stove.
"Those girls all had Missing Persons reports filed for them. The girls had been missing for exactly a week," Grissom said as he grabbed his car keys.
"By the way Nick?" Grissom said as he almost forgot the reason for calling Ecklie.
"Yeah?" Nick said over his shoulder.
"Ecklie said that you can you can have today off but that he wants your a…" Grissom started before looking at Jordan. "He said that he wants you butt in his office first thing tomorrow."
"Thanks Grissom. Call me with whatever new information you guys have," Nick said as he notice Sara and Warrick also throwing on their jackets.
"Jordan?" Warrick asked as he walked over to her.
"Yep," Jordan said as she sat the toast down.
"Can you keep an eye on him today? I don't want him moving around a lot. You understand?" Warrick said as he pointed to Nick.
"Yeah no problem," Jordan said as Warrick kissed her forehead.
"I don't need a baby-sitter," Nick said as he looked ay Grissom, Sara, And Warrick in the doorway.
"Apparently you do," Grissom said as he straightened his collar and walked outside. Sara and Warrick followed suit.
The comment hit Nick right where it hurt…. His pride.
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2 hours had passed with Nick and Jordan not saying a word to each other. Nick wasn't mad at Jordan, he just was really, really pissed at how little Grissom trusted him. He looked at Jordan who was avoiding his gaze.
"I'm not mad at you," Nick said as he relaxed his tense shoulders.
She immediately realized that it had nothing to do with her.
"Oh. OK," Jordan said as she made eye contact with her.
"So, what's up with you?" Nick asked as he sat up more.
"What do you mean?" Jordan asked a little confused.
"Like, what's your story?" Nick asked with a smile.
"Oh I get it. Well I was born May 2, 1990. My childhood was screwed up from the start on a count of my mother being a crack head and me not having a dad. I did cocaine when I was 10 until a couple of months ago. I saw my mom destroy families because of her constantly sleeping around. She was never home. I brought my school lunch home in a plastic bag so that I would have something to eat. My mom somewhat got her act together. I pay the bills and buy the groceries still. She's off of the stuff and has another 6 weeks until she's 6 feet under," Jordan said with a straight face. Nick sat on the couch not knowing what to say.
"So, what's you story?" Jordan said with her arms crossed.
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"Glad you all could join us," Ecklie said as he stood next to Sheriff Slater.
"Hello Conrad," Grissom said as he bit his tongue, not wanting to get suspended off of the case.
"Good thank you," Conrad said as he turned toward the sheriff.
"So, what's going on?" Warrick asked as he sat in a chair.
"Well, hello Mr. Brown. Did you enjoy your time off?" Ecklie asked with a smug look.
"Yes, I did," Warrick said with a smile.
"Anyways, I think Warrick meant what's going on with the case," Grissom said as he took of his glasses.
"We found a 4th victim on 9th and Michelle. Same signature, same cause of death,"
"I thought a signature was the cause of death," Greg said as he picked at his nails.
They ignored his question and continued on with the process.
"We also found out that the victims had Missing Person's reports filed exactly a week before their bodies were dumped," Sheriff Slater stated as he read the report. He had a bit of a twang which was much deeper than Nick's,
"Plus, we already know that all of the girls attended LVHS," Conrad said as he read from the same paper.
"LVHS?" Warrick asked as he looked at the paper.
"Is that a problem?" Conrad asked.
"That's where…" Warrick caught himself before going on.
"That's where your daughter is going to attend isn't it?" Conrad said with a smile.
"How did you know?" Warrick said as he looked at Grissom, Sara, Greg, and Catherine.
"They told me," Conrad said with a smile. "What was it supposed to be a secret? I would've found out eventually."
"Back to the topic at hand, LVHS is known to be quite the party school. Maybe, GHB was used at the party and than the girls were abducted," Catherine said as she read her copy of the report.
"It's defiantly a possibility. GHB is colorless, odorless. The girls would have never even known they had it in their systems," Sara said as she flipped a page of her report.
"Well, I want you guys to catch the bastards that are doing this. I don't want them taking one more girl," The sheriff said as he headed for the door.
"Can you offer you a cup of coffee over my promotion?" Conrad asked as he began to follow him.
"Conrad?" Slater asked as he stopped in the doorway.
"Yes sir?" Ecklie asked with a light in his eye.
"Stop kissin' my ass," He said before walking into the hall.
The group of CSIs laughed as Slater said what they were all thinking. The laughing died down as Conrad walked out of the room.
"I gotta call Jordan," Warrick said as he picked up his phone.
"Why?" Greg asked as he stood up.
"Because I told her she was gonna go to LVHS. Now I don't think it's such a good idea," Warrick said as he began to dial Nick's home phone.
"Is she the partying type?" Catherine asked as she closed her file.
"No," Warrick said as the phone continued to ring.
"Than what are you worried about? She's got a good head on her shoulders," Catherine said.
"You think?" Warrick asked with a smile.
"Yes I do. This girl has had enough let downs in her life. Just let he got o LVHS and see what happens. She might over hear people talking about it. She could be our little behind the scenes spy type person," Catherine said with a smile as she rambled on.
"How would you know all of the let downs in her life?" Warrick asked with curiosity.
"I talked to her mother last night," Catherine said as she stood up.
"Why?" Warrick asked as he snapped his phone shut.
"I just wanted to know her a little better," Catherine said as he smile disappeared.
"If you want to know about her past, you ask her not her crack head mother," Warrick said as he raised his voice.
"I wanted to get a different perspective. And don't you dare yell at me," Catherine said as she shoved a finger into Warrick's chest. Catherine stormed out of the room, her hands balled into fists.
"You were totally in the wrong on that one man," Greg said as he slapped him on the shoulders and walked out.
Sara shot Warrick and evil look that said 'don't talk to me right now'.
Grissom sat in a chair looking at how changed Warrick was. He was much more protective, almost too protective. But part of Grissom wondered if Warrick had a reason to be mad. He just wanted that part of Jordan's life to disappear. He wanted the weight to be lifted off of her shoulders permanently. And Grissom saw no harm in a father trying to protect his daughter. He was doing what he knew the fathers of the victims wished they had done. So Grissom simply walked out of the room with the typical 'I'm thinking' look. He left Warrick in the break room to think.
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"Well, I was born August 18, 1971 in Dallas, Texas. When I was 4 I broke my foot jumping into a 2 foot deep pond after getting a 20 foot head start," Nick said as Jordan laughed. Nick stared off into space as he skipped a major chunk in the time line.
"When I was 12 I witnessed my Dad shot my dog because it bit my sister," Nick continued after the break in time.
"Something else happened didn't it?" Jordan asked as she took a sip of milk.
"No," Nick said as he shook his head.
"I think you're lying. You can tell me. If it's funny I'll laugh," Jordan said with a smile.
"It's not funny," Nick said with a serious look on his face.
"Oh, well then I won't laugh," Jordan said as the smile disappeared from her face. "Do you want to tell me?" Jordan said with a sympathetic look.
"I think I do," Nick started as he sat more upright.
"OK," Jordan said as she turned down the TV so that's he could focus on Nick.
"It all happened when I was 9," Nick started before the burden became too much to carry.
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I hope you liked it! It took me a while! Review if you can! Thanks for the feedback!
-CSIFanatic08