An Unfair Act of Vengeance
Notes: This one is a bit longer, but it is pretty well split between the characters. I'm starting on the next chapter already, and I'm thinking about starting a new story, but I'll try to keep the updates coming! Thanks for all the reviews so far, and I always enjoy reading your thoughts and comments!
Summary: The lab turns into near chaos as the situation with Alberts goes from bad to worse. Meanwhile, Nick and Grissom have an awkward conversation about what happened to him. Brass finds himself alone in a dangerous situation until even more happens...
He wasn't sure of what to say… Instead of wasting any time with pointless small talk he decided to focus on his unbroken wrist, and his hand that was still being held by his supervisor. Then it hit him. He's shaking… A quick glance into his supervisor's eyes confirmed his thoughts. He's actually afraid… Of what? That I won't get better, or that there are still people out there who might try to hurt me?
What the hell? He shook his head as he looked up at the charred ceiling. He tried to move, but found his chest and legs pinned to the ground… What happened? Why can't I move? He took him a few moments to free his arms, and he looked surprised to see his dark skin was covered in some sort of black substance. His eyes shot down to his legs and he could see flames still licking at the walls down the hallway that was littered with debris. He could smell the stench of burning flesh, and hoped that too many people hadn't gotten caught in whatever blast had seemingly destroyed the lab… Then he saw her. He began to frantically throw the bits of debris off his legs as his eyes stared in horror at Sara's back… Please let her be ok…
Mia wasn't sure of what to do… If I had gotten any earlier I could've been in there… She fumbled for her phone, but as she heard the alarms and the people rushing out of the building she knew the fire department would already be coming. It doesn't matter… I have to do something… Her fingers numbly dialed as she waited for more familiar faces to appear…
Greg quickly tried to get back up, but found himself too disoriented to stay up… His head throbbed, and suddenly he felt someone grab a hold of his arm. He looked up to see Archie staring at him. The other man's eyes were wide open, and Greg could tell he was scared…
"What… do you know what happened Archie?"
"I… I… think a b-bomb might've gone off or something…" he stuttered between his quick gasps for air.
"Oh man… they… they're really going to make sure this never ends…"
"Y-you m-m-mean… that g-guy's h-henchmen?"
"Yeah… look… we're not going to be able to help anyone in here, and our main exit is blocked… I think we ought to get out of here before this gets any worse…"
Catherine felt a strong, yet trembling hand pull her up. She shook her head and her eyes slowly fluttered open. The forms of Bill and Jillian Stokes appeared over her, and she winced as she felt something cold press against her forehead.
"What happened?"
"I… I think there might've been a bomb…"
She looked into the judge's eyes, and without hesitation forced herself up when she saw the scared look in his eyes. We need to get out of here, and fast…
He wasn't sure how long he had been sitting there next to his friend. Sure Nick could look at him and talk to him now, but he knew that it wasn't much. He is strong enough to get through this… he's stronger than anyone you know…Just don't let him down again.
"Hey… Griss…"
"Yeah Nick?"
"I… need… can we talk about what… what happened to me?"
"Are… are you sure you want to go through that Nick?"
"I… I don't know, but I feel like I've got to do something to… to get it out…" his voice rose in desperation as the last words came out, and Grissom could see the pleading look in his friend's eyes.
"Ok Nick, but we can stop whenever… don't feel like you have to say anything that you don't want to…"
"I… he… all I could think of was you guys… I let him… I was so convinced that it was my fault… that all of you would be… ashamed…"
"It's ok Nick. Alberts… he manipulated all of us…"
"It… it wasn't just him Griss… everything that we've ever been through together… he just brought it out, I guess. And… even so… I think… I think I believed it. I think I still believe it."
He forced himself not to stare at Nick in surprise… He thinks we're ashamed of him, still? Has he always felt this way? There were too many questions that he knew he'd possibly never hear the answers to… It doesn't matter. I don't know how, but I'll find a way to show him we're proud of him…
Brass watched as more firemen appeared. The fire from the explosion had been limited to one of the layout rooms, and luckily hadn't spread very far. They're going to be ok. They might not have even been here… His thoughts were interrupted as the first of the firemen exited the evacuated building helping several lab technicians towards some waiting paramedics… Where are you guys… It's bad enough seeing Nick in his condition…
"I swear I'm going to nail these bastards…"
"That's nice to know, but I'm afraid it's the other way around."
He quickly spun around with his hands instinctively reaching for his gun. He felt it missing from his holster, and his eyes went wide when he saw the butt of his pistol flying towards his face.
"Nick… I… I don't know what to say… I… we never knew how you felt…"
"What? That I was ashamed Griss? After everything I've managed to mess up…"
"Nick, you've been the victim to a lot of savage attacks. I won't say we understand what you're going through… that'd be dishonest. But none of us were disappointed at how you handled things…"
"I… I hate being the damn victim Griss! I hate seeing all of you guys breaking up because another random person decided to hurt me! I hate knowing that I've always been a victim… I can't even remember what it felt like before… before I was nine… before I became a victim… I hate it so much…"
"Listen, Nick… you can't avoid being what you are, but… if you focus on being a victim you lose sight of what else you are."
"The only other thing I feel like is a failure…"
"No, Nick… you're also a survivor… you survived through so much over the course of your life. I don't think… no I know that you're the strongest person I know." He felt a few tears begin to fall slowly down his face, only to be absorbed by his beard. With a careful motion he reached out and gave Nick a hug.
"A survivor huh? I guess that has a… a better ring to it." He sighed painfully, and he knew the dark indentations around his neck still had to be visible. A survivor… I survived his…his psychotic rampages…he lost.
"I'd say it does have a better ring to it…"
"Griss… I… I need you… can you do me a favor?"
"Sure… anything Nick… what do you need?"
Catherine was quickly taking control of the situation once more. I have a job to do, and I'm going to make sure these two don't get hurt…
"Ok, you two, I don't know how bad it is out there, so take these and hold them over your nose and mouth." She was rushing around the break room and had pulled out two dish towels, and she handed one to the other two after she soaked them in water.
"He… he never told us… Why wouldn't he tell us these things?" She didn't care about what was going on just outside the room… He was… molested... and stalked? Oh Nicky… why didn't you come to me?
"Ok, come on, we're going to try to get out of here quickly ok? Just follow me, now I'll take your hand Judge, and you hold on to your wife's hand. If someone lets go, then stop moving. We're all getting out of here…"
She carefully dabbed the wet towel to the doorknob, and when the towel didn't feel warm, she gingerly touched it. Warm, but nothing dangerous… this might not be asdangerous as I thought…
Greg quickly followed Archie as they searched for a hallway that hadn't been blocked by dangerous shards of debris.
"There's a staircase just over here, Greg…"
"Yeah, I know the layout of this building Archie."
"I'm… sorry, Greg, this has just been really hard on all of us… at least you guys know what's going on with everything…"
"I wouldn't be so sure of that…" Greg muttered quietly as they raced down the empty stairwell.
Warrick found himself kneeling over Sara's limp form. He moved a large panel that had fallen from the ceiling and had been covering her face. Please… let her be ok… His fingers automatically reached towards her neck, and he sighed when he felt a steady pulse.
"Hey, Detective Vartaan? Is that you?"
"Catherine? I can barely see through this mess…"
"It doesn't matter! I want you to go and get Dr. Alberts. I'll feel better knowing that you or another detective is making sure he's secured…"
"Sure thing, I'll head that way now, are you all ok?"
"I just have a cut on my forehead; no big deal. And, they're probably not even aware of what's going on." She said as she nodded towards Nick's parents. "Well, we'd better get out of here fast… I don't think these two should be anywhere near that creep…"
"Yeah, well, be careful, and make sure you watch out for anyone…"
In response Catherine quickly pulled out her pistol, and held it firmly in her free hand as she led the grieving parents through the slightly smoky hallway towards the closest exit. Halfway there the comforting sight of two firemen greeted them and they quickly moved in to accompany them out of the building.
"Hey… come on Sara… wake up… please wake up…"
"W-what… h-h-happened?" she winced as she felt a sharp pain in her ankle.
"I think… I think some type of bomb went off…"
"Oh God… Warrick…" she was coming back to her senses now, and the pain was quickly subsiding as she thought of the consequences.
"What? What is it Sara?"
"Warrick… the evidence… all that evidence…"
"Ah, damn!" he yelled out in frustration as it finally dawned on him as well. "They did this… they blew up the lab to destroy some stupid evidence… Well, we can't salvage anything, Sara… let's just get you out of here and get you checked out by some paramedics." It took a lot of effort for him to calm down as he watched Sara being to cry in frustration.
As soon as he helped her to stand up several firemen arrived, and one swiftly picked Sara up, while another stayed to help Warrick back outside. The others hurried past; looking for others who were still inside.
Vartaan closely watched every move Alberts made as four officers escorted him out into the blinding sunlight. His gun was still trained at the back of the other man's head. I almost wish he would try something… I wouldn't mind putting a slug right into the back of his skull… He had seen all the photos of Nick's injuries, and he knew as well as the other detectives and criminalists that he was guilty beyond a doubt. He smiled as one officer forced him sharply into the police cruiser, and the guy hit his head on the side of the car before falling back onto the seat. With the door secured the cruiser took off with an escort of four other police cruisers. He sighed as he climbed into his own vehicle and took off after them. More eyes can't hurt…
They both looked stunned as they saw the people stumbling out of the building, looking confused and scared… Grissom took a moment to look back over at Nick, and opened his mouth to say something, but the words wouldn't come out.
"Oh God…" Nick whispered shakilyas his right hand fumbled for the door handle.
Suddenly Grissom was back in motion. He jumped out of his SUV, and didn't waste any time running around and helping Nick out. He leaned the injured man against the side of the car as Kate handed him the crutches from the back seat. Three more officers moved in, and began to make something of a protective circle around the vehicle. Thank God they're taking this seriously…
"Here, we go Nick… I'll help you over…" His eyes searched frantically over the growing crowd for any sign of his team… His eyes caught sight of David Hodges lying nervously on a stretcher, and his heart almost stopped when he saw two bodies that had already been enclosed in the standard bags… Please don't let it be them… please…
"Warrick!" Nick suddenly took off, and his supervisor wouldn't have even noticed thathe'd taken off if he hadn't yelled. Grissom was stunned at how fast the Texan could move on the crutches, and he felt a small sense of relief to see that Warrick was ok.
Warrick shielded his eyes from the sun as he heard a distantly familiar voice call out his name. He began to stumble and felt his knees land on wet grass. Nothing could've prepared him for the sudden impact of his best friend, but when his eyes came back into focus he could see Nick clinging to him. His friend was now wearing sweats, and he noticed that the sweatshirt almost completely covered his friend's neck…
"God, man are you ok? Are you guys ok?"
Warrick smiled awkwardly as he felt his best friend's arms tighten around him, hugging him. He could feel Nick's trembling body, and he could distinctly hear the fear in his voice.
"Jesus, Nick… I'm fine… you're the one who should be…"
He stopped when he noticed the officers once more beginning to circle them, their guns ready. The next thing he saw was Grissom running towards them, and he could see Sara lying face up on a stretcher with two paramedics looking at her carefully.
Suddenly reporters were overwhelming the place, and cameras flashed, temporarily blinding many of the people in the parking lot, who weren't quite sure of where to go.
Sofia was running along the cars when she saw it. She saw the man strike at Brass, and then she saw his face. Without hesitating she had her gun raised and fired a single shot.
He had been looking the detective lying on the ground with blood dripping from his head. That ought to serve you right, and the plan continues… I can't wait. His thoughts were cut short as he barely registered a loud bang and felt a sudden burst of pain in the side of his head before he managed to fall against the side of some SUV. What the hell? Was the last thing he thought before everything went black.
The gunshot was all it took for the situation to become even more confusing. No one knew what was going on. Warrick quickly swung himself around to shield Nick from any possible threats, and he could see the confusion in his buddy's face.
"It's ok Nick… you're ok." He was saying it mostly to himself as he helped maneuver Nick behind a large metal sign. He wasn't sure if he had ever been more grateful to have the bulky sign there…
"We need to get him out of here!" One of the officers yelled at Warrick, and he nodded as he pushed himself up. Nick still had his arms wrapped around him, so he carefully lifted his friend's legs as he followed the officers to a police cruiser and helped Nick in. Seconds later they were more secured behind the bullet proof windows, and Warrick sighed in relief when he watched the two familiar officers position themselves up front. He had worked several crime scenes with them, and knew they were good guys. Just get us out of here…
Nick didn't know what do… He slowly realized that he was shaking uncontrollably, and his breathing was getting faster.
Warrick could immediately see how scared the man sitting next to him was. Instinctively he reached over with his arm, and pulled Nick closer into the closest thing to a hug as they could in the cramped back of the cruiser.
"I'm sorry… Warrick… I shouldn't have s-shut you out… I'm so sorry…"
"Shh… it's ok man… you're going to be ok… that's all that matters…" He sighed in relief as they made yet another turn, and he saw the squad cars at the far end of the street still closely guarding his friend's house. "You're almost home man…"
"What do you mean dead? Damn it, we need everyone for this to work!" He was yelling furiously at the other man standing in the room.
"Look, Eric… calm down. We'll just find a way to get Kenneth out…"
"It isn't that simple, Daniel! We'd have to rush it, and that could get another one of us killed!"
"Look, I'm just the messenger here, Eric, Tom is dead. I agree with Danny, we can easily find a way to get Kenneth out…"
Sheriff Rory Atwater sighed as he looked out at the cameras facing him. I should've known it was too personal of an issue for her to tell the press anything… Well, I'll just start with a rundown of what all has happened…
Catherine was standing in the hospital with dozens of other people from the lab. Eyes fell on her as she unceremoniously pushed her way to the desk, and began to ask on their patients conditions. If anyone cared that she started with Sara then they hid it extremely well, and she almost smiled that none of them questioned her.
"Miss Sidle is doing fine, and will most likely be released tomorrow morning, for observation… She was rather lucky…"
"What about the others?"
"Well, David Hodges has a broken collar bone, and a sprained ankle, as well as some serious burns, but nothing too bad… Jim Brass is also going to be released, and the hit to his head was minor. Seeing that he never lost consciousness he could be released at any time…"
Catherine sighed as she read the conditions of the twenty people that had been hospitalized. Not to mention Molly Dresden, andDarren Reyestwo dayshift CSIs who hadn't been so lucky…
Grissom sat quietly across from Nick's parents, and he couldn't help but feel sorry for them. He had taken them to an empty room in the hospital while Catherine had gone to fulfill her new duties. I may not be a people person, but I sure hope I can help them...
"Mr. Grissom… you seem to know Nick really well… I mean, he'll actually talk to you now. Why wouldn't he tell us that he was… m-molested… or s-s-stalked?"
"I'm afraid I can't really give you a positive answer, Judge, but I will say that he hates being a victim, and I think it was just as simple as him not wanting to worry you."
"He's never concerned enough about himself…" Jillian spoke softly, her voice distant as she thought about her son.
"Please, Mr. Grissom… I… we need to know what he went through…"
"Ok, but I'll tell you right now; it won't be easy to take…"
"It doesn't… matter… we want… we need to know." Her voice was almost reduced to a whisper as she thought back to so many patients she had seen in the past. People can do anything to each other… I just hope they didn't do too much to him…
"Ok… well, I'll start from the beginning… We currently believe that Dr. Alberts has been planning this ever since we rescued him from that coffin. Nick and an officer were the first to report to a crime scene, and while he wasn't looking Alberts killed the officer. Nick heard something, so he stood up, tried to defend himself, and failed. The stab wound was serious, and he went into shock. Afterwards, he found out that Alberts was his psychiatrist, and he recognized the voice, and he also noticed it was the same person who he had been running into a lot of the past few days. He also tried to set Nick up. Somehow he managed to get the evidence to point back at Nick, so that it would appear he had done it himself. After some more mind games, he decided to finally abduct Nick from my home. He drugged your son, and dumped him in his trunk, before taking him to an abandoned mine. Once there he… used various objects to… to t-torture your son…"
"W-what type of o-objects? Please… be specific."
"Well, Judge…" he sighed loudly, unable to hide his discomfort, "Dr. Alberts first used a scalpel to cut deep gashes into Nick's palms so that he couldn't hold onto anything. Then he wrapped a noose around your… your son's neck, and used it to lift him up off the ground and to drop him back down multiple times. From there he chained your son to a table, after drugging him a few more times, and he proceeded to use some type of clamp or vice grip to break Nick's wrist. After that he used a pair of shears to make numerous lacerations on his arms. He… also broke your son's femur, by taking a… s-sledgehammer to his leg…"
"Oh God… How could this have happened?" Her voice was growing weaker, and she could feel her stomach churning. I swear I won't let anything else happen to you Nicky… Tears were falling steadily down her face as her grip on her husband's hands steadily tightened.
"And… he finally buried your son alive once more, after drugging him one last time… It was about that time that we found him…"
"God… I can't… How could someone do this to him?" He asked as his eyes stared sadly at his wife who was already breaking apart.
"I… I'm sorry for what happened… Nick is a good man, and he deserves so much better…"
"He thinks we're ashamed of him, doesn't he?"
Grissom looked at him curiously before answering, "Why would you say that?"
"He's my son… whenever something bad would happen… even if he wasn't really involved… he'd just apologize until he was forgiven because someone wanted to get on with things. I always set my expectations so high… higher than I did for his brother or sisters even… Do you know how hard it was for me to come out here again? I didn't think I'd be able to face it, and I'm still not sure I could face him… that is, assuming he'd even let us see them."
"Well, Judge, if there's one thing I know about your son, it's that he's full of surprises."
"Well, I hope you're right, Mr. Grissom."
"So do I… So do I…" he whispered quietly as his eyes moved past Nick's parents. They fell down towards the bottom drawer of his desk that was open wide. Inside he could see five large envelopes, and he knew inside each of those was a report that detailed each member of his team… but his eyes were more focused on the six pictures that were spread above them. He looked at the separate pictures of his team members as they smiled, unable to hide their slight irritation at having to have their picture taken. None of them matched the untainted happiness in the smiles of the sixth picture. His eyes focused on the larger photo, and he could feel those same, unfamiliar tears starting to come back. Their faces smiled wildly at Sara's held her arm out as she snapped a shot of them while they sat around some table… I can't let them lose the ability to smile like that… I won't let that happen… I can't let that happen…
To Be Continued…
Next Chapter: Warrick and Nick head for the hospital to see the rest of the team. Sheriff Atwater updates the press. Meanwhile, Undersheriff McKeen, with Sofia, Vega, and Vartaan deal with the chaos at the lab. Catherine and Grissom talk to everyone on the team, not only to make sure they're ok, but to let them know how they feel about them. Nick visits them all before going to meet with the doctor to have some more bandages removed. Afterwards he goes to a counciling session with Warrick and Grissom, while Catherine and Greg go over the autopsy of Tomas Hindley with Doc Robbins.