Chapter 6: the guilt

Once they got back to the lab, they entered the break room. Nick headed to the couch and laid down so that he could rest his ankle. Sara carefully lifted his ankle and sat down so he could rest his ankle on her lap. He smiled at her and relaxed.

"Ok so today we are going to investigate a mass murder in the desert. 5 kids were found dead, wearing nothing but rags. They were all shot three times like our previous M.O for Dawson. I want you all to head over to the scene and collect as much evidence as you can. Use the R.V today because it has a portable lab in the back and you might need the extra equipment. Nick and Catherine I want to talk to you guys for a moment." Grissom informed. He waited for everyone else to leave and then he turned to Nick and Catherine. "I want you two to take it easy today. If you need to take a break at any time during the day, just head over to the RV. Just promise me this, be honest with everyone and tell them when you get tired or sore, ok?" Grissom ordered looking at them, he continued when he saw them nod. "Ok you can go now. Just be careful."

Catherine got up and started to leave. She turned back and saw Nick limping and wincing in pain when ever he stepped on his bad ankle. She quickly went over to him and helped walk, letting him put some of his weight on her. Slowly, they made their way to the R.V. Once in the RV they sat down and headed towards the crime scene. Once they got there they got out of the RV and under the yellow tape. They looked around the crime scene.

There were bullet casings every where. 5 kids were lined up the oldest looking about 10 years old, the youngest 1 year old. Nick headed towards the kids and took swabs of their blood for their DNA. He looked for trace on the bodies and noticed that they all had a lot of green fibers on them. He pulled out his tweezers and picked a few samples up from each body to compare them. Nick slowly stood back up and headed towards the RV to put the evidence in the back. He needed to rest his ankle for a tiny bit, so he sat in the back of the RV. He saw the others come to the RV and put their evidence away. They went over to him, worried that he was hurt.

"Nick are you ok?" Warrick asked.

"Yea I just need to rest my ankle for a moment. I swabbed a sample of each victim's blood. I also found a lot of green fibers on each of the victim's bodies. I was going to put the blood in the DNA comparison computer to see if there are any relations between the children. What did you guy get?" Nick informed trying to get the others to stop thinking about his injury.

"Well I collected 15 bullet casings around the scene. I also checked to see if there was any trace on the casings, I found none." Warrick informed.

"I looked for footprints and found 7 different pairs. I made an impression mold of each pair, matching 5 to the kids. Either we have 2 shooters, or we could have another victim. I need to scan the tread into the computer and do a search to find the size and make of the shoe." Sara informed.

"I looked for trace on the bodies, and found skin under the oldest kid's fingernails. I am going to scan it into the computer for DNA comparison." Greg informed.

"I looked for tire treads and saw our trucks and one other tread. I got an impression of it and I am going to scan it into the computer for comparison." Catherine informed.

They all started to scan their information into the computers and wait for the searches to be complete. Nick and Warrick used the microscopes to gain more information on their findings. After a while they looked at the computers again and noticed that they had a match. The blood samples were all related so the kids were siblings. The Green fiber was from a cotton blanket. The casings were all 22 calibers and the gun was registered to Frank Dawson. The unknown footprint was a boy's size 5 Nike sneaker. The skin under the nails of the oldest kid was Frank Dawson's. The tire tread came back to a Lexus SUV. Once that was finished, Sara called Grissom to tell him the news.

"Grissom"

"Hey it's Sara, we're finished with the crime scene for now. We scanned our evidence into the computers. We found that there were 7 people at the scene, 6 kids and the killer. One kid is not at the scene, so he still could be alive, either kidnapped or escaped. We only have an impression of kid's footprint. We have tire treads leading in and out of the desert. We made an impression of it and scanned it into the computer. The car is a Lexus SUV, can you call Brass and have him start a search for it?"

"Yea Sara, I'll tell Brass. Are Nick and Catherine holding up?" Grissom replied.

"Yea, we're all resting in the van right now."

"Ok but if they start to show pain or tiredness, make them lie down and give them medicine."

"Yes father I will."

"Just do it, please Sara. I want you guys to come back to the lab." Grissom replied. He then hung up.

Sara put her phone back in her pocket and went over to the others. She told them what he said and they sat in the seats to head back to the lab. She looked at Nick and saw that he had stretched his leg out and had his eyes closed. She saw him wince in pain and felt bad. 'Why does everything have to happen to him? He deserves such a better life than the one he has.' Sara went over to where Nick was and carefully lifted his ankle on top of her knee so it was elevated. Nick smiled at her and started to relax again. Every once in a while he winced in pain. Sara knew he needed to take his medicine and ice his ankle. She waved Greg over.

"Hey Greg come here."

"What do you need Sara?" Greg asked heading over to Sara.

"It's Nick, his ankle is bothering him. Do you know if we have any ice and or pain killers?"

"I'll go check." Greg replied. He went to go look for ice and painkillers and then once he found them he came back. "Here Sara, I'll tell Warrick to be extra careful not to make the van jerk back and forth. Nick, we will be back to the lab soon and you can rest all you want." Greg continued. He slowly walked up to Warrick and told him to take it easy.

Sara gave Nick the pain killers and carefully took his brace off so she could ice his ankle. Nick gratefully took the painkillers and winced when she moved his ankle to take off the brace. He smiled when he felt her put the ice on his ankle. Sara carefully held the ice in place so it wouldn't move. They stayed that way until they finally reached lab. Sara carefully lifted his ankle so she could get up. She then helped him get up, picking up the ice pack when it slipped off his ankle. She made sure she had his brace with her, and grabbed him around his waist so she could help support him. Warrick came over to them and grabbed Nick's other side so Nick didn't have to put weight on his ankle. They slowly made their way into the lab. Once in the lab, they headed towards the break room and had Nick lay down on the couch. Nick sat up and put a pillow under his ankle. Then he took the ice pack that Sara was handing him and put that on his ankle also. Greg went to go get Grissom and after a few minutes he came back. Grissom quickly went into the break room and over to Nick.

Catherine saw Nick and couldn't help but feel guilty about what happened to Nick. 'I should have been able to stop Nigel from shooting at Nick. Nick shouldn't be this hurt. He just got over being shot in the shoulder and now he has a badly sprained ankle. It is all my fault. I should have stopped Nigel. It should be me that got so injured, not Nick. He didn't do anything wrong.'

Grissom looked at Catherine and knew that she was blaming herself for what happened to Nick. He knew that he had to say something to her so he waved her over. Once she came over he told her to follow him into the hall. He stopped and turned towards her and told her what he thought.

"Catherine, this is in NO way YOUR FAULT. Please believe that. YOU ARE NOT TO BLAME! Nigel Crane did this, not you. He can no longer hurt you and Nick. You guys are now safe from him for ever." Grissom informed. He saw that she had doubt in her eyes and forced her to look at him. "Catherine, I mean it. IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT. Nick would have died if you didn't call Brass when you did. Heck both of you would have died. I need you to understand that. I need you to be able to tell when it is your fault and when it isn't. If you don't believe me, believe Nick. He would never blame you."

"Then why do I feel so guilty?"

"I don't know, Catherine. You and Nick went through a terrible ordeal, and you are recovering from it. Just talk to Nick, tell him and he will tell you what he thinks." Grissom informed.

Catherine nodded and walked over to Nick. She paused for a moment before lightly tapping him on the shoulder. Once she got his attention, she looked at the others and noticed that they were leaving and standing in front of the doors and windows so no one would be able to get in or see. She was grateful to them for that. She looked back at Nick and sighed.

"Nick, can I tell you something?"

"Yea, of course you can. What is it?"

"Nick…it's just that…I can't stand seeing you like this. I feel so guilty about when Nigel was shooting you. I should have been able to help you. I should have stopped it. But now you are more injured than you were before, and it's all my fault." Catherine confessed. She looked down unable to look at Nick. She knew that Nick was going to blame her for it all and she couldn't look at him and see the anger in his eyes.

"Catherine, how could you believe such a stupid thing? You trust me right?"

"Yea"

"Do you think that I am always honest with you?"

"Yea"

"Then believe me when I say, I DO NOT BLAME YOU FOR THIS. IT WAS NOT YOUR FAULT. If you have to blame someone, blame Nigel, not yourself."

"But Nick…"

"No buts listen to what I said, please Catherine."

"I'll try"