1A/N: Ok I know it has taken me some time to get this posted but after Thursday's episode my muse kinda left. I was so depressed after that episode as I am sure you all can imagine. So look for a Snicker oneshot to be coming soon. I would like to dedicate this chapter everyone who has reviewed. It really means a lot to me and believe me I have had a horrible week so all your reviews gave me peace of mind. Finally, I would like to extend a special thank you to MrsEads for being so supportive and NickGilGreggoNumberOnefan for giving me an idea that I loved and just ahd to run with.
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Sara pulled into Desert Palms Hospital about 30 minutes later. She killed the engine and stole a quick glance at Nick who was staring at a sleeping Lexie.
Nick finally looked at Sara and gave her a smile before they both exited the car. Once he was out, he opened the door to the back seat and picked up Lexie. She quickly wrapped her arms around his neck.
Nick and Sara walked into the hospital, and went to the admissions desk to get checked in. Since Lexie was not in any immediate danger they had to wait in the waiting room, while Lexie slept soundly in Nick's arms.
After about two hours of waiting a nurse finally called for Lexie to come back. Nick stood up and began to walk when he noticed that Sara remained seated. He turned around and looked at her, he couldn't help but think that she was remembering all the trips she had to take to the hospital when she was younger. When Sara realized Nick was waiting she quickly hopped up and followed them into the examination room.
"My name is Tina, what seems to be the problem with Lexie?" she said, while watching Nick lay the sleeping child down on the bed.
"My name is Nick Stokes and this is Sara Sidle, we work with the Las Vegas Crime Lab. When I got home this evening I found Lexie hiding in the bushes. I gave her a quick look over and I couldn't find anything wrong, but I thought it was better to be safe than sorry, and now we're here."
Having heard the noise, Lexie slowly began to wake up. Her eyes shot open at the sound of the stranger's voice. She began to cry when she saw the strange woman coming towards her with a thermometer.
"NO!" she half shouted, half sobbed, while trying to get off the bed. Just as she was about to jump off the bed, she felt a pair of strong but gentle hands wrap around her waist and pull her back on the bed. This action scared Lexie even more as she began to fight in Nick's arms.
"Lexie, it's okay," Nick stated calmly. The minute Lexie heard his voice, she stopped struggling and began to cry even harder.
Nick looked at the nurse, who shot him a sympathetic glance and stepped away from the bed. Nick quickly gathered Lexie in his arms and rocked her back and forth.
"Shh Lexie... it's okay," Nick murmured softly.
After about ten minutes Lexie had finally calmed down. Nick pushed her back gently to look at her and wiped the tears from her eyes.
"I wanna go home." Lexie said.
"I know sweetie but we have to get you checked out okay." Nick replied. In truth, Nick really wanted to take her home and let her sleep but he knew that she needed to be looked over.
"Please" Lexie begged.
"I'm sorry Lex, but we have to get you checked out, I promise it won't take long" Nick tried his hardest to keep from giving in and just taking her home.
Lexie looked up at Nick, her eyes pleading with him to take her home. Sara who had stayed relatively quiet, thought it was best to help Nick out.
"Lexie, I know you are scared, but I promise you nobody is going to hurt you, we have to make sure you are all right. Nick and I aren't going to go anywhere ok?" Sara questioned the little girl hoping that on some level her confidence would reach Lexie.
"Promise?" Lexie questioned the two of them.
"I promise Lexie"
Lexie turned and looked at Nick. Nick got what she was looking for and quickly promised her that he would not leave.
Tina stepped out from the corner once the little girl seemed to be calm again.
"Hi Lexie, my name is Tina. Can you sit on the bed for me?"
Lexie looked at Nick then Sara and after receiving nods, shook her head also. Nick helped Lexie sit back on the bed, while he and Sara sat directly behind her.
"Ok Lexie you are being such a good girl. I need to take your temperature now, so can you stick this under your tongue?" Tina asked, while showing Lexie the thermometer.
Lexie looked uncertain but agreed. After the thermometer beeped, Tina quickly read the results and disposed of the plastic covering.
"All right Lexie, can you hop down and stand on the scale?"
With a little help from Nick, Lexie hopped of the table and stood on the scale, once she was finished Nick helped her back onto the table.
"That was wonderful Lexie. Is it okay if I ask you a couple questions?"
"Yes" replied Lexie.
"Ok, well is anything hurting you?"
"My arm"
"Can you show me where at?"
Lexie carefully lifted her left arm up and pointed to a spot just below her elbow.
"Okay sweetie, is that all that hurts?"
"Yeah"
"All right Lexie the doctor will be in soon ok" Tina said, before leaving the three alone in the room.
"You did a wonderful job Lexie" Sara said, with a smile upon her face.
"I'm hungry"
"Lexie when is the last time you ate?" Nick gently probed for an answer.
"I don't remember," Lexie said, while beginning to cry from the stress of the evening.
"Ok sweetie, I am going to go see if I can find you a snack okay? Sara will stay with you while I am gone." Nick said, before he walked out into the hallway in search of a vending machine.
Meanwhile, back in the room Sara thought it would be a good time to see if Lexie could tell her anything.
"Lexie, where's your mom?" Sara asked, the small child softly.
"Sleeping" Lexie replied.
"Where is she sleeping?" Sara asked, a little confused by the child's statement.
"I don't know, grandma told me that momma was sleeping."
Sara finally understood what Lexie was trying to tell her, and started questioning her about other things.
"Well Lexie, what about your daddy?"
"I don't know where he is, he never comes around anymore."
Nick finally came back with a small bag of cookies and chips, when he entered the room Lexie's head shot up.
"Ok Lexie, this is all I could find I hope that's okay."
"Cookies" Lexie squealed with delight.
"I think she likes it Nick" Sara stated, causing Nick to chuckle.
Nick handed the bag of cookies and chips over to Lexie and watched in amazement as she nearly devoured the bags in one bite.
"Easy Lex, you got to slow down or else you are going to get a belly ache." Nick gently chided her.
Lexie gave Nick and Sara a sheepish grin and slowed down her eating. About ten minutes later a knock sounded at the door.
"Come in" Nick called back.
"Hi there, this must be Lexie" he said, while grabbing her chart and looking over it.
Lexie looked up long enough to meet the doctor's gaze then quickly turned her attention back to Nick and Sara.
"Ok Lexie, I see here that your arm is bothering you, can you show me where?" the doctor asked her.
Lexie pointed again to the spot that she showed the nurse just a few minutes ago. The doctor touched various areas of her arm, until she pulled her arm away in pain.
"Ok, it looks like we are going to have to take an X-ray."
"What's that?" Lexie asked, full of curiosity.
"That's where we take a picture of your bones and make sure everything is where they are supposed to be," the doctor explained.
"Does it hurt?" she asked.
"Nope not at all, its like getting your picture taken." the doctor gently reassured her.
About half-an-hour later another man entered the room to take Lexie for her X-ray. When Lexie was told that she would have to sit on the bed by herself, she became frightened and started to cry. Finally, Nick and Sara had managed to calm her down long enough for her to have a couple X-rays done. Once finished, the trio was taken back to their room.
Nick and Sara both noticed that Lexie was yawning and appeared to be having a hard time keeping her eyes open.
"Lexie why don't you lay down and get some sleep?" Sara asked the now barely awake child.
"Will you tell me a story?" Lexie managed to say.
"Of course" Sara said, while picking Lexie up and laying her on the bed.
Nick sat back and watched the two of them interact.
"Once upon a time there lived a very pretty girl named Cinderella. Cinderella lived with two evil step-sisters and an evil step-mother..." Sara paused and looked at Lexie who was now resting peacefully but continued the story until she finished it.
"You are really good with her Sar." Nick stated genuinely.
"She must be scared, I am just glad that she is asleep, she must be so tired."
"Sara Sidle, you amaze me."
"Why Nick?"
"I have never seen you so parental, it suits you well"
Sara blushed at his comment, then a knock sounded at the door and the doctor entered, holding the x-ray films.
"All right, well I have reviewed the x-rays, I found that there is no major damage other than, a small hairline fracture to the radius bone." the doctor said, while showing the two the fracture.
"So what do you do for that?" Nick asked.
"Well based on her age and the severity of the fracture I think the best course of treatment would be to put on a cast for a couple weeks."
"All right, but other than that is she ok?" Sara questioned the doctor.
"Other than the hairline fracture, and being a little malnourished I'd say she was in perfect health."
"Her being malnourished won't hurt her in the long run will it?" Sara asked without missing a beat. On some level Sara felt a special bond with the child.
"No, she will be perfectly fine" the doctor said to Sara.
"How long until you put the cast on?" Nick asked.
The doctor looked down at Lexie and saw that she was sleeping, he realized that they all must be exhausted.
"I'll send the nurse right in, you all must be tired." he stated
"Not really we are Crime Scene Investigators so we are used to the weird hours." Sara said, with a bright smile, as she looked at the sleeping child once again.
The doctor exited the room, giving Nick and Sara a couple minutes to themselves.
"We should wake her Nick."
"I know"
Sara gently rubbed the small child's back. After a couple minutes her eyes fluttered open.
"Time to go home?" Lexie asked.
"In a couple minutes sweetie, they need to put a cast on your arm, then we can go." Sara stated, still rubbing Lexie's back.
True to his word a nurse entered the room a couple minutes later. Lexie told her that she wanted a pink cast and the nurse complied with her wishes. 15 minutes later the trio was on their way back to Nick's.
Sara didn't quite feel ready to leave yet, so she decided she could stay and help get Lexie comfortable before heading home.
Sara decided that Lexie should have a bath before bed. While Sara was bathing Lexie, Nick grabbed a nightgown that his niece had left there the last time she came to visit. Once Sara had finished bathing Lexie, she reached outside the door and grabbed the clothes and brushed her hair.
"Are you sleepy?" Sara asked, her response was a yawn from Lexie.
"Well come on kiddo, this will be your room," Nick said, while leading her to the spare bedroom.
Nick and Sara each sat on one side of the bed and watched as Lexie drifted off to sleep. Once they were sure she was asleep, they each gave her a kiss on the cheek and turned off the light before leaving the room.
"Wow what a day." Nick sighed, as he went into the bathroom and gathered up the dirty laundry.
"You can say that again."
Just as Nick picked up Lexie's dress, he noticed something fall from the pocket. He bent down and picked it up. It was a picture, when he turned it over his face fell.
"Oh my god"
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Want to know what he saw? Let me know in a review please.