Warrick looked over at Nick who was asleep on the couch again. His hand was resting on his stomach, and it didn't look like Nick was breathing. Warrick knelt down next to Nick's head and put his ear to Nick's mouth. Why the hell isn't he breathing? Warrick put his hand on Nick's heart and felt it beating. "Wake up Nicky." He said anxiously. He shook Nick's arm, but Nick didn't move. His face was starting to turn blue, and the heartbeat under Warrick's hand was starting to weaken. He started to panic. Why isn't Nick breathing? What the hell's going on? He didn't waste another second. He tried to remember everything he knew about CPR. He used both hands to pump Nick's chest as hard as he could without breaking a rib then pinched his nose closed as he breathed into his mouth. He hoped he was doing it right. It took a couple minutes, but finally Nick began breathing. He opened his eyes and started coughing and choking, but he was breathing. Warrick sat him up and rubbed his back. Nick's throat was dry and scratchy, but he finally caught his breath and looked at Warrick, his vision blurry.
"What happened?"
Warrick shook his head. "I don't know. You just...stopped breathing." Nick suddenly remembered his nightmare. The walls pushing the air from his lungs and not being able to scream for help. "Did you have a nightmare?" Warrick asked, reading his mind.
Nick nodded. "I was lying on my bed looking up at the ceiling. It was green all around me, like from the glow sticks...then the walls started closing in on me and I couldn't breathe. I tried to scream but I couldn't..." Nick closed his eyes and leaned back against the couch. "That's so weird."
"What?"
"That I stopped breathing in my dream and in real life. How did that happen?" Nick said, looking at Warrick again.
Warrick remembered his dream of Nick's funeral and how he had actually cried. "I don't know...but when I had that dream about your funeral...and Grissom asked why I didn't save you...I cried in my dream, and when I woke up I had actually cried."
"I'm such a jerk." Nick whispered.
Warrick frowned. "What? No you're not. Why would you think that?"
"I've been so selfish, freaking out about stupid dreams and everything else that has gone wrong in my life and being in a stupid box...I was so scared I never even thought about how much this has affected anyone else."
Warrick sighed. "You're not being selfish Nicky. You're never selfish. There's nothing wrong with being scared. I'm scared. I'd be worried if you weren't scared."
"But I'm always scared."
"That's what makes you such a great guy."
Nick frowned in confusion. "You realize that makes very little to no sense at all, right?"
Warrick laughed. "You may always be scared, but you know how to handle it. You can empathize with the victims because you've been there, you know how they feel. You may get criticized for it, hell even by me before, but that's because not everyone can get as close as you and not break down, and we're jealous. You know how to use your experiences to help people. You don't take anything for granted. I wish I could be more like you."
Nick let out a sarcastic laugh. "You do not want to be like me."
"Yes I do. I wish I could see things the way you do. After all the horrible things we see everyday, you can somehow remember there's actually some good in the world. You can make someone smile no matter how bad a day they're having. You're an expert at helping people...I never would have been able to stop gambling if it hadn't been for you."
Nick laughed. "You're not such a bad guy yourself Warrick."
"Thanks to you. I know this is gonna make me sound like a jerk...but when I first met you, I hated you because you were so...Nick."
"You're on a roll with things not making sense today bro." Nick said smiling.
Warrick smiled. "You were so friendly and nice and funny. You reminded me of the popular guys in high school I hated, except they were dumbasses who were mean cuz they couldn't spell, and I hated you even more cuz I didn't have a reason to hate you. Then I got to know you and couldn't help being friends with you. I wasn't used to having friends. I never trusted anyone as much as I trust you."
Nick hugged Warrick. "Thanks man."
"No problem buddy. Why don't we try that pizza and 'Bad Boys 2' again?"
Nick laughed. "That sounds like a plan. We missed all the good parts last time."
"Yeah, and the pizza." Warrick added as Nick got up and ordered the pizza. Warrick took out his wallet to get some money to split the cost of the food with Nick. When he opened it, a coin fell out and landed on the floor. Warrick looked down at the heads up coin and realized it was the one Nick flipped that night he was kidnapped. I forgot all about this...
'No, ya know what? You keep this, it's bad luck.'
Warrick bent over and picked it up. Why did I keep it? He remembered wanting to throw it as far as he could and never see it again, but whenever he went to throw it, he couldn't let it go. It had felt like he was letting go of Nick, and he never wanted to do that.
"What's that?"
Warrick's head snapped up and he looked at Nick. "It's uh...it's the coin."
"What coin?" Warrick tossed it to Nick, who caught it. He looked at it, then suddenly realized it was the coin. "Oh...this coin." He looked up at Warrick. "Why did you keep it?"
Warrick shrugged. "I don't know. I tried to get rid of it a few times, I just couldn't let go of it."
Nick smiled. "Call it in the air."
Warrick thought Nick was kidding until he flipped the coin in the air. "Tails."
Nick caught the coin and flipped it over onto the back of his wrist. His smile faded. "Heads."
Now it was Warrick who was smiling. "Best 2 outta 3?"
Nick's smile returned and shook his head. "Nah. Let's leave it in a tie." He said, handing the coin to Warrick as he walked past him. "Besides, you have a gambling problem."
Warrick pushed Nick backwards onto the couch and hit him with a pillow. "We shoulda juked it out."
"Now Warrick, violence doesn't solve anything."
"Yes it does." Warrick lightly punched Nick on the arm and sat down next to him. "Not that you could beat me..."
Nick laughed. "I like coin tosses better anyway." He said, returning the favor by hitting Warrick with the pillow.
Their pizza came, and they ate it while they watched their all-time favorite movie. They laughed and joked as they always did while watching Will Smith and Martin Lawrence chase drug dealers and kidnappers. After the movie was over, Nick got up to go answer the phone. Warrick fought the urge to close his eyes, but lost the battle.
He dug until his fingers bled, then dug some more. Everyone else had stopped looking, but not him. Everyone else had given up all hope, but Warrick wouldn't...couldn't. He was gonna find Nick if it was the last thing he ever did. He clawed at the dirt until he collapsed in exhaustion. He rolled over onto his back and closed his eyes. He saw Nick lying in his underground cage with the gun under his chin, his eyes closed tight. The oxygen in the box was running out, and Nick was struggling to breathe. He was shaking from fear and the ants..then he stopped moving. Warrick screamed.
Warrick opened his eyes and saw Nick kneeling in front of him with a very worried expression across his face. "Are you okay?"
Warrick nodded and smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Are you okay?"
Nick smiled. "Thanks to you, I'm getting better."
