Warrick pretended not to hear.
"You take that cell to day shift Willows, understand?" he turned to Catherine and she nodded, making Warrick's heart sink.
"Sure thing," Catherine replied, "I better be going, have to check if I still have a daughter. Haven't seen her in days. I'll swing by the lab before I go home and get some sleep. Sara should be here any minute now and I'll take off when she arrives."
"You look like hell, Warrick," Vega remarked, "shouldn't you be getting some shut-eye too?"
"Later." Warrick promised, his eyes on Catherine who was making signs behind Vega's back. Signs that said she was going nowhere near day shift with Nick's phone, Archie was the one that would process it with Catherine right at his side. Warrick sent a look of pure gratitude Catherine's way when Sara rounded the corner and stopped in her tracks. "Something wrong?" she asked, echoing a question that had somehow become standard among the CSIs. "How's Nick? Can I see him?"
Nick. Warrick turned and looked into the room. Somehow he had forgotten about the man inside the room in all the commotion. "I don't know," he said, guilt washing over him at the instant he realized he hadn't even asked, just barged in demanding his cell phone. What fucking kind of a friend was he?
"I'm taking off," Catherine said, waving her hand as she walked out with a last look at Warrick.
"You don't know?" Sara asked baffled, "where have you been these past hours?"
"Investigating," Vega smirked.
"Investigating what?" Sara's eyes narrowed, "it's not our case Warrick."
"But he's our Nick," Warrick retorted, "I'm just looking out for him, that's all."
"You're suspended," Sara reminded him.
"You never get suspended from being a friend." Warrick felt his anger starting to rise at Sara. She was about to respond when the door opened and the nurse followed by Jillian stepped out.
Jillian laid a hand on Warrick's arm; "Can I ask a favor?" Her voice sounded pleading and Warrick replied by nodding. "My husband can't get a continuance in his case. He needs to get back today and I'm going to drive him to the airport. Can you stay with Nick until I get back?"
"I will," he promised, "Mrs. Stokes, you should get some sleep, you look exhausted."
Jillian looked into the room she'd just left, "I don't think I can."
"I'll be here , I'll call if something happens. Not that I'd let anything happen to Nick on my watch." He forced a smile.
"Thank you Warrick," Jillian smiled tiredly, squeezing his arm gently. "Ms. Sidle," she acknowledged and with a last glance and a sigh walked away.
"What a relief," Sara let out.
"Huh?"
"I thought I was invisible there for a while." She said, following Warrick into Nick's room. She stopped just inside the door and tears welled in her eyes when she watched Nick surrounded by all the equipment and the monitors beeping. "He looks so small." She blurted out, voice trembling. "God, Nicky." Walking up to the bed she laid a hand on Nick's shoulder, murmuring something Warrick couldn't make out. Warrick felt a pang of jealousy at the tone of Sara's voice. No one should say Nicky like that, no one except him. As that thought flew through his mind he had to sit down on the stool beside Nick's bed. His protective nature where it concerned Nicky startled him and he shook his head at his out of control thought processes. Truth be told; he felt like hovering over Nick and growling at anybody touching him. The need to protect Nick wasn't new; he had always felt that deep inside but right now it pushed away everything else.
He laid his hand over Nick's where it still lay limp on the crisp white sheet. The tubes were gone but an oxygen mask covered his face, a strand of hair had gotten caught under the band keeping the mask in place and Warrick reached out to free it. His skin was warm but the pallor was still alarming. "You're scaring me, bro." No reaction. "Blink if you hear me man. Just flutter your lashes if nothing else. I know you can do that. Bro, just lemme see something."
Nothing.
He closed his eyes and squeezed the hand under his. "Shit, bro, I want you back." His voice failed him and his throat felt thick and sore. There was a lot he wanted to tell Nick but right now he was unable to get the words out without crumpling under their weight.
Sara looked long and hard at him but Warrick didn't care. They sat in silence for what seemed like ages. Nick was unmoving but his breath ran evenly. Warrick never let go of his hand and Sara's hand rested protectively on the opposite shoulder. A nurse wandered in every ten minutes, checking on his vitals and nodding at them as she left again and the silence underneath the beeping and buzzing of technology was stifling.
"You know," Sara broke the silence. "He gave me this lecture once about not being indestructible. You think he forgot that?"
"That's just Nick. He reacted to save me and look where it got him."
"Sometimes he pisses me off to no end but when you need something, he's always there, you know. Like a brother of sorts. He even tried to set me up on a date with one of his friend once." Sara giggled. "Hey Nicky, I can get my own dates, you hear?"
"He was just looking out for you, save you from that one sided marriage to the lab you're sporting."
"And who's gonna save him?" Sara asked, her giggle getting suspiciously thick and garbled. When Warrick lifted his eyes he saw that Sara wasn't giggling anymore, she was choking back sobs and failing miserably at sounding chipper. "You think he's cold?" she wondered shakily, hand moving to Nick's bare skin, "he's shivering."
Warrick grasped Nick's hand tighter as he waited, talking to him, reciting old scores and ribbing him about bets lost. He talked for what seemed like hours and suddenly, so unexpectedly that he wasn't sure it was real, he felt a tiny movement and was up on his feet
"Nick? Bud? Open your eyes. That's it Nicky, you'll be fine. Call the doc Sara!" Warrick saw the fluttering of his eyelids, sensed the slight tremor in the hand under his own. "Hey bro, it's all right. You're safe." He gripped the hand, clasping it in his like he was trying to physically lift Nick out of unconsciousness.
Warrick grinned like a fool when Nick's eyes opened to narrow slits, pupils dancing under the partly closed lids, trying to focus. "That's it bro, I'm right here," he said when cloudy brown eyes focused on his. "Shit Nicky, love you man!" The brown eyes searched for his and locked with his own, where tears had started to form again. "That's it Nicky, that's my main man."
When Nick's fingers squeezed his in reply he actually chuckled. His mirth was cut short at the look in the brown eyes starting to lose focus on him; they changed expression from relief to fear before long lashes started to obscure the depth of the emotion. Warrick held on to the hand, trying to gauge if Nick was coherent or not. "Hey bro, it's all right," he crooned.
Sara's finger was still on the alert button and her eyes darted between the two men.
Nick made an attempt to move his hand to the mask covering his face, but the effort was too much and he closed his eyes with a pained groan.
"Stay still, stay still." Warrick crooned, alarmed at the obvious discomfort he was able to read on his friend's face. Tears pooled in Nick's eyes, breath beginning to run unevenly . The heart monitor had picked up speed and Warrick glanced desperately at the door, mentally screaming for medical personnel to come in and offer aid.
Nick tried to move and Warrick looked back trying to keep him calm but Nick seemed desperate to say something. His lips moved under the mask, hand feebly squeezing Warrick's and sweat was forming on his temples.
"What's wrong?" Warrick asked, his own heartbeat rising at the sight of Nick's struggle to form words. When Nick's lips moved again he lifted the mask to hear the faint whisper behind the sound of oxygen streaming into Nick's lungs.
"Ce-" was all he heard but that was enough.
"Your cell-phone? We got it man, Catherine's on it, no worries."
Nick closed his eyes just as the horde of medical personnel Warrick had been praying for finally made their appearance and Warrick was more or less pushed outside with a frantic Sara to meet up with a slightly pissed off Vega.
"What's up?" the latter asked with a frown.
"What was he trying to say Warrick?" Sara demanded, gripping his arm. "What's going on?"
"Nick may know too much for his own good," Warrick replied, "stay here, don't let anybody without an ID into that room and call me if something happens."
"Where are you going?" she called out after him but received no answer. "Exactly what's going on?" he heard the detective ask as he ran down the hallway.
He wished he knew.