Jim and Nick were walking through the LVPD parking lot, heading in to report back when Greg Sanders hurried towards them. "We got a break," he said excitedly. "At that building Lily Chen told you about. Prints matched the ones we thought are the girl's from the first scene. People working in the next building saw two men walking an Asian girl to a blue SUV with partial plates. We ran the numbers and got a hit. Brian Trinh got a tip from the community and located the car at a motel over in Koreatown. Vega's headed there now."

They hustled back to Jim's car and headed to the motel. Jim called Sam Vega and got an update. The clerk confirmed that two men and a girl were in room 203. He was waiting for backup before going in.

Jim pulled into the motel lot moments later and immediately he was out of the car, heading towards the room. Looking around the lot briefly, he didn't see the car. He heard Vega and the uniforms break into the room just as he got to the second floor. Running, he went to the door.

Jim reached the doorway and looked at the men, expecting to hear the worst. After taking a deep breath, He edged around the door frame and peered into the room. Curled on a mattress in the corner, almost in a fetal position was the girl, obviously frightened. One arm handcuffed to a bed post, she was lying in her own filth. She held her hands over her face and it was evident she was crying. Jim stepped into the room, holstering his gun. "Hey," he said softly. "My name's Jim Brass. I'm a detective…and we're here to take you to your family. You wanna go home?"

The girl peeked out from behind her hands and looked at him nervously. Her eyes were huge as she stared at Jim, tears rolling down her face. "You're Mai, right?" he said as he edged closer to her. "I've met your mother and father…Jimmy and Alicia…right?"

She nodded slowly, still not really comprehending that she was safe.

Jim eased down next to her, steadying himself on one knee. "They've been really worried about you. I told them I'd find you and bring you back to them," he said gently. "And your brother, Vinh too…"

Her expression tugged at Jim; she looked so frightened. And briefly, even though she was younger something about her reminded him of An and it felt like 40 years ago. But he needed to stay in the present, he told himself.

As he talked to the girl, his eyes scanned the area. Something was off. The hairs on the back of his neck bristled as he realized what it was.

"Jim," Nick said softly from behind him. "There are wires…"

"Yeah, I see 'em," the detective answered. "Running under the mattress…"

"Maybe weight triggered?" Nick asked, his head tilting as he tried to follow the wires.

"Yeah, but why not just keep it all under the bed? Why wires going along the wall?" Jim asked.

"Dunno…"

"Have Vega call the bomb squad…and clear the building… just in case."

"Yeah, alright. You okay?"

Jim nodded and then looked at Mai and smiled. "We're good. I'm gonna stay here with my new friend here…"

"Yeah, somehow I knew that," Nick said before backing out of the room.

Jim studied the wires more closely and saw that they ran along the wall, behind the nightstand and under the other bed in the room. He shook his head; it didn't make sense. Carefully, he lifted the corner of Mai's mattress and saw enough to know this wasn't going to be easy.

The girl was getting restless. "Honey, you need to stay real still, okay?" He didn't want to alarm her, certain that she couldn't handle much more. But he really needed her to be quiet.

She whimpered and looked at her cuffed wrist. Jim's eyes followed her to the cuffs and he winced. Her wrist was badly bruised and blood had dried and crusted from where the cuffs had torn her skin. "Look, I'll take the cuffs off, but you can't move. You understand me, honey?"

She nodded that she did, eliciting a smile from Jim. "Okay, so real still, right," he coached as he reached across with his cuff key. He felt the cuffs give and she pulled her arm to her but was being very still otherwise. His heart was pounding as he watched her face. Her eyes were enormous, fear filling them.

"It hurts," she whimpered.

"I know, honey. But you can't move just yet. I got some guys coming that are going to get us out of here. But for now, we have to sit tight, okay."

She nodded again. "You made the mean men go away."

"Well, I think they heard we were looking for you. Maybe it sacred them."

She nodded and then frowned. "The really mean one, Joey, he got a phone call. He got all funny when he was talking on the phone. Then he told the other one, John, that they had to go…to leave me and just get out. Then they left."

"Yeah?" Jim prodded softly. "Anything else you remember me about those two?"

Mai closed her eyes and her expression changed to one of deep concentration. "Joey was short, really short and had brown hair. John was taller, like maybe your size, and …skinny, he was real skinny."

"So how'd you end up with them? Did they take you away from your uncle's place?"

"No, the lady did…Lily, I think was her name. Then we went to this place…like one of the warehouses at my father's business. There was another lady there. And two men, but they were at Uncle Tim's too. It was loud. Everybody was yelling and then the one that took me shot the other lady. The older guy, Charlie I think, he freaked out and started yelling at Lily. Anyway, she left and then came back later with Joey and John. They took me away and then Lily told Joey to keep me hidden while she got the money. I don't know what it was exactly…" She looked across the room at the window and Jim could see that she was thinking. "Were they trying to…you know, get a ransom or something?"

Jim nodded. "I think so. But another guy got to the money first, so Lily must've called Joey and that's when they left." Jim was trying not to tell her too much. He could see that she was curious but also on overload. He didn't need her getting upset. Leaving her father's involvement out was the best option for now, he thought. At the same time, he was trying to figure out who had tipped Joey; Lily and Wong were both in custody. Pushing that to the back of his mind for now, he looked at the girl and smiled.

"They took me to another place but we didn't stay long. And then we came here," she told him.

"Yeah, we went to the other place first." He watched her as she looked away again.

Then with a deep breath, she looked back at him. "I want to go home now, please."

"Yeah, I know Honey. But we have to wait…" Then turning his head, he yelled, "Nicky, what's holding up the guys?"

Nick edged around the corner carefully. "They are en route but there was a wreck; they're having to go around…just a few more minutes," he told Jim.

Jim flashed a wane smile at the girl. She was looking anxious; he could see the nerves building in her. She wasn't going to stay still much longer. "It's going to be fine," he told her confidently. He just wished he really felt it.

A minute or two later a loud noise sounded in the parking lot. Jim flinched but the girl jumped. He heard a click and instantly knew what had happened. Grabbing her, he held her on his side, opposite the wall that was wired and he lunged for the door, hoping to get her away from the blast. He heard Nick yell something and that was the last thing he knew.

Nick saw the motion from his spot at the door. Yelling, "I got her," he grabbed Mai's arms and yanked her out just as the room exploded. Vega was there instantly, collecting the girl and handing her off to an officer just down the balcony. Then he pulled Nick away, all the while yelling for Medics. Debris had hit Nick and he had cuts and scrapes everywhere, but as far as Sam could tell, he wasn't badly hurt. Apprehensively, he looked around the doorway, afraid of what he would find.

Jim was on the floor, unconscious. His body was partially covered in debris and Sam could see some nasty looking tears in his clothes where blood seeped through. What Sam could see of his face looked rough with blood running over his features. Vega noticed blood trickling from his ear.

Cautiously, Sam approached his boss. Reaching down, he felt for a pulse and was relieved to find a decent one. EMTs charged through the door and Sam moved away to let them work. As he stepped out of the room, he saw the van for the bomb unit pull in. "Great timing," he muttered as he hurried down the steps.

Vega found Nick sitting on the back of an ambulance. "How's Jim?" Nick asked the detective.

"Alive," Sam answered somberly. "EMTs are with him. How about you?"

"I'll be okay." Nick looked up at the room and then glanced over at the other ambulance. "He saved the girl, you know."

"Yeah, I know," Sam said quietly. "Any idea what triggered it?"

"Something startled her and she jumped. I think it was a car backfiring in the parking lot."

Sam looked around and nodded. "Yeah, there was a garbage truck at the dumpster…"

"Damn," was all Nick could say.

Nick watched as the EMT crew that worked on Mai closed the doors and pulled away. Sam stood nearby, talking to Ecklie on the phone. "Yeah, she's on her way to Desert Palm. You going to call the parents?"

Nick watched the detective's face as he talked. It should have been Jim calling the parents…or Sam. But as usual, Ecklie was taking the spotlight. It didn't matter to either detective, Nick knew. Vega understood the pecking order and Jim despised being the center of attention, unless a good joke was involved. Dipping his head, Nick grinned, proud that he worked alongside these people.

Jim was unaware of everything going on around him. The EMTs worked furiously preparing him for transport to the hospital but he was oblivious. In his mind he was in a different time and place.

"What will it be like in America," An asked him as they sat in the forest behind the village. He held her close, his arm around her waist with his cheek propped on her head. "It'll be different than here," he told her. "For one thing, we'll be living in the city."

"New…wark, right?"

"Yeah," he grinned. "Newark. New Jersey. But you don't have to go far to find farms. And the ocean is close too."

"I want to see the ocean…"

"I'll take you. And we can go into New York too. They have really tall buildings there. You look up and they look like they're touching the sky."

She looked up at the sky, through the trees and sighed. "It will be so different. I don't know if they will like me."

"We'll have our own place, a house with a yard…and that'll be our home and you'll be just fine," he assured her.

She looked into his eyes, her own smiling. "And children? We will have many children?"

"Many children," he agreed as he lost himself in her dark orbs.

After arriving at the hospital, Jim was dimly aware of people around him before slipping back into his memories.

Nick stood on the hallway at the ER, waiting. He saw Ecklie down the hall talking to Alicia Trang. And older Asian woman stood nearby, holding the hand of a boy. Nick guessed the boy was Mai's brother. The older woman must be Jimmy Trang's mother, he thought.

Glancing back towards the cubicle where the medical personnel were working on Jim, Nick sighed. He felt Vega edge up beside him. "Any word?" The detective asked.

"Not yet," Nick answered. "Ecklie's down the hall talking to the Trangs…well, the ones that are here. Last I heard, Sally was still in L.A. with Guy and Jimmy. They are due to be released from the hospital tomorrow."

"Yeah." Vega replied as he glanced down the hall at the small gathering. "Wonder how the girl is."

"She's going to be okay," Nick said. "She's got some bad bruises and long gash on her leg where some of the debris hit her. And the nurse said her hearing isn't totally back yet, but it seems to be clearing."

Vega looked back toward the cubicle. "You think he'll survive this one?"

Nick looked at the detective, alarmed. "Man, don't even think that…"

Sam shrugged. "Yeah, it's just… how many times can a guy get blown up and shot before it catches up…"

They heard footsteps coming up the hall and looked up to see Ecklie headed their way. "Any word on Jim?" he asked as he approached.

"No," Nick answered succinctly.

Conrad let out a deep sigh. His concern seemed genuine to Nick. "He saved that girl's life, you know."

Ecklie looked up at him sharply. "Yeah, I know…I just hope it doesn't cost him his."

Vega looked at his superior and shrugged. "He'd tell you it was worth it, if it did."

"Yeah," Ecklie replied as his shoulders slumped.

Light footsteps sounded behind the Under-Sheriff. "Pardon me," a soft, accented voice said.

Ecklie turned to acknowledge the small woman that stood behind him. "Mrs. Trang…"

In a motion that Nick could only describe as something between a quick bow and a nod, she acknowledged to Ecklie. "The man who saved my granddaughter…. Is one of these him?"

Ecklie shifted his weight. "Uh, well…they were there. Nick Stokes here pulled her out and Detective Vega was second in command at the scene. But it was Jim Brass that shielded her from the blast."

Something flashed in the woman's expression, Nick observed. She seemed shocked. But she recovered quickly. "Well, I wish to thank all of these men…for finding her and making her safe."

Ecklie turned toward the two men standing near the wall, his expression encouraging them to step up.

Nick stepped toward the woman. "Well, thank you ma'm; but it's our job… we're glad she is safe now." Sam edged up next to him and nodded his agreement. She looked from one man to the other, a question forming in her eyes.

"We'll be sure to tell Jim," Sam offered. "When we see him…"

A frown formed between her eyes as understanding lit in her eyes. "You are here because he is…"

"With the doctor," Ecklie cut in. "We're waiting for word now."

A contemplative expression settled over her features and then curiosity. Looking at Ecklie she asked, "tell me about this Jim Brass?"

Conrad folded his arms, his eyebrows furrowing in thought, as he tilted his head. Nick straightened up, wondering why she wanted to know about the detective. "What is it you want to know, ma'm?" Nick asked.

She swallowed deeply and took a deep breath, nervousness overtaking her body. "I just…would like to know more about the man who saved our Mai."

Nick thought for a moment. Jim wouldn't be happy with them giving away the details of his life; he was a private man…and a humble one, despite his brashness. "He um…he's a good man, Mrs. Trang… a real good man."

Something flickered in her eyes and she nodded, accepting the brief answer to her question. "Yes of course," she said softly. Then thanking them, she turned and walked back to her family.

Catherine flew around the corner, passing everyone and headed straight to Nick. She was visibly upset. "I got here as soon as I could…how is he?"

"We don't know yet," Nick answered. "Still waiting to hear."

She turned and faced the cubicle, tense and apprehensive. "Can we see him…will they let anyone in…"

"Not yet. They're…working on him."

"How bad?"

"He shielded the girl with his body; took most of the force of the blast."

Catherine squeezed her fists shut and brought them to her mouth, a small sob escaping as she did. "Is he… I mean, have they said…what are his chances?"

As Nick pulled her into a friendly, comforting hug, Sam Vega watched the woman down the hall. She had keenly observed Catherine since her arrival and looked shaken. He assumed she felt bad for the friends of the man who saved Mai's life.

So whacha think? I have to admit I'm fighting with this one a little right now. The words just don't want to come out right. So I might be a little slower posting while I work through it. This one, for instance, was written a couple of weeks ago but when I reread it to proof it, it all seemed lame. So I had to rework it. And then, still not satisfied, I had to do it again. I hope the outcome is okay. I know it is better than what I started with, lol.

On a couple of different notes: If you haven't partcipated in my poll about season 12, please do. It is always fun to see what folks are thinking. So far, we all agree that Brass needs a woman, lol.

And last: my next story will be #100. Can't believe it but that's what it says on my profile. Anyway, I'm hoping you guys will help me with that one. Details are on my profile. If you're interested, please check it out.

TTFN