Title: Heard It Through The Grapevine
Author: Hawkeye/Katy
Beta: Alex/Odysseus and Onigami/Lorne
Fandom: CSI:NY
Rating: FRT
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not even the socks I'm wearing. I stole those from my sister.
He nodded slowly, smile fading slightly as Stella's eyes widened even further, "It… it doesn't always work."
Stella sat in silence for a while, looking from the softly playing radio in Sheldon's hand, to the doctor himself. Sheldon kept his head down, not wanting to see the disbelief or recrimination in her eyes. As Stella sat and thought, things slowly became clearer for her. Sheldon's earlier behaviour in the lab, his guilt about Mac's injuries, his willingness to dig out the med-kit that had sat in his locker since 9/11.
Stella took his hand, squeezing it softly in sudden understanding, "The blast," she said sympathetically, "That's why you took it so personally…"
Sheldon nodded, face falling, "But I was too late. By the time I got to the lab, Mac and Don had already left. And by the time I knew it was a bomb, it was too late… Danny found me just as I was entering Don's cell number into the GPS tracker."
Keeping hold of his hand, Stella quirked an eyebrow at him, "Just Don's number?"
Sheldon flushed lightly, the blush barely staining his dark skin, "Well… I... it's…" he looked up into Stella's smiling eyes, "I'm busted, aren't I?"
Stella nodded, a smiled curling her lips, "Oh yeah… so spill… how long? When? What did it for you?"
Letting out a flustered squeak at the last question, Sheldon shook his head, blush intensifying, "Long enough… Before I became a CSI… And I plead the fifth…"
He was saved from saying anymore by Lindsay's voice from the doorway, "Hello? Stella? Hawkes?"
Getting to his feet, Sheldon offered a hand to Stella, smiling as the Greek woman accepted it graciously. He looked back over his shoulder at the bath radio, but carried on walking as Stella gripped his arm and shook her head gently. The two walked out of the locker rooms, giving Lindsay inquisitive looks as the brunette caught sight of them. She motioned them over.
"We're going down to the hospital. Thought you might want a ride?"
Stella shot a quick glance at Sheldon, still worried, but Sheldon ignored it in favor of smiling at Lindsay and nodding his thanks. Lindsay gave them both a quizzical look, but, thankfully for Sheldon, left it alone, instead heading out to the car. Mac and Danny were waiting for them, Mac fingering the bandage on his neck, the only sign of his unease, and Danny bouncing impatiently on the balls of his feet, scowling at the delay.
The ride to the hospital was silent, the solemn walk up to the ward, equally so. The team settled themselves around the waiting room. Minutes ticked by, until a nurse finally came up to them, asking them rather irritably what they were all doing here. The flashing of five badges soon turned her irritation into something far nicer. She promised to keep them informed, to let them know if anything happened. More long minutes ticked by. One by one, all heads turned to Sheldon.
The doctor noticed their gazes, "What? Oh…" he picked himself up from the uncomfortable waiting room couch, straightened his jacket and took off his badge, handing it to Mac, who looked startled.
"Hawkes…?" Mac said, a question in his voice.
"Hmm?" Sheldon asked, fishing through his pockets, "Oh! No, I'm not quitting or anything. They just don't like it when I wear both badges."
The team blinked, before Mac spoke, "Both?"
Hawkes nodded, pulling a visiting doctor's pass out of his pocket, "They think it's a conflict of interests if I wear a NYPD badge as well as this one."
Mac nodded, curling his fingers around Sheldon's badge, as Sheldon clipped the hospital ID to his pocket, "Find out what you can."
Sheldon nodded back and disappeared into the depths of the hospital, dropping his CSI persona and taking up that of the doctor. One by one, the team drifted away, preferring to lose themselves in work, rather than pace the hospital floors. Only Stella and Mac remained.
He came back through the doors, slumping unceremoniously down onto the waiting room couch, "Don just came out of surgery. It's looking good. He's breathing on his own, which is incredible considering the amount of damage he sustained."
Both Stella and Mac breathed heavy sighs of relief, Mac staying quiet while Stella continued to ask questions, "Did they say anything else?"
"He has a CT scan tomorrow morning to test his brain activity," Sheldon spoke softly, but Mac still heard the hesitation in his voice.
"They're thinking brain damage?" he asked, schooling his face into a professional mask that both Sheldon and Stella saw right through.
"It's a precaution," Sheldon said, "My professional opinion? I don't think he was without oxygen in his blood stream long enough to cause any lasting damage."
"But…?" Mac gestured for him to continue.
He raised an eyebrow at the former Marine, "But it's better to be safe than sorry. You saved his life, Mac. Never forget that."
His next words were mumbled so low that Stella only just caught them, "God knows, I won't…"
Danny and Lindsay chose that moment to return, the tension of not knowing overriding the agony of waiting. Stella shot Sheldon a look filled with an almost fierce sympathy. Mac stayed quiet, eyes occasionally flicking over to where Don lay motionless in the hospital room. Danny and Lindsay took up spots in the waiting room, the entire team staying quiet, waiting for their final team-mate to come back to them. Finally, Sheldon couldn't take the silence anymore. He stood up, blinking in surprise as Stella did the same thing. He let Stella speak first.
"I'm going for coffee, who wants one?"
Murmurs of yes and no floated around, before questioning eyes turned to Sheldon, "I thought I'd head down and speak to Don's neurologist, see what he thinks about the CT scan," he carefully avoided Stella's eyes while saying this.
He maneuvered his way down through the halls of the hospital. This was his last shot. His last stand. If this attempt at hearing things through the music didn't work, he was willing to bet it could never be used as a useful tool again. Sheldon searched the hospital, looking for a radio, an IPod, a discman, anything… He finally stopped his search in the middle of the neurology ward.
Sheldon sighed, "This is insane," he mumbled to the empty corridor.
His eyes lit upon a previously untried door. He raised an eyebrow at it, moving forward and trying the handle. It was locked. He rattled the handle again. A frustrated sound was torn from him and he stepped back sweeping his hands through his close-cropped hair. Suddenly, everything stopped, everything Sheldon had just done; his manic search through a hospital, a place of healing, for a radio; came back to him. He shook his head slowly, disgusted with himself.
"Stella would kick my ass if she knew what I was doing," he sighed, rubbing his eyes.
He started walking slowly down the hall, head down, "Plus," he added, "I shouldn't be here… I should be in the one spot that I can actually be useful…"
Thoroughly ashamed of himself, Sheldon Hawkes straightened his shoulders, held his head high and walked back down to the one spot he felt useful. He turned and walked right back to Don's hospital room.