Thanks to PrettyEyes72, Standofffan, BellaMuerte13, star fata, prplerayne, NCISLOVER, dddynamite & Kday89 for the reviews!
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters!
"This is going to be a long day." Mac mumbled to himself as he entered one of three bloody rooms at the Renaissance hotel. Two floors below him Hawkes was processing room 107 and on the next floor up from him Danny and Lindsay were processing room 412. All three rooms were nearly identical, one young caucasian male, a single stab wound to the chest lying face down next to the bath surrounded by a pool of blood.
Despite the circumstances Mac was glad of the chance to be working with Stella, he had seen the strange way she had been acting earlier in the lab. Maybe it was the fact that it had been six o'clock in the morning but Mac knew it was something more and he wanted to know what was going on.
He made his way to the bedroom: the door was shut.
"Stella?" Mac called opening the door.
Instantly he felt dizzy, something wasn't right. Covering his mouth and nose with his shirt sleeve he entered the room and ran over to where he could now see Stella lying face down on the floor. Without even thinking he picked her up and carried her out of the hotel room alerting the officers in the corridor and ordering them to call an ambulance and to get Hawkes.
Within minutes Hawkes was by his side checking on Stella, blood was inches down her face from a cut on her forehead and her eyes were still firmly shut.
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Danny was printing the door of room 412 when his phone started vibrating, the caller ID told him it was Mac.
"Hey Mac, what can I do for ya?"
"Danny I need you to check the bedroom."
"Sure, I think Montana's in there now, what should I be looking for?"
"Danny get Lindsay out of there now!" Mac shouted down the phone.
Without asking for an explanation Danny ran to the bedroom nearly breaking the door down in the process. He saw Lindsay slumped against the far wall of the bedroom and didn't waste any time in getting to her.
"Montana?"
She opened her eyes for only a second; it was too hard to keep them open.
"Montana, keep your eyes open." Danny told her as he picked her up and carried her out into the corridor.
"I need some help over here!" Danny shouted placing Lindsay, who was now gasping for breath, against the wall.
"It's alright, you're okay." Danny told her trying to calm her down.
"Danny?" Flack and Hawkes appeared at the end of the corridor, hands hovering over their guns.
"There's some sort of gas leak, I found her barely conscious." He told them as Hawkes knelt down next to Lindsay.
"Stella's on her way to hospital, Mac found her unconscious in the bedroom." Flack told him pulling out his radio.
"This is Detective Flack, I need another EMS unit to the Renaissance hotel."
"No." Lindsay protested hoarsely as she tried to get up, clearing her throat as she did.
"Lindsay you need to be checked over and get a blood test." Hawkes told her.
"We need to get her out of here, the building is being evacuated until they find the source of the gas leak." Flack told them as he watched Danny pick Lindsay up in his arms and let her rest her head against his chest, carried her down to the ground floor and out into the late spring morning.
Through the sea of fire fighters, cops and confused members of the public they saw Mac rushing over to them.
"What happened?" He asked looking at Lindsay who was still being held tightly by Danny.
"Gas leak in the bedroom, she needs to be checked over at the hospital." Hawkes told him helping Danny sit Lindsay down gently on the kerb.
"Right, Flack and I will follow Lindsay to the hospital to get statements. Danny and Hawkes I want you to go back to the lab with any evidence, as soon as this building is declared safe I want you back here processing."
"But…" Danny started.
"No Danny, I need you to go back to the lab." Mac interrupted him.
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"I'm sorry Flack, I wish I could tell you more but all I remember is feeling light-headed and then sitting outside on the kerb." Lindsay told Flack, they were both sitting on the edge of her hospital bed. It was now eleven o'clock in the morning and she had been given the all clear after waiting nearly three hours for the results of her blood test.
"Okay Lindsay, I'll give you a lift back to the lab but Mac doesn't want you going back to the hotel with Danny and Hawkes, he said you've got to take it easy."
"Thanks Flack." She said following him down the corridor, stopping as they walked past the room Stella was in, she had butterfly stitches over the cut on her head and an oxygen mask round her neck. Next to her Mac was sat with his notebook in his hand, scribbling something in it.
"What happened to her head?" She asked Flack who was stood next to her also looking through the window at Mac and Stella.
"She thinks she hit it when she collapsed." He told her. "Come on. Let's get out of here." He continued leading her towards the exit.
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"That was Mac." Danny told Hawkes closing his phone and pocketing it as they entered room 412. "He's on his way back to the lab now. Flack and Montana are already back there."
"Are Stella and Lindsay alright?" Hawkes asked heading to the bedroom.
"They've both been discharged but he told Stella to take the rest of the day off."
"Danny, take a look at this!" Hawkes called to him.
The room was nearly identical to how Danny had left it. The curtains were still drawn, there was broken glass at the foot of the bed and the phone was off the hook. The only difference was the bed, which was covered in little blue flowers.
"They look like forget-me-nots." Hawkes informed Danny who was already half way out of the door.
"Hey, where are you going?" Hawkes called as he followed him out of the room.
"Those flowers weren't there before." He told Hawkes as they reached the door of room 302 which Mac and Stella had been processing and entered heading straight for the bedroom.
The room was identical to the other room: large with white painted walls and burgundy curtains and carpet. Like in room 412 the bed was covered in forget-me-nots.