Thanks so much for all of your reviews so far. Sorry about the delay, but I'm sure you'll love this chapter.
Chapter Five: Anything for you
Looking at the picture of the little girl in front of him, the old man felt his heart breaking for her, as this really was the little girl he had seen, only in the photo, she had a smile on her face, surrounded by love and security. When he had met her, she was scared, lonely and terrified, something no child should ever be. "Yes." He nodded, looking at the officer who came to visit him in the hospital. "Yes, that's definitely her. What's her name?" He queried.
He watched the younger man taking the photo back, before he whispered, "Tayla. Her name is Tayla."
"She's a beautiful little girl." The man could sense that the lonely visitor had a deep connection to this little girl, as his heart had been shattered into a thousand pieces, while his soul was desperately clinging to anything he could find. "How old is she?"
"Seven. She'll be eight in September."
"She's just a baby." He took the photo back, taking another look at her. "You're her father, aren't you? What's your name?" He curiously asked him, recognising the same look in his eyes that he saw in Tayla's.
"Nick." He introduced himself.
"She asked for you." He spoke softly, looking Nick in the eye. "When the other man came in, I could tell that he wasn't her father. She clung to my hand. She was terrified of him . . . I'm sorry I couldn't help her, Nick."
"You have." Nick assured him, looking at the picture of his little girl, before he turned towards the door, noticing the older man's wife and grown up children at the door, waiting to see how he was. "Well, thanks for your help, Mr Howard." He gave him another smile.
"I hope you find her." Mr Howard stopped him from leaving. "I'm not exactly a religious man, but she's in my prayers. I hope you find her." He repeated himself, closing his fist, as he tried to remember how strong her little grip was, wishing he had held onto her a little tighter.
Nick gave him a nod, then turned for the door, taking a step back, so Mr Howard's wife and kids could see him. He watched Mr Howard hugging each of them, before he turned back to the nurses' station, where Grissom and Greg were waiting for him.
After learning that Tayla had been taken to Utah, Nick asked Brass for a favour, getting the team a helicopter ride. Once they arrived, they were informed of a kidnapped child case that was currently open in Utah, Salt Lake City, leading them to the hospital, where Mr Howard the store owner had been taken, after being viciously attacked by the suspect.
"He said that it was her." Nick nodded to the two of them, setting the photo of Tayla onto the desk beside him. "The phone outside was left off the hook?"
"Yeah." Grissom nodded to him, leaning against the desk beside him. "We eh... we found blood... in the..."
"He doesn't need to hear all the details." Greg cut him off, giving his supervisor a glare. "The guy said that she was okay, though right?" He turned back to Nick.
"Besides bein' completely terrified, yeah." Nick nodded to him, brushing his thumb across his daughter's smile. "Has the search party started yet? You're gonna search the area, right? She escaped him to call me, she can't have run that far, she's only little. She's not exactly the athletic type either. She even hates walkin'; she makes me carry her everywhere."
"We are." Greg assured him, taking the older man's hand into his own. "I know it's difficult, Nicky, but you can't give up hope, we're gonna find her. Sara just faxed the list of Bryan's friends and family members over, so there's another lead. The only person on the list who lives anywhere near Utah, is his second cousin. They're bringing him in now, so we can talk to him."
"Maybe it's best that you don't come with us." Grissom suggested to him, noticing Nick pulling his hand away from Greg, as someone walked by them. "If there's a possibility that he's involved, you might not be able to control yourself around him, Nick." He tried to make him understand, nudging Greg beside him to back him up.
Greg looked round at him, shamefully replying, "He's right." He suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, as Nick gave him an accusing glare. His eyes like daggers. "We're not gonna hold anything back from you, it's just... better for both you and Tayla, if you're not so involved in the investigation. You want a conviction, don't you?" The younger man tried to reason with him too.
"Yeah, but..."
"We'll let you be there when we find her." Grissom interrupted him, patting the young CSI on the back beside him, for backing him up on this one. "Greg, I'll meetcha at the station with Catherine. Nicky, why don't you hang around here for a while, at least until we know more."
Nick was about to protest, not wanting to stay here and twiddle his thumbs, but Grissom turned for the double doors behind him, leaving Nick and Greg in the hallway. Nick looked towards Greg once he had gone, rolling his eyes at him, for taking someone else's side against his.
"Nicky, you know I'm right."
"No, I really don't, Greg!" He snapped. "You're tellin' me that not only have I lost my daughter, but I've lost your support and the support of my friends to do my job? This is what I've always done, and I've been doin' it a lot longer than you. I'd feel safer knowin' that my daughter's life was in the hands of a professional, not some CSI wannabe." He verbally bashed the younger man, taking his anger out on the nearest person.
"I'm not a," Greg was about to protest, deciding against it, as he saw the picture of Tayla on the side. "You have to stay together for Tayla's sake. I told you that coming all the way over here was a bad idea."
"Just leave me alone, Greg. I'm really not in the mood for the 'I told you so' speech, right now. You think I don't know that this is my fault?" He snapped at him. "If I wasn't so worried about myself that day, I coulda been with her, and none of this would have ever happened."
"Nick, you can't go beating yourself up over this."
"Just shut up, Greg. I don't need you constantly takin' care of me. I'm not a freakin' baby and I'm not yours, so leave me the hell alone. In case you didn't remember, we broke up." He reminded him, digging the dagger deeper into Greg's heart. "Get it through that thick head of yours, I don't wonna be with you. You ruin everythin'."
"How do I...?"
"If it wasn't for you, I would have never come out to everyone at the lab and be hated by everyone for starters. I wouldn't have missed Miranda's phone call and I coulda been with my little girl, rather than with you. Would you like me to continue?"
"Screw you, Nick." Greg gave the angry Texan a hard shove away from him, before he followed in Grissom's footsteps to the car. He tried not to take what Nick had said to him personally, as he knew he was stressed out, but it stung a little, making him wonder why he even loved the man in the first place.
Making his way into the next room, Bryan peered through the open gap of the door, looking at the child he had restrained to the bed. He took a moment to look at her, feeling the guilt sinking in already, before he could finally step foot into the room, taking a seat on the edge of her bed. "I gotcha some food, Tayla." He showed her the bag of salted chips he had in his hands, feeling a tingle running down his spine, as a tear rolled down her delicate skin. "Tayla, you've gotta eat. You haven't had anything in a while."
"Willa?" She croaked, as her sister had been crying since Bryan dragged her back to the house, only just stopping a few minutes ago.
"She wore herself out. She won't take the milk I got for her. I used the directions on the back and everything, she just..."
"She doesn't drink formula. She was still drinking Mommy's milk." The smart little girl informed him, struggling against her restraints. "I wonna go home."
"You have to eat first, honey." Opening the bag of chips, Bryan set them down on the bed beside him, before he slowly started to untie one of her wrists from the bed post. Tayla flexed her swollen wrist once it was free, giving him a cautious look, before she reached her hand into the bag, taking her first bite of one of the chips. "I need your help with your sister, Tayla. If she doesn't eat, she'll die. What would your mother normally do?"
Tayla finished another chip, trying to remember what her mother used to do when her sister was fussy. "Take her to Doctor."
"I can't do that." Bryan shook his head, turning his head towards the door, as he heard her familiar high pitched wailing starting up again. "You don't think she's sick, do you?"
"Mommy said babies get sick all the time. Willa had a cold. Mommy was giving her anti-biblotics."
"Anti-biotic's?" He corrected her. "Why didn't your stupid Mommy ever tell me these things?"
As Tayla tugged against her other restraint, Bryan quickly stopped her, as he didn't want her to get loose, so she could run away again. "I want my Daddy."
"I'm your Daddy." He reminded her. "I'm gonna take good care of you and your sister."
"No you're not, you don't care about me. I wonna go home. I want my Daddy! Let me go!" She started to scream, squirming on the bed. "I want my Daddy. Let me go!"
"Just Shut Up!" He grabbed for her free wrist, restraining it to the other bed post again. In his fit of rage, he tossed the bag of chips onto the floor, before making his way out of the room, tending to her screaming little girl. "What's the matter?" He held her against his chest, suddenly feeling how hot her forehead was against him. He knew from all the television programs he had watched, that a baby with a hot forehead could be sick.
But he couldn't risk getting caught, by taking her to the doctor.
Or could he?
"I'm sorry, sir, you'll have to wait." The nurse pushed him aside from her station, grabbing for the ringing phone off the desk. "Primary Infant Care, how may I help you?" She answered the phone, nodding into the receiver, as she found the chart in front of her. "Yes, we're keeping your daughter on antibiotics for now..."
"Look, you stupid bitch!" Bryan reached over the desk, ending her call with the woman she was talking to. "This baby is very sick." He indicated towards the little girl he was cradling against him. "She needs a Doctor, now!"
"One moment please." She held one finger up to him.
Reluctantly, the young nurse climbed to her feet, making her way over to Doctor Steiner, stood by the water cooler. Bryan watched her talking to him, anxiously biting his lower lip, as the man slowly made his way towards him.
"Let me have a look then." Doctor Steiner led the nervous father through to an empty room, waiting for the father to set the baby down on the table, before he started checking her over. "When'd she last eat?"
"She hasn't." Bryan shook his head, keeping his shifty eyes on the security guard outside, as he was worried about getting caught. "She won't eat anything."
"Was she on breast milk or bottle?"
"Breast, but... her mother's gone." Bryan explained, watching the Doctor cautiously checking her over. "What's wrong with her?"
"I can't be sure, but she may have some sort of infection. We're going to need to do a few more tests. Can you give her medical history to the nurse outside?"
"I eh... I don't," Sighing softly, Bryan scratched at his hair, drawing blood from his scalp, due to his anxiety. "Look I, I just don't have that stuff. Can you help her or not?"
"I can." Doctor Steiner called the nurse into the room, ordering a few tests on the baby. "I'll need to know if she's allergic to anything though. Just give her full name to my nurse, she should be able to find her records." He made Bryan wait in the waiting room, while he took her away, trying to find out what was wrong with her.
Bryan slumped down into one of the chairs, nervously tapping his foot against the ground, as he stared up at the clock on the wall in front of him. He knew he would have to get back to Tayla soon, but he was more worried about his own little girl, scared he was going to lose her or that she was going to be taken away, if someone found him here at the hospital with her.
"Is that your daughter?" A curious woman asked, making Nick look up at her. She pointed to the picture he was staring at, before taking a seat beside him. "She looks just like you. Is she here in the hospital?" She queried, watching the man slowly shaking his head.
"I wish she were." He spoke softly. "At least then I'd know where she was."
"Oh, she's the little girl off the news." She noticed, feeling her heart breaking for the man. "I heard that they had found a lead here in Utah, but I never expected her father to come all this way. Of course, my father would have probably done the same thing. I never did catch her name."
"Tayla." He felt a little uncomfortable talking to a complete stranger about this, but she reminded him of his best friend, the very person he had pushed away from him, when he needed him the most. "Its spelt T, A, Y, L, A. Her mother loved names that ended with 'L, A'. We found the name Taylor, spelt with L, O, R, in the baby books, and she really liked it. It wasn't until after she was born, that we decided to spell it with the L, A."
"It's a beautiful name, for a very beautiful little girl." She assured him, checking the time on her watch. "Listen, I'm on break now, would you like to come with me to the break room to get a coffee or something? There should be cake in there today. One of the nurses just had her baby. Nine pounds, ten ounces. A little boy. I think she called him Peter. Would you like to come with me?"
Nick looked at the photo of his daughter, before he gave her a nod.
"I'm Lori, by the way." She introduced herself, climbing to her feet with him.
"Nick."
Lori gave him a smile, before leading him towards the break room, where there was a half eaten blue cake sat on the table. She sat him down on the comfortable sofa, before cutting him a slice of cake, letting him eat that, while she made them both a coffee. "Here you are. How old is Tayla? They never tell you that sort of stuff on the news."
"Seven. She'll be eight in September."
"Oh, she's still just a baby. Well, I'm sure she's alright. Has she started school yet? I always forget the age that they start."
"She's in the second grade." He nodded, leaning back against the pillows behind him.
"Wow, she really is just a baby. I have four boys. One's a freshman in college, the twins are in the eleventh grade and my youngest is in the ninth." She tried to take his mind off it, by talking about something else. "Is she your only child?"
"No, I have a son. He's thirteen; he lives with his mother and step father in Texas."
"What's his name?" She queried, taking a seat beside him, with her own coffee.
"Bradley."
"Aww, I bet he's real good looking like you too." She winked at him, looking towards the door, as her supervisor stepped into the room. "Trish, this is Nick. He's the father of that missing little girl that they think is here in Utah."
"Oh yes, I saw it on the news." Trish placed her hand over her heart, looking at the torn man sitting on the sofa. "You poor thing. We've all been praying that she comes home safely round here." She joined them on the sofa, taking a seat the other side of Nick. "It's terrible what that man did to their mother."
"Trish." Lori gave the woman the cut throat signal, followed by a glare.
"Oh right, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to... anyway, Lori, I was looking for you." She handed the file from her hands over to Lori, explaining, "A father just brought his six month old in. She's running a high fever. She's very irritable and she hasn't eaten anything in a while. Doctor Steiner wants to start running some tests. Janet's already done her blood work, but she's still in training, so I think you should take it from here."
"Okay." Lori gently tapped Nick on the knee, checking he was alright, before she left the room with her supervisor.
Nick watched the two of them leaving, before he climbed to his feet himself, setting the empty coffee mug in the sink. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket, wondering if he should call Greg to apologise, but decided against it, as he probably wouldn't pick up anyway.
He wouldn't if their situations were reversed, so he didn't blame him.
Instead, he made his way back out to the waiting room, taking a cleansing deep breath, only to have his lungs clogged with the stench of cleaning products. But it was still better than any crime scene.
He turned his head to watch Lori getting back to work, watching her walking towards the waiting area, talking to the father who just bought his baby in. As soon as he saw the man, his heart almost stopped. He could feel blood tingling from his wrists into his fingertips, forcing his fists to clench.
He didn't feel anything else, but the anger he had towards the man.
"Thank you, sir." Lori spoke softly to the father. "Your daughter could have an infection, which is usually quite serious in young babies. Do you know when she had her last shot?"
"No." The man shook his head, flinching back as a fist suddenly connected with his face.
Startled, Lori jumped back, screaming for security.
This didn't stop Nick though. He swung his heavy fist, hitting the man again and again.
"Nick, Nick, Nick... stop!" Bryan struggled to pull away from him, toppling over the chairs to the floor.
Nick ignored his protests, picking him up and throwing him against the waiting room wall.
"Security! Security!" Lori shouted louder, finally spotting the old security guard, Ron and his new partner, Stevie, hurrying towards them.
Due to retire soon, Ron hobbled along, letting his younger partner, Stevie get to them first. He struggled to pull Nick away from the other man, as he was holding him so tightly, trying to choke him to death.
"Nick! Stop!" Lori tried to reach him, while Stevie and Ron tried to pull him to the ground.
"You bastard!" Nick shouted at Bryan, while Stevie and Ron pulled his arms behind his back, trying to control him. "Where is she? Where IS she!" He screamed at him, trying to tug his arms free from the security guards behind him, but he could no longer move.
Lori looked at the sadness on Nick's face, not taking very long to put two and two together, recognising her patient's father from the news. "Oh my god, it's him!" She slapped herself in the head, for not noticing it before. "Wait, let him go." She tried to stop Ron and Stevie from handcuffing Nick.
"No way, did you see what he just did?" Ron shook his head at her, calling for the police to come and pick him up.
"You don't understand!" Lori stopped them from pulling him away. "That man, he kidnapped his daughter. He's the bloke off the news." She pointed towards the other man, who they had presumed was the victim. "Arrest him, you idiots. He's that murderer."
Stevie gave Lori a suspicious look, before he turned to look at the other man, watching him turning paler than the wall behind him.
"Arrest em both." Ron pointed to the other man. "We'll call the cops; they can sort this one out."
"There's no way I'm letting this one go though, he's a nutter." Stevie indicated towards Nick, before he went to grab Bryan to arrest him too.
"He's not a nutter! He lost his daughter." Lori pointed out to him, relieved that Stevie had handcuffed the other man, so he couldn't go anywhere. She waited for Stevie and Ron to sit them at opposite ends of the waiting room, before she collected her dropped chart off the floor, making her way over to Nick. "He didn't bring Tayla with him, only the baby. Would you like me to call someone for you? Let me at least take a look at that wound." She pointed to the cut on his knuckles, before she looked round at Stevie. "Can't you move the handcuffs to the front, so I can treat his wounds?"
"What about him?" Stevie pointed to Bryan's bruised and battered face. "Doesn't he need your attention more?"
Lori shook her head in refusal, "I'm not touching him. He's a murderer. He'll have to wait."
Pulling up to the next vacant house on his list, Greg removed the sunglasses from his eyes, climbing out of the car to look around. Dead leafs littered the path, from the ancient looking tree, towering against the side of the old house.
He trod carefully, but the leaves still crackled under his sneakers. He cautiously made his way towards the window in front of him, peering into the empty house. From the window, he could see an old battered sofa, sat in the corner of the room, along with a few more doors, leading to the other rooms.
Carefully stepping around the outside of the house, he made his way towards the front door, giving it a forceful knock, to see if anyone was home. He waited a few minutes, but no one came to answer and there was no movement from inside either.
Greg anxiously looked around the empty driveway, spotting something in the gravel. He knelt down to take a closer look, pulling his tweezers from his vest pocket to lift it, realising it was floral material.
It didn't look old, so it couldn't have been there that long.
Grabbing his cell phone from his belt, he immediately dialled Catherine's number, waiting for her to answer. "Hey, I found another empty house. Do you know what Tayla was wearing?"
"Yeah, I got it here." Catherine checked the report in front of her. "Mr Howard said that she was wearing a pink floral dress of roses or something, he wasn't sure. Why, what's up?"
Greg looked at the pink material in his hands, with pink and white flowers printed on it. "I think I've found the place." He turned to look at the house behind him, hoping that Tayla was still alive.
"Okay Greg, wait outside. I'll see you in a bit." She snapped her phone shut, making her way across the hall, to where Grissom was sat with the Detective helping them with the case. "That was Greg; he found a house that looks like someone could be squatting in it. Apparently he has a lead or something, that's convinced him she's inside." She reported to them. "I'm gonna meet him out there, you coming?" She looked towards Detective Scott.
"I believe that you need a warrant." Detective Scott pointed out to her, getting glared at again. "Don't worry, I'll rush it. I have a judge that owes me a favour or two. Just wait until it's signed, before you go bursting in there." He warned her, watching Catherine giving him a slight grin, before she left the room.
"Catherine!" Grissom scrambled to his feet, hurrying after her through the hall. "We never found his second cousin." He stopped her at the door. "We never found him. Bryan might have left Tayla with him, and we don't know what this guy is like. He has a criminal record of assault, so that could mean..."
"Would you stop being so negative! Ever since we got here, you've suddenly picked up this negative attitude."
"I don't... mean to." He spoke softly. "But, don't you think that we should call Nick first? He'd want to be there when she's found."
"I'll call him on the way; you made him stay at the hospital, right?"
"Yeah, only for his own good though." He reasoned with her, stepping back as two officers suddenly charged past them, running for one of the squad cars outside. "He's like a son to me; I don't want him to have to see... I've already seen so many parents go through that before..."
"Hey, don't give up, Gil." She cut him off. "You're talking like she's already dead."
"We have to prepare ourselves, so does Nick." He pointed out to her.
"He won't have to, because I know she's alive." Catherine assured him, turning for the rental car outside, so they could leave. She didn't want to believe it herself, as she refused to believe it when her own child had been kidnapped.
After climbing over the fence surrounding the back garden, Greg brushed down his jeans, hooking his sunglasses onto his shirt. He took a look around the vacant back garden, spotting an old rabbit hutch in the corner and a child's bike, buried underneath a pile of twigs and dead leafs. He turned his head towards the windows in the back of the house, wondering if he would be able to see anything inside.
Placing his hands either side of his eyes to block out the light, Greg leant against the window, looking into the bedroom. On one side of the room was a tattered dresser, with a new looking pink baby blanket thrown over the top, looking completely out of place. He turned his head to look at the other side of the room, seeing bruised little feet, poking out from under a grey blanket.
He instantly dialled Nick's number, knowing he would want to be here when she was found, but his phone was turned off. "Nick, where are you?" He asked himself, snapping his phone shut again. He looked at his watch, hoping Catherine would get here soon, as he couldn't wait any longer.
He had to go inside.
Before he could even move towards the back door though, something suddenly clocked him over the back of the head, sending him crashing to the ground. He tried to turn his head to look, but whoever it was, hit him again, knocking him out cold.
There's chapter five, please let me know what you thought, and thanks so much for reading :D
I'm sure you want to find out what happens next as soon as possible, so I've already started work on the next chapter. I'll try and get it up by the weekend.
Take Care
~ Holly