Author's Note: This chapter goes more into the case. The end kind of took on a life of its own. I'll apologize now.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Blown Apart
Chapter 8

Sheldon Hawkes stood in the doorway of the destroyed Trace lab. He'd been in court when the call had gone out about the explosion. He'd heard about it from one of the officers also slated to testify that morning. He'd wanted to leave right then but had to wait until after he had testified. Thanks to manipulation by the defense attorney it had been after lunch before he'd been released by the judge.

By then Lindsay and Adam had been transported to the hospital and word was coming in that Mac and Danny had been involved in a shootout. Feeling the need to do something productive, Hawkes had returned to the lab to help there. Jo had sent him to a portion of the lab that hadn't been damaged to sift through debris as it was brought in.

Now hours later, he was getting his first good look at the destruction. He shook his head. He had the report in his hands that told exactly the nature of the explosives used. With this information in his mind, he tried to imagine Lindsay standing there in the lab as the first explosion went off.

"Scary isn't it?" Jo Danville asked as she appeared suddenly at his right shoulder. She had found herself drifting back here several times in the hours since the fire department had declared it safe to return and she had finished helping Flack question the techs. Each time it had made her shudder to think how close they had come to losing two of their own. After her first visit to the destroyed lab, she'd even left the lab to go to the hospital to see for herself once again that they were all right. She had found Adam asleep in a chair in Lindsay's room and Lindsay still sedated from having her shoulder set. Now that their wounds had been treated she felt reassured that they would indeed be okay and she had left without waking either of them.

"Two different devices were used." Hawkes admitted as he handed her the report. "The first device was a small concussion explosive, similar to the force used in those cannons they use at concerts to shoot t-shirts into the stands. It was in the smaller box. The force was enough to send Lindsay flying across the room which explains why she was found so far from the bombs. It's probably the cause of her rib injuries but also why she's still alive. The second bomb was the incendiary that caused all the damage."

Jo looked from the report, to the lab, to Hawkes, and back again. Her eyes completed the triangle several times as she processed the information. "So opening the small box triggered the initial explosion and started the timer on the second. Thank God Lindsay decided to open the small box first."

Neither one wanted to speculate on the alternative. One of the qualities they loved and admired about Lindsay was that she wasn't afraid of hard work. It would have been just like her to tackle the larger job first. After a moment more of silence, Jo shook her head. "Mac seemed to think the target was the lab more than the people but obviously our perp didn't care if people were injured or killed in the process. If he was only after the lab, he would have delivered the boxes at night when it was more likely to be a skeleton crew present and the bombs wouldn't have required someone opening the boxes for detonation."

"Steve Grant wouldn't care about innocent people getting hurt." Hawkes commented almost with derision. Jo cocked an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to explain. The young doctor signed and turned from the lab; he'd seen enough. With a hand on Jo's back, he led her to the break room. "I was the ME on the original case. Some cases won't leave you alone. But the senselessness of the case got to me more than anything. It was one of the reasons I decided to leave the ME's office and become a CSI. To make sure people like Grant didn't get away with murder."

Jo poured them both a cup of coffee. When she first arrived she had learned all she could about her co-workers but she'd always wondered why Hawkes had changed fields. He didn't strike her as someone who simply tired of one field and needed a change so she figured there was a deeper motivation. "Tell me about the case."

"It appeared at first to be a case of burglary gone wrong. Teresa Grant and her four year old son were bludgeoned to death. I've seen some brutal murders in my career but this one seemed even more heinous and senseless. I documented at least fifty separate times Teresa had been hit but she was probably dead somewhere after the first twenty. She was about twelve weeks pregnant at the time. But Sam really got to me. Practically every bone in his body was broken but his innocent little face looked like he was just taking a nap before getting up to play. I saw his face every night in my dreams for weeks afterward." When he stopped to take a drink and collect himself, Jo reached over and squeezed his hand.

"You recall it so perfectly; it's like it happened last week instead of six years ago."

Hawkes looked straight at her and she could see the pain that was still there. "Like I said, some cases stick with you. Grant may have gotten away with it too but Stella wouldn't let the case go. She found the evidence that proved Grant was responsible. She tore through the every piece of evidence on a microscopic level. Somehow she was able to extract Grant's fingerprints from between two different layers of blood on Sam's pajamas."

"Proving that Grant was there at the time of the beatings." Jo finished for him. She hadn't had a chance to meet the woman whose job, never her place, she had filled, but she had heard enough stories from her co-workers to be sure that she would have liked Stella Bonasera.

Hawkes nodded. "At least this time he left more evidence linking him to the crime. Open and shut case."

"Not so shut anymore." Jo filled him in on Adam's ID of the suspect. "Flack is checking to see if Grant could have been working with someone. You remember the case so well, can you think of any friends who might be helping him?"

"From what I remember of the trial, any friends he had disassociated themselves when they realized what a psychopath he was. I was at the trial as much as I could be; like I said, Sam's face just kept haunting me. Nobody testified on his behalf. Course that was six years ago; things could have changed since then."

Jo stifled a yawn. Hawkes looked at her in sympathy. "When are you off?"

"With everything going on and Mac on Administrative leave? Probably not until he's been cleared or the case is solved, whichever happens first. Price you pay for being second in command, I guess. I'm going to go steal an hour or two nap in Mac's office here shortly. After I call and see if my daughter is talking to me yet."

Hawkes stood and rinsed his coffee cup. "What's wrong with Ellie?"

"She found out about the explosion from the news instead of from me. She called me in a panic thinking I'd been injured. Once she found out I was fine just too busy to call she went from relieved to hopping mad in two seconds flat. I think I even got the 'if I had done something like that, you would have grounded me for life, Mom.' What about you; shouldn't your shift be ending soon?"

"I'm heading out now. I'll probably pop in at the hospital and check on Lindsay and then swing by and do the same for Adam before going home. If you need me to pull some extra shifts since we'll be short-handed for awhile let me know."

Jo nodded. "Thanks but we're going to need more than just one or two people pulling double shifts. I'm going to put in a request for help with the other labs. Until we have repairs made here we might have to send out evidence to be processed anyway. But I appreciate your offer and I will take you up on it some. Now, get out of here. Give Lindsay and Adam my love and tell them I'll check on them later."

She waited until Hawkes had left before refilling her coffee cup and headed for Mac's office. Everyone in the lab knew his couch was the best for quick naps, probably because of the way Mac himself had worn it in with late nights at the lab.

She stopped short as she saw an unfamiliar woman with long reddish brown hair standing outside said office. Since the explosion, security had been tripled and only lab employees and the detectives who typically worked alongside the CSI's were suppose to be on the floor unaccompanied. Warily she walked toward the woman ready to evict her from the lab when she saw the IA badge. Great, just what she needed. She pasted on her biggest Southern charm smile and held out her hand in greeting. "You must be Detective Sawyers." She took a closer look at the badge. "Angela, I'm Jo Danville, pleased to meet you."

The IA officer shook the offered hand. "It just about took a warrant for that officer to let me on the floor. You wouldn't be trying to impede the investigation would you?"

Jo gestured around. "As you can see, we had a little problem here this morning. Everyone's being just a little more cautious than usual; nothing personal. What can I do for you? I hope you are here to tell me that IA has cleared Detective Taylor and Detective Messer for duty. Dr. Hawkes and I were just talking about how shorthanded we're going to be."

"I understand that the man they shot was not the man who blew up the lab."

Jo frowned. Apparently, Detective Sawyers wasn't interested in niceties. She led the detective into her own office, loathed to allow her into Mac's inner sanctum. "That hasn't been fully determined. He may not have delivered the weapon but he hasn't been fully cleared either."

Angela Sawyers sat in the chair opposite Jo's desk. "You haven't been with the lab long, have you?"

Jo tilted her head and crossed her arms before she answered. "You really don't want me to answer a question you already know the answer to. What's the real question you have for me, Angela? Do you think because I haven't been here but about seven months I'm just going to roll over and tell you all the labs dirty little secrets?"

Angela leaned forward. "What secrets?"

Jo looked from side to side as if to make sure no one else was in earshot. "You can't tell anyone that I told you this but here it is, Mac secretly switched our caffeinated coffee with decaf about two months ago after Adam worked a triple shift and was bouncing off the walls from a caffeine overdose. And Lindsay brings in these fantastic cookies about every other week that the lab goes nuts over. Everything thinks she bakes them but I have it on good authority that Danny is the actual baker in the family." She looked around again with a wry smile on her face and then put a finger on her lips. "But shh, no sense letting the cat out of the bag, right?"

"This is not a joking matter, Detective Danville."

Jo leaned back in her chair. "Call me Jo. I know it's not a joking matter but really that's about as dicey as the secrets get around here. Mac runs the lab with a tight fist, no room for mistakes. The integrity of this lab means as much to him as the people who work here. Investigate all you want but ultimately you'll have to come to that same conclusion."

"They went in wild to a potentially dangerous situation."

"Wild?" Jo shook her head. "Wild would have been going after Grant without calling it in first. Not only did Mac call in their location, but he requested back-up on the scene."

"Back-up he didn't wait on." Sawyers argued. "Instead, they decided to be mavericks and go in with guns blazing."

"Or…" Jo's Southern drawl made it seem like she was drawing out the end of a story instead of holding a regular conversation. "They were afraid Grant was going to get away. If he had looked out and seen a bunch of patrol cars pulling up, he could have bolted and run. Besides, what would have changed if they had waited? The back-up would have remained downstairs while Mac and Danny went upstairs. It wouldn't have prevented Grant from firing on them."

"Sure, Detective Flack and other officers were just around the corner but Detective Taylor and Detective Messer didn't know that. What if the delay had been longer? What if Grant had shot one or both men? Back-up might not have gotten to them in time and they might have both died."

The second-in-command couldn't believe her ears. "Wait a minute, are your telling me this whole investigation is based on several great big 'What if's' Since when does IA deal in what might have been instead of what was? It sounds to me like you aren't questioning the shooting at all so what about this what if. What if Grant hadn't fired on them at all and had come in for questioning quietly. You wouldn't have any part of this investigation at all."

Angela locked eyes with Jo, the IA detective's eyes steely and unwavering. "That's a what if that would have never happened. The CSI team that processed the apartment found a police scanner. He knew they were coming without seeing them. He was lying in wait for them. Whether he knew about the explosion or not, he knew Mac Taylor was coming for him again. The last time that happened, he was locked up in a metal hospital for five years. Guilty or not this time, that knowledge could be enough to push a mentally unstable man into firing at officers who go knocking on his door."

Jo's heart skipped a beat at that revelation. "So Mac and Danny's actions saved their lives. They are clear of the shooting. When will their Administrative Leave be lifted then?"

"It won't be yet. I was ready to rule the shooting as clean and reprimand them for acting recklessly on a case both were too personally involved to be working. Then I get the call that Adam Ross positively confirmed that Grant was not the person who delivered the bomb. Now I have to wonder how damning evidence appeared in his apartment. Until I have answers to those questions, I can't help but wonder if it was planted to make Grant look guilty." Angela Sawyers stood and turned to leave. At the doorway, she stopped and looked back at Jo who was still processing what the IA officer had said. "Detective Danville, I know your team is still investigating who is responsible for the explosion. If you want to help Detectives Taylor and Messer, make sure you keep me in in the loop of what you discover."

As soon as the woman was out of sight, Jo picked up her phone and dialed Flack's number. She instantly noticed his voice sounded more terse than usual when he answered. "Flack, it's Jo. We have a problem." She filled in him on the conversation she just had with the IA detective. Flack swore.

"We got an even bigger problem at the hospital."

- CSI: NY - CSI: NY - CSI: NY -

Mac Taylor knocked on Lindsay's door and entered. Hawkes was sitting near the bed eating a slice of pizza from a box on Lindsay's tray table. He was laughing at Lindsay's attempt to eat the heavily loaded slice one-handed. Danny was not in the room. Lindsay put her slice down and smiled at her boss who came over to give her a sideways hug and a kiss. "How are you feeling?"

"I'd be doing better if it wasn't so hard to eat that stupid slice of pizza one handed. Who would have thought you did so much with your left hand. Every time I pick it up, my toppings try to slide off."

Looking at the night stand where her uneaten discarded hospital try was sitting, Mac reached over and grabbed the knife and fork off of it. He made short work of cutting up the pizza slice much the way he would have if Lucy had been there and then handed Lindsay the fork. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone I saw you eating pizza with a fork."

Lindsay sent a glare over to Hawkes. "Why couldn't you have done that?"

"Hey, I brought you the pizza, didn't I? I was waiting to see how long it took you to admit defeat and ask for help. Want a slice, Mac?"

Mac shook his head. "No, thank you. I came down earlier but there was a sign on the door requesting no visitors. Your nurse explained that Danny wanted some time alone with you so I took a walk. Where is Danny by the way?"

"He took a slice of pizza to Martha at the nurses' desk and then went down to the cafeteria to find me something better than the Sierra Mist they have on the floor. I need caffeine to counteract the drowsiness of the pain meds. He should have been back by now. He's been gone awhile."

Mac laughed, "I've gotten turned around a couple of times in this play today myself. He probably got lost. If he's not back in ten minutes, we'll send out a search party. This place is too big for us to try using Marco Polo."

Lindsay looked confused. "How did you know about that?"

"How do you think we found you in the lab?"

Lindsay blushed; her memory of all of that was completely fuzzy. She looked at him intently. "Hawkes filled us in on the latest development with Grant. Do you think that will hurt your case with IA?"

Mac shook his head. "Don't worry about the IA investigation. Worry about getting well. IA is going to realize we didn't do anything wrong but even if they persist, I'm going to make sure they realize Danny was acting under orders."

"You don't have to protect me Mac. I went of my own accord; if there are repercussion, I'll face them." Danny admitted quietly as he came into room. He opened the Diet Coke and set it on the tray next to the pizza box. He looked at Lindsay who was now contentedly eating her cut pizza with a fork. "Come on Babe? Pizza with a fork? Really?"

Lindsay stuck her tongue out at him and then ate the last bite of pizza Mac had cut up for her. "Shut up. I'm hungry and it wasn't working one handed. I seem to remember you having trouble eating pizza when your hand was broken."

"Yeah but you didn't see me using a fork, did you?" Danny grinned. He took the fork away from her. He seemed in better spirits since they had had a little time together and she was apparently doing better.

She rolled her eyes. "That's because I hand fed you. Mac, make him give me my fork back."

Mac couldn't help but laugh at their exchange. Not that it was just that incredibly funny but because he was relieved that they were able to do so. Not given Mac a chance to intervene, Danny picked up a new slice and held it to her mouth allowing her to take a big bite.

"Happy?"

Lindsay chewed and then swallowed before responding. "As long as you keep 'em coming."

For the next twenty minutes, the five friends sat in companionable silence eating pizza. Even Mac finally consented to having a slice. When the pizza was polished off, Hawkes stood. "Hate to leave the party but I want to drop by and check on Adam as well." He leaned over and gave Lindsay a gentle hug and kiss. "Take it easy and don't let that one give you a hard time."

"I won't. Thanks for coming by."

Before Hawkes could leave, the door opened and two people that Lindsay didn't recognize came in. She saw both Mac and Danny stiffen at the intrusion however. Danny leaned down and kissed the top of her head. Just before Mac stepped between the bed and the visitors she caught a glimpse of their IA badges.

Mac frowned. "The Messers have had a long day and need the rest. Dr. Hawkes and I were just leaving to allow them to do that. Whatever it is can wait until morning."

Detective Sawyers shook her head. "I'm afraid it can't. Have either you or Detective Messer been out of this room this evening?"

"Why?" Mac shifted his gaze between the two IA officers trying to figure out what had happened. "What does that have to do with the investigation?"

"Please answer the question, Detective Taylor." Detective Sawyer's tone left no room for argument.

"I've been at the hospital since about twenty minutes after our interview ended. I've been in this room for about thirty minutes."

"There's a couple of hours unaccounted for then. Can someone verify your whereabouts during that time?"

Mac shrugged still not sure where this was going. "I don't know; I'm sure people saw me but I didn't talk to anyone other than Jo Danville on the phone about two hours ago. What does this have to do with the investigation."

Ignoring his question, Detective Sawyers looked at Danny. "And you Detective Messer?"

"I've been here except for about thirty minutes when I went to get Lindsay a drink. I got a little turned around and it took me a little while to find my way back."

"When was this?"

"I got back I guess not long after Mac came in, right, Babe?"

Lindsay nodded. She gripped Danny's hand tightly in her own, scared even though she couldn't pinpoint why. "Detectives, I get that you have a job to do but what's with all the questions? Has something happened?"

"Steve Grant died a little less than an hour ago."

Mac sighed. "The doctors did warn that it would still be touch and go with him for the next twenty four hours. They were surprised he made it through surgery."

"He didn't die from his injuries. The guard outside his door reports that a detective wearing a CSI badge entered Grant's room about an hour ago, stayed a couple of minutes and then left. Moments later alarms went off and doctors rushed in but were unable to resuscitate Grant. His ventilator plug had been pulled. Steve Grant was murdered during the time neither of you can account for."