Chapter 16: Alone

After about a month in the hospital, Nikki started feeling that leaving New York might really be the best idea. She still had to use crutches because of the casts on her arm and leg. It was really frustrating when she couldn't walk on her own because of the cast on her arm. She hated being dependent on everyone else. She felt weak and vulnerable.

Flack came to visit almost everyday. It was becoming a constant routine. She enjoyed having him around, he was a nice guy. No, he was a great guy. She loved him. She had fallen for him. She wanted to open up her heart to him, but that would mean staying where Danny would still be around. Their parents came every weekend to visit her. She had decided that she would stay with them until she could leave and go… somewhere else.

Nikki had no idea where she would go. She could go back to Chicago, or maybe L.A. That would be a nice place, or even Florida. She could go there. It would be away from Danny's reach and would stop getting between him and Lindsay. Lindsay, who was now just a little over five months pregnant, and couldn't look more radiant, still had that cautious look around Nikki. Nikki didn't take it personally, it was just what happened between Danny and Lindsay while she was gone.

Nikki learned not to blame anyone, but herself. She was the reason she was in casts and bandages. She had been foolish. She had been reckless. She had no one to blame but herself for everything that was happening to her. She wouldn't tell anyone this, but she knew it was true. She couldn't wait to get out of the hospital.

As Lindsay sat at her desk, she thought about Nikki. She knew that Nikki was having a hard time. Of course she was having a hard time. Danny still worried, but he was her brother, what could Lindsay do about that? Simple, nothing. She knew that she was upsetting Nikki by the guarded way she kept herself around her sister-in-law, and if Danny knew, he would throw a fit.

She thought about everything, and her hand went to the ball that was now her stomach. It was beautiful, the baby was beautiful. Lindsay had worried so much after the accident, which in some ways, she blamed Nikki for, that she herself had become paranoid at everything. Lindsay decided she would go and talk to Nikki. She needed to know that it wasn't her fault. Lindsay was just being paranoid. Her hormones were in overdrive, could she really blame herself for all this?

Flack and Danny sat in the car on the way to a crime scene in Brooklyn. Ever since Flack had told Danny that he loved Nikki, things had become better between them. Flack knew how troubled Nikki had become, and he knew that Lindsay was being harsh on her. Lindsay blamed Nikki for what happened between her and Danny, and for having to drive off steam and get into that car accident. He would've liked to tell Danny that Lindsay was only making recovery harder for Nikki, but he knew that was Lindsay's job to deal with her own problems.

It bugged him about Lindsay, but he knew that he could try and console Nikki. She still had that haunted look in her eyes. He had mirrored that look after the bombing a little over a year and a half ago. He had nightmares about it, and he still did have that same nightmare when the word bomb is mentioned. He really couldn't wait until his shift was over so he could go and visit Nikki.

Danny couldn't believe most of what had happened over the last month and a half. Nikki was kidnapped, it seemed almost unreal until he walked into the hospital where she was, and then it all became real. The fact that Don was in love with her, that was most definitely unreal. But Flack cared for Nikki more than Danny could describe in words. He had seen Flack during the time that Nikki was gone, and it suddenly all fit together.

Lindsay was still uneasy about everything, but Danny knew that he needed to leave her to figure it all out. She still had worries about driving. Danny figured that the best he could do was reassure her that everything would be alright, when he knew that it was the complete opposite in her mind. Lindsay was tough, but her being in her fifth month of pregnancy had put her into this stage of unreal mood swings and unbearable food cravings.

Danny didn't know where Nikki planned to go after she was let out of the hospital, but he could take a few good guesses. It could be Flack's, or maybe even their parents house. He wasn't exactly sure, but he knew that she intended to stay out of the way so she wouldn't be in the way of his and Lindsay's marriage. That worried him a little, as with everything that concerned Nikki did. She was his little sister, he loved her, he worried about her constantly, but he knew that with Flack around, he wouldn't have to worry for very long.

Stella arrived at the hospital shortly after 5p.m. that night. It had been a long day at the crime lab. There was nothing to go on in Mindy Gordon's case. There was some trace, but it was just a normal fibre made of a simple cotton/polyester blend. It was dark-blue. That was the closest thing they found to any unordinary evidence that would be found on a sidewalk that almost everyone walked on. It wasn't even considered unordinary considering the blend of materials.

She just wanted to see Nikki. Girls, women, victims like Nikki were the reason that Stella became a cop. It would be good to see Nikki. She walked into the private room that Nikki was staying in and smiled when Nikki looked up.

" Hey, Stell", Nikki greeted.

" Hey, Nikki. How are you feeling today?", Stella greeted, as she sat down in the chair beside Nikki's bed. It was mildly comfortable. But, it felt great after being on her feet all day.

" I'm feeling somewhat better. The pain is still there. But, that's to be expected. I hate therapists. I hate them. I spent four and a half hours talking to some schmuck about almost nothing about what happened. I felt like I was being interrogated, he kept asking questions like, ' How does that make you feel?', it drove me insane", Nikki ranted.

" I see that you've had a good day then", Stella laughed, " It feels so good to get out of the crime lab and sit down."

" Why? What's going on?", Nikki asked.

" Oh, just a case that doesn't make sense. A girl was found dead on the corner of 5th and Booth. Yeah, I know, it's biggest traveled sidewalk this side of New York. Somebody had to have seen something, but no one's coming forward. There was a fibre found on her clothing. Nothing unusual about it, it's dark-blue, and a normal cotton/polyester blend. It could've even been transferred when someone bumped into her body while they were walking", Stella replied.

" Sounds like you got a dilemma there, Stell. Was she raped or anything?", Nikki asked, clearly interested, it had been the first time she'd talked about some kind of case besides the one she already went through.

" The autopsy report said that she was but, when we tested for DNA, the guy who raped her had no sperm cells in the semen. The guy's shooting blanks. But, it's unlikely that she was raped right on that street. She was raped somewhere else, but she died on that curb", Stella answered.

" What was the COD?", Nikki asked.

" Gun shot to the stomach", Stella answered. Nikki winced and instantly her hand went to her stomach. " You okay, Nikki?"

" Yeah, I'm fine. It couldn't have been a random attack? I mean, if it's a gunshot, maybe she just got hit by accident", Nikki replied. Stella was shaking her head before Nikki even finished.

" No, she was shot at close range. I mean real close range. She definitely saw her killer. There was gun powder on her clothes, indicating that it couldn't have been more than four feet away", Stella replied, matter-of-factly.

" Then, what about a bullet?", Nikki asked.

" It was too shattered to recognize it from a gun", Stella replied.

" It was close range, how could it be shattered?", Nikki asked.

" I have no idea", Stella continued, " So, what are you gonna do about Flack?"

" What do you mean? What am I supposed to do? Flack is not the kind of guy who falls in love. He prefers the little small relationships, but when the girl decides to get close, he runs", Nikki replied, her head down. Her eyes lowered to look at the sheets while her one hand played with the sheet.

" How do you know that?", Stella asked, clearly shocked.

" It's quite simple to read someone. Their personality, their body language, can all give away a lot about how the person lives", Nikki replied, monotonously.

" Oh. You have quite a talent", Stella said.

" Yeah. It took me awhile to read Jeremy though. That almost got me killed the first time, the second time, I didn't see it coming. I should've, but didn't. Don was easy to read. It's in his eyes, his personality, the way he flirts with all the women", Nikki stated.

" How long did it take you to master that?", Stella asked.

" What? Reading people? It's pretty simple. People have always told me that I'm very insightful. I have good instincts. I can read people. The way one acts, speaks, their tone can be crucial to almost anything, looks, their body language. It's very common if understood correctly", Nikki replied.

" Yes, I guess it is. And, you are very insightful. Which is good when interpreting criminals", Stella exclaimed.

" It is, yes", Nikki agreed.

" Well, I guess I better go", Stella stood up, " Get better. If you ever need to talk, you know, I'm better than any schmuck." Stella smiled, and gave Nikki's good hand a firm squeeze before leaving.

Flack stood outside the window to Nikki's room. She looked so sad and broken. He wanted to tell her about his feelings, but it just didn't seem right yet. He would tell her. It would take some time, though. He would never meet someone like Nikki. She was a great woman. Flack knew that it take some time to talk to her, but he would. She needed to know how he felt. She was his world now.