As always, thankyou so much for the great reviews. This is a bit of a quick chapter - I felt bad for not updating sooner. I've tried to focus on the effects of Nicks kidnapping on the main characters of the story - Nicks parents and Grissom and Catherine. I'm not sure if I've really achieved it yet but more to come.

CHAPTER 8

Catherine arrived back at the hospital to visit mid afternoon. Roger and Jillian Stokes used the opportunity to head back to Nicks apartment and organise their work commitments. Both had court dates to juggle. Nick had been asleep when his parents left and Catherine was more than happy to sit with him until their return. His parents were grateful for the time out and Catherine was grateful for the opportunity to spend time with Nick.

She had been traumatised by his kidnapping. Catherine had always been close to Nick. She had always been rather aloof with new staff - not intentially but she wasn't there to make friends, she was there to do her job. From day one with Nick though, she had felt a fierce protectiveness towards him. His boyish looks and youthful enthusiasm coupled well with his country boy innocence and it both made her smile and caused all her maternal instincts to kick in. She enjoyed mothering him. She enjoyed making him blush with her cheeky flirtation. She enjoyed vetoing would be girlfriends. She respected his honesty. She respected his loyalty.

The night he was taken. She remembered how she had called Nick and Warrick her two favourite guys - one who set her heart fluttering out of lust, the other her surrogate son. She remembered the phone call from Brass vividly. She remembered how she had to force herself to remain calm and professional when her head and heart were both screaming with shock. She remembered how her breath had caught in her throat when she had arrived at the scene and laid eyes on his vest. She had spent the ride over trying to block out the reality in her head - it was just another case...follow the evidence. Then her eyes saw STOKES printed across the right breast pocket and it had hit her. This was not another case. This one was personal. Nicky was in deep trouble and there was nothing she could do other than process the scene.

She had felt useless. She had felt helpless. She had felt frustrated and angry and sick to the stomach with worry.

She had to make that goddamn awful phone call to his parents. Speaking to his father she had bore the anger and shock of his real parent. All the emotions that she herself had gone through were mirrored by a man she had never met living several thousand miles away.

She couldn't stand watching him on the monitor - it ripped her heart to pieces watching his terror and pain. So, she had spent the time working the scene of Gordans warehouse and analysing the evidence. It kept her mind busy and let her focus on finding the vital piece of information that could lead them to Nick.

Finally the call came through from Grissom for an urgent team meeting, he had found something. They did what they did best. They put the pieces together and found the nursery and consequently found Nick - alive, albeit barely.

Then, the call from Hodges and it started all over again - they had Nick within sight and yet could still lose him. Only this time it was immeasurably worse - they could hear him too. The screams of desperate panic when he realised they were pulling back and leaving him alone in the box again were sould destroying. In his exhausted, oxygen depleted brain his friends were abandoning him and leaving him to die. He was beyond scared.

Catherine raised a hand to wipe away a stray tear at the memories, coming back to the reality of the hospital room when she noticed tired brown eyes fixed on her and a hand reaching out to her.
She smiled gently at Nicks worried face as she grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight.

"You 'K?" he murmured softly, his voice still gravelly from sleep.

Catherine chuckled - half laugh, half sob - as she sniffed back further tears and moved to the side of the bed. Running her fingers through his hair she sat on the edge of the bed and said, "Yeah, Nicky, I'm fine."

His eyebrows were still creased with concern. "Cryin'?" he asked again.

Catherine pursed her lips and shook her head. "No, no. I'm fine, sweetie, really. I'm just happy we've got you back safe."

Nick raised his eyebrows briefly in response before offering her a slight smile of his own.

He sat himself up, wincing as the scabs covering the ruptured bites pulled and tweaked against the sheets. He yawned and rubbed his hands over his face, scrubbing away the remnants of sleep.

Catherine watched him for a few moments. He was looking more awake than he had for days.

"Have you been sleeping well?" she asked.

Nick snorted into his hands and dropped them down onto his lap as his head hung down.

"No." he answered. He paused for a moment before taking a deep breath in and out and turning to give Catherine another humourless smile.

"I keep goin' back there, Cath. As soon as I'm asleep, I'm back in that goddamn box."

Catherine frowned and brought a hand up to rest against the side of Nicks head, rubbing her thumb gently against his temple.

"It will get better, Nick." she said quietly. "It'll take time, but you'll get there."
Nick sighed deeply again, chuckling bitterly as he exhaled, the last of his breath catching in a sudden, sob. He brought a hand up quickly to cover his face, fingers digging in hard to his eyes as tears appeared again. His frustation with being so vulnerable and the constant fluctuation of emotions was clear as he pulled his fingers away and swiped at the tears on his face.

Catherine ducked her head down to give him a minute to regroup, her hand still against his temple. She heard his breathing hitch and hiccough as he fought hard against his emotions.

After several moments, she heard his breaths even out and felt him pull away as he fell back on the pillows. She lifted her head back up to look at him. His cheeks bore the tear tracks he had tried to scrub away and his fingers had found their way back to his eye sockets.

Catherine dropped her hand to rest on his abdomen. "Nick, it will be OK. We'll help you through this."

Nick nodded slightly but didn't remove his fingers from his eyes.

"I'm just so tired, Cath."

Catherine rubbed her thumb against the sheet covering him.

"Just try and sleep, sweetie." she said softly. "I'll stay with you."

His fingers finally came away from his eyes as his arm dropped over them instead.

"Its OK. We'll help you through."

She continued the mantra over and over until his breathing slowed and he succumbed to sleep once more.

Please, please keep the reviews coming. Many thanks in advance.