Another chapter up. If you're getting sick of the story please let me know. Nickyfan - here's a bit of Catherine/Nick comfort for you. Hope you like it.
CHAPTER 20
Grissom, Nick and Jim arrived back at the lab and headed straight to the locker room to collect their gear. Their plan was simple - to grab their belongings and to go home and to forget that the last few hours even happened. Nick was humiliated. Grissom was tired and wanted nothing more than to go home, take a shower and go to bed. Jim was looking forward to heading to his office for a quiet scotch before finishing up his paperwork and getting the hell out of there.
Things didn't quite go to plan, however.
They had barely got through the door to the lab when they were accosted by Catherine in the hallway.
"Gil?! Where the hell have you been?!" she demanded. "I've been trying to call you for the last hour! McKeen is on the warpath about the Kearny case. The defence is pushing to go to trial."
Grissom rolled his eyes and sighed.
"I've already been through this with him today." he complained.
Jim chuckled and slapped Grissom lightly on the back.
"Good luck with that Gil. I'm goin' home." he laughed as he headed down the corridor to his office.
Nick remained quietly to one side, head bowed and clearly not listening to anything that was being said. It was obvious that his mind was on other things.
Catherine glanced in his direction, frowning slightly when she finally registered the state of him. Face pale, sweat stains on his shirt, hair ruffled.
She cast a quick, concerned look at Grissom before going to stand in front of Nick, bringing a hand to his forehead.
"Nicky?" she asked gently.
Nick raised his head but could not meet her eyes. He still had a slight tremor in his hands and his embarrassment was still clearly evident. Catherine removed her hand from his forehead and reached to grip his fore arm instead.
"Honey, what's happened?" she asked as Nick's head dropped back down. He shook his head but didn't speak, instead he pulled back and headed into the locker room.
Catherine moved immediately to follow but Grissom dropped a hand to her arm to stop her. She spun around and glared at him.
"We got stuck in an elevator." stated Grissom bluntly.
Catherine closed her eyes for a brief second before bringing her hand up cover her eyes.
"Oh no." she whispered almost to herself. She was not particularly fond of elevators herself and could only imagine how Nick had responded to being trapped again.
"Bad?" she asked quietly.
Grissom gave a wry smile.
"Not good." he replied.
Catherine gestured to the
locker room.
"Should I?" she asked.
Grissom smiled gently and nodded.
"I'll go talk to McKeen again. Can you stay with him? I'll be back as soon as I can."
Catherine nodded.
"He'll be OK. Go. Talk to McKeen."
Grissom grimaced and headed down the corridor to find the Undersherriff.
Catherine stood at the entrance to the locker room and watched as Nick slowly, almost as if in a daze, gathered his belongings from his open locker. She knocked softly on the locker room door and smiled at him sympathetically when he turned to face her.
"Are you OK?" she asked.
Nick gave her a forced smile, slammed the locker door shut and at heavily on the bench, dropping his head into his hands.
Catherine closed the door softly and went to sit next to him. She rested a hand on his back and rubbed gentle circles between his shoulder blades. She could feel his breathing, deep and trying desperately to remain controlled.
"Grissom told you?"
His voice was muffled by his hands and strained by the underlying emotion.
"He said you guys were trapped in an elevator." she replied.
"That all?" he mumbled.
Catherine frowned in confusion.
"Is there more?" she asked casually.
Nick dragged his hands away from his face and swung his head up to look at her straight in the eye.
"I lost it Cath. Panicked. I really, really needed to get out of there."
Catherine took her hand away from his back and brought it up to rest against the side of his face instead.
"Sweetie, it OK. You
were with Grissom and Jim. They're not going to tell anyone."
Nick
snorted and his eyes welled again.
"I don't care about that, Cath." he started, then shrugged a little before continuing, "Well, yeah, I do care a little. But, Cath....I don't think I can go in an elevator again. I feel sick even thinkin' 'bout it. I don't know if I can do anythin' anymore. There's small spaces everywhere and I....I don' know if I can...I don' know if...." lost for any further words he simply shrugged and dropped his head back down into his hands again.
Catherine sighed and rested her hand on the back of his head.
"Oh, Nick." she said in a voice not much over a whisper, "It'll be alright."
She felt the muscles of his back tense and heard his breathing finally lose its battle for control.
The door opened briefly - long enough for Greg to stop in his tracks, take in the image of a distraught Nick being comforted and a quick, irritated glare from Catheirne accompanied with a short flick of her head - clearly an order to give them some privacy. He obliged - backing out of the locker room and closing the door behind him.
Nick didn't seem to even notice the interruption.
"I can't do this anymore, Cath." he cried.
Catherine wrapped her arms protectively around him and the two sat in silence for several long moments.
Finally she heard his breathing settle and felt him relax a little and pull away. She watched him as a he ran an embarressed hand across his face and sat forward again with his head hung low.
"We need to get you set up with some counselling again, Nick. Just to get you through." she said gently.
Nick groaned before she had even finished. When he spoke his accent was so thick Catherine nearly needed an interpreter.
"Cath, I don' wanna go back to therapy." he whined, scrubbing his face with tiredness.
"It'll only be for a little while, Nick. Just to help you get some control back. You can't go through the rest of your life without using an elevator again."
Nick shot Catherine a sideways glance. He was obviously not convinced.
Catherine smiled at him.
"It's just a setback Nick."
Nick dropped his head down again and nodded.
"Nick. It's just a setback. You can get through this. You've done the hard part." Catherine said, a protective arm still around Nick's shoulders, "A counsellor will be able to help you through these challenges better than we can. We can support you but they can give you strategies to deal with situations like you had to face today."
Nick put his head into his hands again and continued to look down at the floor.
"Hey." Catherine said, giving his shoulder a one handed rub.
Nick dragged his eyes up to meet Catherines. Defeat was still evident on his face.
Catherine studied him with concern for a heartbeat before offering him a small smile.
"It'll be OK, sweetie." she almost whispered.
Nick gave her a wan smile and nodded.
There was a light knock on the door and Grissom's head poked around the corner. He smiled at them both and raised his eyebrows at Nick.
"Everything alright?" he asked lightly.
Catherine rubbed Nick's back quickly once more and stood up.
"We're good." stated Catherine simply.
"Good." replied Grissom then added, looking at Nick. "Time to go home. Come on, I'll drive you."
Nick shook his head and dropped it back down.
"Nah, Grissom. I'm good. I can drive."
Grissom glanced at Catherine who shrugged.
"I know you can, Nick. Just humour me though, OK?"
Nick rolled his eyes and dragged himself to his feet. He grabbed his bag and headed for the door.
"Fine." he mumbled as he headed past Grissom and out into the corridor.
Grissom caught Catherine's eye and frowned at the sudden hostility.
Catherine shrugged and waved them off.
As always - please review. Not long to go now I think!
