My Way is Clear

by Simply Ginger

Nick meets a paramedic after getting injured at a crime scene. In an AU, this is their story. This is not a slash and all the characters from CSI show up eventually.

17. Lament

Chapter 17 - Lament

"Thanks for shopping with us and have a good night."

"You too." The cashier handed me the box of eye drops and the bottle of water I had just purchased along with my change. I stuffed the change down in my pocket as I left the drug store and got back in my Tahoe. My headache was still not quite cured from the hangover I had from the day before, but I knew I had to go to work. Last night was hard on me because I had a really bad headache, but I got partnered with Warrick and he picked up most of the slack from the case we worked. Tonight, I felt somewhat better. My head was still slightly achy but my eyes weren't as red as they were last night, but since I left the bottle of eye drops that I bought last night at home, I stopped by the same drug store before work and got another bottle. I took another couple of aspirin and swallowed those with a drink of water from the bottle I just bought. I broke the seal on the box and the bottle and used the eye drops in my eyes. I blinked a few times and looked in the rear view mirror. "Not bad."

I left the drug store and headed to the lab to start work. Warrick and Catherine were in the parking lot talking when I got there. We walked in together and right before we sat down, Warrick told me that I looked better than I did last night. At least yesterday when Grissom handed out assignments, he was distracted by something else and didn't pay me a whole lot of attention.

"Nick, you and Greg get this one." Grissom slid a piece of paper across the table to me. "Possible double homicide outside the Lucky Horseshoe Casino."

I waited until Grissom was done handing out assignments before I said anything. As I stuffed the assignment slip in my pocket, Greg and I stood up. "Possible? Either you're dead or you're not."

As we were leaving the room, Grissom pulled his reading glasses off after handing a folder to Sara, "One DB for sure. Second victim is touch and go according to the last report from the PD. The Lucky Horseshoe Casino apparently isn't so lucky tonight."

Greg followed me into the hall before he went the opposite way I was going. "Hey man, the exit is this way. I usually look for the signs and go where they point."

He shoved me towards the exit, "Ha ha. I'll meet you outside. I need to get my kit from my locker."

"Just making sure you're not lost." I parted ways with him and went up front to wait on him outside.

It was a clear night and there was a slight breeze which made the night time Nevada heat slightly more bearable. I leaned against my Tahoe and looked up at the dark sky, trying to find the stars. Because of the lights all around me, the stars were hidden. Until I got out closer to Anna's, I never could see the stars.

Greg came out a moment later and we left the lab and went to the crime scene we were assigned to. He got out and asked one of the uniforms what was going on as I pulled my field kit out of the back of my truck. "Nick, uniform says Brass is around here somewhere, but the victims are in the back behind the casino."

"Let's go." My voice was a little more forceful than I wanted it to sound. I knew as soon as that came out, Greg was going to question me. "You first." I moved to one side to let Greg go first.

"You okay? You seem kind of off."

Trying as best as I could to keep Greg out of my personal life, I told him I was tired. He seemed to buy it and didn't press me further. I hoped it was because I was convincing enough to pass off the lie, but I also knew that part of it was because Greg was still new. He'd only been a CSI for a little under a year and I could tell that he still had that eagerness about him when it came to crime scenes.

I let Greg go on ahead of me to find out what was going on as I stayed back near my truck. After stalling as long as I could, I got my field kit and started to walk as slowly as I could without gathering suspicion. When I finally spotted Greg, he and another police officer were standing off to one side of the crime scene. As the officer was telling Greg what was going on, I let my mind wander as I looked around the area. The part of town we were in was still considered part of the Vegas strip, but it was the older part. The casinos down here were older buildings and they weren't as popular as the ones closer towards the north end. Most of the buildings down here were the original structures from the time when Vegas was first getting started. The buildings were smaller and the amenities inside the casinos weren't as nice and as a result, the owners tried every trick in the book to get people to come down here.

We got about ten feet away from my Tahoe when Brass came out from the alley. He still had his back to us and didn't see us approaching him. "Whatcha got for Nick and me, Captain?" Greg held up the yellow crime scene tape so I could get under it. He followed me in after he let go of the tape barricade. "Double tonight or what? Grissom said possible double as one of the victims was still alive."

"There you are." Brass flipped the cover over on his notebook and put it in his jacket pocket. "Not quite. There were two victims, but just one homicide. The other one is still alive, but barely. Medics were able to stablize her. The two victims were found in the alley behind the casino. Workers came out for a smoke break and saw the first victim. She has no ID. It wasn't until they called us and the medics got here that they found the second victim. She's still alive, but she got shot. Someone really gave the dead girl a beating. Medics just cleared the scene and took the other victim to the hospital, so one of you will have to go there to interview her after surgery. I've asked to be called when she wakes up. One of the medics said they couldn't wait on you to get here, so they did a scoop and run. She was bleeding pretty heavily from a gunshot wound. Both of the victims were around back."

After moving by another officer as he was stringing up more crime scene tape, we got to the back of the alley. Against one wall of the casino were the tan dumpsters that were a common place with the casinos. As I looked at the crime scene, I saw two feet sticking out from between two of the dumpsters. As I got closer to check, I saw that the woman's body was as bruised as Brass said she was. Her shirt was torn and she was missing the mate to the hoop earring that was in her right ear. "I see the one victim, where was the second at?"

"Over here." Brass motioned for one of us to follow him. "She was lying right over here. I had the uniform do a body outline in chalk after he snapped some photos using his cell phone, just so you'd know about where she was lying. She was pretty bad off."

"Thanks. That'll help. Just tell the officer to email them to me." I pulled my camera from my shoulders and started to take pictures of where the live victim was until a pool of blood caught my eyes. "Greg, help me start processing until the other lady is out of surgery. I'll stay here with the one that didn't make it if she's still here when Brass gets the call. Help me do a perimeter check before we get started on anything else."

"I'll start on the east end. You want to take the west since you already got something?"

I nodded as I went back to the blood pool I found. Greg put his camera over his shoulder and got his flashlight out and started doing a sweep of the alley, moving in the opposite direction from where I was to start looking for clues.

We had been searching for about two hours when Brass's phone rang. "Nick, that was Desert Palms. She's out of surgery. Bullet shattered her femur but they say she'll be fine."

I took my eyes off another pool of blood on the concrete next to a power pole at one end of the alley as I tried to find Greg. He was bent down and was using tweezers to pull something off a chain link fence. "Greg, vic's awake. Go take her statement and call me when you're done. I may still need help here."

"Yeah. I'll call you if I have any problems." One of the uniforms standing nearby volunteered to drive Greg to Desert Palms. They left me alone in the alley with Brass and two other uniforms. I watched them lift up the yellow crime scene tape again before I turned my attention back to the dead lady in the alley.

"We didn't see a purse or anything nearby when we called you. The hotel workers that found her say they don't know who she is."

"They didn't recognize her from here? She not work here I take it?" I stood in front of the girl's feet and took some photos of her where she was. "She's dressed like an employee of somewhere nearby. Hostess? Concierge maybe? Cashier?"

"No. Hotel workers that found the bodies say the concierge employees here wear dark red shirts underneath black jackets. This girl has on a white shirt and no one here wears white shirts."

"Ah." I reached in my kit and pulled out a pair of latex gloves. "Did you get a chance to help me on that arrest I asked you about?"

"Yeah, I did. Are you sure you want to do that?"

I nodded slowly, "Yeah. It makes me feel better if you'd take care of that for me."

"You're welcome. It was handled earlier today. I'll get the final paperwork ready for it later on tonight after we finish the scene."

While I waited on the coroner to get here and clear the scene, I started to give the victim a closer once over. She was probably no older than thirty and was wearing a fitted blazer over a white button down shirt that was torn near the bottom. Her pants were torn on one side, just showing the edge of her stockings underneath. She had lost one shoe and her left earring somewhere nearby. The heel of the shoe she still had on looked like it was brand new and the soles were hardly scuffed. Her right hand was draped across her stomach and her left hand was underneath her back with her head angled to make it look like she was staring straight up at the night sky. From what I could tell, it looked like someone shot her standing up and she either fell or she was pushed after she was shot. "Maybe she used her left hand to brace herself against a wall, using one of the dumpsters as support and when she died, she fell." I started going over scenarios in my head, talking out loud to myself as I processed as much of the scene as I could while I waited on the coroner to arrive. I turned my flashlight on again and started to go over the wall behind the dumpster, looking for any bullets or blood spatter. I started to shine the light about waist high and saw some blood spatter on the edge of one of the dumpsters. I put the flashlight under my arm and got a crime scene marker out of my kit and stuck it on the edge of the dumpster and got a scale ruler out to mark off the area. After taking several photographs of what I found, I put the camera strap back on my shoulder and got out my field report and started to make a rough sketch of the area where I was.

I was lost in my work when David arrived. "Got one for me?"

I glanced over my shoulder at him, "Yeah. Poor girl. She can't be more than thirty."

"They just keep getting younger and younger. Used to, the only bodies we got that were this young were from car wrecks. Now it's everywhere." He put on a pair of gloves and bent down to where he could examine her body. "Help me roll her." I bent down and helped David pick her up. The back of her blazer and the white shirt were both covered in blood. "Looks like a through and through." David stood back up and got his liver temp monitor. "Been dead about five hours, max." He went back to the coroner's van and got out the stretcher and a body bag. "Hate to have to bother you again for the help. We're short handed." He unzipped the body bag and laid it out on the stretcher. "Doc's still doing a post from swing and we've got two more lined up. Busy night."

I grabbed the victim by the ankles and together, we got her on the stretcher. I watched as he gently tied a piece of string around her hands to keep them together during transport. When David was reaching to zip the body bag, I stopped him when I noticed that on her left hand, she had on a wedding ring. "We have to ID this girl." I shook my head, "Poor girl is married. We need to find out who she is so we can tell the husband."

David looked in the pockets of the jacket and pants the lady had on. "No ID. No nothing. We'll get her back and scan her prints and I'll let you know if we find anything." He folded her arms across her chest and zipped the bag.

I turned my attention back to the crime scene after David was gone. After checking under the dumpsters and in the area near where both the deceased girl was and where the victim at the hospital was, I didn't see a weapon. "May have taken it with him." I started to shine the light on the ground as I looked for bullet casings. "Not a one." After documenting that on my report, I had to grimace at the thought of what I had to do next. My next move would be to look in the dumpsters. "This is when I need Greg here." I flipped the lid up on two of them and saw they were empty. I shined my flashlight down into them and didn't see anything. I shut those two lids and went to the next two dumpsters and opened the lids. "Great." The first dumpster to my left was empty, but the dumpster to my right was full. "Guess I'm going in since Greg isn't here." I put my flashlight down and reached in my kit for a pair of thicker gloves that I carried for occasions just like this. I had put one glove on and was getting ready to put the second one on when my phone rang. I reached in my pocket and pulled it out, using my left shoulder to hold it to my ear while I fought with getting my other glove on. "Stokes."

"Nick, can you come up to the hospital?"

I got the second glove on and relaxed my shoulder and grabbed the phone and held it to my other ear. "Why? Need help?"

"No, not exactly. The victim up here is why I'm calling. She just got out of surgery and when she saw me, she requested to see you. She says she knows you. I've tried to get her name from her, but she won't give it to me. She says she'll only talk to you. Hospital has her as Jane Doe."

"Greg, I was just about to go dumpster diving and for once in your life, your timing is perfect." I was able to take off the gloves a lot easier than they were to put on. "Be there in a minute. What room number are you in?"

"We're not in a room yet. We're still in post-op. Just come up to the second floor and ask one of the nurses for me. I'll tell them you're coming."

I snapped the phone shut and shoved it in my pocket as I approached a uniform officer standing nearby. "Don't let anyone back here unless they're with the Las Vegas Crime Lab. I'm gonna call someone else as I'm leaving. I just got a call to go to the hospital."

"Sure." He held up the tape that was at the edge of the alley.

I left there and got in my truck and drove the short distance to the hospital. I called Grissom and told him what was going on with Greg. He told me he'd send Sara over to finish up until Greg could get back. After hanging up with him, I got to the hospital and quickly found a parking spot in the ED lot and went inside. After waiting on the elevator to make its way down to me, I got in and hit the button for the second floor. My breath caught when I realized the last time I was in this elevator was the night Anna got shot. Sara and Grissom were standing behind me as I was in a daze from what had happened.

The elevator dinged when the doors opened, snapping me out of my trance. I shook my head and glanced over at my shoulder as the door shut, remembering how Sara and Grissom had to basically lead me around like a child. I was in a trance and was so worried about Anna that I couldn't function. "Times have changed."

I saw the nurses' desk ahead of me. "Excuse me?"

"Yes sir?"

The blonde nurse looked at me and smiled, trying her best to pique my interest. "I'm with the Las Vegas Crime Lab. I'm here to see Greg Sanders. He's in a room with a victim from a shooting earlier behind a casino on the strip."

She got out of her chair and came out from behind the desk. "You're in the right area, dear. Come on." She smiled at me and was doing her best to flirt. "They're back this way." She and I came to a stop at a set of double doors leading to the recovery area. She pulled her badge off of her lanyard long enough to wave it in front of the reader. It beeped and the doors opened. "Your friend is in there with the lady. My name's Tara if you need anything." She gave me another smile, clearly letting me know she was interested in me. "Just let me know, Mr. Uh...?"

"Brown. Warrick Brown." Warrick would probably beat me for giving this girl his name, but the last thing I needed was some lady calling me at the lab every night. "Thanks, Tara."

"No problem, Warrick." She left me in the doorway as she went back to the station, casting me one more glance and following that up with a smile before the automatic doors shut, blocking my view.

As soon as the doors closed, I exhaled the breath I was holding, thankful to be away from her. She seemed like a sweet gal and maybe in another life I would have flirted back, but right now I was holding on to and waiting for Anna. I wasn't ready to move on and knew I wouldn't be for a long time.

I stopped at the nurses' station in post op and this time, got a bored looking male nurse who told me where Greg was. Greg saw me coming and met me outside the room. "Your presence is requested inside. She swears she knows you."

He opened the door and I stepped in the room and my blood felt like it was replaced with ice water. "Damn it all to hell."

"What?" Greg looked over his shoulder at the woman in the room as I took a step back. "What is it?"

Feeling the anger building inside me, I shoved the door open with one hand. The tension arm on the door wouldn't let it go back that back far, but it did open with enough force that Renee jumped in her bed. I still couldn't believe who I was looking at. "Do you get off on this? Is that what this is about?"

Greg didn't give Renee a chance to answer. "You know this woman?"

"Yeah. I do. Wish like hell I didn't." With my hand on the door, I pulled it open and got ready to leave. "Greg Sanders, meet Nigel Crane's sister, Renee Willis. You process her. I'm out of here."

"Nick, wait. Please."

I glanced at Renee over my shoulder, "What? Want to shoot me? Shank me in the back? Shove an IV pole into my chest? Push me out that window over there like your brother did?"

"No." Renee moved the IV tubing draped across her shoulder out of the way to reach for the remote to her hospital bed. She pushed the button and the part under her back rose slowly, propping her up to where she could see me better. "I got shot. I'm the victim of a crime."

I scoffed, "Yeah, so did my girlfriend and she and I are both victims of crimes thanks to your brother. What's this got to do with the price of tea in China?"

"I didn't expect you to be welcoming when you saw me. I only asked for you because you're the only one I know here and, well, I know how law enforcement works. You hate me, then you tell your friends you hate me and they hate me by proxy."

"Wait, wait…" I put my field kit in the chair next to where Greg was standing and I folded my arms across my chest. "Are you actually implying that I had something to do with this? Are you saying that I hate your guts so much that I'd have you shot?"

"No, no." Renee shook her head and pushed the button on the bed again to bring the part under her back higher. She finally stopped when the back of the bed was almost sitting straight up. "I know you'd treat me fairly. I know you hate me and I'm okay with that. You have every right to hate me for what I did to you and to your girlfriend and for not stopping Nigel when he flew out of his mind and jumped straight into the fire. I understand that and I have accepted it. I was going back home tonight. My arrest from the other day got overturned I guess is the word. I was told earlier that the charges were about to be dropped and I booked a flight to go home. My flight was scheduled to take off in about five hours from now. I was on my way to the airport when I got shot." Renee gestured at her leg, "Guess I'll be missing that. I've got to stay here at least a day. My femur was shattered and they had to put a rod and some nails in to hold it together. According to your friend over there, they got the bullet out."

I wasn't buying this new version of Renee. "So, your brilliant idea is to go get yourself beat up and oh, why not throw in getting shot to drive your point home. Then, request me to process you, knowing I have to stay through the entire processing while you torment and torture me again like you did earlier? You really are as deranged as your brother was."

Renee shook her head, "No. I don't. I was checking out of the hotel I was staying at when I heard someone scream from behind the building. It was stupid of me to go back there and as a result, I got shot. I was just trying to help. I was trying to do the right thing for the first time since I got to Las Vegas and it didn't work. I guess I kind of deserve it for everything I've put you through. I actually deserved a lot worse, but for some reason, this was all I got. I deserved die for what my brother and I did to you and your girlfriend."

Greg had been quiet the entire time I was in here with Renee. I had all but forgotten he was in the room until I heard him move behind me. "Greg, you can go. I called Grissom on my way over here. Can you meet Sara back at the hotel and finish the scene? I'll handle this." I set my field kit on the counter in the room and stayed near the door.

"Are you sure?" Realizing who she was, I could tell Greg was a bit hesitant to leave me. "I mean, I can stay. I can call Grissom and I'm sure he'd say I could stay."

"I'm okay. I promise. Go."

Still looking torn about leaving me alone with Nigel Crane's sister, he started towards the door, but stopped short of opening it to leave. "Call if you need me. I'll get Grissom to send a uniform over, just in case."

"Thanks." He picked up his field kit and after casting one last glance at me, he left, leaving me alone with her. "Arms out." I was wasting no time as I reached in my field kit and got my gloves on and tossed some evidence bags on the bed. "Need to take photos. Where are you hurt, other than your leg?"

Renee held out her left hand. "I've got some scratches here and some bruises on my arms. He grabbed me and shoved me backwards after demanding I give him my wedding ring and my watch, then he shot me."

I didn't want to touch the woman so I handed her the scale markers. "Put them here." I pointed to where I wanted them and she held them in place while I took the photos. "Thank you." I took them back from her and tossed them back in my kit. "Where are the clothes you had on? Did the doctors in the ED keep them or what? We'll need those to analyze for trace."

"Um, I think they're with the bullet."

I pulled out a form from the back of my kit and pulled the bedside table over. "Need your full name and address."

"Renee Dawn Willis. My husband's last name is Grimaldi. I never took it when we married. I live at 11215 West Eaves Road in Savannah, Georgia and the ZIP code is 31404."

I wasn't even looking at her as I was writing. I was going through this as quickly as I could, abbreviating just about every word that she was saying. I started to look over my report form, hoping I'd be able to decipher my own code later at the lab. "Phone and date of birth?"

"770-555-4244 and my date of birth is June 13th, 1960."

"Need a narrative of what you were doing. Make it simple and short."

Renee sighed, "I was at the Lucky Horseshoe Casino. I had rented a hotel room there and was getting ready to check out to catch a flight back home to Savannah. I was putting my suitcases in the trunk of my rental car…"

"What make, color and model is the rental car?" I interrupted her story, not really caring. "Also, need the rental company's name to verify."

"It's a blue Chevy Impala. I rented it from Enterprise at the airport."

I was still abbreviating about half of what she said to make the interview go by faster. "Alright, now back to the narrative."

"I was putting bags and my purse in my rental car when I heard someone scream from behind the casino. At first, I thought it was coming from somewhere in the casino, you know like if someone hit the jackpot." I looked up at Renee for the first time since I came in the room. She met my eyes for less than a second before I diverted my gaze back down to the form. "Alright then. Um, I heard another scream and this time, I heard a male voice shouting. I locked my car and put the keys in my pocket and went to see what was going on. When I got behind the casino, a man was holding a woman by the throat and was yelling at her to shut up. He saw me and shoved the woman back between two of the dumpsters and shot me after I was robbed. I fell and he drug me over to where the woman was. He hit me twice that I know of before I blacked out. When I came to, I was staring at two hotel employees. They told me they had called the police and for me to stay awake. I didn't see the lady in the white shirt. Did she get away?"

I didn't answer her right away. I was reading over my narrative, trying to make sure that I'd remember the meaning of everything I wrote down. I made a few notes in the margins of the form to remind myself of what some of the abbreviations meant. "No, she died."

"Oh, no." I heard Renee gasp. I looked at her from my peripheral vision, trying to see if she was faking so I'd look at her. "That poor lady."

"Yeah." After she gave me the description of the suspect, I finished writing the narrative before looking up at her. "Alright, I think I have what I need. Someone from the department will call you if we need anything else. I'll stop by and collect your clothes and the bullet the surgeons extracted."

"So, that's it? I can go home?"

"Yes." I put the narrative form and my clipboard in the side pouch of my field kit before I shut the lid and snapped it closed and sighed. I knew what I had to do before she left. "Renee…" I tried to gather the strength up of what I was going to tell her. "You said when I got here earlier tonight that you deserved this. Part of me agrees. The vengeful part of me is saying you got your just desserts. The other part is saying that no one deserves this. Not even you." I looked over at her and I could tell I caught her off guard with my statement. "I don't know what to think, really. Part of me still hates your guts because of what you did to Anna, but part of me sympathizes with you but that's the part that I'm trying to listen to. My life would have been so much simpler if I never met your brother."

Renee didn't respond. When she finally spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper, "A lot of people's lives would have been a lot better if they hadn't ever met my brother. Mine included."

"Can I ask you something?"

"I guess so. What?"

I stayed where I was, but leaned forward and put my arms on the bedside table. "Did your brother ever do this before? I mean, what he did to my girlfriend and me? Was he always this violent?"

"Why do you want to know?"

I shook my head. "I don't know. If there is a justification for my actions right now, it's that I have gone completely crazy. Call it sheer mobid curiosity or maybe I'm just stupid. I don't really know I guess."

"Nigel was always a troubled soul. My parents tried for years to reach him on any level they could. Nigel was only a bit younger than me, so I was the one closest to him. He was always one to play by himself, even after he was adopted. The neighbors that lived near Nigel's real parents' house said that the Crane family kept to themselves. They were never outside and rarely acknowledged anyone. I guess you could say they were ostracized. I don't really know how to describe it." Renee reached over for a cup of water on the stand beside her bed. After moving her IV tubing again, she took a drink before setting the plastic cup down and finishing her story. "He was always the odd one out. When Nigel realized that he was adopted, he went insane, but to answer your question, the closest he ever came to what he did to you and your girlfriend happened in Savannah right before he left. We were in high school when he was suspected of setting fire to the star quarterback's house. The quarterback of the football team for our high school was a bully. He picked on Nigel until finally one day, Nigel snapped. No one could prove he did it, but the signs were all there. My parents were done with Nigel by this point in time and they didn't care. There was an investigation into the arson, but ultimately, the case was closed because no one saw him do it. Nigel admitted to me he did and I guess I should have said something to someone back then, but I kept his secret because deep down, I thought the quarterback deserved what he got."

Renee had my attention now, "So, do you think if you would have gotten him arrested, you could have stopped all of this? Prevented all of this from happening? I don't just mean Anna and me but I mean everything that he's done since he's been here in Vegas."

"I don't know. I honestly don't. I'd like to think that it'd have no effect on what happened to you and your girlfriend or those two other women, but I know that maybe, just maybe…" Renee started to shake her head, "Maybe if I would have told someone what he did, he would have gotten the help he needed. So many lives were ruined because Nigel was who he was. I feel bad enough as it is, knowing that my brother was as unstable as he was when he called me about you. He killed those two women and then attacked you. I knew I should have come out here then, but I just didn't imagine. I think if I had it to do over again, I would have turned him in. He needed help way back when but I was too blind to see it and as a result, how many people got hurt because of my brother? I wish I could go back and change it all and do what needed to be done back then." She shrugged her shoulders, "Maybe things would be different."

Slowly nodding my head, I was still weary of this woman, but I knew I had to give her the benefit of the doubt. Guilt was a terrible thing and I was dealing with a lot of it over Anna. "Well, that's all I have." I reached down to get my field kit. "By the way, about your arrest from earlier, I had them drop the charges. As soon as you're discharged from the hospital, you can go back home to your family. You're a free woman."

"What? Why?"

"It just didn't feel right to me. My girlfriend left because of you. Well, partly because of you. Even though she's gone, I thought about what she'd want me to do about you after all of this happened. I tried to think about what she'd do if she was in my shoes and I know Anna well enough to know that she'd want me to do the same thing so consider that my good deed for the day."

I made it to the door of the room before Renee spoke again. "Hey, Nick?"

I turned around, letting the door hit me in the back. "Yeah?"

"I really am sorry for all of this and for what it's worth, thank you for taking care of that arrest for me." Renee wound part of the hospital blanket that was on her bed around her fingers, "I know I didn't deserve anything from you and especially nothing like that, but I didn't press my luck when I was told the charges were dropped earlier. I didn't know who did that and when you told me that you were the one doing that for me, well, that never crossed my mind. Just know that if I could take it all back, I would. All of it, including what happened to you and your girlfriend when my brother attacked you. I never meant to upset her like I did and for that, you will never know how truly sorry I am for this, knowing I could have done something to prevent all of this but I didn't. I know you probably won't be able to forgive me, but I just wanted you to know how sorry I am. I do hope your girlfriend comes back."

I put my hand on the door and shoved it off of my back so I could make room for my field kit in the space between my body and the door. "So do I." I looked at her once more before taking my hand off the door to Renee's hospital room and walking away. "So do I."

A/N: Insert obligatory begging for reviews line here.