Title: Reclaiming Life
Authors: Kristen999 and Shacky20
Category: Drama/Angst
Spoilers: Grave Danger
Disclaimer: All rights belong to CBS and all their fine writers. Please don't sue. This is just for fun.
Summary: The Team try to help Nick recover after his abduction and move on. Little does anyone know the true ramifications of this traumatic experience has had on everyone. Goes from the events in the episode to the days and weeks afterwards. This is a Nick-Greg-Warrick Friendship. There is drama, angst and even humor.
Notes: This story was written by both Kristen999 and Shacky 20. We spent a lot of time planning and writing this post GD story. Each chapter will be labeled by the author who penned it. Feel free to comment or leave feedback on this endeavor, if you have specific questions or comments be sure to direct to whomever the author is of the specific chapter.
Huge thanks to Sunset for taking the time to beta this huge work. Your swiftness and insight was much appreciated.
There have been tons of GD stories, and a ton of familiar ground has been covered. This is our attempt to try to come up with something as true to the show as possible. We focused our scope around Greg and Warrick and their friendship with Nick because of our feelings for these characters and to tell a more concise story. The rest of the team is featured.
Kristen999 Notes: I've never co authored a story with anybody before this has been a wonderful experience and I hope you enjoy the ride.
Shacky20 Notes: Wow, what a ride. This is my first multi chapter fic, let alone co-authored fic. To say I was shocked and ecstatic when Kristen asked if I wanted to co-author a post "Grave Danger" Fic would be an understatement. I only dabbled a little in slash between Nick and Greg and was truly honored she would ask me to write something like this with her. I have learned to much about writing from Kristen, and it has been hard work, and frustrating, and fun, and an adventure, and something I will always be very proud of having accomplished now it's completed. I just wanted to personally thank Kristen for giving me this chance. Hope you all enjoy this as much as we did writing it.
Chapter 1 by: Shacky
Why was he the one he in the A/V Lab instead of the other way around? Dumb luck he supposed. That's all Warrick could call it, as he obsessed about his current situation. One piece of paper that he handed to Nick sealed both of their fates that night. Now he sat here, watching his best friend on the screen try to fight for his sanity and life. Warrick didn't know how he could ever live with himself if Nick didn't make it out alive. All he could do was watch his friend struggle for breath in his glass prison, buried God only knew where.
He started to get confused, as he watched Nick's peculiar actions on the web cam. His friend was so scared, frightened like a small animal at night, when that bright floodlight came on. Nick always tried to scramble away, but there was nowhere to go. Warrick tried to imagine how bright and intrusive it must have been shining on him. To only be able to see dirt and dark surround him. Warrick had to keep turning the light on. It was his only way to ensure that Nick was still alive.
Nick's sudden intent worried and scared Warrick. What the hell was he doing with that bubble gum? All he knew was that Nick was agitated by the lamp and tried to shrink away from it. He saw Nick take the gum from his mouth and put it in his ears
"What are you doing Nicky?" Warrick asked his friend in the empty confines of the A/V Lab.
Fear flashed across his features as he saw Nick grab his gun and Warrick's eyes widened in fear. He sat rigidly at attention in his chair, ready to pounce at nothing but a computer screen.
'No No No' was going through his head. Nick couldn't do it, he wouldn't!
"What are you doing Nicky?"
"No! Don't do it Nicky!" He stood up quickly.
A million impossible thoughts raced through his mind as he tried to reason with his friend. If he screamed loud enough maybe Nick could hear him and sense his pleads. The bright light from the muzzle made him jump back suddenly.
"You Son of a Bitch!" Warrick screamed, the anger seeping through his voice, while he stared wide-eyed at the black screen.
What he couldn't hear was the laughter radiating from Nick's throat at his one small victory in this horrible game. All Nick thought about was that damn bright light was finally out. He simply laughed some more in his hollow prison.
Nick grabbed one of the green glow sticks left behind and lit it. He had no clue the kind of agony he had just put his friend through.
Warrick's eyes lit back up with unshed tears as he saw Nick's hauntingly eerie green reflection come back on the screen.
"You're still alive," he whispered with a smile on his face.
Of course he's still alive. Nick wouldn't give up on them that easy, not on himself either. Warrick knew Nick was still breathing and that's the only thing that mattered in the world right now, another reprieve. He's still hanging on. With that, the CSI stalked out of the Lab before he screamed.
Warrick tore out and muttered a soft apology to Archie after almost knocking him down.
He ran into the locker room for some kind of retreat, but there is no escape from this nightmare, especially for Nick. Warrick's thoughts drifted back to just a few hours ago. Nick had sat right there next him as he carried on about the escapades of his date from the weekend. No escape. That's all he could think about as he grabbed his locker door and yanked it open with more force than necessary.
The guilt-ridden criminalist stood there staring, memorized by the sight of his own locker. It was so small, so damn tiny. Warrick can't help but think back to his days of Junior High. When the bigger kids, the more popular ones, would put him in his locker. It only happened a couple of times. They would throw him in there and shut the door locking him inside. It was so cramped, so dark, and suffocating. He would scream and someone would always, always, come and open the door and get him out. It only lasted five minutes tops.
Now Nick was buried down in the ground somewhere for hours, screaming at the air, begging for help. But no one can hear his terrified pleas.
However, Warrick's head is filled with his screaming.
Warrick slammed his door shut. He finally gave in and fell backwards, luckily landing on the bench. Warrick held his face in his hands as he cried for his friend. Tears streamed down his face at his frustration in his own incompetence to get him out.
Greg wasn't as naive as most people thought he was. He understood how new he was to this CSI thing. He was officially a criminalist, but barely out of training. Now he was working on what he knew would be the biggest case of his life... ever.
Not only because it was 'one of their own', but it was Nick, one of his best friends. The guy who always took him seriously when no one else even gave him a second thought. Nick was the one who first encouraged him, instead of laughing at the notion that Greg Sanders, Geek Lab Tech, CSI wannabe, should get into the field. He also witnessed CSIs and cops with 13 to 20 years of experience feel as useless and helpless as he did right now. He knew these feelings weren't just because he was green. It was because they were up against a damn smart guy that left hardly a trail and had everyone chasing their tails.
As if you could call Nick a case. He couldn't do that because if he did then, it would make it too real. He would visualize Nick trapped in a small box with a bright light, and then he couldn't focus on his task at hand.
So, in the meantime it was a case right now.
Currently the only thing he could do for Nick was to help find him. Greg had to sift through a box of body parts that belonged the bastard that did this to him. That somehow made it easier to look through the blood and pieces of this once human. It made it harder because this was the one person that knew all the answers. He felt no emotion looking at the fingers and bloodied bones and other various parts of the monster who took Nick away from them.
'Great, a tooth, like that was actually going to be able to tell him anything.'
Greg sensed the tension practically radiate off of Warrick's body. The ex-lab tech knew he couldn't understand how the older man felt. He had known Nick for about just as long, as the two pals. But the partners had worked side by side by for six years. Deep down Greg knew that Warrick felt responsible on some level for Nicky being down there. It was either that or the knowledge that Warrick could have been the buried just as easily.
He watched as Warrick tore off another sketch and crumpled it up and threw it down to the ground for the third time in twenty minutes. It landed next with the other useless discarded papers that were just adding up to another pile of dead ends. Warrick carried a big burden on his shoulders, having the knowledge of knowing that it could have been you must have been unbearable. Just as that thought flashed behind Greg's eyes, they lit up for the first time since they got that package at the lab.
"Hey guys, I found the trigger wire." Greg held up his bloodied prized piece, the excitement in his voice apparent of the glimmer that could not be contained. "Once we reassemble all of the components…"
"Maybe, maybe, maybe." Greg could hear the sarcasm dripping from Warrick's mouth.
"Maybe if we came up with of these damn maybes Nick would be alive!" His temper boiled over, as he kicked the bucket full evidence towards the direction of Greg's pile.
Any excitement or hope Greg had held for a moment flowed right out of him. His own anger at the situation brimmed to the surface as well. He could only keep his own composure for so long just like everyone else. Because he was busy searching through boxes of broken body parts looking for even the most minuscule thing. If he found anything...anything at all. Then he wouldn't have to think. Greg would be able to shove the thoughts about his best friend trapped somewhere underground in the vast desert that was Las Vegas, alone, scared, and slowly suffocating. The youngest CSI knew that Nick was just waiting for them to find. Yet, they were up here barely holding it together.
"Was that necessary?" He spat back toward his target, tensions running high on both sides at this point. He stood up ready to stand his ground and challenge the older CSI.
"Never mind the clothes, but look at the evidence." Greg shouted back.
"Damn!" was Warrick's barely whispered reply, while he threw the rest of his papers to the floor and stormed off.
Catherine who had sat inside the kidnapper's SUV processing, decided she had seen enough and it was time to intervene.
"Sorry Greg, I'll go talk to him." She walked off, leaving Greg standing there trying to reorganize his evidence.
As Catherine went up to Warrick, the senior CSI realized she'd never seen him so beaten down before. Warrick seemed as if it was all already over and they were just searching for a body.
"How are you holding up?" She asked, honestly concerned for her coworker.
"Huh, I'm not." Tears started to pool in his eyes as his solidly built defenses wore down.
"We flipped a coin for that trash." He said, trying to make her understand his aggravation.
Catherine fought to get the right words in to calm his ever-growing anxiety.
"Nick is not down inside of that box because of a flip of a coin."
"Cath, if that was me, I... I...would have… " And he brought his fingers up to his head letting her know with his gestures what his intentions would have been. That he would have already given up by now.
Catherine wouldn't believe that and she couldn't let Warrick either.
"Hey! I know you, and I don't believe that!" She tried anything to reach through the guilt and fear. Catherine truly believed that Warrick wouldn't give in that easily either.
"No." Warrick's words were spoken softly but forcibly. "You're wrong, I wouldn't have lasted this far. Cath, if something happens to Nick, if we don't bring him back in one piece…"
But that thought was left unfinished as an enthusiastic Greg interrupted them once again. Their excitement over a lead soon evaporated when they uncovered another dead end.
After they quickly got over the disappointment they realized the key piece of evidence they had just uncovered. The Prototype box. Nick was probably in its exact mate, only larger. They uncovered the rest and took everything back to the lab to see what they could hopefully decipher, if anything from the Plexiglas Hell they uncovered.
Nick was still buried somewhere out there.
Things began to happen quickly by some miracle. It was a horrible way to find out, but it was a small miracle in a way nonetheless. The three had learned of Nick's newest battle.
Ants. Fire ants to be more exact.
Sara came running in to the room telling the three of the discovery and they were all to meet in the evidence room immediately because this was there best chance yet to pinpoint where Nick may be buried out there. The atmosphere in the room among the whole team automatically changed and for the first time that night they felt they were ahead of the game. They had a real lead on to where Nick was. Slight hope was seen on the faces of the team, instead of constant despair.
All the clues had come together. The ant species, the miles on the SUV, the nursery Kelly Gordon had worked at.
Ten minutes and it would all be over. Greg looked at his own watch as he followed the rescue and police units speed towards their destination.
'God couldn't they drive faster? Ten minutes wasn't enough. But he wasn't gonna be this close to finally finding Nick to have time run out on them. No, that was NOT going to happen'.
Once they arrived, Grissom did what he did best. Give orders. He split up the team to cover the largest amount of ground in the quickest time. "All right, everyone fan out, look for loose soil, anything that might have been dug up recently."
Teams of people started searching everywhere in the area. Everyone carried flashlights and shovels to search the ground for any signs it had been disturbed.
Catherine held the web cam transmitter detector in her hand, knowing this could be the quickest way of locating the place where Nick was buried. She walked as fast as she could cover ground and still pick up any useful signal. All of a sudden her detector starting making small squawking noises.
"Hey, I'm picking up the web cam transmission."
That's all the team needed to hear to run into action. They started to follow Catherine's voice. The more she walked, the louder the signal got.
While picking up very strong signal, she literally fell over an air pipe, then looked up. The tracker started beeping wildly and Catherine fell to her knees and started digging through the dirt.
She came upon the web cam transmitter.
"This is it. I found it! It's here!" She screamed as loud as she possibly, to alert everyone where they needed to be.
"Nick hang on, Nicky!" She screamed down the air pipe praying that he can hear her. She wanted him to know that help was just minutes away.
Nick had no idea how close he was from being rescued. Not when he was fruitlessly clinging to whatever sanity he had left.
Ripped up pieces of shirt protecting his nose, shreds of his latex gloves plugged his ears. He desperately tried to hang on.
Warrick and other members of the rescue team grabbed their shovels. The whole time Warrick silently repeated to himself over and over in his head.
'One more minute Nicky, one more minute Nicky, we're here, we're here.' The CSI hoped he was convincing himself of that truth as well.
Grissom, Sara, Catherine, and Greg, all stood back and held their flashlights on the ground so the workers could see something. Greg had never felt so useless in his life. All he could do was hold a damn flashlight.
After digging for a couple of minutes Warrick heard a sound he had been dreading for exactly 90 minutes.
His watched beeped, letting everyone know that time was up for Nick. His air had just run out and they were now out of time. He stopped to stare at the blasphemous object for a couple of seconds, then looked up at the team who was staring back up at him. Expressions of defeat crossed their faces for the first time in an hour.
Not yet, no one was giving up yet. But no one knew how close Nick was to succumbing to the end of his will power. Warrick immediately regained his resolve and started to dig faster. He threw dirt every way he could. The criminalist had no idea at the exact same time, his friend just two feet below him, was reaching for his gun.
Nick realized it was over, and decided it was better for a quick death than to slowly suffocate. He looked at it carefully, cocked it, and placed the muzzle squarely under his chin with a shaking hand.
"I hit something!" Warrick cried out, excitement emanating from his voice at the discovery.
He threw his shovel to the side and fell to his knees. Warrick started moving the loose soil on top of the box away quickly with his hands.
After several agonizing moments his efforts revealed a frightened and shaking Nick Stokes; with his gun firmly planted under his chin, his finger ready to pull the trigger.
"Hey, hey! We got you man! Nicky hold on there." Horrified that the weapon was posed to be fired, he shouted." Hey, put that thing down, put that down. We got you! Hang in there!"
Nick finally understood that the sights before him were real. His friends were here finally...his brain could barely comprehend it.
He reached up, out of the box with trembling fingers. Then Nick pounded on the interior of his prison as he sought his escape. If he could touch someone, then he knew things were indeed real. He was cried so hard from the pain of the bites, the stress of the confinement, and struggled with the reality that he wasn't going to die! He could barely see, and was hysterical with tears and fear.
Greg wanted to fall to his knees at his fellow CSIs words. He was filled with relief that they had actually found Nicky in time. The younger man was almost stricken over the thought that in maybe another thirty seconds it would have been too late. Nick was ready to give up, out of air, out of time, and out of hope.
But he didn't ...Nick had held steadfast. Greg was tense with worry; his friend was still trapped in that box. The ex-tech could hear him scream to get out. The frantic man was pounding on the box. It took an enormous amount of patience for Greg to stand there and let the rescue workers do their jobs.
"We need that fire extinguisher. Get that fire extinguisher here now." Warrick belted out to anyone who was listening.
Upon hearing the command, Greg burst into action, finally feeling like he could do something besides stand idly by. He could do something to help end this nightmare. He ran to the truck and undid the extinguisher as fast as he possible could. He arrived back at the glass box in a flash, seeing Nick for the first time.
Greg swallowed the nausea that rose in his throat. He had a job to do finally, kill these damn ants and get them off of Nick before the caused any more damage.
Warrick took his shovel and slowly pried the corners off of the box giving Greg room to get the extinguisher in, while giving Nick some well needed oxygen.
"Short bursts Greg, don't suffocate him, just kill the ants." Grissom directed. Greg had to do this correctly; it would be horrendous if he ended up hurting the criminalist with his efforts.
"Hang on, we're gonna kill those ants, OK?" Warrick tried to comfort his terrified friend, who just wanted out of that damn box.
All of a sudden Catherine came running over, her voice horrified.
"Get out of the hole, it's rigged to blow, the box is ready to explode!" She screamed at them all.
"Are you kidding me?" Warrick couldn't believe what he was hearing.
After everything they had been through to get here. They had finally found Nick, had him in their grasp, and now they were told to back up.
No way. It wasn't going to happen.
"Get out of there now!" Catherine bellowed again, fear in her voice for the whole team again.
"I'm not leaving without Nick!" Warrick declared unwavering.
Catherine tried to explain so Warrick would understand the severity. "There are charges under the box."
Warrick bowed his head in defeat once again. They had been so close. How could they be literally within arms reach, just to be yanked away?
"Warrick, Catherine is right. Get out of there now. I know what we are going to do." Grissom had already formed a plan as soon as he heard about the charges.
Now he only had to calm down his charge long enough to implement the plan.
Warrick looked warily at Grissom, then back down at a Nick who was still screaming for help. His muffled, anguished pleas bellowing from below. The poor man must have thought his screams were being ignored by deaf ears.
Warrick knew he had no choice but to leave his friend for the moment. He had to work with the team to make sure those charges didn't go off, because he didn't come all of this way to watch his friend get blown up in front of him.
"We need 200 lbs of dirt over here now!" Grissom was once again barking orders again. "And we are gonna use that backhoe to get it." He pointed toward the direction of the object and the rescue workers went into action turning the machine on and getting ready to fill the hole.
Nick could not understand what was going on above him. He knew they were there. He knew they had finally found him and were going to save him. Then everyone started walking away. He started pounding harder and harder and screamed louder for someone to help him.
Where were they going? Why were they leaving him?
Grissom could hear and see the fear and desperation in Nick's actions. The younger man obviously had no clue what was happening and felt abandoned. He climbed on top of the box to try to make Nick understand.
"Nick can you hear me? Its gonna take us a minute to get you out of there." He tried to reassure him.
The hysterical man still thrashed around weakly as he begged for a release.
"Nick."
"Nick," Gil tired again to gain his attention.
His CSI was too wracked in his inner trauma; he was not hearing his command.
"Pancho! Listen to me!"
At the use of his childhood nickname, Nick suddenly quieted down and listened to Grissom. Somehow he knew his life lay in this man's hands. Nick tried to remain calm for the older man...to prove his worth one more time.
"Put you hand on my hand." Grissom pleaded and he laid his sprawled hand above Nick.
Nick could see through his glass tomb. He did as he was told and put his hand up against his superior's. He was so close to feeling the contact he had been so desperately seeking.
"Good, Good Nicky. There may be explosives under the box, probably set on pressure switches."
At this latest piece of news, Nick lay his head back down and shook his head from side to side in disbelief. How much was he supposed to endure?
"We need to equalize your body weight before we can pull you out." Gil took a much-needed breath. "Okay, Pancho, nod your head if you understand me."
Nick ever so slowly nodded his head, to let his boss know he comprehended what he was being told. Upon seeing this, Grissom stood back up and turned to give the last of the instructions.
"OK we're gonna use the dirt to equalize his weight, I need a rope and a carabiner."
People went to work getting the last of the supplies to pull their team member out of there. They were this close to saving Nick, and this small set back would not stop any of them.
Grissom turned back to the box to speak to Nick one last time.
"All right Pancho, we're gonna open the lid and get you out, but we need you to stay laying down. Or else you're gonna blow us all up. Do you understand that?"
The weak nod was there, but the supervisor had to be sure. "Do you promise?"
Nick gave a subtle nod of understanding.
"Pancho, say I promise." Grissom was hoping to give the young man something to hold on to, bring him back to this reality again.
"I promise." Nick cried out, tears once again flowing freely down his already reddened face.
Catherine started giving directions to the director of the backhoe to come towards the hole where Nick was still trapped.
"Nick, now don't move," Grissom and Warrick slowly pried the lid off the box, their ears filled with the soft sounds of their sobbing coworker.
With trembling hands Nick reached out for any human contact he could find. He was barely coherent with an overwhelming desire for comfort.
"I got you." Grissom said to Nick who had clutched his arm.
"Warrick," Nick's hoarse voice croaked out as his other hand reached for his partner.
Warrick put his hand down on Nick's chest giving him more contact. His partner tried to quiet the traumatized man. "Stay still, OK man? Just stay still."
"OK OK," Nick tried to take several deep breaths. He had to calm himself down a bit.
The rest of the team members were relegated to observers forced to watch all of this play out. Each of them was ready to pull their friend out as soon as directed. One more step to take before Nick was freed from his glass prison. Greg watched Grissom and Warrick. The younger CSI wished he could help more, but knew that right now, staying back and letting them calm down Nick was the best thing he could do.
"Bring that over here." The backhoe was directed over the hole in the ground, its life saving dirt ready to pour. Grissom attached the carabiner and rope to Nick's belt buckle.
"OK, Pancho, I want you to close your eyes and hold your breath... Ready... NOW!"
And with the order, Nick Stokes was covered with 200 lbs of dirt after being trapped for 24 hours underground.
"Ready NOW!" Grissom shouted to his team and they pulled on that rope as if everyone's life depended on it. That effort
Nick was literally brought flying out of the hole as the charges went off. He landed safely away from the explosion. The CSI laid there trembling, too scared to move, until the rescue workers came and got him.
After Nick was loaded into the ambulance, Warrick and Catherine, climbed in behind him and the doors were shut. The ambulance drove away with Nick tucked safely inside, finally freed.
The team stood there watching them pull away, Ecklie, Grissom, Sara, Brass, and Greg all stood silent. They had to allow everything to settle in. They had done it. The team had found Nick.
It was barely in time and he was barely alive, but they had come through. As soon as the ambulance was out of sight, the gravity of the situation hit Greg after holding it together after all this time. He fell to his knees, bringing his hand up to his face and sobbed for his friend.
TBC...