CSI:New York : Who Are You? (Don Flack/OFC fanfic)

Saving Gracie

As she drew a card matching the one on the pile Gracie giggled and slapped it down on the bed. 'Snap!' she said. Her laughter filled the room as she hugged the fluffy white teddy bear to her chest.

'You're far too good at this game,' Olivia said with a smile. 'How many times is that you've beaten me?'

Gracie's brow wrinkled in thought. 'Three,' she declared. 'I used to play Snap! with my Jemmy. He always let me win.'

Olivia smiled. That sounded like something a big brother would do. Gracie was sitting upright in her hospital bed, looking pretty in a pink flannel nightdress, her blonde curls had been freshly washed and were swept back with a bright red Alice band, making her big brown eyes appear even larger than they were. She had looked more alert, more vibrant when Olivia had arrived an hour earlier; but the CSI noticed she also looked paler than the day before. The IV tubes were still attached to her left hand along with the saline drip; and the wires that recorded her heart rate and breathing were just visible above the throat of her nightdress. The oxygen looked like it had been pushed closer to her bed and Ella, Gracie's nurse, explained that Gracie had been coughing through the night, and had trouble catching her breath.

Olivia had promised herself she would stay only a half hour, she needed to get to the lab, there was so much work to be getting on with, and she was eager to get on. Danny, Hawkes and Adam were snowed under with the amount of Trace they had gathered. But an hour had passed and she was finding it difficult to leave.

The door to the private room opened and the sound of the busy hospital ward came rushing in. Ringing telephones, feet rushing here and there, the beep of machines and the chitter-chatter of the medical staff. A petite, young woman with thick black hair tied up in a ponytail came inside and closed the door. It was quiet again.

'Is this little one swindling you out of your hard-earned cash?' Ella said, tossing a knowing smile at Olivia.

'She's just way too good for me,' Olivia said, watching while the nurse began plumping the pillows behind Gracie's head.

'How're you feeling, toots?' Ella asked the little girl.

'I'm okay now Livia's here.' The smile Gracie showered upon Olivia made her blue eyes light up in such a way that it had a lump crawling into Olivia's throat. She wished she could make all the child's pain disappear. She wished she could promise her that things would be okay. That she was going to get better and everything would be all right.

But she couldn't do that.

Ella was by the machines making a note of any changes and scribbling them down onto the clipboard that usually hung at the foot of the bed. Gracie had turned her attention back to the pile of cards that were scattered all over the blankets as she happily matched the sets up, and all the while hugging the teddy bear tight.

Leaving home that morning Olivia had taken a cab to the hospital and walking by the gift shop the fluffy white bear complete with tartan ribbon, had caught her eye. The child had none of her own toys or dolls from home, and probably wouldn't be allowed any until they had checked everything for further evidence and officially closed the crime scene. Every child needed something to hug before falling asleep. It was just a bear, but she had wanted to bring a little happiness into the child's life. However brief that happiness may be. Gracie's smile brought balance into the chaos of her own world, a chaos that had suddenly come crashing down into this beautiful little girl's life, corrupting it forever. However long forever was.

'There,' declared Ella, clipping the board into place at the foot of the bed. 'Everything looks good here. Do you need anything? A drink? Something to eat?' Gracie shook her head and Ella smiled at Olivia. 'Okay then, I'll leave you for a little while.'