Emma Grace woke up to the smell of coffee. When she looked up, she saw Catherine standing beside her. Catherine had a cup of coffee in one hand and a to-go bag from a bakery in the other.
"Thought you could use some pretty strong coffee this morning. I also remembered that you like breakfast bagels." Catherine gave Emma Grace a smile as she handed over the items in her hands.
Emma Grace checked on Nick; he was still sleeping peacefully. Emma Grace stood and hugged Catherine.
"How are you holding up?" Catherine asked her.
"How are you?" Emma Grace asked holding Catherine at arm's length and studying the older woman.
"I feel like this is my fault," Catherine started as she sat down in a chair beside Emma Grace. "If I hadn't given out the assignments Nick wouldn't have gone out there." Catherine looked over at Nick and let out a sigh.
"Arriving at the scene and finding his work vest," Catherine cleared her throat before she continued. "Made my heart sink. Seeing him from that video brought helplessness." Catherine had a few tears fall down her face.
"Where did the money come from? Grissom said it was your story to tell." Emma Grace squizzed Catherine's hand with reassurance as she spoke.
"I went to my father, Sam Braun. He gave the money to me, and I convinced Grissom to use it. We decided to say the money was donated anonomusly if anyone asked."
"Got it." Emma Grace gave a small smile. The first smile on her face since she received news of what had happened to Nick.
"We were all there and on edge when processing the explosion. Greg found a spot where Nick could have been buried. I think all of our hearts broke when we found out it was a dog that Walter Gordon had experimented on." Catherine was letting the tears fall from her face at this point.
"Thank God you did find Nick though," was all Emma Grace could manage to whisper.
Catherine let out a small chuckle as the tears continued to fall. "I couldn't have been happier when the detector picked up on the webcam signal. We had finally got Nicky. Then Hodges calls me to tell me there were explosions under Nick. I felt hopeless. I didn't know what we were going to do. Thank God Grissom kept his head though!"
There was a knock on the door followed by Greg walking in. Emma Grace stood up from her seat to meet Greg halfway and hugged him.
"How is he doing?" Greg asked as he and Emma Grace made their way back to Catherine at Nick's bedside.
"He's doing okay. He's sleeping a lot, but that's what he needs right now," Emma Grace said as she brushed her fingers through Nick's hair.
"Can you believe I was playing a stupid board game with Hodges when Nick left for that crime scene. I didn't know anything had happened until Sara came back to the lab with the evidence." Even though Greg was talking to Emma Grace and Catherine, he didn't take his eyes off of Nick. It still seemed unreal that all of this had happened and that Nick had survived it all.
Emma Grace and Catherine sat quietly, letting the younger CSI get everything off of his chest. "I almost wish it had been Nick's stalker from three years ago. I hate that this was random and Nick had to be the one who suffered," Greg continued.
Emma spoke in a low voice, "what did you find out about Kelly Gordon?" She knew that the woman hadn't had anything to do with Nick being kidnaped, but she hadn't helped them either, and Emma couldn't help but hate her.
Greg looked at Emma Grace as he told her what she wanted to know. "She was on year three of a five-year sentence for accessory to murder. Apparently, her boyfriend killed someone. Kelly wasn't any help in answering why her dad did this." Emma could hear the anger in Greg's voice as he pointed at Nick laying in the hospital bed.
The three sat and talked for a few more minutes. Soon, Emma Grace was left alone with a sleeping Nick. Emily, Joshua, Andrew, and Ashley came into the hospital room to watch over Nick. Emma Grace reluctantly left to check on Maggie Hope, get some food, and a much-needed nap.
Four hours later Emma Grace walked into Nick's hospital room and was greeted with an awake Nick Stokes.
"Hey, Gracie," Nick croaked while giving Emma the best smile he could.
"Nicky." His name came out as a small cry as Emma Grace covered her mouth with tears running down her face. Emma made her way over to Nick's bedside and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. Nick reached a shaky hand up and brushed some of the tears off of Emma Grace's cheek.
The two were interrupted by the doctor coming in to check on Nick and ask him questions about how he was feeling and what he remembered. Emma Grace talked to Nick, reassuring him that traveling to Las Vegas had not caused any problems for her or Maggie Hope.
Soon, Emma Grace left Nick's room so his family members could come in and check on him. Emma Grace was in the family waiting room that had become the Stokes family headquarters pacing the floors with a four-week-old Maggie Hope in her arms. Emma was trying to get the little girl to go back to sleep.
During Emma Grace's fourth round of pacing, there was a knock at the door. Emma knew if it had been anyone from the family they would have walked in without knocking. Emma glanced down at Maggie who was still awake. "Come in," was Emma's answer to whoever was on the other side of the door.
Jim Brass walked through the door. "Hey, Jim," Emma Grace said with a smile on her face as she went and hugged the older man.
"Hey, Emma. Who's this?" Brass asked looking at the small baby in Emma Grace's arms.
"This is Maggie Hope. My daughter." Emma held Maggie up so Brass could get a better look at her.
It took Jim a few minutes to remember Emma Grace's pregnant friend, Megan, that had been living with Emma for a while. Jim remembered Grissom telling him a few weeks back that Nick had taken some time off because his childhood friend Megan had died during childbirth.
"It's nice to finally meet you, Maggie Hope," Brass said in a soft voice as he let the baby grab on to his finger. Maggie made a fussing noise and began to cry.
"I'm sorry. Being somewhere strange has messed up her sleeping schedule a little." Emma started pacing again.
Seeing that Emma Grace was tired, Jim Brass decided to step in. "Do you mind if I hold her?"
Emma smiled and handed the baby over to Brass. When he made sure he had a good hold on the baby, Brass started to gently rock Maggie. "She's tiny."
"She just turned four-weeks-old. I wouldn't have brought her here, but it was a family emergency." Emma Grace sank into a chair as she watched Brass and Maggie Hope. "You're good with babies."
"I have a daughter. Her name is Ellie Rebecca Brass. She's twenty-two, going to be twenty-three this year. September twenty-fourth was the day she came into this world and changed my life forever." Brass couldn't help but smile as he talked about his little girl.
"Why hasn't she ever come around?" Emma had a feeling this was a touchy subject for Brass.
Brass gave a humorless chuckle. "That's a complicated and long story."
"I have time. And besides, you are a great baby whisperer." Emma Grace gestured to the almost asleep Maggie Hope in Brass's arms.
Brass smiled down at the baby and took the chair beside Emma. He proceeded to share the whole story of who Ellie was and advised Emma to not lie about Maggie's biological mom when Maggie got older.
Maggie Hope fell asleep in Brass's arms while different members of the Stokes family came in and out of the room with updates about Nick. After Emma Grace and Jim Brass finished talking, Jim placed the now sleeping Maggie Hope in her bassinet and left. One of Nick's sisters was in the room, so Emma walked out with Brass and the two made their way to Nick's hospital room.
Warrick was sitting beside Nick's hospital bed when Emma walked in. It was obvious the two men had been crying, and there was a coin on Nick's bedside table. Brass talked to Warrick and Nick for a few minutes and left.
"Want to tell me what this represents?" Emma asked holding up the coin. Nick took Emma's other hand in his and locked their fingers together. He gave Warrick a small nod, and Warrick proceeded to re-tell the events of what happened to Nick from his point of view. All three of them were crying before Warrick had finished speaking.
The day after Nick woke up Al and his wife and David and his girlfriend stopped by to check on Nick. Surprisingly, Nick told Al and David about his dark dream of being on the autopsy table during his kidnapping. It was the first time Nick had spoken about the event that lead to him in the hospital. Both Al and David managed to ease his mind and change the subject.
Nick was in the hospital for a week and a half after he woke up. The Stokes family did not start flying back home until the week was up and someone from the lab was always at Nick's bedside. After some persuading from his biological and work-family Nick agreed to go back to Texas and take some extended time off. His doctors agreed it was the best thing he could do to help himself recover fully.