Title: Trapped
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Through S4, just to be safe
Summary: Sara gets slightly hurt at a crime scene and Grissom is forced to take action. GSR.
Disclaimer: I own nothing CSI related, no matter how hard I wish
Thanks: A big thank you to Ellen for the beta. Also, thanks to everyone who sent me feedback for my first CSI fic 'Masking the Truth', it was much appreciated.
Feedback: Always appreciated
Part 1 of 3
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Nick and Sara approached their crime scene with some dread, having only been told by Grissom that it was a decomp in the desert. Their previous foray was still fresh in their mind, the thought of who they had lovingly named 'soup man' still caused them to shudder at the word 'decomp'. The officers at the scene had assured them the body was not liquefied, but they were nonetheless filled with trepidation and were mentally calculating how many lemons were back at the lab for them to use in their showers when they returned.
"Looks like the officers were right," said Nick, crouching down beside the body. "This guy isn't too far gone, though he does have a lovely covering of maggots."
Sara shook her head at Nick's lighthearted words and looked down at the body. Sure enough, it was more or less intact, but watching maggots on a body was never a pleasurable sight and an involuntary shiver ran down her back.
"I'm gonna check the perimeter," she said, deciding that Nick could deal with the body alone.
"Since when did you get squeamish?" called Nick to her retreating back.
"I didn't, I just figured you could use the practice," she retorted.
The area of the body dump was fairly remote but, although it was known as a hunting area at certain times of the year, this wasn't one of those times, so she felt safe enough to stray a little bit without an officer escort.
Finding no tire tracks, footprints, drag marks or otherwise, Sara realized that she had probably walked in the wrong direction and about-turned to head back the way she had come, planning to walk east after that. However, as she got closer to the dump site, her left foot dropped into a hole and she felt something clamp around her leg. Letting out a scream, she called for help and Nick and one of the officers rushed to her position.
"Sara, what's wrong?" asked Nick as soon as he arrived. He took in the scene in front of him and had to stifle a chuckle. Sara had obviously partially fallen down a hole and now effectively looked like she had one leg shorted than the other. He was about to call her a derogatory name when he saw a look of pain on her face. "Sara, you okay?" he asked.
"Not really," she replied through clenched teeth. "My leg is caught."
"If you got it in the hole, Sara, you can get it out," Nick pointed out logically.
"It's not the hole that's the problem, Nick," she snapped.
"Well, what –" he stopped suddenly, having approached Sara and looked into the hole to see for himself what the problem was. "Oh, wow, that has to hurt," he winced.
"You don't say," said Sara sarcastically.
"What's wrong?" asked the officer who had accompanied Nick.
"It's one of those metal animal traps," explained Nick. "It's activated itself around Sara's leg and is wedged right in the hole."
The officer cringed as Nick spoke and then regained enough composure to move forward and take a look for himself; Sara's foot was wedged in the hole at an angle and the trap was firmly dug into the hole wall and Sara's leg.
"I have a shovel in the car, if you think it would help. Maybe we could expand the hole to get her foot out?" he suggested.
"I don't know if we'll be able to dig without it hurting Sara," said Nick. "Go get the shovel anyway though, while I try to think of another way."
Kneeling down beside her, Nick looked from every angle to try and find a way to remove Sara's foot from the hole. It was obvious that the trap could not be removed from her leg until her foot was free and her foot wouldn't be free until the trap was removed; a true 'catch 22' situation.
"Sara, this may take a little while, why don't you try and lower yourself to the ground, so you can rest?" Nick suggested gently. Sara nodded and started to sit, but then let out a scream and pulled herself upright again. Nick looked up immediately at her cry and then back down at her leg, immediately seeing the problem. "Looks like your movement caused the trap to dig into your leg more deeply," he said, noticing the blood now oozing from her leg.
"Sure as hell feels like that," commented Sara sharply.
"Okay, whoever set this trap had to have gotten it into the hole somehow, so there must be a way to get it out," mused Nick.
"Yeah, only I'm kinda thinking that the hunter didn't want the animal to be able to run free with the trap attached to it, so he probably filled in the hole a bit around it," said Sara.
"We might have to dig you out after all then."
"It can't hurt more than it does now," she said sadly. Nick looked up and smiled to give her some encouragement and she returned it with a weak smile of her own. "One of you is gonna have to literally hold me up while the other digs," she said as she saw the officer returning with a shovel. Nodding, Nick relayed her words to the officer, who took up position behind Sara while Nick tentatively dug the ground around the hole.
"I'm digging a little bit away in the hope that the dirt immediately surrounding you will collapse in, okay, Sara?"
"Sure, Nick, whatever, just hurry up."
Nick's plan worked and the ground fell in a little, without hurting Sara too much. She started to try and wriggle her leg free, but Nick put a hand around her foot to stop her movement.
"Let me ease it out, Sara, I think it'll hurt less," said Nick.
"I bet you say that to all the girls, Nicky," laughed Sara, trying to use humor to take her mind off the pain.
"Well, I am a big guy," he grinned in reply. Using both his hands, he grasped her leg and foot and started to slowly maneuver them free from the hole. "There," he said triumphantly a moment later as he placed her foot on solid ground again. The officer helped Sara to lie down and Nick carefully assessed the trap around her leg. "I don't think I should remove this here, Sara, I don't know if it'll do more damage."
"Am I just supposed to process the scene with a trap around my leg then?" asked Sara sharply.
"No, you're supposed to go to the hospital with a trap around your leg."
"Just take the damn thing off and I'll be fine."
"No."
"Nick!"
"Sara, it's bad enough already, I don't want it to get any worse."
"Nick, if you don't take it off, I will," she insisted.
"Alright, but you're going to hospital as soon as it's removed, okay?"
"No."
"Sara, you're not getting a choice in this," he said firmly. "Officer, can you grab the first aid kit from my trunk, I'm gonna need to wrap this wound as soon as the trap is off."
The officer nodded and returned a few moments later, handing the kit to Nick.
"Grip her leg while I hit the release mechanism," instructed Nick, removing some gauze bandage and tape from the medical kit. He triggered the release mechanism and pulled his hands back before they got caught, watching as the trap hung loosely around Sara's leg. Slipping it over her foot, he silently motioned for the officer to keep holding her leg while he bandaged the wound. "Okay, Sara, I'm done, but you still need to go to hospital."
"I'm fine, Nick," she sighed.
"Sara, it could get infected, this thing doesn't exactly look new," said Nick, indicating the trap. "We'll help you to the SUV and then I'm gonna call Grissom and get him to send someone else out to the scene, then I'll take you to the hospital, okay?"
"Why are you asking me if it's okay when you have no intention to listening to my reply?" she asked pointedly, causing Nick to chuckle.
After Sara was settled in the passenger seat, Nick pulled out his cellphone and hit the speed dial to connect to Grissom.
"Hey, Griss," he said into the phone. "Listen, there's been a bit of an incident here and I need you to send someone else out to process the scene."
"What kind of incident?" asked Grissom.
"Sara's been hurt."
"What happened?" said Grissom urgently.
"She's okay," replied Nick quickly, realizing how much his comment had worried Grissom. "She got her leg caught in an animal trap and stuck down a hole. We've managed to get her out, but her leg is bleeding. I'm gonna take her to the hospital, but I figure you'll want to send someone else out here to take over in the meantime."
Grissom pondered Nick's words and decided on a different course of action.
"No, Nick, you stay at the scene."
"But, Grissom she needs –"
"Let me finish, Nick," said Grissom sternly. "You stay at the scene and get one of the officers to take Sara to the hospital. I'll need to fill out an accident report, so I'll meet her at the hospital."
"Good luck with that," laughed Nick.
"What?"
"She's already refusing to let me take her to the hospital, if I tell her you're gonna meet her there, she'll hop in a cab as soon as she hits Vegas."
"So don't tell her," said Grissom logically. "Just get an officer to take her to the hospital and I'll handle it from there."
"Okay, it'll be Desert Palms."
Ending the call, Nick walked over to the two officers at the scene and asked one of them to take Sara back to Vegas. Officer Norson, who'd helped earlier, readily agreed and said he'd call base while Nick transferred Sara from his vehicle into the officer's car.
"Okay, Sara, you're gonna have to move again," Nick told her as he approached. At her questioning look he explained, "Officer Norson is gonna take you to Desert Palms, Grissom wants me to stay here and keep processing."
"I'll just wait until you're finished," said Sara.
"No, you need to go now, Sara, get your wound cleaned up."
"You'll only be a couple of hours, Nick, I can wait."
"It'll probably take a bit longer than that, Sara, I still have to finish processing the body and then start on the perimeter."
"Whatever, I can wait," she repeated.
"Sara, you're going to the hospital, Grissom's orders."
Rolling her eyes and huffing a sigh, Sara started to climb out of the SUV, allowing Nick to lower her to the ground so that her leg didn't have to take too much weight.
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"You've got to be kidding me!" muttered Sara under her breath as Officer Norson helped her into the hospital ER and she found Grissom waiting for her. More loudly, she asked, "What are you doing here?"
"Waiting for you," replied Grissom simply. Sara glared at him and he smirked for a moment before saying, "You got hurt at a scene, I need to fill out an accident report."
"And it couldn't wait?"
"Someone will need to take you home once you've been treated," he shrugged.
Sara ignored his comment and proceeded to the reception desk where she explained the problem and retrieved the necessary insurance forms. She eventually slumped into a seat and started filling in the forms, jerking away slightly as Grissom sat down beside her.
"Do you need me to wait around?" asked Officer Norson after a few moments of silence.
"No, thanks, I've got it from here," replied Grissom. Sara shot him a look, but he just raised his eyebrows in a challenging manner.
"Thanks for all your help," said Sara to the officer.
"It's no problem, I only joined the force to rescue damsels in distress," he grinned. "If you need me to fill out any accident forms, just give me a call," he said before nodding to them and leaving.
They sat in silence while Sara completed her forms and Grissom then passed her the accident report to fill out while he handed her insurance forms to the receptionist. Eventually, Sara was called back to a curtain by a nurse and, after much protest, finally agreed to be taken there in a wheelchair as she knew her leg would no longer support her; it had been bleeding profusely for the whole trip from the crime scene and the sheer pain was threatening to make her sick.
"Grissom, you should just go," she said as she settled into the wheelchair. "You know how long these things can take."
"I'll wait for you, Sara. As I said earlier, someone will need to take you home."
"I can get a cab."
"I'll wait," he repeated and further conversation was cut off as the nurse wheeled her away.
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"So, what's the verdict?" asked Grissom as he entered the curtain area where Sara had been treated. She had been there for nearly an hour before a nurse finally told him he could see her.
"They had to give me a couple of stitches as a couple of the punctures were pretty big and deep," she shrugged. "They gave me a tetanus shot too, as I was due for another one soon anyway."
"And they gave you a fetching bandage too," smirked Grissom as he noticed that her left pant leg was still rolled up and a white bandage was covering her lower leg. Rolling her eyes, Sara pulled her pant leg down. "Have they said when you can go?" he asked.
"I can go now, the nurse is just getting me some more painkillers," she replied, starting to get up from the bed. Grissom offered a helping hand and she leaned on him as she hopped down onto the floor.
"Should I go get the wheelchair?" he asked seriously, watching her wince as she tried to put weight onto her left leg.
"No, I'm fine," she lied.
"Sara."
"Grissom, I don't want a wheelchair, I just moved in the wrong way, that's all."
Shooting her a disbelieving look, he held out his arm for her to grab onto, but she ignored it and walked past him, limping slightly. The nurse was just entering the curtain area as they were leaving, so Sara took the painkillers and signed the necessary form to allow her to leave.
"Let's get you home," said Grissom as they walked to the exit.
"No," said Sara, shaking her head, "I'm going back to the scene."
"What?"
"I still have processing to do. It's a big area, Nick won't be able to do it all himself."
"He'll manage."
"Grissom, I want to back to the scene," she insisted.
"You're going home, Sara, you need to rest your leg."
"It's fine, I'm able to work." There was an edge to her voice, but Grissom still picked up on the pleading quality and sensed she would argue all night with him if she had to, so he slowly nodded his agreement and led the way to his vehicle.
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TBC…