Disclaimer: Don't own them.
A/N: This is the last chapter in my small Vartann centric tale. Please let me know what you think.
Vartann ran hard on the treadmill, trying to imagine the morning heat on his face and that the sound of the treadmill was replaced by the slapping of his feet on the pavement. Given the fact that he knew it was nearly noon outside and he could hear the music in Norman's apartment from the surveillance equipment, it wasn't working very well. He couldn't wait for something to go down so that they could get out of this stakeout. Brass had promised him a reprieve if they weren't out of it by the weekend. He and Cav would take their places for a few days. Alex would pity Brass having to share the space with Ed, but he wouldn't turn down the chance to get back to his own apartment.
He finished his run and hit the bathroom for a quick shower. He and Sofia said their goodbyes and she left to meet up with the narc team. They knew Norman's appointment with Donnie was around 2:00 pm. Alex settled in on the couch, prepared for a long afternoon of nothing. He watched as Norman came down the hallway from the bedroom with a tray of what looked to be the remains of a lunch. He seemed to take a lot of meals in his bedroom. Vartann was beginning to think he might know why, and it made him very edgy. Norman came back across the screen and seemed to be punching numbers on his cell phone. Vartann listened as Norman talked, obviously to Donnie.
"I'll meet you at your house. We can take a look at the piece, then we'll go to lunch and negotiate," he was saying. Vartann was wondering why the man would need to eat again, unless his suspicions were right. Alex knew what the two men were actually trading. He immediately dialed the narcs in the car outside and explained the situation.
"I'm going in there, and I probably need backup," he said. Within minutes, the three were going through Norman's apartment door. They quickly secured the living room and Vartann headed for the back bedroom. He opened the door to see nothing out of the ordinary.
"What the hell? We better be finding something quick or get our asses out of this apartment," said the narcotics agent. Vartann believed his name was Blackwell. He ignored the man and kept looking. The answer was here somewhere. Then he realized that this bedroom had a much bigger closet than the one in the apartment he and Sofia had been staying in next door. He opened the closet door to find half the closet taken up by an enclosed space with a heavy duty, locked door.
"We've got to get this door open," Vartann said.
"We've got bolt cutters in the car," Blackwell offered. His partner, Fretin, went to retrieve it. "If you're right, they can arrest that SOB now," the narc said.
"I know I'm right," Alex said, lowering his icy gaze on the officer. He could feel the seconds ticking away as they waited for Fretin. He thought he could hear movement in the small enclosure. "We're going to get this asshole this time."
Finally Fretin arrived with the bolt cutters. They all paused for a moment.
"Can we do this, legally?" said Fretin. Blackwell looked at Vartann. He took the bolt cutters from the man.
"We're doing it. I'm thinking just cause – we suspect someone has been harmed," Vartann said while positioning the bolt cutter. The lock easily fell away. He pulled his gun and his badge, positioning his badge in an extended arm ahead of him and his gun at his side. He spoke in his calmest voice through the door. "My name is Det. Alex Vartann. I have two more detectives from the LVPD out here with me. We're opening the door now. Please don't panic, we're here to help you." With that, he pushed the door open and the three cautiously moved to look inside.
"Holy Hell," Blackwell uttered. The small closet within a closet contained one very dazed, very frightened little girl. There was a pallet on the floor and a small "potty chair" in the corner. She was chained to the wall in a pair of handcuffs. Vartann picked the bolt cutters back up and cut the chains. He reached out to the girl, who couldn't have been more than 9 or 10. She shrank back, but peered at him from under a mop of red, curly hair. He picked his badge back up and showed it to her.
"We're here to rescue you, honey," he softly said. She allowed him to pick her up and carry her out of the prison.
Sofia arrived at the hospital worn out and disheveled from the days work. After receiving the surprising communication from Vartann and the other narcs, they had busted into Donnie Demento's house and arrested both the men. They had found another girl, this one around 14, in the house. CSI's had been called to both residences, and now Archie Johnson was in the dreaded process of going through both computers and hordes of DVD's. Sofia didn't relish the prospect of seeing the result of that drudge work. Catherine Willows and Warrick Brown had been the first CSI's to the scene, and Cath had ended up going with the teen to the hospital. Sofia was relieved. She didn't want to go with this one to the hospital. Bad enough when it was a grown woman. She didn't know how Catherine stood it, knowing that she had one around the same age at home. After booking the men and going through the paperwork, she had seen Brass at the office.
"Where's Vartann?" she asked. She had figured he would be there too, finishing up paperwork himself.
"The little girl he found – she wouldn't let go of him. Her parents are coming in from California, so Alex volunteered to stay with her," Brass informed her. "You would have thought she would have preferred Sara Sidle, but the whole time Sara was processing her, she was clinging to his hand like she was drowning." Brass smiled in a sad way.
Sofia finished up, and found herself heading to the hospital. Now she was standing in the little girl's room. The girl was asleep in the bed and Vartann was asleep in a recliner that had been pulled as close to the bed as possible. She walked over and pulled a blanket up around him, then turned to walk out, thinking she would leave a message at the nurse's station.
"Hey," he quietly croaked behind her. She turned around to see his blue eyes shining out at her in the darkness of the room. "You look like hell."
"Thanks. You look like a beacon of rest and relaxation yourself," she returned. They were speaking in hushed tones, aware of the sleeping child. "You rescued two girls today, Det. Vartann," she said, and he was pleased to hear a little admiration in her voice.
"I heard you found a girl at the other residence. She OK?" he asked, rubbing his face with one hand tiredly.
"She's alive. And she's out of that situation, thanks to you," Sofia said. "How did you know?"
"The teen prostitute that we had suspected him of killing – her body had ligature marks that were partially healed. We had always thought she had been kept bound for some time before her death. We never had enough to get a warrant for his apartment though," Alex said, looking at the red mop of hair that was covering the small child's face. "And in the back of my mind, it kept bothering me that he was taking trays to the bedroom. Today, when he took his lunch tray out of the bedroom, and then turned around and made plans for lunch on the phone, I just knew. I knew he had someone else, and that this was the 'piece' they had kept talking about." He finally turned and looked back at Sofia. "Thanks for coming by," he said. It meant a lot that she had come around to see about him.
"It's what partners do," she replied. She patted his leg and stood up. "I'm going to my own apartment for a stiff drink and a long shower. Can I bring you anything?"
"No. I'll see you tomorrow," he said, and watched her as she left. Then he turned his attention back to the sleeping little girl to his right.
After a couple of days of interviews, paperwork and finally seeing the little red haired Cecile back in the company of her family, Vartann made it back to the bar that was part of his usual after shift routine. He was surprised when Sofia sat down beside him.
"Hello partner," she said with a smile. "Haven't seen you in a couple of days."
"Yeah, it's been busy, for both of us, I imagine," Alex said, taking a pull off his beer. He motioned to the bartender. "Get my friend here a drink. Anything she would like," he said, gesturing expansively. Sofia laughed and ordered a beer, and with that, Alex thought they became friends - real friends, not just partners. He had never imagined that the friend he drinking beers with would be the ice princess, but then he guessed she had never imagined it would be the guy that hated fat chicks.
"And so you know, your record's a little better around the lab," she told him. He looked at her questioningly. "I put word out that you're not the dick everyone thought." It was blunt words, but her smile softened it.
"And why would you do that?"
"Because you're not the dick that every one thought." They both chuckled at that one.
"Glad to hear that someone thinks so."
"Well, you're not back to hottest detective status, but you'll get there. Especially now that you are a bonafide hero," she said. She stood up to go, and turned back around. "So, tomorrow … I'll buy the beers," she said.
"Sure," Alex answered. She gave him a little wave and walked out.
Vartann mused on it while he was running later, this new friendship where he had least expected it. He hadn't ever had close women friends. Mona hadn't been fond of the idea, and to be honest, he hadn't been comfortable with it.
But things changed. There was no Mona to worry about it, and right now, Alex couldn't be picky about friends. Sofia being a woman might have a positive. Maybe she could help his reputation enough around the lab to get Judy to go out with him. He thought he was about ready to date again.
And someone once told him that everything happened for a reason.
A/N: Let me know how I did in a review.