continued...
Nick headed out to check on a few things. He stopped by the precinct to check in and see if there was anything crucial that needed his attention. When there was nothing demanding his immediate attention he headed out, after giving a progress report on Nat's condition.Nick stopped by his loft to shower, change and dine properly. He scanned the loft and found no sign of electronic eavesdropping and was relieved. He also packed a few new changes of clothes, and tucked a couple bottles of blood into his bag.
He knew the two ladies would enjoy some time alone for a little girl talk. And knew it was good for Natalie.
Nick returned to Natalie's apartment and let himself in. Natalie spotted the paper bag in his hand.
"Chocolate?"
"Yes. Dark chocolate and ice cream."
"Sounds good. What kind of ice cream?"
"Ghiradelli chocolate. Dark chocolate bars, chocolate chunk ice cream," Nick said. "Myra care to join Natalie in her chocolate pig out?"
Natalie stuck her tongue out at Nick, which caused Myra to laugh. She had no doubt that they were good friends, and maybe a little more. She was pretty sure there was no romance, and they had not yet made love. They did have deep feelings for each other though. Now she just had to convince her husband of this, as he still believed they were romantically involved, but wasn't sure if they'd made love. He did suspect they had, but wasn't absolutely sure.
"Sounds good, if Natalie is willing to share."
"Of course, I'll share."
Nick pulled the two quite large sundaes out of the bag along with one of the dark chocolate bars. He took the plastic lids off them and opened one of the bars. He broke it in half and stuck half of it in the side of the ice cream. He grabbed a couple of spoons from the drawer and headed for the two women.
He handed the sundaes to the ladies and took a seat on the nearby chair. "This was the largest sundae they made. I had the guy add a little extra hot fudge."
Nick saw the surprise on Myra's face as she took her sundae.
"I don't think I can eat this much," Myra said.
"I'm sure Nat will be happy to help you finish it," Nick teased.
Nat's response was to stick her tongue out at him again. She had to decide which hand to hold the rather large dish with, knowing it would be heavy. She rearranged her position so she was sitting cross legged on the couch. "How about setting it in my lap?" She said, having solved her problem.
Nick did as requested then took his seat in the nearest chair. He watched Natalie as she surveyed the treat before her. She noticed the three scoops of chocolate ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream, chocolate sprinkles, and a cherry on top. She reached for the cherry after sticking her spoon into a scoop, hoping it would stay put. She plucked the cherry with her slashed wrist and carefully manipulated it into her mouth causing a minimum of pain, and a minimum of stress on the stitches. She then removed the half bar and savored it, a large smile on her face.
Later that night when Nick and Natalie were alone, she told him to go to her lab and retrieve her notebook. She described it and where it was.
He did what she asked him to do, and soon returned.
"Why did you want this?" He asked.
"Read it."
Nick joined Natalie on the couch and quickly read through the notebook, now understanding why she wanted it, and asked him to read it.
"I see we share a lot of the same suspicions. I have a few more to add to it, if you're interested."
"I am." She headed over to the desk and grabbed a pen from the pencil holder and returned to the couch.
Nick started to tell her his new suspicions and quickly noticed that she wasn't writing as fast as usual. "Want me to write it for you?"
"No. Just go a little slower."
"You sure?"
"I'm sure." Natalie finished the last note. There is a slight twinge but it's not too bad.
About half an hour later they finish.
"Sounds like you have some interesting suspicions of your own. Now all we have to do is find a way to link them and find the proof to back it up," Natalie said.
"And not tip our hand. Or endanger our friends."
The next morning the two well dressed men were talking in the older one's office.
"Idiot. How could you mess up like that?" The older man asked the younger one.
"I didn't mess up. Yes, it didn't go according to plan, but it will still work."
"How?"
The younger one told his boss how it would still work just fine and was relieved when he saw a small, wicked grin on his boss's face.
During the week Natalie took it easy. It seemed like one of her friends dropped by at meal times or Nick had the food delivered and set up for her. They also spent time with her during the day or night, whenever they could, knowing she'd need help with stuff. And also because it gave them time to talk about all those things they usually didn't have time to discuss. Nick scanned the apartment once a day and found nothing. He had the latest, most high tech detector made. One that only certain high level agencies had, and that most people didn't even realize existed.
Natalie examined the wounds every day as Nick changed the bandages, and was pleased when there was no sign of infection. She wasn't happy that there would be a quite noticeable scar, but it wasn't as bad as it would've been if she'd gone to the ER. If she'd gone to the ER, it would be almost as wide as a pencil, but not quite. She wondered how she'd cover it up the second one so people wouldn't see them. A part of her didn't care, but a part of her did, especially since she had not done it. She knew no one would believe her. Not even Nick had, until he'd tasted her blood. She decided not to worry about covering them until she needed to.
Natalie caught up on movies she wanted to see both in the theatre and on videotape, books she wanted to read, and her medical journals. She also managed to get more than a full night's sleep most days as her friends tried not to come too early and accidentally wake her.
She and her friends went out when they wanted to. She was careful not to accidentally reopen the wounds, not wanting to have to explain the one hidden under the elastic bandage.
Natalie had to call her boss and get another week off, telling her boss that her wrist still hurt and she wasn't ready to come back, but would if Terri really needed her. Terri knew that Natalie tended to push herself too hard, and often came back too soon after being either sick or hurt and sometimes had relapses. She didn't want that this time so she gave Natalie the week off. She knew that if Natalie wanted more time off she must be in more pain then she let on. She also knew that Natalie wouldn't be as eager to do some of the heavy lifting she needed to do if her wrist still hurt, and would probably put off some of the paperwork as well. Those were enough reasons to justify the extra time off. She also knew Natalie had more than enough sick leave to cover it.
Ten days had passed since Natalie's injury. Nick had taken to sleeping there as often as he could. He knew she felt safer with him there watching over her, and he slept better knowing he'd instantly know if anything was wrong.
That morning, Natalie woke, showered and dressed. Once dressed she took her hairbrush and two fresh bandages out to Nick. The elastic bandage lived on the coffee table so she had it when she needed it. She sat on the couch next to Nick. He took the hairbrush from her and proceeded to brush her hair like he'd done just about every morning since her injury. They both enjoyed the closeness. After he was done, he set the brush on the coffee table and carefully removed the bandages from her wrists.
They both studied the sutured wounds and noticed that they looked healed.
"I think it's time for the stitches to come out. What do you think?" He asked.
"I think you're right."
Natalie headed for her medical bag and quickly returned with a pair of scissors to remove the sutures with. She handed them to Nick and held her wrists out to him. He carefully cut the sutures on the right wrist and removed them. Then he repeated the actions with the left one. They both examined the newly healed wounds again, noticing that the scar was a bit on the red side, knowing that would fade with time.
"I don't want you going back to work, or stressing your wrists for a couple more days. Let them finish healing properly," Nick said.
"I have four days left, then I have to get back to work. If I keep asking for more time off, Terri's going to get suspicious and make me explain why. I'm not ready to do that. She'll want to see the medical records for herself."
"Okay. Four days should be enough time, but when you go back, I want you staying away from bodily fluids, organs, and such stuff for a few days afterwards, if possible. Okay?"
"Okay." She knew he was right. It might not be easy, but she'd do her best to do as asked.
Nick scanned her apartment and was relieved when it came up clean.
"Are you checking yours too?" She asked.
"Yes. Daily."
He could see her fear, even though she tried to hide it and was mostly successful. He knew her well enough to see through her defenses. She saw the concern in his eyes. She too, knew him well enough to see past his facade.
During the next four days Natalie did a little more for herself each day. Nick let her, keeping a close eye on her so she didn't push it too far, too fast.
Natalie and Nick both knew that she had to go back to work tonight. They were up, dressed and ready to go on time.
"Nick, how am I going to cover them? Especially the right one?"
"Have you tried makeup? A bracelet? A single wrap of an elastic bandage?" Nick asked.
"A bracelet won't work during autopsies. I might be able to get away with the bandage for a day or two by explaining that it's a reminder to not overdo it, but it might raise more questions than it would answer. I don't know how long the makeup would last, or if it would all rub off on my clothes. I guess it couldn't hurt to try. But, I think I want to give the wounds a day or two more to heal before I try it. We'll make a pit stop on the way to work and pick up the bandage."
Natalie entered her office in the Coroner's Office and took off her coat, hanging it up on the coat rack. Grace entered and saw Natalie, and that her mood was pretty good. She knew that if Nick and Natalie had fought about her return to work she wouldn't be in a good mood.
"Welcome back."
"Thanks."
"How are your wrists?"
"They're okay," Natalie said.
"What's with the bandage?"
"It's to remind me not to overdo it for the next couple days. You know how it is at the very end, you can overdo it real easily if you're not careful because it feels fine, until..."
"I know. I think you're doing it the smart way."
"I'm glad to hear you're fine. And welcome back," Terri said, having entered a moment ago.
"Thanks. I'm glad to be back."
"Is there anything you can't do?"
"Not really. I have to be careful lifting heavy stuff for another couple days, but that's all."
"Okay, then I won't stop you from getting on with your work."
"Thanks."
Terri knew that Grace would keep an eye on Natalie.
Natalie started on her paperwork, knowing that she couldn't really hurt herself there, outside of a nasty paper cut. Before long, a body came in.
"How about giving me a hand moving the body?" Natalie asked.
"No problem. Feeling better?"
"Yeah. Thanks."
The orderly and Grace moved the body for Natalie.
"Thanks," Natalie said.
"No problem. We've all been hurt and needed a hand."
The orderly left, taking the gurney with him.
"Natalie, will you need any help with the autopsy?" Grace asked.
"I'll be okay."
"If you need help, call me."
"I will."
Natalie changed into her scrubs and gown and had Grace help tie the back of her gown. Natalie gloved up, stretching the glove over the elastic bandage. She completed the external examination and found nothing unusual and not that much that was helpful either. There was very little trace evidence. Natalie picked up the scalpel and made the first cut into the victim to begin the internal examination. She winced just a little. She examined the insides of the body, relieved she didn't have to remove all the organs. She wasn't sure her wrists were up to sawing open the rib cage or the skull.
After the autopsy, she did the paperwork, both relieved and a little disappointed that there was nothing unusual about the case. That it was a straight forward homicide. Once she went as far as she could with the paperwork, she turned to her own investigation.
Later in her shift, she had to drop some reports off at the precinct. Nick smiled as she entered. Schanke saw Natalie as she approached their desks.
"Welcome back. How's the wrists?"
"Better. Thanks. It's good to be back."
"Take it easy, okay?"
"I am."
"Is that a reminder?"
"Yeah. It's too easy to forget until it's too late."
"I know. I did that once, when I was younger. It wound up taking twice as long to heal," Schanke said.
"That's one of the reasons I have trouble with my knee. When you're one of the very few women in your med school class, you can't afford to take long periods of time off if you want to keep up with your studies."
"How did you hurt your knee?"
"Car crash. I was back doing rounds two days after I was released from the hospital. I was still on crutches, but had no choice. I didn't have the time to let it heal naturally. I had to get off the crutches as soon as I could, even if my knee wasn't quite ready for it. I had to pretend all was well when often I went home after a thirty to thirty six hour shift, wrapped it in ice, downed aspirin and cried. Most days I was back on duty within six hours, sometimes as little as four hours. Sometimes it was all I could do not to limp or cry out in pain."
"I totally understand. I played football in high school. Our coach considered anything short of a bone sticking through the skin to be wimping out. I've played with an ankle that was badly sprained, and like you I went home, took painkillers, iced it and cried. I couldn't admit how badly it was hurt. Sports and winning were everything in our school. I hated it, but I was hoping for a college scholarship so I had to play. Another time I played with a wrist that was so badly sprained that I couldn't even pick up a pencil without wanting to scream out in pain. And try getting tackled when you have a couple of cracked ribs."
"You should not have been playing with cracked ribs. You could've punctured a lung if one had broken," Natalie said.
"I know that now. I got kicked off the team when I broke my leg during a game and couldn't continue to play. A part of me was greatly relieved by the injury and part of me wished I could still play for the chance at a scholarship. I didn't have to rush back to anything until my leg had fully healed. It was nice to have that choice," Schanke said.
"I too had an injury I had to fight my way through. It was before I joined the police department. I had been stabbed and had to fight for my life with the blade still in my shoulder. It had to be at least six inches long and was wider than usual. I was out in a very rural area where you couldn't see the next house. There were probably fifteen miles between them. The hospital wasn't much more than a clinic and the doctor yanked the knife out, then sewed it up without the benefit of painkillers." Nick saw both his friends wince. "He didn't believe in them for anything short of major surgery. I was attacked again before I had fully healed and it hurt to fight back. I'm not sure which hurt more, fighting with the blade still in my shoulder or fighting before it had fully healed," Nick said. "I thought I was going to die as he yanked the knife out."
"He just yanked it out?" Schanke asked unable to believe it.
"Yes. He put his foot against my shoulder near the knife, grabbed hold of it and yanked." Nick saw his friends wince at the thought of it.
Natalie's beeper went off and moments later Cohen came out of her office, approached them, and told Nick and Schanke that there was a homicide. Natalie pulled Nick aside a moment.
"When was that story?"
"A few months before..." Nick's expression tell Natalie that it was before he was brought across.
Nick and Natalie worked together on their research, being careful to keep it top secret, not wanting to endanger their friends. They had decided the first thing to try and figure out was the very basics - who and why. Natalie knew that she couldn't stop buying food from all of her favorite places, partly because she liked those places and partly because it would alert those who tried to kill her, and who drugged her.
She did feel a little better but was still tired. She thought of giving herself a drug test but figured they wouldn't be stupid enough to make it something that easy to find.
Grace and Schanke noticed that Natalie seemed to be pretty much back to her old self.
The next three weeks were very busy for both the police and Coroner's Office. They had to deal with OD's, suicides, gunshot victims, stabbings, a hit and run, and a strangling. Nick and Natalie were so busy they didn't have time to work on their own investigation.
As soon as their caseload lightened up a bit, Nick and Natalie were back on their own investigation. They reread her notes to refresh their memories. Natalie worked on the forensic end while Nick worked on the legal end. They seemed to have hit a roadblock as they followed their few slim leads to nowhere. The dead guys from the same companies seemed to be completely unrelated to each other. They had none of the same friends, didn't hang out at the same places, didn't have the same at work connections, and didn't know each other.
The younger well dressed man briefed his boss. He told him he believed the problem had been taken care of. The older well dressed man was pleased, yet still a little concerned. He told the younger man to keep an eye on it anyway. The younger man didn't see why he should, but was not about to question his boss. He told his boss he would.
About a week later, Natalie was called to a crime scene on Nick's night off. Cohen made Nick take the night off. Nick hadn't argued as he figured Natalie was reasonably safe at work. Neither he nor Nat thought they'd try again.
The victim was a female about thirty-five with fiery red hair. She had been brutally beaten. Natalie's preliminary cause of death was a crushing blow to the skull, one that didn't instantly kill, but the victim bled to death from the beatings. Natalie wasn't sure if the victim had been conscious or not.
Natalie beat the body back to her lab. She grabbed a candy bar from the machine to keep her stomach from growling during the autopsy. She promised herself she'd get a proper meal after she finished.
Natalie was in her scrubs and gown by the time the body arrived. She helped the orderly move the body to the autopsy table. Natalie first did the external examination, documenting all the wounds and bruises from the beating. She found an unusual mark in the middle of the victim's back and carefully documented it, taking photographs as well as making careful notes about it. Something was tickling the back of her mind that she'd seen that mark before, but not recently. X-rays were taken showing numerous fractures. Her skull had been fractured twice, she had four broken ribs, one of which had nicked her lung. She had a broken ulna and radius, and from the way her arm was broken, it had been twisted until it broke. Natalie shuddered. She started the internal examination of the woman's body by making the standard Y incision. During her internal examination she discovered the woman was ten weeks pregnant. A part of Natalie wondered if the woman knew and another part of her wondered if that was what caused her death.
Natalie took a second look at some of the injuries and realized that some were in that area. It almost seemed as if the attacker was trying to kill the fetus. This led Natalie to realize that the woman most likely knew she was pregnant. She wondered who had killed the victim, was it the father, the one who learned he wasn't the father, a stranger or something she didn't yet know. Natalie wondered if it was somehow related to the investigation she and Nick and were doing.
Natalie did as much of her paperwork as she could without the results of tests currently underway. She then went to find Grace and see if she was ready for lunch. Since both women were starving, they headed out. Natalie and Grace went to their favorite place.
The rest of the shift was taken up with a mid thirties male found dead in his car from an apparent OD. After the toxicology report came back, it was doubtful the guy could've made it down the street with that much speed in him, let alone halfway across the city.
Nick and Schanke's work on the pregnant woman's case brought up suspicions of who might've done it, but nothing solid enough to pursue.
Natalie had a little better luck but still not enough to bring anyone in. She added her suspicions to her notebook and reread her notes hoping that maybe something would trigger another lead. That little voice in the back of her mind told her there was a connection but wasn't sure what it was, just yet.
Natalie's office was searched again while she wasn't there. The computer's information was again downloaded onto an optical drive. The files were searched and Natalie's notebook of suspicions was read through.
Schanke and Grace noticed that Natalie seemed tired, and slightly not quite herself. It was pretty subtle, unlike the last time. They figured it was the heavy caseload and the brutality of the recent crimes. Nick noticed it as well, but figured it was probably the same things as his friends did.
There were a few slow days for which everyone was grateful as it gave them a chance to relax and catch their breath. Natalie tried to catch up on her sleep. She and Nick worked on their investigation but were frustrated by the lack of leads. They had a bunch of clues but nothing seemed to connect.
Nick, Natalie, Schanke and Grace finished a difficult case where they managed to get a child molesting coach off the streets. He had killed the six year old boy and molested five other children. The case had sickened them due to it's horrific nature.
Natalie, Nick and Schanke went out to dinner one night during their shift to celebrate the arrest of a major scumbag. It was a drug dealer working around a local park selling to adults or children, trying to get minors to sell for him. There had been two OD's from the drugs they traced back to the dealer. They felt good for getting the dealer off the street, even if they knew there were others waiting to take his place. They concentrated on the one they had removed from selling any more poison.
The next week started out average but by the end of it, they'd grown quite busy at both the precinct and the Coroner's Office. Everyone was looking forward to their day off, hoping that they did indeed get the day off.
On their night off, Grace arrived at Natalie's apartment for their girl's night out and rang the doorbell.
When there was no response she knocked. "Natalie? You there?" She knew her friend was somewhere in the building as her car was in her assigned parking spot.
She rang the bell again. When there was no response she again knocked. Maybe she's in the laundry room.
"Natalie?"
When there was still no response Grace dug out her keys and found the one for her friend's apartment. She wanted to make sure nothing was wrong.
Grace unlocked the door and entered, shutting it behind her. She knew Natalie was home when she saw her purse, today's mail and her keys on the furniture piece by the door. She knew Natalie wouldn't have left her apartment without her keys.
"Natalie? You here?" Grace called out, not wanting to startle her friend, if she should suddenly pop out of the bedroom.
Grace peeked into the living room, the dining room, the kitchen and found no sign of her friend. She headed for the bedroom. She knocked on the door before she entered.
She noticed the bed had not been slept in and grew concerned. She turned and took a few steps across the room.
"Oh my God! Natalie!" Grace exclaimed, shocked by the sight before her.
She couldn't believe her eyes. Natalie was stretched out in the bath tub both wrists bleeding heavily from the gash across each wrist. Grace felt for a pulse on Natalie's neck, terrified she might not find one, and was greatly relieved to feel a steady pulse. It was only then that she saw the scalpel in Natalie's lap. Grace carefully removed it and set it on the countertop, out of harm's way.
Grace rushed into the bedroom, picked up the phone on Natalie's nightstand and dialed 911.
"I need an ambulance. My friend is bleeding heavily," Grace said, knowing that the address would automatically be picked up by the computer at the 911 center. "It's apartment 42 and the door is unlocked. I need to go try to stop the bleeding and the phone cord won't reach that far."
The 911 operator let her go, knowing that stopping the bleeding was the most important thing she could do until help arrived.
Grace reentered the bathroom, grabbed two hand towels, left them folded as they were and grabbed hold of Natalie's two wounds, using the towels to apply pressure. When there was no response from Natalie she grew even more worried.
"Natalie, honey, why didn't you talk to me? Nick, Schanke, Myra, anyone? You seemed okay earlier, what happened?" Grace knew that just because someone seemed okay didn't mean they were.
About five minutes later the paramedics entered Natalie's apartment, startling Grace.
"We're in the bathroom."
About a minute later the paramedics were outside the bathroom.
"We'll take over now," said one of the paramedics as he entered. Every time he responded to a call like this he wondered what had driven the person to such desperation. From the concern on the other woman's face, it was obvious that the victim wasn't alone, that she did have people who cared about her.
The paramedic knelt down and took Natalie's vitals. They were stable, but he knew how quickly things could change.
He peeled back the towels and saw that the bleeding was slowed down by the pressure. He ripped open a couple of gauze bandages and taped them securely over the wounds.
"Have you tried to talk to her? What's her name?"
"I have. No response. Natalie." Grace realized she should probably give her friend's full name. "Natalie Lambert."
"Natalie, can you hear me?" The paramedic asked as his partner entered the bathroom. His concern grew at the lack of response.
Together they lifted their patient out of the bath tub and carried her to the stretcher in the bedroom. The paramedic slipped an oxygen mask over her face as the other one strapped her in.
"Do you know if she's on any medications, or allergic to any?" He asked as he started an IV to get some fluids into her.
"I don't think she's taking anything or is allergic to any medications?"
"Is there anyone that needs to be called?" He asked as he closed up his emergency kit.
"Yes. Can I ride with her?"
"Okay."
Grace pulled her cell phone out of her purse and dialed the precinct. She knew Nick had to work tonight. She totally missed the envelope on the dresser.
"Knight."
"They're taking Natalie to Toronto General. I'll explain when I get there," Grace said as she hung up.
She locked Natalie's front door after the paramedics had passed through, and followed them into the elevator.
Before long the paramedics had loaded Natalie onto the ambulance and the driver gave Grace a hand into the ambulance before shutting the back doors.
Meanwhile back at the precinct, Schanke looked up, and saw his partner's face go even paler, something he had not thought possible.
Nick hung up the phone, totally oblivious to everything and everyone.
"Bad news?" Schanke asked, not too surprised when he received no response. "Earth to Nick..."
Nick snapped out of his trance. "What?"
"Bad news?"
"Yes. That was Grace. Grab your coat."
"Nat okay?" Schanke asked quite worried.
"I don't know."
Nick and Schanke grabbed their coats and were on their way out.
In the car, Schanke asked, "Toronto General?"
"Yes."