Shift had just started for CSI and D.B. called his crew into his office. They gathered around his desk waiting for their assignments. "Alright we have a 419, possible 420 behind a strip club in Old Town, Greg, Hodges Dave you'll meet Brass over there. Here's the address." He handed Greg the address and silently dismissed them.

"So what about us D.B.?" Nick asked. "What do we get?" He motioned to CSI Sarah, Julie and himself. "Super secret desert case?"

Nick flashed his 500 watt smile, D.B knew he was about to take the wind out of the man.

"Yeah come on D.B. what's with the secret squirrel stuff?" Sarah chided her new boss.

D.B. pinched the bridge of his nose, hoping to push back the stress headache that was building, "Nick, Finlay, Sidle have a seat." They did as they were asked and D.B. did the same. "There was a 426 called in at The Bellagio."

"Oh well we can handle that." Nick said in his usual cheerful 'go get 'em' tone. Plus he might be able to sneak off and see Andra, she was staying there with her girlfriends this weekend.

"No Nick, Finlay and Sidle will be working that scene. You're heading to Desert Springs Hospital with me."

Nick was getting a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, he quickly looked at the screen of his cell phone, no missed calls or texts.

"It's Andra, Nick. She's the 426. She was found by her girlfriends in their suite."

"What! How! What's going on here?" Nick was growing more anxious and furious by the minute. "Why are we still here?"

"She's with the doctors, I've talked to her already. She said she didn't want you there until after they did the kit." D.B was using his calm fatherly tone to try and calm Nick down before he spent time in the car with him.

'The kit, the kit, the kit...' Nick's mind was racing and blank all at the same time, he knew what the kit was he just couldn't access that part of his memory right now, there was too much else going on in his mind right now.

"Does she have anyone with her?" Finlay asked with concern for her partner's Fiancee. "Sometimes those rape kits can be more dehumanizing than the rape itself if the doctor is a real ass."

D.B. nodded, "Her friends are with her. She told me explicitly she didn't want Nick to have to see the kit."

Nick dropped his head in his hands and was trying to get a grasp on the situation, his fiancee was in the hospital dealing with being raped and she was telling his boss how to handle him. 'This is not normal!' Was the only thought he could hold onto. "Why her?" The words were soft and barely escaped his lips, he wasn't even sure he had spoken them until D.B. answered him.

"We don't know Nick, but we're going to find out. Trust us to handle this."

Nick nodded solemnly, he knew the drill he was off this case and any cases possibly tied to it. He might as well go on leave for awhile.

"Alright, let's get going."

"We'll let you know if we find anything D.B." Sarah tried to reassure Nick more than their boss as she and Julie left. They each gave Nick a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder as they headed out to process their scene.

The usually quick 20 minute ride to the hospital was tense and seemed to drag on forever. D.B. noticed that Nick's jaw was ticking and that he kept flexing and relaxing his hands like he was going to hit someone.

"Nick, I'm not going to bore you with trivial platitudes that are just going to piss you off so I'm just going to tell you that you need to try and calm down."

"CALM DOWN! CALM DOWN! ARE YOU SERIOUS D.B! WE'RE WE IN THE SAME ROOM! CALM DOWN!" Nick exploded at D.B. thinking he was trivializing the situation.

"Yes Nick calm down, you can yell and scream and kick and punch things back at the station. Hell we have a shooting range. But now, here for her you need to calm down. This is about meeting her where she's at and supporting her. If she sees you seething like The Incredible Hulk she is going to stonewall you."

Nick was silent for a moment allowing D.B.'s words sink in. "Sorry D.B." For a moment Nick felt like he was back home in Texas getting a lecture from his father.

D.B. parked the car. "It's okay, we're here."

Nick looked up at the hospital in front of him, he'd been there hundreds of times to meet with witnesses and victims. Tonight though the illuminated letters of the 'Desert Springs Hospital' looked less inviting and comforting and more omniscient and sinister.

When they arrived at Andra's room there was a uniformed officer stationed outside the door. This was highly unusual. "Hey Brooks," D.B. greeted the officer. "What's going on here?"

"Captain ordered it. He thinks this was personal." The officer looked over at Nick. "Sorry Stokes. We've got your back man."

Nick nodded mechanically, remembering some politness, "Thanks man." He managed to mumble the words with no emotion, he was staring at the door in front of him.

"What makes him think that?" D.B. inquired.

"They found a note." The officer paused for a moment. "It was addressed to Stokes."

D.B. nodded in understanding, "Thanks Brooks."

For the second time in an hour Nick felt his world being turned upside down and inside out. How can this be real? Who hated him so much that they were willing to destroy the person he loved?

"I'd love to let you guys in but she's still being interviewed." Brooks offered.

Nick just nodded in understanding and walked over to one of the hard plastic red chairs lining the walls of the E.R. and plopped down.

D.B. stayed back and talked to the officer, trying to get more information out of him.

Nick thought back to the day he met Andra, it was purely a chance meeting. He was supposed to be off that day but Greg was sick, food poisoning or something, and he was called in. The team had been working a case for awhile, they were tracking a serial killer who was suspected of having bodies all over the U.S., New York, Chicago L.A, Texas, New Mexico, and now Vegas. They called in Dr. Armstrong from the university to psychologically profile the suspect and help out CSI but Armstrong had been having trouble getting around in his older years so he sent in his protege Andra O'Neil. From the moment Nick laid eyes on her he was entranced. He loved everything about her.

-February 26, 2010-

The team arrived at their latest crime scene, an abandoned shack in the desert. There were three bodies, all women, under 30, bound, gagged, and killed in the same fashion. There was talk of these bodies being linked to unsolved cases in at least 5 other cities.

D.B. called nick over from where he was collecting evidence. "Hey Nick, this case may be bigger than we think."

"Yeah I heard. This guy has bodies all over the country."

"Exactly we had to call in help on this one."

"Who?" Nick asked, clearly confused.

"Dr. Armstrong form the university."

Nick smiled, "Oh the criminal profiler? I love that guy. He's got tons of great stories about cases he's worked on over the years and he's always willing to teach us about profiling. I've gone to a few of his lectures."

"So you know he's in a wheelchair these days."

"Yeah, how is he going to get around out here?"

"He's not. He's sending his protege. Andra O'neil."

Nick scowled, whenever you got the replacement it was a far cry from dealing with the real thing.

"She'll be here in half and hour, play nice."

Nick nodded and went back to his work.

Half an hour later an officer was calling his name "I'm over here," Nick answered.

"CSI Stokes this is Dr. Andra O'Neil. Dr. O'Neil, CSI Stokes will be your escort through the crime scene."

"Thank you officer." Andra smiled at the officer as he left.

'Damn she's pretty' Nick thought, this just got much easier. Nick took a moment to take her in, about 5'6", long brown hair although years of investigation taught him that it was not it's natural color well that and the perfectly placed highlights, large brown eyes, lightly tanned skin, tone body and her breasts well those just looked perfect... Nick unconsciously licked his lips as he looked her up and down one last time.

"Umm CSI Stokes..." Andra called to him snapping him out of his fantasy.

"What huh? Stokes, Nick Stokes." Nick had no idea what to say, he just hoped she hadn't caught him checking her out.

"Yes I'm aware." She smiled impishly, "Now if you're done checking me out we'll get to work."

'Damn' he thought, he was caught. "I, umm, sorry." He blushed trying to cover his tracks. "When D.B. told me that Dr. Armstrong was sending his protege I wasn't exactly expecting you."

"Ahh, you were expecting a slightly overweight man, mid-thirties, possibly balding, who would probably talk your ear off about how the next comic book convention coming to town." She chided him.

"Sort of," he confessed.

"Well CSI Stokes, when we put our assumptions aside we can be pleasantly surprised. Although I do sort of enjoy Comic-Con when I get a chance to go." She winked at him and started to walk toward the scene.

Nick quickly caught up with her. "Call me Nick."

"Alright Nick, call me Andra."

They worked that case for months, Nick loved his work but he never remembered LOVING a case. He walked into work everyday more excited than the last to work the case with Andra. He taught he about soil density and entomology and striation patterns and she taught him about criminal psychology and mental illness. Eventually over time their conversations became more relaxed and intimate and less work related. Nick was soon finding reasons to stop by Andra's office at the university, and asking her out for coffee.

The first time Nick stayed over at Andra's place almost ended in a calamity.

Nick had stayed over at Andra's and was feeling on top of the world, he walked into CSI with a smile on his face and a spring in his step, Greg of course noticed right away that his partner was even more chipper than usual.

"Hey Nick, what or should I say who has you so chipper today?" The younger CSI questioned.

Nick rolled his eyes knowing he was caught, "Can't a guy just be happy Greg?"

"Or you could just fess up."

"Get your mind out of the gutter Greg." Nick joked with him as they walked into D.B's office. Nick was stunned momentarily when he walked into D.B.'s office and saw Andra standing next to D.B. discussing evidence. He thought she was off today.

"Greg, Nick great. Dr. O'Neil was sharing some new findings with me."

"Go ahead Doc I'm all ears." Greg said with a smile.

Andra pointed to a series of pictures as she talked rather animatedly. "This guy is a predator. We've looked over the evidence and photos dozens of times but today I saw something different. I received the photos from Chicago, Dallas and New York this afternoon. The girls all have the same body positioning, I'm guessing L.A and Roswell will be the same. The liver temps until now have told us when the Las Vegas girls died, they died right to left, but due to them being strangled we were never sure if they were moved to their spots or if that's where they died. But if you look at these," she pointed to the three new pictures hanging on the wall. "Same body positioning, same order of death. He makes them watch one by one as he kills them off, the girl who dies last." Andra shook her head, "This guy isn't only a serial killer he's a sexual sadist. This guy not only has intimacy problems with women, he hates them, he wants them to die he wants them to suffer, he gets off on it, he craves it." She paused for a moment. "It's brilliant. And the last girl in every scene, has the same body type, facial features and hair. I'm guessing he's recreating some kind of scene from his childhood where he felt his mother helplessly watched as he and a sibling were abused physically and most likely sexually. So he makes her watch then kills her, she's the only one who has no signs of sexual assault. He wasn't interrupted or scared off like we thought earlier, he was punishing her for not protecting him, for not protecting them. With each killing he's gotten more violent but the M.O. remains the same. This isn't just killing, this is anger and hate and a lot of it, and we know he's not done here."

"So what do we do now?" Nick asked trying to remain professional.

Andra shrugged, "I only get you in his head, you guys do the rest. But we know he has a type, so I'd start with missing girls fitting that."

"Well Dr. that was very graphic and helpful." D.B. said.

"Yeah, that gives a whole new direction," Greg added.

"I hope we didn't keep you from any social engagements." D.B. stated.

"No actually, I have no plans tonight. I'll probably just turn in early and watch The Daily Show." She shot Nick a quick glance as she took a sip from her water bottle.

"What no boyfriend?" Greg tried to make a joke.

Andra nearly choked on the water her was drinking. "I um...I um... God Greg why do you have to ask weird questions?" Andra snapped at him. She really had no idea what to say at that point.

"That's a little personal don't you think Greg? Show the good doctor some respect." Nick stated in as neutral a tone as he could muster.

Greg held his hands up in defense, "Sorry I asked."

D.B. quickly scanned the scene and noticed there was something going on with Nick and the young doctor but decided to leave it alone, she's not a cop it's not his issue.

An awkward silence fell over the room.

"Well gentlemen I'm going to let you get back to work, I'll leave these pictures with you all. I have an early day tomorrow but feel free to call me on my work phone if you have any questions." Andra spoke quickly hoping to get out of there before she melted into the carpet. When she reached down to pick up her bag she winced a little.

"Hurt your back there doc?" D.B. asked.

Andra quickly grabbed the strap of her bag and threw it over her shoulder, exacerbating the pain. "Yeah I was moving furniture last night and really pulled something back there." She lied, she was doing something strenuous last night but it wasn't moving furniture.

Nick couldn't help the smirk that crossed his face, he remembered how she hurt her back that was a lot of fun.

Greg noticed the smirk and the look Nick gave the doctor and a light went off in his head 'Bingo!' he thought.

They all said their goodbyes and Nick and Greg went back to the lab.

"So how long?" Greg asked innocently.

"How long what?" Nick asked, completely confused.

"How long have you been seeing the doctor?" Greg asked with his knowing smirk. "Don't lie to me Nick it's written all over your face."

"Greg I'm just going to tell you this one time. Do not tell a person. We're being quiet about it."

"Alright, alright I got it. So you two..."

Nick knew he'd lost, "Yes, last night alright, now let it go."

Greg chuckled, "Moving furniture, ha!"

"Greg I'm serious."

"Alright, alright."

-2013-

Nick was finally allowed into Andra's room. He had seen a lot in his line of work, A LOT, but nothing prepares you for walking into find out a loved one in part of a crime scene.

He knocked softly on the door before walking in and as he did he saw her sitting up in bed with her arms wrapped around her legs, and her face on her knees. She was alert, innocent and vulnerable all at the same time. He walked closer, not thinking she heard him walk in, when he got to her bedside he lightly touched her shoulder, "Andra," he whispered."

She turned to look at him, he was hocked at what he saw, her face was bruised her lip was bloody, she had a black eye. Someone had a vendetta against him and took it out on her, they were going to pay.

"Nick." Was all she could say before she dissolved into tears before him.

And there he stood, holding her, quietly, letting her cry into his chest, not knowing what else to do or say, so he just held her.