Title: Her Watery Grave

Series: Stopping Nikki Dearest

Author: Kendra Crispin

Rating: T (depictions of struggle and death)

Spoilers: Great Barrier

Genres: perhaps implied B&A friendship

Disclaimer: This is how that episode could've ended, and, yes, should've given what happened in the few minutes leading up to the last minute or two. That it didn't... Well, next week's episode should prove that I don't own anything in this universe.

Author's Notes: This marks the first official story in the series I promised. I churned it out in less than an hour, out of sheer frustration.

Method #1: Nicole gets the end Alex predicted in "Great Barrier"...

Nicole lets Ella's struggling body go, and swims off, wearing a mask. Fool for trusting me, she thinks as she strokes with all her strength. That she was herself the bigger fool for crossing paths with Bobby Goren again doesn't occur to her. Or how many things could've gone wrong with her plans. The problems of having help in committing your crimes...

Ella's lost consciousness now, and even if they got her out now, she couldn't be saved. Nicole congratulates herself on that last deception, getting Ella – as she saw her in the pier – to not see the blood. She knew that Ella might be turned, so she had to go.

A little further, and then I can surface safely. Then I find a place to cash these diamonds, and -

Her thoughts jerk to a halt when something grabs her foot. She can't see in this light, and fight towards the surface, needing air. Must be a net. Nothing else could feel like that. She plows her arms through the water, but the surface seems just out of reach. Feeling herself starting to choke for breath, she reaches down and blindly untangles her foot.

As the net falls away, she kicks herself to the surface... and that's the last thing she's aware of...

--

TWO DAYS LATER

Goren and Eames are led into the examining room by Rogers. "Divers on a cleaning mission in that section of the river found something floating in the water," Rogers announces. She pulls back the sheet.

Goren stops breathing, and Eames heaves a sigh of relief. "She is dead," Eames quietly declares. "Cause?"

"Not blood loss. I haven't found an open cut on her. But this," she says, pointing to the exposed left ankle, "suggests she got caught in a loose net. Looks like she worked her way free, but ran into another problem."

Goren nods. "The gash on her head."

Rogers simply hands over a photo. "They went back to the area where she was last seen, and found this pipe sticking out of an abandoned car not too far from where Miss Miyazaki's body was found. A couple of hairs were stuck to it. They look like hers so far. My guess is she slammed into it going for air. Knocked out, and she drowned. Currents swept her to where the divers found her, amazingly not touched by animals."

"I guess serial killers are unappetizing," Eames speculates.

Rogers sighs. "You want the full autopsy, or can I move on to the real victims?"

"I think the department will let you off on this one." Rogers nods thanks to Eames, and walks off.

Turning to face her partner, Eames resists the urge to sigh at his sad face. "Bobby, she doesn't deserve any of our pity. She took two more lives."

"Because we couldn't stop her the last time. And two more because we couldn't stop her -"

"Stop it!" Her hiss draws his eyes away from the dead body that had been his greatest enemy. "She deserves what she got. Stop blaming yourself."

Goren's silent for a long moment, and finally exhales deeply. "I'm not sorry for her. I'm sorry for the little girl who might've become an amazing person. A good person."

"We'll never know." Eames steps between him and the gurney, and pulls the sheet back over Nicole's face. A mass grave is her next stop, if Gavin Haynes doesn't have a last bit of sympathy towards her, she adds silently. Then she grabs his arm and drags him out, ending a sad chapter in both of their lives.

THE END