A/N: Wanted to use this song for as long as I've heard it, not with these characters but with Cruz and Yokas from Third Watch for the Season 4 Finale – I miss that show. But as I was writing this the song kept popping into my head and it inspired some of the one-liners I used. Dangerous Game by 3 Doors Down. Tad longer than usual but I didn't want a fic to be about nothing in general then find things to string them together so I combined them. Don't own anything sadly and this follows the last episode that I saw where Nick was with the pigs forget the title. But I do have the last two and going to watch them tonight. Enjoy.

"Nick?" was called from inside his home as the door closed behind him

"Ya" he crunched his nose from the smell he was emitting, rolling around all day in pig mud was not for the faint of heart or in this case, faint of smell.

His eyes followed the click of her heels on the hardwood floor that was one of the reasons why he'd purchased this house and followed the heels up over the long legs and, taking in her appearance of a cocktail dress, her hair and make up done perfectly, as she put in the last earring in, she came into the room all smiles. The smile however dropped when she breathed in,

"You smell"

"Thank you"

"We have dinner reservations in an hour" her face distorted

"Why am I just hearing of them now?"

"Cause I just found out some news"

"You made partner?!"

"Ya and you made the plants die" she held her nose

"Do we really have to do this tonight, I'm tired and I smell"

"Yes, go shower and wear what's laid out"

"You laid something out for me?"

"I had nothing else to do"

"I don't know whether to say thanks or be mad that your deciding what I'm wearing"

"Say thank you" she crossed her arms to ward him off as he came closer

"No touching, no nothing until you're in there at least twenty minutes scrubbing vigorously"

"Not even a hello kiss?"

"Not until you've showered" his head hung low in defeat as he stalked off into the bathroom.

He wasn't in there long before he heard the phone ring, the hairs on the back of his neck raise in a alarm but he heard a laugh and relaxed as he climbed into shower.

--

"Wow" she said twenty minutes later as he came out wearing the suit she'd laid out for him.

"I clean up good" he shrugged his shoulders, this time she didn't back away as he came closer. Instead of a normal kiss he placed one hand on her waist and the other on her shoulder and dipped her, while leaning in to kiss her for all the times he thought about her during the day. He finished the kiss and brought her back up.

"I almost have half the mind to cancel the reservations and spend the rest of the evening in bed" she told him as she stood in the hallway mirror fixing her lipstick he smudged just slightly.

Coming up behind her, his hands on her shoulder he placed a kiss on her ear

"I think that's an excellent idea" his hand snaked under the strap of her dress and proceeded to take it off but her hand stopped him.

"No, we never go out" he nodded knowing if he gave into her now she would in return do something for him and he intended to collect.

--

So he was glad they went out, she looked stunning and so did he, both had gotten looks all night and he was proud to offer his arm at the end of the night to go home, because of all the guys that tried to catch her attention during the night, she remained focused on him and couldn't help but tease and flirt with him like they had so many other times. She was going home with him that made everything else seem distant and small.

He opened her door in their driveway, helping her slide down off the seat of his truck and she pulled him closer kissing him, nothing special just a small closed mouth kiss and a thank you. He couldn't help but smiling and taking hold of her hand as they made their way up to the front door. He noticed it before she did, the bouquet of red roses stood in a vase on the welcome mat she had picked up a couple of months ago. He felt her hand squeeze his tighter but she let it go and picked up the flowers as if it didn't bother her that he wasn't the one to have sent them to her.

"Any note?" he asked firmly as he closed the door and locked it, setting the alarm he'd purchased after her stalker made it into their home.

"No" she sat the flowers on the coffee table, standing back to admire them before looking over to him, who wasn't smiling.

"You're keeping them?"

"Why wouldn't I, it's not like their armed with poison or anything"

"How would you know?"

"Why would he hurt me – oh look there is a card" she picked up the small envelope hidden between two roses.

"To my one and only. Congratulations on making partner" she read out loud her hands starting to shake.

"Only five people know about my promotion" he came over and took the card away from her holding it up to the light to see if anything else was written any sort of clue.

"Who?"

"You, me, my secretary, my boss, and Jeff Anderson who I was talking with at the time it happened, he agreed to keep it from getting out until later in the week" her voice had moved to normal to an almost whisper when she had finished.

"I think I have something" keeping his mouth shut as he searched around for a pencil he carefully sketched lightly over the written words and came up with an indentation of a time and name.

9:30
Richie Betcomp

"You know a Richie Betcomp?" she pondered the name over for a bit when it clicked,

"He's one of Jeff's client's I remember him telling his assistant that he needed to reschedule the appointment for 9:30 instead of 8:30, that happened when I walked in to his office"

"I'm gonna go call Brass" Nick told her keeping the card with him, his head flicked back to look at the door as someone knocked but paid little attention as he made his way to the bedroom to give him more privacy, he wanted them both picked up for questioning.

"No I'm alone, he went to go get milk at the store down the street" came rather loudly from the living room.

"I'm telling you the truth!" he heard a loud thud as if something or someone hit the floor and he scrambled to reach the phone on his side before whoever was in the living room noticed that he really was here.

"911 What's your emergency?"

"This is CSI Nick Stokes from the Clark County Crime Lab. I want to report a break in and a possible murder" he sucked in a breath when the realization came that he hadn't heard anything in a while from the living room, not even a moan.

"Address?"

"1384 Spruce Street"

"Alright Mr. Stokes we have alerted the police department I need you to stay on the line and tell me the condition of the victim"

"I don't know she's in the other room, with the assailant, for the moment he doesn't know I'm here"

"He?"

"My fiancé for the last little while has been having problems with a stalker, we were just starting to clue it together when the someone knocked"

"Bastard!" came from the living room and he couldn't help the relief that washed over him as he heard her voice scream the name at the top of her lungs.

"Did ya hear that? That's the victim just make sure they get over here"

Click.

He went for the gun in his bedside table, a small smile reached his face as he remembered the fight him and Katie had over keeping the gun so close. He'd won. Taking the safety off, he maneuvered his way towards the living room making sure to avoid the creaks in the floorboards.

You stand before me now we stare eye to eye
Before another second clicks away one of us will die.
You reach for your metal as I reach for mine
The sound of bullets flyin' through the air, is followed by a cry

"Drop the gun" he said flatly as his gun trained on the suspect. The male did the opposite and grabbed Katie -who at the moment had a cut lip and a rather large bruise forming over her right eye. This bastard was going to pay. He cocked the gun and finally found out why the guys in the movie wait until the last second to cock the guns it was a creepy sound.

It meant the end was coming.

"You drop yours or she will die" he too cocks his gun and puts the gun to her temple. Katie in her own defense pretended to faint and became a dead weight, pretty hard for one arm to hold and he let her go, she came awake at the last minute laying there pretending to be still unconscious and waited for the right moment. Her eyes darted between Nick and whom she knew as Eric, Jeff's assistant. Around the third time she moved a little to get Nick's attention and he glanced over for a brief second, giving Eric time to walk closer to fight for the guns. As the gun went off a scream escaped Katie and she crawled to go behind the couch, watching the fight unfold, neither one had dropped.

"Take me instead of her" Nick said as he elbowed the Eric in the chest.

"Kill me instead" Nick he held his arms out, dropping the gun and kicking it behind the couch, Katie picked it up, it was now all on her to wait for the right moment.

"I was never going to kill her, it was always about You, You were in the way, she loved You, she was going to marry You, live a life with You"

"You got me now what are you waiting for?" he dared Eric

"Take her; live the life I was going to have with her, treat her right because she deserves the best" silent sirens could at last be heard in the distance. Only two of them were going to walk out here alive. He would try his damnest to let Katie be one of them.

"Nice try, I kill you, I go to jail and I spend a lifetime without her, but I could stage it to make it look like a suicide"

"If that's what you want, let me get a paper and pen, got to make it look real" he kept his hands up as he sidestepped his way to the front desk that held paper and pen.

"To Whom It May Concern" he said out loud as he wrote it "there comes a time in everyone's life when they must give up. This time is mine. No one aided me in this decision it was something I chose to do myself. I knew I could never give Katie everything she wanted and needed. To my mom and dad, I wish I could have been a better child to you instead of moving away because of a fight over something stupid. To my sister Breanna you always were the smart one, and I know that you were right all these years but too stubborn to admit it. To my brother Chase and Derek, you guys were pretty cool dudes to have as brothers and you've made me proud to be a brother to you both. Please take care of Katie; I know my death will hit her pretty hard. And finally to my friends at the lab, remember things aren't always what they seem. You taught me that Grissom"

"That sound good? Just got to sign it" he scribbled his signature on the paper and folded it up putting it in his pocket.

"Go ahead shoot me now" she could see Eric's finger attempting to pull the trigger. She stood, closing her eyes she fired three times.

This young man lays alone but fastened to the ground
The sounds of fleeing feet and a cryin' eye will be his last sound.
What did we gain from all of this? Now was it worth a life?
We've thrown all our hopes away and set our dreams aside

She was afraid to open her eyes as she heard a thud hit the ground.

--

A/N: Of course there will be another chapter to tie up this part of the loose ends and to show you who really got hurt. Remember a writer always loves reviews to tell him how much their writing is liked. (I'm only saying this cause my last two stories have gotten zero reviews)