Chapter One: An Open Door

Nick Stokes stared blankly into the microscope. The lab had been slow for the past week. Things had gotten so dull that he resorted to looking at molds of Grissom's rare bug collection. "Having fun?" His trance was broken. He looked up to see Greg Sanders looking down at his study with his hands clasped together behind his back.

"Of course, I've always wanted to start a hope of examining bug." He said in a sarcastic tone.

"You better hope Grissom doesn't catch you frying up his molds. Anyway, you have a phone call." Greg said.

Nick raised his eyebrow. He never received phone calls at work unless they were business related. Those phone calls were directed to his cell phone. He walked over to the phone and pressed the button for the speaker.

"This is Nick Stokes." He said leaning on the desk in front of him.

"Nick. It's your brother Eric. Something happened to Amanda and Dean."

"What? Eric what's going on?" Nick asked getting worried.

"I don't know. They police won't tell us until all of the family is here. Get your ass down here now!" His brother hung up the phone. Nick looked at Greg.

"Tell Grissom that I'm going to Dallas."

Nick sat staring at the wall. He hated the smell of a funeral home. The smell was the air freshener for death and sorrow. His older sister, Amanda, and her husband had been murdered in their home. There were no leads on the case yet. When he was growing up Amanda was always there for him. She supported him no matter what. When she was eighteen she had a baby. His parents did not approve of it. They're views reflected on the other children. It was like the whole family disowned her. It wasn't until a year ago when he met up with her again. He was surprised to see how her life was going. She was an accomplished lawyer. Dean was a police officer. It was also the first time he met her daughter. Ashleigh was fresh out of the acdemey..

After the funeral he saw Ashleigh lingering around other gravestones. He looked around and reluctantly walked up to her. "Hey. How are you?" He asked.

"I've been better." She said looking down at the ground.

"I didn't see you any during the funeral." He said.

"I wanted to be alone. I didn't want to see them laying there. Cold, pale, and helpless. I bet that's how they were when they were murdered."

Nick stared at her. He quickly changed the subject. "When was the last time you had something to eat?" He asked.

"Yesterday mourning. I didn't feel like going out last night. I was getting tired of the news reporters hounding me too." She said.

"Let's grab a bite to eat then. My treat."

Ashleigh stared out the window of the diner. She sat there and listened to the stories her uncle told. None of it interested her. She had only one thing on her mind. Why? Why did somebody murder her parents?

"What have you been doing since I saw you last?" Nick asked her.

"I applied for a job at the crime lab here and got turned down. My parents were murdered. I was questioned as a murder suspect. I live in a hotel now because the house I once lived in is now boarded up because it's a crime scene. The police said that if I was home whenever all this happened I would've been murdered too. When I heard that I asked myself, "Damn, why couldn't I have been that lucky?" I'd rather be dead than have to go on not knowing why this happened to my family." She said.

Nick didn't know what to say. He looked down at the fries he had on his plate and thought for a second. "I wish you knew what you were saying," He said. "You're letting your emotions get the best of you. I'm glad you weren't home that night. Last year your mother asked me to watch out for you if anything ever happened to her and your dad. I promised her that I would."

"I'm twenty-four! I don't need anyone to watch out for me."

"You're young. You have no idea what it's like out there. I don't intend on breaking my promise either. You can transfer to the university out there. I'm not going to argue about this with you." He said.

Ashleigh sighed and said, "I don't have the money to buy a place to live out there."

"I've turned my basement into a game room. We can move some stuff out of there and you can do whatever you want to it. Consider it to be your own apartment." He said and smiled.

"Whatever. We need to make a deal though." She said resting her arms on the table, ready to negotiate.

"You're too much like you mother, but go ahead."

"You agreed to watch out for me. That doesn't mean you can treat me like a child. Let me make my own decisions and mistakes. Most of all, don't act like an overprotective father when I go out on a date with a guy. And please, let me have my space. I need time to myself." She said.

"Fine, I just don't want you to go out there and get into big trouble. You know Vega-" He was cut off before he could finish.

"Vegas is the place for all of the seven deadly sins. Dad and I had the discussion when I was seventeen."

Ashleigh dropped her last box down in the basement of her new home. Nick and his friends, Greg and Warrick Brown, carried her furniture down the stares. They went upstairs to play NFL-2K on Nick's Dreamcast. She bean unpacking her things. The first thing she picked up was a picture of her and her parents at her high school graduation. She looked at the picture and began to cry. She still thought of the night when it happened. It was late when she came home that night from her friend's birthday party. The door had been forced open and the house was wrecked. She ran around the house looking for them until she got to their bedroom. They both laid there motionless in their own blood.

She put the picture down and buried her face in her hands. It didn't hit her until now that they were gone. As she sat there in the floor she felt a hand touch her shoulder. She looked her with tears still streaming down her face. Greg was kneeled down next to her. With neither of them saying a word he hugged her. She sobbed into his shoulder. She had only just met him, but he was the only one that gave her a shoulder to cry on. She felt comfortable to let her emotions show in front of a complete stranger. At the funeral she saw how the Stokes family acted when they loss a family member. They showed no emotion for her mother and father. She knew why and hated it. They looked down on her mother for a mistake that she made almost twenty-one years ago. They also looked down at who came from that mistake.

She stopped sobbing and moved away from Greg. "I'm sorry." She said wiping her eyes.

"For what? It's alright to cry. It's a normal thing to do when you lose someone that you love. People do it when they watch a sad movie. Everyone does it when they stub their toe. Now that hurts." He said trying to cheer her up.

She gave him a small smile and said, "Thanks, I needed to do that. Please don't tell Nick about this. I don't like to talk to him or anyone about things like this."

"Why are you talking to me then?" He asked.

"I'm not sure." She said. He smiled and went back upstairs.