Chapter 1

It was 6 am Saturday morning when Nick finally got home. He couldn't recall ever being this tired before in his whole life. The last two weeks had been packed with doubles and triples, and he had barely slept at all. The cases had been high-profiled and tough, and Nick felt like all his strength had left him.

First the Mayor's daughter had been kidnapped, then there was a serial-rapist going after young women in their late teens, and finally, the most resent one, which was the worst one for Nick; an eight year old boy had been raped and murdered by his uncle. The case had brought back bad memories and Catherine had been on his back all night.

When the case was wrapped he hadn't been able to take her looks and worried comments anymore, and had asked Grissom if it was okay for him to go home. Seeing that it was his third double in four days, Grissom had sent him home and told him not to come back until Monday.

Nick opened his front door and locked it firmly behind himself. He barely made it to his bed before he was in deep sleep. When he woke up he lifted his head to look at the alarm clock on the nightstand. "Oh Holy Shit!"

It was 5 pm; he had slept dreamlessly for 11 hours. He went into the bathroom to release his aching bladder and took a quick shower afterwards. After eating some breakfast he sat down on the couch and looked around. He had the night off and he had no idea what to do.

He picked up a book one of his sisters had recommended, but was bored after two pages. He turned the TV on and started zapping through the channels but nothing peaked his interest. He switched of the TV and laid his head on the back of the couch, looking up at the ceiling. When had his life become so boring? He had no one to call; all his friends were at work. What on earth was he going to do for two whole days? He was almost tempted to call Grissom and beg him for permission to come in, but decided against it. No use to let the whole lab know that his life more or less sucked.

After looking up at the ceiling for another ten minutes, he got up. "A walk", he said to himself, "I can go for a walk, clear my mind and maybe play some cards if I'm in the mood." 'Oh this is great' he thought, 'now I'm even talking to myself, well this is just great.' "Get a fucking life, Stokes!" 'Oh shit, this is really bad.'

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A/N: Hope you like it so far! Please review!