Disclaimer: I don't own CSI, any of ther characters or plot lines. I do own my own ideas, and thats about it.

Zai: Yes I know I am starting another fic while still in the middle of one... hopefully I can multi-task. I just had the sudden urge to start a Nick-centered piece. It has no real time place it has to fit into I don't think. No spoliers or anything. Just mainly Nick's life suddenly getting turned upside down. And a fair bit of Nick/Catherine friendship. Please read & review.

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The side alley, which was cordoned off with bright yellow police tape, was lit by the flashing lights of the squad car that was parked nearby. Ducking under the tape, the tall strawberry-blonde criminologist, made her way toward the female body which the coroner was crouched over part-ways down the alley. Her dark-haired colleague, Nick Stokes, followed behind her.

Detective Jim Brass was already there when the criminologist arrived, he was standing near the body and nodded to the two CSI's in greeting.

Catherine Willows greeted Brass back before approaching the body, "Hey David, what do we have?" Catherine asked, putting her kit down as she bent down next to the coroner.

"I took the liver temp, she's been dead less than two hours." David replied still examining the body before him. The woman appeared to be in her early thirties. Her sandy-blonde hair was cut short and in life would have framed her fair-skinned face. However, in death it was matted with the blood that had seeped from her gaping head wound. "She's got defensive wounds on her arms." David said pointing them out to Catherine. "Looks like she put up a fight."

Catherine nodded and began to scrape the underneath of the woman's fingernails in hopes that the woman had scratched her killer.

Standing behind his two kneeling colleagues Nick stared down at the lifeless figure with a strange sense of familiarity. Recognition came to Nick, when Brass produced her Californian issued driver's lisence from a clearly looted purse that he had found nearby, and read the name aloud, "Breanna Halton."

It actually surprised Nick he remembered her. It had to have been almost three years ago when he had met her. However, vivid images of the one night they had shared came back to the tall Texan as he looked down at her unmoving body. Forcing his face to remain impassive, he turned to exam the scene around them.

There was a fairly large pool of blood around her, it looked as though she had received a head wound and a stab wound to the chest area. Since the alley was only a short distance from a local night club Catherine wondered if perhaps that had been where she had come from. She made a mental note to check after they finished at the scene.

Noticing the younger CSI's unusual silence, Catherine cast a glance his way. He was moving away from the body and scanning over the crime scene. He seemed all right, but the subtle change in his usual cheery demeanor caused Catherine to wonder about her partner.

"I've got a knife." Nick called from where he had stopped at the end of the alley. It was a fixed bladed knife and the silvery steel blade was tainted with dark red blood. Flashing several pictures he carefully documented it, swabbing a sample of the blood he then bagged the knife itself. It was always more convenient when the killer left the murder weapon behind, Nick mused to himself.

Catherine had come over behind him to look at the knife. It definitely looked like the murder weapon. The whole scene looked to the CSI's like a mugging that had gone wrong. The victim was wearing no jewellery or watch and her purse had been empty of cash and credit cards.

Nick shook his head sadly. She had been such a nice young woman when he had met her. Now she was just another dead body in an alley in Vegas. He vaguely wondered if she had left behind a husband or any children. It would be a real shame if she had.

Once finished at the scene the two CSI's walked down the road toward the nearby club, while Brass started canvassing the houses and business along the street. Catherine showed her ID tag to the bartender and then asked him if he had seen Breanna. He looked at the picture and nodded. "She was in here about two hours ago I think. With a couple other woman. They all left at the same time I believe." He replied. "They looked like old friends, the way they were talking."

Catherine went on to ask him the standard questions. Was anyone interested in her, anyone follow her out, etcetera. The bartender was describing a man who left about the same time as the victim when Nick's mind began to wander.

He finally had a night off, and pulling two double shifts that week had really taken a lot out of him. Nick Stokes had decided he needed to get his mind off the horrors he saw nightly at work. He walked into the club, heading straight to the bar.

He had not been there long before a woman around his age sat down beside him. She had short sandy-blonde hair and icy-blue eyes. She was dressed casually in jeans and a dark blouse. Nick could not remember who started the conversation, but it was not long before they were talking. She said she was a medical technician who worked in a nearby hospital.

Buying her a drink Nick moved the talk to non-work matters. After all, he had gone out trying to forget work for a night. When she invited him to spend the night with her, he definitely forgot the gruesomeness of his job for a while. Afterward he had called her, but she had never called him back. He did not really mind, he had liked her but the one night had been all he had expected anyway.

"Nick are you okay?" Catherine's voice asked him drawing him out of the memory.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine." He replied quickly realizing he must have spaced out on her. The bartender had finished telling Catherine all he knew and had moved off to serve some other customers.

"You sure?" She asked gently and when he nodded she decided not to press him further at the moment. Nick always opened up when he was ready. "Okay, let's get back to the lab then." She said leading the way out of the club. They had to process the knife they had found and check with Dr. Robbins to see if he had found anything on the body.

Nick nodded following Catherine out to the car. He considered telling her about his former relationship with the victim, but then decided it had no bearing now. It had been one night nearly three years ago. It was not like it would affect his work on the case.

Arriving back at the lab they dropped off a sample of the blood from the knife and the scrapings from her nails at DNA. Deciding to split up, Catherine headed off to the morgue to meet with Dr. Robbins, leaving Nick to fume the knife for prints.

Placing the knife in a clear plastic box Nick added the glue and waited as smoke filled the box, blocking the knife from view. Upon opening the case he waved the smoke away and glanced down at the now revealed partial prints on the handle of the weapon. Carefully he lifted each and headed off to get them run through the system looking for a match.

In the morgue Dr. Robbins ran through his findings for Catherine. "She bled out. Both the cut on her head and the wound on her chest look to be made from the same weapon."

"And the defensive wounds?" Catherine asked.

"Mostly likely also from the same weapon." Robbins added. He turned back to the body, "There is also some bruising, all fresh, so most likely from the attack. I checked, but there appears to be no signs of sexual assault." He said concluding his preliminary findings.

"Okay, thanks." Catherine said turning to leave.

"I'll let you know if I find anything else." Robbins said as Catherine nodded and headed off. She caught up with Nick in the hall outside the print lab. They filled each other in on their progress and together they headed to find Brass to see if he had turned anything up in his questioning of people around the scene, while they waited for the results to come back from the DNA and prints