Nick Stokes choked back a sob as he nodded his head. "Yeah...yeah..." he agreed with the captain who was telling him it was over. But to tell the truth, he wasn't even sure of exactly what had just happened. Jim Brass had his hand on the back of Nick's neck and was leaning over trying to look him in the eyes as he continued to try to reassure the CSI.

"It's done," the captain said again. When Nick finally looked up at him, seeming to understand him for the first time, Brass smiled and nodded. "It's done. C'mon...c'mon over here." He put his hand on Nick's shoulder and guided him toward the couch.

Even as he slowly followed Brass across the room, however, Nick's eyes were drawn to the man on the floor who was still struggling beneath the LVPD officers. But despite being held down and having his hands cuffed behind him, Nigel Crane wore a small smile on his face, and Nick could swear it was a sign of smug satisfaction. Even as he was hauled to his feet and taken to the door, Crane never took his eyes off of Nick.

Brass saw the non-verbal exchange between the two men and moved protectively in front of Nick, blocking his view as the officers took Crane out. "Come on...sit down," he said gently. As Nick did so, the captain moved to the front door and stepped just outside to call in what had happened. When he returned, his eyes swept the living room, taking everything in. He had arrived at Nick's house with two officers intending to station them outside to keep an eye on the place. But as soon as they neared the door they could hear the shouting inside. They didn't even bother trying to open the door, though Brass would see later that it had been locked. He had ordered the officers to break it down, and all he saw after that was Nick struggling with someone over a gun and a body on the floor.

Now that the commotion was over he looked at the mess on the floor and then turned his eyes upward to the gaping hole in the ceiling. "Jesus," he muttered under his breath. He took a quick glance at Nick who was sitting in the middle of the couch looking down at his hands as he twisted his fingers together nervously. He took a couple of steps toward the body and crouched over him.

"He's dead," Nick said numbly.

Brass looked back at him but Nick was still staring at his hands in his lap. He looked back at the body and sighed. He had known it...already called it in. There was nothing more he could do for this man, so he turned his attention back to Nick. "Hey..." He walked across the room and stood over him. "You okay?" When Nick nodded without looking him, the captain sat down on the couch next to him with a sigh. They sat in silence for a moment before Nick startled him by speaking again.

"Do you think…was he in here all that time? Watching me?"

Brass felt the anger welling up inside of him at the thought of the man who had caused all of this torment. "I don't know, Nicky," he said. "But we'll figure this thing out. Don't worry. We'll figure it out."

Nick did not respond and Brass did not speak again, the two of them sitting in silence, sirens wailing in the distance and drawing closer.

"How did Nick sound when you called him about Crane?" Warrick asked. He was sitting next to Catherine across the desk from Grissom in the supervisor's office.

"A little out of it, honestly," Grissom answered, leaning back in his chair. "I'm not sure he totally understood. But Brass will fill him in."

"How long you figure it's going to take to go through all of those tapes?"

"It depends on what we find…and what we're looking for. It's a lot of man-hours. Archie said it could take up to a week if we want all of it looked at…and that's if he gets some help with the rest of the cases he's working on."

"Well…" Catherine sighed. "We've got what we need on Crane for killing Jane Galloway. I don't think we'll need any more than what we've already pulled out…the tapes from her house."

"What if there were others?" asked Warrick.

"That he stalked and killed?" Grissom shook his head. "We don't have any unsolved cases that fit the profile. And even if he had others on tape…once we have him behind bars…they're safe. We'll have Archie go through them all just in case, but we don't need to put a rush on it."

"What about Nick?"

"Just a lot of talk about him so far." Catherine sounded relieved. "Unless we find any evidence he's been in Nick's house, I don't see any reason to go looking for anything on video. Let's leave it up to him if he wants to look through them or not. If it was me, I'm not sure I'd want to know."

"I would," Warrick growled. "And then I'd take care of the son of a bitch myself." He thought about the email Nick had shared with him…the photo of his date posed exactly like the murder victim…but didn't mention it. He looked at Grissom. "Do you really think he was in Nick's house?"

The man shrugged. "If he hasn't been yet, it was probably going to be his next move…seems to be the way he works. We'll go over there in the morning and check it out though."

Sara suddenly appeared in the doorway and leaned her head in. "Hey…guys? Brass just called in a 419...Nick's address," she said urgently.

They had taken two SUVs…Grissom and Catherine in one and Warrick and Sara in the other. Now all four of them stood next to their vehicles in the street staring at Nick's house. The area was swamped with police cars and officers, an ambulance, and the coroner's van. Several neighbors stood in the early morning darkness outside of the yellow tape, gawking at the scene and wondering just what had happened. The front door of the house stood open.

They had driven as fast as possible, not having any idea what they would find when they got to the house. None of them said it out loud, but they were all thinking the same thing. A 419…a dead body. But whose? And what else had happened? And most importantly, was Nick okay?

Catherine was the first to speak. "I guess we'd better…"

But Warrick was the first to move. He walked quickly toward the house and then broke into a run when he got halfway there. He blew right past the officer at the door who tried to ID him and into the living room where he stopped dead in his tracks. Assistant Coroner David Phillips was kneeling in the middle of the room next to a body that was face down. He looked up when Warrick rushed in.

"Hey, Warrick. I haven't moved him yet. You want to take some pictures first?"

Warrick stood with his mouth open, trying to process what he was seeing. "Pictures?"

"Yeah." David looked confused. "Of the body? You're here to process the scene, aren't you?"

Process the scene? Is this a fucking dream? "Process…wait…Nick?"

"He's over there," David replied, still confused, as he pointed toward the couch. Then the realization hit him. His eyes grew wide. "Oh gee! Oh…I'm sorry! I thought…I'm sorry…I thought you knew. He's right there. This is…he's right there."

By now the others had made it inside the house and were standing behind Warrick. He broke out of his shock and looked where David had pointed. Nick was sitting on the couch with Brass beside him. "Nick!" He went over to him. "Are you okay? What the fuck happened here?"

When he did not answer right away or look up, Catherine went to him and knelt in front of him. "Nick?" She looked up at him and then at Brass.

"He's okay," answered the captain. "We got Crane. That's the psychic over there…Pearson."

She reached out and put a hand against Nick's face, and he looked at her. He didn't appear to bear any injuries other than the ones he had suffered earlier in the day, but he wore a blank expression, his eyes unfocused and distant. "Nick?"

"I think he had a few of those pain pills before we got here," Brass added.

She nodded at him and looked back at Nick.

He blinked his eyes several times and seemed to see her for the first time. "It's done," he whispered. His eyes shifted to Brass as if in search of confirmation. The captain nodded, and Nick looked up at the others who were standing there watching them. Despite his lingering fear he felt a twinge of embarrassment at realizing that he was the center of attention.

Now that the others were here and could look after Nick, Brass stood up. "Well, I guess I need to get down to the station…see what this freak has to say."

"I want to be there," Nick said softly.

Brass was already shaking his head. "Not until we get your statement, Nicky. We gotta do this right."

"I'll bring him down there," Warrick offered. He looked over at the door as the stretcher and body bag were brought in, ready to move Pearson out of the house, but he still needed to be photographed and processed for evidence. He looked at the body and then at Grissom for help.

The supervisor understood immediately. "That's a good idea. Uh…Catherine? Sara? You want to…?

They understood as well. Catherine put her hands over Nick's and squeezed them. "You go on with Warrick. We'll see you down there in a bit, okay?" She smiled at him and then stood up as Warrick came over.

"C'mon, man. Let's go."

Catherine, Grissom, and Sara stood next to each other, effectively blocking Nick's view of the scene in the middle of the room as Warrick held out a hand to help him up off of the couch.

Nick didn't have the strength to argue or resist, so he took his friend's hand and got up slowly with a groan of pain. Once he was on his feet, he took a deep breath and nodded. He exited the house with Brass and Warrick close behind, leaving the others to process the scene.

I know it's a short chapter, but we're just getting started. :-) Not your ordinary "post Stalker fic...this is going to take us through what happened after the episode and on through the trial, so expect some surprises and of course some angst! Be sure to sign up for story alerts so you'll know when a new chapter is published. Thanks for reading and I hope you'll leave a review to let me know what you think!