Explanation: Everything has to be perfect in order for me to write a good story. Over the past year, I've only finished one, and because of ff.net's infinite blahness *please don't delete me because of that...LOL* it got deleted. So, I'm just gonna keep trying until I get it right. Sorry you guys.
Author's Note: Here's the deal; I'm gonna skip over the fancy shmantzy synopsis that I usually do, and just give you something basic at the beginning of each chapter. Because if I do a synopsis, I usually feel that I have to follow it, even after I warn you that I don't. Just something about me. By the way...I'm gonna use a couple ideas from old fanfics that I've written. Only the ones I really like, though. And again, I'm changing Nick's age. And, I'm also replacing Cath with Harmony.
Story Title: Complete Me, Like A Melody – I got this title for a Christina Aguilera song.
SHORT...VERY SHORT Summary: A Greg/Original Character and Nick/Original Character fic. With a couple more characters, as usual.
Disclaimer: Anything that belongs to any show on TV doesn't belong to me. Point blank.

~~

Paul smiled at her, showing all his teeth. "Well, sis...dad is actually gone! He can't harm me, you, mom, or anyone else anymore..."

Marah Ryan leaned her head against the headrest of her older brother's Chevy Monte Carlo. "It seemed too easy, Paul...I don't think dad would just leave town..." she told Paul, a worried look forming on her face.

"What do you mean? The note is right here, Marah! Dad is GONE! We defeated the infamous James Stenbeck! Come on! Give yourself a little credit!" Paul reassured her. "You did most of the dirty work..."

As soon as those words had escaped Paul's lips, the window came crashing in, and Paul was thrown out of the window, replaced by James. "Daddy's home!" he sneered, approaching his daughter.

*

"JAMES...get away from me!" Marah shot up, cold sweat pouring down her face. "A dream...it was a dream...damn it...I have to call Paul..." she picked up the phone. "What's his number?" she scrambled through her memory bank on her cell phone. "Paul Ryan...here we go..." she pushed the send button, still hearing the dream buzzing around in her head.

Paul answered the phone, sounding half-dead. "Hello?" he groaned.

"Paul?" Rosana was relieved to hear her older brother's voice. "Are you ok?"

"I'd be a lot better if people didn't call me at three in the morning..." Paul stared at the clock. "Damn, Marah, what is it?"

She looked at the clock and saw that it was six a.m. "Three? Oh yeah...time change...I'm so sorry, Paul..." she had recently moved from Oakdale, Illinois to a small house in Las Vegas, Nevada with her friends, Neleh Snyder, Harmony Munson, Amaya McKinnen, and Raina Casnov. Harmony (who was also her half-sister, through her mother Barbara, who had been married to detective Hal Munson, then divorced him and got remarried to Paul and Marah's father, James), Neleh and Marah were pretty much attached at the hip. "I'll have to keep that in mind..."

Paul sighed. "What's up, Marah?" he asked. "Another James dream?"

"Is that Marah?" Paul's fiancée, Rose DiAngelo rolled over and looked at Paul.

"Yeah, the third dream this week...did I wake Rose up too?" Marah sighed.

"Yeah, it's Marah, and yes, you woke Rose up..." Paul directed to both women he was talking to.

"Oh...tell her hi!" Rose smiled, now awake for the morning.

"Rose says hi..." Paul laughed at his chipper wife. "Leave it to Rose to be wide awake at three a.m."

"Hey, Rose..." Marah laughed.

Paul waved at Rose, signifying that Marah had said hello.

"As I was saying, though, about James...I'm hoping that once I join the CSI team, I can help put him where he belongs..." Marah tucked a stray piece of sandy-blonde hair behind her left ear, holding the phone to her right.

"And do it legally..." Paul scowled, remembering all the events of the past year, in which a battle ensued between James against Marah and Paul. There were incidences of kidnapping, prison, murder, threats, all of which from James. Marah and Paul hadn't nearly all the experience in such matters as James did. "We got some of James in us, sis..."

"Please never speak to me like that again, Paul. I don't want any of James or Barbara in me..." Marah glared at the wall, imagining it was her brother. "Anyway, Paul...I'll let you and Rose get back to...whatever it was you were doing..."

"Sleeping?" Paul asked, with a laugh. "See you later, sis..."

"Love ya, Paulie..." Marah stated, hanging up the phone.

Neleh stirred sitting in the bed across the room from Marah. "Marah! Be quiet, man! We both should be sleeping for work tomorrow!"

"Sorry...I had another dream about James, and I had to call Paul..." Marah sighed. "It was the one where James throws him out the car window, then goes to attack me..."

"Dang, girl...you need to calm it. He's not coming back...he's all the way across the country in jail..." Harmony heard Neleh and Marah stirring.

"For all we know, Har...he could be back in Oakdale...what if he's going for Paul or something..." Marah glared at her best friend.

" Marah, if you treat your husband half as well as you treat your brother, damn, men are gonna be lining up for miles to get you!" Neleh poked fun at Marah.

Marah seemed unamused. "Paul and I had only each other when we were little. James left when we were born, to go be a psycho, or whatever he does, and Barbara was too wrapped up in trying not to let James near us...so, we really had no mother or father. Paul was my best friend, my mentor, everything..." she grinned. "If James were to touch him, I swear it..."

Neleh hadn't had the best life either. She wanted to escape Oakdale because her younger half-brother, Aaron Snyder, had returned, and was ruining everything she'd ever worked for. He'd come to Oakdale with a police record the size of Alcatraz, and gotten all the attention of her father, Holden. She was fed up with everything, and decided to leave. She, Harmony and Marah all got jobs in Las Vegas' top CSI lab: she and Harmony as investigators and Marah as a lab tech. They thought their lives were about to do complete one-eighties. But, in actuality, they were only going to get more hectic.

*

Greg Sanders sat in the DNA lab, trying to keep his mind from his life. He was numb with pain. His dreams, like Marah's, were consumed by the past, so he'd basically given up sleeping. He had to, in order to be happy and cheery around his friends at work. Or, his friend at work, should he say. He and a coworker, Nick Stokes had become very close friends, and he had told Nick all about his dark and dismal past. The only other living being to know about that was Greg.

What is with this sample? He asked himself, tapping briskly on the keys of a Compaq computer, and trying to control his brain. Ok, I've run the results through CODIS about two thousand times...and nothing. Maybe I'll try another database...missing persons...he thought, typing the words in.

"Hey, Greggo, what's up with the Valerie Milano case?" Nick asked, poking his head into the room. "Anything new?"

Greg jumped at the sound of his friend's voice. "Dude, man! Don't scare me like that! No, nothing new. I scanned CODIS about two million times, too. I was about to check the missing person's database..."

"Why would she be in the missing persons if she's dead, man..." Nick shook his head, exiting the room.

"Never know..." Greg grinned, seeing the name 'Milano, Valerie C.' pop up on the screen. "Ahem, Nick..."

Nick peered back to see Greg gloating at his discovery. "Valerie Milano...missing for three weeks..." Greg rubbed it in.

"Damn you..." Nick sneered. "Gimme the info to take to Griss..." he left the room, watching Greg still grinning. Nick's life wasn't without its turmoil. He was tired. Grissom worked him to the bone, and for the same amount of pay as anyone else. He'd developed a crush on Sara, who was head over heels for Grissom, and Grissom for Sara. Nick was one step from quitting, but something inside him told him to stay. Just a little longer. He could handle it. Come on, Nick...you can do this. You're emotionally stronger than anyone you know, excepting maybe Greg...but I don't think there is anyone whose emotionally stronger than him. Just a little longer...something's gonna give. It's gotta.