A/N: Hey y'all!I know... no more stories! But this one has been on the back burner of my mind for quite some time. And for future reference, I'm not sure if it is needed in this chapter or not, but anything is in parentheses like this is like... well, I have to be censored, so you figure out what the words mean. :D Anywhoo, here goes! Enjoy!

Disclaimers: I don't own the characters of CSI, although I should, and I don't make money from writing fanfiction, although I'm sure you all agree that we should right?

Greg looked through the glass walls of the lab, into the lobby to check to see if Grissom was back from his crime scene yet. The third time he looked up, he saw a young woman at the receptionist desk. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, around his age. She was wearing a trench coat that went to just above her knees, exposing her bare legs. Her brown hair was matted and soaking wet from the rain. He noticed that she looked distraught, almost panicked.

"Excuse me?" The woman looked at Judie the receptionist.

"Yes ma'am. Can I help you?"

"Yes, I...uh...I need to find Nick Stokes. Please, it is very important."

"Well, he is out on assignment. Have you tried calling his cell phone?"

"Yes. It was off."

"I'm sorry. You are going to have to wait for him I'm afraid. But I'm sure he will be back soon." She said smiling.

"Okay thanks." She said with a sigh. She sat in the chairs lined up along the glass wall.

He didn't know what, but something told Greg to talk to her. He walked around the outside of the lab and sat beside her.

"Excuse me? Are you alright?"

"Who are you?" She asked looking at him. It was then that he noticed her cut lip and black eye.

"My name is Greg Sanders. I'm a lab tech here. What's your name?"

"I'm Rebecca Lynn Stokes. My brother has told me a lot about you."

"It's nice to meet you. And it is nice to know my name has been heard." He said smiling. Finally he saw it, she smiled. He wondered what could have happened to make her cry.

"My parents mentioned you too. They told me they met you when they visited Nick last year. They liked you." She said smiling another faint smile.

"Well that's good to know too." Greg said looking in her eyes. Unlike Nick's, they were deep blue. His smile straightened slowly when he saw the pain in her eyes. "If you don't mind my asking, what happened? I mean, are you okay?"

"Well I just-"

"Rebecca?" She turned around to see Sara standing there in the corridor. "Oh my God, what happened to you?"

"Sara, have you been able to get in touch with Nick? His cell phone is off. I need to talk to him."

"Sure, I'll try him on the radio. But what happened?" She said pulling the radio from her belt.

"I'll tell you about it later." She said glancing at Greg, who was staring at her.

"Okay. I'll call for Nick. This is CSI Sidle, Nick Stokes Answer back."

"Hey Sara, go ahead." Nick answered.

"Hey Nick, I need you back at the lab ASAP."

"What's up? Is something wrong?"

"Your sister is here and she really needs to talk to you. Just get here as soon as you can."

"Alright, I'm on my way."

"Okay." Sara clipped the radio back to her belt. "Stay here, I'll get you something to eat." Sara said walking down the corridor. She came back about ten minutes later, she heard Nick's voice calling from the front of the building.

"Becca! Becca, what's wrong?" He said walking up to her.

"Hey Nick. It's nothing. I'm okay, I just needed to see you."

"You call this nothing?" He said gently touching her lip. She looked down at the ground. "What the heck happened to you?"

"Can we go somewhere else to talk?"

"Sure, come with me." Nick said placing a hand on her back and guiding her down the corridor, closely followed by Sara. They went into one of the interrogation rooms to talk. "Okay, now what happened to you?" Nick said as Sara closed the door.

"Nick, sit down first." Rebecca said nervously.

"Okay, fine. I'm sitting. Now tell me." He said impatiently. "When did you get here? How did you get here?"

"I just got here, I drove from Dallas."

"You drove? Have you slept since you left?"

"No. I can't sleep."

"Where is Todd? Does he know you're here?"

"God I hope not." She blurted out, her head shooting to Nick when she realized what she said.

"Becca, did he do this to you?" Nick said as Rebecca looked at the floor. "Did that bastard hurt you?"

"Nick please calm down."

"No! I want you to tell me now! How long has this been going on?"

"This is the first time, I swear it. He was drunk, he didn't realize what he was doing."

"If it was just nothing, then why did you drive for over twelve hours to get away from him, scared half to death?"

"Because, it is what he said to me that scared me Nick. It was just- the tension of the past few days was getting to him, he went out, got drunk, and then he hit me. I know he didn't mean to."

"Becca, tell me everything. I want every detail." Nick said getting frustrated.

"Fine." She said sitting on the table, her feet resting on a chair. "Todd lost his job three days ago. We were already in debt and then our landlord tells us that unless he gets a payment by Monday, he will evict us. On top of that his car needs to be fixed and we can't pay for it. Last night he went out, I'm not sure where. He came home at 3 this morning, drunk. He was knocking things over left and right, he swung the bedroom door open and woke me up. He blamed me for everything. I told him that he was drunk and he didn't realize what he was saying, and I told him to get some sleep. That is when he hit me. He chased me to the living room and I tripped on something. When I fell, he hit me again. He told me he was going to kill me. He said that if it wasn't for me, he would be able to afford to live and keep his car fixed and everything would have been fine. He picked something up, I forget what it was, but he was going to hit me with it. I pushed him off of me. I ran to the door and grabbed his tranch coat. Before I left, I remember what he said." Rebecca started, tears welling in her eyes.

"What did he say Becca?" Nick said, his voice softer and comforting.

"He s- he said 'You can't hide from me. I know where you'll go, and when I find you, you will be sorry you dragged them into it.' I can't get it out of my head Nick." She said crying.

"Hey, come here. It's going to be alright." He said holding her.

"No it's not Nick. He knows there are only two places I would go." She said looking up at him with fear evident in her eyes. "He knows that I would go to you, or dad."

"Look, you have nothing to worry about."

"Yes I do. If he finds me, he will kill me. And he will kill you too Nick." She said glancing at Sara. "Nick we have to call dad. He have to warn him. That is the first place Todd will go."

"Okay, if it will make you feel better I will call dad in a while. So did he hit you anywhere else besides your face?"

"Um, well he kicked me a few times, but I'm okay."

"Let me look. I want to make sure."

"Okay." She said untying the coat. All she was wearing was a spagetti strap tank top and shorts.

"Is this all you are wearing? It must be almost thirty degrees outisde."

"Becca, I think I have something you can wear for now." Sara said breaking her silence.

"Okay, thank you Sara." She said watching Sara leave.

"Okay. Where did he kick you?"

"Twice, here." rebecca said pointing to her left side.

"Okay, let me take a look." Nick said as she lifted her shirt a little to show him. He cringed and his anger became greater when he saw the large foot shaped bruises. "Okay, I'm going to take you to the hospital to make sure nothing is broken."

"No Nick, it's fine really. I don't want to go to the hospital."

"Well you have to get checked out." Nick said rubbing his hand against his scalp. "Well, I think I know someone who can look at you." Nick said as Sara came back into the room.

"Here, I think these might fit you."

"Thanks Sara."

"Okay, you get changed, I'm going to talk to someone."

"Okay. Hey Nick? Thanks. I knew I could depend on you."

"No problem. I'll be back."

"Okay Beck, what's going on?" Sara said skeptically.

"What are you talking about? I told you what happened."

"Come on. This is me you're talking to. You do remember what I do for a living right? You may have gotten Nick to believe you, but I know there is more here." Sara said as Rebecca's eyes widened.

"Fine. It did happen like I said it did, but it-" She sighed. "It wasn't the first time."

"How long has this been going on?"

"Three months. It started when I found out that he had been having an afair. Kaitlyn is her name. He told me he broke it off, but he didn't." Sara stared at her in disbelief. "Please Sara, you can't tell Nick. Promise me."

"I can't promise you that. He's my fiancee, I can't lie to him. He deserves to know."

"I don't want him to be upset about my not telling him. Please."

"Unless he asks me, I won't say anything. But if he asks, I will tell him the truth. Deal?"

"Okay. Thanks Sara. I owe you."

"Owe her for what?" Nick said walking in.

"Oh, she was just thanking me for the clothes."

"Okay. Becca, this is Doc Robbins. He is a coroner here, he said he would check you out." Nick said as Doc appeared from behind him.

"Hello Ms. Stokes. It's nice to meet you." He said taking her hand. "Unfortunately I don't have an examination table, and I think it would be uncomfortable on a slab, so we will have to do this here."

"Okay. What do you want me to do?"

"Just relax. Nick mentioned some bruises on your ribs, may I?"

"Sure." She said as Doc gently pressed on her ribs. She flinched, but kept a straight face.

"Well, I'd like to take some x-rays if I may. I just want to make sure none of them are broken."

"Well, I don't think they are broken, it doesn't hurt that much to move. But alright."

"Okay, come with me." Doc said taking her to the morgue where he took x-rays of a victim's injuries. "Alright, just lay down right here, and stay still." Doc went into a small room to take the x-ray. "Okay, you're all set. I'll get the x-rays."

"Okay, I'm going to get Sara."

"Alright. You know your way back right?"

"Yes sir." She left and came back with Sara within a minute. When they walked in Doc was putting the picture against the light.

"Hey Doc, what've you got?" Sara said gazing at the picture.

"Where is Nick? Did you want him to look at it as well?"

"Uh, he went to change his clothes. He told me to fill him in."

"Well there are some fractures here that have healed over, but nothing recent to be worried about." Doc watched as Rebecca covered her mouth with her hands. "Ms. Stokes, Nick told me this was the first time this has happened. Is that true?" He said as she looked to Sara.

"Uh Doc, can I talk to you?" Sara said gently pulling him aside. "Look, just tell Nick that there were no injuries. Don't tell him about the other fractures. Please just keep this between us."

"Look Sara, Nick is my friend, I don't like keeping things from him. But unless he brings up that fact, I won't say anything."

"Okay, thanks Doc." Sara said smiling and turning to Rebecca. "Come on, Nick wants us to meet him in the lobby." They got to the lobby and Nick was there waiting. Greg saw them through the glass and decided to go over tp them.

"Hey guys. Rebecca, are you feeling better?" Greg asked smiling at her, and recieving a strange look from Nick.

"Yes, thanks Greg."

"I didn't know you two met." Nick said looking at Greg.

"Yeah, I told him that you and mom told me about him."

"And I thought it was nice that someone thought I was cool enough to talk about me." Greg said smiling at her.

"Uh, Nick. Can you call mom and dad to tell them about Todd?" Rebecca whispered as her smile straightened.

"I'll call them when we get-" Nick was interupted by his cell phone ringing. "Stokes." He answered. everyone stared as his expression changed.

"Nick? Nick where is your sister?"

"She's here with me in Vegas. Mom what's wrong?"

"I- I came home from Irene's house, we were playing cards and cooking for her daughter's party, and I found your father. He was beaten pretty badly Nick. He was unconcious all day. I didn't know." His mother cried into the phone and the color drained from Nick's face.

"Oh my God." Nick said almost inaudibly. "Is he Okay?"

"I don't know. But it doesn't look good Nick."

"Okay we're coming out. Sara, Becca, and I will leave now. We should be out in a few hours. Hang in there okay?"

"Okay. I love you."

"Yeah, I love you too." He said hanging up.

"Nick, what happened? Is dad okay?" Rebecca said, tears welling in her eyes.

"Todd was at the house. Mom said she found dad beaten. He's not doing very well."

"Oh my God. Nick it's all my fault. I shouldn't have left. I should have warned mom and dad before I left."

"Hey, don't blame yourself. None of this is your fault, okay?" Nick said as Rebecca nodded and sniffled. "Hey, come here." He said hugging her. "Come on, we will stop by my house first. I still have some of your clothes there from last year in the spare room."

"Okay." She said as the three started down the corridor.

"Hey Nick?" Greg called after them.

"What's up man?"

"I want to go with you." Greg said recievening a strange look from Nick.

"What? Why?"

"Nick, we are best friends. And I think you could use a friend right now."

"Greg, you're right I do need a friend."

"So does that mean I'm going with you?"

"Yeah man, you're going to Dallas." Nick said smiling slightly at his own slight sarcasm.

"Okay. I'll go to my place to pack some stuff and I'll meet you at the airport in an hour."

"Okay. Hey Greg? Can you take Sara to her place to pack? I have to take Becca to my house."

"Sure. Come on Sara."

"Alright. I'll see you later Nick. I love you." She said kissing him before following Greg.

"Alright. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah." Rebecca said wiping her eyes and following Nick.

"Okay, let's go." Nick said as they went to the parking lot. They got into Nick's truck and headed toward his house.

"Nick?" Rebecca broke the silence.

"Yeah."

"Thanks. For helping me."

"You don't have to thank me. You knew I would. What are big brothers for anyway?" He said smiling at her. She smiled the same smile back at him.

"So, what do you say we get you some clothes of your own?" He said still smiling as they puked into his driveway.

"Okay." She said uneasily as he turned off the engine.

A/N: So? 'Make It or Break It'? LOL. Let me know okay? Peace, Love, and CSI.

Sweet Jorja