Author's Note: No, I'm not dead. I'm back. This is my first story in, oh…eight months, so I may be a bit rusty, but I hope you enjoy it just the same. Without further ado…

Spoilers: Who Are You?, Overload

Disclaimer: Not mine. I don't own it, and I don't pretend to own it. I would like to own it, though.

I would like to extend a special thank-you to bauerfreak for putting up with all my schizophreniac writing and changing my mind every five seconds. Also for making me write again. I can't thank you enough.

"Why did you kill her?" Sara asked.

Troy Kinnon, the man sitting in front of her, said nothing.

"Why?" Sara demanded.

"Because she was a bitch and a slut. She didn't deserve anything. Not money, not love, and definitely not life," he sneered. "She was worthless; a nobody. So I killed her."

Sara looked at him in disgust and narrowed her eyes. "Your whole life is about to become worthless. Twenty-five to life." She relished the words as she said them. "And when I match your DNA to the fingernail scrapings from the other two prostitutes we found, I guarantee that you'll die by lethal injection. And you'd better hope that when you're lying there, strapped to the table, waiting to die, I don't come in there and stick you with the needle myself." She turned her glare away from Kinnon and said, "Get him out of here, Brass."

Brass and a uniform stepped out of the corner, handcuffs at the ready. "Troy Kinnon, you are under arrest for the murder of Robyn Morgan."

Sara was angry. She'd seen a lot on the job, but there were still some cases that got to her, and for no apparent reason. This wasn't even an abuse case. She went into the locker room and grabbed a towel and some shampoo from her locker, then headed towards the showers. Nick was there – it was the end of shift for him too. All three of the showers were full, so Nick and Sara would have to wait.

"Hey," Nick said, and offered a smile.

"Hi," Sara replied, still a bit put out over the Robyn case.

Sensing that something was wrong, Nick asked, "Did you wrap up that Robyn Morgan case? I know you've been working on it for a while."

"Yeah," she sighed. "We got him."

"Good," Nick commented. Just then, they heard a shower being shut off.

"I can't wait to go home," Sara mentioned, "but I think I'm going to go out for a drink or two first."

"Want some company?" Nick offered.

Sara looked at him. Why not? she asked herself. "I'd like that," she admitted. "Maybe we can all go out together."

"How about just you and me?" suggested Nick. He could tell she was really upset about something, and thought she'd be more likely to open up to him if they were alone.

"Okay," Sara agreed. Just then, Warrick stepped out of the shower stall.

"Hey, guys," he said, smiling. "I'll see you later."

"See ya, Warrick," Nick said.

"Bye," Sara added. She held her hand out to the empty shower stall. "All yours."

"No, you can go," he said.

"But you were here first," Sara protested.

"Yeah, but you have longer hair than me. I can probably shower faster so we can be ready to go at the same time," he reassured her.

Sara smiled at him in gratitude. He was so considerate. "Thanks. That's thoughtful of you," she said as she stepped into the shower and pulled the curtain closed behind her.

The curtains, though they did their job, were not terribly long, and Nick could see the top of her head and from her knees down. He saw her slip off her shoes and trouser socks, and couldn't help but notice how pretty her feet were. Her copper-painted toenails were well-kept and she had the cutest toes Nick had ever seen. As her black slacks slipped to the floor, her perfectly shaped calves were revealed.

A few seconds later, he heard her shower turn on, just as another turned off.

Good, Nick thought. My turn.

Minutes later, Matt, the dayshift DNA tech, emerged from the centre shower. "All yours, man," Matt said.

Puzzled, Nick queried, "Why are you showering before your shift?"

"The water main that services my apartment building broke. I have no water," he explained, grinning. Nick wondered why he seemed so happy about it. If Nick woke up to find out he had no water, he'd be ready to crack some skulls.

"Nice," Nick said, empathizing with Matt's situation. "See you later, man."

"See ya."

With that, Nick stepped into the shower stall, quickly stripped off his clothes, and stepped under the spastic spray. He shampooed quickly and was out of the shower mere seconds after Sara.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

"Just about," Sara answered. "I'm just going to grab my purse and coat."

"Okay." Nick followed her to their lockers and they opened them up. Nick hung up his towel, knowing it would still be good for one more shower as long as it dried before then. They both grabbed their jackets and they accompanied each other out into the parking lot.

"I'll meet you there," Nick said. "Unless you want to take just one car."

"Sure, let's do that," she agreed.

"Your car or mine?"

"I think I'll catch a ride with you," Sara decided, not wanting him to know that her Tahoe was the only place in her world that she never cleaned.

"Okay. I'm over here," he said, pointing to his car, and they made their way over. Once inside, Nick started the truck and asked, "Where to?"

"Mmm…the Highball?" she suggested.

"The Highball it is," Nick consented, and pulled the truck into gear.

"So, anyway, then we found another girl near D street, and that had the same MO. Signs of sex, but no semen. And she had her shoes missing, too. We ID'ed her as Kailie Main. Troy Kinnon, the security guard for the McConroy building about a half a block away, said that he'd found her when he went out for a smoke after work. But I noticed that his teeth and fingers looked really clean, and he didn't smell like a smoker. So, I had his urine tested for nicotine, and it looked like the guy hadn't smoked a cigarette in his life. When I asked him why he lied, he admitted that he had called a hooker to meet him there after he got off shift, and when he got out, there was the body. I don't know – something about his story just didn't feel right. I pestered a judge to let me get a DNA sample from Kinnon, and I did. His DNA was a perfect match to a hair we found on the first girl, Robyn Morgan, as well as fingernail scrapings we collected. With that…" Sara finished off.

"Yeah," Nick said, nodding and knowing where the story would go from there. He sipped his martini. "So, can you match his DNA to the other two victims?"

"We haven't yet, but I asked Wendy to compare Kinnon's DNA to the fingernail scrapings we took from the first t.wo. I expect they'll match. He already confessed to killing Robyn Morgan, so at least we've got him on that." Sara shrugged and took another sip of her cocktail. Setting down the glass on the bar, she traced the rim of it with her middle finger and stared into the glass.

Noticing that she was zoning out a little bit, Nick proposed, "Penny for your thoughts."

Sara stayed silent for a moment, and then blurted out, "How can people do what they do to other people?"

Nick looked off to his right and contemplated for a moment. Finally, he shook his head. "I don't know. I know for sure that there's a lot in my past that I wish I could forget."

"Like what?" Sara asked.

Nick laughed dryly. "For starters, Nigel Crane." Sara nodded in accord. "Then, of course, Walter Gordon. And don't forget Amy Hendler."

"Amy Hendler?" Sara asked quizzically. She knew about the other two, but apparently Nick was more of a trouble magnet than she had originally thought.

"It was about a month after I was promoted to CSI III. We were at this guy's house because we thought he committed a murder, but when Brass arrested him and took him outside, Grissom followed and I was left alone with his wife. I was taking a look at some pictures, and I thought I saw something that might have been the murder weapon. I turned around to see the wife pointing a gun at my face, and then she more or less confessed to the murder." Nick sipped his martini again. "That was the first time I'd ever been held at gunpoint," he admitted.

"I'm sorry," Sara empathized.

"On top of that, there was Janelle Nicholls," he added. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he realized what he'd said.

"Who is Janelle Nicholls?" Sara queried.

Nick sighed. He decided to just come out with it. "She was a babysitter when I was nine. She…" – he chose his words carefully – "hurt me."

Sara didn't get it. "How?"

Nick gave her a Look.

A look of realization crossed Sara's face as it dawned on her what Nick was saying. "Oh, Nick…"

Nick tried to shrug it off and hide the pain in his eyes by knocking his head back and downing the last of his martini.

Just then, a tall blonde man came up to the bar and brushed Sara's shoulder with two fingers. With a suave British accent, he asked Nick, "Would you mind if I stole the lady for a dance?"

Nick glanced at Sara and shrugged, which told her that it was up to her. "I'd love to," Sara replied. She finished off her cocktail and took his outstretched hand.

As she stood up, Nick said, "Sara, I'm going to go home right away. Are you okay to get back to your car?"

"Yeah," Sara said. "I'll take a cab back to the lab."

"You're sure?" Nick double-checked.

"I'm sure," she said, smiling.

"Well, have a good time, then. I'll see you tomorrow," Nick said. He turned to leave.

"Hey, Nick?" Sara called after him.

He turned. "Yeah?"

"Thanks. I needed this."

"My pleasure," he said, and then left the bar, got into his Denali, and drove home.

Author's Note: A bit of a slow start, I know, but believe me when I say that it will get a lot more exciting. Thank you for reading!