A/N: I don't own CSI, CBS, or any known entity. Timeline: Post Grave Danger. Complete crackfic, idea from a dream I had... you don't want to know lol. I hope you guys enjoy the story. :)

A Different Kind of Nightmare

"This place is a mess!" Nick exclaimed, looking at Warrick beside him. The crime scene was one of the worst they'd ever seen in their numerous years as criminalists. Warrick shook his head.

"They get worse every day," he muttered. The pair stood in the middle of a bloody room with pieces of the body splayed out in every which direction. Nick looked at the clock on the wall, which read 12:00.

"We're gonna be here for a while. Let's get started." Warrick nodded. "So, I'll stay here with the… body."

"I'm gonna go check the other rooms of the house." Nick nodded, and Warrick went into another room. Nick took pictures and collected some trace evidence. He could hear noises coming from the other room, but he figured they were just from Warrick collecting evidence. He glanced at the clock on the wall again. 11:45. He furrowed his brow in confusion. Wasn't it just midnight not that long ago? Shrugging, he continued to work quietly.

"Hey, Rick, I think I found the weapon," he said aloud, looking at a knife hiding under the couch cushion. He didn't know what possessed him to look under the couch cushion, but he did anyway.

"Sweet!" he heard Warrick's muffled reply from the other room and smiled. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. He glanced up at the clock again. 1:45. It'd been two hours already? He shook his head. Time flies on crime scenes. He took in a deep breath, and began choking. Smoke filled his lungs, and the situation registered in his head.

"Rick, we better get out of here! I think the house is on fire!" He didn't wait for an answer, choosing to grab his evidence and his kit and run out of the house. Sure enough, the house was burning down, and Nick collapsed on the lawn, coughing. He looked back quickly as the house exploded. Warrick never made it out. "RICK!!!!"

He stood up, and found himself dressed in a tux, standing at the end of a coffin. The photographs around told him he was at Warrick's funeral, but he couldn't believe this was happening. He could barely hear Ecklie's eulogy, could barely make out the faces of the crowd. He was solely focused on Tina's distraught sobs. As the ceremony apparently concluded, she walked up to him.

"This is your fault," she cried. "You left him alone. You let that bastard do this to him."

"Tina, I'm sorry," he heard himself apologize. "I didn't know the guy was gonna come back."

"You didn't even try to save him! You left him there to die! This is all your fault, Nick!"

"Tina, I'm really sorry."

"Sorry isn't going to bring my husband back. It isn't going to give my child his father. Sorry isn't good enough, Nick! You should've died, not him. You've cheated death too many times." She pulled out a gun, the very thing that she hated Warrick having, and pointed it in his face. "You're not going to cheat it this time." Aimed high at his head, she pulled the trigger.

Nick fell off the bed, hitting the floor with a loud thud. Warrick jumped awake from his spot next to the bed. "You okay, man?" he asked.

"You're alive," Nick replied, looking up at him. Warrick knelt beside him and started to help him up.

"I'm fine, bro. You okay?"

"What happened?"

"You don't remember?" Nick thought back as he climbed on his bed, and remembered now.

"Thanks for finding me." Warrick sighed.

"I'm just glad you're alive, man. What was your dream about if it made you forget about being buried?"

"We were at a crime scene, and it blew up, and you were still in the house. Tina was yelling at me for letting you die, and she was pregnant, and we were at your funeral. It felt so real, man."

"Yeah, but it was only a dream, bro. I'm here, and so are you. It was only a dream." Warrick took Nick's hand in his and squeezed it. "You're okay."

"I'm not okay, man," Nick said softly, thinking about everything that had happened over the past day or so.

"You're alive," Warrick replied. "The rest we can deal with as it comes." Nick nodded, squeezing Warrick's hand. Warrick smiled softly. "Go back to sleep, Nick. You're safe now."

"Yeah, I know." Nick closed his eyes, lulling himself back to sleep. "Night, Rick."

"Night, Nicky."