A/N: IMPORTANT

A/N: IMPORTANT!! (So important it rates 3 '!'.) Anyway, when I say AU from about after GD, I do not mean that this actually occurs after that particular show, I merely mean that's the point that I'll probably start deviating from canon (although this is already deviated from canon, I mean the episodes)

Anyway:

Last time: Alex spilt the beans, Nick told her not to leave, and this is what happens next:


A few days later, Nick watched Alex moving around the house as he was heading out towards work. She was finishing the cleaning she'd started earlier that day and was balanced on the couch arm and the windowsill, reaching up to dust the top of the bookshelf/CD-rack/DVD-rack against one wall of his lounge.

He never admit it to her (or even to himself), but he liked watching her. She was graceful, pretty, and had a good figure. The bombshell about who Alex really was had been a little bit hard to swallow. But there was something in her eyes when she'd said it. A burning desire for him to believe her, to accept her, the fact that she'd all but sworn that she would never lie to him – as far as was possible in her line of work – all this had added up to make him believe that everything she said was the truth.

"That you leaving?" Alex asked, jumping down from her perch, and turning to face him.

Nick looked blankly at the keys in his hand for a second before glancing back to Alex. "Yeah."

"Can I come with you?"

"Erm…"

"Don't feel compelled to say yes. If you don't want me to, just shoot me straight down. I'll understand, it'll have been all a little bit hard for you to accept. If you need me, just yell."

"I'll bear that in mind," he promised, smiling at her and turning to leave.

"Not, properly yell," Alex corrected herself as she followed him towards the door. "Just, think my name. I should hear that. Whether or not I actually will is another question."

"You don't know for sure?"

"It's been different with every different person I've aided. Now go, have a nice night at work. See you in the morning."

As Nick left he felt comfortable, and half-wished that he could turn around and wave at her, like he would to a girlfriend, or wife…

'Stop thinking like that Nick!' he ordered himself silently. 'The woman's your "guardian angel". Or whatever. She's not likely to get attached to you.'

He turned and saw Alex standing outside the closed door, leaning against the wood. She smiled and faded back into the house, eyes twinkling. He started the car and for a moment stared at the steering wheel with a stupid grin on his face. Alex made him feel like he was the only person in the world that mattered. Maybe he should tell her about…

Nick cut that line of thought off and headed for work.


Alex leant her head back against the wall, sliding down said wall to sit on the floor, knees up to chest, smiling stupidly to herself. There was something about Nick Stokes…she couldn't place it. He was warm, friendly, and every inch a Texan gentleman to her. Even now, when he was wary of her because of who she was, he was making sure she had everything she needed, and that she was comfortable. She hugged herself, rocking slightly from side to side.

"Yeah," she said aloud, knowing no-one would hear her. "He's one hell of a man."

With that, she returned to the cleaning. If there was one thing Alex had learned through the years, it was how to clean properly. She had – in some respects – become a bit of a neat freak. She couldn't stand dust. Possibly because dust could show up her figure in mid-air. It was something no-one had ever explained to her, that certain things could display the figure – if not the features – of one of the 'ghosts' like her. Alex didn't know how long she'd been cleaning for when she heard her name being yelled silently.

'Nick…' she thought instantly, surprised that she could hear him so clearly. Closing her eyes, she started to will herself to where he was – not hard seeing as she had a vague idea that it would be the lab. She wouldn't have been able to do it if he wasn't somewhere she expected. She appeared beside him in the lab, looking around.

"Hey Nick," she grinned at him. "What do you need?"

Nick glanced at her. "Hey," he whispered, minimizing mouth movements.

"Hey to you too. That all you needed?"

"More I needed someone to run a theory through with."

"Is there somewhere private?"

"There's a cupboard at the end of the hall, hardly ever used."

"Alright, we'll go there, then you can talk it out properly with me."

She disappeared abruptly and Nick blinked at where she had been, before sauntering down the corridor, ensuring no-one was around and ducking into the storage cupboard where Alex was perched easily on top of a set of shelves.

"Get down," Nick found himself smiling despite himself.

Alex pushed herself off her perch and he automatically caught her as she dropped to the ground. She leant forward and kissed his cheek, before pulling back, blushing and smiling shyly.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "And thanks. For everything."

"No, it's me who should be saying sorry. I…"

"Nick, if you hadn't reacted the way you did, I'd think you were weird. You reacted naturally, like the trained scientist you are."

Nick stared at her for a few moments before nodding. He then started to run his theory past her. He figured, that seeing as she was a 'ghost', then there was not really much of a chance that she'd compromise the case in anyway, and it helped him set his mind in order. As Alex listened, she took on board what he was saying, and found a smile stretching over her lips as she realised that Nick was starting to trust her again.


And that's it for now. Hehe.

Next time: things start getting complicated when Alex starts hearing things - among other reasons.