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WARNING/SPOILER: This part of the story follows the ending of the CSI season 2 episode Stalker. Here is a synopsis of the episode:
Jane Galloway is a nervous breakdown waiting to happen. She has completely shielded herself from the outside world, but that doesn't stop a stalker in her attic from killing her. When CSI arrives, they find her hair dyed and her face shoved in the toilet. This image has a heavy impact on Nick, and they soon realize that this stalker is well acquainted with Nick, which makes the CSI the next target.
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy or CSI Vegas or the images I used in my fanart which a link can be found on my profile.
Buffy pulled up into the parking lot of the Las Vegas crime lab where her cousin worked. Nick had told Buffy to call him when she had got into town and Buffy had but received no answer. Before going to the lab she had stopped by Nick's place to see if he was there. That was when she headed to his work. Buffy got out of her car and headed inside. Upon entering Buffy was surprised at how quiet it was in there. She had expected it to be noisy with people hustling and bustling around. Buffy went up to the reception area.
"How can I help you?"
"Yes I'm looking for Nick Stokes. He's supposed to be expecting me."
"Are you Buffy Summers?" The receptionist asked.
"Yes ma'am."
"Can I see some ID just to confirm that you're you?" Buffy nodded and reached into her purse and pulled out her new ID.
"You just got this a week ago?" The receptionist asked curiously.
"Yes Ma'am, if you look at the address you'll see it says Sunnydale California. My old ID went down with Sunnydale, and I'll have to get a new one when I decide on a new place to live."
"I heard about Sunnydale on the news. You were lucky." Buffy just nodded yes. "Mr. Stokes called about five minutes before you came in leaving a message for you that he was heading for his home."
"Thank you." Buffy said as she turned to leave.
Buffy headed back to her car. She started the car and was soon heading back to her cousin home. Her thoughts were wondering why her cousin hadn't answered his phone. Fifteen minutes later Buffy pulled up in front of her cousin's home parking her car on the street. In the driveway was a crime lab SUV that Buffy assumed was her cousin's. Buffy got out of her car and grabbed both her bags. Buffy reached the door and was about to knock when the door opened.
"You must be Buffy. I'm Warrick Brown. I work with Nick at the crime lab."
"It's nice to meet you. Nick is here right?"
"In here Buffy." Buffy heard her cousin call out and she could hear a slight tone of pain in his voice.
Buffy rushed in nearly knocking Warrick down with her luggage. Nick was sitting on the couch. His wrist was in some kind of cast, cuts on his face and neck, and he had stitches on his forehead.
"What happened to you?" Buffy asked sitting her stuff down and taking a seat beside Nick making sure not to jostle his arm.
"I got thrown out a second story window by a suspect who was still on the premises."
"He got checked out and the doctor's released him saying he needs to take easy for the next week. I'm Sara Sidle by the way. I also work with Nick."
"Nice too meet you."
"Nick we're going to head back we'll check on you tomorrow. Take if easy." Warrick said to Nick.
"I'll be making sure he does." Buffy said as she got up to see them out.
"Buffy, it was nice meeting you." Warrick told her.
"You too. Hopefully we can all go out for breakfast one day before I leave."
"We'll let Nick know." Warrick said as he and Sara left.
Buffy watched until they got into their vehicle and then shut and locked the door. She then turned and made her way back to the couch.
"How was your drive?" Nick asked.
"It was good. I ran into some traffic, stopped for food in Bakersfield also for a bit of a stretch and did a bit of shopping. I ran into some more traffic when I entered Vegas. I tried calling you when I got here but I can see why you didn't answer. Have you taken your medication?"
"Not yet. We had just gotten here a few minutes before you did. Why don't you take your bags into the spare room and get settled? I'll go take my medicine and then we can talk some more?"
"Sounds good."
"The spare bedroom is down the hall on the left." Buffy nodded getting up and getting her two bags from where she had dropped them. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
Buffy put her bags on the floor by the bed. Her slayer instinct was telling her that something wasn't quite right in her cousin's home but it didn't feel demonic. Buffy opened her bag and removed the clothes to reveal a false bottom and selected a dagger with a sheath. She hooked it behind her and made sure her shirt hid it. She then quickly put everything back into the bag and zipped it. Just as Buffy stood, there was a knock on the front door. She heard Nick call out "who is it" and her slayer hearing picked up the reply. She heard Nick grunt as he got up and Buffy hurried back out to the front room. Nick had just opened the door.
"Please please let me in. I saw this house. I saw the number I saw the street name. Something is wrong here. I saw you sitting with a blonde and then a crash."
"Was that blonde me?" Buffy asked coming further into the room. Mr. Pearson looked at her closely.
"Yes."
"I'll take care of this. Mr. Pearson, can you tell me exactly what you saw?" Buffy asked him.
"I saw this house, this address." Mr. Pearson looked around.
"What else?" She coached.
"I saw crashing. I saw falling. I saw someone seeing through the back of his head. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know…green tea. Does that mean anything to you?"
"That depends did you see the drink or the letter t?" Buffy asked. "Is this what you saw?"
Buffy asked pointing to the green T that was on the rug.
"Yes, yes that's it."
Before Buffy or Nick could say anything else the phone rang and Nick moved to answer it. Buffy saw Mr. Pearson start walking further and further into the house.
"What are you seeing now?" Buffy asked.
"Looking down from above." Mr. Pearson looked up and Buffy realized that they were standing at the door that led up to the attic.
"Mr. Pearson, go back and stay with Nick. I'm going to check something out. Keep him by the door."
Buffy opened the panel to the attic and she jumped up in to the attic. Her eyes instantly adjusted to the darkness, and Buffy knew the exact moment Nigel Crane came at her. She kicked out with her foot catching him in the chest. He went flying and landed with a thump. Buffy could hear Nick below calling her name. Crane got up desperate to take down the woman before him. He charged at her again and this time Buffy simply decked him hard enough to knock him out. Crane's body landed and crashed through the floor.
"Buffy?" Nick called out as he moved to check on Crane.
"Sorry about that." Buffy said looking down on Nick and Pearson. "You got some rotten boards up here. You might want to open the door before the cops bust it in."
Buffy jumped down landing on top of some of the ceiling. She kept her eye on Crane just too make sure he wasn't coming to while Nick opened the door and motioned for Brass and his men to come in. Brass entered to see Crane out cold on the floor with Buffy standing over him.
"Everyone okay?" Brass asked.
"We're fine. He'll probably have one hell of a headache when he wakes up. I've been told I have one hell of a right hook." Buffy said with a grin. Brass returned her grin.
An hour later Buffy and Nick were pulling into the Bellagio parking lot. She pulled into a parking spot and carefully shook Nick awake.
"Where are we?" Nick asked.
"At the Bellagio. Your place is kind of a mess right now. Let get our room and then you can go back to sleep."
Buffy grabbed her two bags and Nick's bag and carried them in. Nick followed behind her as Buffy went up to the front desk.
"May I help you?" The desk clerk asked.
"I'm Buffy Summers, I believe you have a Grand Lakeview suite with two master bedrooms for us."
"Yes ma'am, we have your suite already for you." The woman said giving her a smile.
Buffy gave the woman the credit card Angel had given her. Once everything checked out the clerk called a bell hop over and gave Buffy a key for each of them that would allow them to get up to their suite and into their room. The bell hop struggled to lift Buffy's bag with the weapons in the hidden bottom. Buffy picked it up with ease making the bellhop gape. They then followed the bellhop to the elevators where Buffy used her key so they could reach the level their suite was on. When they arrived on the floor the bellhop carried the bags to the room and used the key to open the door.
"Is this to your satisfaction?"
"Yes thank you." Buffy gave him a tip and then closed the door and locked it behind him. "Why don't you head into the bedroom and lie down?"
"Sounds good." Nick picked one of the rooms and immediately pulled the covers back. He got into bed, turned the light off, and fell asleep instantly.
A few minutes later Buffy checked on Nick to see that he was fast asleep. She snuck into his room and pulled the covers up and quietly snuck back out closing the door. Buffy heads off to her own room taking her bags with her. She checks out the bathroom and sees the huge tub with a variety of washes and soaps to use and decides to take a bath before going to bed.
The next morning Buffy woke up around seven. She didn't need much sleep and the four hours she had gotten were enough to rejuvenate her. Once she was dressed she checked on her Nick. He was still sound asleep and Buffy would let him sleep as long as he wanted. Buffy went out to the balcony and looked over at the beautiful green grass and waterfall scenery. Buffy hadn't realized how long she had been out there until Nick spoke.
"Morning, how long have you been up?"
"Only about an hour. How did you sleep?"
"Pretty good. Those pain killers are good ones."
"Feeling hungry?" Buffy asked as she moved to go in. Nick nodded. "Would you like to eat here or would like to go out?"
"Let's eat here so we can talk."
"Sounds good. There's a room service menu over by the phone. Let me know what you want and I'll order it." Nick nodded and began looking over the menu. "Get whatever you want we'll charge it to the room."
Nick made his decision and Buffy called and ordered their breakfast. They then went and sat on the couch.
"Buffy, how can you afford this?"
"I personally can't. I have probably about two hundred dollars to my name until I get the insurance check for the house."
"Then how are you paying for this?" Nick asked curiously.
"I'm not Angel is."
"Who's Angel?"
"My ex-boyfriend. He and I are still really good friends. He runs a hotel in LA and it was where we stayed at for a few days after the destruction of Sunnydale. I mentioned I wanted to visit family to him, and on the day I was leaving he gave me this credit card and a thousand dollars cash. I've mostly been using it for food and gas. This is the first big purchase I've put on it. I was planning on doing some shopping while I'm here and have it sent to Aunt Hetty's house."
"How is Aunt Hetty?" Nick asked.
"Doing pretty good from what I read in her last email though she may be regretting her decision in taking temporary custody of Dawn."
"Dawn's living with Aunt Hetty?"
Buffy nodded and then went on to give him a version of the story that doesn't entail vampires and other creatures of the night. By the time she had finished telling him there was a knock on the door signaling their breakfast had arrived. Buffy got up and answered the door and the waiter wheeled the food to the table. Nick and Buffy sat down at the table and began eating.
"What do you say to a sightseeing and shopping trip today? I need to get some clothes and get Dawn some souvenirs and I'm sure you could probably use new clothes too. I heard your friend Catherine talking about Crane wearing your clothes. I don't know about you but I don't think I would want them back."
"I don't. That's sounds good."
"Good, I'll call down to the concierge and get us a mini limo. You're in no shape to drive and I've been driving more than I care too. Plus, we'll have plenty of room for what we buy."
Buffy could see by the look on Nick's face that he was wondering what he had gotten himself into.
The shopping, sightseeing, and dinner afterward had gone great. Buffy and Nick had returned to the hotel to return the limo and drop off what they had bought. Grissom had called to check on Nick and told them that his place had been released and he could return home when he was ready. Nick had wanted to go to his place to start cleaning it up. Buffy agreed and they soon left in her car and headed to his place. Buffy pulled her car to a stop in front of Nick's house. Buffy noticed that Nick didn't get out right away. She didn't say anything and just let him take his time. After a few minutes and several deep breaths, Nick got out and Buffy followed. Opening the door with his key, Nick stepped into the house cautiously as if he expected Crane to still be there. The first thing they both had notice was that the huge chunks of plaster were gone. The only sign that anything had happened there was that was still a very large hole in his ceiling. Buffy had figured it was probably one of Nick's friends that had cleaned up the mess. Even though Nick new that no one was in his house he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched. He went from room to room making sure and Buffy was right behind him.
"Do you think you can stay here or should we start looking for someplace new? I can stay as long as you want."
"That's good because I think I'm going to need help moving. This doesn't feel like home anymore."
"All right, why don't we go back to the hotel? I can make a few calls and get a place set up so that we can have you moved in by the end of the week. Just tell me what you want and I'll relay it to my contact and we'll see what we get."
"Let's go then."
Nick locked the house up and they returned to the hotel and while Nick was soaking in the sauna Buffy made a call to Angel.
"Buffy, how are your visits with your family going?"
"Good. I'm in Vegas with my cousin Nick. Just to let you know I put a good amount of money on the credit card. Nick and I are staying at Bellagio. That's actually why I called."
Buffy explained what happened and then told him what she wanted from him.
"I'll see what I can do and I call you when I have what you want."
"Thanks Angel."
By the time Buffy had gotten up in the morning Angel had called with a list of houses that suited what Nick wanted. Buffy and Nick checked out the houses and Nick found one that he liked and that was closer to the crime lab. That night Buffy called Angel and had him rush the closing process. Two days later Nick and Buffy were taking Nick's stuff to his new house. By the end of the week Nick was completely moved in and Buffy had checked them out of the Bellagio. Buffy stayed another few days before Nick drove Buffy to the Airport.
"Call me and let me know when you're return flight gets in and I'll pick you." Nick told her.
"I will. Thanks for letting me park my car at your place."
"It's no problem. After everything you've done for me during your stay, this is the least I could do."
"I'll see you in a week." Buffy hugged her cousin.
Nick returned the hug. He watched as his cousin until he could no longer see her.
That's the end of that chapter. Next chapter Buffy goes to Forks.
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