(A/N) Hey everyone. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year. I just got back from holiday, which accounts for my lack of updating. But now I'm back and ready to roll. Just one thing… I know that usually, Gris and co wouldn't be working the case on account of being emotionally biased, but just suspend your disbelief. I really didn't feel like creating a whole new CSI team just for the sake of writing my story.

Recap: So basically Warrick is on his way to Washington, and the rest of the team have arrived at the crime scene. On with the rest of the story.


Warrick dumped his extremely exhausted body into one of Tony's armchairs. The flight coupled with the morning's ordeal left Warrick stressed and weary. It was 7:50 at night, and Tony decided to let Warrick settle in before leaving for the office.

"You gonna be alright here?" Tony asked.

"Yeah man. I'll be fine. Just cancel any 'appointments' you may have made. I don't want any mysterious women knockin on the door while I'm sleeping, you know."

"Yeah yeah. Anyways I'm gonna get goin. If you need anything, just call my cell."

"Alright. Hey, by the way, you gonna tell your boss about me?" Warrick asked just before Tony opened the front door.

"You kidding me? I don't think Gibbs would approve of me housing a suspected murderer." Tony said rather skeptically.

"You don't think he would help?"

"I don't know. I think it's better if we keep it in house though. Just to be safe."

"Yeah alright." Warrick leaned back in the chair. He closed his eyes and tried to relax.

"Anyways I'm off. Hopefully Nick will have made some progress back in Vegas."

Warrick kept his eyes shut. "Ok. See you later."

Tony opened the door and left Warrick to some peace and quiet.

When Tony left, Warrick tried to fall asleep. He kept his eyes closed and tried to clear his mind. Despite how physically and mentally exhausted he was, he couldn't get his mind to shut down. It was still racing. Warrick wondered how Nick was going back home. He wondered how Grissom reacted to the scene. He wondered about Melissa. Did she know yet? He needed to communicate with his team. He needed to know what they had found. Now he wished he had followed Tony to the office. Warrick opened his eyes and stood up. He looked around his friend's modest house. It was slightly bigger than his, but a whole lot messier. He walked over to the kitchen and checked the fridge. A carton of milk, a few eggs, left over chicken from god knows how long ago, some juice, some margarine and more than a few cans of beer. He wasn't even that hungry, but he needed something to do. He needed to get his mind off things for just a second. Warrick grabbed the milk and gave it a sniff. Seemed alright. He then grabbed a few eggs and began to cook. He hoped that cooking would calm his nerves, even if it was only for a minute. He soon found out it would do no good. He still couldn't get his mind off the crisis. He left the egg in the pan for too long and burned it. Warrick ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

"God dammit!" He fumed out loud, throwing the spatula in the sink and tossing the burnt omelet in the bin. "Come on Tony. I'm dying here Tony, I'm dying."


"Come on Nick! You're killing me. Tell me you got something better than that." Tony hissed into the speaker. There wasn't really anyone around at this time of night, but he never knew when Gibbs would just appear out of nowhere and ask 'Better than what Tony?', to which he would have no answer for.

"I'm sorry man. We haven't had time to analyze the evidence in the lab yet so it's all speculation." Nick rasped back on the other end of the line.

"Ok…so no signs of forced entry…what does that mean?"

"Well, other than the obvious…"

"Yes, other than the obvious."

"It means that the killer must have had a set of keys to Warrick's house. Either that or he's a locksmith." Nick suggested.

"Ok, let's go with the first theory for a second. Let's say the killer does have access to Warrick's house, maybe it's someone Warrick knows."

"Maybe. Or it could just be some guy that Warrick trusted enough to let into his house for a few hours. The killer could have taken the key while in the house."

"Cable guy?"

"I told you…I don't know. it's all speculation at the moment, which isn't going to help Warrick at all. We need rock solid evidence."

Tony remained silent for a while.

"You there?" Nick asked.

"Yeah…hey, have you told your boss about our little arrangement?"

"Um…no. Not really…Have you told Gibbs?"

"No. No way."

"So what? We gonna handle this ourselves?"

"I really don't see any other way."

"I feel kinda bad though, keeping Gris out of the loop. I just don't know how he will react. I mean the guy is so stone cold, he might see Warrick as just another suspect."

"Yeah, I see your point. What about Warrick's fiancée? Have you told her anything yet?"

"No. I called her earlier. Told her to come to the lab. I'll break the news to her then."

"Yeah alright. Anyway, I'm gonna get home. Update Warrick."

"Yeah. Good idea. And ask him how many sets of keys he has in the house and where he keeps them. I'll follow up on our theory."

"Alright, will do. I'll be back in to office tomorrow morning. Keep me posted." Tony said.

"Alright buddy. I'll speak to you tomorrow."

"Ok, see ya."

Tony placed the phone back on the receiver. He stood up and peeked out of his cubicle. Most people had left and the few that remained were of no importance. Tony sat back down in his chair and ruffled his hair. Things were not going so well but he had to remain positive. He had to stay strong. Warrick's freedom was counting on it.


"Excuse me, Mr. Stokes…"

Nick turned around. Vera, the receptionist had her head poking in the staff lounge.

"You've got a visitor. A Melissa Johnstone…"

"Oh right! She's here?"

"Yes. She's waiting for you in the reception area."

"Right. Thanks Vera." Nick stood up. He straightened out the creases in his shirt and pants and walked out into the lobby.

"Nick!" Melissa stood up to greet him. She began barraging him with questions as soon as he got into earshot. "What's going on? Where's Warrick? I tried to call his cell but…"

"Melissa! Mel! Calm down." Nick tried to stem the flow of frantic questions.

"Maybe we should talk about this somewhere quieter." Nick suggested.

"Nick…what's going on?" She asked again, concern in her eyes.

Nick led her to one of the empty interrogation rooms and motioned for her to sit. She did so, placing her handbag on her lap. Nick closed the door and sat opposite her.

"Has something bad happened to Warrick?"

Nick hesitated. She was obviously very concerned, but he didn't want her freaking out. He had way too much to deal with at the moment. In the end he decided that he would just be frank with her. There was no point in beating around the bush.

"We found a dead body in Warrick's house." He decided to omit the detail of where exactly the body was found. No point.

"Oh my god…"

Nick began to reassure her before she could break into hysterics. "We are working it twenty four seven. Everyone in the lab is pulling doubles. We'll find out who is trying to frame Warrick don't you worry about that."

At first she looked as if she was going to freak, but Nick's words seemed to have done the trick.

"So you guys know he's being framed?"

"Yes." Nick said as confidently as possible.

"Who's the dead person?"

"We don't know yet. We haven't been able to make an I.D just yet."

His answers seemed to satisfy her. "Where is he?"

Nick contemplated whether he should let her in on the whole story. Melissa noticed the hesitation and pressed again.

"Nick…where's Warrick?"

"Um…we don't know."

"What?! You mean he's missing?!?!" Melissa was leaning forward in her chair now. She began to get frantic.

"No…no. He's not missing."

"What? Did he flee the scene? Where is my fiancée?"

"Look, Melissa…we can't exactly reveal all aspects of the case. But I promise you, we will get to the bottom of this."

Melissa slumped onto the table, head resting on her hands. "What's going on? Why is this happening. We are supposed to be getting married in less than a week." Melissa cried out in frustration.

Nick stood up. He went over to rest a hand on Melissa's shoulder. "Come on…I'll drive you home. Get some rest. I'll call you as soon as we get a break in the case."

Melissa stood up, shoulders hunched. Her curly brown hair, which was usually quite neat and well kept, was now messy and unruly. She looked as though she had aged a few years since entering the interrogation room just a few minutes ago. Nick opened the door for her, ushered her out and closed it behind him.


Nick had just driven Melissa home and was back at the lab. Grissom told him to get the coroners report so he was standing next to Dr. Al Robbins, listening to his findings.

"Cause of death…single gunshot wound to the head." Dr. Robbins stated.

"Execution style. Right between the eyes." Nick added.

"The bullet mushroomed upon impact with the skull, but still had enough velocity to pierce the temporal lobe. She would have died instantly."

"What about time of death?" Nick inquired.

"David was right when he told you the T.O.D. Thursday evening."

"Right."

"This is a pretty stock standard case. Nothing unusual."

"Thanks doc. I'll give the report to Grissom. See what he makes of it."

Dr Robbins nodded. He handed Nick the report and proceeded to clean the body.