Yellow Rose of Texas

by DontWannaBeAClue

Set vaguely after S5 Ep 17 Might turn into a series. Case of a dead body found in a hotel room with a possible second victim Will have a romantic pairing but can't spoil it here Given the show, might be graphic to some, especially the forensic side of things Will definitely contain STRONG language, possibly other uncomfortable themes

7. Chapter 7

Nick and Nicco walked side by side on their way back to the interview room. He wasn't totally surprised to see a slight spring in her step as Nicco moved down the hallway with her head held high. She had made up her mind that she wasn't going to play 'the victim', but at the same time she wasn't going to let everyone forget what she had survived. It was a feat that anyone should feel proud about overcoming and she was more than willing to use that to her advantage from now on to try to be treated with more respect.

They both paused at the door for no reason and Nick turned to Nicco to ask, "Are you sure that you're ready for this?"

Shaking her head from side to side, she answered with a non-committal, "Sure, why not?"

As she moved through the doorway, Nicco stopped so abruptly that Nick ran into her back. He instinctively placed his left hand on her shoulder and wrapped his right arm around her waist to keep her from falling forward under his momentum. Nicco chuckled uncomfortably at her awkwardness and then hugged his right arm against her body with both of her own.

"I'm sorry that I startled you." They both heard a familiar voice apologize. Nick looked over Nicco's head to see Dr. Gil Grissom sitting on a chair in the corner on the opposite side of the room from where their two interrogators were seated. He gave them his easy going, professional smile as explained, "Since this is one of CSI Sanders' first cases as a lead investigator, I was hoping to observe this interview to evaluate his performance. That is if you are consent to my being here. If not, then I'll go and I'll find another way to give Greg feedback on his work on this job."

Nicco quickly shook her head replying, "No, no it's totally fine Dr. Grissom. If you feel that it would be beneficial to CSI Sanders' career to be here, then I have absolutely no objections."

Grissom smiled a little wider and then said, "Thank you Miss Radisson, I do very much appreciate it."

Nicco them moved to reclaim her seat. While her back was slightly turned towards Detective Cavaliere, he mouthed a heartfelt 'thank you' in Greg's direction. It was a brilliant idea. With Dr. Grissom in the room, she knew that Cavaliere would be on his best behavior, which in turn would help her and Nick to get through all of this much more quickly and easily.

Greg gave Nicco the slightest hint of a smile in return because he didn't want to tip off Cavaliere. After he presented the idea to Gil, it was Grissom who approached Cavaliere with their proposition. Since it was usual for a supervisor to keep close tabs on a new CSI, the detective saw nothing wrong with including him during the interrogation. He did, however, remind Gil, emphatically, that he was the one asking the question and that Gil was just there to observe Greg's performance, silently.

Once they were settled in the same seats they had occupied earlier in the day (with the exception of Grissom sitting in a corner behind Nick and Nicco), Greg pulled out the five surveillance photos again. He carefully placed them on the table in the same order that Nicco had arranged them. Even though he tried not to, Greg found himself closely watching Nicco's reactions as he worked and he noticed her visibly recoil slightly when he put down the photo of their potential suspect in the university's parking lot. Ever since he saw her first reaction to it, Greg had wondered why seeing him by her vehicle seemed to bother her more than seeing him by her dorm's building, but quickly decided not to ask her about it, especially not when Cavaliere was present.

After his meeting with Grissom, Cavaliere had found Greg and pulled him aside for their own 'meeting'. In reality it turned more into Cavaliere laying into Greg for interrupting his interrogation. He reminded Greg that he was the one questioning Nicco and that the CSI didn't have to be in the room. He then warned him that if Greg continued to interfere with his investigation that he wouldn't hesitate to go to Ecklie and have him barred from the interrogation room.

Even though he hated with every fiber of his being to do it, Greg apologized and then held his tongue beyond that. He knew that he hadn't done anything wrong and that Cavaliere had no justifiable reason to prohibit him from being in the room, but Greg still didn't want to risk it. He didn't want to chance leaving Nicco and Nick alone with the detective because he knew that that would just turn ugly, fast.

"Miss Radisson, now that you've had time to... think," Detective Cavaliere started in a forced civil tone. Everyone knew he wanted to say something much less professional, but they all held back their commentary. "Has anything about this male come back to you that you would like to share?"

"No... Sir," Nicco replied trying not to sound annoyed at his implication that she was intentionally withholding information. "As I told you before, I recognize him from a couple of lectures we had together. In fact, if it wasn't for the photo of him at the tailgate party in Texas, I probably would have assumed that I knew him from UNLV. You know, one of those, he looks familiar, but I couldn't tell you why, kind of things?"

"Alright. What if I told you his name is Ian Rayburn?"

Still feeling beyond annoyed about the continued condescending questions, Nicco replied, "It's a good, WASPy, Anglo-Saxon name."

"Nicco," Nick quietly admonished her as he took her hand into his.

She visibly deflated and turned to share a look with Nick to thank him for reminding her to remain calm and professional. She kept a hold of his hand as she turned back to Cavaliere and more politely said, "I'm sorry Detective, that was rude. What I meant to say is that I don't recognize that name, nor do I know anyone with a name remotely similar to it."

"Well it seems that he knows you."

Cavaliere then turned to Greg and nodded towards the file folder by his left hand. Greg almost looked surprised, but he recovered quickly. He pulled one of the photos out of the lineup. "As you can tell from this photo, he works at Caesar's Palace. We found his fingerprints on a room service tray that we found on the coffee table by the deceased's body."

"But we didn't order room service," Nicco blurted out. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I told Thea that she shouldn't waste her money on their overpriced food when she paid so much for the suite already. I mean I told... well you know what I mean."

"Yeah," Greg answered sympathetically. He then pulled out two pieces of paper and placed them over a couple of the photos. "I do understand what you mean, but that doesn't change the fact that we've discovered two receipts for two separate orders from the day that Mr. Rivero died."

Nicco frowned and picked up the two pieces of paper. The first one, the one with the earlier time stamp, was for a single serving of fries and gravy. She wrinkled her nose at that because even on one of her cheat days she would never have tried that combination of food. Even when she had mashed potatoes she preferred adding freshly diced garlic to her helping instead of gravy. She put that piece of paper down to look at the second. This receipt was for an order of a bacon cheeseburger and fries. Now that sounded more appetizing to her, but no one had offered her a hot meal once they got back to the hotel suite. No, instead the woman impersonating her roommate had disappeared into her bedroom while Nicco was left to try to fend off the advances...

Stop! She told herself as she put down the copy of the second receipt. Stop thinking about... wait...

As much as she didn't want to be reminded of what the pimp's lifeless body looked like, she now wished that she had a copy of the crime scene photos to confirm her new suspicion.

Since she didn't and wouldn't be asking for one, once her hands were empty Nicco sat back then said, "Well someone enjoyed a couple of meals filled with saturated fats."

Greg had to bite the inside of his cheek to remind himself not to laugh. One glance at the angry look on Cavaliere's face helped him to sober up even more before he pulled out another photo to add to the growing pile as he said, "We assume that the first order was for Ariel... uhh... Artemis and her escort. It... the bill has the initials 'EJ' on it. Mr. Johnson's first name is Eric."

"Oh," Nicco replied knowing that Greg had added in the last part of his explanation for her benefit. "Plus it's one of Thea and Artemis' favorite guilty pleasures. Whenever Thea and I had a cheat day, she tried to get me to try it. She even added cheese curds once because they had eaten something called 'poutine' when they vacationed in Montreal. It smelled like dirty sweat socks to me, so I wouldn't touch it."

That comment broke Greg's resolve and he actually did laugh. That reaction elicited a stern look from both Nick and Cavaliere, so the older CSI picked up the second receipt as he asked, "So if we know who signed for the first order, who signed for the second one?"

Nicco picked up the crime scene photo and let out a quiet gasp when she had her suspicions confirmed.

"'LR'. That..." She passed the photo to Nick without finishing the rest of her thought.

"That's right," Nick started as he took the photo from Nicco. "Rivero loved that his nickname was 'Lucky' because Vegas was his town and it had always been good to him. But from this photo, it looks to me like he didn't get a chance to eat his final meal."

"No," Cavaliere answered, taking over the interview once again. He gave Greg a look, so the younger man fished out another piece of paper from his file folder, but didn't say a word as he gave it to the detective. "You got that right, Stokes. Based on the autopsy report and the receipt he signed for the food, it looks like he was killed not long after its delivery."

"Plus we found male DNA on the body in places that would be consistent with it being from whomever strangled him to death," Greg quickly added.

Nicco's eyes went wide as she stuttered out, "Oh... Oh God... and he... he delivered... so he..."

She started to shiver as she trailed off, so Nick jumped up to wrap her in a hug. Nicco immediately buried her face into his side just above his hip while she tried to calm herself down. She was sick and tired of crying. Nick was right, the man who had assaulted her was dead, so he couldn't hurt her again. Her stalker now had a name, so it was just a matter of time for him to get caught. If she knew anything about Nick, it was that he wouldn't be letting her out of his sight until the creep was finally in cuffs. That meant that she was as safe as she possibly could hope to be and she tried to remind herself of that now.

Nick started petting the back of Nicco's neck once she buried her face into his side. He felt her shudder in a couple of breaths, but he hadn't yet felt any moisture on his skin or clothing. Given all of the news Nicco had received since waking up after her attack, Nick didn't blame her for being overwhelmed. He had never really known her to be a crier, so he attributed her other breakdowns to being a result of her exhaustion and frustration with how Cavaliere had been treating her. Since she hadn't started crying this time around, he figured that she was clinging to him more because she was afraid of what she was hearing and wanted to feel that she was protected by him, which he was willing to do for her.

He kept his hold on Nicco somewhat lax so that she could move easily if she needed or wanted to, but he let one hand continue to stroke the length of her ponytail. "So, I'm assuming you've eliminated the John as a suspect since you keep asking Nicco about this Ian guy."

"Yeah. We've been able to compare his DNA to what we found on the body and there was no match," Greg explained despite the looks Cavaliere was giving him that screamed for him to keep his mouth shut. "Plus Artemis confirmed that he left almost immediately after signing the bill for her snack. Turns out he's one of her preferred clients because he never wants to spend the night... he... he always has to get home to his wife and kids."

That comment got Nicco's attention. She didn't release her hold on Nick, but she did turn her head so that she could face Greg again. "He's married with kids and...? And... And he usually does the whore auditions? Eww."

Greg bit his lip to keep himself from laughing at the truly, thoroughly disgusted look on Nicco's face. Cavaliere let out a soft sound of distaste and looked like he was going to make a snide comment, but something (or more likely someone) in the room kept him silent. Nicco continued to look unimpressed as she rested her cheek against Nick's side while she waited for the men to continue their conversation.

Neither Nick, nor Nicco could see Gil so they missed the look on his face, while Cavaliere and Greg opted not to pay attention to his reaction to everything that was happening. For him the evidence of the case wasn't all that important to him, mostly because he wasn't working the case so he hadn't heard all of the evidence in order to have the full picture. To him it was like reading a book with the first half of the pages missing. You got the gist of the plot and the ending, but not the whole story, which seemed pretty pointless to him in the end. Even though he hadn't quite consciously thought of it that way, this was almost like an unofficial job interview for her and he was interested to see how Nicco interacted with the men in the room. It was obvious that there was no love lost between her and the detective, but that was of little surprise to Grissom given Nick's history with him.

The true area of fascination was how Nicco acted around his two CSIs. It was obvious that she was close with her older brother and that he was protective of her, but there seemed to be something more there. Nick always appeared to be on the edge with Cavaliere since they worked on a case where a fourteen-year-old boy bludgeoned his twelve-year-old brother to death, so it made sense to him that Nick was being overly protective of his sister. Nicco was nearly clinging to Nick's side which made him feel a measured amount of relief because he had on more than one occasion seen women who had been sexually assaulted refused to be touched by any man for any reason. Daughters rejected fathers, wives shunned their husbands, and sisters ignored brothers. On a good day they let their loved ones comfort them in their time of need and Nicco appeared to one of the lucky ones who had that unwavering support at her side and was willing to accept it.

Then his eyes found Greg. The youngest man in the room had worked hard to move from the DNA lab to being an integral part of their team. There were times that Greg appeared to be completely immature and that he didn't take his job seriously, but Gil knew that that was just Greg's way of dealing with all of the horrors of their job. What they saw and heard could be overwhelming and it didn't take him long to understand that Greg's humorous demeanor was just a type of personal shield. He seemed to be dealing well with questioning Nicco, but again he noticed something different about the way he looked at her compared to other victims with whom he had witnessed Greg interact. Again he couldn't really put his finger on it, but he suspected it had something to do with the fact that she was Nick's sister. During their meeting, Greg had mentioned, more than once, that she deserved to be treated with more care and respect no just because she was a victim, but also because she was a member of their extended family. It more than made sense to Gil that that would cause the looks from Greg and he actually hoped that was the only reason for it.

Nick continued to stoke Nicco's ponytail as he asked, "So what? You're thinking that this guy has been stalking Nicco? The he followed her here from Texas and that he decided to make his move when he saw she was staying at his hotel? And that once he got into her room he got a rude awakening when he found some other guy in her room, so he killed him and what? Just left?"

"That could definitely be one of our working theories," Cavaliere replied with a dismissive tone.

Nicco sat up, but kept her arm around Nick's waist as she said, "I don't get it. When a stalker turns violent they usually go after the object of their obsession. Why didn't he come after me once Lucky was dead?"

"That's a very interesting question, Miss Radisson. When we finally do find Mr. Rayburn I might even ask him that."

Nicco's mouth gaped open, but no sound came out. Nick was sure that the two of them were wearing nearly identical expressions, but he too chose not to say anything to Cavaliere. Instead he moved back from Nicco's side and took her hand in both of his to help her to her feet. She looked somewhat confused by Nick's actions, but she didn't voice any of her questions or complaints. He obviously had a plan, so she was just going to follow his lead, even if she didn't understand his motives.

Once they were both standing, Nick wrapped his arm around Nicco's shoulders and he pulled her into his side. She went without a fight while now trying her best to keep her facial expressions neutral. He could tell, or rather he assumed, that Nicco was confused by what he was doing, so he gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze as a silent 'thank you' for trusting him before he started to lead her towards the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" Cavaliere asked as he stood up and knocked over his chair in his haste to stop Nick and Nicco.

Nick paused, but made sure that he was shielding Nicco with his body before he answered, "Home. We're done here, aren't we?"

"Did I say that we were?"

Nick let out a loud sigh before he said, "I thought that we were. From what Greg has told us here today, it's more than apparent that Nicco has been eliminated as a suspect, so you can't keep her here in connection with Lucky's death. Furthermore, she has told you everything she knows about your actual suspect and she really doesn't need any more of your snide comments while she's healing, so I'm taking her home."

"Like hell you are," Cavaliere nearly shouted as he moved to block Nick's route out of the room.

Gil slowly rose to his feet because he was starting to worry that the situation between his CSI and the detective was going to go beyond being just a verbal exchange of heated words. Nick had moved Nicco from being tucked into his side to standing behind him, which was the cause for even further concern for Grissom. He shared a worried look with Greg but neither of them attempted to say anything just yet. But at the same time, both of them were poised to jump in to stop something unfortunate from happening if it came down to that.

Once Nick was sure that Nicco was safely standing behind him, he replied, "Do I really need to remind you of what Nicco pointed out to you yesterday? She isn't under arrest, so you can't compel her to be here. She has come in, again, as a courtesy to you. Since she has told you everything she can about everyone that was in her hotel room, there's nothing more to say so we're leaving."

Cavaliere looked like he was going to try to argue with Nick, so Nicco stepped to one side so that she could see the detective better, "And further to that, you are solely investigating the homicide of Lucky Rivero, so you can't use my assault as an excuse to keep me here. I spoke to Cst. Martinez before we came in and she said there was no evidence of anyone else assaulting me, so her case is closed. That means, like Nicky just said, that I don't have to be here. But more importantly, I don't want to be here anymore. You have been nothing but rude and insulting since the start of all of this and I don't feel that I have to be subjected to it any longer." She paused there to take a step forward and took Nick's hand into hers saying, "Come on Nicky, let's go."

As Nicco took a step forward to leave, Cavaliere moved as if he was going to block her path before he held up his hands and stepped away. He gave her a cruel looking smile before he said, "You're right, Miss Radisson, this does conclude your involvement in the matter. The Las Vegas Police Department thanks you for your assistance. Have a nice day and a wonderful life."

"Wait," Nick commented just before Nicco could take another step towards the door. "What about her stalker…? Ian whatever his name is?"

Cavaliere gave both of them wide, innocent eyes as he answered, "I don't recall saying that Mr. Rayburn is suspected of stalking Miss Radisson. At this point we suspect he has a very close connection with the death of Lucky Rivero, but that is the only crime I need to question him about that I know of right now."

"But you…"

"CSI Stokes," Cavaliere interrupted with a disingenuous smile. "If your sister suspects that she may be the victim of a stalk then I would advise her to file a complaint with our reports' desk. But until she does that, unfortunately I don't believe there's any way that I can be of any assistance with that issue."

He then gave a slight bow of his head as he flashed Nick and Nicco another insincere smile before he turned and left the room. The four people he left behind just stared at the empty space the detective left behind. Nicco was glaring at the spot as if Cavaliere was still standing there, so Nick gave her hand a comforting squeeze to regain her attention. It took a couple of seconds before she finally turned her head to look at him. For a brief moment she continued to glare at him before her face softened again.

"Sorry Nicky," she whispered as she forced herself to relax.

Nick replied, "It's okay, Baby Girl" through a whisper as Gil almost sharply said, "Nick? Can I have a word with you? Alone?"

After sharing a look with Nicco, Nick squeezed her hand and then answered, "Sure Gris." He turned back to the younger woman again to quietly say, "Baby Girl, why don't you go with Greg and grab a cup of tea in the break room? I'll come find you as soon as I can, okay?"

Nicco looked like she was going to argue with him at first, but then she closed her eyes and swallowed back her protests. When she opened her eyes again she still looked somewhat unsure, but answered with a solid, "Okay, Nicky."

As she turned to leave the room again, she froze in her place when she heard Grissom say, "There's no need for that. I have to work on a few things in my office, so we can walk and talk Nick." After he received a nod from Nick, Grissom walked over to Nicco and took one of her hands in his saying, "Miss Radisson, I have to commend you on how you handled yourself tonight. The way you were treated by Det. Cavaliere is not representative of the Las Vegas crime lab or police department, so I hope you can accept my sincere apology for that."

Nicco ducked her head slightly as she quietly replied, "I know it isn't, but thank you Dr. Grissom for your kind words. And… and for accepting Greg's… err… CSI Sanders' proposal. I'm sure it would have been a lot uglier in here if you hadn't been present."

Gil's face turned grimmer as he shook his head replying, "And for that I am even more sorry. Now, if you don't mind waiting here, I would like a moment alone with your… with Nick. If that's alright with you."

"Sure," Nicco replied automatically. "I mean, it's more than alright with me, Sir."

Grissom said another heartfelt, 'Thank you' before he made his way through the door.

Nick stopped in front of Nicco and took both of her hands in his to force her to look at him. It was a slow journey for Nicco to move her eyes up his body until she met Nick's eyes. He gave her an encouraging smile as he quietly said, "I promise I won't take long, okay? And if you need me, you just holler for me. You understand me, Nicco?"

"I will Nicky… not that I think I'll need to," she replied with a half-smile.

"Plus, I'm still here," Greg spoke up as he moved closer to Nick and Nicco. "I'll wait here with Nicco until you're done with Grissom."

Nick turned to give Greg a dubious look as he replied, "Don't you have to go to meet up with the detective."

"Please," Greg answered with a chuckle. "He respects my contribution as much as he does Nicco's help. That is to say that we are both severely under appreciated. So until he finally picks up this fine young lady's stalker, I'm free from his tyranny."

"Greg…" Nicco tried to chastise She chuckled slightly, which totally ruined her ability to sound overly serious.

"What?" He replied innocently. "It's true. I've done my job… for now. Until they bring that Rayburn guy in there isn't much else for me to do. I know it, Cavaliere knows it, so I'd be more than happy to hang out with you while you wait for Nick to get back."

"Alright, alright. Thanks Greggo." The younger CSI looked like he wasn't going to take Nick's words of appreciation seriously, so Nick gripped one of his shoulders tightly and then more emphatically stated, "Seriously Greg, thank you for everything. Nicco's right, tonight could have been so much worse if you hadn't asked Grissom to be in the room. And then for you to offer to stay with her… Honestly Greg, I owe you big time man."

"It's nothing, Nick. I'm happy to help."

Nick gave him a tight smile until he moved in to stand in front of Nicco. She turned her timid eyes up towards his face. He hated that she would ever look like he wasn't there to be by her side through the thick and the thin, so he grepped both of her cheeks softly in both of his hands to force her to keep her had where it was. She still gazed up at him through her eye lashes with a look of uncertainty. He hated that after all these years that she could still look at him like she did during the early days that Nicco had lived with his parents in his childhood home because he thought that they had established a stronger relationship than that by now.

To prove to Nicco that nothing had changed, Nick lowered his lips to her forehead to give her a determined kiss. "I'll be back as soon as I can," Nick whispered against her skin before he abruptly turned and left the room.

Nicco wrapped her arms around herself not that the space in front of her was no longer occupied by Nick. Greg watched as she got slightly frustrated with herself prompting him to say, "Nick really does care about you. He's talked about all of his siblings, but you're probably the one he's referenced the most."

Nicco coughed out a tearful laugh before she replied, "Do you know what it's like to be the youngest child?"

"Not really," Greg replied honestly as he moved to stand in front of Nicco. "I'm an only child."

"So am I… technically." Nicco seemed to catch herself after that confession so she quickly added, "I mean… uhh… my biological mother had issues with fertility so she kind of thought of me as her miracle child. Most everyone in their lives thought that my bio-dad had felt the same way. Turns out that I'm probably the reason that he killed my mother and then let himself be killed by the police. Then I got adopted into a family where I will forevermore be known as…"

"Baby Girl?" Greg offered in the hopes to silence the tears he heard creeping into her tone.

"No," Nicco replied with an uncomfortable chuckle. "Only Nicky calls me that. Everyone else in the family calls me 'Baby Stokes' or 'Little Girl', but all of them have always been available to protect me like a mama bear does her cubs, so I really can't complain."

Greg smiled as he hopped onto the table to sit beside Nicco. "But there's still times where their 'love' feels completely stifling?"

"Well yeah, maybe, but… oh… oh God…" Suddenly Nicco covered her face in her hands.

Greg wasn't sure what to do next, so he just stayed where he was seated beside Nicco on the interview table with his hands fisted inside of each other and tucked them between his thighs. Nicco hadn't really noticed Greg's reaction and seemed to get lost in her own thoughts.

After a few moments of nearly crying into her palms, Nicco raised her head out of her hands then said, "They are so going to want me to move back home. And by 'want' I mean mom and dad are going to use every legal maneuver in the books to force me back under their roof until my stalker is caught."

Although to see that she actually wasn't crying, he still remained frozen in his spot when Nicco lifted her face to look at him. When he remained silent, she nearly whispered, "And don't even start me about what that pimp did to me." She then buried her face in her hands and let out a mournful groan.

Greg bit back a laugh before he placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "Then I guess we need to find your stalker and throw him in jail before they can find out."

Nicco tried to laugh until another thought hit her. Since she had left Texas, she hadn't actually exchanged a single spoken word with either of her parents. Maybe her mom still felt the same way that she had when Nicco had fled her home following their overly heated argument. Maybe they wouldn't even car that Nicco had a stalker who had followed her across States' lines and was willing to take a human life because of his feelings for her.

Maybe they'll say I'm no longer a Stokes, so I'm totally on my own now. Nicco thought to herself as she felt tears welling up in her eyes with a renewed vigor.

She hated crying, so Nicco sniffled in a couple of breaths to try to calm herself down. Greg heard the sniffles so he tried to be more covert as he attempted to look at Nicco's face. She was now wearing a sad frown as she seemed to be lose in a stare with her eyes nearly boring a hole in the wall opposite to where she was seated on the table.

Greg reached over and tentatively gripped her arm and quietly asked (so that he wouldn't spook her), "Hey… what thought has put that sad frown on your face?"

For a couple of breaths, it looked like Nicco wasn't going to answer him and then she said (without taking her eyes off the wall), "Do you know the saying 'If you want to make God laugh, all you have to do is tell him your plans'?"

"It's actually a Yiddish proverb. I think the wording is 'Man plans. God laughs.'," Greg corrected without sounding condescending.

That caused Nicco to smile. She then turned to look at Greg saying, "You're right. Mine was really lyrics from a singer that almost no one has heard of. I probably wouldn't have by now either, but my roommate senior year was from Australia, and… well… that's another story. What I meant was that I'm sure that the man upstairs is getting a good ab workout form laughing his ass off at me and my life."

"Oh Nicco, what makes you say that?"

"Just look at my life. After my birth father murdered my birth mother, I get adopted by the perfect family and I just had to go and fuck that right up."

"I'm sure that you haven't. The way Nick talks about you and his family, I can tell that they all love you very much."

Nicco shook her head saying, "I think the appropriate term is 'loved', past-tense. Before I moved out here I legally changed my name. Right after I did it, the final paperwork was sent to my parents' home. Mom almost threw it out, but I got home before she could actually do it. Then I made the mistake of trying to explain everything to her in terms I thought she would understand… like as if I was using legal arguments, y'know? That did not go over well with her and we had the worst fight I have ever had with anyone in my entire life."

"I'm sure that she's forgiven you by now. People say a lot of things in the heat of the moment that they really don't mean. Plus, after what's happened to you, she's bound to forget about anything that had her angry with you. I'm sure a lot of this is just a misunderstanding."

Again Nicco shook her head, but this time she wouldn't look at him as she replied, "We haven't spoken in over eight months. When I first started college I would get in shit if I went forty-eight hours without calling home. No Greg, all will not be forgotten. In fact, I'm sure that mom will have her own chuckle and say that I caused this to happen somehow. That I should have been studying instead of spending a weekend wasting my time and money on getting drunk with my roommate. Oh wait…!" She turned her torso so that she and Greg were looking at each other. "Even better! She'll probably say that if I had of listened to her and gotten myself a boyfriend… or better yet, married instead of keeping my nose buried in a book that none of this would have happened."

"I highly doubt she would say that."

"You don't know my mom," Nicco quietly grumbled to herself.

"Plus, you know as well as I do that stalkers will go after a married woman the same way they do a single woman. Hell, for some of them it's that she's already taken that will start the obsession for them in the first place."

That earned him a chuckle and a more genuine smile. "That is very true." She once again let out a heavy sigh then she slumped in her spot as she said, "My life feels like such a mess right now. All I wanted was to do well in school, get my dream internship and then go on to work at a job I've really begun to admire. Now… now I've been accused of murder, lied to by someone I thought was my best friend and have some creep who's stalking me, but I'll never find out the truth about that because Detective Douche is… well… being a douche."

"Hey…" Greg started as he placed a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. "Don't forget, he isn't the only one trying to figure out whodunit. When we finally do get our suspect into an interrogation room, I will be sure to find out some of the whys. Maybe even all of them… That all depends on how much I'm actually allowed to speak to him."

Nicco gave him a half smile as grateful tears started to well up in her eyes. "Really? You would do that for me?"

"Of course! Trust me, the majority of us do not share the same sentiments as Cavaliere. Just because he's been a jerk to you doesn't mean the rest of us will be."

"Oh Greg!" She quietly exclaimed as she launched herself forward to wrap her arms around his neck. As she pulled him into a hug, she placed her head on his shoulder to add, "Thank you so much. Seriously, you don't know how much I appreciate that."

"I think I can hazard a guess."

Nicco hiccupped in a breath as she sat back. She raised both of her hands up to dry her now wet cheeks. Greg frowned at her reaction, which caused Nicco to sputter out a laugh. She knew she must look horrible, even without her makeup on to destroy, because now her red blotchy skin would be on display in all of its glory.

She swiped her hands over her cheeks again saying, "I swear I don't usually cry this much. But then again I don't really take a lot of pain meds, so maybe they're messing me up. Or it could be that I kind of have been sleeping weird since we started our mini-vacation on Friday. Or I guess…"

"Hey," Greg shushed her by putting a hand on her shoulder again. "So long as I'm not to blame for the tears then we're good. After everything you've been through, both before we met and since, you've more than earned the right to have a good cry."

"You're being too nice, but thank you."

Greg gave her a crooked grin as he slipped off the table to move to the other end of it. He quietly picked up a box of tissues and carried them back over to Nicco. She sort of stared at him like she didn't understand his kind gesture, so he plucked a couple of them out of the box and started drying her cheeks for her.

"The crying may not bother me, but I thought that you might want to at least blow your nose."

Nicco swallowed thickly and whispered out a hoarse 'thank you' just as Nick called out, "Baby Girl!" He rushed over to her side and held both of her cheeks to make very direct eye contact as he asked, "Why the tears Nicco? Cavaliere didn't come back in here did he?"

"No Nicky, nothing like that, she replied as she gently extracted her face from his hold so that she could blow her nose. "Like I said to Greg, I don't know what's gotten into me lately. You know me, I become a blubbering mess what? Once every five years?"

"Well it ain't often that you get assaulted and choked out by a pimp either," Nick replied as he let his hand fall away completely from her face. "You've been through a lot, so just like we talked about before, you're bound to have your moments. No one is going to judge you for that."

"No one but Detective Douche," Nicco grumbled as she grabbed a couple more tissues out of the box to dry her face.

"He doesn't count," Greg and Nick called out at the same time. The two men turned to stare at each other. They both looked like they couldn't believe that the other had said the same thing as themselves. A quiet burst of laughter bubbled up through Nicco's chest until she started to giggle uncontrollably. She couldn't believe that Nick and Greg would look so surprised that they shared the same sentiments since they were the two people who seemed to be consistently sticking up for her, especially when it came to Detective Cavaliere, so why would they look so shocked now?

Nicco's laughter caused the two men to turn now confused looking gazes her way. She apologized a couple of times while she tried to catch her breath. "Sorry. But the looks on your faces! Oh man…" She paused her speech so that she could try to take in a couple of deep breaths to further calm herself down. "Oh man, the fact that I just found that so funny must mean I'm losing my mind."

"Or that you're just overly tired," Nick countered in a soft, gentle tone. "Why don't I get you home so that you can get some more rest?"

Nick reached out to grip Nicco's arm, but she quickly recoiled back from his touch. He immediately let his hand fall to his side while he tried not to let the pain he felt show. He knew that many victims of sexual assault shied away from being touched by any male, including family members, but he had thought that they had managed to avoid that unpleasant curse.

Nicco immediately recognized that Nick had misinterpreted her actions, so she quickly stepped forward and took his hand into hers saying, "No Nick! I didn't… it's okay if you…" She stopped there, closed her eyes and stomped one of her feet. She took in a deep breath and squeezed his forearm as a soft smile spread across her face once the right words had come to her. She then opened her eyes and explained, "I'm sorry Nick. When I… well just now… Thank you for offering to take me home, but you had this look on your face, did… I mean, there's somewhere else you want to be, right?"

"What…? How…?" Nick stuttered out, unable to hide his disbelief.

Nicco's smile broadened at his reaction. "Nicky, you're wearing the same look you had that one time you were home for winter break and you got stuck babysitting me. Remember? I had the chicken pox, mom and dad had to be in court, so…"

"So, I got the honor of making you beef vegetable soup because you thought chicken noodle would make your condition worse. And I had to chase you around the house with calamine lotion to help try to keep you from scratching up your arms," Nick finished for her. "I still can't believe how fast you could run even though you were so sick."

Nicco blushed as she meekly replied, "Sure. Let's go with your version of the events. But that still doesn't change the fact that you had that look on your face, so what's up?"

"It's nothing Nicco, just forget you saw anything that you think you saw."

He then tried to reverse their grips so that he was now holding her arm, but Nicco wouldn't have any of that. She instead yanked her arm away from his reach and took a large step away from him.

"No, Nick, you always have to give concessions to everyone, all the time. I may be tired, but I'm not stupid. Tell me what it is… please?"

Nicco made sure to have a heart-breaking look on her face when she uttered the most pitiful sounding 'please' of her life. Greg had been watching them silently, but seeing that look on her face made him want to say something, or do something. He was certain there wasn't a person no this planet, or rather, very few people who wouldn't want to intervene to help to erase that look off of her face.

He very nearly did make a move, but then he noticed that Nick appeared to feel the same way. The older man then reached out to her and this time Nicco let him take her forearm into his hand as he apologetically said, "Alright, alright. You can put away the puppy dog eyes, Nicco, I'll tell you."

She gave him a brilliant smile that helped everyone in the room to relax. Nick lead Nicco over to the table again so that she could sit on it. Now that they were closer to being similar heights, he held both of her hands in his and said, "Mia Dickerson found some new evidence on a case that I thought that I was going to have to close as 'unsolved'. She wanted to show me all of it, but I told her I'm on leave right now, so she could do that once I'm back on shift."

Nicco's eyebrows knitted together in a thought scowl as she said, "Mia…? She does DNA stuff, right? What…? Uhh… I know you can't tell me details about your cases, but…"

"It's fine, Nicco. It's waited this long," he interrupted in a surprisingly even tone.

Nicco's scowl deepened to show her displeasure at being told something she knew wasn't the whole truth. "Nick," she tried to use a stern, warning tone. "Don't lie to me. I know it's killing you not to go to the DNA lab and hear her new evidence, so give me your keys."

Nick looked down at the hand that Nicco had thrust in his direction and he just stared down at it. His eyes slowly moved up her body until he reached her eyes. She had once again folded her arms over her chest and her mouth was set in a firm line at his reaction. Nick almost let out an inappropriate laugh because no matter how old she was, Nick always found it cute when she tried to act like the tough, older sibling with him.

But he managed to keep his face schooled as he said, "Nicco, I don't feel comfortable with you driving yourself home. It isn't that I don't trust you are a safe driver, it's just that I'd really rather you not be alone right now. We don't know where that Ian guy is and he could very well know what my truck looks like." He took a step forward and cupped her cheeks in his hands and continued, "It would kill me if something happened to you because I was distracted and couldn't be there to be by your side."

"As it should," Nicco retorted in a teasing tone as she removed his hands from her face. "But that's not what I meant, you big dummy. You drive a SUV, I'm really not all that big… see where I'm going with this?"

"You want to sleep in my truck?"

Nicco chuckled at how appalled he sounded with her proposal. "Or just rest. But either way, you can work on your case and I'll be safe and close by… ish."

"I don't know Nicco…"

Greg cleared his throat loudly and walked towards them with one of his hands in the air. "Can I maybe make a suggestion?"

Nick and Nicco turned to look at him at the same time, but it was Nick who answered, "Sure, Greggo, why not?"

Greg smiled and unconsciously puffed out his chest as he replied, "There's a couple of offices that are empty at this time of day and they all have couches in them…"

Both men turned to look at Nicco with a questioning look on their faces. Nicco smiled as she said, "I've slept in worse places. Can I harass either of you for a blanket?"

"Sure, we can grab one alone the way," Greg answered with a shrug.

The younger CSI led the way out of the interview room. Nick watched Greg with a questioning look on his face, but he withheld his commentary. Instead, he just shook his head and then presented Nicco his bent right arm so that he could lead her at his side along Greg's path.

Nicco hooked her arm around his as she said in an exaggerated, faux Southern-Belle voice, "Why I always appreciate the kindness of a fine Southern gentleman."

"Yeah, yeah. Come on, Scarlett," Nick replied with a soft chuckle.

Nicco hugged his arm tightly as she checked to make sure that Greg wasn't within hearing range. When she had confirmation that the he wasn't, she stretched up as tall as she could to whisper, "Does this mean that you finally solved that babysitter's murder?"

Nick looked down at her out the corner of his eyes as he answered, "Looks like I… well Mia might have."

"Good," she whispered back as she settled with her head against his upper arm.

Nick reached across his body with his left hand to pat her head lovingly. Everyone in the lab was duty bound not to disclose sensitive information to people outside of their extended network of coworkers for confidentiality reasons, but there were some cases that he just couldn't keep to himself. It first started with Nicco just asking him about his job and the things she should be prepared to deal with because she wanted to research coping techniques. It didn't take long for that to morph into him telling her about specific cases and the things that were bothering him when he was working said cases.

In his defense, Nicco had extracted the first tidbits of information from him during one of her 'psychology rich' semesters. Plus, he never told her names, so Nick didn't see the harm in it. Plus, he found that being able to talk with her actually had really helped him to sleep better at night. A lot of times people at work would just tell him either what they thought he wanted to hear or just what they wanted to say, but Nicco always told him either what he needed to hear or just the plain old, untainted truth. He wouldn't trade that for the world, so he was beyond ecstatic that Nicco really did know how to be discreet to keep from getting him in busted for his small breach of protocol.

IT DIDN'T TAKE LONG for Nicco to get comfortable and to fall fast asleep. Since she was used to curling up in any available chair, or corner, depending on if she was studying for finals or working on a big paper, so being able to stretch out on a cushioned couch felt like a luxury. Greg hadn't just found her a blanket, he had also somehow snagged her a plush pillow as well, which helped her to find dreamland faster and easier.

Nicco had slept so deeply that she didn't remember anything that she might have dreamt about in that office. But she did remember feeling someone shaking her shoulder gently to force her out of her slumber. She almost wanted to just roll over and deck him one. And hard. In the throat, just like her brothers had taught her to do. Nicco may have grown up closest to Nick while she was growing up, but that didn't mean that her other brothers didn't take time with her to impart their own nuggets of wisdom upon her whenever they got the chance. Unfortunately for any of her wannabe Romeos the common theme amongst the brothers Stokes was the art of the throat punch, or the less favorable nut shot for any of them that got too fresh with her when she had spurned their advances.

Her right hand unconsciously curled up into a fist as she took in a deep breath to tell the intruder where to go (as rudely as some of her other brothers had taught her to do). As she inhaled a large breath of air, she caught the faint whiff of aftershave. That scent brought back some recent racy thoughts that had been running through her mind, so Nicco started to relax in her spot once again.

She wasn't sure if it was her rattled nerves or if it was her lack of good quality sleep, but Nicco decided to do something bold, something unplanned. Normally she researched everything nearly to death to make sure that she would get the outcome she wanted, but she didn't do that today. Today she decided to be the impulsive person that everyone at her schools believed her to be because of her fiery temper.

He continued to gently shake her shoulder as he softly called out her name, so Nicco pretended to stretch out during her initial waking moments. As she rolled over with her arms above her head, Nicco let one of her arms wrap itself around his neck. Thankfully he assumed, much like she had hoped that he would. That she was trying to pull him in for a friendly hug, so he leaned down into her willingly. She managed not to smile as she pulled him down closer to her face.

She felt herself start to smile, so she forced her facial muscles to slacken. He needed to think that she was half asleep for this to work. And it HAD to work. It had to or she would be so embarrassed that she could never show her face around here again.

Once the scent of his skin filled her senses, Nicco flexed her arm muscles to pull in even closer. She finally then raised her face to meet his and placed a solid kiss against his lips. She kept her mouth closed, but there was no room for anyone to misinterpret what she was doing right then.

At first he was so surprised by her bold action that he completely froze in his place. Then he didn't know what came over him, but he started kissing her back; hard and fast.

It didn't take long for Nicco to meet his pace, but when she started to roll onto her back, he resisted until their lips finally were forced apart. She didn't look happy about the loos of intimate contact, but he reminded himself about where they were and forced himself not to care about the look she was now sporting on her face. It was one thing to make out with a girl, but it was a totally different thing to get caught making out with someone at work, especially when that someone had such close ties not only to people in the lab, but also to a high priority case that might be scrutinized by a jury of one's peers.

They both seemed to come to the conclusion that this might not be the wisest course of action at the same time. They separated, almost reluctantly, before he stood up and hurried out of the room. Nicco flopped back against her borrowed pillow and barely found the strength to care that she may have completely fucked up her world ten ways from Sunday based on a whim that she finally gave into for once.