DISCLAIMER:Don't own anything associated with the show… I just like playing with the characters in it.
RATING: T – Teen (language and adult issues)
PAIRINGS: GSR & Yo!Bling pre-established in previous fics of this timeline.
SPOILERS: Sequel to "Displacement" and "Transitions"
SUMMARY: Everything is changing around Nick Stokes. Can he deal with it, and how it will affect him in the end?

A/N: How about a nice long chapter for change? Things are really cooking on the writing front right now, so be on the lookout for new chapters.

REVIEWS: Reviews are the way I know if people are enjoying the work or not. So, if you leave one, THANKS! And if not, I hope you found at least a little something to brighten your day, and thanks for taking the time to read.

Chapter 26
23:45 – 2006.12.11
CSI Lab: Processing Room

Nick was busy taking the coordinates from the Doc's notes and applying them to the topographic map of the area to mark out their primary crime scene. Cartography was usually something he excelled in, but the notes he was using were slightly illegible and very detailed. He guessed the woman must have picked up a different mapping lexicon with her geological work than he was used to seeing, because she had everything down to the closest centimeter from what he could decipher.

He was looking up and rubbing the tight muscles in his neck when Sara suddenly appeared in the Processing Room. "Was it really that bad?"

He turned with a start, "Huh?"

Sara chuckled at his confusion and then elaborated further as she took the seat opposite him at the table. "You're awfully tense… Was your latest encounter with the Doc that bad?"

Nick grinned at her insinuation and shook his head, "No, not exactly, though it almost was, that's for sure."

"What happened?" Sara she reached over the table to grab the sheets from him and started flipping through the data he had been trying to translate, making her own notations on another sheet.

"Well, it started off with me thinking I was bein' summoned out to the park by the queen, but it turns out reception lost the first message." He shook his head with his disgust at that turn of events. "But we got that cleared up pretty fast. Then I tried stepping in it again by trying to help out with the equipment…" He smiled to himself as he replayed that one in his head. "And I guess I owe that one to you."

"What did I do?" Sara looked up from the sheet with surprise.

"I was just honest with her about what I was doin' and she accepted it a lot better, so I guess you were right." Sara gave him a sideways smile at his admission and then went back to converting the data into a useable format. "Anyway, the only major thing that happened was me almost dying."

"What?" The conversions were completely forgotten about with that statement.

"I had to scale down a gully to retrieve the bike, and the ground was real loose out there. I had ropes and such, and that was a good thing, 'cause otherwise you'd have to be out there investigating my demise." Nick let loose a deep breath and added, "And the weirdest thing happened."

"Weirder than impaling yourself as you slid down a mountain?"

"Yeah, I guess so… The Doc managed to pull me out of the landslide before it got any worse." Nick had a faraway look on his face with that statement and Sara was confused.

"What do you mean…pulled you out?"

"Just that… I guess she was anchored to the cart and gave me her good arm to pull me right-side-up before the harness failed or I choked on a ton of falling dirt and debris." He shook his head as that scene played over in his head. "I don't know how she did it, but she yanked me back out of the black and I was able to get to the top. I was so freaked at the time, I didn't really process it then, but when I was driving back to town it hit me… That took some serious strength, Sara. How'd she do that?"

Sara laughed at his question. "You think just because she has other physical problems, she can't carry her own?" Shaking her head with frustration she added, "That's why you have so much trouble, you just can't see a woman as being that strong, can you?"

"C'mon… I know women are strong, bu-"

"I'm not talking about childbirth or putting up with your crap… I mean real strength, Nick. Not that I think of myself as some brute, but if pushed, I bet I could give you a hell of a fight." Sara was trying to prove a point to Nick, and she only hoped he could get it.

"Well, I don't know about that, Sara… I easily outweigh you and-"

"Right, which is what a lot of women use to their benefit in dangerous situations: the natural male notion that women can't handle their own in a fight. Self-defense courses aren't all about dirty tricks, Nick. They're about using surprise and agility to incapacitate an attacker. There is a great deal of strength in those abilities." She was doing everything she could to get through to him.

"So, you're saying that someone who's been bounced off a semi could still haul my ass off that mountain?"

"I think the proof is in the truth, man. She DID haul your ass up, didn't she?" Sara finally felt like she had made some progress with her friend.

Nick chuckled and blushed just a little. "Yeah, I guess so, but it still feels weird."

Sara made her last notation on the separate sheet and handed it over to Nick. "I'm sure… Anyway, here's your coordinates."

He took the papers from her and compared them, realizing that Sara had just performed some very complex math while having a serious conversation with him. He looked up from the papers with a shocked look on his face and met Sara's gaze. "How'd you-… I mean, where'd that-… Damn, Sar! That's impressive."

"They don't accept morons into graduate programs in theoretical physics." Her wry smile told him what he needed to know.

He felt compelled to make one more comment on the subject. "But you practically did that in your head?"

She shrugged and pulled out one of the other maps as she added, "So, what? Grissom does crosswords for fun… I do calculus."

He shook his head as he chuckled and went back to marking the crime scene out, "You are a nerd."

They worked in companionable silence for a little while. That was, until Sara noticed something on the map she was studying.

"Hey, Nick?"

Without looking up from his task he said, "Yeah, what is it?"

She passed him the folded map she was looking at, showing only the legend. "Did you notice this?"

Nick finally looked up and at the map where Sara was pointing. That was when he registered what she was referring to, because down in the corner of the legend, under the author of the map, were two names: A. Cormier & R. J. Desmaiseaux.

"That's weird."

Sara scrunched her brows together and asked, "Why?"

Nick shrugged and went on to explain, "Well, I was just on Cormier Trail this morning, and I can't imagine there are that many R.J. Desmaiseaux's in the world. I wonder who this Cormier person is."

David was walking by the door when he heard the names being thrown around. "Hey guys."

"Hi, David. Can we do something for you?" Sara gave him a friendly smile as she made notice of his arrival.

He shrugged in a non-committal manner and said, "Oh, no… I just heard you mention the Doc and her fiancé… I didn't know you knew both of them."

Sara's brow was getting a workout when she gave David a questioning glance, "Ah, we don't… We just saw the names on the maps and were curious who the other person was."

"Oh! Well, then I guess I just told you." David looked from one to the other and decided that maybe he should say it again. "Andy Cormier was the Doc's fiancé… Before the accident… Though I guess, just because of the accident it doesn't really change that he w-" He saw the looks on their faces and realized he was rambling again. "Sorry."

"That's okay, David." Sara smiled again to put the young coroner's assistant more at ease. "How much do you know about the Doc's history?"

"Well, just what Sandi has told me, but I do know that she's an incredible woman, even if she can be a pain in the neck sometimes."

Nick scoffed, "Sometimes?"

"No offense, Nick… But you're the kind of person she tends to dislike the most." David's assessment of his status sent Nick into a tailspin, while Sara stifled her amusement.

"Was there a bulletin about this that I missed? Sheesh!"

"Well, I, ah, um-" David was flustered by the accusation.

Sara piped up to calm the situation, "Don't worry about it, David… Nick seems to think we've been picking on him lately, so it's got nothing to do with you." Her smile instantly helped David to relax, but Sara was not done. "So, what can you tell me about the Doc? She's kind of an enigma around here, and it might help us decipher some of her notes a little better."

"Well…" David took in a deep breath and went on, "you obviously know that she was injured. Pretty bad, really… They never expected her to live, let alone walk again. But I really don't think it was the physical trauma that turned her into what she is today. It was more the circumstances of her accident."

Sara pushed one of the stools towards David so that he could take a seat. "That sounds strange. I mean, anything that would put you into that condition would have to be pretty life changing."

"Don't get me wrong…" David sat down on the stool and set his report down in an empty spot of the table. "It's certainly one of the causes of her current nature, but I think losing her fiancé that way was probably the biggest factor."

Nick was finally ready to join the conversation again, "What way?"

"Man… Well, they had just finished the first half of their survey for Lost Gringo. Did you know that they actually created the park?" When they both nodded, he continued, "Anyway, they'd just finished the first half of the survey… Did you know that he wrote the mapping software the USGS has been using for cartography for a while now?"

Sara shook her head to show that she did not.

"Yeah, so he was this programming and math whiz, and created this amazing software for mapping uncharted terrains. Got this grant from the USGS to take it from his master's theory to a practical application. By that time, they were already together… I know they met in Colorado, but I don't know which school it was, CU or the Mines…" David shook his head to get back on track again, "Anyway, they moved to Arizona to work on the software and for R.J. to finish up her Ph.D. dissertation through ASU, and so they could visit with her folks in Sedona. They came to Nevada specifically to demonstrate the software program and prove his theories. It was just a bonus that she could continue her research here, too. I guess they'd been here less than a month when UNLV practically begged her to take a tenured position. Sandi says she'd proven some fantastic geological principle or something when she was doing her first master's degree, but you'd have to ask her about that, since I have no idea what she's saying sometimes." David paused and blushed once he realized he had been rambling once again. "Sorry."

"S'okay, Super Dave… You tell a good story, man." Nick winked at the man to show he was still following along.

"Okay, well, they'd finished the first half of their survey project and decided they wanted to celebrate. So, they called her folks and his, told everyone to meet them in Sedona for the wedding. I guess they were both pretty spontaneous people back then. Anyway, they got on their bikes and hit the road to Sedona. Did I mention that Andy was a competition motorcycle racer before he started his master's degree?" Sara and Nick both looked at each other with a little surprise.

Before David could continue, Nick suddenly thought of something, "Damn! I knew that name sounded familiar. Racing bikes, right?" David nodded, "That guy was the hottest thing on a Ninja, ever. I saw him race in Big D a few times, but that was years ago, when I was in high school, or college maybe."

David mulled that over a moment before he said, "Yeah, that would be about right… So, they were headed to Sedona for their own wedding when they got into the accident with a logging truck, just outside of Flagstaff. They were only an hour or so from her parent's place when it happened. Truck crossed the centerline, Andy swerved to miss it and to warn R.J., but they guessed he must have overcorrected and it sent him straight into the oncoming truck. They figured he died instantly, so at least there was that. R.J. lost control of her bike trying to avoid his swerve and ended up bouncing off the side of the truck which sent her skidding across the road and down into a ditch. Search and Rescue had to come to lift her out, which was bad, since her father was on the team."

"Wow… That's just…" Nick was dumbfounded by David's description of the accident.

"Yeah, I guess they didn't even think she'd make it to the next morning, and when she did, they were sure she'd be a quadriplegic. Then she woke up from the coma and started PT, but they never thought she'd be able to walk, because of all the muscle and nerve damage. By the time she walked out of the rehab hospital, they tried to tell her she'd never be able to return to her field work. Six months later she had Sandi and a cartography grad student out in the desert helping her finish up their survey project. And they did it on schedule, too. She was tireless. Sandi thought for sure she'd kill herself with the pace she worked, but R.J. was up and ready to go every single morning." David paused to put a proper finish on his story.

"She's got no use for anyone putting obstacles or conditions on her, she doesn't take crap from anyone, she's a taskmaster and very demanding, and she is a seriously tough lady. As much as I cringe at her lack of social grace, I have nothing but admiration for her strength and her character." David rose from the stool with a playful smile on his face, and then added, "Even if she does have the most colorful vocabulary of anyone I've ever met."

Sara had to blink a few times to get the images that were evoked by David's tale out of her mind before she could speak again. "Thanks, David… That actually helps a lot."

"No problem… Now, I need to get these to Catherine before she throws another fit. If you guys have any other questions about the Doc, I would suggest talking to Sandi. My info is only second hand… Sandi's her friend, I'm just the by-product that comes with her."

Sara had to chuckle at David's analysis of his importance in that equation when the man left the room. When she turned to Nick, she could tell he was very deep in thought. "It's a lot to process, huh?"

"What? Oh, yeah… I mean, wow… That's-"

"Yeah…" Sara stood up and took a deep breath before saying, "Well, I'm gonna check with Jacqui on those prints… You better finish processing that chute before we let Hodges get his sticky fingers on it."

Sara's little jibe was just what Nick needed to break himself from the horror of David's story. "Yeah… That's probably a good idea."