FF_3/2/2009

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI.

A/N: And it's back to the case - sort of...evil grin

Remember My Name

Nick ignored the others' questions while he watched the door and waited to see his old friend again.

Calleigh gasped when A. J. Dennison walked in. It was the same man they'd seen in the Chinese restaurant. Seeing him up close, Calleigh realized he wasn't as young as she'd originally thought. He just had a baby face.

"Denny, it's great to see ya, man. But why are ya here?" Nick smiled at his friend, but the confusion was still in his eyes.

Denny looked at Nick and took a few seconds to silently catalogue his visible injuries. He saw the bandages on his head, the edge of bandages visible under Nick's left sleeve, the temporary casts on Nick's left leg and lower right leg. He'd known it was going to be bad, but not this bad.

"Hey, Nick," he finally said. "How are ya doin'?" He closely watched Nick answer.

"I've been better," Nick admitted. "But it's gettin' better all the time."

Denny seemed to come to some decision. "We need to talk, Nick." He looked around at the others in the room uneasily. "You might want some privacy."

"What is this about, Denny?" Nick was getting concerned.

Denny's uneasy glance darted back to Billy. "The boss sent me, Nick. We think we might have some information you need."

"Nick," Brass's voice was sharp. "Ya wanna introduce us to your friend?"

"Sorry, Jim," Nick looked around the room. "This is Denny Dennison. I worked with him fifteen years ago at the Dallas PD Crime Lab."

Brass and the others relaxed a bit as Denny smiled and said, "Ya just had to give me that god-awful nick-name, didn't ya, Nick! It stuck, too. Even my wife calls me Denny, now."

Brass gave him a polite smile and asked, "So ya still with the Dallas PD Crime Lab?"

"Yeah," Denny replied, sobered. "I'm the Day Shift Supervisor."

"Denny, if you had information, why didn't ya just call?" Nick asked. He was sure he wasn't going to like the answer.

"We weren't sure who we could trust," Denny admitted. "Nick…"

"Denny, this is the team investigatin' my assault," Nick said quietly. "Anythin' you've got to say connected to that, these are the people who need to hear it."

Denny nodded. "Ok, man. Ok." He looked away and took a deep breath. Looking back at Nick he said quickly, "Nick, Craig Miller's out on parole."

Nick froze. Every bit of color drained from his face. He stopped breathing. The expression on his face went completely blank. It wasn't until black spots formed in front of his eyes that he gasped in a breath. He didn't hear the concerned voices demanding to know what was wrong. Nick gasped in another breath, then another. He flung his right arm over his face and fought to just breathe.

Suddenly it was all so clear. Craig Miller was the impostor. But why hadn't he remembered his voice? He didn't think he'd have ever forgotten that voice. Maybe that was the possible trigger for his amnesia Megan had mentioned. Nick was drawn out of his internal musings by Brass's demand to know just who the hell Craig Miller was.

Slowly Nick pulled his arm from his face. As he pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed his eyes, he whispered, "Just give me a minute, Jim."

They waited in silence while Nick regained his composure. When he looked up, Denny had taken a seat to his right. Their eyes met for a long moment. Then Denny nodded once and began speaking.

"Craig Miller was a CSI at the Dallas PD Crime Lab." Denny looked up and saw the shock at that statement. "He is a serial killer. Of course, we were never able to prove that," he said bitterly.

"What does he have to do with Nick?" Billy got right to the point.

"Nick," Denny looked back at him. "Nick was the only one who saw what he was. He tried to tell us what was going on, but not one of us believed him." Denny rubbed his face. "So he started investigatin' on his own." Denny searched Nick's face. He still wasn't sure how much information Nick wanted the others to have.

"So Nick caught the guy?" Greg asked.

"Because of the information Nick gathered, we were able to catch him before he killed his last victim; the only victim who survived," Denny said carefully. "All we could prove was kidnappin' and assault, though."

"Nick testified against him?" Grissom asked.

"There wasn't a trial," Denny replied. "He pled guilty to kidnappin' and assault because he didn't want us investigatin' any further. He thought if he was already in jail, any urgency to investigate his other crimes would eventually evaporate. And he was right." Denny said bitterly. "Other cases became priority. And after Nick left, the motivation just seemed to die. Nick did speak at his sentencin' though."

"I didn't think they let investigators speak at the sentencing." Ecklie said, puzzled.

Nick finally spoke. "They don't." He looked quickly around the room, his pain visible in his eyes. "They only let victims or the families of victims speak." The silence was deafening. "Craig caught me investigatin' the disappearance of one of our suspects in a rape case. His body hadn't been found yet. I was gettin' close to findin' the scene of his abduction, though. So, Craig took me before I got to the evidence. He would have killed me but he was still torturin' the rapist. The time it took for him to finish with the rapist and dispose of his body gave Denny and the others the opportunity to find my notes and eventually me. He'd only just started beatin' me when they got there."

"What was his sentence?" Vega asked quietly.

"The maximum sentence at that time for kidnappin' and assault was twenty-five years, with parole after fifteen." Nick said, staring into space.

"So why didn't you mention him as a suspect before? It's been fifteen years, right?" Ecklie asked sarcastically.

"Because he was sentenced to twenty-five years without parole," Nick said, moving his stare to Ecklie as if daring him to object.

A/N: I hope y'all are still here! Let me know. :)