Nick Stokes finished the area he'd been assigned to process then started looking around some more. It still felt odd for him. Being at a crime scene without Warrick. He kept wanting to turn around and ask his best friend a question only to remember he wasn't there. Sighing softly, Nick limped to the adjacent room where he knew his supervisor was working.

"You need a hand in here, Gris?"

"Hey Nicky." Gil glanced over, frowning when he saw the young man limping. "Your knee bothering you?"

"Just a bit. Nothing I can't handle. I got the brace on." He forced a smile to his face, pushing the memories of what he suffered at Mario Rocelli's hands to the back of his mind.

"Are you sure? It's only been a week since your new personal doctor said you could come back to work…" Gil was referring to Paul, the doctor they both met during their captivity with Mario. He'd taken good care of Nick and as a result the pair had developed a close friendship. Which then resulted in Paul insisting on being Nick's physician.

"I swear if it was bad I'd ask if you could spare me. I don't exactly want to make it worse."

"Your parents would kill me if you did, you know that right?" Grissom raised an eyebrow at his younger friend.

"My mom might actually thank you. She didn't want me to come back to Vegas yet. She was ecstatic to have me home for a month." He chuckled as he remembered Jillian Stokes' reaction to having her youngest child back on the ranch for a few weeks. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her so happy.

Gil smiled, knowing Nick had recuperated much faster being back home with his family than he would have had he stayed in Vegas. But he missed him. They nearly lost the young man to Mario… not having him nearby had made the holes in the team's hearts from losing Warrick grow bigger. However none of them would tell Nick that

"Well… if you think you're up for it - would you mind taking some overalls of the room for me please? I've put evidence markers on what needs doing." Grissom didn't want to give him anything too taxing.

"Are you giving me the easy stuff on purpose?"

"Nope. I'm giving you the stuff I need doing." He looked over his glasses at the other man. "Unless your offer to help was just courtesy…"

"Nah, you know I meant it. I went nuts when I couldn't work." He regretted the way he worded that right away. Memories of the mental hospital Mario locked him away in surging to the surface and making him grip the doorframe for support.

"Nick?" Grissom moved to him, grabbing his left elbow to help steady him. "You alright?"

"Y…yeah… sorry Gris. I need to be more careful about what I say…"

Sighing, Gil put his other hand on the man's shoulder. "Nick. Go home."

"But Gris…!"

"Go. Home. You've done enough for one night. The team and I can handle things from here. You know your doctor's orders - and I don't mean your medical doctor - you have to ease yourself back into this. And if something triggers your memories like what just happened then you're to go home and meditate."

Nick pressed his lips together then shook his head. "I'm fine. I want to keep working."

"Nick Stokes don't you make me call Sara in here."

Blinking in surprise, Nick fell silent at the thinly veiled threat. They both knew Sara would rip him a new one if she found out he'd been pushing himself too hard. She'd grown a little overprotective of him since his return from Texas. Although if he were being honest with himself, saying the words 'a little' was putting it extremely mildly.

"You wouldn't…"

"Try me."

"I'll have to take the evidence I collected back to the lab first." He wasn't happy but on the other hand he knew better than to argue with his supervisor. Especially at a scene.

"Then do that. When you're done logging it in - go home. You can pick up where you left off tomorrow night, alright? There's nothing wrong with taking some shorter shifts to get you back into the rhythm for the longer ones, okay? No one is going to think any less of you because of it."

Nick nodded silently, not daring to speak for fear of saying something he might regret later on. He hated being sent home early. Although he was certain his knee would thank him for it as long as he sat down and iced it. Something he might have to do before he left the lab judging from the throbbing. He looked up when Sara came into the room to check on them.

"Hey guys, we're done outside. A few cigarette butts, some footprints, a couple of tire impressions - Greg is working on those. Gil, I'd like to head back to the lab if you don't mind? I have some prints I want to run. Found them on the window that looks like it might have been point of entry for the killer." She said then looked back and forth between the men. "What'd I miss?"

"Nick's going back to the lab, Sara. You can catch a ride with him if that's okay?"

Frowning, she turned her attention to the one team member she considered to be like a brother. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." He smiled a bit.

"Bull. Spill."

Blowing out a breath, he nodded a bit. "Fine. My knee's a bit sore and I had a memory trigger. Gris is sending me home but I have to drop my evidence off at the lab first."

Sara crossed her arms, glowering at him. "I'll drive to the lab. Once we're there I'll help you with your evidence then you're going to ice that knee before I even think about letting you in your truck to drive home."

Nick opened and closed his mouth a couple of times then realized from the set look in her face that there was no arguing with the woman. He had to wonder sometimes how Grissom handled her as a girlfriend. "Alright, alright. You win. I know better than to argue with you."

"Took you long enough to figure that out."

Glancing at Grissom, Nick noticed his supervisor was barely keeping the smirk off his face. The 'I told you so' expression in his eyes only added insult to injury. Without another word, Nick let Sara lead him to his truck where they both loaded up their evidence for the triple-murder the team was working. Once that was done, Sara made sure her friend got into the passenger seat then she climbed in behind the wheel.

"Now, Sara, remember… this is my truck… I don't have insurance for flying."

"Ha ha very funny. Buckle up, cowboy."

Blinking in surprise, for she wasn't known for calling him that, he did as was told. Given the way she started out their drive - he would be in no way surprised if they arrived at the lab in record time.