XIII - ANSWERS

Catherine followed Grissom into the viewing room, walking over and looking at Nancy through the one-way mirror. "That's our suspect? She's just a kid!"

"Yeah. Well, she's not really a suspect anymore. She admitted to killing her son." Grissom watched as Nick and Sara entered the room, relieving O'Reilly, before sitting down at the table, opposite Nancy.

"Then what's with the questions?" Catherine was genuinely curious. "Why not just arrest her?"

Grissom quickly outlined the details of the case, explaining Nick's observations. He ended with, "I know you've picked up on the fact that we're all a little bit more involved emotionally than we should be, but Nick's right. There is something we don't know, and I think we need to find out what it is before any of us can really let this case go."

Catherine raised her eyebrow. "Anything else you feel like telling me?" At Grissom's confused look, she elaborated. "Anything else - like maybe, what the hell is going on with Sara and Nick?"

Grissom looked surprised. "Catherine, you've only been back at the station for less than 15 minutes. How in the world do you know about Sara and Nick?"

"I found them in a rather intimate conversation in the lounge when I came in. I just thought it was odd." She noted the quick look of pain that crossed Grissom's features before he quickly shuttered his expression. "So, care to tell me about it?"

"What's to tell? Nick was upset yesterday with this case, Sara talked to him, and now he feels better."

"Is that it?" Grissom shot Catherine an irritated glance.

"Is what it?"

"C'mon Grissom. Don't be dense - it doesn't become you. Nick has feelings for her."

Grissom sighed. "Yeah, I know. He told me today that he's in love with her."

Catherine raised her eyebrows again in surprise. "Interesting. And what would prompt Nick to divulge that information to you?"

"I drove him into work today. Sara had his truck. It just came up." Grissom wouldn't look at her.

"Okay. You don't want to go into detail. I understand." Catherine was silent for a few moments, before saying. "What are you going to do about it?"

"About what? Sara and Nick?" At Catherine's short nod, Grissom sighed. "Nothing. What can I do?"

"What can you do? Grissom - you love her too! Are you just going to let Nick sweep in without at least telling her how you feel?"

"That's the general plan, yeah." Grissom looked at his hands, bracing them against the small sill surrounding the viewing window. At Catherine's snort of disgust, he responded angrily. "What do you want me to do? Get in a competition with Nick? We're not two moose during rutting season. Sara's a big girl, she can decide for herself."

Catherine interrupted him. "How can she decide anything if she doesn't know all her choices?"

"Catherine, look at me. Now look at Nick. Who do you think Sara would choose? Who would you choose? Nick is younger, better looking, and not as set in his ways as I am. He'd be good for her."

"You'd be good for her too Grissom. How many years have you been in love with her, now? I suspect it's been longer than the two years she's been here with us. Are you just willing to put aside all that invested emotion, and let Nick have her? Believe me; if you've loved her as long as I think you have, it's not going to just go away because she's with Nick."

"No. I know that, and I except it. But this is my life, Catherine, and I'll run it as I see fit. I had two years to tell her how I felt, and I wasted them. Nick was right. It's his turn now."

"But."

"No Catherine. I don't want to discuss this anymore. It's over."

* * * * *

Nick and Sara sat silently, watching Nancy closely. Not much had changed since the initial interview had finished. Nancy was still looking at the one picture Grissom had left with her, but instead of talking, she was singing.

"Hush little baby, don't say a word.."

Sara shuddered. "Nancy?"

"Momma's gonna buy you a mockingbird." "Nancy?" Nick's deep voice filled the room. "Nancy? Hi, I'm Nick Stokes." Nancy glanced at him before looking back down at her picture. Nick tried again, "I want to talk to you about Timmy."

"Timmy?" she responded. "Isn't he a great kid? Do you know him?"

Underneath the table, he felt Sara give his knee a quick squeeze. "Yeah," he sighed, "I know him." He reached into the file he had been holding, and pulled out the two photos he had passed around in the lounge earlier. "In fact, I have a couple of pictures here I want you to look at. Maybe you can answer a few questions for me."

Nancy leaned forward eagerly. "Pictures? Of my Timmy?" She eagerly took them from Nick's outstretched hand, barely glancing at the one with the tattoo before dropping it back to the table. Her fingers gently traced the outline of his form on the other picture, and she looked at Nick with tears in her eyes. "He's okay now, isn't he? He's safe now."

"For the time being, yes, he's safe. Nancy, do you know who put this tattoo on him?"

Nancy stared at Nick blankly, refusing to look at the photo he pushed towards her. She wrapped her arms tightly around her thin frame, rocking herself back and forth. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Nancy," Nick's voice was surprisingly gentle, "we need to know. Did you do this?"

"No! No.I would never hurt Timmy like that. I loved him."

"But you killed him. You made him drink anti-freeze."

"I told him it was blue kool-aid. I know what I did, Mr. Stokes, I'm not stupid."

"Nancy, I'm trying to understand." He looked at Sara, momentarily at a loss. "Nancy, did you know Sara and I are the two that took these pictures? We were there with him. And you know what I remember most - he smelled like baby-powder. You took good care of him - why did you want to kill him?"

"I didn't want to kill him, Mr. Stokes. I wanted to set him free."

"Did you know he was sexually abused? Our doctor found internal scarring. Do you know who did that to him? Did you want to set him free from the person who hurt him?"

"When you're dead, you can't be hurt anymore, can you Mr. Stokes? I was scared because I left him alone in the desert. I was afraid that Earl had found him."

"Is Earl your uncle?"

Nancy didn't respond. "If he is, he's coming here. He's coming to get Timmy and take him back to Michigan. And you're going to have to stay here, because we're going to need to arrest you for killing your son."

Nancy looked at him, stricken. "Earl is coming here?" she started crying. "He can't have Timmy again."

Nick felt sick to his stomach. His knuckles were white. Beside him, he could hear Sara's breathing, which had become rapid and shallow. He knew Sara was trying to control her temper, and he gently placed his hand over hers on the table top. "Relax, Sara." He whispered. Her fingers squeezed his. She understood.

"Nancy, maybe we can keep him from taking Timmy, but you have to tell us why. Is he the one that hurt Timmy? Is he the one that made him get that tattoo?"

Nancy nodded miserably. "He hurt Timmy, he hurt him and he hurt me too. He did bad things to me." Before Nick and Sara could react, Nancy grabbed the bottom of her sweater and ripped it over her head. Nick recoiled in shock at what Nancy revealed. Her upper body was a mass of scar lines, with intermittent tattoos across her chest and stomach. Where he would normally expect to see breasts, he saw only purple scars. The words 'Whore' and 'Slut' were tattooed underneath the marks.

"Oh my God." Nick heard Sara's agonized whisper, and turned to see that she had tears in her eyes. "Did he do that to you, Nancy? Did your uncle do that to you?"

Nancy nodded miserably. "He always hurt me. But he told the doctors that I did it to myself. He told them I was crazy. Aunt Becky knew, but she lied too. Uncle Earl is an important man. Everyone thinks he's so good, but he's the devil."

"Did he ever rape you, Nancy?" Nick's voice was gentle, but there was an anger in his eyes that Nancy saw immediately.

"Are you angry at me, Mr. Stokes? Please don't be angry with me!"

"Nancy, I'm not angry at you. I'm angry that this happened to you." He paused for a second, before continuing, "Did he rape you?"

Nancy nodded miserably. "He made me do horrible things. Horrible. And when I got older, he used to carve me." She looked at Nick, and her demeanor changed. Her voice got harder, her eyes hate-filled. "You're a little slut, aren't you Nancy? You like it when I hurt you - don't you Nancy? No one will ever believe you, Nancy. I'm going to keep you chained to this bed until you stop screaming, Nancy!" She looked at her exposed scars. "Look what he did to me! Look what he did to me! He cut off my breasts."

Nancy stopped screaming, and the sudden silence in the room was deafening. Nick and Sara looked at each other in shock, before Nick picked up Nancy's discarded sweater. Slowly moving around the table towards Nancy, he gently placed a tender hand on her shoulder and with sure swift movements quickly dressed her. He reached down and tenderly placed the picture of Timmy Grissom had left with her in her hand, and smiled at her in mutual understanding and compassion.

"No one can hurt Timmy anymore, Nancy. You've set him free."