Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Note: Just wanted to thank you for all the great reviews. Something got messed up with the last chapter when posting, I hope this one  works. Also worth mentioning that this chapter contain some spoilers for "Who are you?" (well and spoilers for "Stalker", but that's a given) Enjoy and don't forget to review ;)

Nick was in a world of pain. He knew that he was running out of time. Sooner or later, Dr. Sharp would kill him too, if he didn't bleed to death first, on the passenger seat of his own car.  Though crudely bandaged, his wound continued to bleed and would eventually lead to hypovolaemic shock.

Yesterday night, he had thought that his life couldn't get much worse. This had obviously been an error on his part. Now he was in real trouble, being under guard in a nice hotel room was a walk on the beach by comparison.  He had gone over the day thousand of times when suddenly it had hit him. It was not really a logical conclusion, more like a hunch, a feeling. The way that Kelly Sharp had reacted when they had figured out that she was wrong about Nigel Crane's violent tendencies, it had been more than anger at having made a professional mistake. She had taken the whole thing personally. Of course this could be just the way she worked, but Nick had just gotten the impression that she had a reason to take it personally. In a way she had reacted in a fashion similar to his own. He too took Nigel Crane personally. He had had no idea why Dr. Sharp had personal issues with Nigel Crane, but he had suspected that there was something she knew and wasn't telling them. His hunch and the feeling of being caged in the hotel room, had prompted him to go and visit Dr. Sharp. What had been a bad idea based on a hunch, had turned into a major error in judgment.

It had all started out as a friendly conversation and Nick had already started to dismiss his hunch as a result of overly tense nerves, when things had started going wrong. He didn't know whether he had asked the wrong question or whether had he acted any differently Dr. Sharp wouldn't have suddenly pulled a gun on him. In the first moment he had not really understood what was happenings because it had come utterly unexpected for him. He had expected many thing, denial, anger, her kicking him out or even calling the police, but not this. In spite of her emotional display at CSI, he had gotten the impression that she was a rational, knowledgeable professional. In his memory it seemed like he had stared at the barrel of the gun for ages, but in reality it had probably been just a few seconds, during which his mind had flashed back to an earlier, in an eerie way similar incident. Then, when he had least suspected it, a woman, whom he had considered merely the wife of a killer had pulled a gun on him, revealing that in fact it was her who had murdered her husband's mistress. Just like then, Dr. Sharp's actions had confirmed his hunch in a way he had not wished for.

"We are leaving. You know how this works, don't talk, act normal, nobody gets hurt" Her choice of words were signs of confidence but the tremble in her voice negated that impression. Nick could tell that she was scared of herself. She had crossed the first line and she knew it. Every day she worked with people who had crossed every line imaginable to the normal mind. Kelly Sharp knew that so often, there was no turning back. Everyone had started out small, torturing small animals, setting fires, beating up other kids. Kelly Sharp knew where that could end.

Literally afraid for his life, Nick had complied, without asking any questions, for fear of making matters worse. The memory of the drive was all in a haze. They had sped past neon sign, away from the city, onto the highways. Nick had  desperately tried to concentrate in their route, knowing it might be important later on, but his thoughts had invariably returned to playing with possible scenarios, one grimmer than the other. They had finally come to a halt in the gravel parking lot of a dingy motel. The perfect place to kills someone, he remembered thinking as Dr. Sharp had pushed him out of the car. They had headed straight for a room at the far end. Dr. Sharp had knocked, announcing that it was her, then she had used her key to open to door.

What awaited them inside confirmed Nick's worst fears. Nigel Crane, the man he had never hoped to see again was standing in the doorway, looking at them with interest.

"I thought we had an agreement Nigel, you wouldn't do anything. You said you were fine." Kelly Sharp had begun in anger, but by mid-sentence it had made way to disappointment and sadness.

"Come in and we can talk. You know I could never let go. I can't disappoint Nick." While he was talking, Nigel Crane took the gun from Kelly's hand with one swift, smooth motion. "I didn't expect you to see here." Nigel's tone had turned cold.

"I'm sorry, he knew it all. I didn't know what to do, so I thought it was best to bring him here." Dr. Sharp had gone from being the aggressor to the victim, having to justify herself at gunpoint.

"That's good, not what I had in mind, but very good. Nick's very smart, you should have know he'd figure you out." His tone was chiding, as if Dr. Sharp was s small child. The entire scene was just too bizarre. If it hadn't been that serious, Nick would have laughed. But he was right in the middle of it. Nigel turned in his direction, a big grin spreading over his face. His voice was now soft, the anger gone.

"Finally, we are together again Nick. I still have so many questions, since we were cut short the last time we spoke. But don't worry, I'm no longer mad at you. At fist I was really angry that you had let them arrest me and then when you never wrote me or came to visits, I became very sad. They told me that I was depressed and gave me medication for it. For a while I couldn't concentrate. I didn't think about you as often as I should have. But now, it's all ok. Why don't you sit down Nick? It's so uncomfortable with you just standing there."

Nick's mind was racing, what should he do? Play along and hope that it would by him enough time? Try to resists and alert someone? He knew that talking Nigel Crane out of his plans would be futile. Resistance? In a place like that the chances were slim that people cared about their neighbour screaming. Besides, Nigel was the one with the gun. So Nick decided to play along for now, it was the safest route to take if he wanted to get out of it all alive. He sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Kelly, why don't you get us something to eat. Nick looks like he could use something. Had a long day at work Nick?" Kelly Sharp left without another word, leaving Nick to wonder what she was going to do. Would she flee, call the cops or play along. Nigel didn't seem to worry about her in the slightest.

"Yes, in fact I did" His own voice sounded foreign to him. "Now, what did you want to ask me about?"

"Not so hasty Nick, we still have got some time. First I want to tell you that I'm sorry, I pushed your friend against that counter. I hope he's going to be fine, he hate to worry you."

"He's all right." Nick had to fight back to urge to just try to smack Nigel over the head. Common sense and the sight of a gun dissuaded him.

It was then that Nick realized that Grissom had been right, it wasn't about him, Nigel was as egocentric as everyone. Kelly Sharp come back in. She had actually bought some sandwiches. Her frightened look at been replaced by something that Nick couldn't quite read, resignation maybe. She put the sandwiches on the table.

"Why don't you take one? You look like you could use it."

"I'm not really hungry. I'm sorry."

"Is something wrong. You look very tense." Nigel asked in a sickly sweet voice.

"I'm just a bit nervous. The gun, it's making me nervous."

"You promise to stay?"

"I do." Nick actually meant it. He was just trying to prevent from Nigel firing the gun impulsively. If he had to reach for it first, it would buy him some time.

"It's enough" Kelly Sharp's voice came from behind them. Both Nick's and Nigel's attention shifted to her.

Kelly Sharp had picked up the gun that Nigel had put down just seconds earlier.

"Don't move, both of you." She kept the gun drawn on them while she rummaged through the bedside table's drawers. She pulled out a second gun. It was Nick's spare gun, which Nigel had apparently stolen when he had broken into Nick's house earlier. She tossed it to Nick.

"Take it. Shot him" Nick didn't move. He was too stunned. He had thought that Nigel was the real threat, but now he saw that his chances with Nigel would have been a lot better. But at least there was hope of reasoning with her. She might not yet be beyond reason.

"Why? You could call the police. It will all be over then, you haven't harmed anyone yet. It's not to late."

"I know the system. It doesn't work. I see that every day. The wrong people get locked away and those who do, it's hopeless anyways. I thought I was better, I thought I knew the people I work with. But it turns out, I'm just as clueless." She laughed bitterly, while crying out the same time.

"Please, just put the gun down." Nick was starting to panic.

"I can't. It's part of all of us. There is no use in denying it. You know what human being are capable of. Monsters like him" She motioned at Nigel, who stood transfixed, not having expected the sudden reversal of his plan. "They never get tried, they just stay looked away, pretending to be to ill to understand what they have done." It was clear that she was speaking from personal disappointed. Nigel Crane had obviously manipulated her into helping him out.

"For the last time, take the gun and kill him. It's revenge and justice in one."

Nick didn't budge. Even if he had wanted to he couldn't. he couldn't take up the gun and shot an unarmed man. It didn't matter that it would be ruled as self-defence. He couldn't commit murder. His hands started shaking.

"I'm sorry, I can't." Nick hated himself for it.

A gunshot tore through the air, the explosion of noise momentarily deafening Nick.

"No" Nigel screamed. More gunshots.

Nick was puzzled for a second. He had felt a jerk in his arm, which was then followed by a never ending wave of intense pain. He looked down at himself. It was strange. Blood was spilling from his arm unto his pants and the bed. The arm didn't seem to be his. He looked up. Nigel Crane was lying by the window. Blood all over his chest. He wasn't dead, he was looking up at Nick, he lips still moving, but no sound was coming from them. Nick turned his head to the other side. Kelly Sharp stood there gun in hand, momentarily frozen in shock. But she recovered quickly, having taken in the altered situation. She must be aware that the sound of gunfire would alert someone. She went over and grabbed the gun still lying on the bed. Nick only then realized that he would have had a window to defend himself, but somehow is mind seemed to have slowed down, pain taking up most of his capacity for thought.

"Get up, quickly, we are leaving." She grabbed her purse and forced him outside and into his own car. She got in on the driver's side and sped away.

About a mile after the motel, they had stopped quickly and Kelly Sharp had taken a scarf from her purse to tie of his arm.

Nick wondered why she had done that. Ultimately he knew that he was a liability having witnessed that crime. If she was going to kill him, she could just let him bleed to death, without committing another direct murder. She knew enough about the law to know that it made a difference between her shooting him just to incapacitate him and he died later as a result of the injure or shooting him with the intent to kill. At first, when she had pulled the gun back in the motel room, he had thought that she was going to kill him. He had been too scared to move, which might have been a good thing. Him trying to get away might just have provoked her into shooting him in the back or another vital spot.

She had not planned to shoot Nigel Crane. It had been almost an accident. A variety of factors, all of which he didn't understand yet, had contributed to it. Disillusionment, some kind of attraction to Nigel Crane, and feeling betrayed. Kelly Sharp was a cornered woman, whatever plans she might have had, they had been thrown for a loop. Now she was a murder and kidnapper on the run. She had nowhere to go. By now police was probably looking for her already. If not as a killer at least as a victim. For the past couple of hours, she had said nothing, all she had done was keep her eyes fixed on the road and drive. Not to slowly, but not fast enough to attracted attention, as Nick had hoped initially. If he was honest, it had not been only hope, a big part of him and been afraid. He was afraid that they might be stopped, afraid that Kelly Sharp might overreact and kill him. That was the chief reason he had not made a solid attempt at getting away. Nick hated himself for it. He had thought that now, as an adult, he would no longer by a helpless victim, unable and paralysed by fear. But it was no different. About two hours after their departure from the motel, Dr. Sharp had pulled over in front of a drugstore, to get bandages and painkillers. She had left him in the car, parked at the far end of the parking lot, way from any other customers. He could have at least tried to smash the window of the car, but he hadn't. He had sat there and waited impassively for her to come back.

The fact that she had bought painkillers and bandages was another indicator that her motivation was not to kill. She knew that his condition was deteriorating fast. Her fear and probably also the shock about what she had been capable of doing prevented her from giving up  and surrendering herself to the police. Nick had mentioned, making a feeble attempt to talk her into it, but she had immediately aimed the gun at him again.

Once the painkiller had kicked in his mind had started to clear  a bit, and he had been able to concentrate on anything other than the crippling pain in his arm, which seemed to have spread over the entire left side of his body. He had been left to consider his situation in the big picture. Only then it occurred to him how things must look for his co-workers. They didn't know about Kelly Sharp. The shots at the motel had alerted the manager, by now, the police were all over the case. When they had found Nigel's body shot with his gun, it must have been looking like had killed him. He had a motive after all. And earlier yesterday he had felt the urge to take a life. But then when he had had the chance, he had found himself unable to pull that trigger. Even under the threat for his own life, he had been unable to shot a psychopathic killer.

What had gotten an educated upstanding woman to be involved with someone like Nigel Crane? Why had she meddled in this in the first place?  Nigel Crane had probably manipulated her when he was her patient. He had not seemed like the type who was able to manipulate anyone, but he would not have been the first ones to increase his criminal skills in prison. A lot of woman were attracted to violent offenders. Kelly Sharp might be one of them. From what she had said she had helped Nigel escape in the first place. But why? Had she thought that the two had a future, or had she thought that he was innocent?

How much gas had been in his tank? Nick tried to recall when he had had his last refill. St some point they would have to stop for gas. That would be his chance, assuming that she didn't not have a plan yet. He knew that making a run for it wa dangerous as she was till having to gun, which was now stowed away in the glove compartment. She could shot him in the back as he escaped.

When Nick glanced into the rear-view mirror he spotted a patrol car several cars behind them.  Kelly Sharp seemed not to have spotted it yet. He hoped that she wasn't going to. If his assessment was half right she would panic once she noticed that the police was after them. Unfortunately, Kelly Sharp had noticed him glancing into the mirror. She checked it for herself.

No, was all she said. She started speeding up. The worst thing to do. She was provoking violent police intervention. The acceleration of the car seemed to mirror Nick's rising fear which was on the verge of escalating into pure terror. Any police intervention which might just get them both killed. There was not much he could do about it. His wrists were bound by duct tape and he could already feel the effect of blood less show, light.-headedness, a feeling of cold. Somewhere behind them the police car turned on its sirens. At this moment, the crippling and paralysing fear dissipated and his survival instinct kicked in overriding everything else. He had to get the car to stop before they got too fast. Nick looked at the window. The area off road was even, grassy not too many rock. The decision was made in the blink of an eye. Nick flung himself against Kelly Sharp. Then it all seemed to happen at once. The car started spinning out of control, a police siren sounded, though the window Nick saw the T-rail rushing towards the car, then an incredible force flung him forwards sending a crippling pain through his upper body.

Nick felt the determination which had kept him going for the past 8 hours disappear. All strength was suddenly gone, he felt more drained than ever before. Whatever was going on in the outside world he didn't want to know about it anymore. He just wanted to be left alone. He wanted the pain and the memories to stop. His chest hurt. There were police sirens in the background. Things were going to straighten themselves out, he thought before drifting off.