Not many reviews...How are you guys (or girls) liking this? Are there only three people reading? I won't threatened to hold back parts until I get reviews or anything like that (I find that a little distasteful, personally), but I could use the input from the people who are spending their time reading this. Should I get into the relationships deeper right away? The first bit will probably focus most on Kait and Nick. Both of them feel deeply for victims of crimes who are children, and I will write that a bit. Plus Nick's revelation about the babysitter to Kait (It has to be brought up at some point, right?). Well, I'll stop this ramble, but please let me know what you think. It is a lot of help.


Telling Dad and Moving On: Part 2
By LissaMarie
August 27-30, 2002


After arriving at the scene (in separate SUVs, of course) Nick and Kait made their way through the various vehicles that were parked at the scene toward where it appeared everyone was gathered. Kait sucked in a breath when they were close enough to see what was going on.

There was one man she didn't recognize from her time in the lab using ground penetrating radar canvassing the area, and several forensic excavations going on. More than the four Catherine had mentioned on the phone. Without realizing it, both Kait and Nick sped up their paces.

"What do we have so far?" Nick asked Warrick in lieu of a greeting.

"We have 5 bodies on their way to the lab, and more are still coming. Six more for certain. The forensic anthropologist on the scene is estimating that some of the victims have been buried here for 10 years or longer. One that is on its way to the lab is still pretty much intact. Gris wants to talk to the two of you. He'll probably send you to the lab to process the bodies and leave us with the scene," Warrick told them, gesturing over his shoulder. He turned back to his work without another word.

Nick understood that the case was getting to Warrick, and that he hadn't intended to be--essentially--rude to them. He out his hand on the small of Kait's back at led her over to Grissom. He was careful to remove his hand before he noticed them.

"Hey, dad, where do you want us?" Kait asked wrapping her arms tightly around herself when she saw what her father was studying. Lying in the ground, there was fleshless torso clothed in a dirty dress that appeared to have been pink at one time. Its size made her believe it was a child of no more than six.

Gil looked between the two of them for a few seconds curiously before responding. "Down at the lab. We need someone to get working on what we have there so far. Any more people here would just add to the confusion. As it is, we already have every person with field experience including cadets."

"Anything specific that you want us to run with them?" Kait questioned not moving her eyes away from the child's remains. She felt a familiar burning in her eyes, but she would never allow herself to cry on the job. She had to be professional. She spun around when two man carrying a stretcher with a black body bag on it. Both men had tears running down there faces.

"Just be as thorough as you can," Grissom assured them. He noticed his daughter's lack of attention and felt for her. None of the cases she had handled since joining them in Vegas had involved children, and he knew this case would cut into her. She had always felt more for the helpless, like children, than anything else.

Nick nodded toward their boss and took Kait's elbow. Usually he wouldn't touch her in front of her father, but he couldn't keep himself from trying to comfort her. Truth be told, the scene was getting to him as well, and he needed to feel her presence. He led her back to their trucks and decided that they should ride together. Everyone would still be at the scene tomorrow morning, and they could come back to get Kait's truck then.

"Hey, you okay?" Nick whispered in her ear when they were behind the truck and out of view of the others.

"What?" Kait looked up sharply.

"I asked if you were okay. You seem a little out of it," Nick told her soothingly.

"Let's just get to the lab." She shook off his hands that were rubbing up and down her arms and went to the passenger side of the Tahoe and climbed in. She heard Nick sit down beside her and start the truck. She realized, somewhat absently, that she should apologize for being gruff.

She didn't though.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


AN: I am purposely redundant with some words and phrases in this part. It isn't for lack of imagination but in order to capture the character and scene better.


Kait stared at the small form on her examination table. It was a little girl--only it really wasn't. It was the BODY of a little girl.

The body of a little girl wouldn't jump off the table and giggle about how they fooled everyone like a little girl would.

The body of a little girl would not grow up with dreams of being an animal doctor or an explorer like little girls sometimes do.

The body of a little girl was nothing except a little girl who had all of that stolen from her.

Kait leaned forward and methodically removed the clothing from the body. She folded it neatly, so Nick wouldn't have to bother with it. She got a small vacuum to collect the trace evidence from the body. She started at the body's feet and worked her way up to its face. She combed the body's hair and got a wet cloth to clean off the excess dirt knowing that any fingerprints that may have been on the body at one time were already gone..

Once she was done, all that was left was a badly beaten body of a little girl. It was almost hard for Kait to continue to think of it as a body. The little girl had light brown hair with curls much like Kaitlyn's had been when she was younger. Her china doll face was marred by spots of decay. The little girl's tiny shoulders had bruises on them that were very likely made by a man's large hands. Similar contusions were evident on the little girl's hips and thighs. The implications of those made tears fall from Kait's eyes.

Kait heard the lab door open, and she wiped her eyes with her wrists before she turned around.

"She's been in the ground about a week. She wasn't dead much longer than that--a few days probably," Kait informed Nick as he entered the autopsy bay.

"Did you find anything else?" Nick asked quietly, as if he could wake up the little girl in the room with them.

"No, but I had a though. Can you grab the ALS?" Kait questioned. She unfolded the clothing the little girl had been wearing. She laid it out on the table and waited for Nick to shine the light over it. When he did, there were spots that glowed. "We have our killer's DNA. He made the mistake of being overly eager with this little girl."

Nick looked up quickly then over to the little girl. His jaw tightened as his hate for the man that had committed the horrendous crimes they were investigating grew.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Kait stripped off her latex gloves and turned around to Nick. She was surprised to see him asleep in a chair that he had drug in when she started the autopsy. She smiled at his relaxed form, liking how innocent he looked when he slept.

It wasn't the first time she had been with him while he was sleeping. There had been many times, after she found a place of her own, that she had made them dinner, and he stayed over. They would share the bed, but he would never push anything. He would just hold her, and they would talk until one of them dozed off.

A frown came to Kait's features when Nick began to mumble under his breath and tense. She stepped closer to him and reached out to touch his face.

"Nicky, it's okay. You're just having a dream," she whispered in his ear in a soothing tone. He calmed down almost instantly. Her fingers trailed down his face. "You're going to have to wake up, Nick. An autopsy bay isn't a great place to try to take a nap."

"Just five more minutes, mom," Nick joked opening his eyes slowly and looking around. "I really did fall asleep in the autopsy bay. Huh." He stood up to stretch.

"Well, it is almost noon. We've been here awhile," Kait comforted him with a small grin. She leaned back against the counter next to him.

"So, you're done..." Nick gestured toward the empty exam table vaguely.

"Yeah. No surprises. The girl was molested before she was killed. Death was by a blunt force trauma to the back of the skull. I sent samples down to toxicology just to be certain. She was dead for at least a day before being buried. She's been buried for 7 maybe 10 days." Kait brushed back a few curls that had escaped her tight French braid. She rubbed her eyes, and the exhaustion stemmed from over 24 hours without sleep was very evident.

"You asked Warrick to drive you truck here when he was done at the scene, right?" Kait nodded. "Why don't we take my Tahoe over to your place. You can take a shower while I fix us something for lunch, and then we can both get some much needed sleep. We can come back this evening with a fresh perspective." Nick was suggesting this for Kait's sake. If it were just him, he'd run himself into the ground on a case like this one before decided to go home, but she looked dead on her feet. Seeing her like that made his protective, chivalrous side kick in.

"Well, I do sort of feel like I have a week's worth of grime on me, but hopefully, that's just my imagination," Kait wrinkled her nose. She followed Nick out of the lab and tried to forget the sight of the little girl laying on her autopsy table. With Nick's help, she did.

And with her help, so did he.

TO BE CONTINUED...

I had originally intended for this part to be longer, but I don't know when my next opportunity to write will be, so I figured I'd post this instead of making you wait a long time for anything at all. Starting next week, Tuesday and Thursday evenings will be the only definite time I have to spend on the computer (Those are the days I requested off from work). I'll probably be on at other times, but I'm not really sure for how long.

So tell me...Does Nick reveal what the babysitter did to him when they're at her apartment? I already have plans for them later on but not for this, so HELP! **vbg**