Nick couldn't believe his eyes.  Nigel Crane was standing before him, grinning like a maniac.

"Nick, how are you old friend?"

"I'm not your friend," Nick hissed.  "What the hell are you doin' here?"

"I'm in here, Nicky," Nigel said tapping his head.  "I'm in your head, and you can't get rid of me that easily."

Kristy took Nick's arm.  "Remember, it's all your imagination.  He's not real."

"I'm real enough Nick.  I'll always be a part of you."

"You are not a part of me!  I want you outta my head Nigel!"

Nigel laughed.  "I'm here to stay.  Oh, and I met a friend of yours."

"I don't care!"  Nick was clenching and unclenching his fists in suppressed rage.  All he wanted was to rip Nigel to pieces and pay him back for the hell he had put him through.

Nigel clicked his tongue and shook his head.  "How can you forget Lorrie?  She'd be so disappointed in you."  He stepped aside to reveal a young woman in her early twenties approaching.

Nick froze.  He would recognize his "last-minute babysitter" anywhere.

Catherine looked up from her book in concern.  Nick, although still, seemed to be restless as she watched his eyes moving beneath the lids.  She worried about what he may be dreaming of.

"What is it Catherine?" Grissom asked from the doorway as he entered with more coffee for their vigil.  Sara and Warrick were napping in the solarium for an hour, and then would take over for Catherine and Grissom.

Her eyebrows knitted.  "I think he's dreaming."

Grissom regarded her curiously as he sat down and glanced at Nick.  The young man's mouth was turned down in a slight frown.  "I would guess it's not a pleasant one."

"Yeah.  Poor guy's got plenty to fuel a bad dream," she said softly as she brushed gentle fingers over his forehead.

"Something tells me you're not simply referring to the shooting."

"Well, there was that whole incident with Nigel Crane for one thing."

Grissom nodded, frowning.

"You know," Catherine said.  "We weren't as sympathetic as we should have.  Even though Nigel was going to prison, it wasn't really closure for Nick."  She sighed and burrowed both hands through her hair.

"I don't know if he'll ever truly have closure until Nigel's dead.  And maybe not even then."

"Then when?"

He shrugged, no answer forthcoming.

Greg let out a huge yawn.  Unfortunately it was next to Archie's ear as they studied video from another traffic cam.  He cringed and turned to give Greg an irritated look.

Greg smiled sheepishly.  "Sorry.  Been up almost twenty hours straight."

Archie sighed and went back to work.  "So have I."

"Right."  Greg nodded.  "You were helping day shift."

They sat in silence until Archie spotted something on the video.  "I think we have something."  He froze the video.

"What is it?" Greg asked eagerly sitting forward in his chair.

"Let me enhance it."  He tapped a few keys to focus on a section of the picture.  A few more taps here and there and the image began to come into focus.  Soon they could see two of the shooters tossing their guns out the windows of the vehicles.

"Which intersection is that?"

Archie looked at the video list next to him.  "Ballard and King."

"I'll tell O'Riley."

Nick didn't know whether he wanted to cry, scream, or rage at the two people before him.  They had done so much, each in such a short amount of time, to turn his life upside down when he'd encountered either one.

"I don't want you here!" he hissed.  He could feel Kristy take his hand, offering him support and reassurance.

"Too bad Nicky," Lorrie said with a laugh.  "We're here anyway."

He looked to Kristy.  She simply shook her head.  "I don't know how to make them leave Nick.  It's up to you to figure out."

"Face it Nick," Nigel insisted as he began to circle him.  "We've made you who you are.  We're such a large part of you.  Can't you accept that?"

Lorrie pressed in close to Nick.  "We're the reason you are who you are.  We've influenced you in ways no one else can imagine."

Kristy squeezed his hand.

"Why can't you just admit we've shaped you?"  Nigel taunted.  "Everything we did was for you."

"Don't you appreciate the things we've done for you?" Lorrie asked in a sultry whisper.

"You've done nothing for me except try to destroy my life!" Nick snapped shoving Lorrie violently away.

"Is that anyway to talk to us?" Nigel hissed.  "We've done so much for you."

They were both circling him now, sneers on their faces.  He felt a myriad of emotions wash over him as he watched them.

Kristy leaned in close to him.  "You're the one in control here.  Remember that Nick."

O'Riley and one of his officers came into the labs, two guns each in a plastic baggie in hand.  Bobby Dawson was waiting in ballistics, ready, when they brought them in.  He had a least had a break between his shifts, having done what he could with the bullets from the crime scene and no gun to match them against.

Archie was still looking over the videos from the escape route the shooters had taken to find where the other guns had been dumped.  Then he would work the images of the shooters.

Greg was feeling out of his element, unable to help either tech.

Bobby looked up at Greg where he was hovering in ballistics.  "Why don't you go to the hospital to check on Nick?" He gave a sympathetic smile.  "I'll call you as soon as I get a match."

"Okay," Greg said softly, sounding defeated.

He made his way to the A.V. Lab to let Archie know he was leaving.

"Hey, I'm goin' back to the hospital."

Archie glanced at him.  "Okay."

Greg saw Sara and Warrick sitting beside Nick's bed when he entered the hospital room.

"Where are Cath and Gris?"

"Catherine needed to get home and relieve Lindsey's babysitter and get some rest and Grissom's sleeping in the solarium," Warrick explained.

"How's it going back at the lab?" Sara asked.

"We managed to find two of the guns the shooters dumped.  Archie is trying to find the others."

"How'd he manage that?" Warrick questioned, surprised.

"Traffic cams from the intersections."

"Good call."

"Yeah.  And Bobby's running ballistics as we speak.  He promised to call as soon as he makes the match."

Nick felt like a wounded animal being circled by the wolf pack as Lorrie and Nigel continued to walk around him at a slow, leisurely pace.

Kristy had said he was the one in control, and he tried to hold on to that thought.

"Oh no Nick," Lorrie insisted spitefully.  "We're in control here.  We're so deeply imbedded in you subconscious that you don't realize how much we influence you."

"We invade your dreams," Nigel said picking up the thread.  "When you wake you're never sure we aren't really there.  The way you momentarily shy away from a simple handshake with out noticing you've done it."

"The way you suspect everyone you come in contact with being the suspect in your next case.  It's just for a split second, but it's there."

"Nick," Kristy's soft voice reached him.  He turned to look at her.  "In the end you're always in control."

He nodded and tried to drown out Lorrie and Nigel's voices.

"We'll always be there Nick," Nigel's voice continued.  "We're in here and we're still out there in the real world."

Nick had had enough.  "Shut up!" he shouted.  "Yeah, so what?  Everything you say may be true, but I can push it all aside and remember who I am.  Of course with all the shit you've put me through I have nightmares and harbor a little suspicion toward people!  I'm human.  But in the end I'm who I've made myself.  I've taken everything in my life and decided who I am and how I'll let it affect me."

The pair had stopped and stood before him, slightly wide-eyed.

"Now," Nick said calmly.  "Get out of here."

They disappeared leaving him alone with Kristy once more.

She turned and kissed his cheek, then his lips.  "I'm so proud of you," she said pulling away.

Nick noticed she was beginning to fade.

"Kristy?"

"It's time to go Nick."

He gave her a sad smile.  "Thanks for everything."

She returned the smile before disappearing altogether.

The desert around him began to shimmer and fade and he was left standing in a sea of white before his reality shifted.

**********************************************************************************************************

There you go!  The next chapter!  I'm so proud of myself.  It's longer than the last one and it's up before Christmas.  Consider it my gift to my wonderful readers.  I'm just so sorry it took so long.  I hope everyone enjoys.

In case I don't get any more posted before New Years I'm just gonna say Happy Holidays now!