Volume II: Perpetual Ardency

By: xKatx

Summary: A career-changing, life-altering opportunity comes up at the Las Vegas Crime Lab. Will it bring people closer together, or rip blossoming relationships apart?

Author's Note: I realize these people work nights, so I'm trying to find ways for them to be at home at normal times. Come on, all this ish can't happen at the lab! LOL Got a prob? Deal, or don't read. That's my motto.. lol check it out...

Disclaimer: No, I do not own CSI stuff. I do own Anisha, Maile, Dylan, All of Nick's family, Haylie and her family, and all the other characters you don't realize, k?

Rating: PG-13

Request: READ AND REVIEW!

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Now that one obstacle for the Las Vegas Crime Lab graveyard shift was over, things went back to the way they had always been. The CSIs could now focus completely on solving their cases.

And that's just what Nick and Warrick were doing.

          "Mr. Severens, the DNA sample you gave us matched some blood found at the Fullers' residence. The death rate of the cells indicates that you were there the night of the robbery."

Mr. Davon Severens was again in a navy Armani suit, his face as pale and sharp as it had always been, his black eyes piercing through everything they looked at. Nick watched carefully at his reaction.

          "That's impossible," Mr. Severens said, "I was in Miami that night."

          "According to your phone bill and other documents we recovered after searching your home," Warrick said, "With a warrant," he added, showing Mr. Severens the warrant, "You were at your home before the robbery."

Mr. Severens eyes narrowed as he glared at Warrick, "And what else did you discover while ravaging my private home?"

          "A list of the security codes for all of the houses that were robbed," Warrick said, "It had been badly damaged by water, but our telescopes were able to salvage enough of it to know what it is."

          "It was that bitch who told you, wasn't it?" Mr. Severens said, his usual cold deameanor shot, "She told you."

          "Who?" Warrick asked.

          "Angela Fuller," Mr. Severens spat out the name like it was foul-tasting, "The whore who helped."

          "So you're saying Angela Fuller attained the security codes for you?" Warrick asked, casting a glance toward the hidden room where Nick was.

          "She only did it because she thought we were going to elope," Mr. Severens said, "I told her we would leave after we had compassed enough robberies fund the trip."

          "And you robbed her house with her help so the Fullers wouldn't appear as suspects?"

          "Precisely."

Warrick looked up at Brass, who nodded and summoned a guard, who took Mr. Severens from the room.

          "Now all we need to do is get her," Brass said.

Warrick nodded, "Nick's going to take care of that."

~x

          "Ms. Vaughn-"

          "Oh, please, Mr. Grissom, call me Mikala."

          "All right, Mikala. We recovered a Colt .45 automatic pistol from your stables. The same gun used to kill your fiancèe. And it is also the same gun with your fingerprints all over it."

Sara watched from the hidden room as Mikala Vaughn burst into tears.

          "Want to tell me why you killed your fiancèe?" Grissom asked as he placed the photo of the gun back into the folder.

Mikala sniffled a little before letting out a long breath, "He'd been cheating with one of his previous girls," Mikala informed him, "I caught them in our bed about a week before..." She choked up again, taking several seconds to try and calm herself.

          "Can you tell us which woman?"

Mikala nodded as she cleared her throat, "Dana. Dana Tyler."

          "And you decided you needed a little revenge?" Grissom asked, watching the twenty-four year old woman cry.

          "He was a womanizer - he could never be faithful."

          "So that gave you right to take his life from him?"

Mikala continued to cry as a guard took her into custody.

          "If your wife had done what David did to me, you would have done what I did as well."

Grissom looked up, "That's where your wrong. Only those who seek hatred and revenge kill."

And with that, the young woman was taken out of the room.

~x

          "Mrs. Fuller," Nick said, "I'm Nick Stokes, CSI."

          "Mr. Brown's partner, I assume?"

Nick nodded as he sat down across from the woman, "We've just finished speaking with a Mr. Davon Severens. He admitted to robbing all of the houses in your neighborhood, including your own."

Mrs. Fuller's face shown with relief, "He was the one who robbed us?"

Nick nodded as she put a hand to her mouth, tears coming to her eyes, "Will we be reimbursed if the jewelry and such are found?" She asked.

Warrick, who was watching from the hidden room, shook his head. One minute she was acting all relieved, the next minute she's asking about the money. He knew she was caught.

          "You, personally, will not be reimbursed," Brass answered from the corner, "Because you'll be on trial."

Mrs. Fuller's eyes widened, "Whatever for?"

          "Mr. Severens added that you were his partner in this little venture," Nick informed her, and she turned her attention back to him.

          "That's absurd."

          "Actually," Nick said, "It isn't. We were able to lift prints of yours from Mr. Severens apartment that places you there at some point in time. Plus, he had a list of all the security codes of the seven houses robbed, including your own."

Mrs. Fuller's face went from relieved-shock to a cold, hard exterior.

          "Want to tell us why you wanted to help rob half of your neighborhood plus yourself?"

Mrs. Fuller snatched the tissue from the hand of the guard who offered, "It's only so interesting being married to a stuffy workaholic. Joseph does nothing to please me anymore. In any way. Severens was rough – he paid attention. He said if I helped him, he would learn his way around the houses, and we would cash in all we stole to run away together."

          "But he didn't," Nick said, "He left you high and dry, didn't he?"

Mrs. Fuller's face turned snobby, "He turned out to be just like Joseph, if that's what you mean."

Nick shook his head, "All he wanted from you was help so he could reap the benefits of the deal. You found out too late, that's all."

Mrs. Fuller looked down her nose at him as Brass and a guard took her into custody, "If I had found out earlier," she said angrily, "You would have never caught us."

Nick shook his head, "We would have. Eventually."

Mrs. Fuller rolled her eyes as she was led from the room. Nick looked toward the hidden room and smiled; he knew Warrick was in there, just as happy as he was to solve yet another case.

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          "Great job, everyone," Grissom congratulated them as they turned in their paperwork at the end of shift, "Considering this has been a difficult couple of weeks for all of us, I want you all to take tonight off. If there is any real emergency, Brass will contact me and I'll get you guys in, but unless you get a call, stay home and rest, okay?"

Everyone agreed as they headed towards the locker room. Warrick and Greg were talking over the Pro bowl as they entered the room, each heading to their own lockers. Nick was just about to turn around and ask Sara if she wanted to come over when his cell phone rang.

          "Stokes," he said as he answered it, "Hey! No, why? Who am I picking up? Are you serious? Why would she do that, we're coming down in less than three weeks! All right. Yeah. I will. No it's all right. Okay. Bye."

Sara looked at him inquisitively as he turned around to face her.

          "Bye guys," Greg called as he left the locker room.

          "Nick, I'll give you a call later on – there's a new movie coming out and I know you'll like it," Warrick informed them as he too left.

Nick smiled at his friend's retreating form as he looked back at Sara.

          "Guess who's arriving at LVA in nine hours?"

          "From where?" she asked, pulling on her leather jacket and shutting her locker door.

          "Dallas."

Sara turned back to him and raised an eyebrow, "You know I'd have to name about forty-five people so why don't you just tell me."

Nick laughed, "My mom."

Sara smiled, her eyebrows raised, "Really? Why would she fly in? We're going down there in three weeks!"

          "That's what I told my dad but apparently my mom wants you to try on your dress beforehand, and she knew you couldn't leave work so she's coming to you."

Sara smiled, "That is awesome! Is she staying at your place?"

Nick nodded, "Yeah. You know the spare bedroom upstairs?"

Sara laughed, "The yellow one?"

          "It's not yellow!" Nick protested, "But yes, that one. Mom said she wanted that one."

Sara rolled her eyes, "She's a woman on a mission, isn't she?"

Nick nodded, "You should have seen her at Christmas last year. She redid the entire Christmas tree because Kayla bought red tinsel instead of gold."

Sara laughed, "That definitely sounds like her."

Nick moved closer to her and looked a little disappointed, "And I was hoping for a nice long day off with my girlfriend."

Sara grinned at him and slipped her hand in his as they made their way out of the locker room and to the elevator, "Well," she said, "We can always casually mention that Grissom and Catherine live twenty minutes away from your place."

Nick grinned slyly as they left the building and headed toward their parking spaces, "You know how Mom is with children – she'll love Lindsey and Dylan."

          "But," Sara said, "We still have nine hours until she gets here.

Nick raised an eyebrow and smirked at her, "Did you leave stuff at my place?"

Sara nodded, "As far as I know."

          "Do you want a ride or do you want your Tahoe?"

          "I'll take mine, just in case."

Nick nodded as they separated and got into their cars, both headed in the same direction.

~x

Sara loved Nick's house. When they'd first started dating, Nick had explained how his family had splurged and bought him the house on his thirtieth birthday. It was in a nice rural area of Vegas – his closest neighbor was two hundred yards away through dense woods. Sara couldn't believe how lucky he was to have found a house so secluded in one of the largest cities in America. Gil and Catherine didn't live too far away – their house was just about as secluded as Nick's was.

Nick's house was a nice two-story house with wooden shingles and black shutters. There was a large porch in the front, with steps leading up to it from the driveway. He had a two car garage, back porch, and a spacious backyard. When you stepped onto the front porch, to the left and right were wooden, high-backed rocking chairs with a little table next to each. When you stepped in the front door you were in the front hallway. In front of you were the stairs leading up to the loft, which he used as a spare bedroom. It had a railing overlooking his very large, hardwood-floored living room, and a private bathroom.

When you stood in the front hall, to the left was the Nick's office – he had a nice desk and chair and a good-working computer. His desktop was spotless, and he had pictures on the walls painted by different people. Most were Western scenes.

To the right of the front hall, was the dining room with a hanging lamp, a large cherry-wooden table with matching chairs, and a beautiful Grandfather clock that Nick had said was made by his great-grandfather and had been passed down through the family.

If you walked past the stairs to the left, you entered his living room. He had large-pained windows that let in mass amounts of sunlight, and sky-lights on the cathedral ceiling. His large entertainment center was against the wall on the left, and he had a black leather loveseat, a matching couch and Laz-Y-Boy. In front of those was a long cherry-wooden coffee table. Against the wall to the right were bookshelves containing CDs, movies, DVDs, video games, and of course, books. Sara loved how immaculate Nick kept his house, and his bookshelf only emphasised that point.

If you walked past the bookshelves, you entered a hallway. To the right was the kitchen, and down the hall was the master bedroom with an adjoining bathroom. His kitchen was white tiled with black counter tops. He had black cast-iron skillets hanging from the wall and, like the other rooms in his house, it was impeccable. Sara found it hilarious that in every cabinet and in the refrigerator, Nick had every ingredient you could ever need in your life. She figured he had to have it that way since he could cook better than anyone Sara had ever known.

His master bedroom had emerald green carpet (A/N: trust me, emerald green carpet is gorgeous! My Nana's house is carpeted in nothing but that, and it rocks!) with off-white colored walls. He had a large, king-sized bed made out of cherry wood (Sara began to figure that was his favorite kind) and a matching dresser, which was so large Nick had insisted she bring some of her clothes over to fill the space. The adjoining bathroom was just as clean and beautiful.

It wasn't a large house, and he had incredibly nice things, Sara knew. In the beginning she'd wondered how he'd managed to get all of that out of the job they did, but she'd quickly learned how well-off the Stokes' were, and how generous they were at Christmas and birthday times.

Sara pulled into the garage next to Nick and smiled, getting out and leaving the garage to look at the house.

          "What is it?" Nick asked.

Sara shrugged with a grin, "I love your house, that's all."

Nick raised an eyebrow, "You have a nice apartment, Sara, why do you love my house so much?"

She shrugged again, "It's secluded, and it's so nice looking. Plus, it's homey."

Nick laughed, "You're starting to sound like my mother."

Sara looked at him mischeviously, "Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?"

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A/N: okay, as you can tell I explained myself when it came to Nick's awesome house. I hope that's a good enough explanation, because I bought it! Plus, if they end up moving in together, I want them to live in a nice house! Forgive me for being materialistic, but oh well!

Next Chapter: Marge Stokes arrives and gets to see where Nick lives, and where Sara lives PLUS: Catherine catches up on all she's missed with Warrick and Greg's love lives! More to come, so keep reading and reviewing!