A/N: Sorry it took so long for me to update – real life got in the way. I promise I'll update more often now; I know how frustrating that can be! BTW – reviews help, hint hint.

Chapter 2

The state's final witness, Willard's housekeeper, was dismissed, and the judge barely took any time to declare there was enough evidence for a trial. Nick smiled to himself; it was always nice to see your hard work pay off.

The smile turned into a smirk as he watched Burnett pack his case folder into the briefcase. The look on his face was priceless. Almost…constipated.

Nick stood and went to wait at the end of the aisle, watching Karen as she made her way back to him with sparkling eyes. She transferred her briefcase to her left hand, reaching the right out to squeeze his shoulder.

"Good job, Nicky; thanks."

"No problem." Nick angled his way out of the row, matching his pace to walk out with her, resolutely ignoring the fact that Burnett and his associate were only a few steps behind them.

"So, are you guys going to have any more cases for me?"

"Any day now," Nick followed Karen out of the courtroom, pausing as he held the door open for the lawyers behind him.

Burnett sped up to grab the door from him, half turning to let the younger woman leave ahead of him.

"Stokes. How are you?"

"Pretty good, Mr. Burnett. Yourself?"

"Could be better," Burnett's voice was even, but there was an undertone of sarcasm.

The four stood in a loose circle just outside of the courtroom, the people doing business flowing around them like water. Nick risked a glance at the woman, flashing a quick, closemouthed smile when he caught her looking at him. He looked away just as quickly, not noticing the slight flush of embarrassment in her cheeks.

"How are you doing, Karen?"

"Good, Annie. I'm glad to see you here; will you be arguing this case at all?"

Annie glanced at Burnett. "Uh…probably not."

The older man looked back and forth between the two women, confused.

"You two know each other?"

"Yeah, Karen lectured for some of my courses last year. I was the annoying student in front asking all the questions." She laughed, feeling a surge of warmth when he heard Nick chuckle as well.

"Annie, this is Nick Stokes. Nick, Annie Grayne."

The CSI stepped forward, taking his right hand from its casual position on his hip and extending it out to her.

"Ma'am." Annie smiled, embarrassed yet pleased.

"Annie, please."

"Nice to meet you."

"Same here."

A shrill beeping sound cut off any more conversation the two would have, and Nick's hand went back to his side to check the pager there.

"Well, I gotta go." Nick reached out to shake Burnett's hand and nodded at Annie. "Karen, we'll talk later."

"Yep, bye Nicky. Make sure to get some sleep today."

Nick looked over his shoulder as he walked away and winked.

"I'll sleep when the criminals do."

Karen turned back to her courtroom rivals.

"Well, would you mind if I steal your employee for lunch."

"Nah, go ahead." Burnett wagged his finger at Annie and she tried not to look too disgusted at his fakeness. "No talking about our secret red hot defense."

Annie laughed just as falsely, rolling her eyes at Karen as the man followed Nick toward the front entrance. Karen suppressed a laugh and linked her arm with the younger woman's.

"Where to, my apt pupil?"

"Oh, anywhere – I could eat a horse!"

In the end, they just got a table at a café on the square down the street from the courthouse.

"So…." Karen toyed with her water glass after the waitress took their orders. "From that …exchange back there, I'm guessing the job is sucking out your soul?"

"Oh…my….God." Annie let her head drop back against the booth seat. "You know, my dad would be upset with me for saying this, but I cannot wait until I'm making pennies at a thankless government job."

"I wouldn't mind that either, sweetie; I'd get to see you more often."

"Yeah – in the courtroom, where you would devour me."

"Only if I had the better case. A prosecutor is only as good as her evidence."

Annie glanced away, trying to suppress the blush from resurfacing. But it was no use, and she saw Karen's face break into what was affectionately known as her "gossip face."

"I knew it. I knew you were attracted to him. Hon, don't ever play poker."

"Yeah, yeah…laugh it up. It doesn't matter what I think of Nick Stokes. It's not like anything will ever happen."

"How do you know?"

"Oh come on. Attraction and action are two different things. I'm a defense attorney; he's a CSI.

"So? You have nothing against law enforcement."

"Yeah, but they tend to have a bias toward public defenders. Annie smiled and shrugged her shoulders, glad when the food arrived to change the subject.

Nick smirked as Sara whistled at him when he walked in, tie loosened, shirtsleeves rolled up and jacket tossed over his shoulder.

"Hey, what's going on?"

"I'm going home."

Nick stopped in his tracks.

"Whoa…what? Sara? Sara Sidle… you're going home when there's crimes to be solved?"

"Ha. Ha. Ha."

Nick smiled. "Get some sleep for me."

"Working on the domestic?"

"A domestic plus one."

"Yeah, Greg told me about that. Interesting."

"Maybe." Nick pushed the locker room door open.

"See you later."

"See ya."

The next few hours passed in a blur for Nick as he checked the blood's DNA against the database. His brain shut down while his eyes remained wide open, watching yet not watching the computer work.

His cellphone's chirping snapped Nick out of his reverie, and his hand slapped down to his side to shut of the offending technology.

"Stokes."

"It's Brass. Got anything on the D.D. yet?"

"Working on it. Did Greg tell you about the second subject yet?"

"Yes, which is confusing. Mrs. Jacobson admitted to stabbing her husband in self-defense. There's a history of abuse there. Preliminary evidence shows sign of struggle. I don't get it – everything except that blood supports her story."

"I don't know what to tell you, but hopefully I'll have something soon."

"Okay, I'm going to interview Mrs. Jacobson's sister. Do you want to come with?"

"Ah…no. I'm going to finish up with stuff here and try and catch a few hours of sleep."

"Alright. Keep me updated."

"Uh-huh."

The computer beeped on a match just as Nick snapped his phone shut.

"Hmmm." Nick hit print, standing up to get the paper. "Hmm, Hmm, Hmm."

"What you got?" Nick jumped and turned to see Catherine leaning against the door frame."

"The mystery blood found at my D.D. matches a Jake Carner – a bartender at Merv's Bar."

"Isn't that a gay bar?"

"Uh-huh. I guess I'll go see if I can find Mar. Carner."

"I'll drive." Nick cocked his head at her.

"Excuse me?"

"Yep. When Gris found out yours was a multiple homicide too, he figured you might need some help."

"Meaning he doesn't think I can close it alone."

"No!" Catherine reached out to grasp Nick's arm, an earnest look on her face. "He has total confidence in you. Think of me as another pair of eyes, another pair of hands and a sounding board."

Nick thinned his lips but nodded, resigned.

"Remember, Nick, even Gris asks us what we think on his cases."

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go – but I'm driving."

Catherine chuckled and followed him out of the lab.

Ten minutes later the SUV pulled to a stop outside the bar, a small place with an unassuming entrance dwarfed by the neon lights and tackiness of the businesses surrounding it. At this time of day, the bar's employees were there to prepare for a busy night, but no customers had arrived yet.

Nick led the way in, pausing to let his eyes adjust to the dark from the bright desert sun. A young man glanced up as they walked in, confusion in his eyes but a fake "helping the customers" expression on the rest of his face.

"Hi, I'm Nick Stokes. This is Catherine Willows. We're with the crime lab."

The smile faltered. "Can I … help you with something?

"Do you know where we can fine a Jake Carner?"

"I haven't seen him since last night. He went on his break, but never came back. If he shows up, he's fired anyway."

Catherine pulled out a picture of Mr. Jacobson.

"Do you know this man?"

The bartender leaned forward and glanced at the picture. The CSIs knew the answer to the question before he spoke, seeing the recognition dawn on his face.

"Yeah. Peter. Jake's boyfriend."

Nick looked at Catherine, raising an eyebrow."

"Thanks."
Nick and Catherine went back outside and climbed into the SUV.

"Well, let's go see if Mrs. Jacobson knows about her dearly departed husband's extra curricular activities.