Gifts and Curses

By RK9

Disclaimer: CSI belongs to Anthony Zuiker. I don't own them. I only own my OCs, and I plan on keeping them.

Notes: Thanks to Impulse for the awesome beta work and help with ideas! If you people like this story, you have her to thank. That's why this entire fic is dedicated to Impulse! Yeah! Impulse, you hear that? This fic's for you, girl!

8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8

Chapter 1

All was quiet in the hospital room that night as the little girl in the bed fought for her life. Five-year-old Chelsea Richmond was sick, desperately so, but none of the doctor's in the hospital could help her. She had some new unknown disease, and so far, none of the treatments had helped her.

Which was what she was doing here tonight. The young woman slowly moved towards the bed from the shadows of the room. Her shoulder-length dark brown hair obscured her features, which were clearly half-chinese, half-something else. Her eyes, the same shade as her hair, were intense as she focused on Chelsea.

Slowly, the mysterious young woman took hold of the tiny hand. Chelsea turned in her restless sleep, and murmured something, but didn't stir. The woman closed her eyes. A soft white glow filled the room, surrounding Chelsea's body. Brown eyes opened, and the half-Asian left the room, soon to be lost in the crowd of medical staff and visitors.

Meanwhile, Chelsea Richmond opened her eyes. For the first time in years, she felt…different. Healthy.

And she owed it all to the young healer, who now stood outside the hospital, ready to head to her work at the LVPD. Alexis Shan slid a pair of sunglasses on, and smiled.

8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8

Alex fought to keep from falling asleep as she worked on processing the evidence. Fatigue was one of the undesired side effects of her powers. Healing always took a toll on her, and the young woman knew it had been a stupid idea to heal Chelsea, especially before coming into work today. She should have waited until after shift.

Coffee. That was what she needed. Coffee…what was she thinking? Alex had tasted the graveyard shift coffee before. It tasted like a mixture of mud and tar, and was usually in danger of being contaminated by one of her supervisor's experiments. Grissom had a habit of leaving his little science projects lying around the break room. Alex sighed.

Risk her life taking the coffee, or risk her job by falling asleep while processing evidence? Choices, choices, choices. Alex padded over to the fridge, hoping against hope that there would be some caffeine-based soft drinks inside.

Aha! Alex grabbed the last can of Coke out of the fridge, then paused before opening the tab. Reopening the fridge door, she sniffed suspiciously, then spotted it. A jar of some unknown fungi was inside, right around where she had taken the can from. Suddenly she lost her appetite for Coke, and replaced the can.

Alex padded back into the Trace lab, where she had been working. She'd just have to keep plugging away then.

Just then, one of her co-workers entered the room.

"Hey, Nick," Alex greeted, smiling at the Texan.

Nick Stokes grinned at her. "Got anything?"

"Well, nothing that means anything to me, but maybe you can make sense of the traces of sand I found on the vic's shoe?" Alex handed him a printout. "It's quarry sand."

Nick's brown eyes widened, and he grabbed the printout. "No kidding? Thanks Alex." He turned to leave, and added, "All of a sudden I'm glad you're working Trace tonight."

"Yeah, yeah, you owe me. Now get going, and solve that case!" Alex playfully shoved Nick out the door.

That was when it happened – her bare hands came into contact with Nick's arm – and Alex's eyes widened as a vision hit her.

Gun flashing as a shot was fired -

Blood spraying out of an open wound -

Nick, falling to the ground –

"Alex?Alex?" Alex jerked in surprise, and snapped out her vision to find Nick shaking her gently. "You okay?" he was asking. "You seemed a little out of it there…"

Alex heard herself respond, "I'm fine," but inside, she was already going over the brief images she had seen. Was something going to happen to Nick?

"Well," Nick began uncertainly, "If you're sure..I have a crime scene to head over to…"

Alex turned quickly, and said, "Oh yeah, definitely…don't let me keep you."

Practically shooing Nick from the Trace lab, Alex leaned against the table and took a deep breath. "Okay," she muttered to herself. "Okay. What just happened?"

I think I just saw my friend die.

Alex shivered. She wasn't used to having visions. Once in a while, they hit, but not often, thankfully. Bad enough that she was exhausted from healing Chelsea, now she had to see Nick dying? Alex felt as though the mental strain was killing her. The images from her vision suddenly flooded her mind again, for some reason the one with Nick dying kept replaying itself.

That did it. Alex bit her lip, and made her decision.

8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8

And if you all want to know what happens to Nick....well, that's another chapter. In order for the next chapter to be posted, RK9 needs a little....shall we say incentive? Press the pretty purple button, and drop a review...and I'll add the next chapter when I feel like there are enough reviews. (evil grin) Like it, hate it, I want to know, you see. So, read, review, and sit back...the next chapter should be here soon enough.