Disclaimer: I don't own anyone or anything but Alexis and Chorizo. If I did, you'd know, cause I've never been able to control my gloating too well...And as usual, any perceived plotholes are imaginary.

Notes: Thanks to Jo for the Chorizo idea. I don't care if you were just bitching or not either, your extra beta work sure helped! And thanks to my second, Impulse!

More notes: Funny, I've just found out that the Mozilla Firefox browser only shows up to chapter 2 of this fic, when it's obvious I've posted five...do I need to post a 'best viewed with Internet Explorer' thingy up now?

Chapter 5

Now that the moment had actually come, Nick found he wasn't sure how to go about asking Alex what he wanted to know. Alex was a good friend, a fine co-worker, and Nick had been raised to never hurt any woman's feelings – at least not knowingly.

"Well," he started, while Alex sipped her coffee patiently, "I wanted…no, I needed to ask you – Alex, don't you remember anything at all about what happened at the unsolved crime scene we were at?"

He thought Alex looked startled for a moment, but then it was gone, and she kept her expression calm as she replied, "No, Nick. I don't remember anything. Why do you ask? Do you remember something?"

Nick looked at Alex. Impulsively, he reached out, took her face in his hands, and studied her eyes. They were brown, mysterious as always, revealing nothing. "You know what I remember?" he asked slowly. A little fear started to seep into the chocolate orbs as he continued, "I remember you rushing into the bedroom, and shouting for me to duck. I remember you opening the closet door, barreling towards it – like you knew, Alex. Like you knew he was in there."

Alex stared at him, helplessly shaking her head as he finished, "Alex, if you knew, all along, that he was in there…how could you have known? How? Unless…unless you were in on it?"

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Alex backed off, staring at Nick in horror. "How can you even think that?" she demanded. "Nick, I thought we were friends. You should know I'd never be in on anything criminal!"

Nick looked at her. His face was grim. "So, you do remember that?"

Alex wondered why she had this sudden urge to cry, and just tell him everything. She was so sick and tired of being sick and tired of lying.

Okay. Go on the defensive. Alex stood abruptly. "Look, Nick," she said, tiredly, "If you're thinking what I know you're thinking, then you don't know me as well as I thought you did. You're not the person I thought you were either, after all."

With that, she turned to leave. But Nick wasn't done. "Alex," he began, starting to get up, to follow her -

Swearing through clenched teeth at the unwanted beeps, Nick unhooked his pager and then his mobile to reach Catherine.

"Yes, Cath?" he asked, watching as Alex disappeared into the early dawn.

"Nick, you have to get back here. And bring a camera."

"What?" he repeated. "Why?"

"Greg's monkey is trying to flush Grissom's tarantula down the toilet. Get back here now!"

Nick stared at the phone as Catherine hung up. Had she just said what he thought she'd said?

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Returning to the lab, he found a crowd gathered around the men's room. It didn't take long for the level 3 CSI to gather information about what the scenario was.

Apparently Greg had agreed to take care of his friend's young monkey while he was away on holiday, and had brought it with him to the lab so he could keep an eye on it. The monkey, Chorizo (which was Spanish for sausage), had escaped from its leash and found its way to Grissom's office. The man himself was out at a crime scene at the moment, but the monkey had managed to get a hold of Grissom's precious tarantula and was attempting to flush it down the toilet.

And now, Greg was trying to coax it not to, while Warrick had the tarantula's glass case ready for when Chorizo dropped it. Both men were apparently hoping to accomplish this and get rid of the mess Chorizo had left in the office before the graveyard shift supervisor returned.

Nick grinned in spite of everything that had happened to him today. Now he knew why Catherine had wanted a camera – blackmailing Greg was going to be a lot of fun.

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Alexis paced the confines of her bedroom. To say she was upset would be an understatement. She was more than upset, she was…miserable.

What if Nick found out about her powers? she wondered. She'd have to leave again. Every single time someone found her out, it was the same. The media would hound her, she would lose her job, and she'd end up slinking out of town with her tail between her legs, like a dog from the gutters.

A single tear slid down her cheek. She had been in Las Vegas for three years now, far longer than anywhere else. She had grown to love the city, and her work, and her colleagues, who had also become her friends. Heck, she even loved her supervisor's pet tarantula and his cockroaches. She'd even promised herself that if she stayed here long enough, she'd get a dog, or cat, or maybe an exotic pet like an iguana.

Rising as another tear joined the first, Alex went to look out over the Strip, and closed her eyes, wishing that she could foresee herself having a happy future for once.

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Thanks to everyone who reviewed, and I'm still sending George Eads plushies to everyone who reviewed!

Shout-outs(almost couldn't do these because my Mozilla FireFox browser was only showing the reviews I got for chapter one and two):

DCHeesegirl - Channeling powers....now, do you really expect me to let the cat out of the bag? Tsk, tsk...I shall remain silent. You'll have to keep reading and see. As for the Catherine being a waitress in the last chapter - man, I didn't even realise I was doing that. It's just that I like Catherine a whole lot more than Sara, so I use her character more, though some would say 'abuse'. Sara I like about as much as a trip to the dentist to pull out all my teeth without Novocain.And one last thing? I'm glad Greggo arrived safely. Give him a hug for me. And here's some Blue Hawaiian coffee so you can keep him quiet.

love N/S - George Eads? A superhero? Not so sure about that...me, I like him right now on CSI. And I'm glad to meet someone who bypasses all the GSR stories here too! Yay! Even if I'm not quite a die-hard snicker.

Im Stoked - The Malaysian postal service is to blame, not me. I have nothing to do with their unreliable service. Anyway, DCHeesegirl received Greg safely, I don't see why Maverick and Gary didn't arrive. And I know this imagined plothole of yours (see disclaimer for chapters 4 and five) was in chapter 3. I wrote the story. My beta pointed out the same thing to me. But you see, when Nick came to, he was in the hospital, with amnesia. I don't care who asked him what happened to his shirt, he wouldn't have been able to answer. He wouldn't have any idea either. They could return it tohim, but he'd still not remember how or why it was ripped. Not a clue. Because he just can't remember. Savvy?

Anyhow, glad you're enjoying it anyway. Keep enjoying it, and I'm working on chapter 6 as we, uh, speak.

left-handed snail - You reviewed! (cries tears of joy) Thank you, thank you, thank you....Career in writing? Huh. Maybe.

Thanks again to all my reviewers! I love you guys! And now, you know what to do with that little purple button that I suspect is really starting to annoy you... (evil grin)