Disclaimer: I only own Alex and my OCs, the rest belong to Anthony E. Zuiker and Carol Mendolsohn.

Notes: Thanks to Impulse, my beta reader, who was down for a while but is back up and fighting once more!

Chapter 7

The look on Grissom's face reminded Alex of the way her father had looked when he had once caught her older brother sneaking into the house after going to a party he had been forbidden to go to.

It wasn't happy.

Alex swallowed, and looked at Nick, who looked right back at her. Then, she turned to Grissom, and offered, "Um…Nick was upset, and I was comforting him?"

Grissom studied them both, the stern expression still there, before he allowed a tiny smile to peek through…then grinned outright.

"Grissom, you bastard," said Nick, but he grinned too.

"Been a long shift, and I needed the comic relief," said Grissom. He nodded to the door. "Back to work, you two. Alex, my samples?"

Alex gaped at him. "I told Cath to give them to you!"

"You did?" Grissom frowned. "I didn't head by the Trace lab." He looked around as though checking that nobody was there besides her and Nick, then winked and added, "Probably just as well…"

"Not funny." Alex mock-glared at him, then took his arm. "If you'll come this way, sir, I'll get you your damn samples."

Grissom graciously allowed her to lead him away. Nick watched them leave, and a smile lit his face as he did. For the first time since shift had started, he felt like his old self again.

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The next night shift started normally, and as usual, Alex staggered in looking like dead meat after another night at Desert Palm.

She felt as tired as she looked, and sighed in relief as she walked through the door and found that Catherine had made her yet another cup of coffee. They had pretty much formed a routine - every night, Cath would prepare her coffee exactly three minutes before she walked in, so that the piping hot cup would be just right for the tired Alex to drink when she stumbled in.

Alex perked up once the coffee was downed, and she looked around at her co-workers. Greg was searching frantically through the cupboards, and she raised a questioning eyebrow at Catherine, who mouthed, "Sara found his Blue Hawaiian stash and hid it somewhere else."

Alex grinned outright at that. Greg spun, glared at her, and intoned darkly, "Laugh at me, would you? Well, fine. But when I do find my precious again, we'll just see who laughs at who!"

"Take it easy, Greg," said Warrick, slapping him on the back in an attempt to soothe the ruffled lab tech.

At least, Alex thought he was trying to comfort Greg. But when her fellow lab tech stalked out of the break room, she saw a "Kick me" sign taped to Greg's back.

"Bad, Warrick," she said, trying to keep from smiling. "Very bad."

Warrick looked innocently at her. "What?"

Alex just shook her head, then glancing around, she frowned. "Where's Nick?"

"He's not in yet," responded Sara. She shrugged. "He'll turn up later, I guess."

Alex nodded doubtfully. It wasn't that Nick was never late, it was that if he were going to be late, he would at least call and let you know first.

An uneasy feeling began nagging at her. Was Nick all right?

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"What do you mean, Nick's in the hospital?" demanded Alex, gaping at Warrick, who had just delivered the news.

"He had a minor car accident," said Warrick, eyeing her warily. Alex was in full protective mode, and was pretty intimidating tight then.

"How minor? What happened?" she asked, shooting the questions at him like bullets from a gun.

"He was heading in to work, and he started to feel sleepy, and he crashed his car into six trash cans. One hit his windshield and gave him a cut over his eye, and the people who came to help him insisted on taking him to the hospital. And Nick, being Nick, is now insisting that he's able to work, but I'm telling you, there's no way Griss will let Nick do anything other than sit in the lab today."

Alex sat down suddenly, relief flooding through her. Nick was okay. And yet…

Guilt, deep and unwelcome, came to her mind as she realized it must have been the connection she now shared with Nick that had made him feel sleepy.

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Nick was back at the lab the next night, a bandage over his eye and a rather grouchy temperament that made everyone except his teammates stay well out of his way.

He was probably just embarrassed that the nurse had given him a rocket-print bandage since the hospital was out of regular band-aids.

But even though Alex made an effort to stay away from Nick over the next few days, to her dismay, the connection between them kept growing stronger. It caused a lot of trouble, and Alex had no idea what to do about it.

Well, except tell herself very firmly that she would never ever heal someone close to her again.

Once But even though Alex made an effort to stay away from Nick over the next few days, to her dismay, the connection between them kept growing stronger. It caused a lot of trouble, and Alex had no idea what to do about it.

Well, except tell herself very firmly that she would never ever heal someone close to her again.

But even though Alex made an effort to stay away from Nick over the next few days, to her dismay, the connection between them kept growing stronger. It caused a lot of trouble, and Alex had no idea what to do about it.

Well, except tell herself very firmly that she would never ever heal someone close to her again.

Nick was refilling his coffee cup in the break room one day, and he'd accidentally spilt some of the steaming hot coffee from the pot on his hand. He yelped, waving the affected hand around frantically before sticking it under the tap to soothe the burning sensation.

Alex, meanwhile, had been in the Trace lab, handling a knife Warrick had found at the crime scene he was working. The very instant the hot liquid had hit Nick's hand, she had felt it too, and had dropped the knife, which flew into the air, and came back down to land on the floor, narrowly missing Alex's left toe.

"Ouch," she muttered, checking her hand and wondering what the hell had bitten her.

It wasn't until Sara was laughingly recounting what had happened with Nick to her later that she realized what had happened. It didn't make her very happy, but figured she should be grateful she hadn't lost her toe, and that Nick hadn't lost his life a few days before.

But as more and more little incidents began happening, Alex began to feel afraid. Not for herself, but more for Nick. What if something really serious happened one day? She had to learn how to block her emotions and feelings from Nick somehow.

She hadn't talked to her big brother in years, Alex mused as she picked up the phone in her apartment. But maybe now was a good time to reconnect with her brother…and ask him for advice.

Terry had played a big part in helping her control her powers as she grew up, though her parents had helped too, but Terry had been the one she had counted on the most. He had been her best friend, her rock, her comforter and protector. He had been her teacher, her partner in crime, and most of all, he had been her brother. Alex and Terry were the two oldest children in the family, which was why they were close.

Alex did wonder though, why she alone had been blessed with her gifts – her curses – and not any of her brothers. Maybe it had something to do with her being the only girl in the family?

Just then, the phone was picked up on the other end, cutting off her train of thought.

"Hello?" a grumpy voice asked. Darn. Alex had forgotten her brother worked days.

Clearing her throat, Alex replied, "Hey, Terry, it's me. Listen, I need to ask you for a favor…"

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Yay! Another chapter done! Can you believe I was working on two fics at one go? And I only finished this chapter...oh well.

Shout-outs:

DCHeesegirl - I love that you're always the first to review! Either you or love N/S will...thank you! Take care of Greg...hope you liked this chappie...

love N/S - (innocent look) Issue? What issue? George in a tux, huh? I don't need to see him as Bruce Wayne, there are plenty on the internet of him in tuxedos. He's cute in suits, but I like him in casual wear. Hey, there were even a few eps of CSI where he was wearing a tux! Hope you enjoyed the chappie by the way.

sar - Glad you liked it, here's the next installment.

gelf - My lips are sealed if yours are. Hope you like this chapter!

Okay people, its time once again for: "Adventures of the pretty purple button!" Today's episode is about how my wonderful, fearless readers will press the purple button, and type something into the box that comes up! Wow! Excitement, or what? (grins)

Seriously folks, please review. I have lots of George eads plushies to send out now...