Precious Things by SLynn

Spoilers: Up to 'Nesting Dolls'

Rating: R for violence and disturbing content.

Disclaimer: Not mine – well, some are mine, just not the ones you recognize.

Chapter 18: Fact Finding

Nick made it to Amy's place just before six.

Even though he'd only heard good things about Karen from Amy, he still couldn't help but be nervous. It hadn't gone well with Jennifer or Amy's mother Lynn, and he did not want a repeat of that.

Despite having a key to her place Nick knocked. Amy met him at the door with a smile and a kiss before ushering him in.

"Karen," she called out as she gave his hand a squeeze, "Nick's here."

Nick had been expecting her to look a lot like Amy. Although they had drastically different personalities, Jennifer and Amy actually resembled each other quite a bit. They both looked a lot like their mother in fact with mid-length hair and heart-shaped faces. Karen however must have taken after her father's side. She was the same height as Amy, still very pretty, but her face was more oblong. She had her hair cut very short but not choppy. The biggest similarities between the two sisters were that each had a mole near their mouths. Amy's was just below her lips on the left side of her face, while Karen's was just above on the right. That and they had the same smile and laugh which was the first thing he heard from her.

"It's nice to meet you," Nick said offering her a hand as she came out of the kitchen.

"I'm not shaking your hand," Karen said as she came over with a smile, "I'm giving you a hug."

Nick blushed a little but obliged.

"I'm so glad to finally meet you," Karen continued, "Amy talks about you constantly, but she didn't tell me you were so cute."

Nick knew he was still blushing and for some reason couldn't stop.

"Karen," Amy said warningly.

"What? You didn't."

"Okay, that's enough," Amy said, "Dinner is almost ready."

"Do you like enchiladas?" Karen asked before turning back to the kitchen, "I only know how to make like four things and that's one of them. Amy was going to cook, she's much better at it then I am, but I sent her to bed. She didn't need to be up all day after working all night. Plus, I never get to cook."

"That sounds great," Nick said moving with Amy towards the kitchen, "Can I help?"

"No," Karen said shaking her head, "I've got it. Although really, don't expect much. The four dishes I can make, really not that good. I love to cook but that doesn't mean I'm good at it."

Nick who was normally more at ease meeting new people really couldn't figure out how to act or react.

"Don't listen to her," Amy said as she got out the dishes, "She's good. Karen is just fishing for compliments."

Nick took the plates from Amy and instinctively began making up place settings. After a few more minutes everything was set and they all sat down to eat.

"So," Nick said starting to regain his bearings, "Amy said you have an interview tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Karen said with a nod, "with Park Services. I'd be working mostly in Boulder City but I'd probably get a place here in Vegas."

"If you got a place in Henderson the commute wouldn't be bad," Nick agreed.

"Yeah, Amy said that. Plus why would I move so close to Vegas and not live in it?"

Karen had said it with a smile and Nick could easily see that where she fit into the family dynamic. Jennifer was the brat, Amy was the good one and Karen was obviously the wild child.

"You have to get the job first," Amy said to her now. Karen just rolled her eyes.

"I'm not worried. My friend say's I'm pretty much guaranteed it."

"Still…"

"I know," Karen said cutting Amy off before she could continue, "I'm going to take it seriously. It's a good job and I do want it and not just because of where it's at."

Amy laughed like she didn't quite believe it.

"Okay, so it had some influence," Karen continued with a laugh, "but can you blame me for wanting to be closer to my favorite sister?"

"She's such a suck up," Amy said turning to Nick.

Nick and Karen both laughed.

"So," Karen asked after a minute, "my dad said you're a crimes scene analyst. Does that mean you do all the science stuff to catch the bad guys?"

"More or less. Amy actually does a lot more of the science thing then I do."

"Very cool. I actually almost went into forensics. Stanford has an excellent program there but I changed my mind."

"Like eighteen times," Amy said now, "Your first year you changed majors like they were socks."

"Well, I found one that fit," Karen said with a sheepish nod, "I love my field now. It's like hippie science."

"Environmental engineering, right?" Nick asked, "I never thought of it like that."

"I did a double major actually, environmental and computer engineering. I don't know if Amy told you or not but I'm a complete geek. I'm actually having withdraws right now because I haven't sat down at my computer for about twelve hours. Ignore the shaking please. And I still can not believe that you don't have your computer set up."

"That's because she just uses mine," Nick said and then almost wished he hadn't. He didn't know how much Amy had told Karen about their sort of living arrangements.

"Figures," was all Karen replied.

Amy gave Nick a small smile and look out of the corner of his eye and he knew it was okay.

"You should come to the lab then," Nick said now, "It's full of fairly geeky things and people. Plus, you'd get to tell everyone stories about Amy when she was young."

"Oh, I'm going too," Karen said before Amy could object, "but it will have to wait. My interview is pretty early and I don't want to be late. Tomorrow night for sure."

Amy shook her head, knowing Karen would keep her word and likely tell all sorts of embarrassing things about her but not really minding. It was good having her here. Karen was her favorite sister and she'd missed her a lot. Plus, she liked Nick. It was easy to tell with Karen.

Granted, she liked most people but she was only really nice and joked with people she really got on with. Nick seemed to sense that too and it helped him relax. The evening passed quickly and soon Karen was calling it a night leaving the two of them alone.

"I should get going," Nick said checking his watch, "I still need to change before I go to work."

"You have some things here," Amy argued, "I could get them out of the room and then we can drive in together."

"If we drive in together, we'll drive home together and…"

"Don't worry about what Karen thinks. She doesn't care. She's pretty much figured out that we spend all our time together and she's not so young as to think we're not sleeping together. Besides, she'll be gone tomorrow morning at her interview. It'll be okay."

"Okay," Nick said nodding, "as long as it doesn't bother you."

Amy smiled and assured him it didn't.


That night Amy ran into Greg in the locker room. Nick and she had come in together as they'd planned, but he'd been side tracked along the way by Grissom.

She watched for a moment as Greg stood in front of the mirror lifting one arm and then the next, obviously looking for something but not finding it. He'd even rolled up the sleeves and un-tucked his shirt in an effort to do what she couldn't be sure.

At first she was just going to let it pass, but it was so odd she couldn't.

"What are you doing?" she asked startling him a bit.

"I'm itchy," he answered facing her. "My arms and my back, but I can't see if there's anything wrong."

"When did it start?" she asked, looking a little concerned.

"Not that long ago," he answered, trying to scratch his back as he spoke.

"Did you ask Sara to look?"

"No. It just got bad, like really bad. It's driving me nuts."

Greg continued to try scratching and Amy sighed.

"Let me see," she said turning him around and tugging on his shirt, "Take this off."

"Amy really, you had your chance…"

"Greg," she said and her tone finished the sentence.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I'm just not use to being manhandled in the locker room."

Amy laughed and muttered something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like 'yeah right'. Greg smiled and ignored it as he undid the buttons on his shirt taking it off and exposing the t-shirt he had on underneath. Amy lifted it up herself and nearly gasped.

"What?" he asked turning his head to look over his shoulder. "Is it bad? Do I have the plague?"

Amy didn't know what to say. He had a rash, a relatively mild one it looked like but that wasn't what had startled her.

"Amy?" Greg asked again, "What?"

"No, it's not bad," she answered unconvincingly, "Did, um, did the anti-depressants you started have any side-effects listed?"

"I didn't think of that," Greg said pulling his shirt down and turning to face her.

Greg stopped at her expression and it dawned on him. The scars on his back.

"I didn't mean to freak you out," he said quietly, "I forget they're there."

"No," Amy said regaining her composure and feeling awkward, "No really, I'm not freaked out or… or…"

"Amy," he said smiling at her, "It's okay. I mean, I don't know what it looks like but I know it isn't pretty."

"How'd it happen?" she asked now, feeling a little better at how easy Greg seemed to be willing to talk about it.

Greg began pulling on his button-up shirt as he moved away from the mirror towards his locker.

"An accident. Happened a few years ago."

"What kind of accident?" Amy asked sitting down on the bench as Greg opened his locker looking for his medication.

He didn't answer right away, just read the label and nodded.

"Right there," he said tossing it to her, "may cause rash. Great."

Amy caught it and turned it over in her hands without reading it for herself.

"Greg?"

He sat down next to her and took the bottle back.

"Greg?" she questioned again. "A car accident? A fire? It looked pretty bad."

"I guess," he returned with a shrug.

Amy continued to look at him, waiting for an answer.

"It happened in the lab," he finally said.

"This lab?" she asked and her eyes got wide.

"Yeah, there was a fire. Well, an explosion and then a fire."

"Explosion?" she asked and he didn't think it was possible but her eyes got wider.

"It was an accident. No one got really hurt."

"But your back," she said in a disbelieving tone.

"I'm fine. I lived. Really, it wasn't that bad."

Greg really wanted her to believe it. He didn't want her scared to do her job and that was part of the reason he hadn't told her before. The other part was he really didn't think about it much. He didn't like too.

But Amy didn't look convinced.

"How did it happen?" she asked now instead.

"It's not important," Greg returned, "It was an accident. They happen. It'd never happened before and it hasn't since."

Greg put away his meds and shut them up in his locker.

"Come on," he said pulling on her arm to get her to follow, "it's really okay."

Amy nodded but still looked uneasy.

Greg tried to give her his best reassuring smile, but she wasn't buying it. Amy was too smart for that. You didn't get scars like that in little accidents.

Still, she had a job to do. She followed him out of the locker room and down the hall. Amy tried hard to put it out of her head, but she couldn't. Greg stuck around a little longer then he normally did, trying to gauge if she really was okay and she did her best to appear that way.

Finally he had no choice but to leave. The staff meeting was starting without him so Greg said a quick goodbye leaving her alone.

Amy watched him go and took a deep breath.

Suddenly her job didn't seem so easy.