Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone, but I'm always willing to buy.

Author's Notes: This is a sequel to "Jealousy" which was a sequel to "Remorse", so this would actually be a, what, triquel?

It picks up a few months after "Jealousy", and will focus on Greg/Sara/Nick, with some Catherine/Warrick (although they don't appear in the first part, they will be in the second). Hope you enjoy, and trust me, it will get better than this first bit.

Please let me know what you think! I'll try to have more this weekend, if there's any interest.

Jenny

Denial

Nick sat across from his sister, Jessica, the cold steel table making a few feet seem like miles. When they were little, she used to tell him she was going to be an air traffic controller, because she liked the neon orange and green vests they wore. He had told her she should be a crossing guard, because they got to wear the orange vests too, and their sister Karen had suggested being an auto mechanic because they could wear any color coveralls they wanted to, just in case her favorites changed. But Jessica, then only 11, maybe 12, had insisted she was going to wear the neon vests, the heavy duty ear muffs, and wave the neon cones, because 'planes were cooler than cars'.

That day seemed like an eternity ago, and now a completely grown up Jessica was sitting in front of him, clad in the dingy orange overalls the county provided to her, her feet bound with chains, her dark brown hair which used to be full of body and shine hanging dully around her pale, tired face. He wanted nothing more than to take her out of this place, bring her home with him, yell at the prison system for taking away his sister's zest for life. At other times, he wanted to take his cold plastic chair and swing it at her for doing something so stupid, no matter what the situation had been at the time.

He had gotten bits and pieces of the story from her, hardly paralleling what the 10:00 news had shown, and he felt his heart break a little more each time he saw her sad, empty eyes. It had been 5 months, 5 long, painfully slow months, since she had called him to confess, since he had brought her into the police station to talk with Brass. 5 months since they shuffled him away, not even allowing him to watch through the viewing room window. 5 months since she had come out in cuffs, silent tears streaming down her face as she begged him to forgive her, to ask Karen and their parents to forgive her. 5 months since he had been allowed to give her one quick hug, promising her he'd do whatever he could to help her, promising her that everything would be okay.

Things were far from okay. Jessica was sitting in prison, with hardened criminals, barely hanging in there. There were dark circles under her eyes, which he knew nearly matched his, and she had lost a lot of weight. She used to smile, greet him warmly when he visited, but now she couldn't even manage that. To imagine her here for the rest of his life, he just couldn't handle it. He thought of visiting her less frequently, but the thought of her being alone and vulnerable was too much for him to bear, so he managed to keep his weekly visiting appointment, despite the way it was eating away at his happiness, his relationships, his sanity.

He couldn't blame her, he had thought of killing Travis so many times, but he had never intended on doing it. From what Jessica had told him, she hadn't either.

Karen had flown to Vegas to see Nick, to plead for his help in her current baby predicament. Travis was angry, known to fly off the handle at a moment's notice, and Karen had been frightened for her and her baby's lives. If she would have made it to Vegas without incident, maybe things would be different.

Instead, Travis found out where she was going, and followed her, closely enough so that they managed to end up on the same flight. What Travis hadn't known was that Jessica was on the flight too, making sure her brother-in-law didn't get too close to her big sister, whom she had taken it as her duty to protect. Karen was running away, Travis was chasing Karen, Jessica was chasing Travis. If Jessica had thought things couldn't get any worse, they immediately did. Travis had seen her, while walking to the bathroom on the plane, after a quiet, yet heated argument with his pregnant wife.

He had lost his temper, causing a scene on the plane, getting himself seated in the front, with a flight attendant to keep an eye on him for the remaining half hour of the trip, while Jessica remained her seat, silently fuming. She never tolerated being yelled at very well, which is why she was always after Karen to leave Travis, she didn't want to see anyone else mistreated either.

They had arrived in Las Vegas with no further disturbance, and Jessica had managed to sneak Karen away from the airport, leaving Travis behind to explain to a security guard why he had thrown a fit on a commercial airplane. Jessica had been instructed to stay behind and give a statement, but had told a flight attendant the situation, and had been advised to leave the airport as soon as possible, they even had security escorting them to the cab area.

Once they got to the hotel, though, it was a different story. Karen had reserved a room in her name, which Travis had been able to track, and he showed up a few hours after they arrived in town, with the phrase "pissed off" being a monumental understatement. Words were exchanged, and Karen let it slip about the pregnancy. He raised his hand to hit her, and Jessica stopped him dead in his tracks, quite literally, as it would turn out. She had grabbed the first thing that she could place her hands on, which happened to be a heavy lamp, and sent it crashing over his head.

Not knowing what to do, she and Karen called their parents for advice. Mr. and Mrs. Stokes had been on the next flight to Las Vegas, instructing both girls not to do anything until they arrived. Originally, Mr. Stokes had meant not to talk to the police without a representative present, but the girls took it to mean not even to call the authorities and inform them of Travis's death. By the time their parents got there, Jessica had already decided it was too late to call the police, they'd arrest her on the spot, and it would be easier to just hide the body and pretend nothing ever happened. Mr. and Mrs. Stokes had tried to talk her out of her decision, but seeing that her mind was made up, both gave in and vowed to help and protect their daughter in any way they could.

That part of the story is what pissed off Nick the most. His parents knew better, they worked with the law, they knew what was right and wrong, what was a good choice and a bad once, what was able to be used as defense in court and what was not. It made him sick to know they let Jessica set herself up like they did. While it was difficult raising seven children, his parents did the best they could. The older children looked after the younger ones, and they all generally watched out for one another.

Being as their ages were grouped together, they had been split into two "groups" as Karen had once put it, the "independent" ones and the "younger" ones. While each Stokes child could look out for his or herself, their parents couldn't help but separate the two groups of children. Nick, Karen, and Jessica had the unfortunate classification as the younger children, therefore, their lives got meddled in more, their decisions were usually brought before the family like a trial, and nothing could be done without their parents interference.

That was probably the reason Nick had been so eager to leave Texas, although he had never really thought through the logic of his decision. He knew, now, that if he had stayed around, he'd probably be a higher rank in the crime lab in Dallas, he'd also be living down the street from his parents, talking to them every day, having his life pulled apart with a fine tooth comb. Even though he loved them, he hated to have his life interfered in, so he looked forward to his weekly conversations with his parents and siblings, and the rest of the time, he did his own thing. Karen and Jessica, while still living close to home, had done the same, stemming out from being overprotected as children to making their own choices and pushing their parents away.

Ironically, the group of Stokes children that had always been considered "independent", Steven, Melanie, Nicole, and Hailey, were still living within 15 minutes of "home", probably unaware of the finer details of Jessica's arrest. For the immense interest his parents had always had in him growing up, they hadn't been to visit Jessica but twice since she had been arrested.

The evidence had been clear, her hair was found in the knot closing the trash bag, her prints were all over the outside, along with his father's, and Jessica had the mode, means, and opportunity to kill Travis and cover it up, before heading back home. They had arrested their father for being an accessory to murder, but he had made bail almost immediately and because of his status in his Texas community, had been allowed to go home with his wife the next day.

Jessica hadn't been so lucky. And so here Nick was, as he was every other Wednesday afternoon, sitting across from his quiet sister, trying to figure out when life got so hard.

"I want you to stop visiting me."

Nick's head jerked up from where he had been studying engravings on the table, "What?" He asked with wide eyes, "You can't be serious, Jessie."

"Every time you come, you look like someone has kicked your puppy, and it's getting worse and worse. You look like you haven't been sleeping, you're getting as thin as I am, you're pale. Stop letting this eat you alive, Nicky, it's bad enough that one of us has to be in here all the time, let yourself live a bit, okay?" Jessica squeezed his hand, "And that's an order, baby brother."

Nick shook his head, "You're all alone in here, Jessie, I can't just abandon you like that. You need someone on your side."

"I know you're on my side." Jessica replied, giving his hand another squeeze, "And I want you to visit me, just not because you feel obligated, but because you miss me and are dying to see me. And don't give me that bull about you already visiting me because you're dying to see me. We saw each other maybe 3 times a year before all of this happened. Cut it back a little, okay? If you get so burnt out that you screw up at work and get fired, I'll feel guilty forever. I may not even be able to live with myself, and you don't want that, do you?"

Despite the way her orange coveralls made her face paler than it was, Nick could see the love radiating off of her features. He almost felt a little better, knowing somewhere deep inside, his sister still resided, "I'm sorry...I just wish I could do something to help. I hate feeling so useless."

"I know you do." Jessica whispered softly, "You live with the consequences of your actions, you know that, and I know that. I made my bed, and so on. Tell me something happy. How's Karen?"

Nick smiled, the first true smile he had shown possibly all week, "She had her baby on Saturday evening. A little girl, named Justine Kay. She was six pounds, 4 ounces. They say that's good for being born nearly a month early. Karen's positively radiating, I could feel it over the phone, I made sure to tell her that even if she's happy now, she doesn't know what she's getting herself into, just like you told me."

"I'm happy for her, I really am. If that son of a bitch was still alive, little Justine probably wouldn't be. In fact, I'm sort of glad I did it." Jessica admitted softly, a blush creeping into her cheeks.

Nick shook his head, "I know he was scum, Karen knows it, Mom and Dad know it, but you can't go around saying you did a good thing. They have the death penalty here, you know. I'm not about to lose my favorite big sister, you hear me?"

"I thought Karen was your favorite." Jessica retorted, "Or is that only when you need something from her?"

Nick smiled sadly, "You're both my favorite. You know that if it was Mel in here, I wouldn't be visiting."

"Don't lie, you'd be visiting any one of us, and you know it. It's who you are, Mr. Nice Guy. Don't change, okay Nicky? No matter what happens, promise me you'll always be Mr. Nice Guy?" Jessica asked, concern on her face, tears in her eyes.

Nick nodded, rubbing both of her hands, "I promise."

Sara walked into the living room, a banana in her hand, "So what movie are we going to see tonight? Please tell me it's not some B-grade horror flick."

"It's an action movie." Greg replied, tossing the newspaper on the floor and receiving a glare from Sara, "You'll love it, don't give me that look."

"Stop throwing the paper on my floor then." Sara snapped, swatting him with the stack of newspapers she had already picked up, "There's a recycling bin right outside of my apartment door, use it once in awhile, okay?"

Greg wrapped his arms around her waist, inhaling deeply, "So, no interruptions tonight, right? If Grissom calls-"

"I'm going to turn my phone off as soon as we leave the apartment. If my pager goes off, I'll only respond if it says "911, your house is on fire". I'm all yours this time, I promise." Sara replied, leaning into his embrace, "It won't be like the last 7 times."

Greg laughed, "If he keeps it up, the first movie we planned on seeing may be out on DVD before we get a chance to watch it."

The phone rang, and Sara went to answer it, not even bothering to check the caller ID, she was pretty sure it was going to be Grissom, and she was definitely going to tell him where to shove his overtime today. "Sidle."

"Sara? It's Nick...I need you." Nick's hoarse voice rang through the phone.

Sara immediately shifted her attention to her phone call, asking worriedly, "What's wrong? Where are you?"

Nick sighed heavily, the unshed tears audible through his voice, "I just got home from visiting Jessica...I could really use a friend right now. I know you're off work tonight, and I think I'm going to call in sick..."

Sara looked from Greg, who was standing with his arms folded across his chest in a defensive position, down to the floor, weighing her decision heavily. On one hand, she and Greg had been trying to get a night off together for awhile now, and she was actually looking forward to hanging out with him.

They hadn't really progressed much in their relationship, except for the fact that now they were each other's best friends and closest confidants, they still weren't physical, they were mostly just casually dating, getting through one day at a time. Over the last few weeks, though, Sara had to admit she was becoming more and more drawn to Greg, and the thought of losing a possible romantic evening really broke her heart.

On the other hand, Nick was also one of her best friends, and he was going through a lot right now. His family had practically abandoned him and his sister after she turned herself in, his concentration at work was being affected by the personal stress in his life, he hadn't been eating or sleeping properly, and everyone knew he was treading in dangerous ground right now in his life. She couldn't just abandon a friend when he needed her the most, could she? She could have nights out with Greg any time, but if she didn't go to Nick now, what would happen to him? He sounded like he was really in a bad place.

Shooting an apologetic look at Greg, she sighed, "I'll be there in half an hour, okay?"

"Are you sure? I don't want to inconvenience you or anything. Did you have plans tonight?"

Sara forced herself to laugh, "Plans? Me? Get real Nicky."

Sara and Greg hadn't let anyone know they were "sort of" dating, as Greg put it, and so far no one had figured it out, that they knew of. Of course, what was there to really figure out? It wasn't like they were making love in the janitors closets or groping each other in the break room, that was the beauty of taking things slowly, it didn't give people a lot to catch on with.

"Thanks Sara, I'll see you soon."

Sara hung up, and as soon as the phone clicked shut, Greg's angry voice asked, "Nick? You're blowing off our date for Nick?"

TBC, Let me know what you think!