Chapter 15: Confirmation

At the lab, Nick as acting supervisor was given the assignment slips, two of them, "Warrick, robbery, home invasion, you know the drill," I handed him the slip as I made up my mind, "Charlie, we are on a 419 at a motel well off the strip, if you get the point."

"Uh, Nick, there's someone out front to see you, a guy," One of the lab techs from days said.

"Thanks," I said, "Warrick, get going, Charlie, I'll meet you at the truck."

I walked out to the reception area, and was immediately swept into a hug, "Nicky," He smiled.

"Roitar, what are you doing here, you aren't supposed to be here till next week," I said, hugging him back.

"I just couldn't wait, I had to meet him," Roitar said.

"I'm not even sure he swings that way," I confessed to Roitar.

"You're crushing on him, and you don't even know?"

"Well, I'm not exactly the type to ask," I told him.

"Then I will," Roitar told me, "tonight, we'll switch places when you get off shift,"

"It's a childish game," I said.

"It's not a game," Roitar paused after a moment he added, "consider it a fact finding mission,"

"Fact finding?"

"You can rediscover what it feels like to live in the shoes of a doctor, and I'll rediscover the life of a CSI, one night only, no work, just life," Roitar suggested

"You're serious?" I asked.

"Meet you in the mens room at midnight," Roitar asked.

"That sounds bad, but if we're going to do this, no can know we're switching," I told him.

"I know, I know, how can we explain me then?"

"You've come to observe Doc Robbins in the early half of his shift, he's one of the best ME's around, and you're considering switching specialties."

"I am, to OB-GYN, not dead people," Roitar said.

"Just play along, I'll call doc while I'm at the scene, and call you with info, until then, disappear," I told my brother.

"Got it," Roitar turned and left the building.

"So who was your visitor?" Charlie asked.

"A friend of mine, he's doing a favour for me tonight, and needed some more information."

"Right," Charlie replied.

Twenty minutes later, I was surprised to see Doc Robbins arrive at the scene, "David is sick, I'm running all my own scenes tonight," he told me.

"Right, remember that friend who was supposed to come next week?" I asked.

"Yeah, the doctor," doc Robbins said.

"He showed up tonight, if you need his help, he's licenced," I told him.

"Give him a call, he can start with this case," Doc Robbins said.

I pulled out my phone, and hit Roitar's number. "Bro, meet the doc at the morgue in, How long doc?" I asked.

"Half an hour," Doc Robbins told me.

"Half an hour, bro," I relayed.

"So, he'll have ID, of some sort?"

"Yeah, he's got all the ID he needs," I told Doc Robbins.

"So what's his name?" Charlie asked.

"Roitar," I said.

"Roitar, sounds strange," Charlie said.

"It's what most people call him, his other name, is Hunter," I said.

"And what's your other name?" Charlie asked suddenly.

"Turelio," I said, softly, turning to the scene, "But it's time to work now, not socialize."

We worked the scene, and then headed back to the lab, we spent hours going over the evidence at midnight, I said, "We'll be able to see this better with fresh minds tomorrow, go home, get some sleep."

"You're meeting someone," Charlie said.

"We'll see the case better tomorrow, I'll see you at beginning of shift tomorrow," I told Charlie, we packed up the evidence, and brought it to lockup. "Night Charlie," I said, and walked towards the bathroom, just before I got there, I ran into the Warrick, "Hey Nick," he said.

"Hey Warrick, how's the case going?" I asked.

"Ok, it's standard really, nothing major really turned up, I should be home by 1:30 at the latest," Warrick told me.

"Alright," I said, and he walked off, I turned to him, "Don't forget, to set the security system."

I walked into the bathroom, Roitar was sitting on the counter, cross legged, facing the mirror, he was talking to himself. "Don't do that in front of Warrick," I said, as way of announcing my presence.

"Hey Hunter, just practising my accent, where did you pick up that stupid Texas thing anyway?"

"You try working with Bobby Dawson, and not pick up on the accent," I said.

"So I'm Nick now?" He asked.

"For sixteen hours, we'll meet at your hotel at 3:00 tomorrow, Nick," I told him, we went into the stalls, and switched clothes, while I gave Roitar information on routines and schedules, just as we were about to leave, I looked at him, and said, "I forgot, Warrick has been slipping into your bed for the last few nights."

Warrick's POV (Earlier that night)

I brought the trace evidence from my scene into the lab, when I put it in the in box, I was about to leave, when Tim said, "Warrick, will you stick around, there is something I want to tell you."

"Alright," I said, I pulled up the only chair in the entire lab, and sat down.

"I've known Nick since we were kids, and I noticed you two are close, so I want to pass on a warning," Tim said.

"I want to make my own choices about Nick," I told him.

"Then just listen to this, ok, Nick has a twin, and they can pass for each other, easy, even now, I saw him earlier tonight, that's why I'm telling you, at first, I thought it was Nick, but then, I heard him talking to doc Robbins, I think they're planning a test," Tim said.

"A test?" I asked.

"When they were kids, no one could tell them apart, when we were ten, Nick told me, that they had made a pact, they would never get to serious with someone if they couldn't tell them apart," Tim told me.

"So you think they're switching places?" I asked.

"I know they are, they'd switch on a regular basis, when they were younger, they switched on me once, I won't tell you which one I dated, I'll leave that for you, but I had convinced them I knew which one was which, they had no limits, when they switched, they became each other, I knew that, I couldn't tell them apart, when they switched, I'm not sure if they were testing me that night, or a new girlfriend, but I ended up sleeping with the wrong one, even at fifteen, they shared a room, so I knew the differences in their sleep, that was it, Nick is a calm sleeper, sleeps like a log, especially when someone is curled up next to him, Hunter, is a very restless sleeper, less so when someone is next to him, but still restless, that's the only time I would be able to tell them apart, is when they were sleeping."

"And now, how would you suggest I tell them apart?" I asked.

"Nick's got a family now, right, a daughter who lives with him?" I nodded, "well, she'll be able to tell the difference, or should, anyway."

"She's six month's old," I told him.

"But Nick's got her, so she's perceptive, she'll react differently to Hunter than she does to Nick," Tim told me.

"You're suggesting I use my god daughter to tell the difference between them," I said.

"They don't hesitate to use other people to put together their tests," Tim said.

"I'll figure it out, thanks for the warning," I told him, I pushed the chair under the desk and walked out of the lab.

At the end of shift, I ran into Nick, in the hall, "Hey Nick," I said.

"Hey Warrick, how's the case going?" He asked.

"Ok, it's standard, really, nothing major really turned up, I should be home by 1:30 at the latest," I was trying to see if they had already switched, also giving me a point to test the man I was planning on climbing into bed with that night. My conversation with Tim gave me an idea, I knew one of them didn't only like women, but men as well, I just hoped Nick wasn't as straight as I had feared.

"Alright," Nick said, he began to walk off, but turned to me and added, "Don't forget to set the security system."

I went into the locker room, and saw Charlie at his locker, "Hey," I said.

"Hey, Warrick, did you notice anything weird about Nick tonight?" He asked right off.

"Not really, but then I hardly saw him, what's up?" I asked.

"His twin was here, earlier, and Nick seemed to be acting strange, Nervous even. I know his brother was helping doc Robbins in the morgue, you didn't see him?"

"I didn't have a DB, there was no reason to go down there," I said.

"Oh, well, this guy, identical to Nick, they act different, though, Nick is fairly reserved, but when I was down in the morgue, waiting for doc to finish the autopsy, Hunter kept asking me about you, stuff you did, and liked, of course Doc was able to tell him a little more, as he knows you better, it's strange, he's a doctor, and all, but he also mentioned a man he knew that carried a baby to term, he's really strange, if you ask me."

"Nick can be that way too, but thanks for the heads up, I've heard rumours about them switching places, and it always helps to know something is there to substantiate the claim." I told him.

"Especially in our business," Charlie replied.

"Yeah, especially in our business."

I changed, and left the locker room, I turned towards the parking lot, then looked down the hall, to see Grissom was sitting in his office, hunched over some paperwork, I turned that way instead, and went into Grissom's office. "Griss, can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked.

"What would you like?" Grissom asked, putting his pen down.

"This is a rather personal matter, can I shut the door?" I asked.

"Of course," Grissom said, "But wouldn't you rather talk to Catherine, she's better with the personal matters."

"It can't wait until tomorrow, or I probably would, to be honest, and I'd talk to Nick, but he's kind of sort of involved."

"Well, talk away," Grissom said.

"Alright, since Nick left for Washington, I've been staying in his office, shortly after he came back to work, two months ago, someone tried to kidnap his daughter, Nilde, that night, he didn't want to let either of us out of his reach, so I slept in his bed, now every night since, I've gone into his room, after the house has been locked up, and he's let me sleep in there, most mornings, by the time I wake up, Nick's either up, or getting up, but he doesn't seem to mind, me staying in his bed, he's actually prone to cuddling up with me," I paused to take a breath.

"Most people are prone to cuddling with someone sharing their bed," Grissom said.

"Well, I have no problem there, I quite like it, but I've been told, by two separate sources, one very reliable, one I'm still not entirely sure about, that Nick's twin brother is in town," I said.

"He is, I ran into him on my way in, he's a doctor, I believe, I mistook him for Nick, at first, then realised that he wasn't wearing the same style of clothes as Nick."

"Right, well, my less reliable source told me that when they were younger, they liked to trade places, to test people, and that when they do trade, they have no limits, as to how far they will go," I said.

"Well, then the best way to avoid confusion, is to confront Nick, and ask,"

"But if they have switched, or are planning a switch, then Nick won't tell the truth," I said.

"Then call him by his brother's Name, if it's Nick, he won't respond, but Hunter will automatically respond to his name, it's an old police trick, to ascertain the true identity of a suspect."

"Thanks, Griss," I told him, "But what if this guy is wrong, and Nick wasn't planning on switching places, if he wasn't, and he finds out I believed this guy over his integrity, he'll be mad, maybe that was this guy's point, he doesn't like Nick, though I'm not sure why,"

"Does he like you?" Grissom asked.

"He seems to, why?"

"He'd be hurting you as much as Nick by lying to you about this, right?"

"I guess, but what if his desire to get revenge against Nick is greater than his desire to be nice to me?" I asked.

"Keep your eye out for anything different about Nick, it might be something as simple as a habit he has, or, doesn't have," Grissom said.

"Right, thank you, Grissom," I smiled, "See you."

"See you Warrick."

I left the office, and walked out to the parking lot, I saw Charlie getting into his car, and waved, before getting into my own. Nick's house was dark, when I got there, I let myself in, and re-set the alarm. I then went into my room, and changed for bed. I lay in my bed for ten minutes, half an hour, an hour, and I couldn't sleep. I got up, and walked down the hall, stopping to check on Nilde, before moving on to Nick's room, I opened the door, and saw how the person in the bed was very restless, I knew immediately it wasn't Nick, I would have been able to tell, even if Tim hadn't told me, Nick was a very calm sleeper, I walked up to the bed, and crawled in, I immediately grabbed hold of Hunter, and said "I know you're not Nick, but I can't sleep alone anymore."

"How did you know?" Hunter asked, half asleep.

"I knew you were in town, and I talked to a couple people, including Tim Speedle, and I was given a few hints as to how to tell," I told him.

"Oh, so how did you know we actually switched places?"

"Nick reminded me to lock up, he never does that, so I immediately suspected something, then I came in here, and I saw you, you were not sleeping very calmly, so I knew for a fact, you weren't Nick, also, you're just different, I thought with you being identical twins, you'd look the same in every aspect, but, you don't," I said.

"You know I'm not Nick, so my question isn't really valid as I was going to ask it, but, Do you like him, and I don't mean as a friend."

"I do, but, don't tell him, I'm afraid it may bother him," I said

"Why, he's the gay one, I'm just Bi," Hunter said, "And he likes you, a lot."