Nick opened his eyes, wondering what had woken him. As his eyes focused on the ceiling above him, he wondered when he had fallen asleep. Turning to look at the clock, he wondered how he'd gotten into his own bed. Last thing he remembered was sitting in the break room with Greg.
Hearing a strange noise, he forced himself out of bed. Groggily, he wandered out of his bedroom, in search of the source of the noise. The source of the strange noise was in his spare bedroom; Greg Sanders was snoring loudly, sprawled out on his guest bed. Shaking his head in confusion, he headed for his kitchen, wondering why and how Greg was sleeping over.
Out of habit, he made coffee without the use of his brain. It was foggy with sleep. Coffee set, he headed back to his bedroom in time for the alarm to go off. He didn't remember setting the clock, but then, he didn't remember anything leading up to where he was. He shut the alarm off and went to his dresser, debating if he should wake Greg. Having only one bathroom and shower, he decided not to wake the other man until he'd showered.
The doorbell startled him as he made his way to the bathroom. He glanced at the clock again, seven in the evening was too late for a salesman, and Warrick had his own key. Heading to answer the door, he felt in his pocket. His keys were still inside, which meant, he didn't use them to get inside last night. He always took the keys out of the door and dropped them in the dish beside the door. A habit ingrained in him, so he wouldn't spend countless hours searching for his keys.
Opening the door, he decided that Warrick must have somehow gotten him home to sleep, using his key. It took a moment for his fuzzy mind to register that there was a beautiful woman standing on his doorstep. It only took him a split second to decide that he didn't care that he didn't know who she was, but he wanted to.
She was as tall as he was, able to look him straight in the eye. She had beautiful golden eyes, reminding him of a cat. Her rich red curls were pulled back out of her beautiful face.
The goddess remained quiet as he looked her over, liking everything he saw. She looked less than amused at his gawking. "Hello?"
Shaking himself, Nick gave her a lopsided grin. "Uh, hi. Something I can do you for?"
Amused by his dumb reply, she gave a wry grin. "This is going to sound really weird, but…..I need to talk to you."
"Excuse me, but do I know you?"
"No, and I don't know you, but I was sent here, to this address." The redhead took a deep breath. "My name is Lucy Malone, and…..Debra Johanson asked me to come here."
"Debra Jo-" Nick frowned. "The nanny that was-"
"Murdered, yes, she asked me to come here." Lucy cut in. "She said that you would be here, and had some things she wanted me to relay to you."
"She asked you….to come here…..to talk to me?" Nick rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to piece it all together. "She couldn't know to come to me……..did you see some news report that mentioned me or showed a picture of me?"
"No, Debra asked me to come to this apartment, to talk to the man who lives here." Lucy looked hesitant as she added. "She said that you would be able to help the children."
"The children?" Nick repeated with interest. "When did she tell you this?"
Lucy looked around nervously, she looked over his shoulder, wide-eyed. Nick looked behind him, Greg was standing in the hallway, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"There's coffee in the kitchen." He told Greg. "Come on inside Ma'am, I think maybe Greg should hear you too."
"Thank you, but please, call me Lucy." She stepped inside. Greg looked blurry-eyed at the woman as she came inside. She held out her hand to Greg. "Lucy Malone."
"Greg S-Sanders." Greg gaped at the woman, before giving her a shy smile. "Are you a model?"
"No, I'm a nurse." Lucy laughed. "Would you be so kind as to introduce me to him? He doesn't seem all that friendly at the moment." She shot a glance at Nick who narrowed his eyes at her with distrust.
"Nick Stokes, " Greg crowed. "That's the first time someone has ever said he's not friendly. He's known for throwing around his Texas charm! He's so polite, if you spit in his face, he'd thank you for sharing."
"Greg." Nick growled in warning.
"Ah, come on, it must be that he's in need of coffee!" Greg motioned for them to follow him into the kitchen. He opened the cupboards, in search of mugs. The second try, he found the goldmine and set out three mugs. "You want coffee Lucy?"
"Please. It's been a long night. Not as long as the night you guys have had." Lucy accepted the mug and set herself at the table. Greg handed Nick a steaming mug and set himself down across from the woman, staring at her flirtatiously. Nick leaned against the counter, frowning.
"When did Debra tell you to come here?" He demanded, knowing that the woman couldn't have known he was going to investigate her murder. "And what do you know about what our night has been like?"
"Debra told me." Lucy snapped, golden eyes sending sparks. "Last night. She told me to come here. That you," She looked pointedly at Nick, "would be the most open-minded about this. That you would be willing to hear me out!"
"There is no way that Debra Johanson could have talked to you last night, she died…"Nick glanced at his watch. "About 40 hours ago."
"She said you've had experience with people with psychic abilities. A Mr. MORRIS PEARSON, he was a clairvoyant?" Lucy frowned questioningly. "He died, in your home, but not this one."
"How the hell do you know that?" Nick surged forward, angry.
"Debra told me about him." Lucy informed him. "Last night."
"That is not possible." Greg cut in.
"Yes, it is. At least, for me." Lucy looked at Nick, seeing that he was understanding.
"You're saying that you're a clairvoyant also?" Nick surmised.
"No, I'm a medium."
"There's a difference?" Greg questioned, looking from one to the other with confusion evident.
"Yes. A clairvoyant receives feelings and visions of what is happening and about to happen." Lucy explained to Greg, but her eyes remained on Nick. "I'm a medium, I receive messages from the deceased. Visitations, visions of them."
"And Ms. Johanson visited you?"
"Yes." Lucy nodded. "Last night, she wants me to help you guys find the children before they are harmed. She knows that they are in danger."
"So what is it that she wants us to know?" Nick came forward, pulling out a chair, he flipped it backward and sat down. Leaning over the back of the chair, he demanded, "Let's hear it."
"You're not believing me……"Lucy eyed him, "Debra said it had to be you. The tall, dark one would be busy with his family."
"Warrick?" Greg questioned.
"Shut up Greg." Nick snapped with a dark look to the younger man. He obviously needed more practice in the interrogation room. Nick mentally noted to have a talk with Grissom about that.
"Debra said your friend would be in no shape to listen to me, too traumatized." Lucy frowned. "I am sorry about the baby."
"Baby? What about the baby!" Greg demanded, looking fearful.
"She's going to lose it, because of her injuries." Lucy explained, as if that said it all. "But, Debra will watch after it. He'll have another child soon."
"Excuse me, I gotta go make a call-" Greg got up and hurried out of the room.
"Greg! Don't go freaking Rick out!" Nick called after him. He spun back around to glare at the redhead. "You better start talking, I'm about to stop listening and just call the police."
With a heavy sigh, the woman looked at Nick, almost hurt-like. "Debra wanted me to tell you that Jillian is involved. She didn't do it, she's too smart for that, but she had it done."
"Like Jillian Holcomb would kidnap her own kids from her own house!" Nick spat, disgusted. "Come on, give me a break!"
"It's all political. Debra overheard her talking, that's why she had to die. Jillian hired some men to kidnap her children, hoping for some publicity. Debra is watching over the children, and she is afraid for them. The men are not going to do what Jillian hired them. They're going to hurt them. They are in danger."
"Nick!" Greg came running into the kitchen. "I called Warrick, but he was out on the field. So I called the lab, Cath told me that Gemma was involved in some type of attack. We gotta go get Warrick and meet her at Desert Sands."