Disclaimer: I still don't own CSI in any way sigh. Also I must give credit for the Chapter titles of the 6th, 7th and 8th chapters: 'The deep breath', 'The waiting game', and 'The plunge'. They actually come from a line in The Lord of The Rings: The Return of the King. When Pippin is with Gandalf in Gondor he says, "it's so quiet," and Gandalf replies, "it's the deep breath before the plunge." That's where I got the idea for the chapter titles and full credit goes out to Peter Jackson, Billy Boyd, and Sir Ian McKellan lol. Also the names of medications used in this chapter were found on the Internet, but they are actual medications used for insomnia and anti-anxiety. Enjoy the chapter!

Nick looked towards Grissom standing near his front door in the entrance to his living room. He still held a beer in one hand a bottle of water in the other. He uttered two simple words, "why me?"

Grissom looked across the room at his co-worker, his friend. He couldn't remember ever seeing a look on his face that matched the one he saw now. Grissom remembered the words. Nick had used them before, in what seemed like another life; the words were completely different now. Then they had been used as an enquiry above all else. There had been concern, yes, but the root of the question had been based in pure curiosity. Now the words seemed like a plea. Grissom looked across the room and saw something he did not think possible. His friend, Nick Stokes, looked broken.

When Grissom had heard those words before, it had been while he and Nick looked in on the interrogation room, surrounded by the rest of his team – they had still been his team then. Now he stood in Nick's home. There was no one else around.

Then he had had an answer, He had been able to explain clearly to Nick the reasoning behind the crazed man they'd been observing together. Now Grissom had to admit something that he did not like to admit to anyone, something he'd worked hard his entire life to prevent himself from having to say. "Nick," he said solemnly, "I don't know."

Nick raised his eyes to look Grissom in his face. Here stood the man he'd looked up to above all others, the man he'd strived to impress since he'd arrived in Las Vegas, and he was telling him that he did not know. Nick had heard Grissom admit ignorance before but somehow he'd always thought Grissom would have the answer. Grissom always had the answer.

"But I'll find out Nick, I promise." Grissom met Nick's gaze and the two looked at each other. There was a moment between them, only a moment, but the both learned a great deal. The disappointed, broken look on Nick's face taught Grissom that everyone stumbled. His friend was stumbling now and he needed to be the one to help him find his footing. In the same instant Nick saw the look of honest concern on Grissom's face and he learned that he had found, in his role model, something much more. Nick had always had a big family and a good family life, but he found himself looking at Grissom like he would his father. He believed him when he said he would find the answers he so desperately needed. Then, as quickly as the second hand on Nick's living room clock could make another motion, the instant was gone.

At the next glance, the lost and terrified look was wiped clean from Nick's face to be replaced with the Texan smile he had learned to wear once more. Grissom saw the look return to Nick's face and, in response, removed the look of concern from his own. There were things that had to be done now and both of them understood that what had transpired between them needn't be discussed.

Grissom flipped open his phone and turned away from Nick. Nick couldn't see Grissom dial, or hear the conversation taking place, but he thought he could guess whom Grissom was talking to. Sure enough, after a couple of minutes, Grissom turned back to Nick and said, "Brass is on his way." Nick didn't answer, he assumed that he should have at least confirmed that he'd heard Grissom, but he couldn't seem to make the sounds necessary for speech. He only stood and waited. The cold drinks bit into the palm of his hand and the bottles were beginning to sweat, water dripped slowly onto his carpet, but Nick didn't want to move. He knew what was coming; that his life was about to plunge into chaos…again.

When Brass arrived (accompanied by three officers) his arm was bandaged and hung at his side in a sling placed just inside his jacket. Nick and Grissom were standing silently in front of Nick's door, waiting. Once he saw Brass's bandaged arm, Grissom glanced back at Nick, whose expression portrayed his instant concern, and then stepped forward, toward his friend.

"Jim, I'm sorry." Grissom started. "I completely forgot about – "

"Don't worry about it." Brass raised his uninjured arm to wave off their concern and continued, "I'm sure I've seen worse. Now what's going on here?"

Nick immediately began relaying the story of his finding the note in his living room and taking it to the lab. Grissom continued by telling him of his conclusion concerning how a note could have possibly gained entry.

Even before Grissom had finished talking, Brass had looked at Nick's front door, now closed, and reached a similar conclusion. He drew his side arm and gestured his officers to follow him.

"Any other way in Nicky?" Brass enquired as he approached the door.

"I keep the back door locked," was Nick's response.

Brass soon realized it was impossible for him to open the door and hold his gun thanks to his injured arm so he shot Nick a quick glance and Nick stepped forward to turn the knob. "Thanks," Brass said as he entered Nick's living room, "we'll try not to wreck the place."

"That'd be nice." Nick mumbled under his breath. Grissom heard him and grinned. They both stood on Nick's front step but all they could do was wait.

As Brass passed through Nick's front door he was reminded forcibly of the last time he'd been in Nick's house. Then, he'd crashed through the door to find Nick wrestling a gun from a crazed murderer. For some reason, he'd been much calmer on that occasion than he was now. This time there was no surprising struggle or bullets fired, it was a hunt, a hunt for the person that had caused him so much grief.

He stalked through the house, gun poised. All of his senses were on full alert as he switched on one light switch, then another, as he checked out room after room. He double-checked the rooms he knew the other officers had already been through, and to no avail. There was no one in that town house.

Outside Grissom and Nick continued their wait. Nick refused to allow his face to give him away. His expression was grave, but calm; his mind was racing. He knew he was beginning to panic but he was reluctant to show a sign of weakness to Grissom who had seen so much from him already so he refrained from taking a pill to help himself calm down. Neither of them said a word until Brass emerged, stony-faced.

"Well?"

"Nothing." Nick's face fell at Brass's reply. As horrified as he had been to learn of someone creeping through his house, he'd also been hoping that this night was about to end. He'd let himself expect to see Brass emerge triumphantly, suspect in handcuffs, ready to go to the station. He was disappointed.

"There is no one in that place." Brass continued his report with a gesture towards the front door. "Now I've got my boys taking a look around…Sorry Nicky, but if someone was here I don't think he hung around."

"Yeah," Grissom piped up when Nick remained silent. "I didn't really expect you to find anyone but you know procedure and I … oh no."

Grissom was interrupted by the arrival of a black SUV with its lights flashing. He glanced quickly at the list of outgoing calls on his cell phone. Only one had been placed recently, to Brass's cell, so he was not surprised to see Catherine emerge from the vehicle. When she spoke her tone was casual but her eyes gave away her true feelings. None of the men assembled on Nick's front step had any doubt that she was livid.

"So…gentlemen. I just received a report of a suspected breaking and entering. Imagine my surprise when I found the address of this breaking and entering looked vaguely familiar. Imagine how it increased when Warrick informed me that I was looking at Nick's address! I suppose none of you had access to a telephone!"

Brass quickly mentioned something about paperwork and, after a quick goodbye to Catherine, Grissom and Nick, left the scene. Catherine was slightly amused by the fact that some one like Brass would flee from her – and there was no doubt in her mind that that was what had just happened – but she had far more important things to deal with at the moment.

Grissom looked Catherine straight in the eye. He had no intention of admitting to her the guilt he'd felt when he'd realized he'd completely forgotten to call Catherine at the lab and let her know what was going on. His expression was defiant and he was fully prepared to deny any accusation she could present. I just followed procedure, he repeated to himself, and you were aware of the situation soon anyways! Grissom was still going over his arguments in his head when he and Nick were surprised by Catherine's next words.

"Nick, what the hell is the matter with you?"

Nick, who had also fully expected Catherine to round on Grissom, was completely shocked by this turn of events. He didn't have enough time to begin formulating a response before Catherine continued in a much gentler tone, "well whatever, it really doesn't matter now. Greg and Sara were right behind me…since Brass didn't find anyone we'll have to take a look."

Nick's night took a turn from bad to worse. He was painfully aware of what a CSI considered 'taking a look' and, even though he'd been expecting it since he read the note lying on his floor, he was not looking forward to his friends digging through his house. His mind flashed to the location of several magazines in his bedroom that he would not enjoy sharing with his very inquisitive, and very female, boss.

"I've got the bedroom," Nick said suddenly, in a poor imitation of cheerfulness.

Catherine turned to him. "Nick, you can't investigate your own house. Do you want to go grab a coffee or something, until we're all finished up?"

"Nah," Nick mumbled as he settled himself on his front step. "I'll wait."

They hadn't waited long when Greg and Sara arrived in their own vehicle and Greg jumped out of the driver's seat.

"Geez boss," Greg yelled towards the team standing in front of Nick's door, "and I thought I was wild behind the wheel! How fast were you going back there?"

Catherine didn't answer. She walked towards them silently to retrieve her kit with Grissom following close behind her. Greg and Sara began talking to Nick. It seemed as though they were delaying the moment when they would have to completely abolish their friend's privacy. Once the rest of the team was out of earshot, Grissom pulled Catherine aside.

"What are you doing?" he began, in a tone somewhat more accusatory than he'd intended. "Warrick knows this place better than any of us, and he's closer with Nick…so you leave him at the lab?"

"I didn't leave him at the lab. He's on his way back to the crime scene."

"You saw that place Catherine, there was no evidence left!" Grissom continued, his tone growing harsher than he realized.

"Well you never know."

"And why would you go off on Nick like that? 'What the hell's the matter with you?' and you call me insensitive?"

Catherine had kept herself cool throughout Grissom's onslaught but it seemed this time he'd hit a nerve.

"Listen Gil, I know I do things a little differently than you did but I happen to believe it's working pretty damn well so far so why don't you just back off! You have no right to talk to me like that! We aren't your children Gil! Not anymore!"

"I never…what! My children? Catherine what are you talking about?"

She didn't answer. Instead she picked up her kit, shoved a spare kit into Grissom's chest (with a bit more force than necessary), and stormed towards her team, who were still waiting with Nick.

"All right you guys," she began in a commanding tone that held no trace of the anger still coursing through her, "I want this place treated like a double homicide. Nothing gets missed!"

"So we're thinking whoever came in Nick's house is the same person who buried that girl alive…and set that explosion?" Sara, ever inquisitive.

"That's the assumption we're working under at the moment. We need to find some trace of this guy or how he got in."

The team trooped past Nick into his house. Greg was the last in line to enter and, as he passed, Nick pulled him aside.

"You process my bedroom okay?"

"Sure Nick." Greg didn't ask for an explanation, he just turned and followed everyone else through the front door and left Nick on his front step… waiting.

As swift and intense as Brass's search of Nick's home had been, was how thorough the CSI's search was. Each member started in a different room. Greg bee-lined for Nick's bedroom and began by looking closely at the windows and door. There were few discernable prints on the door handle but, deciding to be safe rather than sorry, Greg dusted and lifted whatever he could find.

The bedroom window had been nailed shut from the inside. Greg thought this strange until he remembered what Nick had previously experienced regarding an intruder. With no evident method of entry, Greg's search expanded as he began looking for a hair, nail clipping, shoeprint, anything that could help to identify the man who'd been in Nick's house. He opened the closet to find a neat collection of Nick's clean clothes hanging. The floor was home to a few pairs of sneakers and one, fairly dusty, pair of dress shoes.

The bed was sloppily made and the carpet was clean. Greg couldn't see any sign that someone had been in the room. He lifted the sheets of the bed to glance underneath and grinned when he saw a short stack of magazines he was intimately familiar with. He suddenly understood why Nick had requested he process his bedroom, he only wish he'd had more success.

Sara decided to investigate the kitchen and hallway. She used a flashlight to peer under stoves, cupboards and the refrigerator, hoping to find something useful. She dusted for prints on every handle and the countertops, but she was beginning to doubt whether anyone had used the stove recently, including Nick. He must be a fan of the take-out menu, Sara decided. The floors were clean. There was no sign in the kitchen or the hallway of anyone's presence but Nick.

Catherine's search had involved the living room, which included of course the front door. She dusted the door for prints but they were so smeared across the steel surface that there was nothing for her to lift. She couldn't find anything either, on the lock or the door's surface. Inside Catherine searched every place she could imagine, crawling on her hands and knees in order to leave no corner unturned. Aside from a few, surprisingly large dust bunnies taking up residence under Nick's couch, Catherine's search turned up nothing.

Grissom thought first of the last time someone had gained entry to Nick's house and headed immediately to the attic access, located in the hallway outside the bedroom. He tried to open the way into the attic to see if someone had been watching from above but found that, like the bedroom window, the door had been neatly nailed shut from the inside.

Upset that one of his theories had not panned out, Grissom turned his search towards the bathroom. He was not surprised when nothing of significance was revealed behind Nick's toilet but he decided, in the interests of science, it was only prudent that he continue the investigation. He looked in the sink, checked the drain and carefully examined the bathtub, but found nothing out of the ordinary. He opened the medicine cabinet above Nick's sink and was surprised when two or three bottles fell out of the cabinet and onto the floor.

Grissom bent down to retrieve the pills. He could see that there was no important evidence in the room and was eager to leave. He had no intention to invade Nick's privacy but as he reached down to retrieve the pills he saw the name on the label, Alprazolam. Grissom was a little shocked when he realized that his friend was taking very serious anti-anxiety medication. Maybe he isn't as over this as he'd like everyone to think, he considered, but he replaced the pills and decided not to mention anything. He left the bathroom in the condition it had been before he entered.

Once everyone had finished their individual searches, the team assembled in the living room to compare their findings. It was Catherine who remembered that the house's owner was still sitting outside, waiting, and decided to bring him in and let him hear the report.

Nick was glad to be allowed back into his house and slumped onto the couch in front of the television but the screen was black. He was hoping again that perhaps, this time, someone would have found something that would enable him to feel safe in his house again. He was disappointed again.

The evidence in the house was conspicuous only in the fact that there was none. No member of the team had found the slightest indication that anyone but Nick had entered his house recently. There was a flicker of doubt among them that they'd been led on some kind of wild goose chase. Maybe the person hadn't been in the house after all.

The team assured Nick that, no matter what, they'd checked every method of entry into his house and there was no way someone could get inside without walking through the front door, which he assured them he kept locked at all times. The team was stumped.

The sun began to rise in the sky by the time the team had finished their investigation and left Nick alone in his house. He was feeling very nervous. His friends had assured him as best they could that he was safe, but he couldn't forget the note; nor, for that matter, his daylong stay in a Plexiglas coffin. The fact remained that someone had been in his house and they'd left no trace, absolutely no sign of how they'd gotten in. That made it impossible to prevent it from happening again.

Nick tried to go to bed. He lay on his mattress for nearly an hour in the semi-dark of the early morning but he couldn't bear to close his eyes for more than a few minutes. He was exhausted and he knew the light leaking through the closed blinds on his window wasn't keeping him up. The sounds of early morning commuters were roaring outside, but Nick had become so used to these types of noises they usually lulled him to sleep. He knew he needed to get some sleep and so he decided he would take just one pill to help him with his insomnia.

He walked, fully awake yet completely exhausted, into the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet before remembering that he'd left the bottle he was looking for in the vehicle parked outside. Shuddering at the thought he leaving his house, but knowing full well that he refused to be terrified of his own home, Nick grabbed the keys from a table near the door and walked into the early morning light.

Just to be safe, and even though he'd never be more than ten feet from his door, Nick locked the door behind him and walked towards his Tahoe. It only took him a second to get the driver's door unlocked but Nick was getting more and more nervous as he began looking for the small orange bottle. Wondering why he should feel so nervous, Nick stopped for a moment and took three deep breaths. When he'd finished he felt a bit better and was able to calmly reach into his glove compartment and extract what he needed.

Nick glanced down at the bottle full of tiny pills; Rozerem, a mild sedative that would hopefully help ease his insomnia. Feeling calmer now, Nick locked the door once more and headed back towards his house.

After unlocking the front door, Nick set the keys and pills onto the kitchen counter as he reached for a bottle of water from the fridge. He opened it and took a small swig to chase down one of the tiny white pills. Nick knew he could take two or three safely but he felt he'd rather limit his usage. He wanted to be alert, no matter what the investigation had turned up.

Nick was ready for a good day's sleep when he walked into his bedroom. He was about to lie down when he looked at his bed. There, on his pillow, in his perfectly safe and completely impregnable bedroom, sat a small white piece of paper. Nick looked around him quickly but saw nothing; there was no one around and no sign of intrusion.

Admitting to himself that, sedative or no, he would not be getting any sleep today, Nick picked up the note and read it before heading back out into the bright rays of the morning sun. He was ready to climb back into his car and drive to the lab for the third time that day when he remembered foolishly that he'd already taken one of those pills. He was strictly prohibited from operating a vehicle after taking one of those pills, as his doctor had explained very clearly.

Instead, Nick reached for his cell phone (which he'd grabbed on his way out) and dialed his boss. Catherine picked up on the first ring and sounded harassed. Nick was sorry he had to add to her troubles.

"I'm sorry Cath, but I just found another note…No idea…there weren't any…on my pillow." He could tell that Catherine was concerned but these questions were beginning to grate on Nick's nerves, what he really wanted to here was that someone was on her way

"What'd it say? It says: You missed a spot… Okay…see you soon"

Nick hung up his phone and sighed heavily. He changed back out of his pj's and into jeans before heading to the living room…to wait.

I'm back! Haha I had a blast camping but I missed writing so much. Literally within an hour of walking through my door after getting back from the trip I was on the computer, working on the story.

I know I made you wait far too long for this chapter so I tried to make up for it by making this the longest chapter yet. It's almost twice as long as the longest chapter I've posted so far. A huge thanks to everyone who has been reviewing, I just love reading your reviews! I realized recently though that I hadn't enabled anonymous reviews so it's possible I haven't been getting a few of them. If you've been reviewing anonymously I'm so very sorry I haven't acknowledged your reviews but I have enabled them now so please keep reviewing!