Disclaimer: Still don't own CSI sigh
Nick was sick of sitting around an empty house long before Warrick made it home that night. He was flipping through the channels on the television – how is it possible to have 150 channels and nothing on? – whenWarrick walked though the front door, looking very upset. Nick's mind immediately presented him with numerous scenarios, each more grisly than the next, which could account for the expression on his friend's face. Images of the bodies of his friends and co-workers were working their way through his mind by the time he managed to give himself a mental slap. "Come on pull yourself together," he thought. And he rose from the couch looking equally as concerned.
"Warrick, man what's wrong?"
Warrick looked over at Nick. He'd been so deep within his own thoughts he'd almost forgotten that he was waiting for him. Almost, not quite. He quickly schooled his features to mask the feelings of indignation and shock he'd been feeling since he'd last spoken with Grissom.
"Ahh, nothing man." He managed to say, "just a long shift…you know how it is."
"Yeah," Nick responded, still searching Warrick's now calm face for a sign of the anxiety that had been there only a moment before. "I see you had to pull a double." He finished with a gesture to the window outside through which the night sky was clearly visible.
Warrick sighed and headed into the kitchen. He was not looking forward to informing his friend that the past 24 hours of work they'd done had yielded nothing. Instead he shouted over his shoulder towards the living room, "hey, you had anything to eat?"
"No," Nick answered, "I just woke up like, half an hour ago."
"Man you must have been wiped. You hungry now?" Warrick knew he was stalling, but he couldn't seem to figure out what to say. There was far too much racing through his mind at the moment.
"Umm, ya." Nick shouted towards the kitchen, unable to see what Warrick was doing. His attitude was confusing him more and more as time went on. He must have known how badly Nick was aching for any information about this psycho that seemed to have targeted him for some unknown reason. Why on earth was he stalling like this? Unless he was hiding something horrible…
Warrick heated up some leftover pizza and sat down at the table, setting another plate next to him and indicating for Nick to sit down. Nick sat next to him, grabbed a slice of pizza and braced himself for the worst. If there was any good news to report, he knew Warrick wouldn't have delayed.
"So…you talked to this guy, Jonah Mikler?" Nick decided he would get the ball rolling.
"Uh, no." Warrick answered and he saw Nick's face fall. "But Grissom did," he continued quickly. He paused for a moment, allowing himself to dwell for an instant on the conversation he'd had with Grissom shortly after his interrogation. He was still having trouble believing the words that had been exchanged. It had always been a bit of a joke around the lab that Warrick was Grissom's favorite; his kind of protégé, now he was supposed to believe that all this time Grissom had never really trusted him? He was having trouble adjusting to the idea.
"And…?" Nick prompted after Warrick fell silent.
"And, I'm sorry Nick," Warrick continued, apologizing both for the delay in information and the news he was forced to deliver. "It didn't pan out. There's no way this guy had anything to do with what's going on. Cath checked the alibi to be sure…and he wasn't involved."
"Oh," was all Nick could bring himself to say. He was obviously disappointed by the news, but considering he had been expecting the arrival of more bodies for the morgue, he wasn't as discouraged as he could have been. He looked down at his pizza, but realized suddenly that he didn't have much of an appetite.
"I'm gonna grab a shower and head back to the lab," Warrick was trying to bring some form of hope to Nick when he needed it so badly. "We'll figure this out. I promise."
There it was again. That promise. Nick had heard it twice now, from two separate people, each promising what they had no right to promise, there was no guarantee that they would be able to figure this out. Nick wasn't interested in fighting. He let it slip. Suddenly, as he went over Warrick's words again, his face lit up.
"Hey, you're going back to the lab? Awesome, I'll drive!"
Warrick looked up to see if his friend was kidding. He wasn't.
"Nick, you can't come with me. You'll have to hang out here. If you're involved in this case you can't investigate it…you know that."
Nick's face was filled with disappointment once more. He'd known that he wouldn't be allowed to investigate the case, but he'd hoped for a second there would be some sort of compromise made this time. He was sick of feeling worthless and, with nothing to distract him; he was having trouble keeping himself from panicking over little things. Resolved to do something about the situation he continued.
"Okay I know I can't work the case…then can you give me a ride back to my place on your way? I need to get a shower."
Warrick was suspicious. It made absolutely no sense to him that Nick would want to reenter the house that had been proven unsafe. There was no guarantee he would be alone, or unwatched.
"Nick, do you think that's such a good idea?"
Nick was sure of himself this time. He was not going to let circumstances dictate how he ran his life any longer. And, somehow, even with the knowledge that someone could get into his house, Nick felt safer there. His house had always been a place where he was in control. He wasn't willing to have that taken from him.
"Yeah, I'm sure. I've gotta scrub this dirt off." He finished with a chuckle to try to convince Warrick and, though he knew there was more to it than was being said, Warrick finally gave in and agreed to take Nick home before heading back to work.
Sara didn't know what to do. When she reached the entrance to the restaurant she asked for a cab and, not knowing what to do with herself, she simply told the cab driver to 'drive'. When he asked her where she wanted him to drive to she answered only, "Just…drive."
Now, fifty dollars and a lot of tears later, she knew she was going to have to tell the driver where he was headed. Without a doubt, he would have been content to continue driving aimlessly – while racking up her bill – all night, but there reached a point when Sara had to be concerned with how much money she had on her. Finally she lent forward, tapped on the glass and through a strained voice gave the driver the address to the Las Vegas Crime Lab.
She didn't know why she was headed back to the lab. It made no sense whatsoever, Catherine had sent everyone home and, until they found out about this Jonah Mikler character, there was nothing for her to do there but go over the evidence they'd already been over several times. Despite all the reasoning against it though, somehow Sara was convinced that the only thing that could get her through this was her work. She needed to work.
When the cab pulled up in front of the building, Sara stepped out and realized her first mistake. She was still elaborately dressed in a black, strapless, gown. She would look ridiculous walking into the lab and, even though she knew no one from the night shift was supposed to be working at the moment, the lab was always bustling with activity and she was bound to be noticed.
With no other option open to her, Sara entered the building and tried to look as inconspicuous as possible as she walked down the hall towards the locker room.
"SARA!"
"Great," she thought to herself, "that's all I need right now…a conversation with Greg!" But, seeing as he'd already spotted her, she decided to seek a temporary refuge in the otherwise empty DNA lab Greg was sitting in.
"What are you still doing here? And what are you doing in the DNA lab?" Sara questioned, though it seemed obvious that Greg was the one that should have been asking questions at the moment.
"I… I came back here to think." Greg answered averting his eyes. "I was always able to think best in here." Sara, despite her emotions at the time, found that she was suppressing a grin. It was obviously taking everything Greg had in him to refrain from interrogating her as to the reasoning behind her wardrobe.
"Sara…" Greg finally began.
"Here it comes," Sara braced herself for the questioning.
"You look beautiful…I mean more so than usual." The wording Greg chose stunned Sara. He was really very clever. He wanted to know why she was dressed so well desperately, but he had his own unique way of figuring it out. One Sara could not escape.
"Yeah, thanks. I was going to go out for dinner but…it got cancelled so I just headed here." Greg accepted the answer without further questioning and allowed Sara to exit the room. She entered the locker room where, thankfully, a change of clothes was waiting for her. Back in her normal attire, Sara prepared to get some work done. She pushed Grissom, and all the thing she would like to do if she could only get her hands on him, out of her mind.
She decided against going back into the DNA lab. She'd gotten a strong impression that there was something bothering Greg and, as much as he loved having her around, she was sure he would rather be alone at the moment. Instead, she walked into the evidence locker and started sifting through everything that pertained to the case they were trying to solve.
She picked up both notes, and replaced them. She looked at the ants Grissom had collected, and replaced them with a grimace – she did not want to think of Grissom at all right now. She noticed the piece of Plexiglas, but let her eyes slip over it. She was about ready to give up and go home when she noticed the final piece of evidence they had right now; the flower. Something about that flower was familiar to her; looking closer she was sure she'd seen something very like it before. But where?
Sara put on a pair of gloves and slowly removed the flower from the evidence bag. She looked down at it, on her palm. The small white petals were wilting, the flower would not survive for long and they would be short another piece of evidence. The flower had been placed at the crime scene very carefully; it had to have some kind of purpose. It was a clue, she was sure of it, just as she was sure that she'd seen a flower like this before. If she could only place it…and then, finally, it hit her and she pulled out her cell phone to dial Catherine's number.
Nick was glad to be home. Despite the recent terrors he'd been forced to live with, it was still his home. He felt more in control here than anywhere else. And he did not like feeling out of control. A he unlocked his door and entered his living room, he thought about the trip he'd taken from Warrick's house.
Warrick had been unusually quiet during the drive. It didn't bother Nick, as he had quite enough to think of on his own, but he realized that it was very unlike Warrick to try to make small talk. He was constantly annoying Nick by assuming he was only happy when discussing some irrelevant sports banter, but tonight there had been nothing.
Nick stretched as he entered his room. Thankfully there were no more notes to be found. Perhaps the case was winding down and all that was left to be done was to figure out who was behind the deaths at the gravesite and make them pay. Filled with these slightly more cheerful thoughts, Nick moved into the bathroom and moved towards his shower.
Nick hadn't been lying when he'd told Warrick he needed a shower very badly. He hadn't had one since he'd visited the site, that made it over 24 hours. Shuddering slightly at the state he was in, Nick climbed into his bathtub and turned the hot water on full blast.
A deep sigh emanated from Nick's throat as he felt the hot water cascading slowly down his tense muscles. He could almost feel himself relaxing as the water made it's way down his back, over his thighs, and around his ankles. The water took with it some of the dread Nick had been holding within him since he'd set foot on his first case since his own brush with death. He let a low moan of satisfaction.
Nick stayed in the shower until the hot water began to run cold. It wasn't until he heard a strange noise from the next room that he tore himself out of his relaxed state and crashed back into reality. He climbed cautiously out of the shower and wrapped a clean towel around his waist. Water was still dripping from his chest, legs and hair. There it was again, a noise! Forcing himself to breath deeply Nick stared into the mirror. He was doing it again, just like he had at Warrick's. He was letting something insignificant worry him into a panic. He tried to take control and told himself that there was nothing to worry about… he was just being paranoid.
After a few minutes of hearing nothing but his own breathing, Nick was convinced that he had indeed imagined the noises he'd heard from the hallway. Much calmer than he had been upon exiting the shower, Nick reached for the door handle and stepped out into the hallway. Immediately after setting foot on the carpet, Nick felt the cold steel against his temple that could only mean a bullet was only inches from his brain.
Muah ha ha another nasty cliffhanger, but I did manage to get this chapter out much more quickly and I will try my best to continue with the next one soon. I know this chapter wasn't as long as a couple I've posted and I seriously considered not ending it there…but the possibility for the cliffhanger was just too irresistible (sorry :( )
Everybetty: thanks again for the compliments. I'm so glad you're still enjoying the story. Haha you (and I) got your wish. Naked Nick, and no I didn't do it just for the sake of envisioning him naked (which I'm sure would be reason enough anyways lol) but it will be mentioned again and come into play in the next chapter (sadly, in a very unfortunate way for Nick I think). Keep reading and thanks so much for the reviews!
Emma: I really wasn't trying to make Grissom evil; I was going for more…confused. Not that it wasn't a little fun lol. I realize that it was very mean of me to do but I do hope you can see the reasoning behind it (a little bit anyways). You're making me blush with all the compliments but thank you so much I just love to hear people are liking the read!
Mma63: I'm really trying to keep it coming as fast as I can, we're nearing a conclusion I think and I can't wait to get to it (I'm sure you're just as anxious or more considering you don't already know what it is) lol keep reading and thanks so much!
Nix707: As promised (actually I'm not sure if I did promise or not) here are more Nick scenes. And there's much more to come of Nick in the next chapter! Thanks for the review!