"One Nightmare to Another"

Chapter Four

By: Faith/Hope&Love951

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of CSI. I am just writing this for fun and in hopes that others will enjoy the story.

Note: I am so sorry that my chapters have been so short and that it took me so long to get this chapter posted. I am going to make them longer in the chapters to come. Thank you all for your wonderful support. I am grateful for those that have taken the time to read this story and for those that have reviewed the story so far. Thank you so very much.

I just noticed while writing this chapter that I had Nick's car still at his home When Brass and Grissom were talking, but had Nigel drive off in it later. I am going to have him using Nick's SUV in this story. Sorry for the error.

Faith Hope and Love

Several Hours Earlier…

Nick had his eyes closed as Nigel left his home. He knew it was destroyed, but that didn't bother him, not after what he was made to witness earlier. The thought that his brother was now involved in his bad luck was just too much. Nigel had just killed a man in his living room, he just hope that Robert wouldn't be the next to suffer because of him.

He felt the car stop and his eyes flew open. He looked around to see that they were on a deserted road. This couldn't be good, he told himself as Nigel got of the car and went toward the back door that Robert was sitting at. Nick's eyes open wide in fear as Robert was yanked from where he had been seated and fell hard on the sandy desert ground.

"This is the end of the road for you Robert," Nigel taunted. "Me and Nick need to head on out and unfortunately for you, we aren't needing any company."

Nick shook his head as he tried to get out of the car, "Nigel you can't do this…please."

Nigel turned to look at Nick. "You have to be protected. You family and friends aren't doing a good job at it, so it's my turn to make sure you are safe." With those last words he started to kick at Robert. Being careful to make sure that each kick made the man cry out in pain. "He has to be out of our way."

"Then leave him. Call for someone to come looking for him, but please don't hurt him anymore." Tears were rolling freely down his face as he spoke. "You say you want to protect me, prove to me that you aren't someone that I need protected from and let him go."

Shaking his head Nigel glared at Nick. "You know that I mean what I say. I mean, you and I are friends…you know that a friend would do anything for a friend, even if they have to protect them from those around them that they wouldn't normally think that would harming them."

Nick was scared out of his mind. He had to do something to help his brother. After all it was his fault that Robert was here to begin with. "Please if you are my friend you won't kill him. You have to know that my family mean a lot to me…please don't take my brother from me."

Nigel stopped his attack on Robert and paced back and forth for a moment. After a few minutes he turned back to where the man laid on the ground. "Alright, I will give him a chance. I won't kill him right out, but I will make it where he won't go anywhere." With that he pulled out the gun he had used earlier and pointed it at the man.

The CSI's mind was working over time, this isn't what he was expecting, but nothing these days went the way that he wanted them to. "No… you can't." The words were barely out of his mouth when he heard the first of three shots being fired. He had just gotten his brother killed.

Faith Hope and Love

Present Time, Location Robert Stokes Was Found…

Catherine and Sara had just arrive and headed to where the area was taped off. There really wasn't anything around. It was a few miles out of town, and if a trucker hadn't of found their friends brother, they knew that Robert would be dead by now as it was, from what information they were given before heading out that the man was barely alive.

"What do we have?" Catherine asked as she headed over to the officer in charge.

"Mr. Stokes was found here," Detective Clinton Wilson said pointing to where Robert had been laying. It wasn't an hard location to point out, they could tell that Robert had bleed a lot."

Sara bent down and looked closer to the sandy road. "I've got a tire print here. Good thing today isn't windy or we would have lost it." She took out her kit and pulled out her camera. After taking a picture she went about getting a draft of the tire print.

Catherine took the time to look around more. There really wasn't much to go on here. He continued to scan the area until Sara was finished. By then they pretty much had figured out that nothing was there that would be any help to them. As they headed to where Sara had parked, they hoped that Grissom and Warrick were doing better than them if they were going to help Nick.

Faith Hope and Love

Nick didn't even try to pay attention to where Nigel was driving to, he didn't care. His mind playing over and over the moment when his brother was shot and left behind like he was nothing, and to Nick all this was his doing. After all he knew no one else that had the kind of luck that he had. Leaning his head back and closed his eyes. He was just tired, tired of from his ordeal a week ago and tired of what was happening now.

As he heard the car stop and the engine being cute, he opened his eyes and looked around. Oh God no, this couldn't be happening. Looking around he could see that they were at an old mineshaft.

"Nick, were home for a few weeks and after things cool down some, then we'll be able to move on, you want that right Nick." Nigel got out of the car and moved around to where Nick was seated and opened the door. "We'll only be in there for a little while."

Nick was shaking his head in fear; no he couldn't be made to go into that mine. "Nigel…I…I can't go in there…Please we can go anywhere else, but please don't make me go in there."

"Oh stop being such a baby, Nick. It isn't going to hurt you one bit, now come on and lets go get you settled in." With that he pulled the man out of the car. Nick planted his feet as firmly as he could; he wasn't going to let Nigel do this. He was breathing heavily now and was very close to having a full blown panic attack.

When Nigel saw how Nick was reacting to their makeshift home, he helped Nick sit back in the car, "Ok, lets take this one step at a time. I guess you are a little worried about this after what happened to you. You just need to calm down." Reaching into the front seat he grabbed a bottle of water. "Here drink some of this."

Nick shook his head, he didn't want anything that Nigel was offering him, but Nigel wasn't going to have any of that. "It's only water and I can see that you need something to drink. Now drink this now or I'm going to go ahead and drag you into that mine."

Nick lifted frightened eyes to the man that was causing this nightmare for him. He let Nigel bring the water to his lips and started to drink. After tasting how stale the water was he pulled back after a few swallows. He started to listen to Nigel ramble on and noticed that he had a bad after taste from what he had just drank. Something had been added to the water he had just drunk. After a short time his thoughts started to drift all over the place.

"Good, now just try to relax some. It's only a mineshaft, nothing to really worry about and nothing for you to freak out about. It isn't like I'm burying you or something, I'm just trying to protect you…protect you like your friends couldn't."

Nick listened to Nigel and couldn't help but wonder, why he thought killing a member of his family and a police officer was protecting him. "Please, just let…me go." Nick pleads as he head started to feel a little fuzzier. His eyes started to get heavy, 'no.' he thought he couldn't fall asleep. "What did…you do?" He asked as he blinked his eyes trying to force them to stay open.

"Just gave you a little something to help you rest so I can get you settled into your new home." Nigel said as he watched Nick's head fall to the side and lost consciousness.

To be continued…