Chapter Eleven

It had started raining. It wasn't like Nick didn't already feel as low as he ever had, but now was Mother Nature throwing more fuel in the fire.

Nick drew the blinds, leaned forward, and let his forehead rest against the cool glass of his living room window. It was a little after three, and the kids across the street were just getting off of the school bus, finally home for the night. Despite the rain, they seemed happy and playful. The younger boy raced his sister to the door and thrust his arm triumphantly in the air upon reaching the front step first.

Only two yards and a street separated them, but Nick felt as though he was looking in on an entirely different world, like he was an imposter on other people's happiness. No one could blame him for feeling so. He knew he wasn't the most thrilling person to be around. Not lately, no matter how he tried. He was just going to have to try harder.

Nick took a few deep breaths. He was being so selfish, focusing on his own problems, making everyone worry, for nothing. He could take care of himself. He didn't want to be a distraction any longer.

He straightened and swallowed with difficulty. It was going to be hard, but he was determined to give off the appearance that he was okay, to rebuild that façade he'd kept so well for months.

Sara was just coming into the lab with a quick step, to get out of the light rain that was still falling, when Nick bounded, bounded, up to her, a grin on his face.

"Hey, Sar."

Taken aback, Sara stopped and stuttered a bit. "H-hey, Nick."

He moved past her into the warm, dry entryway and paused, holding open the door for her. "You comin'?"

Sara nodded and walked in, staring at him as she passed. The bruise along his jaw line had darkened, and it drew her gaze.

Nick seemed to notice but shrugged it off with another easy smile. "It's cool. Doesn't even hurt."

Sara raised her eyebrows. The two walked into Grissom's office, where both of their supervisors were sitting, seemingly in the middle of a serious conversation.

Nick nodded to both of them. "Gris. Cath."

"Hey, guys," Catherine said. She winced in sympathy, looking at Nick's bruise.

Sara noticed Grissom's eyes flash with just the slightest bit of anger, like he knew something she didn't. It wasn't uncommon, but it still annoyed her when she didn't know exactly what was going on. She wasn't necessarily a busybody, didn't have to know what was going on with everyone else…just liked to be in the know.

"Do you have anything for us?" she asked.

Grissom studied the mark on Nick's face for a few uncomfortable, silent moments before looking down at his desk. "No, actually. Not yet." He lifted a single slip of paper. "Just a B and E, we sent Warrick out about a half an hour ago."

Nick leaned casually on the back of Catherine's chair. "He stay in the lab all day?"

Catherine turned her head and eyed him carefully. "Yeah, he felt like he had some unfinished business."

Nick swallowed and glanced away.

Sara frowned. There was definitely something going on that she knew jack about.

Nick straightened and jerked his head towards the door. "You guys mind if I grab something to eat, then?"

Catherine and Grissom exchanged yet another look that Sara didn't understand, and she felt her frustration growing.

"No, Nick," Grissom said. "Go ahead."

"Find me if you need anything," he called over his shoulder as he headed down the hall.

As soon as he was out of their eyesight, Grissom leaned forward, Catherine's mouth dropped, and Sara frowned, eyebrows furrowed.

"I-what…he…" Catherine stammered.

Sara shook her head. "Did something happen that I don't know about?"

Grissom shrugged. "I think something happened that none of us know about."

"Yeah," Catherine finally verbalized. "What the hell was that? The last time I saw him – "

"Sara, would you shut the door?" Grissom cut in.

Sara turned and gently closed the door. Hoping that she was finally being let in on something that she had been in the dark on for…God knows how long. Grissom motioned for her to sit in the empty chair next to the one that Catherine occupied.

"I think it's safe to say that Nick is some kind of extreme denial," he said to the women.

"You think?" Catherine asked.

Grissom raised his eyebrows. "I wonder if he's spoken with Warrick yet."

"Yeah, did I miss something there?" Sara asked.

Grissom and Catherine exchanged looks again, as if they were having some kind of silent conversation.

"They kind of got into a thing," Catherine finally said, in a tone that did not match the apparent seriousness of the situation. "and Warrick – "

"Did Warrick hit him?" Sara sat forward, gaping. The bruise on Nick's face was suddenly obviously in the wrong shape and place to have come from a fall.

They didn't need to answer. She could read it in their expressions.

"Oh my God," she breathed. She found herself instantly wishing that Warrick was in the room, so that she could give him quite a large piece of her mind. And maybe a bruise of his own.

A part of her didn't believe them. Nick and Warrick were best friends, and Sara was sure that if such a confrontation had occurred, there was no way that Nick would be smiling right now. As a matter of fact, Sara was sure such an altercation would never, ever happen. In a world filled with violence and awful and people, she refused to accept something like this would invade the core group of people in her life. But that had never stopped such things from happening before, and the things she was sure of were suddenly all up in the air.

"It's got to be an act," Catherine said, her voice unnaturally high, stating what Sara had just been thinking.

Grissom gave a general, non-committal shake of his head. "Why?" he asked quietly, almost to himself. Probably to himself.

Catherine made a sound that was somewhere between a snort and a laugh. "Why?"

Grissom's head snapped up, a deep frown on his face.

"You think that was the real Nick?"

"No. I mean, why is he acting all of a sudden?"

Sara couldn't keep quiet any longer. "It's not all of a sudden, Grissom," she said angrily. "This is how things have been for a while. Where have you been?"

Grissom sat back as though her words had actually hit him. "I've been right here, Sara – "

"And you're telling me that you never once questioned the way he was acting?"

"Have you, Sara?"

Sara glared at him. She had noticed, but she hadn't voiced her concerns until it seemed to be too late. She refused to think of her inquiry as hypocritical, because she was asking if Grissom had questioned Nick's actions, not voiced any doubts about them.

"Hang on a second, Gil," Catherine interjected, holding up a hand. She looked at Sara as well. "Getting mad at each other isn't going to solve anything."

There was a knock at the door. It cracked open, and Warrick's head emerged. Under different circumstances, the look on his face would have been comical.

"I just ran into Nick," he said.

There was no need to say more. Sara, Grissom, and Catherine all nodded knowingly. Grissom motioned for him to come in and Warrick did, closing the door behind him.

Sara couldn't help the flash of anger that flared up in her, and she channeled her frustration through a glare. Warrick saw it and nodded apologetically at her, then averted his gaze.

"What did he say?" Catherine sat forward anxiously.

Warrick leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms. "Said he was sorry about missing my calls, and not to worry about what happened."

"And what did happen, Warrick?" Sara asked angrily.

"Sara, please," Grissom said. His tone made her feel like a child who was being scolded. Not the way she ever wanted Grissom to talk to her.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"It's cool," Warrick said, but he shot her a guilty look to let her know that he knew he deserved whatever she had wanted to say.

Sara pursed her lips, accepting but not pleased with his response.

Catherine slapped her palms against her legs. "Guys, we need to come up with a plan, and we need to do it soon, before we lose him."

"I agree," Grissom said, and Sara and Warrick nodded as well.

"What about some kind of intervention?" Sara suggested.

Catherine chewed on her lip. "I don't know," she said. "Don't you think that might be too confrontational?"

Warrick shrugged. "I think it's obvious the confrontation route hasn't been working for us."

Sara turned to face him. "I agree. But maybe it's what we need to do to get a reaction out of him." Maybe he'll hit you back, Sara couldn't keep herself from thinking.

Catherine turned to Grissom. "What do you think?"

He took a long moment to way his options. Grissom was not one to come to a decision, or even a seemingly easy answer, lightly or quickly.

"What have we got to lose?" he asked finally.

He meant well, but it was the wrong question. They all knew what they had to lose, and it was something that none of them even wanted to think about.

"Everything," Sara whispered.

Nick's hand started shaking again, and he quickly tucked it under his leg, just in case anyone happened upon him. He didn't want to risk anyone seeing something so stupid, not after resolving to stop making everyone worry, but he couldn't seem to win against the little things like this.

He stared down at the table, where three-fourths of a turkey sandwich stared back at him. Despite what he had said in Grissom's office, he had nearly no appetite. He hadn't for days. That could probably account for at least part of the shakiness.

They were suspicious, but he'd expected them to be. He had been so unlike himself lately, of course it was going to be difficult to just accept a smiling, carefree Nick again. He just wanted them to just go on like usual, wanted everyone to sit back and be quiet. He'd thought before it wasn't what he wanted, but it turned out that it was, in a bad way.

Nick didn't want the concern. He didn't want the attention. He just wanted to do his job and get through each day. But it seemed he wasn't going to get what he wanted today.

He turned at the synchronized sound of several determined sets of footsteps coming towards the room. He could feel his heartbeat pick up speed as Grissom and Catherine stepped into the room, closely followed by Warrick and Sara.

Oh, God.

To be continued...