Title: Ripple Effect

Author: Kristen999

Category: Drama

Spoilers: "Grave Danger" "Still Life"

Disclaimer: All rights belong to CBS and all their fine writers. Please don't sue. This is just for fun.

Summary: Nick can't keep one of the most surprising visits of his life a secret. Grissom/Sara/Nick Friendship. Post "Still Life"

Nick could not recall how long he had remained in the hallway of the reception area. It was as if he was adrift at sea without a compass or any idea how he got so lost in the first place. Random people maneuvered around him; it wasn't until a random tech almost dropped a stack of packages that he realized he had been stumbling around in the corridor for an unknown length of time. After mumbling a whispered apology for nearly causing a collision and a mess of spilled boxes, Nick had somehow got his feet to move to where he was at the moment.

Which was sitting in the corner of the last hall close to an unused storage closet. He blinked several times as his foggy brain tried to access the past few minutes. He had one knee pushed up to his chest, the right one left outstretched in the middle of the floor. If anyone had come around without looking down, they would have tripped over the CSI.

His mind was numb. Nick's hand brushed over his lips to rub at facial hair only to remember that it had been shaven just a few days ago. He stared at his fingers dumbly as if the notion that his mustache was now gone was a new thing. His bouts with paranoia had been very carefully controlled over the past few months. Each instance of tight spaces, or déjà vu about aspects of certain crime scenes had been easier to handle of late. No one noticed any hesitancies or chose to ignore them if they had. Nick made sure he was aware of his environment at all times and that included any watchful eyes.

He laughed to himself shaking his head. Part of him felt like he had been followed all day. Like someone's eyes were observing his every move. Nick rested his chin along his hand; maybe being cautious hadn't been such a bad thing.

This was HIS LAB. His comfort zone and she just breezed in like a wind on a cool morning. No one noticed, no one seemed to be fazed by her presence...of course no one knew. Nick pounded his head along the wall behind him.

She had been paroled and no one saw fit to notify him. Of course, there was no need. Nick hit his head a bit harder, the sharp pain shot through his skull. It had been Walter, just the father.

Kelly was another victim. Just like ---

Nick grit his teeth. No, he wasn't going to even think it. She was moving on, taking his words to heart. So should he. He had been doing okay in fact until...

Nick looked all around him, not trusting the interior anymore. His workplace had just lost something. Another measurement of the intangible slipped right through his fingers. Little bit by little bit he had salvaged all the old aspects of his life. Never under a glaring eye, but still around very guarded co-workers. His assignments had been more lab oriented of late. On this kidnapping case his assignment had been to go over the car, no
doubt to spare him another emotional roller coaster ride. The echoes of his last missing child case still lingered. Grissom never really spoke to him about his behavior then, but it did not mean that the supervisor was not aware of it.

All of these random thoughts continued to hit him inside the jumbled mess of his brain when he heard someone clear their throat. Nick looked up to see David Hodges staring down at him, one eyebrow raised in annoyed manner.

"You taking an extended dinner break out in the hall? What, the break room too good for you, or do you prefer the germs and unsanitary conditions of this spotless linoleum floor?"

Nick's brow furrowed at the annoying string of words, of which he caught only the last few. "Huh?"

David rolled his eyes. "Your DNA samples are back. Or is the excitement of this end of the Lab too much for you? I could put your results on a Post-it note, stick it on your locker for when you have a moment to get around to it."

Nick's expression of confusion morphed into annoyance as he stood up. He never looked at the lab tech, his eyes scanning around the inside of the building.

David pursed his lips for another array of colorful insults, but the faraway look in Nick Stokes' eyes and his obvious distraction only served to intrigue him. David followed his gaze to perhaps some unseen fight or maybe a beautiful woman had captured the CSI's attention, but there was nothing but empty space.

"Did you have some hot date you forgot about? Been kind of a dry spell for you of late."

That got Nick's attention as he turned his head towards the annoying man next to him. "No, Goose, it wasn't a date," then thinking for a beat, Nick let out a small growl. "I have not been on a dry spell by the way. I've been busy," he added annoyed.

David moved out of the way as Nick brushed past him. The CSI's unusual behavior was like a flashing neon sign that screamed a huge warning. Since Nick Stokes tended to keep things to himself and he was one of the more entertaining criminologists to work with on a day to day basis, David Hodges was indeed intrigued about what could have ruffled the feathers of the characteristically happy Texan.

David walked around the halls for a few minutes trying to put together the last few hours of the day to see if anything out of the ordinary had taken place. As he got closer to the Plexiglas maze of the bustling lab, he noticed the front desk that he ignored almost all the time. Feeling a bit like a detective and telling himself that he wasn't being nosy just mildly concerned, David strolled up to the front counter. He picked up the guest
log and scanned the list.

When his finger ended on a name he had never imagined would have the nerve to ever come here, his eyes grew incredibly large and David pulled out the sheet despite the receptionist's gasp of protest. Not sure which direction to go and not really knowing what to do with said information, David Hodges went to the office of the man he thought might want to know about Nick's little visitor today.

Hodges did not take his time; he practically hauled ass to Gil Grissom's lair.

Gil Grissom and Sara Sidle sat in his office to get away from the glaring television screen. Neither CSI needed another re-hashing of the strange case. This one had ended somewhat happily. Sara stapled a few forms together to place them with a few more photos just as the door to Grissom's office opened explosively. David Hodges clutched a piece of paper desperately, unable to speak as he struggled to catch his breath.

Sara glared at him for the violent intrusion, and Grissom shot him a perplexed look for the manner in which the tech barreled in.

"Something on your mind Hodges?" Grissom asked as the winded tech stood gawking at the both of them.

David Hodges was at a loss for words as he peered at both CSIs, his mind racing with all sorts of incoherent sentences. Instead of trying to find a calm way to express them, he simply handed his boss the vital slip of paper that seemed to scorch his hands by holding on to it for too long.

Grissom accepted the paper, adjusting his glasses, still a bit unsure at what he was supposed to be reading. He gave Hodges an odd tilt of his head at seeing the visitor's log at his fingertips. Knowing that the tech abhorred breaking the rules, he read over each name until he came across the last one listed.

Grissom brought the paper closer to his eyes as if upon closer examination it would make more sense of what he was seeing. Grissom opened his mouth to ask a question, but refrained from doing so. He re-read it several times to make certain his mind was not playing tricks on him and then cross-referenced the next column as to who the visitor had come to see.

Grissom resisted the urge to crumple the piece of paper; such an outward sign of emotion was not very characteristic of him. His lack of speech seemed to enthrall his now captive audience.

Sara moved along side her boss to see what had him so captivated. She tried to see what had both men so riled up, but Grissom had all ready folded the sheet up in half, his dark blue eyes seeking out the lab tech.

"Did you see her?"

Hodges gulped as if he had just failed some primary objective. "Ah...no," he stammered.

"How long ago?" Grissom demanded.

Hodges began to wring his hands in front of him, still trying to recall how to string words together coherently. "In the past hour," he said in a small voice.

Grissom was already on his feet, pushing the chair back from behind.

"Have you seen Nick?"

Sara felt like she was watching a tennis match back and forth. Whatever was going on made her nervous, but now she was on full-fledged alert mode. She could feel the tension in the room and it only made her even more angry for not being in the loop.

"What's going on?" She looked at her boss then back at the lab tech.

"Umm, yeah. For a moment, kind of..." David said lamely.

Grissom was already out of his office, his eyes scanning the halls. "Where is he, Hodges?"

David squared his shoulders as he fought to retain some of his self-assuredness, but failed miserably. "I don't know."

Grissom didn't exactly know where he was going, and although his mind was working a million miles an hour, he wasn't quite sure if the sudden anxiety was all that warranted. Maybe it was the damn second voice on the tape that kept the case informally open. It could have been Nick's behavior on the triple homicide last month that solidified his suspicions that he was still dealing in silence about some issues from the incident during the summer. Maybe it was because he did not like surprises.

Jim Brass hurried down the hall after an urgent phone call. After all it was the middle of the night; there was no one to scream at over at the court house or the DA's office about the lack of communication of late. The Captain meet the duo of CSIs halfway down the hall, his hands up in passiveness towards two grim and determined faces.

"I just got off the horn with a buddy. Kelly Gordon was paroled three days ago for good behavior." He held his hand up to stifle a rebuttal. "I don't know how she got out, but she did. She's supposed to meet her parole officer tomorrow morning at 11 am."

Sara stalked right past Brass in a rushed set of steps, turning on her heel to begin a frenzied pace back and forth in the corridor. She waved her hands in the air in an animated style, punctuating every word with a wild gesture. "This is nuts. How the Hell did a woman whose father kidnapped and tried to murder a criminalist get time off early? Her father orchestrated a capital crime, with the intent to kill as many law officers as possible."

Sara's run on sentences of injustice were not want Grissom wanted at the moment. He tried to calm her with a soft, "Sara," but he was ignored as she lashed out at a system that seemed to betray them. Finally, he placed a hand on her shoulder, her fiery eyes locked with his calmer ones.

"It's not right!" she hollered jerking away, still too wired to cool off.

Grissom pinched the bridge of his nose. "We don't know why she came here, Sara. Her intentions--"

"Don't mean crap!" Sara snapped. She glared at her boss who was in the middle of giving her one of his patronizing looks. Sara stalked right up to him, peering at him intently. "You were not there in that room with that vile woman," she seethed.

Sara stole a glance at Brass whose face betrayed his feelings, obviously recalling the interview conducted when they were questioning Kelly about Nick's kidnapping.

The enraged woman balled her tiny hands into fists. "She told us that she hoped Nick died." She said in a harsh whisper, the words still paining her. Sara shook her head at her supervisor's silent response.

"I'm glad they can't arrest people for mental images, or I would have been locked away for a long time."

Grissom raised an eyebrow, but once it seemed that some of her pent up anger was released he spoke in a soft voice. "This does not help the situation. Nick won't answer his cell phone. More than likely he went home."

Sara's hands were on her hips as she stared daggers at her boss and his perceived flippant tone. "Fine. I'll see if his truck is in the parking lot."

She would have barreled past the doors if it were not for a warning hand on her shoulder, holding her back.

"No. We still have a few loose ends to wrap up here."

Sara gaped at him.

Grissom cut off another tirade before it could start. "I'll go to his house."

Sara and Jim stood awkwardly in the hallway still a bit too shocked to see the supervisor leave them without so much as another word. Sara stared at the Captain who simply shrugged his shoulders. "Don't look at me. We've all changed, you think he hasn't?"

Nick Stokes punched in the code to his alarm and waited for the green glow to signal for him to enter. He opened his heavy oak door and took one last backwards glance behind him, trying to keep the hair on the back of his neck from standing on end. Shaking his head for letting the visit get to him this badly, he closed the door a bit too forcefully. He regarded the deadbolt as some sort of test and with a regretful sigh, twisted the knob that clicked it secure. Nick hesitated for a moment at his door, feeling like he was keeping himself trapped inside instead of keeping the outside world at bay.

He unholstered his gun, debated about putting it in his drawer, and in grim determination, threw it in anyway. Nick ran his hand through his soft hair, letting his fingertips brush over his upper lip again. Pausing for a moment in contemplation he forced his suddenly heavy feet towards his kitchen. He thought about drinking a beer and shoved that idea aside for water. He sipped on the bottle before returning to his sofa.

He did not exactly slip out of work. It was close enough to the end of his shift and the samples were already turned in. Nick flipped through the channels on television but could not calm his brain long enough to settle on anything. After surfing aimlessly he left it on a documentary about penguins. He thought about his medicine cabinet and the hidden stash of sleeping pills left over from his time last summer.

Finding the very idea that his thoughts had drifted that way aggravating, he tried to relax on the couch and focus on the arctic ice and funny creatures. It didn't help. He was still tense and even more upset that he let himself get this worked up to begin with. Of course she was going to be placed on parole, what was the big deal? She wasn't the one who had
abducted him. Since when did the sins of father get branded onto the daughter?

Nick fluffed up one of the pillows and attempted to calm down. Watching the Emperor Penguins march onward despite all the odds stacked against them was not the mindless type of programming he sought. He thought about punching the off button when he heard a knock at his door.

He was instantly up, staring at his entrance almost entranced. No...no way.

The paranoia was back in full force as he muttered a curse for being so damn jumpy. He checked the peep hole and was surprised for the second time that night.

He opened the door somewhat bewildered. Nick didn't give his visitor an invitation as he searched for words. "What are you doing here, Grissom? I-I mean it was near the end of shift when I left."

"You didn't answer your phone," were the first words out of the man's mouth.

Nick blinked. It took him a moment to process that sentence. He patted down his jeans pockets and realized he must have left his cell phone at work. He looked back up sheepishly. "I um, must have left it in the garage. I'm sorry." Nick licked his lips. "Was this about the case?"

Grissom looked at him with a somewhat shocked expression, his face going from surprise to some sort of puzzled look. Then he squinted at Nick and fixed him with his intent stare. "No, Nick it's not about the case. I want to know how you're doing."

"I'm fine." Nick cleared his throat knowing exactly why his boss was here. Now he felt even more paranoid than before. Not only did he feel stupid for freaking out slightly after Kelly Gordon had left, but he must have done something to garner an early morning visit. Maybe Hodges had whispered in Grissom's ear about finding him all freaked out in the corner of the lab. He really wished he had handled the situation better. Now he felt really
stupid.

Grissom had not said anything further and appeared to be studying him. "I guess you heard that I had a visitor. It-It was nothing."

"I'd say that wasn't the case, Nick. What did she want?"

He didn't know how to respond at first; it was very unlike Grissom to be so demanding and there was no mistaking that tone. "She just wanted to let me know she was out."

Grissom's intensity level had not let up and now Nick felt his feet moving backwards. Before he knew it, he was retreating into his living room with his supervisor right behind him. Nick felt a little claustrophobic in the confines of the door frame for a brief moment, and his breathing had increased rapidly.

"Did she say anything else?"

Grissom sounded worried, and Nick had no idea why. "No. She wanted to let me know that she was thinking about the advice I gave her...when I visited her." Nick said softly.

When Grissom had learned about his little trip to the correction's facility the supervisor had been pretty unnerved by what was perceived as more of his empathetic side gone awry. It was not a defense mechanism to what happened, no matter how much Grissom had tried to rationalize it to him back then.

His supervisor still regarded him with those piercing blue eyes. He thought he had erased that concerned stare from his memory. This was all spiraling out of control. He had finally moved on and everything was crumpling away in a matter of a few hours.

"She didn't say anything strange at all?" Grissom pressed.

"No. She didn't. I think she was just trying to put everything behind her." He swallowed. "Just like I'm trying."

It had meant to be some sort of warning. Maybe even a plea not to go on like this. The progress he had made; he didn't want to lose it all. Nick hoped his boss would see it.

Grissom seemed to notice that unspoken appeal. "Okay, Nick. I ---I just wanted to see if you were all right."

Nick just nodded not really trusting his voice.

"Do me a favor. Let someone know if she ever comes back. I mean it, Nick. I don't care if she's on parole. She had no reason to be there and she should never go near you again."

Nick noticed the very parental tone echoing in his house. He was grateful for having the presence of mind not to mention Kelly's little field trip to the crime scene. It would not pay to have both of them paranoid. He doubted if Kelly ever wanted to visit him again that she could get past Gil Grissom's army of spies.

He must have been lost in thought again, because Grissom had to say his name twice to get his attention.

"I will."

Grissom lifted his head up slightly. Nick amended his words. "I promise."

Gil Grissom left in the same sort of frenzy as he had arrived. Nick closed the door, letting his fingertips slide down the smooth wood. Taking a deep breath, he locked the door, checked his weapon one more time, and headed to bed.

Sara Sidle did not see this time of day unless it was involved in a double shift. She had set her alarm clock to no avail. She had not slept a wink anyways. She waited patiently for the past few minutes. Each time the second hand has made its way around the little numbers of her watch was just sixty seconds more she had to wait.

She hated this. Patience was not in her vocabulary which was kind a strange thing for someone who needed it for the tedious work that was her whole life. So she sat there and counted ...and fumed.

Just as she thought her temper could not be restrained any longer Sara saw the door open up to office. Her eyes followed the woman whose long blond hair reached her shoulders. Sara stood up and followed the purpose of her visit out the door into the chilly afternoon day. As soon as both of them were past the steps Sara let her legs carry her with the utmost speed towards her target before the woman had a chance to hail a cab.

"Hey!" Sara shouted, not trusting her voice by even speaking the name out loud.

Kelly Gordon spun around and stood there motionlessly as her eyes reflected recognition after a few puzzled moments. Sara forced her tense body forward, the close proximity of the evil woman caused her stomach to do flips.

Kelly for her part didn't give her a reaction. The fact that she was emotionless to Sara's presence only served to irk her even more. Now she was mere inches away from the woman...the very person who had been the center of the whole nightmare of last summer. The daughter whose love twisted up the emotions and intellect of a devoted and deranged father.

Sara felt her lower lip quiver in anger, but she resolved to keep her voice steady. She was not going to give this person any satisfaction.

"Don't you ever go near him again. You understand me?"

Kelly brushed back a few strands of hair. "Last time I checked it was a free country. They didn't re-write that law while I was inside."

Sara felt the barricade to her anger begin to crumble. "He's off limits. No little visits to the Lab. No accidental chance meetings at the same grocery store. Nothing. You got it?" Sara was so close to the other woman she could feel her breath on her face.

Kelly was as cool as a cucumber. "You're not intimidating. After the past three years, your little fit of anger does not bother me." She placed another annoying strand of hair behind her ears. "But, I wasn't planning on talking to him again. I said what I wanted and whether you believe me or not, I was trying to put stuff behind me for the both of us. So we could both move on."

"Then go on. Walk away, go find a garden to plant. But, if you ever talk to Nick again, you'll wish you were back in your cell with your roommate Trish," Sara hissed.

Kelly Gordon did not flinch but her eyes grew large and that was enough for Sara. The criminalist backed way slowly, never taking her eyes off the other woman's face. Sara continued to shoot daggers though the woman's cold heart. After a few moments Kelly was just as relaxed as before .

"You're certainly protective of him, aren't you?" she called back in a sweet sing-song voice.

"When there are monsters in the world like your father, you bet your ass I am!" Sara shouted back.

Sara didn't smile when Kelly Gordon turned on her heel in search of a cab. Her message had been delivered. Sara's body began to wind down. The daughter of the man who had kidnapped one of her best friends may have not been the real enemy. Kelly Gordon may not have had any vindictive motives towards Nick. However, Sara learned long ago to never let her guard down. Last summer she experienced first hand about taking things for granted. This time she wasn't going to leave anything to chance.

finis

Thanks to Beth for the rapid edit!