jewelbaby - I haven't put Katie's age specifically for the reason that I live in the UK and I'm not sure of the age-to-education system, ie. I don't know exactly how old you are when you graduate. But she is fairly young and definitely younger than Nick and everyone else.
A Christy - Thanks for the review!
Charmin-Lady - You'll just have to wait and see when Nick and Katie hook up - thanks for reviewing.
kendra himura - thanks for the review, if you write fanfiction then you should post it on the website so we can all read it.
Trish28734 - thanks for all the reviews - I know the cases aren't that good but I wanted to add a bit authenticity to the piece so not just focusing on Katie's private life.
I want George - thanks for the review. If only we could all actually get George… sigh…
Dying Angel1 - thanks for the reviews.
Chapter 5Over the next few weeks Katie continued working in the Las Vegas crime lab, helping to solve cases with the evidence she collects at the crime scene. For every murder or attack that she worked on, she began to realise that the glitz and glamour of Vegas that had enthralled her as a child was simply a mirage for the horrific attacks that happen in the city every night.
She had slowly settled into the crime lab, although she still found it difficult to work with some of the people she had met. Her first run-in with the infamous Conrad Ecklie had been brief and she wanted it to stay that way from now on. She did find Greg's humour rather refreshing in time she spent in the lab, and his flirtatious banter put a smile on her face even when working on a depressing case.
Working close to a number of regular people made her get to know them all very quickly. She became good friends with them and enjoyed different aspects of their character – Sara's spunk and decisiveness, Catherine's presence and perseverance, Grissom's knowledge and expertise, Nick's friendliness and brashness (not to mention her growing attraction towards him) and with Warrick she could reminisce on her college days and the friendship they had re-kindled.
It was a dreary Thursday morning, morning being precisely 3:00 am, and Katie was sat at a lit table, dusting a piece of paper for fingerprints in a possible kidnapping ransom case. Her partners, Catherine and Warrick were heading up leads and she had volunteered to closely look at the evidence they had found so far. She had been dusting for over an hour and not one piece of evidence had been found, except for a particle of sand, which meant that the kidnapper lived anywhere in the Nevada state. She was growing very tired and slowly drifted off to sleep, laying her head on her arm that rested on an evidence room table for a moment.
"Sleeping on the job?" came a booming voice that startled Katie so much she jumped up and inadvertently spilt half the black dusting powder all over her white shirt.
"Shit!"
Nick let out a chuckle, "Great co-ordination there. Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."
Katie looked at her shirt and let out a sigh, "It's ok. I shouldn't have nodded off. It's just I'm getting no-where with this evidence. I haven't found a thing. It's so frustrating."
"Don't worry, I'm sure there's something there. Any particular reason why you are so tired?". 'Please do not tell me you have a boyfriend', he thought silently.
"Uh no… I just can't seem to sleep. A bit of insomnia, that's all."
'Phew'. "That is great!" Katie gave him a puzzled look and he suddenly realised how that sounded to her, "It's not great… I mean… it's ok that…"
She smiled at his bashfulness. "It's alright. I get what you mean."
"So, what time do you finish then?" Nick inquired, wanting to take the subject off his fumbling excuse. He suddenly realised how his question sounded considering they both finished work at exactly the same time. "Uh… stupid question."
"Perks of working the night shift; we lose all sense of ourselves through deprivation of sleep at civilised hours. Tell me again why I chose to take this job?" she smiled, as she tried to get the black stain off her new white shirt but only making the black smudge worse.
"Because it is the best job in the world. And you don't get to see Conrad's face."
"That's why!"
Suddenly Nick's cell phone rang, breaking the conversation. "Hello? Yeah… ok, I'll be there in a minute… bye. Sorry, duty calls. See you later. Sorry for the whole scaring thing, again," he smiled and ducked out of the door. Katie smiled at his childish mannerisms.
The next 4 hours were as boring as the last few. Katie's top had been ruined, and she had made a mental note to send Nick her dry-cleaning bill. There had been a breakthrough on the case in that the sand found only came from a specific region in Las Vegas, and Catherine and Warrick had found the kidnapper and their victim.
It had just passed 7:00 am and she sighed as she grabbed her bag and coat from her locker. As she headed out, she waved goodbye to various lab technicians and was fastening her bag when she bumped into someone. "Oh, sorry-", she looked up to see an annoyed Conrad shooting death rays at her.
"Listen, I understand it is difficult to walk in a straight line but try," he sneered, grumpily walking away.
"I know it's difficult…" she mimicked, "Watch where you're going, jackass," she said under her breath, and carried on walking out of the building. When she reached the exit, she could not believe the sight – the skies had opened up and rain was pouring heavily down. Katie groaned as she realised her predicament: no umbrella and just a small coat to shield her.
She inwardly cursed and set off running to her car, trying to avoid puddles as she went. When reaching her car she fumbled in her bag for her keys and upon fishing them out proceeded to open the car door. Once inside, she tried to start her engine. It spluttered for a few moments before eventually dying on her.
"No! Do not do this to me. Come on, come on," she begged, trying to start the car but with no avail. In her frustration she slammed her hands on the wheel, wishing her nightmare would end. She took a deep breath, grabbed her bag and concluded there was only one choice: she would have to walk home. She climbed out of her car, locked it, although she didn't really see the point since no one would want to steal that piece of junk, and started to walk down the road in the direction of her house.
Nick was loudly drumming his hands on the steering wheel while tunelessly singing along, "# It's my life, and it's now or never. Cos I ain't gonna live forever…#". As he looked at the road ahead past the furious windscreen wipers he noticed a female figure walking on the side of the road. He thought he recognised the girl as he drove past her and suddenly slammed on the brakes. 'Katie?' he thought. He immediately started to reverse to park next to the now cautious-looking girl.
'Please do not let it be a psycho killer,' she pleaded as the car came to a stop beside her and the passenger seat window automatically lowered.
"Has no one ever told you that hitch-hiking is dangerous for a young woman?"
She immediately smiled when recognising the voice, "Hey Nick."
"Do you want a ride?"
"No, it's ok. I don't want to ruin your car or anything."
Nick laughed at her modesty and politeness, "I am not going to leave you out in the street for some homicidal maniac to abduct you. Get in!"
She smiled and sat in the passenger seat. He chuckled when he heard a squish from the leather seat and her soggy clothes connecting. "How long have you been walking in the rain?" he asked the now shivering female, "Here, have my jacket." He passed her his jacket and she quickly slipped off her thin jacket, her white top underneath clinging to her curves. Nick gulped. He tried not to watch as she slipped on his jacket, his eyes trying their best to stay fixed to the road but the side-ways glance could not be resisted.
"Thank you. About an hour. My car broke down in the car park so I had to walk home."
"Why didn't you ask for a ride?"
"I didn't know if everyone had left or if they were going in my direction. Thank you again."
For the rest of the ride the two sat in an awkward silence except for the utterances from Katie to direct Nick to her house. Throughout, the two tried to ignore the obvious tension building in the car (and they were not thinking about the virginal, wholesome kind), and Katie prayed that he would turn onto her street soon.
"So… uh… how was your shift?" Nick asked, trying to muster up a conversation.
"Apart from the ruined shirt and the falling asleep? Fine. I am just so exhausted."
"I gathered that from your little nap. Is there anything you want to talk about?"
Katie looked for a moment at Nick and then turned to look at the road ahead, "Uh… no."
"It just feels like you are holding back on something. I meant it when you said you could talk to me."
"I know, Nick. I'm fine really. Besides this is my stop." Nick pulled the car up outside a house on a suburban street. Katie started to take off Nick's jacket when he stopped her.
"No you keep it. You have still got to walk to your house."
"Thank you Nick. You are so sweet." She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She slowly pulled back and the two locked eyes, their slow breathing becoming in sync with one another. As Nick leaned in to kiss her, she suddenly pulled back. "I uh… have to go."
Nick watched as Katie quickly left the car and ran to her house, shutting the door behind her. 'Shit', he thought, 'you rushed it'. He slammed his hands on the wheel in annoyance and drove off.
Inside her house Katie shut the front door and leant on it. 'Great Katie, you totally blew it. Just stop being so cautious.'
Chapter 6 is on its way very soon…