A/N: Sorry I take so long to update. I tell ya, balancing work, school and homework is pretty darn hard! Oh well! I'll live! lol Anyways, here is the next chapter, I guess the end is a little weird, thank my friend Sam for that. Heck, I was unsure of how to end this and I had no ideas, so she helped me think of this strange twist. So yeah, there isn't going to be many chapters left to this, andI might do a sequel. Would anyone be interested in reading it if I did decide to write one? lol I'm still trying to decide if I even want to write one.. or if I'll have time to.
Anyways, enough rambling, here is the chapter! I hope you like it!

Chapter 19 - Up In Smoke

"How are you feeling today Greg?" Mr. Shultz asked.

"I'm good," Greg replied.

"There's something specific that I want to talk to you about today."

Right when Mr. Shultz said those words, Greg felt his entire body tense up. Usually when he said something like that, it wouldn't have a very positive result. It usually meant that he was going to be forced to talk in depth again about the nightmares, or even try to explain them. Greg didn't really want that.

"There is one last thing that we need to talk about. We've covered the topic of your abduction, we've covered the topic about the nightmares... and now, I want you to talk to me about Nick," Mr. Shultz stated.

Greg gulped as he could feel the beads of sweat escaping his pores. They had talked a bit about Nick before in previous sessions, but Greg could tell that this session was going to be harder. He sighed. He knew that this was going to have to happen sooner or later. He was making such progress and he didn't want to ruin it because he was afraid to talk about Nick.

"What do you want me to tell you about Nick?" Greg questioned, not knowing what else to say.

"Well, he had gone through something similar to you, correct? The incident that was all over the news, and in all of the headlines. You know what I'm talking about right?"

Greg nodded.

"And you consider it to be a lot like what happened to you. And what happened to Ray Danniels, am I correct?"

"Yeah," Greg replied quietly.

"And how did that scare you? How exactly did that make you scared of Nick?" Mr. Shultz questioned.

"I don't know," Greg lied, but he could tell by the look on Mr. Shultz's face that he wasn't going to be so easily fooled.

Greg really didn't want to talk about it, it barely made sense in his own mind. It couldn't possibly make sense to someone else. He just wished that he could disappear, and that Mr. Shultz's questioning eyes would stop piercing into him.

"Well, you had mentioned that you were afraid Nick was going to hurt you," Mr. Shultz began.

No, I don't recall telling you that, it was probably someone from work, someone who called and had me put here who told you that. Greg thought to himself.

"Well... if Ray Danniels wanted revenge after what happened to him... it just made me think that maybe Nick would too..." Greg explained.

"What about you?"

Greg was confused, what did he have to do with anything. This was about Nick and Ray Danniels.

"What about me?" Greg questioned.

"Well, you went through something too. Does that mean that you're going to lash out and get revenge on the world for what happened to you?"

Greg hadn't thought of it that way before.

"What kind of killer leaves his fingerprints all over the crime scene?" Nick questioned, after lifting yet another print.

Sara turned her head to answer him, "Prints could be planted."

That didn't seem very likely. If this was a copy cat, they would have known that there weren't any prints left at the original crime scenes.

"That wouldn't be consisitent with the other crime scenes though... Why would a copy cat decide to change that aspect of it?" Nick asked.

Sara shrugged her shoulders and continued to process the scene. The two of them worked in silence until they noticed a strange noise and smell coming from behind the dumpster.

Nick decided that he would try and figure out what was behind the dumpster, so he walked around to the other side of the dumpster and peered behind it. To his surprise he saw a man, presumably homeless judging by the way he was dressed. The man had a book of matches in his hand and carried a smile on his face.

"The crime scene is on fire!" Nick could hear Sara call out, followed by the sound of them struggling to find something to put it out with.

That's what the noise and smell had been. The homeless man had just started a fire in the dumpster that the CSIs were processing.

Before Nick could do anything, the man behind the dumpster pushed his way out and took off running, lighting matches and throwing them behind him along the way. However, since the matches fell upon the pavement, they just ended up putting themselves out.

Nick quickly decided that he would have to run after the man to catch him for what he'd just done to their crime scene.

After Nick had caught the man, they'd called for backup and had the man taken into to be questioned for what he'd done. He sat on one side of the table while Sophia Curtis and Nick were seated at the other end.

"What on earth did you think you were doing?" Sophia questioned.

"Settin' a fire," the man replied dryly.

"We knew that. What we want to know is why you set the fire at our crime scene," Nick corrected.

"I wasn't settin' no fire at your crime scene. I was settin' a fire in my dumpster. I got to stay warm too you know," the man stated.

"Did it not occur to your that there was a body sticking out of your dumpster?" Sophia asked.

The man began to fiddle with another book of matches instead of answering the question. This only frustrated Sophia and she demanded that the man hand them over.

"These ain't yours!" the man exclaimed.

Nick joined in and asked for the matches, but the man still refused to give them up. After a period of arguing, Sophia finally reached over and took them from the man.

"You dirty theif! You theif!" the man began to scream as he tried to lunge forward and attack Sophia for taking his matches, but the other officers in the room held him back.

Once they finally had the man calmed down enough, Sophia continued questioning. "Why did you set the fire?" she asked.

"I like fire."

Sophia realized that she wasn't getting anywhere asking about the fire. The man was obviously just a pyromaniac and liked to set fires where he lived.

"Well, since that was your dumpster. Did you see who left you the body?"

The man nodded.

"Do you know the person who left it? Or would you be able to tell us what the person looked like?"

"It was me.That body was the body of athief... A Thief...just like you."