Title: Stalked - Prologue

Disclaimer: Ok. Ya'll know they ain't mine. Hate to disappoint you.

Authors' note: I know I promised a sequel of sorts to my last fic. But my muse wanted to write this instead. I have a beta this time around - everyone give it up for Solomynne, which also means that all mistakes are NOT mine this time around. Though I do have the final say, don't I? Ok, so blame me, but praise her! Putting up with all my errors is a tough job:) Now, on with the show!

He stood just behind the yellow tape. Watching, waiting, listening. He prided himself on his observation skills. He saw whatever he needed to see and heard everything he could possibly want to know. Like now; he saw her pick up the clue he'd left for her, the same way she had picked up every clue he had wanted her to find at other scenes before.

He wondered if she'd connected them yet. How much longer until she realized who he was and came knocking on his door. He also wondered how she felt, being strapped with one case after another that she couldn't solve. For an investigator of her caliber - this must be killing her.

She was special, different from the others. And that's why he admired her so. Did her fellow CSI's know that she took cases home with her? That she sat up way past her bedtime, pouring over evidence? That the shelves in her spare bedroom were covered with cases that had long ago gone cold? That when she was in her own home, she was always alone? That the last man she'd brought home with her had been that paramedic? What was it...Hank...that's right. Not to say she didn't have her fair share of relations with men... but Hank was the last one that she cared enough for to bring home. The rest were just toys to her. He saw it when she picked them up in bars or clubs, going home with them, staying with them, but never seeing them again. He'd come to understand that, that didn't make her easy, but that there were just certain things a girl did need, and to be close to someone, even for one night, was one of them. He needn't feel jealous of them, as they were nothing to her.

But, Hank had almost been his undoing - had almost made him lose sight of the prize. But eventually he gained enough knowledge of her and her routine, felt confident enough leaving her to follow him, to get a feel for his competition. When he had seen what her boyfriend had been up to, he almost killed him anyway - Treating his girl like that. Using her like that... Nobody hurt her. Nobody. A week or so later, when she found out - she held her own. She was strong, and that was the one thing that saved that bastard's life, that he hadn't reduced her to tears. If she could be a big enough person to survive it, then he could be strong enough to resist the urge to snap his neck and bury him deep in the unforgiving desert sand. He would have deserved it, making his Sara the 'other woman'.

Tonight she was working with the little one again, the one that had been late joining their team. Before that, he had only seen him going into and coming out of the lab. It was the assumption that he had been a tech before getting the promotion to CSI. He might have been late joining them, but she seemed more comfortable with him than with any of the others. Maybe it was because he learned from her. Even at a crime scene, where she was at her best and most serious, he could get a smile to form on her lips.

He couldn't be jealous of this man, however. He knew that as much as she cherished his friendship, she did not reciprocate the obvious feelings the younger man held for her. He knew she had given her heart away, long ago, to another man; the older one - the one with the solemn expression and the serious demeanor...Grissom? Yeah. Grissom. And even though that did spark the slightest of jealousy in his heart, he also knew that the man did not feel for her what she felt for him. It wasn't his fault that she loved him. So he couldn't hold it against him. It was rare that they even worked together anymore. He didn't know if this was because of something that had gone on behind the security guarded doors at the lab, or if Grissom was just picking up on the vibes she was throwing off and it made him uncomfortable. When they did arrive at a scene together, she was professional, and kept her emotions in check. And he -- well, he acted like nothing more than her supervisor. He had not seen them outside of work together in a long time. In fact, not since just after that man had set her on her course with destiny.

FLASHBACK

They walked into the diner alone together, he was going on about the case they had just closed and she was hanging on his every word. When she, without him really noticing, steered him away from the crowded counter seats, and towards the semi-solitude of a booth in his section, the waiter had been filled with delight. His attention had been caught when she had laughed as they walked through the door. It was fate, their paths crossing like this. She was an angel, beautiful, graceful, and when she laughed, it made his heart soar.

He walked over to their booth and stood slightly closer to her. "Hi. Are you two having a good day?"

She looked up and him and smiled. "Oh, the best."

"Good, good. My name is Nity, and I will be your waiter today. Do you need a few minutes?"

"Yeah, and the boss is footin' the bill today." She smiled across the table at the man. "Aren't you Grissom?"

Grissom rolled his eyes, smiled a half smile and nodded. "I suppose."

Nity smiled back at her. "Can I bring you something to drink? Coffee? Water? Soda?"

The man looked at him. "I'll take a coffee, black, no sugar."

Nity nodded at him. "And you miss?"

"Bring me a cup of hot water and a tea bag. Please."

Nity smiled. She was polite. Good. "Ok, I'll be right back with those."

He walked towards the coffee pot and watched as she continued talking. God she was perfect. As he filled her cup and grabbed a tea bag, she laughed again.

He carried the drinks over to them, setting hers down first. "Here you go Miss - Sir. Need a few more minutes?"

She flipped her menu shut. "Nah, I think we're ready."

He fell in love with her then. Just five little words and he knew she really was the one for him.

END FLASHBACK

You'd think after knowing Sara for as long as he had, that Nity would also know the people she worked with. And he did, by face anyway. He only knew Grissom's name because he had been the one to introduce them, and Nity thought it only proper to remember his name. As for the rest of them, Nity was never going to interact with them, and their names just didn't really seem that important. Sara never interacted with them outside of work, why should he worry about who they were? It was clear that she considered them all to be slightly more then just co-workers - friends even - but it was also clear that she felt like she was different from them. And she was. Because she was special, that's why he chose her.

He watched as she picked the dollar bill off the ground and held up for her partner. He said something and she rolled her eyes in amusement. He knew when they got back to the lab and examined it, that they'd find exactly what he meant for them to find - it they looked close enough. And that's all they would find. Nity was careful, he had a plan, and he didn't want to fail because he got sloppy.

After years of watching her, he had finally come up with a plan to get her. Now, six months into his plan, it was almost time. As long as she was as brilliant inside the lab as she was outside of it, tonight's clue would bring them together. He hoped he had made himself clear, he knew he tended to be vague sometimes.

As she bagged it, she said something with a serious look on her face. The younger man furrowed his eyebrows and shrugged. Excitement flooded his body - she was getting it. After so many years of watching her, he'd come to know when she was onto something, just from her body language. Now that he was sure that she understood, he quickly turned and left the scene. There were preparations to finish and scenarios to run through one more time. He knew her, she wasn't as fragile as she looked, she'd probably fight him every step of the way. But in time he would make her see. They belonged together - Forever.

He took off on foot, at a quick but steady pace. He didn't want to draw attention to himself now, not when he was so close to getting everything he wanted. He never parked his car within a mile of a crime scene, none that he visited her at, whether it be one of his, or just something random. He didn't need to have his plate number written down and flagged because it showed up at numerous scenes. When he needed to follow her at a quicker pace, he did so on a bicycle or by jogging.

And he didn't worry about losing track of her anymore. She was a predictable creature. Always the same coffee shop before shift, and afterwards, the same diner for breakfast. Always alone. He had worried at first, that he'd been wrong about her, but she had proved his assumptions correct. Being in the field she was in, she should know the dangers of such a predictable routine. It was easy to be followed. Easy to be stalked.