I didn't abandon this story - it was just finding time to write it out. I will try not to have such a huge break between chapters but I hope you guys enjoy. Even though I always say this, I feel I should mention that I've taken the dialogue from the show to fit my story even if it doesn't match. :) Enjoy!

Chapter 5: Holding On

The humidity was just starting to settle in along with the Miami heat. It was only nine-thirty in the morning and the temperature has risen to a hazy eighty-eight degrees. It was days like this that Natalia wished she could just work in the comfort of the air-conditioned lab but with three homicides within twenty-four hours, the team was busy. Right now, she and Ryan were working a crime scene while Calleigh and Eric worked another. The third crime scene was going to be processed by the entire team with Ryan and Calleigh processing the physical scene as it involved a great deal of trace evidence while she and Eric processed DNA and fingerprints. Natalia sighed. It was going to be a long and busy day. She turned off the car, grabbed her kit and walked towards Ryan who was already processing the warehouse crime scene.

"Hey," Ryan greeted, letting the camera fall to his side as he scratched his eyebrow. He couldn't wait to finish processing the scene but the thought that another crime scene was already lined up for him was a bit overwhelming. "Busy night in Miami."

Natalia quirked her eyebrows. "Hmm." She sat her kit down on the floor and grabbed a pair of gloves while her eyes wandered the warehouse. "Where's the body?"

"With Alexx," Ryan said, matter-of-factly. "You know, we've been on the scene for about an hour now…" He looked at Natalia. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," Natalia said. Despite having a close relationship with her colleagues, she had yet to tell anyone at CSI that she was pregnant. "I actually got wrapped up with some cold cases and didn't realize there was a call out. Go figure…"

Ryan raised his eyebrows because he knew Natalia wasn't telling him the truth. Not too long ago the team discovered that she was the mole in the lab. Even though Natalia was part of their team now, he had the most difficult time coming around to her. Before he could question her further, Natalia called him over to check out her findings.

"Check this out," Natalia said, turning back to the evidence when Ryan squatted next to her. "There's a void and a faint oil trail…"

"Yeah, I noticed the void too," Ryan said. What he didn't notice before was the faint oil trail. It always paid to have a second pair of fresh eyes. He raised his camera to his eyes and focused the lens and took a picture of the trail. He then marked it. "I'm going to follow this, okay?"

"Yeah," Natalia said. She opened her kit to get a forensic swab to collect the trace evidence. As soon as she labeled her evidence, she felt her stomach flutter. She associated the feeling with the fetus growing inside of her, but just as she stood up, she knew why she had the strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. Standing at the entrance of the warehouse was Nick. Natalia looked around for Ryan.

"He's…out," Nick said, clearly amused. "Following the trail."

Natalia's mind began to put pieces together. It didn't make any sense that Ryan knew about the void but not the oil trail. So that meant that Nick sabotaged the crime scene, but how? How did he know that she would be called out to that scene? Her thoughts left as Nick took a step. "Cleanup is…isn't supposed to be here until we finish processing," Natalia said, trying to hold on to her vocal strength. It was no use.

Nick stepped forward, humored at the position he'd put Natalia in. He tapped his wrist. "Tick-tock."

Natalia looked around for Ryan, an officer, anybody who could hear the commotion going on inside the warehouse. Nobody showed. She turned back to Nick only to see that he was merely inches from her. She took a step back.

"Nat…" Nick reached out to stroke Natalia's hair.

The heat from Nick's hand was nauseating and Natalia took a step back. Everything happened fast as she let out a yelp as Nick wrapped his hand around her wrist. She fought against him and as a last resort, she screamed.

Nick clutched his jaw. Natalia was trying to draw attention that he didn't need. He pulled her closer. "You're coming with me."

"No – no," Natalia cried out as she fought against him. She needed to get things under control. Using skills she learned, she kneed Nick hard in the groin which caused him to recoil and let her go immediately, but instead of him running away, he reached into his jacket. Natalia saw her life flash before her eyes as her vision made out the object in his hand. Before she could think about what was about to happen, she felt the hot lead pierce her body followed by the pain associated with a gunshot…

"Natalia, Natalia, Natalia," Ryan called.

Natalia snapped awake at hearing her name being called. She checked her body for the wound: there wasn't one.

"Must have been some night," Ryan smirked. Seeing that Natalia didn't find the humor in his joke, he spoke again. "You okay?"

"Uh, yeah," Natalia said, running her hand across her eyebrow. She couldn't believe that what she experienced was a dream. She shook her head. "I don't…I don't know why –"

"It's okay," Ryan said, looking out the glass walls of the lab. "Please tell me you analyzed the DNA sample before you went nappy nap."

Natalia rolled her eyes but reached for the results that were already printed on the table. "Justin Meyers. DNA belonged to Justin Meyers, a kid already in the system for burglary."

"Well, he just got another charged added to his list," Ryan said. He looked at Natalia. "Thanks. I'll check on you later."

Natalia nodded her head as her hand found its way back to her forehead. She still couldn't believe it was only a dream but was very thankful that it was. "Thanks."

It was a little later in the day and Natalia was starting to feel a little more comfortable. She was a bit apprehensive when she received the call out for a new crime scene but it was in a public location, unlike the warehouse in her dream. She arrived at the scene and Eric was already processing it. She got out and quickly went to the secured scene.

"Hey," Eric said.

"Hey," Natalia said, walking with him to the middle of the intersection. "So, this is where the car was towed from, right here."

"Yep. We just…we need the point of impact."

"Okay," Natalia said. "Well, we've got tire marks, possibly brake marks?" she asked as she ran the steps in her head. She was still fairly new to field work; before she was only limited to lab work.

Eric squatted and looked closer at the tire marks. "Nah, they're darker at the inception. You know, the rubber sloughs off…it means the driver was accelerating. Whoever was driving that car definitely wanted our victim dead." Eric looked a little further away to a cell phone on the street. He stood up to collect the evidence.

Just as Natalia was wrapping her mind around theories, she heard a familiar voice.

"Well, well, look who's out of the lab," Nick said.

"This can't be happening," Natalia thought. Just like in her dreams, Nick had showed up to her crime scene. She took a step back. "What the hell are you doing here, Nick?"

"Bought myself a scanner, you know, keep up with all the hot crime scenes…" Nick said, taking a step forward.

"That's stalking," Natalia said. She was frustrated and scared. Her stomach fluttered as Nick's face hardened and he stepped under the police tape. She couldn't believe he'd gotten so far. Even though the scene was crowded with officers, no one stopped to figure out what the commotion was about. Natalia took another step back.

Nick eyed Natalia from the short distance between them. "You know, a man can change."

"Not you, Nick," Natalia said. She kept her eyes on him. No one stopped him. She would have to fight him.

Nick reached out to her. "Come on, Nat. Let's just hug it out."

Natalia felt the hot heat from his hand – just like in her dreams. She couldn't take it. She didn't want to die. Just as Nick closed in on her, she pushed at him hard. "Stay away from me. Just stay away from me!"

"Hey, hey," Eric stood and walked towards Natalia. He pulled her back. "Check the perimeter for debris." He couldn't believe what just unfolded. He watched as Natalia walked away. He would have to deal with Nick. "You're inside a crime scene, you need to leave."

Nick chuckled, ignoring Eric. "I need to talk to her."

Eric couldn't believe that Nick was challenging him. He clutched his jaw and put his hand out so stop Nick from moving. "You're contaminating a crime scene, you need to get out of here."

Seeing how he was unnerving Eric, Nick kept antagonizing. "She got something from you, didn't she? You know, that's her style, tit for tat."

Eric let out a breath. "You got about two seconds."

Even though he'd been following Natalia, he had no idea that she was already married. The way Eric was protecting her, he figured that Natalia was with him. He looked at Eric. "You want my advice? Run…run from this chick. You have no idea who she is."

Natalia was fairly new to the team but Eric worked with her in the lab. He still didn't know a lot about her except that her ex-husband was abusive. He also knew there were two sides to every story and wondered if there were any truth in Nick's words. Just as Nick left, Eric sighed the problem away. He didn't want to be involved and right now he had a crime scene to finish processing. He went back to his work.

If it took staging an intervention to get to the bottom of this, that's what they were going to do. Calleigh had spoke with Ryan earlier and he expressed his concerns about Natalia as he caught her sleep in DNA. Then as she and Eric were having lunch, he'd mentioned that Nick visited the crime scene which resulted in a physical altercation between Natalia and Nick. As second-in-command, Calleigh felt it was her duty to get down to it and figure out what was going on before it became a problem to Stetler. The lab was still building its reputation up after the mole situation and Eric failing his drug test. Calleigh exhaled and open the door to the lab. "I heard you had an unwelcome visitor today."

Natalia looked at the phone she'd been writing a report on and muttered "Eric." Just like high school, words spread like wildfire.

Calleigh picked up the tone in Natalia's voice and didn't want her to think that he'd told her to spread drama. "He's just concerned about you and you know what, quite frankly, so am I. What's going on?"

Natalia's stomach fluttered. She didn't even know where to begin but everyone wanted answers. She turned to Calleigh. Maybe she could use the girl talk. "It's not good. I'm terrified of him, Calleigh and he's capable of anything. You know what's crazy? My therapist thinks this is some kind of suppressed attraction."

Calleigh folded her arms and exhaled. Though she never experienced spousal abuse, she shared empathy for women who went through it. "What do you think it is?"

Natalia let out a breath of air. "I don't know…sometimes I just want to kill him."

"I can understand that but you may not want to say it out loud," Calleigh said.

Natalia laughed. "That's good advice. Thank you."

"I'm gonna check on you later, okay?"

"I really appreciate that," Natalia said, smiling. It felt good to have the team concerned about her. She watched as Calleigh walked out the door and she continued working on her evidence.

Hope you all enjoyed. Please forgive me for any grammar/spelling errors. I proofread but it's hard to find them all. :)