DISCLAIMER:Don't own anything associated with the show… I just like playing with the characters in it.

RATING: T – Teen (language and adult issues)

PAIRINGS: GSR & Yo!Bling pre-established in previous fics of this timeline.

SPOILERS: Sequel to "Displacement" and "Transitions"

SUMMARY: Everything is changing around Nick Stokes. Can he deal with it, and how it will affect him in the end?

A/N: So, I wasn't going to post another chapter until I got something else finished, but since a friend finally managed to finish a fic of her own, and someone else FINALLY posted another chapter to her story... This is my little thank you :D And in case you were wondering, yes... The bitch is back! LOL Also, for the record, I refuse to acknowledgehow I came aboutputting together some of the traits of my latest OC. Nope, not gonna get me to admit it.

REVIEWS: Reviews are the way I know if people are enjoying the work or not. So, if you leave one, THANKS! And if not, I hope you found at least a little something to brighten your day, and thanks for taking the time to read.

Chapter 7

06:55 – 2006.12.06

UNLV Earth Science Building: Parking Lot

Nick intended on getting there earlier, but he and Sara had gotten stuck in a little impromptu safety meeting courtesy of their favorite assistant director, Conrad Ecklie. The man really did have the worst possible timing.

The whole ride over to the campus, Nick had pushed the bounds of safe driving, and even managed to garner a few choice words from Sara about his future inability to give her any grief about driving. It was nearly seven in the morning, and Nick was doing his level best to be onsite and out of the car by the prescribed time, even if it killed him.

They practically screeched into the parking lot at exactly five minutes before the hour and he felt like a huge weight was lifted off of his shoulders. However, upon seeing the Doc sitting in the passenger seat of a UNLV pickup, glancing at her watch impatiently, the burden had quickly been dropped squarely back down onto his shoulders.

As Sara stepped out onto the asphalt to speak with the Doc and her assistant, Nick tried to distract himself by taking a look at the trailer hooked up to the university truck. There were three, dusty and well used, red ATV's strapped down to the equally dirty flatbed trailer. He also noted there were several metal cases tied down in the space where a fourth ATV would have rested.

He watched as Sara began a rather animated conversation with the Doc's assistant. Eventually, his curiosity got the better of him and he stepped out of the vehicle to join them and to take his lashes for his earlier behavior.

Sara turned to see his approach and gestured for the assistant to turn as well before she said, "Hey, Nick… Did you know Sandi was the Doc's research assistant?"

Nick tried to search his mind for the woman's face and name, but he was coming up short of an answer when the woman removed her large floppy hat to reveal a head full of very long, reddish orange hair and said, "Does that help?"

That was when it dawned on him. "Super Dave's fiancé?"

She shook her head at Sara and just laughed, "Why is it no one recognizes me without the hair?"

The voice from inside the truck answered for her, "Because it's hard to see anything else."

Sandi shrugged, realizing it was a rather obvious physical trait. "Anyway, I was just explaining to Sara about those boneheads you guys had come out to the site when we found the body. I felt like I was watching the Keystone Cops, or something."

Nick switched straight into investigator mode. "So, you found the body?"

She pulled her hair back up into the hat and put it back on her head before answering, "Ah, no… That was Boone. I was still at the cabin getting the data readings ready to cart back to the lab when he radioed in about the body."

"But, you were there when the crime scene crew showed up?" Nick started taking down some notes on his pad.

"Well-"

She was cut off by the obviously irritated voice of the professor. "Do you think we could do the interrogation after we get to the site? It's already getting late."

Nick sucked it up and prepared to make his apologies. "I'm sorry, Dr. D-"

"Whatever… Sandi, we need to get that meter fixed and we need to get back here before my meeting, so let's go." Sandi grimaced when she turned to the CSIs as she tried to play off the professor's rudeness.

Nick walked away, clenching his jaw and desperately tried to hold his tongue as Sara and Sandi made apologies for their respective traveling companions. When Sara reached their truck, Nick was already inside and turning red with his anger.

"We're gonna follow them out, so stick close." He nodded, and she could not help but add, "We can't afford to lose 'em, 'cause I'm not sure they'd wait for us."

He put the car into gear and followed closely behind the university vehicle, but he was unable to keep his tongue any longer. "I can't believe that woman… I mean, really… Was what I did so bad? Really?"

Sara was not going to answer him, thinking it was a rhetorical question, but when she found him staring at her, she figured she had been wrong. "Well, let's review… You were pissed off after getting the run around, and we both know how charming you can be when that happens." Nick grimaced at her assessment, but motioned for her to continue.

"And of course there was the whole name butchering incident, followed immediately by the sexist assumption she was a man."

Nick had to stop her there, "I am not a sexist!"

"All evidence to the contrary." Sara had meant it offhandedly, but she also knew there was a little truth in that statement. Nick had very specific ideas about the female of the species, even if he did try his best not to show it, most of the time.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Nick looked genuinely shocked at her remark.

"You want a list?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Fine." Sara set her jaw and got started, "The hooker, the pyro, the whistle, the nurse-"

He stopped her before she went any further, "Wait, wait… What about the nurse? And which one?"

Sighing, Sara rolled her eyes and answered, "Does it really matter? You treat beautiful women one way and all the rest differently. You have a different way of acting towards me than you would ever do with Warrick. You see Catherine as subordinate to Grissom, even though they are BOTH your supervisors." Nick was having a real tough time stomaching her assessment of his personality. "Face it, Nick… It may not go all the way to discriminatory, but you ARE a sexist."

Searching for a response to her statement, he was at a complete loss for words, because he was totally unable to deny any of her declarations. The only thing his mind could register was that he probably owed her an apology. "Sara, I'm s-"

She held up her hand to stop him, "Save it. There's no need to apologize. It's just who you are. It's just that other people may not be able to see past it the way I do."

That confused him, so he asked, "What do you mean?"

"Well, you're not a pig… It's just that you have your mind on a certain bent; that women should be different than men. I don't know, maybe it's just a Texas thing, but you aren't doing it out of some macho power trip. You just seem to have a warped view of what women are, I guess. I know you mean well, but sometimes it can piss me off. But when it's all said and done, I know your heart's in the right place, and I can look past the stuff that bugs me because we're friends."

"And if we weren't friends?" He was not sure he wanted to know the answer, but he had to ask.

"Then…" She fixed him with one of those dangerous looks and said, "I'd probably have left your butt back in that lot and road out with them alone."

Nick smiled uneasily and kept right on driving, but his friend's words weighed heavy on his mind for the rest of the trip.