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: Had some trouble loading this chapter again. :p But anyway, here it is... And despite what some might think, I actually enjoy the outpouring of hate for the Doc. It's kind of why she's in this story, so please, feel free to let me know what you think of her. So, now that's out of the way, how about a little more Stephanie?

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 13

23:00 – 2006.12.07

CSI Morgue: Dr. O'Halloran's Office

Nick was still beating his brains, trying to get an angle on his case, as he made his way down to the morgue. He was hoping he could go back over the body and find some different answers, but mostly he was just trying to delay the inevitable; having to meet with Dr. Desmaiseaux for another slam session.

Sara was still working on the videos and photos from the research team, and he had already seen more angles of that desert canyon than he ever thought possible, so he went off in search of a different view. He thought he might try to pick Stephanie's brain about the body, and maybe get her opinion about what to do in regards to the professor.

When he pushed through the doors of the morgue, he noticed Stephanie was not working on a body at the time. As he thought about it, he realized it had been a slow week for DBs, and knowing Stephanie's normal speed, he assumed she had finished with everything already.

He noticed some movement over in the office and made his way across the room when he heard her voice call out from the other side of the doorway. "If you've got a body, get out."

Nick poked his head in and found her lying down on the couch with her arm thrown over her eyes and her legs hanging off the opposite arm of the small couch. He had to chuckle at the sight, which caused her to peek out from the crook of her arm. "Oh, it's just you."

"Well, that's the kinda greetin' every man dreams of." He stood in the doorway with his hands on his waist and smiled.

"Save it for the girls at the club, cowboy." Her voice was filled with fatigue, and Nick grew a little concerned. He had not heard her like that since her brush with death earlier in the year.

As he looked around the office, the office he once had to process in a hazmat suit, a shiver ran down his spine. "Hey… You okay?"

She moved her arm off of her face and rubbed at her eyes over the bridge of her nose. "Yeah, I'm fine… Just not sleeping very well." She gave him a weak grin and asked, "So, what did you need?"

"I don't wanna bug you if you're no-"

She dropped her feet to the floor and brought herself up into a sitting position as she cut him off, "Look, I'm here, you're here, and you obviously need something. What's up?"

"My DB from the desert…" Nick shifted a little uncomfortably in the doorway under her slightly aggravated gaze. "We keep running into dead ends, and I was thinking about maybe taking another look at the body… Maybe I mis-"

"Didn't miss anything… And I just got the final report back from the copy service." She was about to get up from the couch when Nick stopped her.

"I'll get it, where is it?" Nick looked for his cue from her, but instead she stood up and went to her desk to retrieve the CSI copy of the report.

She turned and handed it to him, "Here." Then she crossed in front of him and dropped back onto the couch.

He looked down at the report in his hands and away from her gaze when he mumbled, "I could've gotten that for you."

"And I can get it for myself, too… You think I need you rummaging around on my desk?"

That was the last straw for Nick. "Sheesh! Do I have something tattooed on my forehead making everyone jump down my throat this week, or what?"

Stephanie leaned back at his sudden outburst with a shocked expression on her face. "Whoa there, big fella… Who peed in your Post Toasties this morning?"

Nick cringed when he realized what he had done and squeezed his eyebrows together with his hand. "I'm sorry… I ju-"

"Why don't you try explaining where the hell that came from, instead of some half-assed apology?" Nick looked at her with his mouth hanging open.

He was surprised at his snap at her, but her response really shocked him.

"Have a seat and spill it… Obviously bottling it up isn't working for you." She had a point, and with resignation playing over his face, he grabbed one of the chairs and sat down.

"I really didn't mean to jump on your case… It just seems like every time I turn around this week, someone is rippin' me a new one, and I can't figure out exactly why."

"Wouldn't have anything to with your new friend, the professor, would it?" Nick was starting to think his thoughts were either transparent, or she was psychic. "And before you go thinking I have some great insight here… I heard about what happened at the field site."

That was at least a little relief, because he realized Sara probably told her about the incident. And then he got nervous, because that also meant she probably told Grissom about it as well.

"Yeah, we had dinner with David and Sandi before shift, and she said it was not exactly a pleasant experience for all."

Nick visibly relaxed at her explanation. However, his curiosity was getting the better of him, and so he asked, "What did she have to say?"

"The highlights? Something about you almost being late, getting caught in a real blower and then…" She gave him one of those sarcastic looks and continued, "there was the part about you going all caveman and throwing the Doc over your shoulder like a sack of potatoes."

Nick groaned at her description of the incident and banged his head back against the wall. "Man!" He expelled a lung full of air and then said, "I don't even know why I did it, ya know?"

"Male bravado?" Stephanie commented as she laid back down on the couch.

"Why would you say that?" Nick was genuinely curious as to her opinion of him and the situation.

"Because it's who you are, I guess." She threw her arm over her eyes again as she spoke.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He was beginning to think everyone he knew thought he was a sexist jackass.

"It means you have a different set of rules for different people." She paused for a moment and tried to formulate the rest of her response. "Like with the report… You decided I must be ill, and since I'm a girl, you felt a need to look after me for some reason… I'm not ill and I have never bought into the delicate female myth. Maybe that works where you come from, but not me."

"That's so not fair! I have five older sisters, and there is no way I could have survived if I had been even a little sexist. And my mother's a lawyer for cryin' out loud." Nick was getting riled up at the inference.

"Were you told to always get the door?"

"Yeah."

"Were you taught to always take care of a woman?

"Of course." Nick shrugged that one off like it meant nothing.

"Then by default, you think a woman can't take care of herself in any situation." Nick was shaking his head at her deduction of his beliefs. "Just give me a second to explain…

"My folks, they got married late in life, and my Mom had been on her own since she started college. She had to fight for everything she got and she made sure she had all the skills she needed to succeed in a man's world. My Pop, he was orphaned as a kid, and spent his first years in a Catholic children's home, until his sister was adopted by another family. When they found out she had a little brother, they took him home, too. His adopted mother was a business woman, and her husband had a private law practice that he operated out of their home. So, he grew up around not only a strong woman, but also a man willing to care for his children." Nick thought about how Stephanie maneuvered through life and the difficult world of forensic pathology and he understood a lot more about her because of her family history.

"I was exposed to a family model that showed me the power a woman could wield and the caring nature of men. But at the same time, I saw that my father was also a powerful man, and my mother was just as caring. They were equals, and I never had to question that. I also never had to question who was in charge, or try to work one against the other, or which one cared about me more, or which one liked me more." Stephanie hit on something that struck a nerve with Nick.

"So, who was the disciplinarian in your family?" Nick was using his own family model for parental roles.

"Disciplinarian?" Stephanie removed her arm and cast a puzzled glance at him.

"Ya know… When you got in trouble, who nailed you for it?" Nick was having trouble understanding why she was asking that question.

"In trouble? I don't know that I ever really got in trouble… Well, not any real trouble anyway. But Uncle Gil was the one who usually had long talks with me when he'd find out I had been causing mischief at school." Stephanie winked at him and then said, "Of course I was a pretty weird kid, and the only people who ever raised their voices to me were my teachers when I would question what they were saying… I was hell in Sunday school class." Nick had to laugh at her joke, and it helped to lighten the mood a little.

"Maybe I should have come to your house to stay, then I wouldn't be catchin' so much hell right now just for acting like a gentleman." Nick chuckled at his own joke, but when he looked at Stephanie she was not laughing.

"You think hauling someone off against their will is being a gentleman?" Nick was shocked at her question and he blushed when he realized the impact of what she had said. "No wonder you only date Barbie Dolls."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know… The sex pot-slash-brainless Betty Crocker types I've seen you with: all style and no substance." Even lying down, Nick could tell she was shrugging off his question.

"C'mon… That's not true." Nick was shaking his head again.

"Let's see, there was that flight attendant, the blackjack dealer, the nurse from the respiratory wing when I was in the hospital, that meter maid from traffic, the other nurse from God knows where… Was she really a nurse, or did she just have the clothes for some reason?" Her loaded question made Nick's jaw drop in total shock. "And that's just since I've been in town… I hear you had some more colorful dates before I got here."

"Okay, obviously my personal life is everyone's fodder around here."

"Please, this building is worse than 'Peyton Place,' and you know it." There was no argument for that one, and Nick knew it as well as anyone.

"Well, if I'm such a sexist asshole, then why do you even bother?" His tone was sharper than he had intended.

"Because you aren't an asshole, you're just deluded." That gave Nick a chuckle, and so she continued, "Look, I don't think you're a bad guy, the whistle incident aside, I just think you've got some pretty outdated opinions about how women should be treated. And I think you date women who are not as keyed in to the feminist mind on purpose."

With his head shaking again he had to ask, "I don't understand that… What d'you mean?"

"Well, you date these bimbo types; not as educated, no strong personalities, pretty on the outside and not much going on besides that. They're never gonna threaten your motives, and they play into your condescension as a way to wiggle into your life, somehow."

Nick could not help himself, he had only one thing to say, "Wow…"

"Sorry, man… I just call it like I see it." She sat up on the couch again and then said, "I mean, it's not like it makes you a bad guy, Nick… It just makes you a guy I would never have gotten to know if we didn't work together, and because I did get to know you, I can see past those things that piss me off."

Nick chuffed at her comment and remarked, "Sara said almost the same thing to me this week."

Stephanie gave him a sly grin and said, "So, if two of the smartest women you know say something, don't you think you should pay attention?"

Nick winked and then said, "Could just mean I work with a couple rabid feminists…" Nick got up to leave at his final remark and was glad to have at least ended his conversation with Stephanie on a friendly note. But he had a lot of things to think about.