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:I know I gave you a long one last time, but this one is just setting up the next one, so you're just gonna have to deal with 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 27
06:00 – 2006.12.12
CSI Lab: Layout Room

Nick was busy at the computer trying to ID the tire treads. He had been scanning through the database for almost an hour and they were all beginning to look the same. He was still trying to deal with the news that the small pieces of paper recovered from the scene showed traces of raw heroin. The presence of heroin only meant one thing; they were dealing with a serious narcotics case.

Sara had finally received the print results from Mandy and they got two hits, along with one set of unknowns. The first hit was their best lead since he was a recent parolee, convicted of possession with intent to sell and first degree assault. The second one was less intriguing, it was from a Nevada State Gaming Card; the guy was a dealer at the Tangiers.

They completed all the crime scene diagrams and Nick had already arranged them into their standard report format. The only things left were the Trace report from the parachute material, identifying those tire treads and finally nailing down that blasted timeline. The first two items could easily be done with a few extra hours, but he dreaded the last one.

Before he could dwell on it for very long Sara popped her head into the room and caught him off-guard. "Hey, Sundance…" He stiffened with the shock of her sudden appearance and then gave her a shy smile. "I got bad news. I was just tapped to work a double homicide with Cath, and I gotta jet." She was about to turn out of the room when she thought of something else, "If you need any help, I think Greg just finished up with his case."

He waved her off and answered, "Nah… I just got a couple loose ends to tie up and then I'm sending it off to PD. Go have fun on your little girl's night."

"Watch it, Buddy… You're skating on thin ice as it is." She left him with a wink and he was alone again.

Shaking his head at the joke, he was once again flipping through tire treads in the database. And he was also beginning to think about the inevitable meeting with the Doc. He thought he had achieved a significant accomplishment in their most recent interactions, but his mind was now filled with the images from her accident and thinking about the horrible circumstances surrounding it.

He supposed it was something he needed to know in order to understand the woman's behavior better, but it was also making it more difficult for him to think of her in any other terms beyond damaged goods. Nick was now well aware of the hell she had been subjected to, and it was coloring his perceptions of her as a person. How could he face her again without letting that seep into his exchanges?

Nick was still lost in those thoughts when there was a knock on the doorjamb. "Ah, Nick?"

Looking up from the computer screen, Nick found Hodges standing apprehensively in the door. "What's up, Hodges?"

"I ah, have the report on that parachute material." Nick was one of many people giving Hodges the beat down since his unfortunate incident, but even he was forced to admit that the lab tech had already suffered enough by that point.

"Great… What've ya got, man?" Nick gave the other man a casual smile and his full attention.

Hodges seemed to relax a little at seeing Nick's welcoming demeanor. "Well, I analyzed the spots you had marked, but they all just turned out to be tree sap, like I said when you brought it in."

"Tsk… Yeah, I was afraid of that."

"But… When I was analyzing one of the spots, I found a second sample in the mix." Nick lit up at the news. "Beneath the pine tree sap, I found a trace amount of a lubricant. After some research, I was able to isolate it to a specific industry, but there's no way to get a brand, since it's all the same stuff, just packaged by different companies."

Unfortunately, Nick was never very good at dealing with Hodges, so his patience ran thin pretty fast. "Right, so what am I dealing with then?"

Hodges returned to his skittish behavior and answered in a stilted cadence. "Oh yeah… Right…" He looked down at his report and then handed it over to Nick when he answered, "It was, ah, well, um, aircraft lubricant, typically used in small, commercial turbo props."

"Awright, Hodges… Thanks, man." Nick was already engrossed in the report before Hodges left the room.

Nick looked over everything he had and knew there was only one loose end left to tie up; the timeline. He reluctantly started gathering up all of his reports and notes and prepared to once again do battle with the beast. He would be at her office bright and early and hoped he caught her on another good day. The only real problem was going to be how he was going to keep those horrific images at bay while he asked her his questions. With the images flashing through his mind, he knew it was going to be nearly an impossible feat.