I don't own anyone from CSI...or the LVPD...and the spoilers are...Grave Danger, Daddy's Little Girl, Cool Change, Who Are You, Random Acts of Violence, and No More Bets...none of which do I own...I also don't own...well anything... :)

Chapter 16

(Next night)

Nick cautiously stepped out of the elevator and walked quietly to the waiting room outside of Riley's door. He wasn't too surprised to see that everyone had gathered into the waiting room, all of whom were asleep. Nick was thankful for that. He stepped passed them and went to Riley's door. He braced himself before he turned the knob and pushed open the door, to see the sleeping form of Riley.

She wasn't hooked up to many machines, only one with a needle in her arm, and one other to monitor her heart rate. He sighed softly and walked towards the bed and placed two fingers on the rail of the hospital bed and watched her nose twitch as she slept. He knew waking her would more than likely upset the doctors, so he pulled up a chair and sat down next to her. Her hand was lying still beside her thigh, and he reached out and wrapped his slightly larger one around it.

She moved in her sleep so that her head was now facing him, but her eyes were still closed. Nick smiled softly and brushed a strand of hair away from her face. The hospital lights made her pallor even whiter than it normally was, and her hairline was glistened with sweat. He chuckled knowing that when she woke up she'd no doubt bitch at the doctors until they allowed her to take a shower. She hated feeling the least bit grimy. Riley had no problems getting dirty...but she had problems with staying that way.

Nick felt his eyelids drooping as he watched her sleep, and he allowed his eyes to close...but only for a moment.

--Now let's catch up with them about...oh, say an hour later--

Nick felt his hand being tugged only lightly, which nudged him from his sleep. He took in a sleepy breath and sat up to see Riley shifting in her sleep. He smiled and shook his head; she always tossed and turned like crazy throughout the night. Hair had fallen back into her face, and once again, Nick pushed it out of the way; accidentally stirring her from her sleep. Her eyes fluttered open and he bit his lip and smiled in apology. "Sorry..."

She smiled and squeezed his hand tighter. "Hey...I missed you." She said and nick nodded.

"I missed you too Baby...more than you'll know." He vowed and stroked her cheek lightly. She smiled sadly and arranged his bangs so that they were out of his face.

"Tough shift?"

Nah, ya know, just the usual confrontation of the woman whose father buried you under ground in an attempt to figure out who the Hell else was in on it...

"Nah...same ol' same ol'..." Nick lied. "I just missed you. I'm sorry I didn't call. We were kinda swamped."

"Hey," She waved the comment away. "Someone has to put the bad guys away."

Or girls...

He smiled and brought the chair as close to the bed as it would go. "So, how many doctors have you threatened since you've been here?"

"Three doctors, five nurses, and six assistants...in counting. I'll tell ya though, the main doctor, Dr. Martin, he's pretty cute."

"Babe, not the kinda thing I wanna here today."

She rolled her eyes. "Not for me." She swatted his arm. "I'm talkin about Kiersten."

"Well...he was checking her out yesterday." Nick noted and Riley processed this new information.

"Hmm..."

"No no no, uh uh."

"What?" Riley asked innocently and Nick laughed while shaking his head.

"Stay out of it Ry."

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb. If things are meant to happen, they'll happen without your help."

She looked at him oddly. "You really do believe in that whole 'love at first sight' crap don'cha?"

Nick rolled his eyes. "Not necessarily, but this will happen if it's meant to. Don't meddle Riley."

"What if I just-"

"Bryn Riley Ann Turner! You need to stay out of this. Things will just be screwed up if you do."

"Yeah, I do tend to fuck up relationships."

"Yeah you do." Nick admitted shaking his head, knowing that comment would earn him a beating from her. Sure enough she gaped at him and punched his shoulder, much like she did the guys. Nick laughed and held his shoulder. "Damn! You gotta hard punch for a woman lying in a hospital bed."

She shook her head and Nick leaned over and kissed her cheek. "...So I can't even get his number?" She asked and Nick rose a brow. She rolled her eyes. "For Kiersten."

Nick smirked. "I think I should just get you a new doctor all together." Nick joked and Riley rolled her eyes and pulled him closer to kiss him. Nick leaned over towards her and put one hand on her side, and the other braced himself above her. He deepened the kiss, both of them needing to feel something, and the sudden passion filled contact from Nick sent Riley's heart monitor beeping rapidly.

Dr. Martin hurried into the room and interrupted the couple's passionate kiss. When he realized what was going on he cracked a smile. "Well, I think we found the source of the increased reactions to the iodine and heart rate." He said casually, not realizing what his words would do in Nick's mind. Nick immediately pulled away from Riley and stood a few feet away from the bed. Riley realized what ideas the doctor had planted in Nick's hair and she internally grimaced.

Man...! I am gonna kick some serious doctor ass when they let me out of this damn bed...! She vowed and sighed.

--Tee hee...I know...I'm completely evil...it didn't bother me when my mom said it and it doesn't bother me now--

"Las Vegas Police Department! Open up!" A muffled voice yelled.

All that could be heard was silence.

All that could be seen was black.

Smash!

Crack!

"Kelly Gordon, you're under arrest for the murder of Sylvia Mullins." The voice became slightly clearer...it was a woman...

Suddenly a small white light began to shine from the center of the black.

"Stand up." The voice demanded. It's definitely Sofia. The accent was unmistakable.

Suddenly the white light moved up and stretched to form the shape of a body...a woman.

The black was gone, and was now replaced by the hot, bleary room that he had been in earlier that day.

Kelly Gordon stood up, and struggled to keep her arms up as Sofia patted her down.

Her icy blue eyes were on Nick the entire time.

"Care why I did it?" She whispered.

"Doesn't matter now." Nick answered. His voice sounded faint to his own ears...almost as if it was far away.

"She told me my dad didn't leave me anything. He never would've done that...he loved me." She whispered.

Nick stared at her as Sofia slapped the cold metal cuffs on the blonde's tiny, thin wrists. "So you killed her?" Sofia asked.

Nick's attention was involuntarily drawn to the bedside table. He could see a tiny orange bottle on it.

"The ransom was her idea. She didn't get the money. She took it from me."

And with that Kelly collapsed on the bed and began convulsing.

My God...what was happening?

Realization finally hit Nick.

"She's OD'ing...she's OD'ing right now!" Nick yelled.

"Call a paramedic!" Sofia demanded.

Everything else faded around him as he watched Kelly convulse on the unsanitary bed.

"Vicodine, INH, methadone. Kelly!" Nick yelled and leaned over her. "Kelly! Kelly!"

She stopped convulsing.

Nick slowly dragged his gaze up to Sofia, who kneeled down next to Kelly on the bed and began chest compressions.

Kelly's eyes opened again and she looked over at Nick.

The cyanosis had settled, turning her lips blue. She slowly parted her lips and a groaning sound came from her.

Suddenly, millions of ants came pouring from her mouth and attacked Nick.

The crawled up his arms, and all over his body, biting and pinching.

"Stop! Oh God! Get them off me! Not again!" Nick screamed and tried to push the ants off of him. "God no! No!"

"Nick! Nick! Stop it! It's only a nightmare!" Kiersten's voice yelled, snapping Nick out of his Hell.

Nick bolted forward, almost out of the chair, and tried to calm his breathing. He wiped the sweat off of his face and shook the remnants of his nightmare away.

"Jesus..." Emma said from the sidelines. Nick looked up and saw that everyone had witnessed his episode...he only hoped he hadn't been talking in his sleep again.

"Who the Hell is 'Kelly'?" Deven wondered, suspiciously.

No such luck...

"And what is up with all the drugs? Vicodine, INH, methadone...?" CJ asked.

"Is Kelly a drug dealer?" Shaun inquired.

"Is she your 'other woman'?" Jabari questioned.

"Dude, do I need to kick your ass?" Jon asked.

"Get bent ass holes." Kiersten demanded and shook her head. "Nick, Riley wants to see you..."

Nick slowly stood up and tried to avoid the dozen pairs of eyes watching him curiously as he walked into Riley's room. Nick opened the door and slipped in, promptly closing it so no one could see them. She was sitting propped up in the bed, twittling her thumbs. "Hey..." She greeted softly when she saw him.

He forced a tiny smile and walked into the room. "Hey...how are you?"

"Fine...how are you?"

He chuckled dryly. "I'm not the one in a hospital bed."

"No...but you are the one who woke up the comma patient on the top floor with your nightmare..." Nick paled and Riley scooted over in her bed and motioned for him to come over. "We didn't really get a chance to talk because of..." She gestured around her and smiled sadly. "How has your day been?"

Nick shrugged and sat down on the very edge of the bed. "It's been fine. Normal stuff you know?"

"Uh hmm...so who's Kelly?"

Nick looked over and held up his hands in surrender. "I'm not having an affair."

She rolled her eyes. "Duh. I figured that. Your time is completely booked with your work and me...but who is she?"

Nick sighed. "Just...just no one."

"Victim?"

Nick paused and looked into Riley's baby blue eyes. "Sorta." He said nodding slightly, and looking away.

She reached over and grabbed his hand. "Tell me Nick...what's goin on?"

Nick sighed. He didn't want to tell her this new burden, she obviously couldn't handle it. He ran a shaky hand through his brown hair and shook his head. "It's just...it's been a long day...it was just a case that got to me because of this." He gestured around them.

"Nick, c'mon. Tell me about it."

"I thought we made a 'no bringing our jobs into our relationship' rule...?"

She nodded. "We did. But I'm breaking the rule this once for the sake of the relationship. And before you object, yes I can do that since it could pose a detriment to your mental and emotional health, and I want you in the best physical, mental, and emotional condition because I'm greedy like that; therefore, it is now a part of our relationship." She summed up and Nick raised an impressed brow.

"You should be a lawyer."

"Nah, I hate politics and the law..." She joked and Nick rolled his eyes. "So c'mon...spill Cowboy."

Nick sighed, knowing there was no way out of this, and lying wasn't an option because she'd kick his ass if she found out. "Alright...remember how I told you about Walter Gordon...the guy with the grudge against CSI?" She nodded and Nick continued. "Well..."

--Okay so let's skip ahead about six hours...yep, that's where we are...--

Nick sat in the chair off to the side of the bed and watched Riley sleep. After he had told her about the case with Kelly, and then her horrible suicide, the nurse had come in to run a daily test on Riley and orally administered the solution of Potassium Iodine. Riley had fallen asleep shortly thereafter, and Nick had been contemplating his current situation ever since. Riley had taken the news just as she had when he told her about being buried alive.

She didn't ask him how he felt about it; how it had changed his life, or remind him how lucky he was to be alive himself, that she he was lucky she hadn't tried to harm him...she simply sat there and listened, held his hand, gave him an encouraging nod when he needed it, and asked about the facts. It was an odd type of relief that someone was just leaving it alone. If he didn't go into detail about something, she wouldn't push. She knew he'd tell her when he was ready. If it was too hard to talk about, she'd create a small diversion that would eventually lead them back to the topic, which was one reason it had taken them nearly four hours to tell the entire story.

Riley shifted in her sleep and scrunched her nose about something in her dream, causing Nick to smile. He sat on the bed next to her sleeping form and stroked her cheek lightly so as not to wake her. Her breathing stayed even as nick leaned over and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. "You can be arrested for that ya know." Came Riley's sleepy drawling, startling Nick.

"You're awake."

"You're busted."

He smiled and placed one hand on her other side in between her hip and her arm. "I've kissed you in your sleep before." He replied once he had situated into a more comfortable position.

"Aw damn, you've been givin me kisses and I haven't even been awake to enjoy it..." She pouted and Nick bent back down to place a soft kiss on her lips. She smiled as he pulled away. "Thank you..."

Nick shrugged. "Eh, it's the only way I know how to shut you up." Nick joked and she pursed her lips to suppress a smile.

"A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous." Riley quoted.

"Ingrid Bergman...I'm impressed."

She smiled. "Yeah, I know a lil' somethin somethin. I ain't just all good looks..."

"Yes, but you're so stunningly beautiful people don't get to see the brains behind the beauty often enough." Nick complimented and she gave him a look.

"Ooh, butter my toast Nick."

"Any day Baby." He replied, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. But not any time soon, because the last time we tried that you ended up in the hospital...

There was a soft knock on the door, and the young couple turned to see the door open slightly and the form of no other than Gil Grissom in the doorway. "Griss?" Nick asked confused. "Am I late for work again?" He asked, checking his watch. Grissom shook his head.

"No Nick, actually you have today off. You worked straight through the weekend...you need a break." Grissom replied. "I'm assigned to Ms. Turner's case."

"My case?" She asked confused.

"Whoa, whoa, Grissom...what? Do you think this was an attempt on her life?" He asked and Grissom shrugged. "So what is this? A 425...suspicious circs?"

"Huh?" Riley asked.

"I'm not sure Nick...I'll need to investigate it to figure that out." Grissom concluded, gesturing with the glasses he was holding and a case file, presumably Riley's. "You're off today, but we'll need you back tomorrow Nick."

"I want this case."

"No."

"Grissom-"

"Nick..." Grissom began, and his eyes shifted to Riley. Nick sighed and nodded towards the doorway. He turned back and held up a finger to signal he'd only be a minute. She waved him away and Nick entered the hallway with Grissom. Nick was slightly surprised to see that everyone had cleared out.

Probably hauled ass the minute Grissom uttered the words 'I'm with the Las Vegas Police Department.'...

"I'm on this case Grissom."

"No Nick, you're not. You need to go home, stay with Riley, she needs you."

"She'll be in the hospital for the next three days."

"No, I spoke with the doctor earlier and he's sending her home tonight."

"Why are you doin this Grissom?"

Grissom looked at the younger man confused and shook his head. "Doing what?"

"I want to work this case." Nick explained, almost whining. "You think I won't be able to handle it...why? I mean Hell, I just got off a shift where I had to deal with the murder of the assistant in my kidnapping, and, nice surprise, the murderer just so happened to be the daughter of the man who tried to kill me...and she ended up committing suicide."

"It's precisely that Nick. It's not that I think you can't handle it professionally, you've hard a tough shift, you're dealing with personal issues, and you have emotional ties to the victim."

"Don't call Riley that..." Nick growled in a deep voice.

"...You'd compromise the investigation." Nick put his hands on his waist and looked down at his feet. "Go home Nicky...take care of her...come back to work on Tuesday and I'll have a new case for you."

Grissom left him in the hall to think about things while he dealt with the investigation. Nick wasn't at all happy at being turned down for the chance to work the case...Hell, if anyone would have asked Grissom wouldn't have denied them.

Catherine dealt with the murder of Holly Gibbs, the accused rape involving her ex husband...the only case she'd ever been pulled from and not worked was when it dealt with Sam Braun. Warrick worked the shooting of the little girl whose father helped get him back on his feet, and Sara got practically any case she wanted...so why was Grissom being so biased towards Nick?

--Goodness, Nicky has an EMO little mind doesn't he? Reminds me of a shirt I saw today...it was black with the little fish from Finding Nemo on it...instead the fish had black bangs in it's face and a wrist cuff, the shirt said 'Finding EMO'...BTW, that had no relevance to any of this besides the fact that I thought it was funny...XD BTW, this is early the next day...--

"Ah! You mother fucker! Don't block my damn pass!" Marty ordered.

"You're not on my team dumb ass!" Jon exclaimed while slapping the man upside the back of the head.

"So!"

"That's the point of the game, Marty." Joey explained and Marty threw a pillow at his younger brother, his eyes never leaving the game.

"Pass the ball! Pass the ball!" Shaun demanded, pounding the remote controller wildly in an attempt to win.

"You're not on my team!" Jon explained again.

"Oh...whose team am I on?"

"Mine." Marty replied. "Shit! Block him Shaun!"

"Well sor-ry I just figured out I've been playing against my own team. So sue me."

"No, I think I'll pound your ass in instead." Marty replied and tackled Shaun off the couch. The two began to wrestle good naturedly and Jon threw down the remote in victory.

"Hell yeah! I won Baby!"

"Well that shouldn't have been hard, considering you were playing against two dumbasses." Deven called from the kitchen.

"Yeah, but it was a handicapped game."

"Not really." Deven replied chuckling. The aroma of something sweet filled the air and all the occupants of the living room, plus Jabari and CJ from the next room, came wandering into the kitchen in search of the source of the aroma.

"Whacha makin Dev?" CJ asked and Deven shrugged.

"Nothin...just some pancakes."

"With strawberry chunks cooked into it topped with strawberry sauce and whipped cream..." Jabari stated and smiled as realization dawned on him. "Riley's favorite...she's comin home today isn't she Deven?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

"Oooooh! Deven's trying to win her back through pancakes...classy." Marty joked and several of them snickered. Just then the front door opened, and the woman in question walked into the room, arguing lightly about something with Nick.

"No Nick, you've got better chances of pigs flyin." Riley drawled.

"C'mon...I'll wear what you want me to." He bargained and she laughed and shook her head.

"Nope. Not gonna happen." Riley decided and Nick moaned.

"C'mon...just the stockings and hat."

"Fuck no. It'd look weird without the dress." Riley stated and turned into the kitchen, not aware of the fact that everyone had heard the intimate conversation between the two. She sniffed the air and smiled. "Oooh! Somethin smells good!" She drawled and rushed over to the source. "Oh goodness! Strawberry swirl pancakes with strawberry sauce and whipped cream..."

"You're favorite." Nick and Deven finished at the same time.

Riley smiled and nodded; while Deven and Nick set each other with hard glares. A few of the guys snickered, and Deven silenced them with death glares. "Who made 'em?" She asked and Deven nodded a little to signal he had done it. He was rewarded with a 100 watt smile and slight shake of the head. "You've out done yourself Mr. Guisens." Riley complimented and winked as she walked up the stairs to her room. Nick shot Deven one more glare before continuing up the stairs behind Riley, and leaving the men back down stairs.

"Nice Deven, you're gonna make her breakfast on her first day back...tryin to get into her pants?" Shaun asked waggling his eyebrows and giving a thumbs up. Deven ignored him.

"You do know she has a boyfriend right?" Joey asked and Deven glared.

"Didn't stop you from hittin on her."

Joey held up his hands in surrender. "Hey, you two weren't datin then..."

"Fuck off Joey." Deven mumbled.

"Hey man, don't get pissy with me just cause you fucked up and fucked some other chick and blew your chances with Riley." Joey replied and quicker than anyone could react, Deven football tackled the man to the ground and the two began to Duke it out.

"Hey! Stop it you ass holes!" The men demanded, but Joey and Deven were too busy beating the shit out of each other on the living room floor to notice.

Riley and Nick came rushing down the stairs when the heard the yelling and rumbling, both looking rather worried. "Deven! Joey! Stop it!" Riley demanded. But they ignored her.

"Hey! Knock it off!" Nick shouted, getting in the middle of them. In a blind furry, Deven wheeled off and punched Nick square across the chops. Nick fell backwards and Riley rushed forward.

"Deven!" She screamed. At that exact moment Joey jumped up and went to hit Deven again, and Deven swung back in self defense, and accidentally hit Riley in the process, sending her falling to the floor in the process.

Everyone stopped, the fighting, the yelling, the swinging, except for Nick's fist connecting with Deven's jaw, sending him to the floor much as he had done Riley. Nick went to Riley's side and she stood up and shook her head. "What the fuck is wrong with y'all!" She demanded. Deven stood up and looked torn between running away from the wrath Riley would bestow upon him, or the wrath he was gonna give himself (which he couldn't really run from). No one said a word. "Answer me Damnit!" She ordered angrily, making several grown men flinch.

No answer still.

"If someone doesn't answer me in three seconds I swear to God..."

"Deven tackled Joey cause he made fun of the fact that he fucked up his chances with you and that he was trying to win you back through pancakes. So they duked it out...then you came in and..." CJ supplied and shrugged his shoulders.

All attention turned to Deven, who hung his head. Riley shook her head and stalked out the front door, slamming it behind her in the process. Nick was quick to follow her out, and caught her before she lit her cigarette. "Riley, the doctor said no cigarettes."

"Fuck the doctor; I'm sure getting punched in the face wasn't exactly on the top of his list either..." She growled and lit the end of the cigarette. Nick promptly plucked it from her mouth, put out the end, and slid it back in the pack. She sighed and Nick stuck the pack into his front shirt pocket.

"Stay here." He replied and went back into the house. All the attention turned to him, and he ignored them and went into the kitchen to grab an ice pack from the freezer. He walked back out and tossed two towards the two injured men in the living room. "Ice it." He ordered, and disappeared back outside with the third ice pack. He sat down in the lawn chair and motioned for Riley. She came over and sat in the chair next to him; he held the ice pack gently to her bruised cheek bone and pushed the hair from her face. "Are you okay?"

She rolled her eyes. "It's fine. Paige and I used to get into worse fights than that." She chuckled.

"Really...like when?" Nick asked in an attempt to divert her from her anger and the chance of her storming back in there and kicking some serious ass...

"Well, one time when we were like five and eleven, we were hangin out at my Dad's office building, and there was a gym there. So Paige and I went into the gym and were playing basket ball..." She laughed again. "I can't even remember what we were fighting about, but we started Dukein' it out, and my Dad came in...Boy I'll tell ya, he was pissed!" She laughed and slapped her knee as Nick laughed at the mental image. "He yanked us apart, picked us up by our shirt collar, and gave us the worst Texas-tongue-lashin ever! Man! It was bad! Then another time, we were like eight and fourteen, we were hangin out at my Mom's work, ironically a gym again, and we were swimming around in the pool...I think we were playin Cat Woman or Spider Man or somethin...but anyway, we started play fightin...apparently it looked real. They have these huge windows in the indoor swimming pool, where people who are working out can look through and see the pool and Jacuzzi. So my mom comes rushin out and yells at us sayin that people thought we were actually fightin...man, I was on the floor laughin my ass off!"

Nick laughed at the thought of two preteen girls playing Spider Man, and getting in trouble for play fighting. "Y'all were wild!"

"That wasn't even the worst time! When we were I was fourteen and she was about twenty, we threw a house party while my parents were away to Florida, we were a little drunk, and we started wrestlin, get this, in little white tank tops and booty shorts, in our backyard, at two in the morning! Of course the guys loved it, Hell; I think Jabari even got pictures! But we were so into it, we did the Hulk thing and ripped the tank tops in half and tossed 'em...it was friggin awesome!"

Nick laughed and shook his head. "I gotta tell ya Babe...that's kinda hot."

She laughed. "Did I mention it had rained earlier that morning and we were wrestling in the mud?"

"I want those pictures." Nick said seriously and she laughed.

"Good luck...I think Jabari's holdin them ransom..."

Nick laughed. "Geez...you were a wild child."

"I told you!" She said laughing and took the ice pack off her cheek. "This is fine...your turn."

"I'm fine." Nick said standing up and moving away.

"Sit." Riley said and Nick reluctantly sat. She placed the ice pack carefully on his injury and she shook her head. "See, you gotta stop jumpin in the middle of fights..."

"You're one to talk." Nick accused, a small smile on his face.

She smiled. "Alright, after this wonderful experience, I think I wanna take a hundred hour nap..."

"You mean a comma? You wanna take a comma?" Nick asked, remembering the joke from Dane Cook. She smiled.

"Yep. But with the 30 Stooges here I don't think that'll happen here. Wanna go back to your place?" She asked, knowing if they tried hard enough, they could probably sleep at her house, she just wanted to get him to walk back through his front door without something going wrong.

Nick sighed, but nodded. "Alright. You want me to go grab you some clothes?" She shook her head, grabbed his hand and placed it to the ice pack.

"I'll get 'em...be back in a second." With that she disappeared into the house.

--Yeah, I know...kinda dumb place to end the chapter, but I've gotta put a warning for the next scene in the next chapter...;D--

Reviews are like water to a desert wanderer...so you should quench my thirst and review! XD

-FMCSI60