Chapter 18

(Two weeks later- June 3 2006)

"C'mon Babe...wake up." Nick prodded and let his thumb trail over her cheek, the place where the bruise from two weeks ago had been, and now faded. He sighed and shook her shoulder lightly in an effort to wake his sleepy girlfriend. "Come on Sweetheart...we don't have a lot of time."

"Mmm...'fore what?" She drawled lazily and rolled away from him. She was awake, but not willing to leave the soft bed. Nick chuckled and climbed into the bed with her. He rolled her over so that she was facing the ceiling and braced himself on his knees and straddled her hips.

"Before us both have to be into work...its Tuesday which means you're at the Club/bar tonight." He climbed off of her and to the bottom of the bed, allowing her room to move out of the bed. "But first we have to go shopping."

"For shoes?" She asked hopefully and bolted up right in bed. Nick chuckled and picked up her discarded red Manolo Blahniks from the night before. They were rounded toe heels with a strap across the ankle, and 'very shiny'...which was Riley's favorite feature.

"Darlin' I think you have enough shoes."

"No, shoes are like sex...you can never have enough."

"But too much sex can hurt ya...same with shoes."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You only tripped over my shoes once...let it go Nicky."

"But I could've broken my neck...or my pelvis...where would you be then? If I'm not in perfect condition you'd have been devastated! Admit it...!" Nick replied theatrically and she shook her head and suppressed a smile.

"Oh don't worry...I think your giant ego would've padded the fall." She commented, lying back down in the bed and stretching like a cat.

"Ooh. Good burn." Nick complimented and she shrugged. "C'mon, get up sleepy head." He yanked her foot from the bottom of the bed. She yelped in surprise and threw her arms back to latch onto something, but not soon enough. She was yanked under the covers that had pooled at the bottom of the bed and Nick crawled under them through the opening at the bottom of the mattress. He laid on top of her naked body and kissed her softly.

She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. "How about we skip shopping and fool around?" She suggested and Nick chuckled and shook his head. "Wow, a man who wants to shop rather than have sex...that's a first."

Nick laughed. "Yeah, I'm amazing like that. I'm just trying to get your beautiful ass outta bed."

"Well this isn't the way to do it."

"You're right." Nick said and slid from underneath the covers and pulled them back, exposing her naked body. She squealed and covered herself, trying to stay warm.

"Ahh! Give me back the sheets!"

"Get dressed and you can have the sheets."

"Screw it, I'll just lay here naked." She replied defiantly and laid back on the bed in all of her naked glory. Nick smiled at all the thoughts swarming his head about what he'd like to do to that naked body, but he pushed them away and pulled on her foot again.

"C'mon." He ordered. "You always get mad that I never take you grocery shopping and I don't get 'the good stuff'" He quoted. "So come on..."

She sighed and crawled out of bed. "Fine." She grumbled like a little kid and Nick laughed. "Just for the record, I don't like you anymore."

"I know...I'm merely your sex toy to be used at your dispense, and worship the very ground you walk on."

"Damn straight." She joked back and Nick laughed.

--Doo dee doo...now they're at the grocery store shopping...like a couple (Aww!) Told you they're cute...time for drama?--

"Get the whole grain bread." Riley said.

"Aww...do we have to?" Nick whined.

"It's the healthiest kind Nick."

"Yeah...but I don't like the little grains in it..."

"That's the healthy part."

He sighed but put the bread in the cart. "I'm beginning to think that maybe I should have left you in bed." He grumbled as he pushed the cart along. "And aren't you supposed to push the cart?"

She dropped her jaw and scoffed. "I know you're not referring to this situation as though it's my place as a woman to push the cart...my mom rarely ever pushes the cart when she and my daddy go shoppin'...besides, if you don't push the cart then you'll run around the isles and fill it with candy and beer..."

"Don't forget the Cheerios." Nick added while grinning from ear to ear. She made a face and shook her head, her red flowing angelic curls being contained merely by his LVPD cap. He smiled at her appearance of a pair of distressed jeans, her trade mark Consoles, a tiny Guns and Roses Tee Shirt and his hat.

"I hate the smell of Cheerios...they smell like pee." She stated seriously and Nick doubled over laughing. "They do!" She defended.

"Is that why you use beer instead of milk?"

"Hell yeah!" She replied and Nick laughed again. "The smell of the beer covers up the smell of the Cheerios."

"God Riley!" Nick laughed as they turned into the nest isle. "Oooh! Grab some fruit roll ups." Nick asked and she laughed.

"And I'm the one whose crazy insane? You're acting like a little kid..."

"I think we both are..." Nick reasoned and Riley nodded.

"Fair enough...how about some Chicken Noodle soup?" She asked and Nick nodded.

"Can we get TV Dinners?" Nick asked, knowing she wasn't real big on cooking and he had been so wiped out from work lately he didn't have the energy to cook. She nodded and Nick picked up enough to last them both for a while.

"Do we have any peanut butter?"

"I don't know...did you eat it all? Cause you know I don't touch the stuff." Nick commented as he tossed a few bags of Oreos into the cart. She laughed at his selections and shook her head.

"How do you stay so fit when all you eat is this junk?" She asked and Nick laughed.

"I think our daily work outs might have something to do with it...which reminds me, we need more Gatorade." Nick grabbed a few large bottles off the cooled shelves and loaded them into the cart. "Do we have milk?"

"I don't know...you know we really should start making lists before we go shopping." Riley noted and Nick chuckled.

"Well we never have time because it takes you forever to get out of bed in the mornings." Nick joked and Riley shrugged.

"What can I say, your bed is comfy."

"Well...maybe it can be your bed too, if you enjoy it so much..." Nick hinted at the idea that had been swarming his head for a while now. She furred her brows and didn't look up as she continued loading things into the cart.

"Huh?"

Nick sighed and bit his lip. Man...she can be clueless sometimes...well, maybe that's a good thing...I mean, I haven't even told her I love her yet...yeah, I should probably do that sometime...

Nick had felt like the fact that he loved her had been his dirty little secret for too long now. Hell, they had been together for almost seven months, not counting their 'ten minute break up' (as Kiersten had deemed it) merely three months into the relationship.

"What'd ya say Baby?" She asked and Nick shook his head.

"Just more jokes about your laziness." He lied and she stuck her tongue out at him playfully. Nick chuckled lightly, his suggestion of her moving in with him, that seemed to go over her head, had gotten him down slightly. This also had gone over her head, for which Nick was thankful for, and Nick tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Hey..." She began and grabbed his hand as he went for the cart. She laced fingers with him and pulled him closer to her. "You okay? You look like someone just ran over your puppy."

Nick gave a soft, half hearted smile, and nodded. "Yeah, I just got real tired all of the sudden." Nick lied and Riley smiled at him and nudged his shoulder.

"Well wake up, you've got bad guys to catch in less than two hours." She said looking at her watch. Nick chuckled and brought his free hand to the railing of the metal basket of the cart, then released her hand to do the same thing on the other side of her body, trapping her in between his arms, his body, and the cart. Nick grinned like a Cheshire cat and rubbed his body into hers. She laughed and shook her head. "You seemed pretty awake now Cowboy..."

"Right back at ya Cowgirl..." Nick growled, letting his accent come in full swing as he brushed his lips lightly over hers. She captured his lips with hers and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his body closer despite the fact that they were in the middle of the frozen food section at a local super market.

"Aww, what a sweet Southern pair we make." Riley drawled when Nick finally pulled away.

"I'll say." Came a familiar voice from behind Nick. Nick spun around and felt a blush come over his face.

"Griss...hey." He greeted nervously and cleared his throat. "What uh...what're ya doin here?" Nick shifted nervously of having been caught making out with his girl friend in the middle of the isle.

Grissom tried to suppress a smile as he gestured to his basket. "Same as you, shopping...except my basket didn't come with a pretty red head." Grissom joked and Riley blushed.

"Nice to see ya Mr. Grissom." She gave a slight wave and Grissom nodded.

"Nice to see you too. And please, call me Gil." He gave a pointed look at Nick. "Don't be late for work...again." He tried to hide his smile as he walked off down the isle, when he was gone, Riley released a nervous chuckle.

"Well he kinda intimidates the Hell outta ya don't he?" She drawled and Nick laughed.

"You kinda get used to it..."

"We should go check out." She changed the subject and began pushing the cart down the isle.

Nick scoffed playfully, "Yeah, that's right. Know your place woman." Nick joked in a husky voice, earning himself a punch in the shoulder from his girlfriend. "Oww...alright I get it, I get it, no need to get violent." Nick drawled and she shook her head.

"Don't call me 'woman'." She said while smirking. Nick rubbed his shoulder where she had punched him and grimaced.

"That hurt." He whined and she turned to give him a soft pout.

"Sorry Hon."

Nick gave a mock pout and frowned. "I don't like you anymore."

She smiled and stopped the cart so that she could turn to face him. Her lips traveled passed his lips, and her teeth connected with his ear lobe. When she pulled at the soft flesh Nick groaned and brought her body close to his own. "Yes you do..." She growled seductively and Nick smirked and closed his eyes as she began nibbling and kissing his ear. "In fact...I know you do." She chuckled, referring to his evident manhood rising against her stomach.

Nick chuckled and let one hand graze up her side, then onto her hand, up her arm, across her shoulder and then to the nape of her neck. His fingers dribbled flippantly across it, playing with the small pieces of hair and soft skin as he did so, and down the bones of her spine, till his hand settled on the small of her back. She smiled deviously at him and traced a finger along his jaw line. "Think if we hurry we can uh...?" She waggled her eyebrows and Nick smiled.

"Oh yeah...but we may have to pull a little bit of Nascar drivin Sweetheart."

"Yee Haw!" She cheered. "And until then, think of old grandmas swimming in a kiddy pool, in frilly two piece bikinis." She replied in an attempt to hide her boyfriend's extremely evident erection.

Nick shivered and made a gagging noise as she laughed and hurriedly pushed the cart to a counter so they could check out of the grocery store.

--Tee hee...they're horney little rabbits aren't they? XD Don't ya just love 'em...(answer: of course!)—

Nick raced down the halls of the Las Vegas Crime Lab and almost bumped into several lab techs and fellow CSIs on the way. "Sorry!" He apologized as he hurried down the halls, hell bent on not being late again.

He slid into the break room and panted for breath. "Sorry I'm late!" He apologized, and furred his brow when he realized it was only Catherine and Greg in the room.

"Geez Nicky, where's the fire?" Catherine asked while flipping through her magazine.

"Where is everybody?" Nick asked.

"Griss is still a no-show, Rick called in to say he's stuck in traffic, and Sara never left the lay out room..."

Nick sighed and doubled over, resting his hands on his knees, and trying to catch his labored breath. "So what had you runnin so fast?" Greg asked, a smirk appearing on his knowing face.

Nick shook his head. "Just...woke up late and hurried to make it in on time." Nick lied...he'd been doing a lot of that lately. He realized that it was only to cover up the fact that he had been secretly dating a woman he was crazy about (Hell, he down right loved her) for nearly seven months now, and the only people who knew for sure were Grissom and Greg. Though all they knew was that he was dating her...and that she was a redhead.

Nick sighed and plopped down into an empty chair at the break room table and waited for his heart rate to slow down...it hadn't fully returned to normal after he and Riley had fooled around, but they had caught sight of the time and had no other choice than to haul ass to work...while each of them was still 'frustrated'. Nick picked up a 'Car and Driver' magazine to distract himself from thoughts of Riley.

A few minutes late Grissom wandered into the room, file in hand. He looked around and noticed they were still short two members. "Where are Warrick and Sara?"

"Whew! Sorry guys! Traffic was a bitch." Warrick cursed and slumped onto the sofa next to Greg. "What's up Griss? Any new cases?"

"We can discuss that when Sara gets here."

"Where is she?"

"Here!" Sara called and wandered in, a big grin on her face. "Yes! Twenty straight hours of working and I finally got a break in the case! Go me!" Sara cheered energetically. Grissom looked at the younger woman as though she was completely insane...Nick tried to keep the smile off is face, knowing what that look really meant...he loves her.

"Sara, how many cups of coffee have you had?" Grissom asked while gesturing with his glasses. Sara looked at him innocently.

"Only about six cups or so..." She looked around. "So I'm gonna run with this? Okay! Is that cool?" She asked excitedly, and Grissom closed his eyes and shook his head, already on overload from her hyperactivity.

"Yeah...just...just go." He begged and she smiled.

"Great! I'll call Brass!" She smiled and took off down the hall, while everyone snickered at the stressed out look on Grissom's face.

"Alright...Las Vegas is behaving tonight...one case, a 410 out by Desert Palms...a Sedan and a Ford pick up...head on collision." Grissom said and Nick's head snapped up.

Ford pick up...desert palms...410...that's a reckless driver...oh God...no not again!

Nick's mind screamed and he tried to calm his racing heart and think logically as Grissom continued.

"Cath, you and Greg are on this one. Warrick, you and Nick are back on the Pin-up Rapes...get to work." Grissom ordered, and with that he left the team, minus Sara, in the break room. Nick practically bolted from the table and went into the secluded hallway where he could fret in privacy, once there, Nick automatically whipped out his cell phone and hit speed dial 1.

"Nick...hey, what's wrong?" Greg asked concerned at the pallor look on his face.

Nick ignored him as his heart fell a little more with each unanswered ring. God Ry...please...please, please pick up the damn phone... He pleaded internally and felt his heart sink completely when her voice mail picked up. The familiar drawl of the answering machine was lost on Nick's worried ears.

"Hello...? Hello?"

Nick felt his heart stop. "R-R-Riley?" Nick's voice cracked as he struggled to blink back tears that had formed when he thought she had been hurt again.

"Nick? Why are you callin me at work? Is somethin wrong?" Riley asked, trying to keep her tone from being harsh towards her boyfriend.

"Are...you're okay? Where are you?"

She sighed. "I just told you, I'm at work...Nick what's wrong?"

"Riley, is there an accident outside the hospital?"

"Uh yeah, in fact we're swamped with people in the accident...Nicky I've gotta go, so uh...I kinda need ya to get to the point." She drawled.

Nick sighed. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Okay...that was nice...random, but nice. So everything's okay?"

Nick blew out a breath of relief at the thought of her safely working in the hospital. He put his hand on his hip and looked up towards the ceiling, silently thanking God again that it hadn't been her in the accident. "Yeah...yeah I just wanted to make sure you get into work safely."

He could practically hear her grinning on the other end of the phone. "Well I'm fine Babe, but I have to go. I'll see ya after work. Bye."

"Bye." He said and they hung up, he sighed and turned around to see Greg arching an eyebrow.

"Want me to tell her you love her when I get there?" Greg teased, grinning like a fool.

Nick pointed a finger at him warningly. "You stay away from her when you get there...and keep your trap shut Sanders." Nick ordered while chuckling lightly. Greg beamed at him.

"Hey, I can't help it if my work happens to cross paths with your girlfriend." A sly smile came across Greg's face. "You're just worried that she'll meet me, fall victim to my charms, and then she'll choose me over you."

Nick laughed. "Your charms isn't the thing I'm worried about her falling victim to around you."

Greg rolled his eyes. "Ha ha...let's see if you're so optimistic after you've lost your woman to me."

Nick laughed again. "Yeah, I really don't see that happening Greg...but nice try."

--Be honest, how many of you thought I put Riley in another accident? Lol, nah I wouldn't do that, I'm not that mean...--

Nick sighed and ran a tried hand through his shaggy hair and blew out a frustrated breath. The horrid photos of the deceased female bodies the Pin-up Rapist had left behind floated in front of him, burning their details and appearances into his brain and corneas so that even if he closed his eyes, he couldn't escape the grisly images.

He sat back and pressed his fingers against his eyes, trying to rub the images away. "Nicky?" Grissom's voice came from the doorway. Nick removed his hand from his face and sat up straight in the chair, taking on a more professional, less stressed, appearance.

"Hey Griss, what's up?"

"How far have you come on the Pin-up case?"

Nick sighed and closed the file. "Not far."

"Alright, go home, get some rest, and come back refreshed for next shift." Grissom proposed and Nick furred his brow and shook hid head.

"What?"

"Go home Nick. You can't get any farther on this. We'll have to wait till He gives us more to work with..."

Nick looked at the older man he so often venerated...now wasn't one of those times. "You mean another victim."

Grissom shook his head slightly. "If that's all we have..."

Nick stood out of his chair and looked at Grissom in pure disgust. "No...no, I'm not gonna sit at home and do nothing but wait for this sick bastard to rape, torture, and murder another innocent girl when there's something I can do about it." Nick replied, anger and twang rising with every word.

"But that's the thing Nick; there isn't anything you can do. We have nothing to go on, we're at a dead end...there isn't anything left."

"No, Grissom...you're always sayin if we study his past we can predict his future. Well...I can at least study his past. That's something I can do." Nick answered, more to convince himself rather than Grissom.

Grissom sighed and stepped completely into the room. "Nick, there is no past. There is no evidence. There is nothing left to go on. All we know...is that he's already chosen his next victim..."

Nick clenched his jaw and looked away. "And all we can do is wait." Nick said softly, finally coming to grips with the fact that there was nothing left that he could do. Grissom looked down and nodded. Nick shook his head, dragging his gaze back to Grissom. "That's not good enough."

And with that he pushed passed Grissom and walked down the hall. Grissom turned to watch him go, no more a yard or so away, Grissom's voice echoed into Nick's ears. "Let it go Nicky. Drop the case for now...we're at a dead end."

Nick whipped around. "What's with you?" Grissom simply stared. "You've never really had a heart when it came to cases, but this is a whole new level of cruel, even for you." Nick whispered harshly as he turned off down the hall and out the front doors, leaving everything but his car keys and ID in the building.

--Yep...I know...kinda depressing...and dark...and disturbing. Poor Nicky...so what's gonna happen next? I have no idea...I'll know when I write it.--

So...what'd ya think? Hmm...maybe you should drop me a review and let me know...

-Chella Belle