Ok, so I got my feet wet and had a couple of good reviews. Thank you very much! As before I own nothing. And CSIJaina rocks! I must apologize though. My hard drive cooked and it took me a while to get it back from the repair shop. I have a few more chapters written and will post as soon as I get them beta'd!

Chapter 2

"Vic is ten year old Nickoli St. James. Mother found him about an hour ago."

What Nick saw seemed surreal. He barely made out what Brass had said as his subconscious mind tried to convince his conscious mind that this was real. This innocent little boy was laying on the floor of his bedroom in a puddle of his own blood his dark hair shimmering with the still wet blood from his wrists. Next to his body someone had written a message. Nick stepped closer with his camera ready. As he crouched down he could make out what was written. Nick's blood turned to ice as he read the bloody note. 'She wouldn't stop hurting me'. Though Nick didn't realize at first it was only a momentary flashback. As he looked into the brown eyes of Nickoli.

Catherine had been getting some family information from Brass while Nick started taking pictures when it dawned on her that she hadn't heard him take even the first photo yet. Catherine stepped into the room and saw Nick still crouching next to the boy. "Nick, how's it coming?" Nick didn't respond; didn't move. Catherine stepped closer to him and looked over his shoulder. From the portion of the message visible to her she couldn't quite make out what it said, but the thought of this small child leaving a message in his own blood nearly tore her heart out.

She gently placed a hand on Nick's shoulder. "Nick, why don't you let me take the inside? You can take the outside," she coaxed. A split second later Catherine was nearly knocked off her feet, the surprise at Nick's sudden bolt for the door evident on her face.

Nick managed to make it just outside of the yellow tape before his breakfast made a return appearance. He remained kneeling for several minutes as he waited for the shaking to stop. After a few minutes he was able to compose himself and begin processing the outside. The lack of evidence so far was disheartening, but instead of letting that distract him, he increased his efforts. The last thing he wanted was to go back in that house. It was all he could do to keep from a full-blown panic attack as it was. He could pass the vomiting off as something he ate. A panic attack would be a different story.

About a half-hour later Nick could see Catherine coming out of the house. Deciding he wouldn't fool her by looking busy when he didn't have a single piece of evidence to show for it, he packed his kit up and headed for the Denali.

"Nothing outside, I take it?" Catherine queried tightly.

"No," was Nick's equally tight reply. He was waiting for the chewing-out he knew was coming for his behavior inside.

A terse, "Let's get back to the lab," was all he received for his worries.

The drive back was in strained silence. His nerves ready to shatter, Nick decided on a pre-emptive strike. "Cath, I'm sorry about back there." No reply. That couldn't be good. "I know I freaked a little bit in the bedroom. But I promise Cath, I have it under control now and I can still work this case with you." He hoped he sounded more confident in his last statement than he felt.

"You won't get through this case any less damaged than I will, Nick," Catherine replied in a strained tone.

Nick looked over in time to see Catherine wipe a mutinous tear rolling down her cheek. Somehow knowing this was going to be hard on her as well only made him feel worse.

"Hey Catherine, Nick, how's the case?" Riley glided down the hall towards her and Nick.

"Just terrific. How's your burglary?" Catherine inquired abruptly.

Riley decided to play it straight this time. "It looks like the gardener did it, or at least knows who did. He was the only one besides their extended family, who live out of state, that knew they were going to be out of town yesterday. Just waiting on the uniforms to bring him in for questioning."

Catherine and Nick were staring blankly at her. "I think I'll go check on my prints now." Riley slipped past them and hurried to the print lab, a little confused by their demeanor.

Nick and Catherine went separate directions to drop off their evidence in DNA, prints and AV. Both of them gave just the necessary information to each technician before hurrying out of the respective labs.

Nick held the door for Catherine as they entered the break room a few minutes later. Greg was seated on the couch and waved as they came in. "Hey Cath, thanks for letting me run with this one solo. I am so gonna bust this guy! He left evidence of the accelerant all over the place! And he even left several very good prints and…" Greg frowned as he actually looked at Nick and
Catherine for the first time since they came into the room. "Tell ya what, I'm just gonna go find something to do someplace else. If either of you need to talk just let me know, but for now I'm out of here." And with that Greg did a quick exit stage right out of the room.

Greg went up to reception and snuck some paper, a marker and tape from the desk to fashion a makeshift 'Keep Out' sign for the break room. As he was placing it on the door he looked in on his friends. They both looked spent, and it was still early in the shift. He had heard from the officers at his scene that theirs was an apparent suicide of a young boy. He felt bad for both of them and would do whatever he could to make it as easy on them as possible.