"Jack, come on man! You know you still owe me." Nick looked up as Catherine stepped into the break room. "I knew I could count on you. Tell Anna I send my love, and be safe. You have my cell number right? Great, I'll talk to you soon."
Catherine's quizzical look was all it took for Nick to explain the call. "My old partner from Dallas, I have him running a background on her from their end. He owes me so he's gonna do it 'no questions asked' as re-payment."
"Sounds like a start. I've got Brass working on it from this end." Catherine stated as she poured a cup of coffee for both of them. "So, have you decided how you want to handle this?" It didn't go un-noticed by Catherine that Nick practically fell into the chair he was standing by.
"I don't want anymore to come out than has to. I feel like enough of a louse already for not coming forward all those years ago. I don't know if I can handle the whole world knowing my responsibility in all of this." Nick explained to Catherine.
"Well, my pep talk about your lack of responsibility for what has happened I'll save. But you know, Nick it will come. How do you want to explain the background we'll be getting from Dallas PD?"
"Do you think Brass will believe me if I tell him it's just a person I remember coming across in Dallas?"
"Not likely, but I doubt he'll let on." Nick cocked an eyebrow in question at Catherine. "Nick, Brass thinks a lot of you. He wouldn't pry. But he would know there's more to it than that." Nick nodded in understanding.
"So, how about we check on the DNA, we should know if we have a hit by now." Nick rose, throwing his coffee cup in the trash untouched. Catherine followed him out.
"Mandy, what do we have on that DNA we left with you?" Catherine entered the lab all business.
"Well, it's female, from the hormone levels I would say she is in the early stages of menopause. So maybe 40-45 years old. Don't know if that helps, but it's all I can give you. There's no match in CODIS. Sorry." Mandy could feel the heaviness that her report left on the two CSI's. She wanted to be of more help, but she couldn't.
"Nick Stokes?" A messenger stood in the open doorway.
"Yeah?" Nick stepped over to the man.
"I need you to sign for this please." The man held out an electronic signature box to Nick. After Nick signed the man handed him a manila, letter-sized envelope.
"Thanks." Nick mumbled as he took the package. "I'll be in the break room Cath." Nick let out in a rushed tone as he stepped around the deliveryman. The man smiled at the two women politely and left.
"What's up with Nick tonight?" Mandy asked, a little put off by his abrupt departure. Then turned to see what Catherine's response would be, only to find herself alone. Catherine had darted out the other door almost as soon as Nick had exited.
Nick sat at his desk staring at the envelope. He knew that handwriting. He had received letters from her occasionally after the "event" as Nick's brain categorized what had happened all those years ago. "How did she find me?" Nick racked his brain trying to think of anyway he knew of that she could have gotten information on him. He knew his family hadn't. She was a one-time sitter. She wasn't a friend of his sisters; she wasn't an old girlfriend of his brother. But there it was, the proof that she had found him. Had she just found him, or has she been keeping up on his accomplishments. Nick's heart skipped a beat. Had she been stalking him?
Catherine found him staring at his desk. She watched him for several minutes as his face shifted through several emotions. The mother in her couldn't watch anymore. Catherine placed a hand on Nicks shoulder. This did not have the effect she had anticipated.
Nick jumped up and tripped over his chair, unceremoniously falling on his ass, and began to hyperventilate. Catherine stepped in front of Nick and took his face in her hands forcing him to look at her. "Nick! Nick it's me! It's Cath. Nick; you have to slow your breathing down. Come on Nick. That's it, slower, slower."
Nick slowly got his breathing under control. After a few minutes Nick looked at Catherine and then at his chair. "You really shouldn't sneak up on a guy you know?" Nick gave Catherine a half grin as she helped him up off of the floor.
Once seated at his desk again, Nick explained about the handwriting. "I remember her handwriting. She wrote me a few times before I graduated high school. I never read the letters. But I can still remember her handwriting from the addresses on the envelope. How did she find me Cath?" Nick's voice quivered slightly as he looked over at Catherine, his eyes as big as saucers.
The mother bear in Catherine wanted to hunt this vile thing down and pierce it's heart with a pitchfork. The CSI supervisor, however, wanted the answer to that question too. "I don't know Nick, not yet anyway. But we will find out!"
Nick blew out the breath he had been holding. "Well, I guess I better read this one hadn't I?" Nick slipped on a pair of gloves and carefully cut the end of the envelope off. He then slid the note out of it. Nick slowly unfolded the single piece of paper that came out, swallowing the lump that was growing in his throat.
Dear Nicky,
Oh, how I've missed you. I have seen the handsome, strong man you turned into. I look forward to having you all to myself again.
All my love,
A.J.
Nick sat staring at the letter, his stomach roiled as his ears could hear Alison's voice saying the words as he read them. "Not again…." Nick groaned as he bolted for the men's room.
Nick finished dry heaving and splashed cold water on his face. "Come on man. Get it together or you're never gonna be able to get through this case." Nick chastised himself. He took a couple of cleansing breaths as he dried his face. Nick checked his appearance in the mirror. He'd looked better, but he could pass it off as being tired to most anybody that might ask.
Nick headed back to his office. Catherine was waiting for him. "For your own sanity Nicky, you have to decide if and who you are going to let know." A knot twisted up in her stomach as she saw Nick flinch slightly at being called Nicky. She made a mental note to refrain from using it for a while.
Nick stared at his feet for a few minutes while he considered his co-workers responses. He wanted to tell her that nobody needed to know. That it was his secret, his shame and it was hard enough dealing with the fact that she knew. He wanted to run and hide from the world. But he knew that he wouldn't. "Greg, Brass and Mandy." Nick rasped just above a whisper. Then he turned and left the building.
