A/N: It took me forever(ish) to decide on the song to go with this chapter. In the end I decided on 'Omega' by Stone Sour after toying with idea of using Green Day's 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams'. This just kinda sprang to mind as the best one for it. If you read the lyrics (underlined paragraphs) there's some bits that don't fit, but some bits do (at least in my mind), although that's never actually reflected in the chapter. So all in all, I own Alex and the idea, but everything else belongs to whoever owns CSI and whoever has the claim on Stone Sour lyrics. Another thing. Almost all the lyrics are actually spoken so I think it's more of a monologue than a song. Enjoy.What a skeletal wreck of a man this is, translucent flesh and feeble bones, the kind of temple where the whores and villains try to tempt the holistic domes, running rampant with free thought to free form the free and clear, and the matters at hand are shelled out like lint at a laundromat to sift and focus on the bigger, better, now.

Alex stared at the bar in front of her. She was leant against a wall in a rougher part of Las Vegas. Half of her wished that she could walk up to the bartender and order the strongest drink they had. Half of her knew she couldn't. The bartender wouldn't see her and she'd end up ranting at him all night about the fact that people like her never seemed to be able to get served while he served other customers and any psychically inclined people enjoyed the show. It hurt, Nick asking her to leave. Maybe not implicitly, but he'd still done it. The only reason she wasn't back in Limbo, or in hell was because he hadn't vocalised it. She couldn't face him doing that. It'd break her completely.

She noted the time. Nick would be clocking on soon. She could still watch him. Until he ordered her out of his life completely she'd stand on the edge, watching him. And she would watch him. Nothing could stop her from watching him. There was something telling her that she had to stay near him. A tiny, almost evil smirk curled her lips.

We all have a little sin that needs venting, virtues for the rending and laws and systems and stems ripped from the branches of office do you know what your post entails? Do you serve a purpose or purposely serve?

Nick drank the last of his coffee as he headed in to work. He still missed Alex. It had been a few days since he'd let her leave and he found himself regretting it more and more. She had a way of cheering him up. She was smart, funny, sweet and at the same time understood the world on a level that he'd never seen before. He guessed that was because she'd seen more of the world than him, than anyone really.

Part of him was telling him that he was being an idiot and that he knew that Alex wouldn't intentionally hurt him. The other half was telling him that he couldn't be sure. Alex hadn't exactly been completely open with him about who she was. He was so damn confused. He met Warrick in the locker room and listened curiously as his friend recounted the events that had lead up to him telling his girlfriend that he wasn't going to be going out without his piece. As they left Catherine handed them their assignments. As ever when they tossed that coin, Nick ended up on the trash run.

Wind down inside your adivistic allure, the value of a summer spent and a winter earned. For the rest of us there is always Sunday. The day of the week that reeks of rest but all we do is catch our breath so we can wade naked into the bloody pool and place our hand on the big black book, to watch the knives zigzag between our aching fingers.

Alex sat across from the crime lab, curled on a bench on the other side of the road. She knew for a fact she'd missed Nick, but she'd catch him when he came back. A figure crossed the road and sat down next to her.

"I know what you are," he stated, almost calmly, but there was a slightly scared note in his voice.

"So you're the one who lied to Nick about me," Alex made it sound as though she was stating the colour of a car, her eyes staring straight ahead, not wanting to look at the man beside her.

"I just told him what I knew."

"And what do you know?"

"That you're evil."

"There are many forms of demon Greg Sanders…"

She heard the surprised gasp, but continued.

"You need to learn which one you're looking at. I'm sure you have a job to do. If you don't mind, I'll sit here and mourn over how you ruined my death."

A vacation is a countdown, T minus your life and counting. Time to drag your tongue across the sugar cube and hope you get a taste. WHAT THE FUCK IS ALL THIS FOR? (WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?) SHUT UP! I could go on and on but let's move on shall we?

Nick tapped his fingers along with the song playing on the cassette tape. It was a country song about Las Vegas and he knew it almost by heart. The night promised to be a long one. Trash runs were often dull, and although Nick hated to refer to anything that might be a loss of human life as 'dull' it was the best way he'd found to describe trash runs. He'd given Warrick the coin hoping that in future it might get him better luck.

He arrived at the scene and the officer gave him the low-down. He was slightly amused to see that said officer looked slightly nauseous and allowed him to go and get some fresh air, chuckling and shaking his head. The cop didn't look like a rookie, but still had the stomach of one. A lot of the more experienced LVPD cops wouldn't even blink at the sight of a pile of entrails in the middle of an empty lot like this scene. Nick frowned slightly, the scene seemed almost contrived, still, it was his job to process it.

The last thing he remembered before complete blackness was trying to fight off an assailant.

'Alex!' he yelled weakly in the vaults of his mind.

Say, you're me and I'm you and they all watch the things we do and like a smack of spite they threw me down the stairs haven't felt like this in years the great magnet of malicious magnanimous refuse, let me go and plunge me into the dead spot again. That's where you go when there's no one else around it's just you and there was never anyone to begin with now was there?

Alex straightened slightly. For a second there she was sure she'd heard Nick. But no, it couldn't have been. He wouldn't. Her mind was tricking her, making her hear what she wanted to hear. She sighed and pulled her knees up to her chest, staring at the lab car park where there was suddenly a lot of activity. She chewed on her lip. Maybe she was hearing him. No, she was hearing things.

'Like you always hear things?'

Alex's head jerked up. There was no way that that…that…jerk could possibly know what she was thinking.

'Maybe I'm just your mind, telling you what you always knew. You've screwed up, again. Why not give up now and just let it all go? Admit that you're never going to attain redemption and just let everything go.'

For a second Alex was tempted to listen to the voice, but something stopped her. She couldn't do that to Nick. He might not want her around, but that didn't mean that she couldn't help him from a distance.

Sanctimonious pretentious dastardly bastards with their thumb on the pulse and a finger on the trigger. CLASSIFIED MY ASS THAT'S A FUCKING SECRET AND YOU KNOW IT! Government is another way to say better, than, you! It's like ice but no pick a murder charge that won't stick its like a whole other world where you can smell the food, but you can't touch the silverware. What luck! Facism you can vote for, isn't that sweet?

Greg heard it through dispatch. Nick Stokes had been abducted from a crime scene. Instantly the whole lab was on high alert, everyone struggling to find something that would help them find Nick. Greg half wondered whether that 'Alex' woman could do anything to help, then dismissed the thought out of hand. Even if Alex could help him, why would she? She was evil…wasn't she?

Maybe Alex would help him. Maybe she'd do it to try and fool everyone into thinking that she was one of the good guys. Greg knew he'd take that gamble if he asked her, but for now he was going to not ask her.

And we're all gonna die someday 'cause that's the American way and I've drunk too much and said too little when you're gaffer taped in the middle say a prayer save face get yourself together and SEE WHAT'S HAPPENING!) SHUT UP! (FUCK YOU!) FUCK YOU!

Alex sat cross legged on the bench. She'd been moving position for the last few hours, wondering what was going on inside the lab.

'ALEX!!'

Alright, that time she hadn't just heard things. Nick was yelling for her. She closed her eyes and hoped she could find where he was. Nothing, absolutely nothing. She closed her eyes. Tears she shouldn't have needed to cry streamed down her face. Emotional attachment wasn't something that was supposed to happen in her job.

"Alex," the voice of Greg Sanders broke into her reverie.

"What are you doing here?" she spat, unable to keep the teary quality from her voice. "Come to gloat over what you've done some more?"

"I need your help."

"Oh that's rich, and ironic. You need help from the woman that you condemned. Just give me a moment to think this over."

"It's Nick."

That instantly sobered Alex. Her eyes snapped open and she looked at the young man's face. "What?"

"He's gone missing."

"Missing?"

"He was abducted from a crime scene earlier this evening."

I'm sorry I could go on and on but its time to move on so…Remember, your a wreck an accident, forget the freak your just nature, keep the gun oiled and the temple clean, shit, snort and blaspheme let the heads cool and the engine run because in the end everything we do, is just everything we've done.

And I'm done! There, I updated quickly. Sort of. Hope you all enjoy!! Please R&R!!