A/N: hello! Yikes, two updates relatively quickly...Yeesh. Anyway, here's the next chapter. I don't think there's anything I really need to say other than...enjoy!!

"Alex?" Nick asked softly, interrupting the girl in question's thoughts.

Alex looked across at him from the window. It had been a three weeks since Nick had been kidnapped and found again. It had been eighteen days since he'd been let home. It had been two weeks since he finally persuaded his hovering siblings and parents to go back to their own lives. It had been a week since he'd visited his kidnapper's daughter. In that time, Alex had been there, but she hadn't really been all there. So here they were, on opposite sides of Nick's living room, Alex leant against the side of the window, looking at Nick who was stood by the door.

"What's wrong?" Nick wanted to know. He really did, there was something bothering her, he could tell. She was tense, jumpy, always searching for hidden danger. She wasn't the calm, confident, untroubled woman he'd first met.

"I don't know," Alex didn't deny that something was wrong as she would once have done. She didn't know if she could anymore. Not to Nick. "There's something. I can feel it. Like when someone's watching you, and all the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. You know the feeling?"

"Yeah. Why's it got you looking over you shoulder like someone's about to jump out at you?"

"Nick, I'll be honest. I've made enemies for myself. Other spirits who haven't attained redemption. Spirits who've been sentenced to wander this earth until it's destroyed. Spirits who I can't help, but scream for help. They blame people like me when they meet us. They hate us. And we can't do a damned thing about it."

Her gaze travelled out of the window again as silence fell over them. Nick moved over and wrapped an arm around her tense shoulders. She leant into him, eyes sliding closed, unconsciously letting her arm slip around his waist, breathing in deeply. Nick, she noticed, had the scent of coffee hanging round him, coffee and somehow the scent she'd associate with a rancher.

"It's going to be alright," Nick whispered, kissing the top of her head. Alex suppressed the shiver that wanted to run down her spine. "Everything's going to be fine."

"Is it?" Alex couldn't help asking. "Nick, I don't even know why you need my help, and I can't help you if I don't know. And I have this problem of not knowing who's on my tail."

"You sure there's someone there?"

"No, but it's the only thing that can explain why I'm feeling so jumpy."

"Hey, I'm here remember, I'll look after you."

"As much as I appreciate that, I'm not entirely sure you can. Not against this baby."

'Bugger,' Alex thought as the 'baby' slipped off her tongue without a thought. Nick didn't seem to notice though.

"I can try," he told her. "Come on, we need to eat."

They split apart, almost hesitantly, heading for the kitchen. Alex started to look around the kitchen for ingredients. Nick watched her bemused. She knew her way around his kitchen better than he did. But then again, it wasn't really his kitchen, it was more 'their' kitchen now. She was chopping something, he couldn't tell what, so he went over and looked over her shoulder. Onion – which meant sausages and mash normally. She glanced over her shoulder at him.

"Don't hover," she ordered, seeming more like her regular self. "It bugs me. Go chop some potatoes."

"We don't have any," Nick said after looking.

Alex nudged a door with her foot. "In there."

"Now that's unfair. You know our kitchen better than I do."

"I'm here more often. You spend half your time at work. I spend most my time here these days."

"So do I!"

"I spend more time in the kitchen. I'm the one who can cook proper meals round here."

"I can cook!"

"Yeah, if you count salad, and toasted cheese sandwiches, and frozen pizzas, and ready-meals."

"I can! I just haven't, cause you always seem to start cooking these days."

"I guess you have a point there."

Nick pulled out the potatoes and started to chop them, watching Alex every chance he could. She seemed more at peace after their talk and her eyes no longer reflected the spooked look that had been in them for a while. She was humming to herself. Nick listened closer and recognized the tune as 'Man in Black' by Johnny Cash.

"Johnny Cash fan?" he asked her grinning.

"Hm?" Alex looked at him, confused. "What?"

"You were humming Man in Black."

"I was? I didn't realize."

"You didn't realize?"

"No, I didn't. It happens, people do things subconsciously. You're spinning the knife by the way Nick."

Nick looked down and discovered that she was right. He forced his hand to stop making the movements. "I see your point."

"And yes, I am a Johnny Cash fan. Fantastic songs, great lyrics, good music. Plus Man in Black is great for proving points."

"And which point would that be?"

"Barely anyone in this world cares as much as they say they do. Too many people die in pointless wars. And our lives should be dedicated to helping one another."

Nick tried not to show how close Alex's second comment cut to his heart. He knew what she was referring to, the lines that said:

'Each week we lose a hundred fine young men…I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died, believin' that we all were on their side.'

"Something wrong Nick?" Alex's voice brought him back to reality and showed him that he'd spaced. She was stood right in front of him, her eyes staring directly into his, worried for him, anxious even, and caring.

"Just thinking," Nick assured her, seeing the relief flood into her clear eyes. "You know that I don't think I would've survived the past few weeks without you."

"You would've. You have other people around you, not just me. I can only take part of the credit. The rest has to go to your family and friends. The CSI team, the friends who've called from Texas, the other friends who've called or come to see you."

"Yeah, but you're the one who's been helping with the nightmares."

"That's because I understand them in part. Being in a situation where you're helpless and absolutely terrified? I'm probably the closest thing to an expert on that subject as you can get. I was burnt to death for being a witch for crying out loud. Don't think I've had a decent night's sleep since. Not that I actually need one."

It was the first time Alex had ever disclosed to him exactly how she'd died. She'd said it had been during the witch hunts, but she'd never said that she'd been one of the accused. Although, looking back on it, he should've guessed, it seemed more likely than her dying of some other cause. As it was, she seemed a little unsettled that she'd just disclosed that piece of information.

"Sorry," she abruptly turned back to the onions and quickly tipped them into the pan. Shaking her head, and silently berating herself. She shouldn't have said that, not something Nick need to know. He didn't need to know anything about her life before she died. No-one did. But there was something about Nick that just pulled it out of her, made her say things like that. And she didn't know what it was. It was like she wanted to tell him everything she'd ever been through, everything she'd ever seen, and let him help her deal with her 'life'.

"Don't worry about it," Nick replied. "You're not alone on the knowing about being helpless Alex. That wasn't the first time I've felt completely and utterly helpless."

"Oh?"

"Look, never mind. I just…yeah."

Nick didn't know what he just inspired him to say that. But somehow, he wanted to share his problems with her. Tell her things that he'd never tell anyone else. Somehow he knew that she could help him. She had years more experience than him, hundreds of years more experience. She'd know how to help him like he couldn't help himself.

There was a knock on the door, causing both of them to glance around.

"You invite Greg for dinner?" Alex asked Nick, lifting an eyebrow. Nick turned slightly pink.

"Well yeah," he nodded. "I think it's time you two had a proper talk, probably with a mediator, and what better time to do that than over dinner?"

"Not at all. I've forgiven him."

"But he hasn't forgiven himself Al. He needs to understand that you truly don't blame him, that you can see his side of things. You need to tell him exactly what's going on in your head so that he can understand why you don't hold a grudge against him."

"Fine, go let him in before he decides to turn tail and run like I would if I had a choice."

Nick left the room hearing Alex's exasperated chuckle following him. She wasn't really angry, he knew that, she was nervous. She wanted Greg to like her and be able to look at her without feeling guilty, but it wasn't really happening particularly well. He opened the door and grabbed Greg's collar as the younger man tried to escape down the steps.

"Oh no you don't," Nick grinned. "You're not getting away that easily. Come on in. Alex is making dinner."

Greg offered a weak smile and followed Nick back inside.

And that's all folks!!