"You've GOT to be kidding. Well, you've had an interesting past in this career" Cassandra laughed after she and Nick had taken in the last of the boxes.

Nick grinned. "You're not kiddin'. After that whole thing, I get all nervous around graveyards. I've never been a fan of any kind of 4x4, or small spaces either…"

Cassandra frowned and stepped to the right a couple of times, blocking the view of her Ford Explorer.

Nick laughed. "Too late. I already saw it, but I appreciate the thought, anyway. On the bright side, you learned that Cassie's a good name in my eyes because of that little girl"

"I know, she sounded so cute" Cassandra nodded.

"She was. Still is, actually. I've actually kept in contact with her. She's doin' really good. Good student, too. She likes her foster family"

"That's always good to hear" Cassandra nodded and sat down on the front stoop. "Hey, you want anything to drink? Eat?" She offered.

Nick shook his head. "No, I'm good. So… have you heard from tall, drunk and handsome?" he asked, sitting next to her.

"Oh come on, that isn't fair."

"It's perfectly fair!" Nick argued. "I pretty much saved you from that situation the other night, you know"

"Oh, excuse me, Superman, but I was fine on my own, thanks" Cassandra smirked, crossing her arms over her chest.

Nick laughed. "Alright, Little Miss. Proud. If you were 'fine on your own', then why the heck did he manage to hit you?"

Cassandra opened her mouth to retort, but when she found no response, she shut it. "Damn it"

Nick grinned. "Thought so. Now, any chance that you and him are over so I don't have to worry about you alone with him at night?"

"Aww, you're worried about me, I'm touched," Cassandra tapped her cheek as if wiping away a tear. "And as for me not seeing him, it's gonna have to wait for now …"

"Huh?" Nick looked at her.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the guy from the bar!"

Nick looked to the side, seeing bright orange and white basketball sneakers. "Ah, the new James Richards sneakers. They cost quite a bit," he looked up, his frown deepening when he saw it was Josh. "Before you jump to conclusions, I wanna say my being here is totally innocent. It's friendly, nothing more. Turns out your girlfriend moved in next door to me" Nick motioned at his house.

Josh smirked. "Awfully convenient, isn't it?"

"Josh, it's the truth" Cassandra replied.

Josh's smirk turned into a normal smile. "Yeah, I know, I'm just messing with you guys"

Nick's eyes narrowed in confusion.

Josh turned to him. "Listen man, I'm sorry about the other night. I was drunk, and… I wasn't thinking straight."

"No, you weren't" Nick replied coldly, casting a quick glance at Cassandra when she whacked him in the stomach. She raised her eyebrows as if to point out that the other man was trying to apologize. "Er- yeah. Apology accepted." Nick nodded, trying to sound convincing.

"Good. Now, we weren't properly introduced, either. I'm Josh Summers. You are?"

"Nick Sto-" he coughed. "Stromer. Nick Stromer" now it was his turn to send a disapproving look at Cassandra to keep her quiet when she looked like she was about to ask why he lied about his last name.

"Right. Anyway, Cass, I just came to talk to you and apologize" Josh looked back at Cassandra. "Hey, uh, Stromer. Can you give us a few minutes alone, please?"

Nick clenched his jaw, torn between what to do. "No problem. I was on my way out, anyway. Listen, Cass. Why don't we carpool tomorrow? I'll come by at five"

"Uh… alright?" Cassandra blinked.

Nick nodded. "Good. I'll see you tomorrow, and Summers, nice officially meeting you" he crossed the street and went back into his house, casting a few glances back at the other house as he went.

--

Nick looked at Cassandra in the co-passenger's seat the next day. She had been staring at him from when she got into the seat until they got to the end of the block. "Alright, lemme have it. Bring on the questions"

"That works. What the Hell was that last night?! You went from some fun loving crazy guy to this crabby commando-" she pointed at him when he cracked a smile at the phrase. "And don't you dare laugh right now. And what's with 'Stromer', also?"

"Well, he may've been sober last night, but that doesn't mean I gotta like the guy, and something I've learned: In this business, if you don't like a guy, unless you're doing interrogations, fake your whole name, or just last name. It might just save your ass someday" Nick replied, turning the steering wheel to make a turn.

"I'll keep that in mind, and now you're scaring me. You're starting to sound like my dad!" Cassandra smiled weakly.

Nick scoffed. "Foster father, I hope, not your real one"

Cassandra parted her lips. "Uh…"

"Sara told me about her and your… situation with your real father" Nick explained.

"Oh" Cassandra nodded, then smiled. "Hey, no problem, because I did mean my foster father"

Nick laughed. "Good. Then I'd still love to meet him, because Sara said the same exact thing once to me. I don't remember what it was, but that was the first thing outta her mouth"

"Because you're like him! Seriously! Ditch the accent, and half the stuff you say is what my dad would say!"

"I'll believe it when I see and hear it" Nick smirked before turning on the radio. His smirk turned into a grin when he heard the song playing was "Sweet Home Alabama" "Well I hope Neil Young will remember, southern man don't need him around anyhow" he started singing.

"Oh god!" Cassandra laughed. "I had to move next door to the real country boy"

"Well, look at it like this: if you moved next door to Greg: You would probably hear Metallica or some other rock band 24/7" Nick replied before continuing to sing.

Cassandra sighed and shrunk back in her seat. "I don't know you"

"Get used to it" Nick winked.

--

The two had arrived at work a few minutes later, and within the hour they were on a case. Ronnie, Cassandra, Nick and Warrick were now standing, looking up at their latest crime scene, a platform about fifty feet up, where a body was. Gil had told them to start without him and he'd be there in a matter of minutes, and it already seemed he was going back on his word.

"Well, Vegas just got a little more Hollywood" Cassandra put one hand on her hip and used the other to shield her eyes from the sun as she looked up by the electrical pole, where a body was sitting about fifty feet up.

Nick laughed. "Yeah, anyone have Earl Bassett and Val McKee's phone number?"

Warrick grinned, catching on. " "Tremors", right?"

"Uh huh" Nick confirmed.

Warrick looked back at Cassandra and Ronnie. "Hey Newbies, one of you ready to go up there?"

"WHAT?!" Cassie and Ronnie yelled, turning to him.

"Isn't that more up Brass' guys alley if the vic is up there? I mean, we see him later… on the ground, right?" Cassandra asked.

Ronnie nodded in agreement.

"The vic got shot in the head, so it's right up ours. Sorry. We have to see him up there first, then on the ground" Warrick replied.

"Alright, who's going up?" Nick asked. "It's worth bonus points"

"I'm not a fan of really high heights," Ronnie said.

"The highest body I've dealt with was two-hundred feet up, mind you, in a hotel room. Don't you have the ground to check for evidence, anyway?" Cassandra replied.

"Fine. Rock, paper, scissors for it" Nick suggested. "Warrick and I do it all the time"

"Oh, right, use the option that nearly got you killed once because of that psycho putting you in a coffin!" Cassandra waved her arms.

Warrick laughed. "She has a point"

"I try to" Cassandra replied dryly.

"Whatever. I'm game" Ronnie put her arm out and made a fist with her hand.

Cassandra sighed. "We don't have much choice with these two" she put her own fist up and the two started the countdown.

"Three, two, one" Ronnie opened her palm, making paper, when Cassandra kept her fist closed.

Cassandra sighed again. "Two outta three?"

"Sorry, have fun" Ronnie replied.

Cassandra glared at her playfully. "You're a good friend," she said before going towards the pole. "Sara, you can have your job back" she growled and started climbing the ladder. She yelped when she was up a few feet and lost her footing for a moment. "Jesus. I shouldn't be doing this. I miss Reno." she finally made it to the platform and looked over the body, snapping various pictures.

"So, Val! Find anything?"

Cassandra closed her eyes and sighed, hearing the southern accented voice. "Working on it, Melvin!" she yelled back.

Warrick looked at Nick when the Texan laughed. "Melvin?"

"Do you remember the teenage guy in "Tremors" who was so annoying you just wanted him to die?"

"Oh yeah, Melvin was the kid that the gun-crazy guy wanted to kill all the time, right?" Warrick asked. "The guy with the tie-dye shirt?"

"Yeah, him." Nick nodded, looking around for anything interesting that may go with the case.

"So she just pretty much said you're annoying and she hopes you die?" Warrick asked as he bent down to examine a shine in the sand.

"Uh huh" Nick nodded. "You get something?"

"Yeah. Bullet case. 45 caliber" Warrick replied, pulling the casing out of the ground with tweezers.

Nick looked up. "Hey Cass, the guy have a gun on him?!"

"Yeah!" Cassandra replied.

"Any idea what Caliber?" Warrick called up.

"The thing's really scratched up. I can't tell. Maybe he got into a scuffle and was accidently dragging this thing along"

"Heh, scuffle" Nick chuckled.

After a few minutes, Cassandra came back down the ladder and met up with the other three C.S.Is. "I think I found all I could find, up there. Can't tell until we have the guy on the ground"

"Any ideas of a story?" Nick asked.

"Possibly a fight. The guy had bruises everywhere, his clothes were ripped…" Cassandra replied.

Warrick nodded. "Hm, well, now we just have to wait and see what else Doc Robins can find"

--

"Cassie, you were right. There was a fight with our latest victim" Gil said as he came into the meeting room, meeting everyone for lunch. "Sorry I couldn't make it there. I got caught up with another case"

Cassandra nodded. "No problem. Alright. Good start"

Nick put down his sandwich. "Do we have a suspect yet?"

" Yeah. The guy's name is Sean Miller" Gil replied.

Nick snorted. "Geez, this case really is Vegas gone Hollywood" he picked up his fork and attempted to take a few stabs at a slice of tomato in the salad that Cassandra had.

Cassandra playfully glared at him and started poking his fork with hers, trying to fight him off. "We have a suspect, do we have our vic's name?" she turned to Gil, still fighting Nick off.

"John Malcom, or at least, it was…" Gil replied.

Cassandra raised her eyebrows. "Go on" she took another swipe at Nick's fork, but it missed and ended up in the tomato, so both of them had it. "Nick, it's a damn tomato!"

"Exactly. Let go!"

Catherine put her pointer and middle finger over her mouth, trying to hide the smile growing on her face, amused at the two.

Greg walked in. "Hey guys, sorry I'm late- oh, tomato!" he took it off both forks and shoved the slice into his mouth. He patted Cassandra's shoulder. "Thanks. I was starving"

Gil sighed and smiled himself. "Back to business. John Malcom is no longer our victim's name. Fifteen years ago he had it legally changed to Tom Wilkstead-"

"WHAT?!" Cassandra shrieked, startling everyone. She looked at Gil. "Tom. Tom Wilkstead. Please tell me you meant some other name"

"Uh, no. Why? You know- er- knew him?"

"Yeah, well, you would have to when the guy's your second cousin"

Gil frowned. "You're kidding. Why didn't you recognize John Malcom, then?"

"We only met once, about ten years back during a family reunion. Why didn't I recognize him?" Cassandra muttered the last part to herself. "I mean, he was really banged up, but we hit it off. I should've known…"

"Hey, Cassie. Sometimes you can't help these things. And if you know the guy, I'm sorry, but-"

"I'm off the case. I know." Cassandra nodded. "Well this is nice. My first week here and I'm already booted off a case"

Warrick waved his hand. "Aw, come on Griss! Let her stay on. We could use the help. She only met the guy once, so it's not really personal. Like if it was Sar-" he cut himself off, and all of them were silent for a moment, remembering that Sara was a victim at one point. She was just lucky she didn't end up dying.

Gil looked at Cassandra after a while. "I don't know…"

"Grissom, don't worry about it" Cassandra shook her head. "I was joking about being disappointed with getting kicked off anyway. You want me gone, I'm as good as out that door"

"And stealing my car since I brought you here" Nick muttered.

Cassandra glared at him. "Shut up"

"Make me" Nick muttered.

Greg grinned. "Ooh, catfight in meeting room 1" he leaned forward. "Cass, let him have it!"

Nick looked at Greg. "What're you doin' on her side, man?!"

"Nick: Listen to this. It may help someday: When there's a fight, always take the chick's side"

Cassandra laughed. "Thanks, Greg"

Greg nodded.

Gil looked at her. "Well the team's taken to you well"

"What's not to like?" Cassandra laughed, then laughed harder at everyone's surprised expressions. "I'm kidding. I'm not that arrogant, come on!"

"Or are you?" Greg narrowed his eyes.

"Okay, I'm back to not being sure about you" Cassandra smirked.

Jim walked into the room. "Sorry to interrupt. We found another man's I.D on Miller. Tom Knight. The guy could've found out and tried to kill him. Anyone feel like going for a ride? We found the Knight's address"

"Nick, Warrick" Gil motioned at Jim.

The two said men got up and went over to Jim.

Gil looked at Cassie. "Can I trust you not to go berserk if something comes up and it gets more personal?"

"Definitely. I'll be calm if I'm still in" Cassandra nodded.

"Alright, you're with Nick, Warrick and I. I wanna see you in the field again. Greg, Catherine, you go with Ronnie to Miller's place."

"Gotcha" Greg got up, then leaned towards Cassandra. "Good luck with Bug Man. He can be tough, even on new arrivals. Hopefully you being in this business in Reno helps" he muttered.

"Thanks" Cassandra muttered back.

Greg followed Catherine out of the room, since she had already made it halfway out.

"Alright, let's go" Gil nodded.