Of the characters only Libby and a few assorted goons, thugs and bad guys are my invention. The rest belong to CBS and people who are definitely not me; I'm just borrowing them for a little while. No harm, no foul.

Set in season 6, a day or so after the end of Gum Drops

With many, MANY thank yous to procrastin8or951 for the help and beta'ing

And thank you also to everyone who's read and reviewed and enjoyed - I'm hoping to post with MUCH more frequency from this point on!

Truth Left Behind

Nick stared at the girl for a moment trying desperately to collect his thoughts. She was supposed to be in Dallas, probably sitting down to dinner after a busy day of school, not standing on his doorstep looking somewhere between nervous and terrified.

"Uncle Nicky?"

The terror was beginning to out weigh the nerves and belatedly Nick realised he still hadn't said anything which was almost certainly not helping. "Elizabeth Mary Stokes what in the blue hell are you doing here?"

"You-- You always said I could come visit," she answered in a small voice.

He had said that, hadn't he? Well, shit.

Without saying another word, Nick opened his door wider to admit the teenager, then shut it behind her. When she hesitated about which way to go, he ushered her into the living room and gestured for her to sit down on the couch. He took up a standing position in front of her and folded his arms across his chest.

"You want to run by me just why you've showed up now and unannounced?" he asked.

"I ran away," the tiny voice answered. She bowed her head, letting a curtain of long brown hair fall in front of her face, shielding it from his suspicious gaze.

"You ran away," Nick repeated. "So no one knows you're here?" There was a shake of the head; the curtain of hair shivered in place. "Pretty boneheaded. Why'd you do that?"

"I'm in trouble."

"Figures." Nick crossed the room and retrieved his cell phone from where he'd left it charging that morning. "I'm calling Cisco."

"Please don't send me home!" she begged.

Nick rolled his eyes. "Libby, whatever this is, you're gonna have to go home at some point. That's not why I'm calling Cisco, though."

Libby's head raised enough to lift the curtain of hair. "Then why?"

"Because if you've done what I think you've done, they're gonna be having kittens about you and if I don't tell Cisco you're safe, he'll tan my hide." Preventing further argument, he pushed the speed dial number for his parents' home and lifted his cell phone to his ear. It took two rings before it was answered. Proof, as far as Nick was concerned, that his family were definitely in a state of panic. "Hey mom."

"Nick?"

Nick had to smile at the disappointed note in his mother's voice. "You guys lose something maybe?"

There was a long sigh. "Libby's with you?"

"Just got here," said Nick.

"Is she okay?"

Nick eyed the girl with a practiced glance. "Looks to be, but I haven't really got into what she's doing here yet. Soon as she said what she'd done, I knew I needed to let you know she was here." He turned away from the couch and started pacing. "She fighting with Diane again?"

"It's worse than that," said his mother with another sigh.

That made Nick's eyebrows lift. "Worse?" He turned back to Libby but she was studiously ignoring him and giving nothing away. "You gonna fill me in or do I need to find out from Libby?"

There was a long pause and Nick heard the sounds of the phone receiver being transferred from one pair of hands to another. The next voice he heard was his father's. "Nick, we don't exactly know what's happened. She's been acting strange the last month or so - wouldn't talk to any of us. Then the night before last, she got into a screaming match with Diane - so Billy says, at least - and ran off. We haven't seen her since."

Nick's eyebrows climbed even further. "What's Diane said about any of this?" Out of the corner of his eye he saw Libby cringe. He turned away again.

"Not a lot." The tightness in his father's voice illustrated the older man's basic contempt for his daughter-in-law. "You know how she is."

Nick did. "So what do you want me to do?"

"Can you look after her for a few days? Your mother and I can't get up to Las Vegas until the weekend and I don't want our granddaughter to travel back alone."

Nick noted that there was no suggestion of Libby's parents being the ones to travel to Las Vegas. "All right; think I can take care of her until then."

There was another long pause as the phone was transferred again. His mother said, "Maybe you can find out what's going on. You know she thinks the world of you."

Nick turned back towards the couch. Libby was now studying the rug as if it held all the answers. He shook his head. "See what I can do." But he didn't feel terribly hopeful.

He wrapped up the call and deposited the cell phone on a convenient end table. What in the world was he supposed to do with a teenage house guest for the next five days, he wondered. And just what had been so bad that said teenager had opted to run all the way from Dallas to Las Vegas? Questions. Way too many questions. Time to start getting answers.

"Libby?" Nick waited until she finally lifted her gaze from the rug. "You're gonna be here for the next few days. Cisco and Grandma won't be here until the weekend and I am not gonna send you anywhere without them."

Libby's face twisted into a grimace. "Can't I just stay here with you?"

"You are, for right now," Nick pointed out. "But you have school and family and whatnot waiting for you back home so..."

"No I don't," said Libby sharply.

"To which part?"

"School kicked me out."

Nick found his jaw hinging open of its own accord. "What?"

"No big deal," said Libby casually, looking back down at her lap.

Nick begged to differ, but before he could continue the interrogation, his stomach growled and reminded him that even if it was early evening, as far as his body was concerned, it was time for breakfast. He ran his hand over his head. "You hungry?" he asked.

Libby's head jerked up at the unexpected question. A suspicious expression crossed her face. "Why?"

"Because even if you're not, I am," Nick retorted, the corner of his mouth twisting up in a half smile. "There's a great place just round the corner. We can get something to eat and then we can start figuring out what you're doing here."

At the mention of getting food, Libby's expression lightened only to darken at the clear implication that the meal was not going to get her out of the interrogation.

Nick shook his head and crouched down in front of her. "Look, Libby, I don't want to poke and pry. I figure that you've got your reasons for wanting to be away from home right now and I figure they're probably good ones. I know you're a smart kid. Thing of it is, though, you've turned up on my doorstep unannounced so I think you owe me something more than what you've given me so far." He offered her a smile. "You know I'm not gonna yell and scream at you like your mom and I kinda figure that's one reason why you've pitched on me to run to."

"It was easier to get here than it was to Nebraska," said Libby. "Otherwise I'd have gone to Aunt Anna."

The smile turned to a full blown grin. "Didn't say it was the only reason." At the back of his mind, he logged the fact that she'd named the only other member of the extended Stokes family to live outside the boundaries of Texas. Significant? "You be okay if I grab a quick shower before we go?"

"Sure."

For a moment, it looked as if Libby was going to say something more, then she shook her head. Nick nodded and guessed that meant she'd be a little more receptive to his questions later, but probably not by much. He sighed. "All right. Won't be long." And so saying, he pushed to his feet and started for the living room door.

"Uncle Nicky?"

Nick paused and looked back at his niece. "What is it, Libby?"

"Are you...okay?"

"Any reason I shouldn't be?" Nick asked, deliberately keeping his tone light.

"Mom said...you'd been hurt."

From the cautious way Libby phrased it, Nick could guess all too easily that his sister-in-law hadn't been anything near so kind in her turn of phrase. "I was, but I'm fine now."

Libby gave him a wall-eyed stare that she had to have learned from his mother. "How bad?"

"Bad enough." Nick turned to properly face her. "How about a deal, okay? No more interrogations on either side until we're done eating. Deal?"

Libby cracked a smile, this time a genuine one. "Deal," she said.

"Okay. Won't be long."

It was only after an abbreviated shower and shave, as he was pulling out a rust-coloured shirt from his closet to wear for the night ahead, that Nick remembered the oddness of the dream that had woken him. For a second, he was tempted to shove the shirt back in the closet and pick another instead. Then he shook his head and smiled wryly. It had just been a dream. Weird, true enough, but a dream all the same. It didn't mean anything, except possibly he needed a proper vacation and with his niece now on the scene, it was definitely not something to be worrying about. He pulled the shirt on and headed out of his bedroom.

Time for breakfast and answers. Preferably in that order.

"You're in early," called the waitress as Nick led Libby into the diner that took up the corner lot on his block.

Nick smiled, more at the way Libby's eyes widened than at the waitress' words. "Got stuff to do tonight, Angie. You know how it is."

Angie smiled in return. "I'll bring the coffee on over - do you want your usual?"

"Better make it two usuals," he answered, leading Libby to the small corner booth that gave him a view of the whole room without leaving his back vulnerable to a sneak attack. "Unless you're not hungry, Libby?"

"What's your usual?" Libby asked, her eyes still wide with surprise and confusion.

"A stack of pancakes with eggs and bacon on the side," said Angie. "And as much coffee as I can supply!"

"Sounds good," Libby admitted. "But isn't it kinda late for breakfast?"

Angie simply grinned at the question and deposited the coffee pot and two cups on the table. "Two usuals, coming up."

Nick nodded thanks and then waited until Angie had disappeared out of earshot before saying, "Sorry, Libby. As far as my body's concerned, it is breakfast time."

"Huh?"

Nick shook his head and smiled ruefully. "I work graveyard shift."

"O-oh." Libby winced. "I didn't-- She said this was early, I didn't wake you up, did I?"

He shook his head again. "Like I said to Angie, there's stuff I need to do before I start work. Like buy some groceries."

"Is that why you're, we're, eating out?"

Nick chuckled at that. "Didn't we do a deal about no more interrogations until we've eaten?"

Libby ducked her head in embarrassment. "Sorry, uncle Nicky."

"It's okay." He poured out a cup of coffee and then gestured with the pot. "You want some?"

"No thanks." Libby was still studying her hands. "Uncle Nicky, why did you leave Texas?"

It was on the tip of Nick's tongue to repeat his line about interrogations, but the set of Libby's shoulders made him rein in the impulse. "Whole bunch of reasons. Some of 'em good. Some of 'em not so good."

"Like what?"

"I guess," said Nick as Angie brought over the two plates of food, "the biggest reason was that I wanted to make my own reputation, not hide behind Cisco or your dad. Hard to do your own thing when all anyone ever says to you is 'You Bill Stokes' kid?' or 'So why didn't you go to law school like your brother?'"

"Mom says you ran away."

"She would." Nick rolled his eyes. Diane had never understood why he didn't want to coast through life on family reputation alone. As far as she was concerned, reputation was everything and if you didn't have your own, grabbing on to someone else's was just fine.

"Did you?"

Nick swallowed a forkful of eggs. "Did I what?"

"Run away," said Libby. "All seemed to happen kinda fast to me."

"You were eight; it probably seemed faster to you than it really was."

She pinned in place with that wall-eyed stare. "Did you?"

Nick dropped his fork back onto the plate and shook his head. "I didn't run. Not exactly. More like I was shoved."

"How come?"

"New deal," said Nick. "You eat, I'll talk."

Libby looked up, startled. "Huh?"

Nick just gestured to her plate. "Eat. I don't know how you got here---"

"Amtrak."

"---but I'm guessing you haven't really eaten since you left Dallas. So eat." He shook his head. "At least you didn't hitch-hike."

Libby gave him that stare again. "I'm not that dumb." She picked up her knife and fork and began eating.

Nick watched for a moment then, satisfied she was going to continue, he said, "I'm not getting into the whole story because it's too long, too complicated and some of it you're still too young to hear about."

"I'm almost seventeen!"

"And still too young," he answered firmly.

Libby glared but subsided and went back to eating.

Nick picked up his fork again but his appetite was long gone. "There was a huge, high profile drugs case that went bad because someone fouled up their lab procedures. It turned into a huge mess of finger-pointing and blame-sharing, and then I found out that the lead investigator on the case was...involved with one of the suspects. Then it got real messy and real ugly and even though I hadn't done anything wrong, I knew I couldn't keep on working there. The job here came up and I figured it was pretty much the perfect solution all round. Got me out of a hot place and to somewhere where I could just be me."

Libby speared a piece of bacon with her fork and stared at it for a few moments. "Do you miss home?"

"Sometimes. Some things. But if it gets too bad, I can always come home for a visit."

"You don't miss it that much, then," said Libby shrewdly. "You've only been home twice since you came here."

As that was something that he couldn't dispute, Nick simply smiled and said, "So that's why I 'ran away', if you want to call it that. Now let's hear about your reasons for escaping Texas."

For a moment, as Libby's face darkened, Nick wondered if the girl was simply going to clam up. "I don't want to tell you."

"If you'd just wanted to get away from your mom for a while, you could have phoned me, or Anna, and actually arranged a trip without scaring your parents and your grandparents halfway to an early grave."

Libby had the grace to look sheepish, but she remained silent and Nick could see real fear in her expression.

Was she scared of him or of what had happened? Knowing Libby, whatever had happened had to be serious. She wasn't a teenage drama queen and, though her relationship with her mother was explosive, the girl wouldn't have run away over a simple yelling match. Grissom would probably tell him he was trying to interpret the evidence before it was all assembled, but there were only a few things that would terrify someone into silence and none of them were things he wanted to imagine happening to his niece. "Just begin at the beginning," he said softly.

"I don't know when that was," Libby admitted.

"Then start from arguing with your mom and work back."

"We were arguing about school. I-- I got into a fight on Friday." Her head dipped in shame. "The principal suspended me for a month."

"What was the fight about?"

"The boys were-- were saying things about me."

"Saying things?"

The curtain of hair was back. "They called me a slut."

Another piece of the puzzle dropped into place. "Why would they do that?"

"Because they're jocks?"

Despite himself, Nick huffed a small laugh. "Jocks aren't all bad, you know?"

"These guys are."

"How much damage did you do?"

"Two broken noses and a lot of bruises." Libby sounded oddly proud of this. "And I'd do it again."

"Don't doubt it."

Silence fell for a few moments as Nick poured out a fresh cup of coffee. He was now fairly sure he could guess what had happened. Someone, probably one of the jocks Libby had attacked, had done something to Libby a month earlier. Whether the something had gone the whole way into rape or whether it had 'just' been a case of assault probably didn't make much difference as far as Libby was concerned. Either was bad enough. He could continue the interrogation and get to the bottom of what had happened, but maybe it would be better to let Libby admit to the rest at her own speed. The last thing he wanted to do was make her feel as if she was under attack from him too, and they had time. Maybe a couple of days of relative peace and quiet would give her the confidence she needed.

"All right. You want to tell me more, you just let me know," he said gently. "But for right now, knowing your mom and with what you've just said, I can see why you wanted to get away."

Libby looked up. "You're not mad?"

Nick smiled. "Naw. Might have been better if you'd called ahead first, but..." He trailed off and shrugged. "If you're done, guess we'd better make a move."

"Groceries, right?"

"And a few other things." Nick pushed to his feet. "C'mon; you might even get to see a couple of Vegas' hotspots while we're out."

"Isn't she a little young for you?"

Nick winced as he led Libby into the lab complex. Out of all the people he was likely to meet when he first got in, Hodges headed the list of 'least desirable'. "Not that it's any of your business, but this is Libby Stokes - one of my nieces - and if I hear you've bothered her beyond this, I'll take you down to ballistics and suggest Bobby use you for target practice."

Hodges merely sneered. "Touchy."

Nick rolled his eyes as the technician walked away.

"Who was that?" Libby asked, curious.

"Hodges. Decent lab rat, lousy human being. This way," Nick added, directing her into the break room which was mercifully empty. "Help yourself to coffee if you want it, or there's water in the fridge. Anyone bothers you, just tell them you're with me."

"Where are you going?"

"I need to go speak to my supervisor. Need to figure out what I'm-- we're gonna do for the rest of the week. I'm figuring you don't want to hang out here every night."

"I could stay at your place," said Libby.

"Not alone."

"I'm sixteen."

Nick just shook his head. "It's not up for debate."

She uttered the sort of snort that only a teenage girl could manage and dropped gracelessly onto the break room couch.

Nick sighed. "Won't be long."

He turned to head out of the break room only to find Catherine entering. "Nick, we need to talk."

"Yeah, actually I was just coming to find you - see, I've got--"

"It's about a case that Days have handed off to us."

"--a bit of a...what did you say?" Nick blinked. "Are Days swamped?"

"No."

"Then since when do Days hand off cases to us?"

"Since you," said Catherine slapping the file she was holding at his stomach, "were a CSI 1 on the matching crime."

"I what?" Nick made a grab for the file before it spilled over the floor. "Could we, maybe, start this conversation again?"

"Sure - hey, who's the visitor?"

Nick groaned. Looking round, he realised that Libby had stood up again and was now watching with interest. "Catherine, Libby Stokes. Libby, Catherine Willows."

"Libby. Stokes."

Nick didn't even need to look in Catherine's direction to know she was rapidly adding one and one together and coming up with an answer somewhere in the millions. He looked anyway and realised that Catherine looked completely stunned. "Catherine it's really not where you're going with this. She's my brother's daughter."

"Oh."

Libby snickered.

Nick rounded on her, finger raised. "Don't say a word."

She held her hands up. "Not saying anything. Sitting down. Pretend I'm not here."

Nick wished he was standing a little closer to a wall. At least then he could bang his head against it - it wouldn't help but it might at least make him feel better. Turning back to a now embarrassed Catherine, he said, "Your office?"

"Sure."

Nothing more was said until they were both in seated in the tiny broom closet that doubled as Catherine's office with the door firmly shut against casual eavesdroppers. Only then did Catherine say, "If you were going to have family visit, why didn't you book some vacation time?"

"Because I didn't know I was going to be having family visit," said Nick. He set the file down on the desk and rubbed his face tiredly. "She showed up on my doorstep this afternoon. Skipped outta Dallas without telling anyone where she was going."

Catherine winced. "Sounds like something Lindsey would do if she had somewhere she thought she could run to."

"Yeah, well. It's not something Libby would normally do which, considering her mom is as neurotic as all get out, is kinda surprising."

"Then what's she doing here?"

Nick rubbed his face again. "She needed a break. Look," he continued tiredly, "I don't want to get into it because I'm not totally sure yet, but something happened. Libby's a laid back kid yet she got herself suspended from school for handing two jocks their asses."

"You think that 'something' was serious."

"She wouldn't be here if it wasn't."

"How serious?"

"That's the part I don't know yet." Nick shrugged. "She's spooked and skittish - just getting the suspension out of her was tricky."

Catherine winced again. "Well, she's okay to be here tonight. You have paperwork to do and Grissom isn't back from the Body Farm until tomorrow. You'll need to figure something else out for the rest of the week, though."

"I'm open to suggestions."

Catherine smiled faintly. "If I have any, I'll let you know." She reached out and tapped the file on the desk. "In the mean time, you've got the McBride case to write up and I need you to go over this case from Days."

Ignoring the comment about the McBride case, which he'd been expecting to write up, Nick focused on the file. "You said something about it being mine from when I was a CSI 1; I wasn't in Vegas then. I was back home in Dallas."

"Right. The case is from Dallas."

Once again Nick was seized with the urge to pound his head against something hard. "Why are Days investigating a case from Dallas that has to be almost as old as Libby?"

"Days aren't. Short form is: they had a DB wash up at Lake Mead a couple of days ago. Three shots to the chest from three different guns. IBIS matched two of the bullets to a case you worked on back in Dallas."

Nick felt a chill wrap itself around his spine. The description of the body rang alarm bells in his mind. The first image that came to him was of the weird dream that had woken him just before Libby's arrival. The next was of the former Day Shift supervisor at the Dallas lab and a whole string of dead bodies and drug deals across the Dallas metro area. "Have you asked Dallas for the files?"

"Should be arriving sometime shortly. The Day Shift supervisor put in the request before she left and that was when your name came up so..." Catherine frowned. "Nicky? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Nick mustered a tight smile. "I haven't - yet. But I think I'm going to." He picked up the file. "Guess I'd better get to work."

To be continued...