I know I keep apologising for the tardiness of my postings but this time its been legitimate! I've been moving house and don't have internet access there yet. I wont get access for about another month so the next few postings (provided there are more postings - I don't really know when I'm finished until I'm done) may be a bit haphazard. Anyway, please review. I really appreciate hearing what everyone is thinking about the story. Thanks in advance.

Oh, and just for the record (as, again, some of this has been pulled straight from the 'Bodies in Motion' episode) I do NOT have the rights to anything CSI. It all belongs to CBS and the CSI writers etc etc. Not me.

CHAPTER 16

Four weeks after the jail visit, life was finally getting back to normal. Nick had started back in the field and seemed relaxed and at peace with himself. The entire spirit of the team had been lifted by his return...and by the reunion of the swing and grave shifts. Grissom had watched Nick closely the first few days. He had made sure he was working with him on cases and found he was enjoying the new dimension to their friendship. Most of all, he found he enjoyed being 'one of the boys' with Nick and Warrick. They had been out for a beer after shift on Nick's first night back and had gone to breakfast several times since. He enjoyed their easy banter and their continual ribbing of each other. He especially enjoyed their company.

Grissom found that he had could easily forget about the events of the last couple of months - and was glad to be able to do so.

Then it came back to haunt him.

The entire team had been called out to a double fatality at a trailer park. One of the mobile homes had been incinerated, taking its two occupants with it. He had made sure he worked the inside of the trailer with Nick and Sara and had arrived back at the lab to start working up the evidence. As he passed the front desk, the receptionist, Judy, had called out to him and handed him a plastic bag with a mangled tape in it. He didn't need to hear her saying it was from the nursery to know what it was.

His heart rate increased as he held the bag between his fingers. His mind flashed back to almost three months ago, to when he was sitting in front of a monitor reading Nicks lips as he lay in that damned perspex coffin waiting to die and recording his most heartfelt goodbyes.

He remembered the words, he remembered the frightened resignation of defeat, and he remembered the pain in the tears that had tracked down Nick's cheeks as he apologised to Grissom for non-existant disappointments.

"Mr Grissom? Sir?"

Grissom came back to reality with a jolt. Judy was looking at him as if expecting some sort of response. He gave her a small, forced smile and tapped a finger to the plastic bag.
"Thank you." he said and headed straight to find Archie. With luck, he thought, the tape would be beyond salvaging - taking all of its secrets with it.

It was several long hours later, when the shift had finally ended and the case had been wrapped up, that Grissom got word from Archie that he had done all he could with the tape. En route to the AV lab, he had passed by the locker room and was stopped by Nick's voice calling for his attention. Standing in the doorway, Grissom smiled to himself at how relaxed Nick looked, tying his Timberland boots and teasing Warrick good naturedly about his recent marriage.

"We're taking Warrick to the Pepper Mill to celebrate his wedding...and to condemn his elopement. You in?"

Grissom raised an eyebrow at the two men.

"Did you invite your wife?" he asked.

Warrick snorted.

"I don't think I'm ready to subject her to the crew just yet."

Grissom noticed the glance he cast at Nick. Happy to have him back but still warring with concern for his friend and plagued by irrational guilt.

Nick, unaware of the look, continuing to lace his boots and glanced up at his boss.

"So?" he asked, "You in?"

Grissom smiled at him, happy to be included.

He held up a finger and raised his eyebrows slightly at Nick again.

"Give me a minute. I've got one more thing I've got to do." he said.

A wave of paternal protectiveness washed over him as Nick pulled his laces tight and looked over his shoulder at Warrick with a grin.

Grissom headed off down the corridor to find Archie.

No matter if the tape had been rendered useless or not, Grissom's priority was crystal clear.

He would protect Nick's privacy.

He would protect Nick.

Grissom listened to the filtered audio tape. The quietly menacing threats from Walter Gordan which Nick was forced to hear. As if being buried alive wasn't horrendous enough, Grissom thought, imagine having to decide on the manner of your own demise. Death by suffocation versus death by bullet - by your own hand.

Any way you like, you're gonna die here.

And then there it was. What Grissom had suspected.

OK?...........PERFECT.

Another voice.

He played it back a second time and raised his eyebrows at Archie's surprise.

"How did you know it was going to be there?" Archie asked.

"If that 'OK' had been meant for Nick," answered Grissom, "it wouldn't have been in the form of a question. I think Walter Gordan' had an accomplice."

Grissom played it again.

"Male or female?" he asked.

Archie shrugged.
"Its hard to say." he said. "The tape was pretty mangled. Enhancement and noise cancellation increase intelligibility, but alters timbre and tone. I don't know there's any more I can do here. You know, Nick recorded a message on the flip side of the tape. You think maybe we should.."

"NO!" interjected Grissom quickly then, regaining his authority, added "This is between you and me."

He thought momentarily that Archie was going to push further but, sensibly, the young AV tech remained silent - mainly because of the challenging glare that Grissom shot him.
Nick had been on display long enough, he thought. His farewell messages would remain between the two of them.

Leaving the tape with Archie, Grissom headed out. He was going out with his guys and, right at that moment, it was more important than anything else.

Please review. There may be another lengthy delay in getting the next chapter up - have to wait until my internet access is up and running so, apologies in advance.