My Way is Clear

by Simply Ginger

Nick meets a paramedic after getting injured at a crime scene. In an AU, this is their story. This is not a slash and all the characters from CSI show up eventually.

8. Don't Fall Apart

Chapter 8 – Don't Fall Apart

"Hey, love." I put my magnifying glass down as I answered the phone. "I'm in the lab just about to finish up."

"Good cause I'm in the reception area. I would have gotten someone to page you, but the receptionist is gone. I'm here as promised."

"Be up there in a minute." I shut my phone and put it in my pocket as I took the lab coat off and headed up front to get Anna. Grissom had asked her to stop by before her shift so she could meet her new undercover cop partner. I turned down the last hallway that led me to the reception area and I saw Anna through the glass. I knocked on the door and she turned around as I reached over the receptionist's desk to hit the button to open the door. "Back to the normal uniform I see." I held the door open and handed her a visitor's badge.

Anna looked down at her shirt as she clipped the badge to it. "Yep. Finally. I like doing the dual role thing. It keeps it interesting, but glad to be back on the truck. I told Bryan to meet us here before shift started. He was leaving his house and had to drop Cody off at the sitter's but I told him to come here before he went to the station." She laughed as she came into the hallway from the reception area. "The driver from last week told the shift captain that he'd rather be demoted than ride with Bryan again. I guess I'm the only one who can work with him. Guess that explains why when I get an engine assignment, he's usually on the engine with me."

"I don't see anything wrong with him, but then again, I'm also not working with him two days at a time, either. Something tells me you keep it interesting."

"We have to." Anna watched the door shut. "The turnover rate is so high in this line of work that if we don't keep it fun, we'll wind up burning out. Average lifespan for a medic is just six years."

"How long have you been doing this?" I started to shut the door when I saw Judy come back. I told Anna to wait on me. "Judy, I'm expecting someone in the next little bit. Overhead me when he gets here."

"Yes, sir."

"Sorry bout that. So how long have you been doing this?" I started to lead Anna back to Grissom's office to wait on Brad and Bryan to get here.

"Oh, poopie." She stopped to think. "Counting the time I was an EMT in college? Thirteen years. Three as an EMT and the rest as a medic. I like the job. It's interesting. Just like yours, you have the deep lows with the high parts too. You just have to take the good with the bad." Anna looked in Grissom's office before we went in. "When's my babysitter supposed to be here? Bryan and I have roll call at 7:30."

"He should be here before then. He said he'd meet us here so you could meet him."

I opened the door to Grissom's office. He turned around holding his newest pet. "Anna, Nick. Come in." He put the spider back in the aquarium and moved his chair around so he could sit down.

Anna saw the spider and went over to the aquarium so she could see it better. "What's the spider's name?" I watched as Anna looked through the glass at the tarantula, obviously not as freaked out about large and hairy spiders as I am. "She's really quite beautiful. Where'd you get her?"

Grissom lifted the top off the tank again and picked up the spider. "I haven't thought of one. Animal control found her at a scene. Owner died and they were going to wind up petting her with the bottom of their shoes, so I took her. Want to hold her?"

"Now that's just cruel and yes, I'd love to hold her. My biology professor in college had one that he named Fluffy."

"Fluffy? Really?" I watched as Anna held her left hand out and Grissom gently dropped the spider on her hand, which sent chills up my spine. "Ugh."

"What? You don't like her?" Anna stared at the spider as it climbed her hand. She put her right hand next to her left hand and the spider climbed from one hand to her other. "Such a gentle touch."

"Far be it for me to argue, but the words 'spider' and 'beautiful' just don't go well in a sentence together. Nothing against her and I'm sure she's a very nice spider and has all sorts of upstanding and redeeming qualities, but she and I do better when there's a glass container between us." I took a step back to put more distance between the spider and me.

I breathed a sigh of relief as Anna handed the spider back to Grissom and he put her safely in the confines of her aquarium. Grissom watched the spider climb under a fake tree branch before remembering we were in the room. When he finally realized we were still here, he turned to face us and had the 'I've Got an Idea' look on his face that he gets from time to time.

"Anna, what's your full name?"

"Meri-Anna Gabrielle Gigandet. I'm named after the first part of my mother's name, Meri, but I go by Anna. Why?"

Grissom shut the lid on the tank. "You just named my spider if you don't mind me using your middle name. I think Gabrielle suits her. The former owner was a DFO before we got there, so I couldn't ask him what he called her and none of the neighbors knew." He looked at the spider. "Gabby for short." He pulled his chair back and sat down. "You know Nick's told us about the peanut butter and the note. Brass and I talked it over and if it's okay with you, we want to put someone undercover with you, just to keep an eye on things. Brass said this guy he wants to use has got EMT training and knows his way around an ambulance, so he won't be a total pain. Just a small pain."

"I'm honored that you named the spider after me." Anna smiled. "My new babysitter having some EMT training does help a little at least. What's his name?"

"Brad Rogers. He'll be here in a bit. I wanted you to meet him before he came to the station. I know you all are like us. When you're working on a scene, your mind is one track. You're focusing on the patients just like we focus on the evidence. If you've got someone who can look out for you, maybe he can focus on what's going on around you and let us know if he sees anyone taking too much of an interest in you."

Anna sighed and looked at me after Grissom got done speaking. "I'm not getting out of this, am I?"

Grissom turned around to look at his spider, "It's your choice, but we'd feel better at least for a little bit. It doesn't have to be forever. Just the next couple shifts." He adjusted the light on the tank before turning around to face the two of us, "You're back on the ambulance aren't you?"

"As far as I know I am. Shift captain brings us all in before our shifts start and we meet to get our assignments, so I don't know for sure but I'm supposed to be. I was told last week after Bryan and I left that we'd be back together this shift on the ambulance. Shift captain mentioned something about court ordered electroshock therapy for the guy who got stuck with Bryan last week. Why?"

"What Gris is trying to say is that it'd be easier to hide someone in an ambulance than it would be if you're on the engine. It doesn't take that much training to stand there and look like you know what you're doing. You could have the undercover hold up a bag or carry stuff to make him blend in. With a fire scene, that'd be more difficult."

"Gotcha." Anna shut her eyes and sighed again. "Fine. I'll do it. He's got EMT training which helps him not stick out like a sore thumb. Just one thing though before I agree to this and meet him."

"What's that? Clearing it with the shift captains? Nick told you I already talked to your shift captain, right and the other ones didn't have a problem with this."

"Yeah, Nick told me but that's not what I meant. We'll have to bring Bryan in on this. The other guys in the station that are on the engine can be told he's a student and that'll pacify them. They won't ask questions, but with Bryan working with me as close as he and I work, he has to know the truth about my new babysitter. He and I are a team and there's no way around it. Bryan would know if this guy is a student because the shift captain always tells both of us what's going on. He and I are both Field Training Officers and when we get someone to ride with us, the shift captain tells both of us. Bryan would know something was up if I was the only FTO that knew about the babysitter riding with us."

Grissom looked at Anna. "Do you trust him?"

"Implicitly. There are two people in this world I trust completely with my life. One is sitting here beside me and the other is Bryan. If Bryan isn't in on this, he starts asking questions, then the engine crew starts asking questions and if they do, it'd be easier to make the babysitter strip down to his birthday suit and reenact that scene from Die Hard where Bruce Willis holds up that sign. Bryan has to know."

"Then I guess we have no choice. We'll tell him when he gets here." Grissom was about to start going over some of the details with Anna when someone knocked on the door. Grissom motioned for him to come in. "Anna, meet your new undercover EMT trainee. Brad Rogers."

"Anna Gigandet. Call me Aggie." Anna stood up and shook his hand. "Nice to meet you. So you're the cop, huh?"

"Yeah. I'm the cop and the EMT. I take it you're the one I'm supposed to be watching?"

"Yes. You're my babysitter. You'll meet my partner in just a bit. He's on his way here now. Just fair warning, Bryan's, well, he's…"

"A typical fireman?"

Anna shrugged her shoulders at Brad's response, "Well, you'll see." She sat back down next to me as Brad took the couch on the other side of the office.

A few minutes later, Judy called me over the intercom and I went up front to get Bryan. I took him back to Grissom's office and when I opened the door, Anna was holding her namesake again with Brad right behind her, watching. "Hey, Aggie." She turned around to face Bryan. "What the hell is that?" He eyed the spider crawling on Anna's hand again. "Are you insane?"

"No, I'm not insane and this is a tarantula. She's named after me. Bryan meet Gabby." She looked at Bryan and held her hand up so the spider could see Bryan. "Gabby, this is Bryan." She held the spider out to him and Bryan took a few steps back, with me following his lead. "Bullfrog, you're such a pansy. You go all Crocodile Hunter when you see a snake, but you're scared of a spider?" She handed the spider back to Grissom who put the spider in the tank. "This is who you came to meet. Bryan Brooks, this is Brad Rogers, my new babysitter posing as a student EMT. Brad, this is Bryan, my partner, also known as Bullfrog. Looks like you'll need a nickname too. We all have one and if you're going to fit in with us, you'll need one, too."

"Oh, I've already got one."

Bryan looked at the newest member of their team. "First rule of nicknaming is the subject who needs the nickname will not nickname themselves. What is it?"

Anna scoffed. "I'm sitting here listening and already I've turned to a life of crime."

Bryan rolled his eyes. "What my partner is trying to say is that she knows she could never work another day without me. What's your nickname?"

"Italy. Long story. I've been called that for a while."

Bryan and Brad shook hands after Bryan volunteered happily to come up with a new nickname for the newest member of their team. We went over some details and Bryan and Anna left. Brad said he'd be over in a little bit and would come in looking lost and would ask for the shift captain, under the impression he was one of the students and was assigned to ride with Anna and Bryan for the next couple shifts.

I went home to sleep before my shift started that evening. I stopped by the fire station before I got to the lab and checked on Anna. "Everything's going fine. Bryan gave Brad a nickname." She shook her head. "He's getting old or sentimental or something. The one he gave Brad really isn't all that bad."

"Is this going to be another story along the same lines as how Bryan got his?"

She laughed, "No, this one is not as bad as how Bullfrog came to be. I promise you. One rule we do have is that nicknames are best kept clean enough to be said in all types of company. The stories behind the nickname, well, not so much. The names are kept clean so they can work as a complete replacement for the name that that each of us used to have, also known as the name HR has on file. As you well know, your real name doesn't matter on the bay floor once you get your new name from your brothers. Bryan christened him 'Marshmallow Man.' Brad kind of turned green at a wreck call we answered right after we checked in service this morning, so that's the name Bryan picked out for him."

"Nicer story than how Bryan got the name Bullfrog." I stayed at the station for a little big longer, but eventually I had to leave to head to work. Anna walked me outside and said they had a few calls through the day, but Brad didn't see anything and he took some photos with his camera phone and would be giving the memory card in the phone to us later so we could compare photos to see if someone was at the all of the scenes. After telling her I'd be back later if I could, I headed to the lab.

Grissom and I were assigned to work on a homicide involving a woman who was found dead in the bathroom of her home. We rode together and as we got to the scene, the crowd was already gathering. Remembering what Anna told me last week, I got some crowd shots with my camera as we made our way inside. The fire trucks were already outside and an ambulance was parked near the trucks, but I couldn't tell from where I was standing if it was Anna or not.

"le Damn." I got my first good look inside the house as we walked in. Grissom left me and went to the back of the house with a uniformed officer so he could see where the victim's body was. Whoever this girl was, she had three deadbolt locks on her door along with a chain lock and a bar latch. She had her windows nailed shut from the inside and covered in tin foil. Her whole house was sealed off, keeping the world outside. "Make that triple le damn."

"Hey Nick." Catherine came in, stepping over broken pieces of the front door. "To quote you, 'le damn' is right. Wow." She turned to look at the remains of the door frame. "Looks like the fire department had to batter ram their way in." She got her camera and took some pictures of what was left of the door after the fire department destroyed it to get inside the house.

"Hey guys."

I turned to see Anna coming inside with Bryan and Brad behind her. "Hey. Everything going okay?"

"So far so good. They told me outside you were waiting on us to pronounce?"

Catherine pointed down the hallway. "Gil's already back there."

Bryan handed Brad two of the bags he was carrying. Brad struggled to keep them on his shoulder without dropping the AED bag he had in his right hand. "I'm about to fall over if you keep handing me stuff. Why can't you carry it?"

"I'm the medic. I follow the ALS protocol." He handed Brad a third bag. "This is all you, Marshmallow Man."

Brad looked confused, "ALS? Advanced life support? What's that got to do with me carrying stuff?"

Bryan didn't answer before he headed to the back of the house as Brad continued to look at him as he passed by. "Bryan, you're so wrong for that." Anna hit him on the shoulder as he walked by. Brad was struggling to keep the bags from falling to the ground. Anna stepped in and took one of the bags he was holding to help him out.

"Thanks. What's ALS mean?"

Anna put it across her shoulder as she let Brad pass by her before she followed him to the back of the house. "ALS is short for ain't lifting shiiii…" Anna took the death scene form from me and attached it to the clipboard in her hands. She shifted one of the bags over to her left shoulder and she and Brad went to the back of the house to join Bryan. "Alrighty then. We'll be right back."

I started to help Catherine with the wood chips from the door when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked up in time to see someone hurrying towards me from the back of the house. Moving out of the way, I watched Brad run outside. I shook my head and went back to gathering the wood chips. I stood up to drop them in an evidence bag and saw Bryan and Anna coming out of the bedroom with Grissom behind them a few minutes later. I looked outside to see where Brad went. "He okay?"

Anna looked at me and smacked Bryan on the shoulder once again as he started to laugh as he walked by us to check on Brad. "You're so wrong." She did her best to hide a smile as she finished filling out the form on her clipboard. "Yeah, he's working out about as well as a cop who is undercover as an EMT can work out." She diverted her attention to Grissom and Bryan as they came back inside. Bryan stayed at the front of the house with Anna while Grissom went to the back of the house again. She looked outside once more and saw Brad leaning against the ambulance. "What a marshmallow." Anna signed the form and handed it to Bryan to sign. Anna looked at Captain Brass who was standing over in the living room, looking through the victim's purse. "Way to pick 'em there, Jim. I've spent the better half of the shift making sure he doesn't hurl everywhere." She looked outside, checking on Brad. "Anyway, we gotta head back and get Brad the Marshmallow Man in the truck and hope he doesn't hurl everywhere. If he does, I'll make y'all clean it up. Scene's all yours." She got the clipboard back from back to me.

As Anna turned to leave, Brass stopped her. "Oh, Anna?"

"Yeah, Captain?" Anna shifted the bag she was holding to her other shoulder as Bryan went outside to check on Brad before they left.

Brass handed the victim's wallet to Catherine. "I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry."

"For what? Marshmallow Man? Please. We all started that way. I hurled for two days straight when I first got hired on. My first call was a bad one. It goes away."

"That's not what I meant, but thanks. I meant I'm sorry for the interrogation the other day at the lab."

Anna looked confused, trying to figure out what he meant. "Oh, that. No biggie. You were doing your job and I can't get mad at you for doing your job. Is all gravy." She turned and left the house, leaving us to process the scene.

Catherine was looking through the woman's wallet that Brass had given her. "Victim's name is Jane Galloway." She handed me the ID and I dropped it in an evidence bag and waited on Catherine to finish looking through her wallet. "One credit card and nothing else. No store cards, no gas cards. No photos. Nothing." She opened another compartment in the wallet. "Looks like checks, but no cash. Robbery maybe? Cash is the easiest to steal and no one looks twice at you if you hand them cash rather than a dead girl's credit card, especially if you're a man." She handed me the wallet and I dropped it in an evidence bag and sealed it.

"Maybe." I looked around. "How'd he get in? He use his transponder and say 'Beam me up, Scotty?' The windows are nailed shut from the inside." I looked over at the door locks on the frame. "Three deadbolts and judging from the damage to the frame, the door was locked from the inside when the evidence eradication crew made entry. Did he have a key to the house? Did our vic let him in?"

"Jim, you find any keys?" He tossed Catherine the purse. "We got receipts, gum and her keys." She held them up. "Looks like these are the keys to the locks on the front door but she could have made copies and given them to family members or maybe a boyfriend or a cleaning lady." She handed me the purse and I put it in another evidence bag as Grissom came out and asked me to come to the back with him. I sealed the evidence bag and gave it to Catherine to sign as I made my way to the back of the house.

"Nick, take photos until the coroner gets here. I'm going outside to get the ALS out of my truck. Be right back."

I walked by Grissom as he went outside and I made my way into the bathroom. Something red was smeared all around the porcelain rim inside the tub. I started to take photos of the smears and turned to look at the girl. She was sitting down with her head resting on her arms like she was in the process of throwing up when the killer attacked her. I started taking photos of her, but something made me stop to look at her again. Her hair was still wet and had fallen across her face. I looked back over at the tub. "le Damn." I took several more shots of the tub and got down on my knees to get shots of her against the toilet. I brushed the hair out of her eyes to get a clear shot of her face, but something stopped me and I stood back up and stared at her. I was trying to think if I knew her from somewhere or if we had been here before. I couldn't figure it out.

"Do you know her?"

"Jesh." I was startled when I heard Grissom's voice behind me. "No."

"Sorry for scaring you. You've been staring at this girl for ten minutes."

"No, I don't know her or at least I don't think I do. Just wondering what happened here. The tub's covered in that red stuff, but it doesn't look like blood. Her hair's wet and it looked like she may have gotten sick in the middle of washing her hair maybe?" I put my camera strap across my right shoulder and took a few steps back to allow David to come in and get the body. "Windows in here are nailed shut, just like the rest of the house." I looked at the windows while David was getting ready to put Jane's body on the stretcher as he got out a body bag. "Not just nailed, but screwed shut. I don't know what her story was, but she was definitely trying to keep someone out of her life." I put my hands on the handles of the window and tried to lift them up. "Not going anywhere." I watched as David got Jane's body off of the floor and put her on the body bag. "Poor girl."

David took her out of the room and I followed him down the hall. I kicked something and looked down. "Dog dish?" I picked it up. "Anyone see a dog?" I brought the ceramic bowl back up front where Catherine was. "Did you see a dog here when you got here?"

"Dog dish, dog food, dog leash, dog bed." Catherine looked around, "No dog. I haven't seen a dog since I got here, but we weren't the first ones here. Engine was when they battered the door in. Need me to call Anna?"

"Yeah, call and ask her if they saw a dog. It could have gotten scared and gotten out when the department battered the door to get in." I put the dog bowl on a table next to the stairs and went back to the bathroom.

"You're right about one thing. It's not blood." Grissom swabbed another sample on the tub and dropped some phenolphthalein on the swab. "No reaction." Grissom dropped the swab in his field kit and reached for his luminol and started to spray the tub and the floor where Jane's body was. "Hit the lights, Nick." I reached behind me and turned the lights off as Grissom began to spray more luminol around the bathtub and across the floor. He put the bottle down and got the ALS out. "Nothing. Non reactive." He sprayed the toilet seat and the toilet tank and brought the light out again. "We have blood on the toilet." He got another swab out and got a sample of the blood before asking me to turn the lights on again. He looked closer at the stains on the tub. "Is this hair dye?" He touched one of the spots. "It's tacky." He got lost in thought a moment. "Do you think she was in the process of coloring her hair when the killer caught her off guard?"

I was playing the scenario in my head that Grissom had given me when Catherine walked in. "Nick, I just got off the phone. I talked to Anna. She said the engine company in the station she's at was the first responder here. Anna and her partners came up right behind the engine crew when we saw them come in, but the engine crew was the first one to make entry when they beat the door in. They didn't mention anything to her about a dog when they got here and Anna, Bryan and Marshmallow Man didn't see one either."

Grissom looked up, "Marshmallow Man? Who's that? What did I miss?"

"Anna's new ride along. His new nickname is Marshmallow Man. She called him that when I called a little bit ago to ask about the dog." Catherine watched Grissom collecting more samples. "Anna did say that said she noticed the dog dish in the floor when they came back here to pronounce, but didn't ever see the dog." Catherine surveyed the bathtub. "Is all that her blood?"

"No. We sprayed it. Non reactive. We think it is hair dye." Grissom handed me the swab he just took so I could give it to Catherine. "It's still tacky and it's not reacting. We did find blood on the toilet seat. Her hair was wet, so maybe she was coloring her hair and the killer surprised her, bashed her head on the toilet and left?"

"Could be." Catherine looked at the tub. "It's all over the tub." She turned her attention to the sink. "Basin on the sink is too shallow. If she was in the process of using hair dye, the logical place would be the tub. It's deeper than the bathroom sink." She stared at the tub again. "Almost looks like he shook her while she had the dye in her hair and the spatter on the tub is from shaking her." She looked over Grissom's shoulder and into the tub. "I'm going to go talk to the neighbors and see if anyone here can tell me what kind of dog Jane had or if one of them saw it out and picked it up after all of this happened. If they don't know anything, I'll call animal control and ask them. I'll let you know."

She left, leaving Grissom and me alone in the bathroom. We finished up there and headed back outside. Catherine stopped us and said that none of the neighbors saw the dog. "Jim said the caller that called 911 lives next door. His kitchen window faces Jane's house and he heard some yelling and then the dog started barking. He called 911, but shortly after that, the dog stopped barking and Jane quit yelling. The killer may have taken the dog with him to shut it up. Unis are checking the trash cans around back looking for the dog's body. Neighbor said it was a small terrier mix."

"Thanks Cath." Grissom said he was going back to the lab to start processing. He left once again after telling Catherine and me to process the outside for footprints and evidence. He left us alone so Catherine and I could finish processing the outside of Jane's house.

We finally cleared it a few hours later and got ready to take what we had collected back to the lab. "Crime Stopper, you can ride with me since I know you rode up here with Grissom."

I groaned. Catherine was bringing up the newsletter I was in. The department wanted to thank me for a job well done on a past case and did an employee spotlight. Ever since then, the team had been digging at me any chance they got. "I'm not gonna live that one down am I?"

Catherine shook her head. "Not likely." She put a bin in the back seat of her truck and threw her field kit in next to it and shut the door. I got in the passenger's side as she got in the driver's side and started the truck. "You know, now that you're a celebrity and all, you might want to think about a new shirt. Take Anna with you. She's got good tastes. Let her pick you out something."

"Yeah, I'm kind of short on options right now." I reached behind me to fasten my seat belt as Catherine backed her Tahoe out of the driveway. "Dry cleaners keep losing our stuff. Anna's down to one uniform shirt and I'm fast running out of clothes. Anna quit using them after the Audrey Malone case."

By the time we got to the lab, Grissom had already started in on the red dye from the bathroom and told me to drop off the swabs we had collected with trace and if Catherine and I wanted to go grab lunch, we could leave before we got started with everything else. I sent Anna a text asking if she was up before I stopped in trace to drop off the evidence we collected. I was signing the evidence log in sheet when I felt the phone buzz in my pocket. I finished with the form and pulled my phone out of my pocket and read the text telling me that she was up. I told Grissom I was going to see Anna and I'd be back in just a bit.

When I got to the station, one of the firefighters was outside talking on his phone. He told me the door was already open. "Aggie's in the common area playing Doom with Bullfrog and Marshmallow Man. They just got back from a call. She saved a cat earlier. Go on in."

"A cat?" I went inside to find Anna. "I'll ask her. Thanks."

Anna heard me come in and gave her controller to Brad. "Hey." She kissed me. "Clear that homicide earlier?"

"Yeah, but something's not adding up. Poor girl was scared of something. Did you see her windows? Not just nailed shut, but screwed and nailed shut. She wanted to keep someone out pretty badly."

"I saw when we got there after engine crew bashed the door in. She was desperate to keep someone away from her." Anna turned her attention to the game on TV. "The alien! Behind the rocks!"

Brad saw the alien and shot it. "You're mine!"

"Y'all need new hobbies." I shook my head and laughed as Brad and Bryan went back to the game. "Fireman outside said you saved a cat?"

Anna smiled. "Yeah, the last call we had was a fire call. We made the scene for mutual aid and when we got there, we saw this little girl and she was crying while her mother and father tried to console her. I didn't really know what was going on until I stopped one of the guys on the engine crew. I asked him what was going on and they said they found the little girl's cat dead inside. They brought the cat outside to give to the parents so they could bury it and the little girl saw her cat and freaked. I was talking to Marshmallow about something when she saw me and came up to me and asked if I was one of those people like on TV that save lives." Bryan started laughing, interrupting Anna's story. "Goof, I am not going to tell a child our motto is 'We save lives, dammit!'" Anna shook her head. "This is what I have to work with. See?" She threw a potato chip at Bryan. "Anyway, I said I was a medic and asked if she was hurt. She said no and started crying. The mother told me they were trying to get her to understand what happened to cat, but the little girl wanted someone to try to save it. Seeing as how I'm an animal lover myself, I told the parents I'd try telling her what happened. I said I'd work on the cat for a minute and tell the little girl he died. So I took the cat to the truck and the little girl got in with me to watch. I didn't really know what to do, but I got the oxygen out and tried to revive the cat and butter my butt and call me a biscuit, it worked. The cat lived. Next thing I know, the little girl is freaking out and her parents rush over and see her holding the cat like a baby in the back of the ambulance. I told her she could be my special helper and gave her the oxygen mask to hold up to the cat's face."

"Now that's a news story. I bet that little girl was happy."

"Behind the tree! Kill it! Kill it!" Anna got excited and shook Brad's shoulders to get his attention so he could kill another alien. "Yeah, she was ecstatic I saved her cat. The mother came over and thanked me profusely right before we got ready to leave and I just told her I was doing my job. Call me Dr. Doolittle now I guess." Anna watched as more aliens got blown up on the screen. "Newspaper guy came over and got a picture of me with the little girl and the cat. I thought it was really sweet actually and he didn't have to put my picture in the paper, but he said he was going to since it was 'a human interest story' I think was how he worded it. He said it'd be in tomorrow's edition. Guess I'll need to buy a paper."

"I'll get you one when they come out later on." I watched Brad and Bryan who were still killing aliens. "Anything else happen?"

"No, not that…oh wait." Anna looked at me. "I am missing the red scene tag for my helmet. I went to pull it out of my locker earlier when we made that call and the blue one was attached, but the red one was nowhere to be found."

"Think you left it at the apartment?"

Anna shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe. I know I had it before shift started but I don't know. Maybe it just fell off. I'll look when I get home after while. Just strange the blue one was there but the red one was gone."

"It'll turn up. Brad, you see anything?"

"No." He went back to blasting aliens. "I just emailed you the photos from my phone. Aggie gave me your email address."

"I'll check now." Realizing I didn't have my laptop with me to check, I asked Anna for hers.

"It's in the shift captain's office, charging. Come on." Anna held out her hand as she led me towards the administrative offices that were on the southern side of the station.

I looked around the office and happened to see a board with radio numbers on it and different magnets lined up behind each number. "What's the chart for?"

Anna was unplugging the power cord from the laptop but looked up at me. "Oh, that's our bragging board." She got the laptop unplugged and put it back in the case. "The radio numbers for us are all different. Each shift has one radio number assigned to them and no one else uses that number. The little symbols next to the numbers are our accomplishments. In this case, next to Engine 11 is what they've ran over in the truck." She pointed to one. "According to this, they've ran over two dumpsters and a light pole." She looked down the board. "Here is ours, Medic 78. They do the same thing on the engines for us as far as mowing down stuff, but we also get these." She pointed to some unused magnets at the bottom of the board. "A red heart with a thumbs up was a code save, a busted up cartoon character was a trauma save. The sleeping baby in a blanket is for a delivery and the rest of them are pretty self explanatory. Fire crews get those, too. Bryan and I haven't managed to mow down a mailbox this month but there's still time. The month isn't over with yet." She looked up at the board again before we left. "Oh, and that one." She pointed to a trophy on another station's section of the board. "That's the Doom trophy. They're winning right now." She handed me the laptop. "We've got wifi. Just turn it on. It'll connect."

Anna and I went back up front and sat on the couch and watched Bryan and Brad still killing aliens on Doom while the computer started up. "Do you guys play anything else other than Doom?"

Bryan shook his head, "Not normally, no. When the other stations we play against are on calls, we usually play something else or do something productive like write reports or clean up, but for the most part, when it's late at night like this, Doom it is." He turned his attention back to the game. "Bonsai!" His player just took out an alien causing it to explode on the screen. "Take that Station 12! Prepare to surrender to the powers of The Frog!"

"The Frog? It's almost like I work with orangutans." Anna said she'd be right back and headed to the kitchen to get a drink.

The familiar computer voice welcomed me as the computer finished starting up. I clicked on the internet link and signed on to my email account and as soon as I did, the computer announced I had email. I clicked on the icon and over 40 emails were waiting for me to read. I scanned through the senders' names and skipping over most of them until I found the one Brad sent me. I opened the email and glanced at some of the images. "Thanks, Brad. I'll look at these closer later on in the lab and let you know if I find anything." Anna came back, Mountain Dew in hand and took the seat next to me. I heard her cheering on Bryan and Brad as another alien met his destiny on the TV screen. I shook my head and laughed and turned back to the emails. I started deleting the spam emails. I got rid of those and started looking over the other emails. One of them caught my eye. "Wow. There's a blast from the past." I clicked on the email and saw it was a friend from school I haven't heard from in years. She sent a note telling me she was married with kids now and lived in Maine and hoped I was okay and attached some photos from prom. As I scanned through them, I got a good laugh at the fashions back in the day.

"What's so funny?" Anna leaned over to see the computer screen better. "Photos?"

"Yeah, from high school. Wow." I looked at a couple more as Anna rested her chin on my shoulder. "Friend of mine from high school sent these. I haven't heard from her in years. Wow. Note said she was cleaning out the attic and found these and scanned them, hoping I'd get a good laugh at days gone by."

Anna put her fingers on the track pad and started to scroll through the pictures as I watched Bryan and Brad still fighting enemy aliens on the TV. "These are priceless." She scanned through the collage of bad tuxedos, bad prom dresses and even worse hairstyles from days gone by. Towards the end of the pictures in the email were pictures from a post prom party. "This was your date?" She pointed to a picture of me and a girl in a sequined prom dress.

"Yep. Tracy something or another. Don't remember her last name. This was the only time we went out."

The department phone rang. "Far be it for me to stop the two of you from saving the world from terrorist aliens." She put her drink on the table and got up to answer it. "Station 11, Gigandet." I watched her for a minute as she spoke to the caller. "It's Tessa from station 12. She sounds pissed."

Bryan flipped Anna off. "Tell her I said that."

"Bonsai!"

I looked over at the TV to see what Brad was yelling at. He and Bryan were giving each other high fives at what was apparently an important kill in the game. I started to scroll through the rest of the pictures. Anna hung up the phone and came to sit by me again. "Station 12 says they're gonna get even with us for that kill y'all just made."

While she watched her partner and Brad shoot aliens, the final picture came on computer screen. I froze. "What?" I clicked on the picture so I could zoom in on it. "How?"

Anna looked at me. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

I turned the screen to where she could see it. "Look familiar?"

She picked up the computer and stared at the picture. "Jane Galloway." Anna zoomed in on the picture. "She's in the same pose as Jane Galloway."

Bryan heard us and paused the game and turned around. "Who's Jane Galloway?"

"That girl that died sitting at her toilet."

"Oh, the scene where Marshmallow Man lost his lunch again at." Bryan shoved Brad who flipped him off.

"Shut up, both of you." Anna handed the computer back to me so I could turn it around to show the two of them. "Look. It's the same. She's wearing the same shirt and posed the same way."

Bryan took the computer from me and looked at it. "Damn, CSI Man. This has gone beyond coincidence and has now moved into creepy stalker territory."

Bryan gave the laptop to Brad. I asked if he saw anything. He shook his head. "In between trying to keep my dinner down after we left that scene and that wreck we had earlier, no. I took the crowd shots and emailed them to you hoping you'd be able to find something, but I didn't see anyone paying more attention to Aggie than normal. People are going to watch us of course, but I didn't see anyone watching her close enough to raise suspicion." Brad handed the laptop back to me after he looked at the picture. "I'm with Bullfrog. This is just creepy stalker territory. Looks like I need to be shadowing you and not Aggie."

I shut the laptop off and said goodbye to Bryan and Brad. "I'm going back to the lab to talk to Grissom about this. Does anyone have access to these laptops other than you?"

Anna shook her head, "Just us and the shift captain but this is the first time you've logged in to your email using our laptop. Could someone have hacked in? Did you forget to log off at the lab or something? Library? Anywhere?"

"I don't think so. Most of the time, I use my laptop at home. I haven't stepped foot in this library here in town in ages and I know I log off at work after I get done or one of the lab rats would play a prank on me and sign me up for a bunch crap." I kissed Anna and hugged her. "Talk to the two of them and tell them not to say anything. I'm going to talk to Grissom and tell him about the email and the pictures." I kissed her again. "And please, keep your eyes open and let me know if you see anything." I looked down to check the time, "Happy Birthday, Anna."

She brought her watch up to look at it, "It is my birthday." Anna kissed me and told me to go talk to Grissom and let me know what I found out. "I'll see you in a little bit. Hoping that since today's my birthday, the relief crew will come in early or I'll be told I can leave early so Bryan and I can get out of here for our birthdays. Relief crew is pretty good about coming in on birthdays so the birthday employee can split. I still want to know what my surprise is."

"You'll find out later, I promise." I left Anna at the station and went back to the lab.

Grissom wasn't in his office. I was headed to the evidence lockers when Warrick stopped me. I was so wrapped up in what happened that I didn't hear him call me. He had to call me a second time before I turned around, "Sorry, my mind's not all here."

"When is it ever?" Warrick smiled, "Yeah. If I had Anna waiting on me, I'd be off in left field too. How's she doing?"

"She's fine. Today's her birthday and she gets off work in a little bit, but that's not why I'm so weirded out."

"Then what is it?"

I pulled Warrick into an empty office, "You know that case Grissom and I worked earlier about the girl that was dead on the toilet?"

"Yeah, Grissom's down in autopsy with Cath and Doc Robbins. They're just wrapping up the post. Why?"

I told Warrick about Brad sending me the pictures from the scenes Anna was at earlier, "I look through those and start deleting spam and I see an email from a high school classmate of mine. In the email are some pictures and well, see for yourself." I took a seat at the computer and logged back into my email account and pulled up the pictures. "Look."

"Drunk at a prom. So what?" He clicked on the picture to zoom in, "More like toasted at prom, but who didn't get drunk at prom?"

I closed the email window and brought up the internal page we use at work to access case files. I typed in the case name and brought up the pictures I took earlier. I clicked on the picture I took of Jane Galloway on the toilet and brought up the email picture of the drunken girl from prom. "See any resemblance?"

Warrick motioned for me to get up out of the chair. I moved and he sat down and looked at the pictures for a bit longer before he got up again, "They're identical. The bodies are virtually the same position in both pictures. Jane Galloway's hair is even the same color as prom girl's. She's wearing the same shirt as Jane, too." He moved out of the way so I could sit down and log back off. Before I did, I changed my password on my email account a second time and signed off. "Change your password and let Grissom know. What about the sender?"

"My classmate? She lives in Maine or something. What'd she do? Fly in for murder and go back home to her husband and kids? I just changed my password second time and I plan on letting him know as soon as I can find him."

"Keep me updated, and if I don't see you later, happy birthday tomorrow and tell Anna happy birthday today."

"Thanks, Rick." He left and I stayed where I was, staring at the computer screen until the screen saver came on.

"Nick? What are you doing here?" I looked over as Grissom checked his watch. "Isn't it Anna's birthday?"

"It is, but I'm glad you're here. I need to talk to you about something. Shut the door." Grissom stepped in and shut the door. I started to explain to him about what happened earlier at the house with Brad getting sick and taking photos while he was outside. "I go check on Anna and he says he emailed the pictures to me already, so I use Anna's laptop from the ambulance to check to make sure they're there. They are and as I'm looking through the emails in my inbox, I see one from a high school classmate of mine. She's married now and has kids and is living in Maine or something, but when I open the attachments, I see this." I turn around to face the computer and log back into my email account. "This reminds you of Jane Galloway, doesn't it?"

Grissom looked at the picture in my email inbox of the prom party. "It's uncanny. Her hair is the same shade. Her body is in the same position. She's even wearing the same shirt." He printed off the picture and looked at it once the printer got done. "Doc Robbins said the girl wasn't a natural redhead. She was a blonde. Maybe it could be explained she was changing her hair color to fool someone she was trying to keep out of her life, but this picture from your prom party…" He faded off as he looked at the picture. "We need to let Brass know." Grissom stood up. "Go home, Nicky. Tell Anna happy birthday from me and we'll let you know about this later on. Enjoy your day today and if I don't see you tomorrow, happy birthday."

"Thanks." I turned my attention back to the computer screen just as the screen saver came on again. I moved the mouse and signed off my email after changing my password a second time. After the screen saver came back on, I got up to leave after getting a text from Anna saying she was off work and headed to my apartment. I sent her one back saying I'd be there in a minute after I changed.

Leaving the lab and getting in my truck, the pictures of Jane Galloway and the prom party kept flashing through my mind. I tried to get rid of the images, but I failed miserably as I drove home to see Anna, hoping once I got home, she'd help me get rid of them or at least help me find a way to make sense of everything.

A/N: This is the time I start begging for reviews. Please? It's Anna's birthday and that's what she really wants! I've started trying to review every story I read whether I like it or not because reviews really are the only reward fanfic writers get for their hard work. I try to be helpful no matter what, so please review me? Pretty please? . Flames are just cruel. Reviews will get lots of love and stuff from me. And Nick won't have to kill any more flower pots. Ha.

First person to review gets to pick a song for Warrick to sing karaoke to in the next chapter. Leave the song title in your review or send me a PM through FF.