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.

14. Intervention

Chapter 14 – Intervention

I froze as what this lady just told me started to register with my brain. It caught me off guard when I realized who she was and the name she just mentioned to me. It was the same name that started Anna and me down the path we were on. It was the same name that had Anna waking up during the night screaming and crying after a nightmare. It was the same name that Anna and I would give anything we had to forget. It was the same name that neither of us wanted to hear again. I took a step back from the dark haired woman in front of me, "Ma'am, I'm not sure if this is…"

She cut me off, "Please. I know what you must be thinking right now after I dropped a bomb on you like that but I just need to say one thing to you and I'll be on my way. I promise you, I'm not here to cause any problems. I just needed to speak to you before I left Vegas and went back home."

Against my better judgment, I handed her a visitors' badge off of Judy's desk and opened the door and brought her in the lab. As we were walking back to the conference room where I wanted to take her, I happened to notice that the ballistics lab was empty. I decided to hear what she had to say in there as I figured if she wound up being as insane as her brother was, Bobby Dawson would have something in there that I could use to defend myself along with my service weapon.

I told her to have a seat at the table in the center of Bobby's office as I shut the door behind us. Renee took a deep breath and pulled a chair out from the table and sat down.

Just in case she was as insane as her dead brother, I put a few feet in between the two of us as I stood by the door as I unsnapped the holster on my gun. I started to look around the room for anything I could use in the event I needed to defend myself in case I needed a backup weapon and noticed the gun cabinet behind where she was sitting. It was locked and I wouldn't have enough time to get anything out but there was a baseball bat sticking out from a gym bag that was next to Bobby's desk. I had forgotten that he played on the department baseball team. Keeping my eye on that bat, I mentally decided to use my gun first and then reach for the bat later if necessary. I backed up closer to the door and put my hands behind my back with my left hand on the door knob. "Now how can I help you?"

"I know some of what happened to you and what my brother did to you and I know it doesn't mean much, but I'm sorry. I got the call a few weeks ago after the incident happened. The police had a bit of trouble tracking down next of kin and finally found me after going through his phone records. I've been in Vegas a week now." Renee unfolded her arms and laid her hands on the table, "Captain Brass was going over some of the details at the station when I first saw you. I have a lot of questions myself and the answers I got were pretty vague seeing as how he died. I'll never know why he did what he did to you, but I came to Vegas to finish up with what he left behind and to get answers to some questions I had. I was at the station earlier because I was just trying to get a better understanding on why this happened. As I told Captain Brass, my brother has had a long history of mental illness ever since he was a child. He moved out here from Georgia about fifteen years ago after having a falling out with the family. He's been doing well until recently and then something happened."

I stayed where I was, keeping the distance between the two of us while keeping sight of the bat visible in my peripheral vision and my hand still behind my back as it rested on the door handle, "I'm not sure what it is you want from me. What was it you wanted to tell me? Why are you here?"

"I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am. I understand my brother attacked your girlfriend as well? Captain Brass said she was at the house with you that night?"

"Yeah. She was and he did." I kept my answers as short as possible without getting into too many details. Considering who her brother was, I felt I was justified in not trusting this woman any farther than I could pick her up and throw her.

Renee's fists tightened when I confirmed what had happened to Anna, causing me to shift my weight to the foot closest to the baseball bat, "I'm sorry for what happened to her as well. My brother has always been fascinated with law enforcement work. He never could pass the psych exam or he would have gotten on the force himself. Nigel tried a few times when he lived in Georgia and once before he moved to Las Vegas. He's been fine up until...well...that night. I'm guessing he met you somehow?"

"Yeah, he installed my cable."

Renee looked at me with compassion in her eyes. When I saw that look, I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and hear her out, but I still kept my guard up and my hand on the doorknob and my eye on the bat just in case. After what happened to Anna and me, I was still uneasy about being in a room four feet from the sister of the man who tried to kill me and almost took Anna away from me. "That's how I figured he met you. Nigel met a lot of people that way. Most of the time, he couldn't stand them, but there were several people he did take a liking to and you were one of them. I never understood why some people irritated him so much and other people, he idolized. He called me not too long after that and said that he had made a new friend and he was feeling great. I didn't realize at the time that he was as unstable as he was. To me, it sounded like he was finally settling down in his life and all of the therapy and medications were finally starting to take hold and start working. He was so happy that he got a chance to meet you that day and how the two of you became friends. He didn't mention your girlfriend until about a month or so ago. He said that every time she was around you, you didn't recognize him. I tried to reason with him, but he didn't listen. When he got that way, he wouldn't listen to anyone. He was a completely different person than the Nigel I knew. He just kept going on and on about how angry he was with you. I should have done something then, but I didn't. I just never imagined that he'd do anything like this. Nigel never has acted out this violently until now."

"I didn't recognize him. He was only at my house for an hour maybe and the day he was there, my girlfriend was really sick and I kept checking on her on top of the fact that I was working a huge case and was engrossed in that most of the morning. At the time he was in my apartment, my girlfriend couldn't hold anything down and I was concerned with her becoming dehydrated because of a high fever. I kept checking on her through the day and into the night. I don't understand the connection he said we had. I was told after the fact that he kept a video diary and that's how the other CSIs I work with found out he was the one who attacked me, then a week later, he broke into my apartment, shot my girlfriend and almost killed her. All of that happened before he had me on my knees as he was about to kill me as well."

Renee started to stand up. She shoved the chair back under the desk, but didn't move right away. I slowly turned the door knob in my hand, but didn't open the door. I decided I'd open the door and run for it and if she followed me, that'd give me enough time to unholster my weapon and start shooting, "I didn't know. Your girlfriend? How is she? Did he, um…is she…?"

"No, she's not dead. He shot her twice and she was in the hospital about a month, but she's back home now. She'll be fine eventually I hope. She's got to have some physical therapy for her injuries, but she should be fine in that aspect at least."

She looked relieved, "Good. Glad to hear that went well for you, and again, I'm terribly sorry. I'll only be in town a few more days to tie up some loose ends with my brother's apartment and job. I was told by Captain Brass that it was an officer involved shooting and when I requested a copy of the police report, I saw your first name but very little else. I was told I could only have an edited version of the report. Nigel sent me a copy of that newsletter that you were in and I made the connection that you must be the Nick he talked about. I will admit that I wanted to be angry with you for killing my brother. I tried to be. Nigel's touch had the timing and precision of a car wreck. Seems like every life he became a part of, he ripped it to shreds when he got bored or when he just didn't like it anymore. I didn't know if I wanted to ever meet you, but when you came in the office last night I had a completely different picture of you in my head and again, I'm sorry for what happened. I just wish I would have realized my brother was as unstable as he was and I wish I would have stopped him before all of this happened."

"I don't think any of us had any idea he was like this. I also wasn't aware he had a sister. According to what we found, he didn't have any family."

Renee shook her head, "No, you wouldn't have found any family members. The way he explained it, he doesn't have any family left. Well, at least not in the family he considered his family sense other than me. Nigel was adopted."

That was a shock, "Adopted?"

"Yes. He didn't have any biological family members still alive. My parents adopted him when he was about two years old. His biological parents and his biological brother and sister were killed in a house fire when Nigel was about two and he was the only one to survive. For some reason, and to this date it still baffles me as well as fire experts, the fire destroyed the house. It destroyed every room in the house but his room. He was safe. The door was closed and the window was closed and his room didn't burn. The door held the fire off. Every other door in the house was burned through and the contents in the room destroyed, but Nigel's room wasn't. It was almost like he had this shield or something around him that protected him that day. Neighbors had gathered outside and told the firemen that there were three children plus their parents inside. The firemen found the parents first and found Nigel's biological brother and sister next but they couldn't be saved. According to my father, one of the neighbors told one of the firemen that Nigel was still missing and his room was in the back of the house but the back of the house was where the fire started. The firemen all thought Nigel was dead like his family, but when they were doing a room by room sweep of the house after they got there and when they started to put the fire out, they found him alive. Every room in the house were destroyed, but when firemen opened the door to Nigel's room, he was in his crib, crying. The newspaper covered the story and called it a miracle he was still alive. The temperature in his room didn't ever reach a level that could kill him though the fire was right below his room. The firemen rescued him out of the house and took him to the hospital. My father was a pediatrician there and when he heard Nigel's story from the firemen after they brought him to the hospital, he asked if he had any living relatives and when my father found out Nigel was the only survivor, my parents adopted him."

"That explains why he felt he never belonged."

"Mostly, yes. Nigel's name was changed to Willis when he was adopted to match our last names but when he turned eighteen and graduated high school, Nigel found out that his real name was Crane and had it legally changed back. After that, he just went down hill. I have another sister and three older brothers, but none of them could stand Nigel. I was the only one he'd talk to. He even shut out my parents when he turned eighteen saying he was angry with them for denying him the chance to grow up how he was supposed to so after that, he packed up and left Georgia and never came back."

"Where'd he go?"

"Florida first. He wanted to be near the beach. Then after that, he abruptly moved to Nebraska before finally settling on Las Vegas. He didn't believe the story behind how my parents adopted him and it was almost like he blamed all of us for the fire that night that killed his biological family. For some reason, he never blamed me and I don't know why. I never did ask him why either. I would have liked to know now, but I never will know why now I guess. My parents showed him photos of the house but he just couldn't believe it and I thought it was a bit strange myself, but why would they lie about something like that?"

"I can believe the story. I've seen a lot of stuff thanks to this job that I would have never believed until now. Stuff like that can happen, even if we don't know why. My girlfriend's a firefighter for the LVFD. I'm sure she's got stories to tell and like I said, I've seen a lot in my years here. I would have been just as skeptical had it not been for this job."

"Thanks for listening to me and not judging me." Renee held her hand out. I kept my left hand behind my back, still on the door knob, but shook her hand with my right hand. "I appreciate you taking the time to allow me to tell you how sorry I am and would you please relay my message to your girlfriend about how sorry I am over this. I'm just sick with guilt because I now know that if I would have just stopped and came out here when Nigel called me when he started ranting about your girlfriend that I could have stopped all of this, but I just…"

I interrupted her, "No one did and I'll relay the message to her. Are you leaving Vegas tonight?"

"No. I've still got a few more things to do here in Vegas before I leave. I'll be gone in a few days. I know that I still have to clean out Nigel's apartment and he had a storage unit as well. Most of his stuff I'll probably just donate to charity, but I wanted to look through it just in case before I did. Thank you again for taking the time to talk to me. I hope I didn't keep you from anything."

I opened the door to Bobby's office and stepped into the hall as I held the door open for Renee. "It's okay and you're welcome." I checked a clock on the wall in one of the labs as I was leading her back up front. It was past ten in the morning and I knew Anna was already gone for the day. I led Renee out and watched from the safety of the lab as she got in her car and drove away. I dropped the visitors' badge on Judy's desk before I left the lab and headed home.

I tried to wait up on Anna after I got home but I was so tired, I couldn't stay up any longer. I woke up a little after two in the afternoon when Anna got in bed with me after her physical therapy session. She said everything went fine and the MRI she had done showed her healing was progressing nicely and we both fell asleep until the alarm clock and Anna's cat woke us up when it was time for me to go to work.

On my first off night after I went back to work, I told Anna I was taking her out to eat at the steakhouse inside the Hotel Paris. Anna and I both loved coming here because it gave her a chance to speak French to the staff and I liked hearing her speak in French. Even though all of the employees at the hotel speak English, a lot of them spoke French as well to go along with the Parisian theme of the hotel. Every time we went there, it struck me as still being different to me to hear a language other than Spanish being used in Nevada.

The seating hostess I knew spoke English but since I liked hearing Anna speak in French, I let Anna tell the hostess that we wanted a table for two. I listened as the two of them spoke in fluent French as I watched and listened in. Anna's grandmother was from France but had moved to Montreal where her father was born. Her family moved to Arkansas and Anna was born there. Her grandmother lived with her parents and only spoke French so as a result, Anna had been teaching me some French.

"Merci beaucoup." Anna took my hand in hers as she started walking towards the bar after she told the hostess thank you, "She said it'll be about twenty minutes before we got a table. I told her we'd be over here. I need to sit down."

I led Anna over to the bar of the restaurant to sit down while we waited on our table. I pulled out a chair for her and she sat down as I stood next to her, "Can I ask you a question while we wait?"

"Um…of course." Anna watched me for a moment, "Why do I feel this question is either going to be so far out in left field I'm going to wonder why you're asking or you'll tell me some reason which will pacify me or it's a question I don't want to hear?"

"You've been doing the firefighter thing, what? Long time, right?"

"Yep." The bartender came over and Anna ordered a Sprite and I ordered a Coke. "Seems like just yesterday but you knew all that so why ask?"

"Have you ever seen a fire that happened at a house for instance and it just didn't feel right?" I tried to think of how to explain Nigel's situation without actually telling Anna who it was. "Not feels right as in it was arson, but I guess it didn't behave the way almost all other fires work. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah, it does. When Bryan and I were in the academy at SanFran, we had to watch this video one of the first days we were in class. This guy narrated while he walked through this two story 'typical home in any suburban neighborhood' in the words he used to describe the house. It was a video about how fast a fire can spread. The guy dumped some ashes in a garbage can I think and within thirty seconds or so, the trash can was on fire and within ninety seconds, the couch, curtains and chair were engulfed but back then, polyurethane was used in the foam cushions which makes them combust faster than they do now and produces a pour pattern almost like it was arson as the polyurethane drips and splashes. Anyway, to skip to the weird part, as the guy was walking through the house before the fire was lit, he shut all the doors and narrated as he shut them, 'During the fire, this door will be closed.' Kitchen door, bathroom door, two doors downstairs from the living room and into the kitchen, four bedrooms upstairs and a bathroom door upstairs and kept repeating 'during the fire, this door will be closed.' Sometimes at night, I can still remember him walking through that house while he had on that suit that looked like it was made out of motel drapes and saying that line over and over again. Anyway, he shut them all. The whole house was wired with temperature controls and cameras to watch the fire burn as it happened. When the fire department came and put the fire out and the narrator guy went back through it and was showing the damage, this was where the weird part happened. The weird part was in one bedroom upstairs, the temperature in the bedroom never got above eighty degrees."

What Renee said to me earlier was starting to make sense, "So everything in that room was fine? What about the rest of the house?"

"Toast." The bartender brought Anna's Sprite to her and she took a drink as he set my Coke down on the bar next to Anna, "And I mean that literally. The house was toasted. The strange thing about that fire was they rebuilt the exact same house using the exact same specs and the exact same furniture and they never could reproduce those results again. The temperature readings in the living room showed that room to reach over two thousand degrees. The fire burned through the doors in the other rooms and burned the rooms and the ones it didn't burn, everything melted, but that one room was unscathed for that one fire. The next three times that house was set on fire, everything was destroyed." Anna took another drink, "Do I want to know why you just asked me that? Considering a career in arson?"

"No." I picked up my Coke, "Work related and I was just wondering if that was possible. Got conflicting statements on if something like that could happen or if it did happen, what were the circumstances."

Anna put her Sprite back down, "How many tornadoes did you see as a kid? I know living in Texas, y'all were pretty much like us. About every other week during the spring and November storm seasons, you're bending over to kiss your ass goodbye in the storm cellar. How many did you live through?"

I had to stop and think, "Several. Never did any damage though."

"Bryan and I were with his brother and sister at their grandparents' house in Oklahoma one spring while we were on spring break from school. I think Bryan and I were in third or fourth grade. I don't remember but a big storm came through and next thing we know, we're being carried downstairs to the basement. Bryan's sister and brother were yelling but I remember he and I were calm. We held hands and just sat there as the winds picked up. The tornado came and hit and it does not sound like a train in my opinion. Anyway, we come out a little bit later after the storm passed and out of the four buildings in the vicinity where the tornado came through, only one was destroyed. One house was leveled and the other three had cosmetic damages like a window blown out or a few shingles missing." Anna took another drink from her Sprite. "Point is, nature's funny. We know things like that can happen and do happen, but we don't know why."

"True." I checked my watch. "I'm gonna go check with the hostess. Be right back." I kissed Anna before I started towards the hostess. She said she had a table being cleaned right now and we could be seated in less than five minutes. I told her thank you using what little bit of French Anna taught me and started back towards the bar where Anna was.

As I got closer to Anna, I could see she was talking with someone. Anna was still at the bar but she had gotten up from the stool and was facing a woman and judging by her body language, she didn't want to be speaking to this woman. When I got closer to them, I recognized who it was Anna was talking to. "No." I looked over and saw Anna take a step back, "No. Please, no." I shoved someone out of my way as I hurried back to where Anna was. Renee was still in front of Anna, and I could tell by Anna's posture she wasn't pleased with her uninvited guest.

"I just wanted to say how sorry I was."

"You need to leave." I stood between Anna and Renee, "You need to leave now."

Renee tried to move around me to see Anna, but I kept Anna hidden behind me, "I just wanted to say how sorry I was for what happened. He was my brother and all, but, well. I'm sorry."

"You said your peace, now go. You had no right to confront Anna like this. She can't handle you right now." I turned around to watch Anna. She had her eyes closed and had brought her left hand across her eyes. I knew she was in shock or was about to be and this was the last thing Anna needed. Ignoring Renee behind me, I put my arms around Anna and hugged her tightly, "I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

"What the hell are you apologizing to her for? I'm the one with the dead brother. I'm the one that has been apologizing all week long to the two of you as well as everyone else I've seen and you tell me to leave you alone? You're the reason my brother isn't here anymore." Renee started to move to the side of me so she could see Anna, but I did my best to keep her behind me where she'd be shielded. I couldn't protect Anna from Nigel, but I knew I could protect her from Renee, "I just wanted to say how sorry I was to the two of you and this is it? This is how I'm treated? No wonder my brother hated you."

"You need…"

Anna interrupted me, "Excuse me?" She stayed behind me, but moved to my side where she could see Renee, but still far enough back to where Renee couldn't try anything without going through me first and I had a size advantage over Renee by at least six inches, "We owe you an apology for what? Because your brother was a psychotic homicidal lunatic who tried to kill me not once but twice and oh, yeah, there was that little part about trying to set me up for the MURDER of a girl that he killed that he worked with!" Anna took my hand and yanked me away from Renee, "Let's go. I'm not hungry anymore."

I started walking with Anna out of the restaurant while Renee followed us outside. I handed the ticket and a $10 bill to the valet and told him to run and get my truck. Renee started ranting again as Anna stood in front of me. Anna finally had enough and stepped out of my reach and stood about a foot in front of Renee, "Your brother was a delusional, unhinged man. He developed some sort of obsession with Nick after meeting him for all of thirty minutes one day. He decides I'm collateral and can be gotten rid of like an old newspaper. He killed a lady he worked with and left one of my shirts at a crime scene trying to implement me. If that wasn't enough, while he was in our home, he found out that I was allergic to peanut butter and tried to kill me with peanut butter. He then killed a second girl and made her over to look like a prom date of Nicky's from high school trying to make me jealous I guess. When that failed to get rid of me, he then broke into our home again, shot me twice and had Nick on the floor, getting ready to shoot him." Renee took a step back and Anna followed, getting right in her face. Renee easily had at least five inches and probably fifty pounds on Anna, but Anna was unnerved. She didn't back down easily and now was no exception, "If I wouldn't have shot that lunatic when I did, my boyfriend would be buried in the ground right now. Your brother almost took the man that I love from me and I don't regret for a second that I shot his sorry ass to save Nicky."

Renee took a step back and Anna matched her step, still staying in her face, "You were the one that shot my brother?"

"Yes. I did. I had to. He shot me twice and was getting ready to shoot Nick and this was after your brother threw him out a window. I saved Nick's life. You want to know what he said to me right before he shot me?" Renee said nothing but Anna continued, "He came out of the bathroom and said to me, 'I won.' He then shot me and I fell over on the floor. After I went up front to save Nick, guess what I said right before I shot him. Take a wild guess." Renee again said nothing, "I said 'No, I won.' That's when your demented brother raised the gun to shoot me again and I had no choice but to fire again. So the next time you want to get in someone's face, have all the facts first which clearly you don't have. Now leave us both the hell alone or I'll have you arrested for being just as unhinged as your dead brother. Do not cross me, woman, for I am in a foul disposition and you won't walk away unscathed."

The valet brought my truck to me and I grabbed Anna's hand and led her away from Renee before Anna's redheaded temper got the better of her and we wound up with a cat fight in the valet area of the hotel. Anna got in the passenger's seat with the help of one of the valets who had witnessed the showdown in the parking lot as I put another tip in the valet's hand that brought me my truck and I got in the driver's side so we could leave. In the rear view mirror, I watched as Renee stood where she was as she took in what Anna had told her. We left the hotel parking lot and it wasn't until we were back on Tropicana Boulevard heading home that I dared to break the silence, "You okay?"

As the lights from the casinos passed by, I could see that Anna had her eyes closed and she shook her head. "Define okay." She opened her eyes and reached for my hand. I held onto her hand tightly as she sighed, "I'm never going to be okay, Nick. Not like that at least." Anna looked out the window as the lights of the Strip faded behind us, "I'm never going to be like I was before all of this happened. I can't go back to that point in my life. I just have to, hell, I don't know what I have to do anymore. You never told me you saw her. Why?"

Even in the darkness of the truck as I drove home, I knew Anna could see the look I just made, "I know and I'm sorry." I held on to her hand tighter as I felt her fingers hold on to my hand just as tightly, "I should have told you about her, but I didn't. I'm sorry. I just, I…"

"Nicky, what?"

"I didn't think it'd help you any to know he had a sister or that she confronted me at the lab. I mean, I've never shot and killed anyone and God knows I pray I never have to make that decision and I'm so sorry to have put you in that position that you had to do that to save me and how I wish I would have done things differently, but I can't change that. I just didn't think that me telling you about her would make it any easier on you." I came to a stop sign and put my truck in park. I lifted the center console of the seat and took my seatbelt off and hit the button to undo Anna's and pulled her into a hug. "I didn't know if you could handle it and I'm sorry. I truly am sorry. I should have told you but I was only trying to protect you, especially since I couldn't do that the night you got shot."

"Nick, neither of us had any idea that I needed protecting." Anna let out a sob, "I just want this to be over with. All of it."

I saw headlights behind us and had to break the hug. I kept my hold on Anna's hand as we started again towards our house, "You never said that you said something back to him after he said something to you. You didn't tell Catherine and Greg this did you?"

"No. It's not something I'm proud of. When I shot him the first time, he fell and when he saw me, he got this look on his face like he knew he lost. It was strange. His face changed. He was in control when he had you on the ground and when he heard me, his face fell. He knew. He knew I won in the end and I think it upset him." Anna adjusted the strap of her sling before she continued, "Shoulder hurts really badly now. Anyway, after what he did to me, well what he did to both of us really, I figured I had the right to rub salt in his wounds and I did when I told him that I won and then I shot him. He didn't even try to fight back after I did. He just lay there on top of the psychic guy and he let go."

Anna and I got back home and she wanted to just curl up in bed and watch movies with me. I couldn't argue with that idea so I left her where she was to cook dinner since we didn't get a chance to eat at the restaurant because of Renee. I came back about half an hour with chicken spaghetti, one of her favorites. We spent the rest of what was left of my days off at home, hiding from the world. Anna seemed to be feeling better when I went back to work after the incident with Renee so I left it alone.

A week had passed after the confrontation with Renee at the Hotel Paris. Anna said she thought she saw Renee twice at the hospital as she was leaving her physical therapy session, but couldn't be sure from where she was standing. We went out a couple times during the last week and I didn't see her again, but I also knew I couldn't be around all the time. I had to work and we both knew this. She also knew I was only a phone call away and I could have the sheriff's office at her house in minutes. Since Anna didn't live in Las Vegas, but was still in Clark County, I had asked Brass to ask Ecklie to send some sheriff's office patrol cars by our house a few times during the night to keep an eye on things when I wasn't home. I was told that they'd go by as much as possible without causing a disturbance.

One night, Brass told me Ecklie wanted to see me. When I finally tracked him down, Ecklie said one of the patrol cars saw a strange blue car with Nevada plates slowing down in front of our house a few times, but when the patrol officer turned around came up behind the female driver, she drove off and since the officer had nothing to stop her for, he had to let her go. He couldn't tell from that angle if it was Renee or not but did say that the car tags came back to a car rental company in Las Vegas.

Three days after that incident, I was at work in the lab when my phone rang, "Anna? Are you okay?"

Her voice was blank, "No."

Something in Anna's voice set me off. She didn't sound right. "Sara, be right back." Sara didn't even bother to look up from the magnifying glass she was using but did raise her hand to show me she heard me as I stood up and left the office to go out in the hall to find an empty office so I could have some privacy, "What's wrong? Are you hurt? Is it something about your surgery?"

"No."

"Anna, tell me. What's wrong?" Something was off in her voice. "Anna?"

"I'm here in the lobby. Can you come get me? I need to talk to you for a minute."

"Give me thirty seconds." Hearing those words coming from anyone was never a good sign, but I shut the phone and shoved it down in my pocket as I hurried up front to the lobby. When I got to the glass door, Anna was sitting down on one of the chairs and was bent over with her left hand being used to prop her head up, "Anna?" I opened the door for her and she walked to me. I reached over Judy's desk and got a badge and handed it to Anna. She clipped it to her shirt and walked into the hallway with me but didn't say anything, "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"A ghost…" Anna stopped, "A ghost would be easier to deal with."

"Okay, you're making no sense and you're scaring the hell out of me. Come on. We need to find somewhere to talk that's private." I took her hand and with a little more force than necessary, I pulled her past the lab I was working in with Sara and into Grissom's office. Grissom and Warrick were out of town at a seminar so I knew we'd be able to speak freely without having to worry about someone coming in. I turned the lights on as I moved her away from the door and towards the back of Grissom's office. "Now what's wrong? Are you hurt? Do I need to leave work or something and take you to the hospital? Did something happen at home?"

Anna shook her head, "No, no. None of that. Renee found me again."

I felt my temper starting to flare up, "What?"

"You heard me, Nick. She found me again and confronted me a second time. She said she was going through Nigel's apartment and found some stuff that belonged to us and wanted to give it back. She was next to my truck outside Wal-Mart and she tried to give me a couple of trash bags and when I wouldn't take them from her, she threw them next to my truck. I told her to get rid of it as I didn't want whatever it was. I don't want anything back that he had that was ours. I threw the bags in a Goodwill donation bin outside the store. I don't need this. Damn it. It's bad enough I killed someone and now I've got to deal with the bastard's sister stalking me all over Las Vegas. Make it stop! I can't do this. I just can't do this anymore." Anna sat down on the couch in Grissom's office. I kneeled down in front of her and put my arms around her neck as she leaned her head on my shoulder and cried, "I can't."

Anna was beginning to scare me even more, "You can't do what?" Anna didn't look up. She kept her head down on my shoulder. "Anna, damn it, talk to me. You're scaring the hell out of me by telling me something like that and now is not a good time to shut down on me. Please, tell me."

Finally, I felt the weight of her head lift off of my shoulder ever so slightly. I loosened my grip around her neck and she sat up, "I can't deal with having to worry about looking over my shoulder and wondering if Renee is behind me with a pistol ready to finish what her brother started. I can't even go to the damn store to get medication that my surgeon called in because my shoulder is hurting because of that bastard without that woman confronting me. Nicky, make her stop. Just make it all stop." Anna put her head back down on my shoulder as she hid from the world, "I'm not strong enough."

"Anna, look at me." She lifted her head up again, "You are strong enough. You have been defying everyone since all of this happened. You shouldn't even be alive. You have defied everyone and I know for a fact you're strong enough. I will see what I can do about getting a restraining order against Renee for you. Brass is supposed to be here after while to pick up some evidence from the case Sara and I worked earlier in the evening. He's stopping by the jail to get the arrest reports then he'll be here. Do you want to stay here and wait or what?"

"No." Anna stood up and hugged me. She had hugged me hundreds of times before, but something about this one was different, but I didn't say anything to her about it and instead, put my arms around her and I held her tightly, "I have to go home."

"I'll walk you outside."

The two of us walked hand in hand in silence until we got to the lobby. Anna took the badge off of her shirt and handed it to Judy. I walked with Anna outside and she leaned into me once again for a hug, and again it felt different. "I love you, Nicky."

"Anna, promise me one thing."

"What?"

"Something's off. I don't know what it is, but promise me you're not going to do anything stupid."

Anna broke the hug, "Like what, kill myself?"

I met her eyes and held them before going on, "Well, honestly. Yeah."

"I'm not going to kill myself. I promise you. I could never do that to you. I'm not that mean." Anna got the keys to her Xterra out of her pocket, "I'm going home now."

"I love you, too, Anna. I'll see you later on when I get off work." Anna didn't say anything, "I can call in sick the rest of the shift if you want me to. I can come home with you."

Anna shook her head, "No, you're fine. I know you've had to take off a lot of work because of me. Go back in and finish the case, Nicky. I'll be okay." She held onto my hand as she started to turn away from me, her touch gradually slipping from my skin, "I promise."

I watched as she drove out of the parking lot and turned left onto the street she used to go home.

I busied myself with finishing up the case Sara and I had been assigned. When it finally came time to go home, I hurried out of the lab and got in my Tahoe to go home and check on Anna.

Half an hour later when I pulled into the driveway, Anna's Xterra was on the left side of the carport where she normally parked it. Everything appeared to be in place, but the nagging feeling she gave me when she left me at the lab still was present. I unlocked the door and Draco came skidding to a stop when her feet hit the tile floor in the living room. "Anna?" I petted the dog and she went back to the back of the house where she slept. "Anna?" The TV was on in the living room and Anna had left a glass of water on the end table. I picked it up and dumped it out in the sink before the cat knocked it over. I checked the bedroom and she wasn't there. I went to the sun room thinking she might be in there where it was quiet. Draco heard me come in and she started to thump her tail. "Where's mama?" Draco cocked her head to the side and looked at me, "Where's Anna?" Shebarked twice before settling back down in her bed and flipping upside down to take a nap.

I was beginning to get nervous when I happened to look again in our bedroom. Anna's laptop was on the table where it always was, but she never left it on. She always turned it off and put it away to keep the cat off of it. When I got to the table, I sat down in the chair and noticed a folded piece of paper next to the laptop. I picked up the piece of paper on the table and unfolded it. Anna's handwriting took up over half of the page. I held the paper in my hand and started to read.

Dear Nicky

I know by the time you get home and see this, you've probably realized I'm not at home. No one kidnapped me and I'm not being held against my will. I am fine in that aspect, sort of. I didn't kill myself, either, nor do I plan to. I made you a promise.

Too many thoughts are crammed into my head right now and I can't focus on anything. The memories of that night still play through my head and no matter what, they won't stop. I've tried to get them to stop. Nothing helps. I don't know what to do anymore. I just know that every time I turn around, I'm reminded of what happened and I just can't deal with that right now. I know it's not your fault and I know I shouldn't feel this way, but I do. I need to get past this somehow, but I'm not really sure how. I don't know how. I wish I did. I wish I knew what to do. All I know now is that I can't move on from this in Vegas right now. I have to do that somewhere else. I just don't know where yet.

I'm sorry to have to do this to you, but I just need to get away for a while. I don't know where I'm going. I don't know when I'll be back, either. I didn't tell anyone I was leaving – not even Bryan. He would try to stop me and right now, I just needed to get away from everything. I know right now you're probably mad and upset with me, and I'm sorry. That's all I can say right now. I had no idea that this would affect me the way it did. I tried to get over it. The nightmares and the night terrors of that night are starting to fade off, but the memories haven't and Renee confronting us didn't help and then tonight at Wal-Mart didn't help, either. I just want them to stop. I want them to leave me alone. I don't want to hurt anymore.

You can stay in the house as long as you want. Don't worry about the horses or the animals. I've hired someone to take care of that and the bills will be paid so you won't have to worry about coming home and the lights are out. I'm not that mean though right now, you may think otherwise.

I'm not going to do anything stupid such as end my life. You have my word on that. I just need to get away for a while and figure out what to do next and figure a way around this mess. Right now, I'm having a hard time doing that in Las Vegas. I don't know where I can find the answers that I need, but I do know I can't find them here, at least not right now.

When I have answers, I'll let you know what they are. Until then, please try to understand where I'm coming from and know how truly sorry I am.

Please believe that things are good with me, even when they're not. They will be soon enough and I will believe the same about you.

If you still love me, you won't try to find me, at least not right away. I know you'll want to and I can't stop you, but please, respect my wishes for the time being.

I came by the lab tonight because I wanted to tell you goodbye. I wanted to see you once more before I left. I am sorry for this. I really am, but I just can't do this anymore.

- A

I stared at the note in my hands. I felt my lungs start to constrict as my breathing became labored at what I just read started to sink in. I had to reread it twice before I could move. I let the note fall to the floor as I went back to our room. I opened the closet and found that her clothes were still in the closet. I checked the bathroom and everything was where it should be. Our house was left just the same every other day of her life. I opened the door to the sunroom where the pool was and it was empty. I shut the door behind me after checking to make sure the door stop that kept the door propped open for Draco was still in place. I found Danilla on the back of the couch, purring while she was sound asleep. A thought hit me as I grabbed my phone and dialed Anna's number, hoping she'd have her phone with her. I hit the send button on my phone.

'Hi. We all know how these things work, so when you hear the beep, go for it.'

I hit the end button on the phone and watched as after a few seconds, the backlight on the display went off. My phone slipped out of my hand and fell to the floor and bounced once and landed at the edge of the throw rug in the living room. I backed up until I came to the wall in the living room by the front door. I felt my knees begin to give out and started to slide down the wall. "No, Anna. No, no, no, no. Why?"

A/N: I know in the "Stalker" episode, Grissom read the report that said 'no mention of any family,' but as you can tell, my version of Stalker is slightly different. Nice twist, huh?

I know I'm gonna be bombarded with hate mail about me doing this to Anna and Nick but the "happily ever after" romances didn't fit and IMO if I ended it that way, that'd be pretty much the whole story. I wouldn't be able to finish with what I have in mind for upcoming chapters, sooooo…All I will say is that the Anna/Nick storyline isn't over with yet and stay tuned and leave me some reviews, but no flames. I promise you, this story isn't over with. I've still got a lot more to write.