Chapter 2

Krisalyn stood off to the side with Nick as they waited to enter the crime scene. Krisalyn wouldn't admit it but from what she could see it was a particularly brutal crime, one she was going to end up with nightmares about. She bit her bottom lip nervously and then caught herself, showing any sign of weakness would only make her look bad in front of everyone.

Nick glanced over and saw Krisalyn standing off to the side. She seemed as though she was struggling with something inside of her mind. He frowned a little when he saw her take a deep breath and then shrugged his shoulders and turned back to the crime scene at hand.

"You know if you would rather wait outside the area I can handle this myself." Nick said softly.

"You'd like that wouldn't you? To be able to run back to the lab and tell them that Krisalyn is a major wimp and can't handle a crime scene." Krisalyn said with venom in her voice.

"What is your problem? I was only trying to be nice." Nick said spinning towards her quickly.

They worked their crime scene efficiently for the next couple of hours. Nick looked down and realized there was something he wanted to rush back to the lab as quickly as he possibly could. He turned towards Krisalyn and admitted silently to himself that she was competent to be at the scene alone for a while.

"I am going to take some stuff back to the lab. Think you can handle things here alone for a while?" Nick asked as he looked over at Krisalyn fully.

"You can't leave me here alone." She said panicking. Her mind flashed back to her old job and she dropped everything she was holding. She grabbed her chest and sank to her knees, realizing she was having a full blown panic attack.

Nick looked at her completely stunned. He wasn't sure what was going on but he set aside everything he was holding and rushed over to where she was kneeling. He quickly put a comforting hand on her back.

"Breathe in slowly, come on deep breath." Nick said rubbing her back in slow circles to try and soothe her.

Krisalyn calmed down and then blushed with embarrassment; there was nothing more humiliating than having a full blown panic attack at a scene. She kept her eyes trained on the ground and tried her hardest to think of something to say to explain what had happened without having to explain the truth.

"What's going on with you?" Nick asked before her brain had come up with something.

"Nothing." Krisalyn said pulling away from him.

"You know what, you are a human being. It's not big deal what just happened but I would like an explanation on why you just freaked like you did." Nick said crossing his arms in front of him.

"Look I really don't want to talk about it." Krisalyn said as she picked up everything that she dropped. "Go ahead and head back to the lab, I'll be fine here by myself."

"Are you sure?" Nick asked worried about her.

"Yeah." She said turning back to the area she was processing.

He laughed as he realized that this whole thing was going to be even better than he originally planned. So the female CSI at this scene was terrified to be alone. Well maybe he could make her feel like she was all alone in the world, maybe he could prey on her fears. This was going to be a big job but he had a feeling he was up for it.

Krisalyn looked around the scene and took a deep breath. She really hated working crime scene's alone. She put her right hand on her chest and tried to will her heart to slow down some. It was beating a mile a minute. She looked around the scene and got back to work slowly, glancing over her shoulder every few minutes, praying Nick would hurry back. Even though she wasn't that fond of the guy she would rather have him here than be by herself.

Nick slowly drove back to the crime scene with a frown on his face. He wasn't sure what that whole scene earlier was about but he had a feeling there was something about Krisalyn that he didn't know, something that not even Grissom must know. He was still a few minutes away and he shook his mind clear, ready to face her and whatever sarcastic remark she was going to throw at him this time.

Krisalyn jumped as she heard a door open and close. She closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath, thinking that Nick had arrived back and was just trying to scare her.

"In here!" She shouted as she turned back to her work.

He looked at the woman who was bent over some blood that he had left behind and laughed inside his head. She had just led him straight to her and had no clue he was standing there, ready to kill her if he had to. This was to easy, he enjoyed a challenge and it seemed like she wasn't going to be one today. He decided to go a different route and picked up the lamp that was sitting on the table. He cautiously lifted it over his head and aimed it before he threw it, smacking it straight into the back of the CSI's head. She fell to the ground and he headed out the back door, satisfied that the crime scene had just been contaminated.

Nick arrived at the scene and rolled his eyes when he realized she wasn't outside waiting for him.

"You would think she would have been finished with the inside by now." He muttered as he walked inside carefully. He followed a blood trail into the living room and sucked in a breath as he saw her lying unconscious on the ground.

Krisalyn woke up a few hours later and looked over to see Grissom standing there looking her over carefully. Standing next to him was Sara and she appeared to be very upset.

"What happened?" She managed to get out.

"We were hoping you could tell us." Nick said speaking up from his position.

"All I remember was hearing a door open and thinking you had come back and were trying to scare me or something. I called out to who I thought was you and then went back to work. The next thing I knew something smacked me in the head and I woke up here." Krisalyn said thinking really hard.

Grissom stood outside the room and looked in at his injured CSI. He already knew what was going on, the pattern matched and as he looked at Krisalyn and Nick he realized immediately that they were the new targets of something sinister. He sucked in a breath and looked at Kathryn and nodded his head slowly.

"The killer chose them." Grissom said simply.

"They are in for a bumpy ride. Should we tell them?" Kathryn asked not needing any clarification.

"No. Unfortunately they will only make major mistakes if they know he is doing this to get to them. Let them follow the evidence to him, let them make him mess up." Grissom said after a moment of thought. And that was the end of that conversation. Tomorrow would be a new day and Nick and Krisalyn would have to face a serial cop killer on their own.