AN: Sorry it took so long for an update! I know you have been waiting patiently but I was hospitalized twice and had a few surgeries. I am still pretty sick but I thought I should try my best to get here and update this for you. Again sorry for the delay!

Chapter 6

Krisalyn stared at Nick as she sucked in a deep breath. She thought quickly about whether or not to tell him the whole truth but realized immediately she didn't have a choice. She saw the picture that was crushed in his hands and closed her eyes against the tears that were threatening to fall. She turned away from him and took another deep breath, trying to calm down the feelings raging deeply inside her.

"Yes she was yours. Just like she was mine." Krisalyn said and realizing she was failing, she quickly locked the evidence back up and tried to walk out of the lab.

"Oh no you aren't walking away that easily." Nick said angrily grabbing her arm and turning her to face him. When he saw the look on her face and the tears falling his face softened and pulled her into his arms. "I'm mad that I didn't get the chance to know her, but I can see that right now isn't the time to discuss this."

"She knew about you." She whispered into his chest as she sobbed.

"What do you mean?" Nick asked confused as he pulled her slightly away from him.

"Those pictures we took, I developed them and framed them. She had them by her bed and every night I told her stories about the time we spent together and the some of the things you told me about your family. My boss has friends out here and they would call and tell him things about you so that I could tell Ella. She always laughed and I promised her that when I brought her out here to see the tigers that she could see you." Krisalyn said struggling with her emotions.

"The tigers?" Nick asked with a small smile.

"She wanted to come and see the white tigers. I had her buried out here in Vegas because this is where she wanted to come and see them. When I go and visit her grave I bring a little stuffed white tiger with me for her. I know it sounds silly but I promised her." Krisalyn said smiling even though the tears rolled down her face.

"Will you tell me what happened to her?" Nick asked.

"Please not today, maybe some other day but not today, I can't handle it today." Krisalyn said shaking her head.

"I am still angry about not knowing about her." Nick warned her.

Grissom and Sara stood outside the ballistics lab with the evidence they wanted Krisalyn to run for them, watching the scene unfold.

"Well are we going to have another office romance to help hide?" Sara joked as she walked fully into the room.

Krisalyn and Nick jumped apart, with a red blush creeping up both their cheeks.

"If I have my way we will." JJ said walking in behind Sara and Grissom. "Speaking of which, are you going to make last night's dinner up to me?" She asked Nick wiggling her eyebrows.

Nick just stared at her, unsure of what he should say at this point. Instead of saying anything he shrugged his shoulders and just walked out of the lab area.

He laughed as he posed his latest victim. This was the easiest kill of his entire career, and yes this was a career to him. These people were nothing but stepping stones. He made so much publicity and the money he did manage to get was enough to keep him living comfortably. Killing always paid well and sometimes he worked real jobs just to keep from looking suspicious. It was easy to keep cops on their toes and away from what was really going on. Sometimes it was even hilarious how close they could get without actually seeing what was right in front of their faces.

Krisalyn was finishing up with the test fires on Grissom's case when her pager started blaring. She rolled her eyes and set everything aside to see what it said. She frowned when she realized she didn't recognize the number. She collected the bullets and properly logged everything before she logged herself out of the lab and put herself out in the field. She grabbed a radio and checked her weapon to make sure everything was ready, grabbed her kit and headed out of the lab. She figured that she would be meeting Nick on scene if this was part of their case.

He watched impatiently as Krisalyn arrived at her private showing. He had made sure that Nick Stokes was unavailable and that no one else knew she was going to this call. He was going to give her a little scare, and little scare with some real live memories attached. He had pulled up everything about her little girl's brutal death and it made him smile to think of everything she was about to go through. She was going to relive the worst day of her life and there was nothing anyone could do for her.

Grissom and Sara walked into the ballistics lab and frowned when they didn't see Krisalyn or any reports for them. Grissom walked over to the log hanging there and noticed she had put herself in the field for a crime scene. He frowned even more when he realized he had never notified her of a crime because as far as he knew there were no scenes for her to process. He looked out and saw Nick standing in the hallway talking to the NY CSI and shook his head. If Nick was in here then that meant that Krisalyn was riding solo after he specifically said that was not allowed.

Nick saw Grissom walking angrily towards him and took a step back. He wasn't sure what was wrong but he had a feeling that he was going to be the one to pay for someone else's major mistake.

"Krisalyn signed herself out as on scene and you're not with her." Grissom said stopping right in front of him.

"I don't have my pager." Nick said frowning as he checked his belt.

"Why not?" Sara asked as she walked up.

"The battery died and I turned it in upstairs for replacement. They were supposed to page me over the intercome system when it's ready." Nick said quickly. "I swear Grissom I didn't know Krisalyn was leaving."

"I know." Grissom said frowning. "What worries me is that I don't know where she is. I didn't send her to a scene Nick and she didn't fill out a location sheet."

"What?" Nick asked with a gulp.

Krisalyn walked through the warehouse with a weary feeling. She already knew something wasn't right but she wasn't sure what that something was. She saw what appeared to be a scene in front of her but it worried her that she had yet to see a police officer. As she neared the scene the kit fell from her hands as she saw a doll covered in blood lying there with a picture over their face. The picture was Krisalyn's favorite of Ella. She slowly turned around and saw the different crime scene photo's of Ella's scene and dropped to her knees. She felt like throwing up again as she started rocking back and forth, memories assaulted her as she remembered the day she had found her baby in a puddle of blood. She didn't hear anyone come up behind her and she didn't feel the object slam into her head, all she knew was she couldn't see anything anymore.

Nick got his pager back and the minute he did he got a fresh page. He checked with Grissom and learned they were all going to this scene. When they got there he saw Krisalyn lying next to the body of a woman. She was pale and there was a look on her face of utter fright, at that moment Nick wanted to kill whoever had done this. He knelt down next to Krisalyn and held her hand as he waited for the paramedics to get in there. The only thing he could think of was thank goodness she was still alive.

He laughed as he watched everyone gather around the scene. He saw CSI Stokes walk out with the paramedics and get into the ambulance with Krisalyn and he laughed to himself. Things were going better than he ever thought they would. So now they would work the crime scene and try to figure things out. He had left them a few clues, a few danglers to help get them on their way into figuring things out but they never would. He had made sure that they were only teasers and that they would be as stumped as ever. He watched as CSI Willows walked outside from the warehouse and started to turn in a circle. He could already tell she was trying to get a feel for the place but she wouldn't get a feel for anything.

Kathryn had a bad feeling about this place. Something just didn't feel right. She turned her attention back to the warehouse and glanced inside to see Grissom, Sara, Greg and Warrick all working hard at the scene. She frowned as she noticed something on the outside of the warehouse, just next to the door. It was bothering her but she wasn't all that sure what it was. She snapped a couple of pictures and leaned in before her eyes widened.

"Everyone out of there now!" She shouted as she stepped inside again. "The place is wired, clear out now!"

Everyone scrambled to their feet and dropping everything in their hands ran for their lives. They ran towards the outer perimeter.

He stopped laughing when he saw them all running. So someone had found out, no problem there. He just wouldn't let them play the game anymore. He pressed the detonator and watched the place go up in a ball of flames.

Everyone stared at the warehouse they had just been in moments before and watched it burn. Everyone looked around at each other, grateful they still had the ability to do that. Sucking in deep breaths they waited for the fire department to get there.

Nick looked up a couple of hours later to see Grissom walk into the hospital room. He shook his head at the sight of dirt and soot and figured he wasn't going to want to know why he looked like that.

"All the evidence is gone." Grissom said somberly.

"What?" Nick asked shocked.

"The whole place blew up. There was bomb and the bomb squad is combing the place now with Greg and Sara." Grissom said as he looked at Krisalyn.

"She's gonna be all right. A concussion and some bruises but that's about it." Nick said reading his mind. "I am gonna have her stay at my place when she's released so I can keep an eye on her, doc doesn't want her alone and I figure I owe her."

"I don't think she is gonna be to receptive to that idea." Grissom pointed out arching an eyebrow.

"I don't think she's gonna have much of a choice, unless she would rather stay here." Nick pointed out with a shrug.

"All right but if worse comes to it, Sara said she could always stay with her." Grissom said with a smirk. "But then I know you won't mention that to her."

"Nope." Nick said shaking his head. "I figure we could use this time to talk about Ella, I do want to know what she was like."

"I figured as much." Grissom said with a sigh. "I don't think I have had a CSI who has been in the hospital this many times this close together." He chuckled softly. "Brass wants to talk to her as soon as she wakes up."

"He can talk to her when she is able to talk." Nick said shrugging again.

"Gee someone is acting a little posesive there. Last time I checked you two were barely even friends." Kathryn said walking into the room.

"Yeah well we are friends and friends look out for each other." Nick said glaring at her.

He laughed again as he chose his next victim. This time it would be a police officer. This time it would be someone they all knew and this time it would hit them as close to home as he could get. He laughed louder as he studied his victim and shook his head at the gun on her hip, it wouldn't save her life this time.