Chapter 9

Krisalyn looked up when the door opened and noticed that it was Grissom and Nick. She gave Nick a very dirty look and leaned back in her bed as the doctor continued to examine her.

"So when you got up you were dizzy?" The doctor asked for the millionth time.

"Yes." Krisalyn said through gritted teeth. "Look we know I have a head injury so it's going to take me a while before I can walk without feeling dizzy. I would think everything was normal." She said with a sigh.

"Probably." The doctor nodded with a shrug before he made a note on her chart and then left the room.

"You didn't have to give him such a hard time." Grissom pointed out taking a seat.

"Officer Thompson is dead." Krisalyn said simply as she watched the reaction on Grissom's face.

"What?" Nick asked softly.

"He was shot in the head." Krisalyn said as she turned her gaze towards Nick. "They found him in one of the empty rooms. Another CSI team is in there right now."

"Did you hear the shot?" Grissom asked frowning.

"No, which is weird unless he used some type of silencing device." Krisalyn said trying to think about it. "All I remember is getting a bad feeling and when I noticed Officer Thompson was gone it only got worse. He never leaves his post for anything. So I paged Nick, got no response and the guy came in. Lucky for me a nurse came in right after him and scared him off otherwise I would most likely be dead right now."

"I'm sorry I didn't answer my page but we were at a crime scene." Nick said as he walked towards the bed.

"Yeah well so was Grissom." Krisalyn pointed out and then rolled her eyes. "Look I get that you're mad at me, but this is no time to just ignore me because of it. I screwed up, I get that, but right now we have a serial killer who wants both you and me dead."

"I know that." Nick said starting to get annoyed.

"So why aren't you acting like you know that?" Krisalyn asked pointedly.

"Because maybe right now I just don't feel like it." Nick said getting annoyed with her. "Look Officer Thompson was my friend and I don't feel like having an argument with you right now, especially since I just found out he has been murdered."

"Wow you two are really annoying each other. I don't think it's wise that she stays with you when she is released from here, she might not come out of your place alive." Kathryn said as she walked into the room.

"What are you doing here?" Grissom asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Come on, you didn't think I would let you two macho men flank a poor injured young woman now did you? I figured Krisalyn might need some female backup." Kathryn said as she walked over to the bed.

"I could use some, just like I am going to be staying somewhere else." Krisalyn said as she looked at Nick with a stubborn look. "I can't stay with him when he is being a complete and total jerk."

"I am not being a jerk." Nick said getting mad.

"Nick why don't you and I go down the hall and get some coffee, Kathryn do you want some?" Grissom asked getting to his feet.

"Sure." Kathryn nodded as she watched Grissom push Nick out of the room.

"I can't believe him." Krisalyn muttered as she leaned into the pillows behind her.

"He loves you." Kathryn stated matter of factly.

"Excuse me?" Krisalyn asked with her eyes going big.

"It's so obvious he has the hots for you." Kathryn said laughing.

"Having the hots for me and loving me are two different things." Krisalyn pointed out shaking her head and then wincing since she hadn't had any pain medication recently.

"He has both." Kathryn said with a shrug. "I noticed it when he and Warrick came back and Nick wouldn't even look twice at some of the women he had been eyeing. He has been in love with you since that trip."

"We barely know each other and we barely knew each other then to. I seriously doubt he loves me." Krisalyn said arguing with Kathryn since that seemed like the best option.

Nick and Grissom were standing in the doorway of the crime scene that housed Officer Thompson's body. Nick felt a pain in his chest as he looked at the sheet that covered his friends dead body. Officer Jake Thompson had been a friend of Nick's for a few years now. Nick turned his head away from the sight and headed back towards Krisalyn's room. He heard Grissom walking right beside him but didn't turn to look at his supervisor. As they walked back into the room Grissom handed Kathryn a cup of coffee and Nick took a seat next to Krisalyn's bed. He saw her eyeing him with a different look and wondered what the women had talked about.

"I think Grissom and I should head back to the lab and check on the evidence. We just lost two cops today." Kathryn said shaking her head.

"Nick's going to stay here tonight. I want a fellow CSI with her at all times. Someone will relieve you in the morning." Grissom said as he looked at Nick.

"All right." Nick said shrugging his shoulders. He had a feeling that tonight was going to be the longest night of his life.

Two hours later Krisalyn woke up from a small nap to see Nick staring out the window. She could already tell that he did that often. She tried not to make any noise so he wouldn't know that she was awake but unfortunately he turned around and smiled at her. Krisalyn sucked in a deep breath and rolled her eyes at her own emotions. There was no reason for her to be feeling this way at this moment.

"Kathryn thinks you're in love with me." Krisalyn said with a smirk. "Is it true? Do you love me Nicky?" She asked using a young nickname for Nick. She watched him grimace because she remembered that he wasn't to fond of being called Nicky.

"If you have to use a nickname just use the one my dad uses, poncho." Nick said with a sigh.

"You're avoiding the question." Krisalyn pointed out with another smirk.

"Maybe there is no reason for me to answer the question." Nick said with a shrug.

"All right, if that's the way you want to play. I've decided that when I get out of here I want to go home. I don't care what anyone says, I'm an adult woman and I can take care of myself. Besides Kathryn is right, if I stayed with you then we might kill each other." Krisalyn said with a sigh of her own.

"The whole thing is nonnegotiable. You're going to be staying with me when we finally spring you from this joint and that's final." Nick said getting frustrated with her again.

"All right, you want to tell me why this is so important to you?" Krisalyn asked softly.

"I don't know you think it's important. I am just trying to be a good friend and co-worker." Nick said leaning back in the recliner.

He was watching the house with a continuous growth of excitement. That stupid little nurse ruined his plans earlier and so he was going to deviate from them and kill her next. She had to go and screw everything up when it came right down to it. He had never actually killed a nurse before so he figured this was going to be exciting. He watched her husband walk in the door and could see the kids greeting him in the entryway. He remembered a time when he thought he was going to have all that to.

Flashback

"You know one day we could have it all." He told her with a smile. "We could have a life that other people only dream about."

"I've heard that before. Look I don't know how many times I have to tell you this, we are over. I found someone who treats me so much better and he really loves me." She told him with an annoyed look on her face.

"I love you." He said getting angry.

"No you don't. If you loved me then you wouldn't treat me the way you do." She said as she got up from her seat. "Look just leave me alone all right?"

End Flashback

He clenched his fists around the steering wheel and felt the anger boiling. He had been humiliated by her that day. She had said everything nice and loud and then her new boyfriend came over to her rescue. He had eventually taken care of them both but now it was about revenge on women like that stupid little… He let the thought trail off as a smile found it's way back to his face. Eventually he would be free of her. He would be free of the memories that tormented him and he would be free of all the women like her.

He looked over and noticed his plans that he had written out. He had everything all ready for his torture of that stupid CSI Stokes. Oh he wouldn't be ready for what was coming to him and he would be begging for death to take him by the time he was finished with him. He laughed as he turned his attention back to the house. He needed to come up with the perfect plan to make that nurse suffer for everything she had ruined.

Sara and Grissom were sitting in the lounge when Greg came in with the new CSI J.J.

"Hey has anyone seen Nick?" J.J. asked as she smiled at everyone in the room.

"He's with his new girlfriend." Greg said teasingly.

"Girlfriend? I thought he was serious about me." J.J. said getting angry.

"Um… I was joking. He's working protection duty tonight." Greg said perplexed on why that reaction came out.

"Oh, of course. Sorry." J.J. said with a shrug. "So anything new?" She asked sitting down opposite Sara.

"No, nothing on the two dead police officers." Sara said shaking her head, also in shock.

"J.J. do I need to remind you about office romances?" Grissom asked her with an arched brow.

"No but you are having one so I don't think the policy really applies here." J.J. said sweetly. "Besides I really think Nick and I are meant to be."

Kathryn and Warrick stood at the door to the lounge when J.J. made that last comment. They both glanced at each other mimicking the words and shaking their heads. Warrick slowly backed away making a motion like he was going to make a phone call and Kathryn walked all the way in, still unnoticed by the others in the room.

Warrick pulled out his cell as he walked down the hall. He quickly dialed the hospital and asked to be patched through to Krisalyn's room. Normally because it was so late they would have said no but since it was an officer guarded room they were allowing calls.

"Hello?" Came the male voice over the line.

"Nick, it's Warrick." Warrick said with a smirk on his face.

"What's up? New problems? Another body?" Nick asked quickly.

"No, just your little girlfriend down here is getting jealous that you aren't around here paying her any attention." Warrick said with a warning. "She's serious about you, she's talking about you being the one and all that. Man, you gotta do something about this or when she finds out you had a kid with Krisalyn, even if you two aren't seeing each other, she is going to become a huge problem."

"I hear you and she's not my girlfriend. I don't know what I could have possibly done that made her think I was interested." Nick said trying to think.

"You went out with her." Warrick reminded him.

"I left in the middle of dinner." Nick shot back.

"Yeah well she is totally feeling you." Warrick said with a sigh.

He laughed as he waited patiently for the right moment. He was going to make his move and soon the whole world would know about him. He was going to make history for this kill would make him a notorious serial killer.