Chapter 13

Krisalyn stared at Nick who was standing in the doorway of her hospital room. She could tell that he had been told she didn't want to stay at his place. She saw the dark look that crossed his face as he noticed her all packed and ready to leave. She gulped when she watched him enter the room and pick up her bag and nod at Sara.

"You're staying with me Kris, so you might as well drop it." Nick warned in an undertone that sent chills down Krisalyn's spine.

"You can't tell me what to do." Krisalyn said and then shrank back at the look he sent her.

"Give it up. I don't know what why you think staying with me is going to be so bad but you need to get over it." Nick said sighing.

"Whatever." Krisalyn muttered. "I see that everyone is on his side." She said curtly to Sara who was just grinning.

He watched as the people around him read through the newspaper headlines. He could see the panic already forming on their faces, the panic he had seen so many times. He felt like shouting that he was the cause of all of this but kept it to himself. He glanced down at the file he was carrying and nodded at the people who knew him. If the people he saw on a daily basis only knew what he was capable of. He knew they would be shocked and horrified to learn one of their closest friends was a serial killer.

Grissom looked up from the book he was studying. He saw Kathryn standing in the doorway staring at him with a look of concern. He nodded his head and watched her walk all the way into his office and shut the door.

"What's up?" He asked marking his place and setting the book aside.

"I was just thinking that there is something we aren't considering." Kathryn said sitting in the chair opposite Grissom's desk.

"What?" Grissom asked confused and intrigued all the same.

"What if there is a reason he is targeting certain CSI's over others. Did we ever consider that there might be a connection between those he targeted and the killer himself?" Kathryn asked with a sigh.

"We looked into that. There are no common factors other than them being CSI's." Grissom said shaking his head.

"So there is not one small detail that we may have overlooked that could lead us to this guy?" Kathryn asked starting to lose hope.

"We may have missed something, why don't you look into it?" Grissom asked considering it silently.

Kathryn merely nodded before getting up. She turned slowly as if just remembering something she wanted to tell Grissom. "Krisalyn checked out of the hospital today. Sara called Nick to let him know what was going on, Nick rushed over and took her home."

"Was she trying to go to her own house or something?" Grissom asked confused.

"Either her own place or Sara's. Anywhere but Nick's was what Sara said." Kathryn said with a grin. "Those two are going to be married before long. They have too much chemistry. But until it happens it's going to be fun to watch them go at each other."

"Agreed." Grissom said simply as he picked up his book again.

He was going to wait a while before killing another one. To many to soon might make him a little sloppy, so it was time to wait. He would let them think there was a possibility he had already moved on to a different area, that once again this city would be safe from him, the home wrecker. That was what they were calling him all around, because all of his victims had families and homes.

Krisalyn sat pouting on the couch in the living room of Nick's place. She was really upset about being stuck with him. She sighed as she let curiosity take over and got up to look around. She had to admit that although it was clearly a bachelor residence it had a bit of charm. She smirked as she thought of a way to get even with Nick and move some things around in the house to suit her own tastes. He could always move them back when she went back to her apartment.

Warrick looked at the photographs again and looked up at Nick who was trying to put together a new scenario. They had identified the victim as the nurse who had probably saved Krisalyn's life and had since found out where she lived. There was evidence there that something bad had happened inside her home, which didn't fit with their earlier theory that she was only kidnapped and from home.

"The more I study these pictures the less I know." Nick admitted throwing them aside, frustrated with where things were going. "They don't match up with his earlier killings."

"So what are you saying?" Warrick asked.

"I don't think he planned to kill her. I think that he lost his mind when she stopped him from killing Kris, and so he went bonkers and killed her for revenge." Nick said on a sigh. "I think this is the one scene we would be able to get evidence from."

"So if we knew exactly where she was killed we might get something?" Warrick asked looking down at the pictures again.

"Not just that, from her home as well. I think that he was full of rage when he made the abduction which means he wouldn't be as careful as he was with the other kidnappings." Nick said thoughtfully.

Krisalyn smirked when she saw her handy work of Nick's home. She looked around and then shook her head as she leaned down to straighten one of the couch cushions. She frowned when she realized there was something blocking it from going straight and she pulled it straight off to see what it was. She reached down and took out the photo album that was hidden there and frowned. Who hides photo album's in their couches? She put the cushion back into place and sat down on top of it, flipping the cover of the album open. Her eyes widen when she saw pictures of Nick and people who looked just like him, people she assumed were his family. He had never really talked to her about his family so looking through these pictures she was a little surprised to see what type of family he had.

The man was tired of the constant killing at the moment. He was sick of always having to watch his every move. He decided a break from his normal routine was in order, just this once. Maybe with a small break from the killing he could actually torture Krisalyn and Nick. Maybe then he could make them see him for who he really was. He laughed as he realized he liked his plan more and more. He was ready for whatever life tossed his way and just this once he was ready to play games with the heads of the CSI members.

Krisalyn woke up in cold sweat as the nightmare raged once again. She hadn't had the nightmare in a while and it bothered her that it had returned. She held her hand on her chest as she struggled to even out her breathing so that everything would be all right again. She felt her face and realized how hot it was and frowned.

"Damn." She muttered to herself as she climbed out of bed. She pulled on the robe she had tossed on the end and walked into the kitchen for something cold to drink. She looked over and noticed that Nick had fallen asleep on the couch. She smiled to herself as she walked over to the couch and reached over to pull a blanket over him. She brushed some hair of his forehead and leaned down to gently kiss it. "Goodnight." She whispered as she walked away from the couch.

Nick woke up the next morning with a crick in his neck. "Ouch." He muttered as he tried to roll his neck from side to side only to feel intense pain.

"You okay?" Krisalyn asked from sitting on the stool next to the counter.

"Yeah, why didn't you wake me up?" Nick asked turning his whole body so he could see her and wouldn't have to move his neck.

"Am I your keeper now?" Krisalyn asked sarcastically.

"No but it would have been nice to sleep in my own bed." Nick muttered.

"Then maybe next time you'll go to bed when you get tired." Krisalyn said as she got up and walked towards the hallway. She turned as she hit the doorway and looked at him closely before shaking her head. "You know what's sad? You actually look kind of sweet when you're asleep."

"You watched me sleep?" Nick asked cocking an eyebrow at her.

"No I didn't watch you sleep, I just saw you asleep." Krisalyn said uncomfortably.

"Uh huh." Nick said smirking as he got to his feet. "You can admit it anytime now, you have the hots for me."

"No I do not have the hots for you." Krisalyn denied starting to get uncomfortable as Nick headed towards her.

"Uh huh." Nick said smirking some more.

He was getting bored as he threw darts at the pictures on the wall. Something had to change and something had to change soon. There had to be someone out there he could use to torture the stupid crime scene investigators. He sighed as he threw the last dart in his hand and watched it smack straight into the forehead of CSI Nick Stokes.

"Bulls eye." He muttered as he leaned back into his couch and stared at the phot's adorning his wall. He bit his bottom lip as an idea started to form inside his head and it just wouldn't go away.

Krisalyn leaned against the shower wall shaking her head at what had just happened between her and Nick and what had almost happened. They had gotten carried away with the kissing but luckily Nick's pager had gone off and he had to leave or who knows what would have happened. She groaned as she turned off the water and stepped out. Wrapping a towel around her she headed towards the room she was staying in only to stop halfway there. Something was off and really wrong. She turned around and looked behind her but didn't noticed anything out of the ordinary. Shaking it off she walked into the room and straight to the bed where her clothes were laid out. After getting dressed and running a brush through her wet hair she walked out to the living room and sucked in a deep breath.

"Oh my god." She whispered as she let her hand fly to her chest.

Grissom shook his head as he stared at the crime scene photos for the millionth time. No matter how many times he went over them he couldn't seem to grasp what was going on in them.

"Why can't I see the crime? Why can't I get into his head?" Grissom asked himself again as he looked at the photo's that had just arrived of the first few scenes.

"Talking to yourself is never a good sign." Sara said walking into the office with a smile.

"Something is off here Sara." Grissom said not bothering to look up.

"You know if I were anyone else I would be offended that you didn't even bother to look up at me." Sara said simply as she sat down in a chair opposite the desk.

"He's up to something and I don't know what it is." Grissom said frustrated.

Nick was rubbing his temples when he felt some hands start to massage his shoulders. Knowing that Krisalyn was at home he shrugged off the hands and turned to find JJ standing there with a frown on her face.

"You look like you had a rough night. I could make it better." She whispered.

"No thanks, my girls waiting for me," Nick said purposely getting on her nerves as he got up and walked away from the area. He chuckled to himself as he felt her shooting daggers with her eyes at him. "Kris will get a kick out of this."

Krisalyn could feel the air leave her lungs as she felt a panic attack coming on. She stared at the images all around her and felt her mind go completely blank before she collapsed.