A/N: I know that the whole marriage thing came out of left field and is probably a little soon in the story but the reasoning is I want the whole romance thing to bloom first and everything so that I can start to fully concentrate on the forensics and the case. Besides I have my reasons for getting these two wed… Although I'm sure there are some who think the whole romance thing is irrelevant but I think they have to have some personal lives so that work doesn't fully consume, besides this will add drama later in the story….

Chapter 16

Krisalyn just stared at the floor afraid to move or even to say anything to Kathryn for fear that she would finally had to admit the real reason she was fighting everyone on this whole marriage scheme they had going on. She bit her bottom lip anxiously and just stared at the floor some more until she heard her friend sigh.

"I know that there is something wrong here but I can't believe that you don't want to be with him. He makes you smile and he makes you laugh. He seems to know exactly who you are and what will make you feel better. Face it Krisalyn the man is your soul mate, just like Warrick is mine." Kathryn sighed.

"I can't admit to it because it's not fair for me to be happy." Krisalyn admitted.

"Kathryn can you excuse us for a moment?" Nick asked from his position in the doorway.

"All right." Kathryn nodded and left the room.

"Ella would have wanted you to be happy Krisalyn. She would have wanted you to be okay with life and to move on. I may not had met her but if she was a mixture of both us then she had to be a wonderful and bright child." Nick said as he walked over and wrapped his arms around Krisalyn. "I know that I haven't been the best friend or boyfriend in the world but I can assure you that I will do everything in my power to make you a great husband, if you'll give me a chance." Nick said as he kissed the side of her forehead.

"I give up." Krisalyn whispered as she felt the tears running down her cheeks. "I'm tired of fighting everyone about this."

"Aww isn't this sweet." Came the sarcastic voice from the doorway.

"JJ is there something you need?" Nick asked her annoyed.

"So it's really true? You two are going to attempt to get married?" JJ asked seriously.

"Not attempt, we are." Krisalyn finally admitted out loud. "Something we probably should have done a few years ago."

"I agree with that." Greg said walking into the room with a serious look on his face. "JJ I think you and I need to have a talk."

As Greg and JJ left the room Krisalyn and Nick shared a weird look with each other. Both of them glanced from each other to the retreating backs of their colleagues with curiosity blooming.

"What do you think that's all about?" Krisalyn asked Nick with a worried look on her face.

"Well if I know Greg he is feeling mighty left out of the whole love situation. He might try and get something started with JJ, if for no other reason than to keep her off our backs and to keep up with everyone else around here." Nick said shrugging.

"Well then we may owe him a pretty big thank you." Krisalyn said with a smile on her face.

"I think you might be right this time." Nick said with a chuckle.

"Well it looks like you two worked everything out." Sara said as she entered the room with Grissom and Warrick.

"Well then I think it's time we concentrate on the case." Grissom said with a file in his hand.

"You mean you four get to concentrate on the case and I get to work back logged ballistics because I can't leave this room." Krisalyn said sarcastically.

"At least until he pages us again." Nick pointed out.

"Which he might not do for a long time to come, so since I am resigned to become Mrs. Stokes can I at least plan a wedding at the same time I am working. I mean I can only look under a microscope for so long before my eyes will get tired." Krisalyn asked with a look at Grissom.

"All right but only because we are going to be to busy to help on that end and there is no way you can plan one in time in your off hours but make sure you get some work done to. Contact whatever investigators are working certain cases and give them the ballistics information that they are going to need." Grissom said with a nod. "Oh and make sure that Eckley and JJ don't bug you. If you have any problems with either of them give me a call, I am sure we can figure something out with those two."

He laughed as he watched the terror that crossed the face of his 'hostage'. Little did anyone know that the real game was one that he was playing solo. It was truly a horrible one that most people would cringe at the thought of playing but he loved it. He left the room and went in search of his notes on what he would do next to torture the players in his pretend game. He was trying to think of what his next move could become and then it hit him. It would be brilliant to combine the fake with the real. Maybe it was time to add some players to the original game and make things more interesting. With a deep breath he decided to call his partner, the one he hadn't talked to in so long and see what they thought of his new idea. Everyone had always assumed he worked solo but now it might be time to change everyone's opinion and shake things up a bit.

As late as it was things were still running behind. Krisalyn glanced at her watch and then back at the pile of evidence from a fresh crime scene. There had been a huge shoot out between the police and gang and so it was up to Krisalyn to sort out what guns shot what bullets, and she still didn't have the bullets from the victims yet. Sighing she tried yet again to match up a bullet to it's original gun. She heard footsteps behind her and immediately spun around to come face to face with a guilty looking Nick.

"Nick Stokes if you ever sneak up on me again I might be tempted to put a bullet in you." Krisalyn said holding a hand to her pounding heart.

"Sorry hun." He said with a guilty look. "I brought you something to eat. Grissom said you probably weren't getting out of here anytime soon."

"Thanks baby, you don't know how much I appreciate this." Krisalyn said with a smile on her face. "I heard you were just as swamped. You finally going home?" She asked arching her brow.

"Nope, but I was allowed out of the cage long enough to pick up food." Nick joked as he handed her some food. "I would love to stay and eat with you but Grissom has us all on tasks and deadlines so I better get back to my lockup."

It was 3AM when Eckley finally told everyone they had better head home and get some sleep. If they didn't get any rest they could make mess ups on a case or a defense attorney could site the lack of sleep as a probable cause for any type of evidence issue they might have. As everyone filed out of the lab area and headed towards the police parking lot Krisalyn noticed JJ standing off to the side with a serious look on her face. She could always tell when there was something that someone needed to tell her.

"Nick why don't you go a head to the car and I'll meet you there. I want to have a talk with JJ." Krisalyn said evenly.

"Why?" Nick asked glancing at the woman who had become an enemy to him.

"Because something tells me that maybe there is something on her mind that may be useful to find out. Whether she knows it or not I will be able to gather some information from her and she won't even know she's giving it to me." Krisalyn said with a smirk. "I always get information out of people without them knowing."

"I'll have to remember that." Nick said arching a brow at her.

"I always knew what I was getting for Christmas when I was growing up. My parents wouldn't even realize they were telling me the information. Well when I lived with my parents that is." Krisalyn said looking at the ground.

"I am going to ask you to elaborate on that later." Nick said with a pointed look.

"I figured as much. Look when I am feeling much better and am stronger emotionally then I will elaborate but please don't ask me to do it when I am feeling so drained." Krisalyn said as she started in JJ's direction.

JJ watched her walk towards her and bit her bottom lip nervously. As much as she was vindictive and hated the woman walking towards her she had some information that might be important and even relevant to her. Besides the way JJ looked at it maybe if she gave Krisalyn this information she could scare her off and maybe get Nick all to her self. She could tell by the way the woman was walking towards her that she had a purpose and she also knew this conversation wasn't going to be very pleasant.

"Look before you even say a word I want you to know that the only reason I am giving you any information at all is because I don't want to see anything happen to Nick. No matter what happens to you, I don't care. I just want to make sure that my future husband is in one piece long enough for our wedding and our children to grow up." JJ said with a sadistic look on her face.

"You actually believe you have a shot with him." Krisalyn said with amazement. "What is it that has you all happy and smirking?"

"I have an old contact that moved out here and found out I was working out here. They wanted to know if I was interested in renewing our working relationship, I said it depended on the information they provided. It's regarding your case and what might happen to you in the very near future." JJ said shrugging her shoulders. She handed Krisalyn a packet of papers and then tightened her hold on her briefcase. With that she turned and headed towards her car without another word to her enemy.

Krisalyn met up with Nick at his car and held up the papers in her hand. "She's worried about what might happen to you so she gave me this information from an old CI of hers." She said evenly.

"Well isn't that sweet." He muttered as they climbed into the car and sat there for a second. Before Nick started the car Krisalyn started reading and her eyes went wide. "Nick don't start the car." She said quickly.

"What why?" Nick asked alarmed.

"Because I think that there is something wrong here. Something is really bothering me about this information and something is bothering me about the way your ignition hole looks right there." She said as she glanced at the key and then into his eyes. "Look at it Nick, it's been tampered with." She said softly.

"So maybe someone tried to jack my car and then chickened out." He said nervously.

"Do you want to take that chance? I wouldn't touch anything just yet, get out your phone and call Grissom and get his opinion something just isn't right." Krisalyn murmured.

"But this guys wants us to play his game, why kill us?" Nick asked as he dialed Grissom.

"Maybe he isn't the one were dealing with right now." Krisalyn muttered as she listened to Nick talk to Grissom. She glanced out the window on her side and sucked in a deep breath, she couldn't be sure but she might recognize someone standing there with a smirk on their face, and that's when it hit her. "Nick don't move a muscle, we have a situation."