Ch. 20

Krisalyn laughed at something Sara had said and shook her head. She then looked at the crib that housed her toddler and noticed she was wide awake and attempting to stand up but was having trouble because of all the tubes and wires.

"Hey baby girl." Krisalyn said getting out of the recliner one of the nurses had brought in to her. "How are you feeling this morning?"

"Mama, I hungry." Ella said sticking out her lower lip.

"Well I am glad to hear you say that sweetie." Krisalyn said as she stroked Ella's blonde curls out of her face.

"Dada!" Ella shouted.

Krisalyn turned around and saw Nick standing there with a smile on his face. She stepped aside as he walked fully into the room and headed over to Ella.

"Hey sweetheart." Nick said as he started stroking Ella's hair out of her face the way Krisalyn had just been doing. It was still amazing to him to see that he had a daughter and she was standing right there.

"Dada hungry." Ella said with a pouty face.

"She is gonna have him wrapped around her finger in no time at all." Sara laughed as she got up and started to head out of the door. "I guess I will leave you three alone to talk and everything."

"Did the doctor give you an update on her?" Nick asked as Ella settled down a little but was still pouting because she was hungry.

"Yeah, he said that he wants to keep her for a couple of days because she is severely malnourished and has some bumps and bruises. He said a couple of her ribs are cracked so they are keeping her medicated but other than that she is doing all right." Krisalyn said amazed at the fact that her daughter was in such good shape considering everything. "It's the long term emotional and mental effects that we won't know about yet."

"Yeah well, I guess we are going to have to keep an eye on her very carefully." Nick said with a smirk. "Did Sara tell you why she was in here?"

"Not really." Krisalyn said confused.

"I'll give you an update when she is sleeping again. I don't want to frighten Ella with anything else." Nick whispered to her out of the corner of his mouth.

"All right." Krisalyn said confused.

He was laughing as he got into his car and drove away. No one had even thought of the plan he had put into action. They were all so sure he was going to go after Ella and Krisalyn that they had left Warrick Brown with minimum guard. He could just see in his minds eye that the medical alarms were blazing and doctors were rushing in there to see the CSI fighting for his life thanks to the lack of guards. They would also find someone else injured and barely alive.

Nick rushed down stairs and into the hospital room that housed Warrick Brown. He stared at his friend who was gasping for breath and fighting for oxygen after being disconnected from the machines that were keeping him alive. He placed his hands on either side of his head as he stared at the bed, unsure of what to do at this point. He looked around the room and noticed blood pooling by the closet doorway.

"Get out of the way folks, Las Vegas PD Crime lab." Nick said as he drew his gun and pushed a couple of nurses out of his way. Pointing his gun he slowly opened the closet, aware that they were trying to save his friends life. He was prepared to fire his weapon if necessary but was glad he didn't have to when a body fell out. "Hey I need some help over here." He shouted as he knelt beside the person.

The face was covered with blood and the head shaved so there was no telling who it was or making anything out. Nick checked for a pulse and found a very weak one. He could see the wounds all over the head and face of the victim. He stepped aside as the hospital team took over with the victim, shouting for a gurney and more help.

Krisalyn cuddled Ella in her arms as she rocked back and forth in the rocking chair that was placed in the room. She kept glancing nervously towards the door, expecting Nick to come bursting in there and tell her that someone they knew was dead. A nurse had run into the room earlier and said that Nick was needed elsewhere.

"Baby it's okay." She whispered to her little girl who seemed to be struggling against sleep. "You need your rest."

"Mama no sleep." Ella said crying. "Mama want go home."

"No baby, you need to stay here a little while longer okay?" Krisalyn whispered as she cradled the little girl in her arms.

Grissom could feel his temper flaring at the phone call he had received from Nick. He glanced at the team that was gathered in the conference room and tried to think of how he was going to convince them not to go to the hospital but stay there and work this case. They needed to catch this guy and they needed to catch him soon.

"Look Warrick is going to be all right. Nick managed to get finger prints from the mutilated victim from the closet, Sara you run those through the system and see if we get lucky. Greg I am going to need you to go to the hospital and get some DNA from the victim and see if we get a match in the new missing person's database that houses DNA profiles." Grissom said looking at Sara and then Greg.

"All right." Sara said slowly. "Grissom are you going to let Catherine go be with Warrick?"

"I can't let you go there Catherine. I know you want to be there but Nick is already out of the case by looking after Krisalyn and Ella. I can't afford to lose another trusted team member when we need to get this guy." Grissom said looking at Catherine with an apologetic look on his face.

"I understand, but just so you know I am staying under protest and only because you are my supervisor." Catherine said with a glare in his direction.

"Understood." Grissom said nodding his head. "Listen folks this guy is a serial killer who is wanted in several other states. He is a cop killer and a kidnapper. We know that he has a reason that he targets the people he is targeting but we don't know what it is."

"What do you want me to do?" JJ asked crossing her arms in front of her as she leaned against the doorjamb.

"I have nothing for you to do at the moment." Grissom said as his eyes narrowed at the woman standing there. He had a feeling that JJ knew more than she was letting on and that there was something she could do to stop this monster. He had a feeling she was waiting until the suspect took out Krisalyn so she could step in and be the hero and try and get Nick for herself.

"Well just don't forget that I am part of your team now. You have to treat me the same way you treat all of your CSI's." JJ said with a smirk on her face.

Grissom watched her closely as she walked away and couldn't help but wonder how he was ever going to get her to tell him what was going inside that head of hers. He left the room and walked towards the DNA lab to find out if at any of the scenes there was any DNA evidence that could help them solve this case. As much as he hated to admit it, whoever this guy was he seemed to be smart enough to make the evidence lie.

A few days later...

Krisalyn was smiling as she walked out holding Ella in her arms. The hospital had decided she was well enough to be released and so they were going home. When she saw Nick next to the car she laughed at the look of pure confusion on his face as he attempted to get the carseat in properly.

"Here hold her while I do that." Krisalyn said handing Ella over to him and expertly hooking up the seat.

"I'll figure it out, eventually." Nick said with a sigh.

"Yeah I'm sure you will." Krisalyn laughed as she watched him place Ella inside the seat and buckle her in safely. She rolled her eyes as she climbed into the front seat and waited for Nick to get into the drivers seat.

"He's still out there." Nick whispered as he carefully handed a gun over to Krisalyn as he drove away from the hospital.

"We have to lock this up more than ever now." Krisalyn whispered back nervously as she glanced in the rearview mirror at Ella who was asleep.

"Yeah I know, don't worry Catherine has been through it and so she has managed to help install some sort of lockbox safe thing in the house." Nick said as his eyes glanced everywhere, watching for any sign of the man who wanted to kill them.

He was secretly laughing as he watched the two people he hated more than anything in the world glancing around, looking for any sign on him, but they wouldn't see him. He was watching them very closely but it didn't mean he was around them. He sat back and watched the monitor carefully. He had to admit that it was funny how they were trying to so cautious and yet they were being so stupid at the same time.

JJ was getting madder and madder as she watched the CSI team members performing their assigned tasks. It was starting to get to her how no one seemed to be able to trust her and how they didn't seem to want to include her. Well she would show them they were messing with the wrong CSI. She planned to solve this case with or without the teams help. She huffed as she raced out of the lab and headed for one of the man sources she had managed to pick up since her move to the Las Vegas area.

"I will make them wish they had trusted me and included me in everything. When I get all the credit for solving this serial killer case, they are going to worship the ground I walk on." JJ said huffing. "And who knows maybe Nick will decide to be with me anyway. I would be a good stepmother to his little brat."

Krisalyn and Nick arrived back at the house and Nick nodded in silent awareness that he was going to do a quick inside sweep to make sure the property was clear. Krisalyn stayed outside as she opened the back door to let air into the car but let Ella finish sleeping in the car seat until she was sure they were going inside.

"All clear." Nick said coming back out. "You should see what the team did for us in one of the spare rooms." He said with a smile.

"Can't wait." Krisalyn said simply as she unbuckled Ella and pulled the toddler out. She stirred but then rested her head on Krisalyn's shoulder and fell back to sleep.

He laughed as he watched them enter the house. Now it was time for the real cat and mouse games to begin. He had rigged the house to be under his control. He had microphones and cameras in each area of the house and as soon as he was ready he was going to make his move. He was going to make it so Krisalyn and Nick were begging for death by the time he was through. He laughed even harder as he watched them place their daughter into her crib. He was going to enjoy doing the things he was all set up to do.