Fic: Ghosts, Chapter 4 (CSI, Nick Stokes / Greg Sanders, Nick Stokes / ?)
Title: Ghosts, Chapter 4
Fandom: CSI
Pair: Nick Stokes / Greg Sanders, Nick Stokes / ?
Disclaimer: Not mine, etc.
Feedback: Always Welcome
Spoilers: Play With Fire
CSI Las Vegas Main List
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
After the episode in the car, Nick tried to keep his distance. Considering they
were working on the same case it wasn’t too easy. Darren looked at him from
time to time and grinned. Nick was almost sure the blush wouldn’t go away
at all.
They returned to the lab and left their samples to be examined. Nick was about
to make up some excuse and leave when they heard a crash from the locker room.
He pushed the door open. Catherine was standing in the middle of the room
looking white as a sheet. A large pile of case files had spread all over the floor.
“Cath, are you okay?”
“I…I….I’m fine.” Catherine pressed her hand against her chest. “It’s there again.”
“What?”
She pointed to her locker. An envelope was stuffed halfway in.
Nick pulled it out carefully and opened it. The text was printed on a single
white sheet of paper.
“Do you have any idea what this means?” Nick asked.
“It sound familiar.” Catherine looked at it over his shoulder.
“Fire answers fire through the palmy flames each sees the other's umbered face.”
Under the quite was two more lines. ”Justice always finds you in the end. Prepare.
You know what you did. You’re a murderer.”
Nick read it out loud. “Do you have any idea who would left you this?”
“No. That’s the fifth one. The first four were left to my house.”
“Fifth? Why didn’t you tell me? Or Warrick or Grissom?”
“I did tell Grissom and there was nothing in the letter. No prints, no nothing.
They are all like that. Quotes about fire. And calling me a murderer. Do you
understand what it means?”
“Cathr-”
“The explosion! Whoever writes these knows about it.”
“Calm down. A lot of people know about it and they also know it was an accident.
Did you keep the previous letters?”
“I threw away the first one, I got the other three.”
“Good. We need to check your locker for fingerprints. You know how this goes.”
“I know, I know….” Catherine sighed faintly.
“Darren, can you take her to the break room? I think it’s better if she calms
down a bit before people start asking her questions.”
“Sure.” Darren placed his arm around Catherine’s waist and guided her out.
“How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay.” Catherine was tense as a board. “You don’t need to escort me,
I can walk just fine.”
“It’s probably better if I come with you anyway.” Darren pulled her to the direction
of the break room. He put her on the couch and walked to the coffee maker. “You
want coffee?”
“No.”
“Okay, then we can talk about that letter. Was it true?”
“Was what true?”
“The accusation.”
“Of course it’s not true! It was an accident. The whole thing.”
“Was it?”
“There was a full investigation on it, it was an accident. End of story.”
“Maybe. But those investigations usually come up with just one side of it.”
Catherine leaned forward. “You just started here, so I’ll say this once, and I don’t
want to hear about it again. It was an accident. It was my fault and I feel horrible
about it, but that doesn’t mean it was anything else than an accident.”
“Do you think there’s a difference?”
“Difference about what?”
“Difference between doing something by accident and doing it on purpose, if the
end result is the same. What’s dead is dead.”
“This has nothing to do with you, so just stay out of it.”
“Okay.” Darren emptied his mug and marched to the door. He turned back to look at
Catherine. “Are you sure I can’t get you something? A cup of coffee? Some Valium?
A stripper pole to hang on to?”
Catherine’s face seemed to froze. She stared at Darren and Darren stared at her.
Finally he chuckled and walked out.
--------------------------------------------------
“She’s already had five letters, we need to do something.” Nick was almost ready
to grab Grissom by the neck and shake some sense into him.
“I’m aware of that. There was no prints in the letters or in the envelopes. Nothing
to follow. There’s nothing we can do.”
“What if that loonie who wrote them decides to go further then just letters?”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do know that. Now, I have work to do.” Grissom went back to his textbook.
Nick bit his lip to control his urge to yell. He walked out and slammed the door shut.
“You okay?” Sara cam down the corridor. “I heard what happened to Catherine.”
“Have you seen her?”
“Yeah, she just left. She’s taking the rest of the night off.”
“Good.”
“I’m glad you like it, because you’re working with me now. Darren’s getting somebody
from days to help him. Are you ready to go?”
“Five minutes. I’ll go get my kit, I’ll meet you outside.”
He went to the empty works space and picked up his kit from the table. He was almost
out of the door, when he heard a familiar voice from the dim corner of the room.
Darren was talking to his cell phone and didn’t even seem to notice he had company.
“I’m handling it. Trust me, I’m not gonna let it happen. Yeah, the doctor said he
could hardly even see it. Listen, I need to get back to work. I’ll call you later. Bye.”
He snapped the phone off and turned to leave. Nick knew it was too late to act like
he hadn’t heard anything, so he gave him a little nod.
“Hey, I just…. I came to get my kit.”
“And that requires eavesdropping?”
“I wasn’t eavesdropping.”
“Really?” Darren moved closer, took the kit and put it back on the table. “I was
serious when I said you’ve been staring at me. You’ve had time to get used to
my face, so why do you do that?” He leaned closer into Nick’s personal space.
“What would you like to do with that, if I let you?”
He took Nick’s both hands and pressed them behind him, pinning him to the wall.
“I…” Nick was lost for words.
Darren glanced down Nick’s front and giggled. “I think that answers my question. And
since you`re in an honest mood, I’ll ask you another question. Who do you want? Me
or Greg?” He pushed against Nick, grinding their bodies together.
“Please….” Nick groaned and tried to rub himself against Darren as much as his
handless state allowed. “That’s…. please….. please, Greg….”
Darren pulled back. Nick’s eyes snapped fully open.
“That’s what I thought.” Darren commented. He took Nick’s kit and handed it over
to him. “We both got work to do.”
He walked out and Nick tried to get his thoughts clear. Somehow the whole episode
had turned from hot to disappointing, but he wasn’t exactly sure how it had happened.
TBC