Fic: Ghosts, Chapter 6 (CSI, Nick Stokes / Greg Sanders, Nick Stokes / ?)
Title: Ghosts, Chapter 6
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
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
A buzzing sound woke Nick up. He flopped over to his belly and grabbed the cell phone from the nightstand. Just when he was about to open it, the ringing stopped. He checked the caller ID. One missed call from Warrick`s number. He closed the phone again and buried his face against the pillow. He was feeling good and relaxed. He couldn’t remember why, but it was a welcomed feeling. Then it all came back.
Nick’s eyes snapped open. He jumped up in his bed, but the bedroom was empty. No unfamiliar clothes laying on the floor, nothing. He got up and followed a faint sound of the shower to the bathroom. He leaned against the doorframe to look at his visitor. A silhouette of a thin figure was visible through the shower curtain.
“You want some company?”
The only answer he got was a surprised yelp. Darren’s head peeked from behind the curtain. “No! What are you doing here?”
“It’s my apartment.” Nick stated.
“I don’t care. Give me a towel and go away.”
Nick took a fresh towel from the hamper and gave it to him. “My place, my bathroom, and I need to get clean and dressed too.”
“And that can’t wait till I’m done?”
“What’s going on with you? After what we did couple hours ago, you have no reason to play modest with me.”
“Stokes. Two minutes, and I’m done, okay?”
“Fine.” Nick walked out and went to the kitchen. He could hear the rustling sounds from the bathroom and tried to shut them out of his mind. After thirty seconds, his curiosity got the best of him. He sneaked back to the bathroom door.
Darren had his back to the door. He had dumped the towel to the floor and was quickly pulling his clothes on. His jeans were unbuttoned and hanged loosely from his hips. He was pulling his shirt on, revealing a wide sliver of his pale back. Nick’s eyes became glued on the pale skin that was covered piece by piece. Bathroom was still fogged, making the vision slightly unreal. The sound of the doorbell snapped him back to reality.
Nick rushed to open the door before Darren could spot him. He opened it and Warrick marched in.
“What the hell were you doing, man? I tried to call you from the car.”
“I was asleep. And why are you up at this time in the day?”
“Cath called. The letter writer decided to move on to phone calls.”
“What did he say?”
“Nothing. Cath said she just heard somebody breathing and then hang up. Six times.”
“Did they trace the calls?”
“The day tech is working on it. It just happened, maybe an hour ago.”
“Are you sure it was the same guy?”
“What are the chances that two guys would start messing with her at the same time?”
Warrick snatched his ringing phone from his belt. “Brown. Yeah? Are you sure you can’t…. Thanks anyway.”
“Well?”
“All the calls were made from a prepaid connection, no way to trace that.”
“So the guy knows enough to be prepared.”
“Who’s prepared for what?” Darren came from the bathroom, fully dressed and his damp hair combed back. “Brown?”
“I would ask what’s going on, but this situation speaks for itself.” Warrick replied.
“Nothing’s going on. I gotta go.” He took his coat and stated putting on his shoes.
“You don’t need to go yet, we could eat and-” Nick started.
“No, I really need to go. I’ll… I’ll see you later.” Darren left and Warrick gave Nick a suspicious look.
”You move fast. Couple days ago you thought he had changed his face to do something fishy, now you`re sleeping with him.”
”Don’t start.” Nick groaned.
”So what happened? You suddenly started to like him, or are you on a rebound after something that never even existed.”
”What does that mean?”
”Isn’t it obvious? You never made a move with Greg, then boom. He was gone. And then that guy shows up and you jump into bed with him. What is that? A second chance?”
”Something like that.” Nick dug some leftovers from the fridge. ”And I like the guy. The look- alike thing is still freaky, but…. yeah. I don’t know what I like about him, but I do.”
”That’s touching, man.” Warrick deadpanned. He was quiet for a minute. ”You know what bothers me? Everything seems to come back to the same thing. The lab explosion and Greg. That’s the only way those letters would make any since. Somebody thinks she should pay for it. And few weeks after the first letter, a look-alike appears out of nowhere. Explain that to me.”
”I can’t explain it. Maybe it’s true that everyone has a doppelganger somewhere.”
”Who looks like him, acts like him and sounds like him. And works in the same lab? I think you were right, there’s something wrong about this whole picture.”
”You got a theory?”
”No. Sanders didn’t have any brothers, right?”
”No, only child.”
”You know anything about his family?”
”Grissom handled it. I talked to his mom just once.”
”I didn’t know that. When?”
”After Grissom told us about it. I called her to offer my condolences and to ask about the funerals. She said they had a small private memorial service, so no guests. But she did send me a newspaper clipping about it.” Nick headed to the living room and pulled out a yellowed envelope. He opened it, took out a small newspaper clipping and handed it over to Warrick. It was a small announcement of the memorial service.
Warrick eyed the brief text. ”Remember that case with the evil twin?”
”Yeah, but that was a sister, not a brother.” Nick smirked. His phone started playing Jolene and he went to get it from the nightstand.
“Stokes.” Long pause. “Why? And when?” Pause. “Well why didn’t he tell us…? I see…. Thanks for telling me.” He cut the call.
“What was that?”
“Grissoms`s leaving. He’s taking a three months sabbatical, to take some lecturing gig in Washington.”
“When is he leaving?”
“Right now, he’s packing in his office.”
“Why the hell didn’t he tell us?” Warrick was absolutely livid.
“I don’t know. He just showed up at the office during the dayshift and announced he’s taking a leave of absence.”
“We got our caseload full, Cath is going out of his mind, and he decides to take a sabbatical on a days notice?”
Nick slammed his plate of leftovers back into the fridge.
---------------------------------------
Archie was about to leave the men’s room when he heard talking. Somebody was talking to a cell phone. He peeked from his cubicle and saw Anders leaning against the basins, holding his phone to his ear.
“I know, I know. I shouldn’t have done it but I wanted to. Anyway, the plan is still the same. Nothing’s changed.” He paused to listen to the person on the phone.
“Yeah, I had my check-up.” He leaned closer to the mirror to take a good look at himself. "They did an incredible job.” He gave himself a little pinch on the cheek and grinned at his reflection. “I’ll call you when I have something to tell. Bye.”
He braced his hands on the edge of the basin, and pressed his eyes shut for a minute. “Anything interesting, Archie?”
Archie wasnt sure how the other man knew he was there, but he came out of his booth and offered Darren an apologetic smile.“I-I-I wasn’t-”
“Spying seems to be a very popular hobby around here.”
“I need to go.” Archie headed to the door, but Darren got there first. He blocked Archie`s escape and locked the door.
“It can wait. I think we need to have a little talk.”
TBC