Wicked Game [Nick Stokes] (CSI Las Vegas)

6. I Warned Myself

"Do you remember when you said to not tell anybody? 'Cause if you do, I'll be the first to put my hands around your throat. I warned myself that I shouldn't play with fire but I can tell that I'll do it one more time"

As usual, I always arrived at the lab about ten minutes before my shift started so I had time to leave my things in the locker and go to the break room to make me a coffee, and if I was not alone, socialize with my colleagues. Sara was usually the first one to arrive, so we met in the break room, but this time, it was Catherine who was there.

-¡Hey, Cath! –I greeted with a smile as I walked toward the coffee machine to make myself one- Coffee?

-¡Hey Laura! –She greeted back a few seconds later- No. Thank you.

Catherine was sitting in one of the chairs and with her phone she was trying to call someone but apparently that person didn't pick up the phone which led her straight to the voicemail.

-Are you okay? –I asked without knowing how she was going to take the question- Can I help you with something?

-Don't worry, it's just.. –she blew and put her hands in her head- Lindsey had a ballet performance today and I couldn't make it in time, so the teacher called her father and now he's with Linds and I don't know.. I'm not calm knowing the mess Eddie is.

-Why don't you take the night off then?

-I can't, it's Nicky's night off and we'd be two people short –She breathed and tried to calm herself- Besides, we've got a 445A in a business building.

-What? A bomb?!

-Yes –She nodded before looking at her phone again for the last time- Sara and Grissom are already at the crime scene so we should be probably get going.

We picked up our field kit and we both climbed into the SUV that Catherine was driving. Apparently, the crime scene wasn't far from the lab but still, we had to cross busy streets.

-You know, this is my first case with bombs.

-Yeah? You like them?

-No, I hate them –I explained myself- Besides leaving the scene in a mess, everything's burned and in a thousand pieces. It's a lot of work and usually I don't mind it, but I just hate everything that goes BOOM.

Suddenly, a car coming from our left almost collided with us. Catherine stopped on the side of the road since we were both scared and with our hearts beating way too fast.

-Are you okay? –She asked putting her hand in my arm- I'm so sorry Laura. I just, I didn't saw the red light and kept driving..

-Cath, Cath.. –I did the same and held her hands to calm her down- It's okay. Nothing happened so don't waste time thinking about it. Do you want me to drive from here?

She nodded so we switched places and a few minutes later we arrived at the crime scene. We met up with Brass in the front of what used to be the doors to the building. He filled us in.

-We're all clear to go in, but here's what we got. Couple of head wounds. Elderly guy had his arm torn off. The only fatality so far is Jake Richards, a security guard. Body's still inside.

We turned our flashlights on as we walked through the lobby. Grissom and Sara were kneeling down besides the body. We made our way toward them and put our kits down as we looked.