Six Feet Under the Stars

Chapter 11

Megan Sanders sat on a padded bench in the hallway of the interrogation hall. She conned herself into believing that this would all be over. That she would walk into the small room with a large window of two way glass and pick her attacker out of the six men that were standing there. The only problem is that her attacker wasn't standing in that room. This wasn't over. He was still out there, unnamed and able to follow through with the words he so clearly told her before Nick found her that night.

I will find you sweetheart and I will gut you like a fish. You have my word on that…I will find you.

Sitting on the bench, she wasn't as nervous as she thought she was going to be. When Grissom had first told her that they had him in custody she almost jumped out of her skin. But being able to sit on the bench alone, able to process the situation, calmed her down enough that her breath was steady and her hands stopped shaking. If he was still out there then she still has the chance to find him.

"Hey Hollywood, how ya feeling?" A voice said in front of her. She look up and saw Nick Stokes, he leaned back against the wall across from where she sat. His arms folded, concern in his eyes.

"I hate it when you call me that." She said with a smile. "I lived in San Gabriel, not Hollywood."

"San Gabriel is only about thirty minutes from Hollywood and no matter where I lived in Texas you would still call me cowboy so you my friend are stuck with Hollywood."

No matter what situation she found herself in, Nick was there to rescue her. Whether it be in saving her life or just putting a smile on her face. He made her forget, even if it were only for a few seconds. Megan took a deep breath and ran a hand through her hair.

"It wasn't him." She said looking at the ground.

"I know, you've been sitting here for an hour and news travels fast." Megan pulled back her sleeve to check her watch. It had been one hour and six minutes to be exact.

"Oops. Did Grissom send you here to tell me to get to work?"

"Nah, he knows you need some time. I just wanted to come and check on you. See if you needed anything."

"What did you draw the shortest straw or something?"

"No straws. I came here cause I wanted to." Silence filled the hall as Megan played with her sleeve. Nick stood there against the wall looking at the younger girl with astonishment. He couldn't understand how someone as awesome as Megan would think that he would only come to see her if he had lost a bet. She was the most complicated girl he had met. Yet he couldn't stand just watching her sit there in silence, he wanted…needed to know what she was thinking.

"How are you feeling?" Nick said breaking the silence.

"Any leads on the case?" Megan asked avoiding the question. She hadn't had the chance to work on said case yet but she looked over all the case files earlier that day.

"Yeah," Nick said knowing he wasn't going to get an answer to his question. "The suspect, Walter Green, cheated on his wife with a stripper. Not wanting to confess out of fear she would leave him, he shot her. And that's not even the messed up part."

"Are you serious?" Megan said in amazement. The lengths people will go to hide the truth from the people they love.

"Yeah, he confessed the whole thing. Messed up thing is his wife, the victim, cheated on him as well and according to her sister she avoided telling Walter because she was afraid he was going to leave her. So if he would have just told her, they would both be alive right now with clear conscious."

"The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek." Megan said shaking her head. Nick looked up at her and a light smile came across his lips.

"You're seeing Dr. Gordon?" Nick asked.

"Shit." Megan said under her breath but it was loud enough for Nick to hear it. She nodded. The day after the attack, Grissom pulled Megan aside and gave her Dr. Gordon's card. She was required to complete three sessions. She was currently on number six.

"I wish you would have told me cause…"

"Not everyone is as open with their feelings as you are Nicky." Megan snapped but not harshly. It was nothing against Nick. She likes Nick, she hates this conversation.

"Sorry it's just, I recognize the quote." Nick said looking straight at Megan.

"Is he a friend of yours?"

"Well, he's my therapist too but I consider him a friend, yeah."

"Sorry, I didn't..."

"It's alright. I intruded on your privacy first so its fair game." That smile always on his face. Megan wondered how he did it, bottled everything. "How are the sessions going?" Nick asked as Megan took a deep breath. "If you don't mind me asking."

"There…going."

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know Nick. He's a stranger, and I'm supposed to tell him all my problems just so he can critique me and tell me how messed up I am."

"You can't look at it like that."

"Can we stop talking about his?" Megan said giving him a pleading smile.

"The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek." Nick said after a moment of silence. Megan just smiled and shook her head. "Maybe you need to talk about it." Megan looked up at Nick and smiled. Not the reaction he expected.

"Touché." She said smiling but looking annoyed.

"I've been seeing Dr. Gordon for a little while now. He's helped me through some tough times." Nick confessed, "He's a good man but sometimes it helps to talk to a friend; someone who can relate to your situation."

"Relate to my situation? You were attacked too?" Megan asked in amazement.

"Yeah."

"Man…once you think you know someone they do something to make you realize, you don't, really, know them at all. I mean I thought I knew you, but now that I think about it I don't really know you. Except for the things Greg has told me and what I found out the past couple months. You saved my life…twice, and I know nothing about you?"

"What do you want to know?"

"What happened to you to make you come to terms, to be okay with seeing a therapist?" The silence made her nervous. "I've already met with him six times and I still can't get my head around the fact that I need to see a shrink because I apparently I have a big problem with being attacked and assaulted with my own gun." Why was he just staring at the floor? Was it that bad? "If you don't mind me asking," she added hoping to ease the tension. Nick smiled and took a deep breath before looking back at her. He walked across the hall and sat down beside her. This made her even more nervous. She was about to apologize when he started talking.

"A couple years back, I was lured to a fake crime scene…where I was abducted and…buried…alive."

"Oh my god!" Megan's hand flew up to her mouth, as if it would hide the look in her eye. "Nick, I'm…I'm sorry. I had no idea." Nick waved her off, it was years ago. It didn't haunt him the same way it once did.

"…not to mention the amount of times I've had a gun stuck in my face and I have this thing with cases involving kids."

"No matter how long you work in this business if you can process the crime scene of a child and not feel emotion, you have bigger problems than both you and me combined. Not that what happened to me even comes close to what happened..." Megan sat on the bench and a sudden feeling of claustrophobia came over her.

"The point I'm trying to make is that it helps to talk about it." Nick concluded

"Yeah but it doesn't make the nightmares go away." Megan said standing up ready to get some work done during her shift. "We should go get some work done before Grissom fires us both."

"They will. Go away I mean." Nick assured her as he stood up, "The nightmares, they'll stop." Megan smiled; Nick's heart skipped a beat.

"Thanks Cowboy." She said before walking towards the door that read: Forensics.

"Hey," Nick said catching up to her suddenly looking nervous, "Would you, do you want to have breakfast with me after shift." Megan stopped walking and looked at the nervous Nick.

"Oh, umm, I don't really…"

"Just forget I said anything. Sorry." Nick said cutting her off and making way for the door. Megan reached out and grabbed his arm.

"No, no, no, it's…I was going to say I don't really like Frank's. Their eggs are disgusting and their bacon tastes like soap. I don't see how you people eat there all the time but I'd love to go to breakfast with you. Just not at Frank's."

"Okay, umm." Nick wracked his brain for another restaurant that was open as early as when they got off shift. "Well, Frank's is the only place that's open this early but I make mean French toast. And my bacon takes like bacon."

"Umm, I think maybe we should go to Frank's."

"Oh god, no I didn't, oh man, I'm sorry…"

"It's not you." Megan said between his apologies.

"I'm not going to try anything on the first date I just…"

"Date?"

"Shit, I didn't mean that, unless you want me to mean it…"

"Nick! Calm down Cowboy, you're making my head spin."

"I didn't mean anything by it, it's just Frank's is the only place open that early."

"Then we'll go to Frank's. It's no big deal."

"I'm sorry."

"Believe me Nick it has nothing to do with you. It's just, I think I'm kinda with Quinn right now."

"Oh, yeah. Of course." Nick tried hard to keep the disappointment out of his eyes.

"Umm, Greg drove me here so if you don't mind giving me a ride that would be great."

"Sure, meet me at my truck when shifts over."

"Okay." Megan gave him another one of her famous smiles then disappeared behind the door that lead to the forensics section of the building. Nick remained in the hall way shaking his head. He couldn't believe he actually thought he had a chance with Megan.