Title: Warning (#088 for the lover100 challenge)
By: lin71
Prompt: # 088 warning
Rating: FRAO
Series: 1) Rough Case, 2) Visiting Nick, 3) The Evening After the Morning Before, 4) The New Guy, 5) Honesty, 6) Seize the Opportunity, 7) A Night Out, 8) Tell Me, 9) Night, 10) Whew, 11) Growth
Warnings: none, no spoiler in sight, or at least not that I'm aware of (except for my A/N). Oh, and they're un-beta'd (as always)
Disclaimer: still not owning them, still wishing I did, yadayada. Bottom-line: don’t sue, please!
A/N: I try not to let events from the actual show interfere with my story (at least not with this series). So Nick has not come across any stalkers. If he had, the smex in this first chapter would be a little weird, and I’m not going there.

Nick entered the lab in such a good mood that he almost felt like whisteling some silly country song. The phone call with his mother, although he did feel hurt by her reaction, had lifted some imaginary weight off his shoulders. He was slowly making his way out of the closet, and although it scared him to death, it felt better than he had expected. He had no clue whether or not she would share her knowledge about his preference with the other family members, and right now he really didn’t care. He just felt loved by Warrick. Not only because of the way they were going at it like the proverbial rabbits, which they did, but also because of the silent support he offered him yesterday. Just by being there for Nick if and when he felt like talking. Or holding him, steadying him, like he did during Nick’s conversation with his mother.
 
He walked into the locker room to change, and he immediately noticed someone had been messing with his locker. It looked untouched at first sight, but there was no way he would ever leave a tiny piece of clothing trapped between the door of his locker. And that was definitely a piece of his shirt peeping through.
 
Knowing for sure that Warrick hadn’t been in yet, so chances of a some surprise being hidden inside his locker were pretty much non-existent, it meant that someone had been breaking in without his permission… while it contained some evidence from his car.

Nick sat down on a bench and the uneasy feeling he had yesterday suddenly returned. He tried to rationalize it. Chances are it was some prank by one of his co-workers, but somehow he found it hard to believe they would pick his lock. Using silly cards or other signs on the outside of his locker seemed more believable than breaking into his locker. And he doubted any of the lab techs would be skilled enough to pick his lock without even the slightest visible damage.
 
He briefly pondered calling Warrick and ask him what to do, but he quickly dismissed that thought. Warrick was on his way to a triple homicide that involved a woman, her teenage son and a baby girl, so his day would be bad enough anyway. Besides, the whole thing could turn out to be nothing.
 
But whatever logical explanation he came up with, he couldn’t shake the idea that somehow this wasn’t just a prank. He checked his watch, it showed he had about 10 minutes before he’d meet Catherine to go to a scene. It would give him enough time to dust the lock and lift prints, if he’d do it fast.
No time to waste, he jumped up and almost ran to his car to grab his kit. He was busy lifting the last prints when Catherine poked her head in the locker room.
 
‘Nick, are you ready?’
 
She looked again. ‘What are you doing?’
 
He looked up at her. ‘Would you believe me if I’d say ‘nothing’?’
 
She crossed her arms in front of her chest. ‘Spill it Nick. What’s going on?’
 
‘I don’t know Cath,’ Nick answered thruthfully, when he put the prints in an evidence bag and tagged it, ‘but someone has broken into my locker and I’ve got a bad feeling about it.’
 
Catherine sat down, laughing. ‘Come on Nicky! It’s probably just a bad joke from one of the lab rats. No need to investigate it like a murder scene.’
 
‘I know that Cath,’ he answered, sounding a little irritated. ‘I just thought it a bit too much of a coincidence since someone slashed two tires on my car at the scene yesterday and I put the evidence of that in my locker to process it later today.’
 
She looked stunned. ‘They did what?’
 
He explained what happened.
 
‘Yesterday, when you had to get home for Lindsey, the officers at the scene left a little before I was finished. Don’t know why, since they didn’t bother to tell me they were going. Anyway, I was there alone for about 10 minutes, I guess, and when I came to my car both rear tires where slashed and the knife was sticking out of the right one.’
 
He closed his kit and got back up. ‘So just to be sure I processed the car before changing the tires. And of course I only had one spare, so I had to call Warrick for help. He lend me his spare so I could get on the road again, I dropped the evidence from the B&E off at the lab and put the evidence from my car in my locker. I didn’t want to bother anybody with it, since it could be a stupid stunt pulled by some kids.’
 
‘But now you’re starting to think it’s something else?’
 
Nick shrugged. ‘It’s a bit too much of a coincidence, you know. Why would anybody want to break into my locker, and what are the chances of that happening the one time I put some evidence in it?’
 
‘Is it still in there?’ Catherine asked.
 
‘I’m about to find out,’ Nick answered, opening the door. His eyes widened. ‘Fuck! Empty!’
 
‘Are you sure you left it there?’
 
Nick’s look spoke volumes.
 
‘Okay, sorry,’ she said. ‘I had to ask.’
 
‘I know, I know,’ Nick answered, running a hand through his hair and rubbing the back of his neck. ‘I just can’t understand who would do something like that.’
 
Catherine decided to take charge of the situation. ‘I’m gonna take those prints to the Lab and ask one of the girls to run them. Stabbing knives into tires and breaking into lockers doesn’t sound very girly, so I trust them with it. Girls would use a key to damage the paint on your car instead.’
 
She looked at him pointedly. ‘You didn’t piss any of them off by sleeping with them recently, did you?’
 
He gave her an incredulous look. ‘No, of course I didn’t.’
 
She smiled. ‘Well, you had a hot date a few days back and with our work hours it’s hard to meet someone outside the job, so I was just checking.’
 
Nick dropped down on the bench, sighing. ‘Cath, I can assure you that I haven’t slept with any of the girls in the lab, and I don’t intend to do that any time in the future.’
 
‘Because you and hot date are getting serious?’
 
Nick suddenly got to his feet. ‘You know what, gimme those bags. I’ll drop them off myself. I’ve just spend this morning on the phone with my mother, again, getting the marrying and children speech, I really don’t need another one.’
 
He snatched the bags out of her hand. ‘I’ll meet you at the car. I’m driving.’
 
‘Whoa buster,’ she stopped him, putting a hand on his chest and grabbed the bags from him. ‘No need to go off on me like that. I’m just yanking your chain. And I’m getting those bags to trace. If for whatever reason some insider has something to do with it, it’s better they don’t see you walking around with these.’ She flapped the bags.

‘You really think that’s even an option?’ Nick said. ‘I thought I was just being paranoid by thinking that.’
 
‘I hope not, but I’m keeping all options open. The fact that all officers left the scene while you were still there yesterday seems kinda funky to me.’
 
‘Cath, I was finishing up there. I left shortly after them…. Or at least I planned to.’
 
‘I hope you’re right Nick, but it’d be best to let me take these with me. I’ll meet you at the car, and yes, you can drive.’ Walking out the door, she muttered, ‘You big baby. Jeez, men and cars.’
 
‘I heard that!’ he yelled after her, smiling.

About 10 minutes later they were on their way to another B&E that had the same MO as the one they investigated the previous day. Another large estate, not much contact with the neighbors and a truck from a removal company as a cover.
 
‘I think those burglars are pretty creative,’ Nick stated. ‘I mean, who would think of pretending to be moving furniture as a way of stealing it, along with some other valuables.’
 
‘I doubt if it helps them getting a shorter sentence when we catch them,’ Catherine said. ‘By the way, I’ve given the prints to Mandy and she’d call me as soon as she knows something.’
 
‘And if that doesn’t help, we could always check the video surveillance. That way we can at least see who got in and out of the locker room.’ Nick suggested.
 
‘Yeah, well, let’s see what this gets us.’
 
They drove in silence for a while, when Catherine suddenly thought of something.
 
‘Did you recently pick a fight with someone over something? Or piss someone off at a crime scene that could have followed you back to the lab?’
 
‘No, not really, I think. Unless…’ Suddenly remembering his arguement with the police officer in Goodtimes, he fell silent.
 
‘Nicky?’ Catherine prodded. ‘If you know something, you gotta tell me. This isn’t just about you, you know. What if someone messes with evidence from official cases because he has some beef with you?’
 
Nick suddenly slammed on the brakes. ‘I gotta make a call Cath. I’ll be back in a sec.’
 
He jumped out of the car and walked out of hearing distance before he pulled out his phone to call Warrick.
 
‘Warrick’
 
‘Hey, it’s me. Got a minute?’
 
‘Sure, gimme a sec.’ He yelled at his co-worker.  Sar, I gotta take this call. Be back in a minute…. Huh?.... yeah, family business.’ Warrick put the phone back to his ear. ‘Okay, I’m here.’
 
‘Listen,’ Nick started. ‘I told you I took the evidence from my car to the lab yesterday, right?’
 
‘Right’
 
‘Well, I put it in my locker, ‘cause I didn’t want to trouble the lab with something that could easily turn out to be nothing.’
 
‘You did what?’ Warrick said, sounding as if he didn’t believe what he was hearing.
 
‘I know, I know, I didn’t think about it. Anyway, when I got to my locker this evening, someone had broken into it. Not much visible on the outside, but I saw it right away. Dusted and printed it and that’s brought to trace as well.’
 
‘And the evidence?’
 
‘Gone’
 
‘Fuck!’ Warrick cursed. ‘So it really was bad news. I mean, who would go through all that for some stupid joke.’
 
‘Tell me about it,’ Nich answered. ‘Catherine witnessed the whole thing, and she asked me if I recently had a fight with someone. You don’t think that guy from Goodtimes has something to do with it?’
 
‘He’d better not!’
 
‘Rick, should I tell Catherine about that fight?’
 
‘If you think it could be him. He's a big enough asshole to pull a stunt like that, and he’s got access to the lab without too much raising suspicion.’ Warrick summed up.
 
‘Damnit!’ Nick sighed, quickly making a decision. ‘Okay, here’s the deal. I’m gonna wait for the results of the prints and take it from there. If he is involved I will bring her up to date. If not, I don’t. That okay with you?’
 
‘Okay babe. Look, I gotta go, Sara’s shooting daggers right about now. See you later. Love you.’
 
‘Back at ya.’ Smiling, Nick closed his phone and got back to the car. Catherine was waiting on him, impatient look on her face.
 
‘What was that about?’ she asked. ‘And don’t you go ‘nothing’ on me.’
 
Nick turned to her so he could look her directly in the eyes. ‘Can we just wait for the results of the prints first? If that rings even the tiniest bell, I promise I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.’
 
She sighed. ‘Okay, I think I can live with that. Now start that engine, we have a scene to go to.’