This is my first fanfic so, please don't be too mean. I don't really know where I'm going with this, but I'm gonna give it a shot. I got the idea when I re-watched season 2 episode 3 "Overload" and was reminded Nick was molested at the age of 9 by his babysitter. Then I realized they never talked about it again. So here it is. This is set in the time after Langston, but before Russell. The characters are not mine, I own nothing.

It was a cold day, and Nick was pouring himself some coffee from the break room when Sara joined him. "Do you really like that crap?" Sara said as she walked up.

"Nice to see you too, and for your information, I happen to find this coffee pretty good for the price" Nick replied with his slight southern accent.

Catherine walked in, interrupting their conversation. "Hey guys sorry to break this up, but we have a 4-19 on North B Avenue. I need you guys to take this one. Greg will meet you there, thanks." She said just before leaving, not giving them any time to respond.

Nick and Sara arrived at the crime scene before Greg. Brass was inside taking notes of the damages the killer had done. "So, what are we dealing with here?" Sara asked as she approached Brass.

"Single homicide. Victim was a 39-year-old male. Single gunshot wound to the chest. He lives alone, the neighbors called it in when they heard the gunshot."

Nick, still standing in the doorway, yelled to them, "Looks like the killer entered in the front door, there's tool marks here."

Just then, David arrived at the crime scene, and Nick quickly moved out of his way to allow him to reach the body. David knelt down beside the body to take out the wallet from his pocket. He handed the wallet to Sara, and she opened it to see the victim's drivers' license. She read the name aloud "Jason Bradshaw."

Nick was alarmed by the name, sounding a little too familiar to him, "Jason Bradshaw?" he repeated.

"Yeah, does that mean something to you?"

"I went to school with him, back in Texas. I had no idea he was livin here in Vegas."

"Y'know it might not be the same one, Nick."

"No, it's him. I know."

Then, Greg finally arrived at the scene and entered the house, a bit too peppy for the current mood. He soon realized this, and wanted to leave so, he offered to take the perimeter, and they agreed. Sara stayed in the entrance, kitchen, and living room with the victim, and Nick took the rest of the house.

Nick had made his way into Jason's bedroom. He found a journal lying on the bed, and he picked it up and started to read it. I don't really want to write this, but the therapist said it would be good. What kind of a man am I to see a therapist and keep a journal? Whatever here it goes. It all started when I was about 8 or something. My babysitter, she was weird. I liked her at first, I thought she was cool. Then she started doing some things that I didn't like. She would touch… Nick slammed the book shut. He couldn't take any more of it. He could feel the tears in his eyes, but he didn't dare cry them. He couldn't help but feel guilty for his parents recommending the babysitter to the Bradshaws. He felt as if it had been his fault his friend had been abused, and now maybe he even had something to do with his murder. So, what was he going to do now? He couldn't finish processing the room. He already made that decision. After a few deep breaths he finally picked up his phone to call Catherine. She answered after only a couple rings.

"Nicky, what's going on?"

"Hey, uh, Cath. I can't work this case"

"Why not? Is everything alright?" She could sense stress in his voice.

"No... I know the victim, and I don't want this case to be compromised because I am bias to the victim"

"I doubt that's gonna happen. I think you'll be fine. If I see that happening, I'll take you off, but I need you to stay on the case for now. Alright?"

"Okay."

He hung up the phone feeling worse than he did before. He wanted to scream into the phone "I can't do this! Don't you get it! Why are you making me do this?" but he kept his composure, and decided to leave the bedroom. He came out into the living room where Sara was and told her about the evidence he had collected in the other rooms. Then he confessed, "I can't take his room. It's too personal."

"That's alright. I'll take his room if you finish up here?"

"Yeah, okay. Thanks."

"No problem." She said with a slight smile as she walked to the back of the house.

Nick was relieved, and finished processing the living room. When Sara entered the bedroom she found the journal on the bed and skimmed over it before bagging it as evidence.

They returned to the lab, and filled Catherine in on the case. She could sense something was off with Nick as he told her about what he had found in the house, but she decided to ignore it. She didn't think any of it was her business, and she thought he would talk to her, if there was something he needed to tell her about.

Nick was struggling inside as he told about his friend's house. He tried as best as he could to hold it together on the outside, but on the inside he was dying. He was being met with flashbacks of the babysitter molesting him, and of the little bit of the journal he did read. He couldn't help but to think of when he told his parents she was a good babysitter. When Sara started to tell about the bedroom, he couldn't take it anymore he had to leave. He got up quickly hoping no one would stop him, but as he was leaving Greg asked him, "Where you going?"

Nick was overcome with so many different emotions that, he just stood there speechless. He was so grateful when Catherine answered for him "Take it easy on him Greg, this Jason guy was his friend."

"Thanks" Nick told Catherine before leaving the room.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"-its fine, Greg." Catherine interrupted.

Nick stood outside the crime lab trying to erase everything from his mind. He didn't want to think about it. All these years he had been able to push those memories to the back of his mind, never allowing himself to ever really think about it. Now, these memories played vividly in his mind, almost like it happen yesterday. It made him want to run. Run far away from this place, this city, this country. He didn't want to be anywhere near here. He didn't want to show that he had a weakness. He was supposed to be the strong one. What would the others think of him if they saw him completely break down? Eventually, they were all probably going to find out, but Nick made it his mission to make sure it wouldn't be anytime soon. He had done a great job of hiding it from everyone but Catherine. So, why wouldn't Catherine take him off the case? He kept asking himself this question. If this had been any other case, he thought, she would be asking him to recuse himself because of a conflict of interest. He didn't want to work the case so, he decided he would try to stay an arm's length, or further, if Catherine allowed it.

So, do you like it? Is it worth continuing? No? Either way, please tell me. I'm open to suggestions, and tell me if there's anything I should do differently. This is my first fic so, please help me out.