Nick is a fairly good shot and of the CSI team was one of the most willing to engage in a gun battle but he almost always tried to use other methods first. In season six, Nick grows a moustache then shaves it off. He has had a variety of hair cuts, such as a mop-top and a shaved head. In the season-five episode "Grave Danger," Nick is kidnapped and buried alive in a glass coffin rigged with explosives. He was previously stalked by Nigel Crane, a cable technician, who threw him from a second-story window. Nick is characterized as something of a ladies' man, but the only onscreen romance over the course of the series is a brief affair with a prostitute named Kristi Hopkins and a date with Dr. Robbins's niece. His bad luck in relationships might be explained by a running gag that whenever Nick is with a woman, misfortune befalls someone else. For example, he has a one-night stand with Kristi, and she is murdered later that night, resulting in him being a suspect. Also, Nick and Catherine go to a club together, then shortly after Nick meets a woman at the club, Catherine is drugged and abducted. Again, during breakfast with the team at a diner, Nick eyes a pretty waitress and stays behind to get her number, while Warrick leaves. Shortly afterward, Warrick is murdered. In the season 13 episode "Play Dead", Nick refers to a girlfriend in passing when talking to his dog, Sam. Catherine turns down an offer to move into Grissom's office and offers it to Nick. He accepts it after some thought, then, in turn, decides to share the office space with Greg Sanders and Riley Adams. Grissom's infamous "fetal pig in a jar" is placed in the room by Hodges, who says, "it is where it belongs". Nick is promoted to assistant supervisor after Sara Sidle advises Catherine that she needs a "number two". Nick handles tarantulas and takes Grissom's old tarantula under his care. However, Nick's promotion is compromised after the squad tries to apprehend serial killer Nate Haskell in Los Angeles. Nick and Dr. Raymond "Ray" Langston are apprehended by the LAPD for going beyond their jurisdiction, when Nick used his gun in attempt to apprehend Haskell. Haskell kills Tina, but Ray is implicated in her death. Nick returns from a work-related trip to find that he