A/N-Well I am back and with a sequel to Lust For Blood. So this story can be read on it's own, as I do recap a lot of what happened in the last story. This one will get a bit steamier with the relationship between Catherine and Greg. I probably will not be updating this one as frequently as I have less writing time, but I will try my best. Hope you all enjoy.

It was a rare rainy night in Las Vegas. The tourists scrambled for cover on the strip as the rain came down heavily. He gazed out the window as the casino lights flashed by. It felt great just being able to see the city so alive even in the rain.

"Are you okay? You've have not said much of anything since we headed out." The dark haired Texan, Nick Stokes drawled out as he looked over at his partner in the passenger seat.

Greg Sanders flashed a smile in Nick's direction. "It just feels great to be out on a case again. It seems like forever since I have been able to go to a crime scene. I'm just absorbing the sights and the sounds again."

Nick chuckled a bit. "Well it is nice to have you back out in the field, Greggo. And it has been awhile, but everyone just wanted to make sure you were well enough to be back."

Greg rolled his eyes at Nick, then turned back to look out the window. "I know, but I was getting extremely restless the last two weeks. I am just glad Ecklie and Grissom both decided it was okay for me to be back out here."

Nick glanced over at Greg again. He knew that there was one person who thought that Greg needed a little bit more time before being back in the field.

"Um, so how are things with you and Catherine," he asked him, knowing it still was awkward for any of them to talk about the relationship between the two co-workers.

Greg continued staring out the window, sighing but not saying anything right away.

Nick decided to respond to Greg's silence. "You know, she is just concerned for your health. She saw you almost get killed twice. She sees you more then we see you. She can judge how your recovery is doing better than any of us."

"I know," Greg replied in almost a whisper. He had argued with Catherine prior to leaving for work that evening on going back to work in the field. She knew he was still in some pain and was still taking his pain medication. She felt he should spend at least one more week staying at the Crime Lab working inside before going out to scenes. He argued that his last crime scene was unusual and that it is not everyday a killer is still on the scene waiting to take out a CSI. She knew he was right, but she still worried about him as he left to go to a simple armed burglary at the Wild West Casino.

Nick let it drop for now as he pulled the Black Denali into the parking lot of the casino. Greg grabbed his kit out of the back seat and waited on Nick before walking into the casino.

Detective Vega met them in the lobby and filled them in on the details on the way up to the room.

"Roger Watson had won $75,000 at the black jack table earlier this evening. He went up to his room to enjoy his winnings by ordering a bottle of champagne and a nice steak and lobster dinner. When room service came to the door, well let's just say it was not casino's regular room service guy. Watson said the guy came in wearing the appropriate attire and had a cart and everything, but once he was inside the room he pulled out a gun and other man came out from under the table cloth on the cart and robbed Mr. Watson at gunpoint."

"Is there security cameras on every floor," Greg asked him.

"Yes and the hotel manager is getting them for us."

Det. Vega led them under the police tape into the room where a man going into his late 40's sat on the edge of a bed, with his head in his hands.

"Mr. Watson, this is CSI Nick Stokes and CSI Greg Sanders, they are going to ask you a few more questions and collect evidence so we can catch the guys who took your winnings."

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"Hey, Cath, are you okay over there," Warrick asked the strawberry blonde CSI as she stared at the pool of blood on the wooden floor near the foot of the bed.

Catherine Willows shook the images that flashed back into her head for a moment. She looked over at the tall, dark and handsome Warrick Brown, a man she once fancied but now that was over. Another CSI flooded her thoughts instead. "Yeah, sorry. Guess I am just tired, did not sleep well last night."

"Look if you are not sleeping well due to a certain someone and you doing stuff, I do not want to hear about it." Warrick held up his hands in a defensive manner, but had a grin on his face.

"Don't worry, I won't share that sort of stuff with anyone," she grinned back at him.

"Glad to hear. Now back to the case." Warrick bent down and took a swab of the blood.

Catherine took photos of the scene. No matter how often she saw death, the death of a child always got to her. This had been a family of three that had been slaughtered in their sleep on a rainy October night.

After Warrick swabbed several blood samples he started looking around the room. He went up to the dresser and examined the contents. "Looks like nothing was taken. Perhaps it was a hit of some kind on one of the parents. And they decided to take out the whole family."

Brass walked in the room. "It seems our male victim, Mr. Robert Orchid worked for a mob family up until this evening. So we might have a mob hit on our hands."

Warrick nodded. "Makes sense. There was nothing stolen by the looks of it. Looks like they just came in to finish off the family and that is it."

"I'll check more into his background and find out more details about his job." Brass left them to finish processing the scene.

Catherine went to the little boy's bedroom. The coroner had already taken the bodies away, but Catherine took photos of the boy's body in his bed, a bullet in his head. She only hoped the boy had been asleep when the bullet struck him dead. She had an urge to call Lindsay and make sure she was safe in bed, but she kept the faith that she was sound asleep, safely at home.

Back at the Las Vegas Crime Lab, Greg and Nick dropped off their evidence to the lab techs to process then headed to see Archie to watch the security videos.

"So this should be a pretty easy one to solve if the guys faces are caught on camera. The guy already gave us a pretty good description." Nick sat down next to Archie while Greg stood by his side.

"Well here they can be seen coming out of the elevator. These guys weren't too smart." Archie focused in on the man's face. He looked to be a teenager almost. Archie ran a face comparison scan to criminal profiles. It took a couple of minutes before it found a match. Archie pulled it up on the screen.

"Matthew Farnham, age 20. Previous arrest for a misdemeanor of possession of a gun. Served 18 months for burglary. Just got out 3 weeks ago. Guy did not waste much time, did he," Greg said.

"Now we just have to figure out who his partner is," Nick said as he watched the rest of the video. The accomplice was never seen on the video.

After their time with Archie, Nick and Greg headed over to the break room for some coffee. A few minutes later Catherine walked in with Warrick. Catherine immediately spotted Greg and was glad to see him not looking tired.

Greg saw her and gave her a slight grin. She felt a wave of relief knowing he did not seem to still be mad at her for her overprotective nature of him. He had been through too much in the last year with the beating and the civil trial, then to Tyler Renning who most recently scarred him badly. He still had trouble sleeping some days due to nightmares, but since Tyler's death they had lessened.

"So I hear you two had a murdered family that might be mob related," Nick spoke up as Warrick grabbed a soda out of the vending machine.

"Yeah the parents and their 8 year old son. Seems the father had the mob ties. Brass is looking into it further," Catherine replied as she took a seat across from Nick.

Even though their co-workers knew they were in a relationship, Catherine and Greg remained completely professional while at work, except for the occasional looks they gave to each other. Ecklie frowned upon the relationship but since they were subordinates did not make them change shifts, but simply would not allow them to work on the same cases together.

They talked some more about their cases. Greg was in the middle of telling them about their suspect when his cell phone went off playing the tune "Feel like making love". He grinned at Catherine as he answered his phone.

Catherine watched him as he excused himself to take the call outside of earshot in the hallway. She wondered who was on the phone that he did not want her to know about.

He came back in a couple minutes later and first thing Catherine noticed was how pale he looked and his expression was grim.

"Greg, what's wrong," She asked immediately after seeing his expression. She wondered what was said in this call that made him so glum.

He looked at her, his brown eyes serious. "That was my mother. My dad died last night from a stroke."

"Oh Greg!" Catherine immediately sprung up to give him a hug.

After Catherine finished hugging him, Nick came over and gave him a comforting pat on his shoulder. "Sorry man. That sucks."

Greg just nodded. He seemed in a bit of a daze since hearing the news.

When Greg answered his phone and heard his mom's voice on the line calling at this hour he knew something was not right.

"Hey Mom. What's going on," he asked her cautiously. He could hear her sniffle on the other end.

"Your father passed away about four hours ago. They said it was a stroke. I couldn't bring myself to call you until now." He could tell now by her wobbly voice that she had been crying.

A myriad of emotions ran through Greg's mind before he responded back to his mother. "I'll try to be there as soon as I can. I'll let you know when I will be getting in."

"Thank you, son."

Greg broke out of his daze. "I'm going to go talk to Grissom now."

"Are you going to be okay," Catherine asked with concern on her face.

He nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine. I'll let you know when exactly I am leaving."

She watched him walk away to Grissom's office in sadness.

Greg approached Grissom's door and made a slight knock on it before entering. Grissom looked up from his paperwork. "Can I help you, Greg?"

"I'm going to need some time off again. My father passed away," Greg said solemnly.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Greg. Of course you get bereavement time. Are you going to try to leave as soon as possible?"

"Yeah. I am going to check on flights in a couple minutes. Sorry you're going to be short a member again."

Grissom shook his head. "Don't be sorry. You have no control over what has happened. You just go be with your family."

"Thanks," Greg said before he left. Grissom stared after him as he slowly made his way out the door. Grissom could not believe the luck of his youngest CSI recently. The kid deserved a break but simply was not getting one.

Catherine later saw Greg in the locker room. He was sitting on the bench, his face in his hands.

"Greg?" Catherine said quietly not wanting to startle him. She thought he had been crying but when he raised his head he just looked sad.

"Hey," he just simply said to her. She sat down next to him.

"Did you book your flights," she asked him.

He was looking back down at the ground. "Yes, I leave in about 5 hours."

"Do you need anything from me," she asked him, not sure how she could help him at this point.

He shook his head woefully. "No, I just…I feel horrible. The last time I saw my dad was almost two years ago."

"But you kept in touch with them, right? Did you ever tell them about what happened to you?"

He shook his head again. "No, I never got around to it yet. And yeah we kept in touch, phone calls, emails, sometimes online video chat, but it is not the same as seeing them in person."

Catherine laid her hand over his gently. "Greg, I'm sure they knew how busy you are and how hard it is for you to get time away. They never come to see you?"

"No, mostly because they knew I was busy." He sighed.

She felt bad for him. Even though she did not know her real father, Sam Braun, all that long, she saw him a lot before he was killed. "Greg, don't beat yourself up about this. I am sure he would not want you to."

"Yeah but I deprived him and my mom of the ability to take care of me and even know that I was hurt. Heck, I nearly died and they had no clue. What kind of a son am I?"

Catherine hated seeing him beat himself up about this. The last year had been an emotional roller coaster for him. This was not helping. Her, being a parent, knew they would not want him to do this to himself. "Greg, look I know from experience with Lindsay that I would not want her to live with regrets like this. All your mom will care about is that you will be with her when she needs you most. So, go home, pack your stuff and prepare yourself mentally to see your mom and be there to comfort her when she needs it."

He looked over at her, her strawberry blonde hair straight, framing her beautiful face; her clear blue eyes stern and yet concerned. It was no wonder why he loved her. Her advice always helped him out. He gave her a slight smile. "You know I will miss you while I am gone."

She smiled back at him. "I'll miss you too, very much. Does your mother know about me?" Curiosity peaked in her eyes.

"Yes and no. She knows I am seeing someone, but I have not really told her who and that you were a co-worker," he said coyly.

"What have you told her exactly," she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Uh, that you were a really beautiful woman who've I've known for a few years now as a friend." He held a small grin on his face.

She sighed. "I guess that works." She looked at her watch. "Well you better get going and I need to get back to work." She turned around briefly to make sure no one was watching them, and then she turned back to him and gave him a slow kiss.

When she finished she gazed into his big brown eyes. "If you need to talk, call me anytime."

He nodded his head. "Thanks. I'm sure I'll take you up on that offer at some point. I love you."

He gave her a quick kiss before getting up.

"I'll see you in about a week then," she said to him as she headed back into the lab.

He watched her leave then, closed his locker with a sigh and left for home to pack a bag for his trip home.