A/N Response to an Unbound challenge. First and Last lines provided. As always, I own nothing related to CSI. And what with Christmas bills coming in, my dreams of taking over the franchise are farther away than ever.

"I've got paint all over me!"

Sara raised an eyebrow at Greg's sudden chortle of laughter, but realized rather quickly that with pigment oozing over her face, he wasn't likely to see it anyway. And glaring with paint in one's eyes hurt. Besides, his giggles were contagious and a quick grin answered his laughter, even as she struggled to spit the goo out of her mouth. Greg stood several feet back from where Sara hovered in the doorway of the microscopy lab wiping hot pink paint out of her eyes. "I better not find out that you're the one who put that bucket of paint over the lab door, Sanders."

His hands were up in a moment, warding her off, "Hey, no way Sara! Not me. A trick like that could be dangerous. You're not hurt, are you?"

"Who's hurt?"

Sara groaned as Greg spun to face their supervisor, simulation dummy hanging from his hands. "No one, at least I don't' think she's hurt." Greg glanced over his shoulder to the woman, his own form blocking her from Grissom's view. "But….damn Griss! Someone thought it would be funny to leave a can of paint over the door. If the can had hit Sara in the head…"

Greg's words trailed off as Grissom dropped the dummy and all but lifted him out of his way. "Sara? You…you're not hurt, are you?"

She shook her head, letting her hands drop to her sides. "No…just…sticky. I…I'm sorry about the floor…"

Grissom's hand liftedtoward her cheek, his fingers almost touching the pink smear before he clenched them into a fist, his hand dropping to his side. "No. I'm sorry Sara…" He glanced down at the dummy lying on the floor, "The….Mellin case. It was an experiment. We thought the boy might have died setting up a prank. I'd gone to get the dummy and….someone was supposed to be watching this door."

She stared at him for a moment before shrugging her shoulder. Grissom was working the Mellin case with Sophia. It wasn't hard to figure out who should have been watching the door. She closed her eyes, recalling the coolness between her and the blonde woman over the past weeks. If Sara were honest, she'd admit she never gave Sophia much of a chance; but the other woman's constant bids for sympathy were grinding. She'd finally blown up at the former day-shift supervisor after she'd returned from seeing the Malton boys in the hospital. She supposed this was payback. "Not your fault Grissom." Opening her eyes, Sara sighed. "Greg uhm….Greg has the evidence from our case. We need to use the comparison scope. Can you…uhm…let him know when you're done here? Please? I need a shower."

Before Grissom could respond, Sara had turned and fled toward the locker room. Greg, however, stood where he was, watching their boss carefully. "I…can wait till this gets cleaned up to use that scope." He paused, for a moment, considering. "I'll just put this in the evidence vault, and get that mess cleaned up for you."

"Greg…" Grissom sighed as he turned to the young man, "This isn't your mess to clean up."

"Oh, don't I know it." The trainee's tone held a note Grissom couldn't quite identify. "But I'll do it anyway. And Gris? If you're looking for Sophia…" He shifted the evidence bag to his left hand as he gestured down the hall, "She's in the break room. Sara and I just spoke to her…told her we'd be down here, using this scope."

He watched Grissom's shoulders jerk, nodding at the older man's request that he put away the simulation dummy as well. He hefted the stuffed man beneath his arm, grinning at him as Grissom's "CURTIS! My office, now!" boomed through the hallway. "Yeah Gray Dude, did she think we wouldn't realize she knew? Oh, I wouldn't want to be in Sophia's shoes now."

Greg made certain to detour very slowly past Grissom's office as he returned to the lab. He could make out only a few of Sophia's words, but Grissom's bellows were clear even through the door. He nodded, and then hurried off to the microscopy lab, and the mess with his name on it. He was still there wiping up paint, a half-hour later when Sara returned.

"Where's Grissom?"

Greg glanced up, his eyes searching Sara's face for any hint of injury. Finding none, he finally smiled a bit. "In his office. With Sophia."

"Oh." Sara glanced that way, her teeth coming out to chew her lower lip. " How's that going?"

"Grissom was pretty ticked. You could have been seriously hurt." His glance followed Sara's as he grinned. "The storm looks like it's settling in."