Title- Not Quite Paradise

Rating: T- Nothing worse than you see on the show, so I'm leaving it the same rating.

Summary- Vegas isn't called Sin City for nothing. One man learns a lesson in Greed, while a teenage boy is left to deal with the consequences of another's actions. With the team back together again, these cases should be cake, right?

Pairing- There may be some implied flirting, but none of it will affect the central plot.

A/N- With this fic, I'm going to try and make it similar to a show, but with more character interaction. I'm going to try and have the forensic aspect in there, but I'm no scientist, so I may be wrong with some of it. And some of it is unlikely, but I'm making it happen, 'cause it's my story (example, the team's back together. My excuse, Ecklie wants to save money). Okay, so maybe it isn't a lot like the show, but it's been constantly bouncing around my brain for two months, and I finally got it down on paper (or keyboard...)

Disclaimer- I don't own CSI:. If I did, would I be writing a fic? No, I would be writing episodes. My characters will show up eventually, but for now, enjoy my portrayal of the original characters. I apologize in advance.

Once Again

It was just another quiet night. Or at least, as quiet as it ever got in Vegas. At MGM, young voices were coming from the lion habitat, gasps and squeals, little fingers pointing at huge paws through the thick glass. In the casino, among the bells and whistles of the slot machines, there were happy screeches and angry shouts as some people earned enough to stay another week in Vegas, and others were lucky they had bought round trip tickets. But upstairs, a young man could only hope he would be lucky enough to get away.

"I can get it back, I promise! Just give me another chance, by this time tomorrow-" His voice was trembling, and although he was speaking rather louder than he usually did, the sound-proofed walls gave him no hope of being found. Across the room, someone stood in the shadows with their back turned, the only other person in the room, but the young man didn't dare run. There were eyes all over Vegas. They would find him.

"You've already had enough chances. I've told you, you do not spend money that is not yours." There was a menacing click from in front of the shadowy figure, and the young man gulped. He could still run, it wasn't to late… No, it's been too late to escape ever since they met…

The person turned, stepping out of the shadows, and the young man found himself staring down a silver barrel. There was a loud, slightly muffled noise, and before the young man could even open his mouth to scream, he hit the floor.

A few hours later, in the break room of the Las Vegas crime lab, the graveyard and swing shifts were awaiting Gil Grissom, who would be handing out assignments, and anticipating their first night as one team in quite some time. The number of cases had recently been dropping, so in order to avoid paying people to do much less work than usual, Conrad Ecklie had decided that swing and grave could work together again, however brief the time.

Standing near the coffee maker, Nick Stokes, who swapped over from swing for the time being, and Greg Sanders were talking about a new video game that had just hit the shelves (and they had both bought the day it was out) and preparing for the shift. Nick was yawning, and leaning against the counter, while Greg was grinning. He was lucky enough to not have to worry about changing shifts. The one good thing about being the newest CSI was if they needed backup on another shift, they'd go for the more experienced criminalists, rather than the new ones.

"The Falcons are still the best team in the game, doesn't matter which version you play," Greg said, grabbing his coffeepot off the heater and pouring some into a small cup. Nick reached out to take the coffeepot, but Greg pulled it away, handing him a different one. "That's my coffee, unless you want to pay for it, of course…"

"Don't you remember what Grissom said about this stuff? Community water, community coffee. Now gimmee, I need caffeine." Greg sighed and moved his hand, allowing Nick to take the coffeepot that contained Greg's Blue Hawaiian. Almost everyone in the nightshift had tried the coffee without Greg's knowledge, with the exception of David Hodges, who, although he almost stopped making obnoxious (and sometimes true) comments about Greg, still wouldn't touch anything that Greg liked. Hodges did still spend most of his time trying (and failing) to impress his superiors, something that annoyed his coworkers out of their wits. But he was slowly getting better, and the lab needed a Trace Technician, so they could put up with him. Nick poured the coffee into another cup, and set the coffeepot back on the heater.

"Come on man, you know Moss is good." Nick took a sip from his coffee, and grinned. "So is this stuff, where do you get it? You don't exactly see it in the supermarkets…"

"If I told you, would you leave my stuff alone?" Nick didn't respond, except to take another sip from the coffee. "It'll stay my secret then, won't it? Anyway, yeah, Moss is good, but that's only one player, the Falcon's have a whole team…"

Over on the couches, two more members of swing were deep in conversation. Catherine Willows, the supervisor of swing shift, was working as a Level Three for the first time in nearly a year. Grissom would be the supervisor, as it was his shift in the first place, and he had over four years more experience with the job than she did. Sitting across from her was Warrick Brown, who seemed happy about the team being back together. They were talking about a new source of stress in Catherine's life, known to her only as Jason.

"And she's coming home an hour past her curfew…I don't know if she's mad at me, or she misses her dad, or…" Catherine was leaned back on the couch, massaging her forehead and sighing at random points in the conversation.

"Cath, don't worry about it, kids'll be kids. She's getting to that age where she's trying to be independent, prove that she doesn't need help from her mom." Warrick, who was always ready to help when it came to Catherine's daughter, Lindsay, was looking around the break room. "You know, I remember when you were in here yelling at Gris and Nick 'cause they were trying to throw Linds a party for her seventh birthday. It's weird, she would come to the lab and we would send her to work with Sanders, and now she's getting to be one of those… I dunno, teenage girls that I feared when I was her age…" He looked back at Catherine, smiling. "Like mother, like daughter, right?" Catherine responded to this with a shadow of a smile, but went on talking as if she didn't hear the last comment.

"I remember one night she came home… She was humming a song I know I never let her listen too… Then I walk into the DNA lab the next day and see Greg playing his tumblers with a latex glove on his head to the same song…" Catherine sighed and shook her head. "Now my baby girl is spending all her time with a bunch of kids who I know nothing about… What happened to the little girl who was in every play she got the chance to be in, and actually looked forward to going to school?"

"Don't worry so much, it'll be fine. Besides, if anyone tries to mess with her, she's got connections, right?" Warrick grinned at Catherine, who smiled feebly back. It was a few minutes before either of them spoke again, when Catherine laughed quietly, looking back up at Warrick.

"You know, for a guy who's never been married, you know a lot about kids," Catherine smiled at Warrick, who simply shrugged.

"My grandma taught me a lot when I was a kid." Warrick smiled again, looking down towards the floor. "I never saw a point to it, but I guess without her, I'd still be a runner… Or worse…" He sighed, before glancing at Catherine out of the corner of his eyes. "But I do know someone who seems proud of her past, even if it isn't exactly a normal… Profession." He smiled, and Catherine shook her head at him.

"Hey, it was a job, and it supported Eddie and me…" She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder, winking at him. "And I was good at it, too."

Over at the table, the pair was much quieter. On one side of the table, with her nose in a forensic science magazine, sat Sophia Curtis, who was new to both shifts, at least, compared to the others. When the shift change first happened, she moved from acting supervisor of the dayshift, to a Level Three CSI of the nightshift. At first, she wasn't exactly happy with the change, but she had decided that Gil was a much better supervisor than Conrad could ever be. Although he wasn't best with the political part of his job, Gil knew that CSI's are still human, something that Conrad never seemed to realize. She was still upset that she had been passed over for a position, but for now, she would work with Gil. And when she did become a supervisor, she could use what she learned working with him, and be an even better supervisor than she would've been if she had gotten Willows' position.

Across the table was Sara Sidle, who was tapping her pen on the table and looking at one of Grissom's crossword puzzles. Normally, they didn't interest her, but she had no interest in football video games, and besides only speaking with Lindsay Willows two or three times, she knew next to nothing about kids. And with a choice between working on a crossword puzzle and talking to Sophia, she would take the puzzle. She scribbled in another word before hearing the break room door open and people making themselves heard all over the room.

"Finally, took you long enough!" Warrick's voice made itself around the room, followed shortly by Catherine, who was trying to sound hurt, but wasn't able to hide the laughter in her voice.

"Oh, so you don't enjoy talking with me?" Sara looked up in time to see Grissom standing in the break room doorway with a folder in hand, looking amused. Then she looked over at Catherine, who was grinning at Warrick, who rolled his eyes and looked back.

"Come on, Cat, you know what I mean…" But Warrick was quickly cut off by Greg, who was much better than Catherine at sounding angry, but you could tell by the look in his eyes that he was joking.

"How come he gets to call you Cat and I don't?" Before anyone else could say anything, Grissom cleared his throat, causing the room to go silent. Everyone looked at him as he made his way to the table and sat down. He opened the folder and pulled out a few sheets of paper with the reported crimes that the team would be working on this shift.

"We've got a 419 at off I-15 just outside of town, and from the sounds of it, it's a dump site, not a primary scene. Next, a B and E gone bad at Summerland. Two fatalities, one more victim on the way to the ICU at Desert Palm." He set the pages on the table and looked around at the team. "So… I'm thinking Greg, Sara, and Catherine will take the 419 off I-15, and Warrick, Sophia and Nick will come with me to Summerland. Any objections?" He glanced around at everyone. Some were shaking their heads in response, and others were getting ready to leave. Grissom glanced at Greg, whom he had expected some sort of response from. Greg had been flirting with nearly every woman he came in contact with, and was now working a case with the two who got the worst of it, and he didn't say a word about it. Greg was either acting much more mature than he did in his days as a lab tech, or he hadn't yet noticed who Grissom had paired him with. Grissom sighed, and took the slip with the I-15 case's information and handed it to Catherine, who took it and scanned it over. He pulled the second one out, and handed it to Sophia, so she could take a look.

Everyone started filling out of the lab and into the hallway, heading for the parking lot so they could head to their respective crime scenes. He looked around the break room, at Nick and Warrick were playing Paper, Rock, Scissors to see who would drive, then at Sophia, who had looked up from the case information, and was looking at the pair of them with raised eyebrows. Behind the fully-grown men playing schoolyard games, Catherine was talking quietly to Greg.

"So, I hear someone has improved in the field since the, uh… First final proficiency." Catherine smiled at Greg as he walked past Nick and Warrick, who on the final round. Greg was saved from answering as Nick shouted next to him.

"Ha! Paper! I win!" Everyone stopped and looked at the Texan, who quickly cleared his throat. "I'm driving." He grabbed the keys from Warrick's hand and quickly made his way out the door, shortly followed by Warrick, who was shaking his head, and Sophia, who looked shocked that anyone could act like that. Catherine followed shortly after, pursing her lips as if trying not to smile, then Sara and Greg, who were both laughing quietly. Grissom smiled, walking out the door himself, heading for his office to drop off the case folder in his office before heading to the parking lot with the others. It seemed, for once, Conrad Ecklie had done something right.