A/N - I have no idea where this story came from but I also have no idea where it is headed. Regardless, read, reveiw and tell me what you think!

Boys Of Summer

Chapter One - Altered

Sara sighed happily as she finished writing the report for a case she had been working on for a month with Warrick.

"Done! Man, finishing these kinds of cases are a lot more fun then starting them that's for sure."

She smiled broadly at Warrick, who sat across the table from her, his arms crossed across his chest, also a grin on his good-looking face.

"Tell me about it. It is so good to finally be able to put that sick husband of hers behind bars for good."

Sara nodded, looking at the picture that hung on the whiteboard across the room. A young woman's smiling face made Sara feel good for all of Warrick's and her own hard work. The women Kate Marcus was killed by her husband and her body dumped in the desert to be found by some tourists. Sara let a comfortable silence fall between herself and Warrick, letting herself ponder and think about the young woman that they just gathered justice for. Warrick ran his hands through his black hair, resting his hands at the back of his skull.

"So what now? Should we go and tell Grissom we are finished or should we sneak in a quick lunch?"

It still made Sara laugh when she thought how their idea of lunch occurred at 2am, and not at the regular lunchtime that most people took. It totally screwed over your body clock when you worked night shift. Sara paused for a moment before answering Warrick, cracking another grin when her stomach started to rumble loudly.

"Lunch it is!"

Warrick and Sara gathered all of the paperwork that they had just been finishing off, and putting it into a file, headed for the break room. Sara sunk slowly into one of the couches as Warrick started making coffee, kicking off her boots, and moaning happily.

"This is good. While you're up, you wanna pass me my lunch from the fridge? It's got my name on it."

Sara had started labeling her lunch almost as soon as she started to work here when she realized that Grissom left some very unusual and nasty experiments in the fridge, which made opening the fridge a new experience each time.

"Yup. Can I steal one of those cookies?"

Sara nodded and took her lunch and coffee from Warrick, got up and got a plate. She sat back down and split her sandwich and put a couple of cookies onto the plate, handing them to Warrick.

"Where is your lunch?"

Warrick took a large mouthful of the cheese sandwich and then a sip of coffee.

"I was late when I came in, and I didn't want to get anything from the vending machine, too much sugar. Though, I will go and get us a soda, Coke ok?"

Sara nodded.

"Diet."

Warrick left nodding, and smiled at Grissom as he entered the break room. Head CSI for the night shift, Gil Grissom was a serious, intelligent and formidable worker, basically living in the lab. He had boyishly handsome looks which were now broken up thanks to some newly added facial hair that made a semi beard, with some distinguished gray coming through in his dark hair.

"Did you finish the paper work on the Marcus case?"

Sara nodded and handed the heavy file too Grissom, who leafed through it quickly and apparently satisfied with what he saw, he sunk slowly into Warrick's vacated seat.

"So how have you been?"

Sara chewed slowly, surprised by the concern in Grissom's voice. She swallowed heavily, sipped her coffee trying to push the lump of food down her throat and then nodded.

"Fine. Why?"

Grissom shrugged, stretching his legs, and avoiding eye contact with Sara.

"Just wanting to make sure your ok."

Sara was about to answer when Warrick walked back in, three sweating cans of coke in his hand.

"Here we go Sara, one Diet Coke, and Grissom regular."

Grissom caught the can in one hand, nodded his thanks and left the room quietly, taking the file with him.

"And why are you looking so surprised?"

Sara cracked open her can of coke, taking a deep swallow of the cold dark liquid before she answered Warrick.

"He asked me how I was. And not in that I'm-just-asking-to-be-polite way either. He was genuinely concerned. Is something going on that I don't know about?"

She fixed her gaze on Warrick who shrugged, casually munching on the chocolate chip cookies that Sara had given him.

"He has a right to be. You used to drink, remember? He's paying closer attention to all of us since that escaped his radar. Why? Does it creep you out?"

Sara squirmed a little.

"It makes me a little uncomfortable. I'm just not used to it is all."

"Yeah, well you get used to it. I had to with the gambling thing and the way he is now has to be better then the shell of a boss we used to have."

Before Sara could jump to Grissom's defense, her pager went.

"Weird. They want me at the front desk."

"Want company?"

Sara nodded, putting her boots back on and grabbing their cokes, they left the room quickly. The corridors were empty which was normal for the night shift; they had few people on with them. Most of the CSI's were day shift, few brave enough to work with Grissom. Sara was thinking, so it wasn't until she had physically gotten to the front desk that she got a shock.

"Aunt Sara!"

Her niece came running, her dark hair a long banner behind her before throwing her arms around Sara, almost knocking her to the ground. When she pulled back, Sara shot questions at her in quick succession.

"What are you doing here? Has something happened? How did you get here?"

Her niece flashed her wide grin, and ignoring her question's turned to shake hands with Warwick.

"Hi, I'm Samantha. You must be Warrick. Nice to meet you."

Sara stood in shock for a few more seconds before she grabbed Samantha by the shoulders, physically turning her attention back to her.

"Answer my questions."

Samantha rolled her dark brown eyes at Warrick.

"Is she always like this?"

Warrick nodded mumbled an excuse about cleaning up the break room and then shuffled off, allowing the women to have some time alone. Sara fixed Samantha with her toughest gaze, leading her to some seats away from the earshot of the receptionist and raised her eyebrow.

"Well?"

Samantha sat down heavily, her slim shoulders slumped forward.

"I thought you would be glad to see me."

Sara felt instantly guilty for not being more welcoming to her only niece.

"I am glad to see you. You just gave me a huge fright. Do your Mom and Dad know you're here?"

A big fat tear slid down Samantha's cheek at the mention of her parent's, landing with a loud plop on her blue mini skirt.

"No. They are too busy trying to kill each other. It's horrible living there, Aunt Sara. They fight all the time and then they drag me into it. I hate them. They don't care about me."

Sara sighed, putting her arm around the young girl's shoulders.

"Their at it again huh? So how did you get here?"

Samantha flashed Sara a watery smile as she put her hand in her handbag withdrawing a credit card.

"I stole Dad's credit card, then booked a flight."

Sara shook her head at the girl, secretly admiring her bravery. Her niece had always been headstrong and independent, forever getting herself into trouble with people who thought that she would be better being more quite and reserved, which just wasn't Samantha. What she was wearing today was typical of Samantha, her artistic spirit reflected in her outer appearance. She wore a blue mini skirt, a white pheasant blouse that had a low dipping front, a large, chunky necklace of beads, and knee high boots. Her hair had changed since the last time Sara had seen her at Christmas, gone was the pink, now replaced with her natural color dark brown, except now she had streaks of every color through it. It was all pulled back loosely with a pretty blue butterfly clip.

"I left last night, told them I was going to a friend's place. I don't know if they even heard me, they certainly didn't notice the huge bags. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you before I came, I just had had enough and I had nowhere else to go."

Sara nodded her head at the girl, pulling her close, feeling the familiar wave of protection she always felt when it came to her niece, the anger that bubbled in her chest at her brother for making Samantha feel like this.

"It's ok. You just gave me a fright. So where is your stuff?"

"I dropped it at you house. I know where the spare key was. Your neighbors were nice to me once I showed them my driver's license and proved that I was your niece. So are you going to send me home?"

Sara shook her head, and then pulled out her cell-phone.

"But I want you to call your Dad. He needs to know where you are or else we will both get into trouble. Ok?"

Samantha nodded, taking the phone from Sara and dialing it quickly.

"Dad? It's Samantha…. I know…. I'm with Aunt Sara…. No, I'm not coming home…. Yes, I stole your credit card…. Nothing except the flight, I used my own money for the cabs…. Whatever."

Samantha handed the phone back to Sara silently, tears streaming down her face.

"Hi Brian…. No she's safe…. It's fine…. I don't mind she just gave me a bit of a fright is all…. Yeah she told me…. I asked her so it's really my fault…. I am not going to get into that with you, Brian…. Ok…. Yup that's fine…. We'll figure out something…. Ok bye."

Sara hung up her phone, stood and started walking back towards the break room.

"What did he say? Is he pissed?"

Samantha walked quickly next to Sara, matching her long stride with her shorter one, handbag bumping at her hip.

"Yeah he is. But I told him it was ok if you stayed her a while. You have no school for eight weeks, and that will give you all a break. And me a chance to spend time with you."

Sara smiled back at Samantha as a broad grin set in, and so side by side they entered the break room, where four pair's of eyes fell upon them.

"Everyone this is my niece, Samantha. She's here for a holiday. Samantha, this is Catherine, Warrick who you've already met, Grissom and Nick."

Sara stood back as Samantha shook everyone's hands, flashing a grin at Warrick, Samantha sat next too Nick, talking animatedly.

"So what's it like catching the bad guy's? Aunt Sara said that it's like doing a puzzle, only a little more fun. I personally hate puzzles, I am too impatient, which confuses everyone considering I can spend months on one painting. So Catherine I hear you have a daughter, that's cool. We are so much better then boys."

Catherine smiled at Samantha as she continued to chatter, raising her eyebrows at Sara. Grissom soon hovered at Sara's side, nodding towards the door. Sara followed him out into the corridor, away from the earshot of the other's.

"You're not meant to bring family into the office Sara."

Sara glanced quickly into the room, where Samantha continued to hold a captive audience.

"What was I meant to do Grissom? She shows up out of thin air, her parent's are having problems and I am her only close relative. I'm her Aunt, Grissom. What else could I do? And anyway, I have finished that case I was working on with Warrick, which means that I have time to spare."

Grissom looked at Samantha over Sara's shoulder.

"She looks a lot like you, she even has the dimple. She's an artist?"

Sara nodded, smiling proudly.

"Yeah she is. An incredible one at that. She makes her own Christmas cards, birthday presents, decorated her own room, makes her own clothes and jewelry.

"So if you don't mind me asking, what got her to come here?"

Sara sighed, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Her parent's, my brother Brian and his wife Vanessa, have been fighting a lot lately. She called me last week, really upset, but she never said that she was going to run away. She feels invisible to them. She told me that when they fight, they drag her into it, which is not good for her. At least if she's here, it gives my brother a chance to clean up his mess, and it gives Samantha and I a chance to hang out."

A burst of laughter interrupted Sara's train of thought. As was typical of Samantha, she had Catherine, Nick and Warrick in stitches, charming them with her friendly personality.

"Who's the hottie?"

Greg, lab tech and wanna be CSI, had come up beside Sara staring at Samantha.

"My niece. She's sixteen Greg. You keep looking at her like that and I'll remove your reason for a jock strap. Ok?"

Sara smiled sweetly at a frightened looking Greg, who left as quickly as he had come. She heard Grissom snort behind her.

"What was I meant to do? He's sex drive on legs."

Sara exchanged a look with Grissom, his eyes flashed and Sara held his gaze. Just as quickly, he dropped his eyes back to Samantha.

"Well, since your done why don't you take her home? It is going to be a quite night, hopefully. If it gets bad enough I'll page you."

And with that he was gone. Sara returned to the break room, and waited for the laughter to die down before speaking.

"Grissom gave me the rest of the night off, so let's get you home."

She waved goodbye to the rest of the team and led Samantha down the corridor to the locker room, bumping into Doctor Robbins, who was maneuvering gracefully with his crutch down the hallway.

"Hi Doc. This is my niece Samantha, Samantha this is Doc Robbins, our coroner."

Samantha smiled broadly at Doc, and shaking his hand she glanced at his crutch.

"I broke my leg once, I had to have crutches and let me tell you, you make it look easy."

Sara nudged Samantha lightly with her elbow.

"What? I was paying him a compliment! He's not insulted, are you Mr. Robbins?"

Doc shook his head smiling back at Samantha.

"Not at all young lady. And I in turn will pay you one back. You look a lot like your Aunty here. Now if you will excuse me ladies, I have to get these to Grissom. You ladies enjoy the rest of your morning."

They moved aside to allow him to pass, and then continued on their way towards the locker room.

"So Aunty Sara, do you have a boyfriend yet?"

Sara avoided eye contact as she ducked into her locker.

"Not that it's any of your business, but no."

Ignoring her aunts obvious remark to keep her nose out, Samantha played with her beads around her neck as she kept prying.

"You work with three really good looking guys and you don't have a boyfriend? Wow, you are stronger then I would be. What ever happened to Hank?"

Sara bristled at the mention of Hank, and sighing she turned to Samantha, slinging a knapsack on her back.

"Honestly? I had a case quite a while back where this women drove into a restaurant. One of the people in the restaurant was Hank, and he was with another women. He had been going out with her for months."

Samantha was shocked into silence and then nodded confidently.

"You can do better with him. I never liked him really, and he's the one who's losing out not you. Now I like Nick and Warwick. They were cool. I didn't really get to talk to Grissom though. He's kind of serious."

Sara shook her head hard, stopping mid stride.

"Don't you dare get any ideas in that head of yours. No setting up or anything. We are just friends"

Samantha shrugged and continued walking throwing over her shoulder.

"I don't need to; one of them already likes you. A blind man could see it."

Sara shook her head dismissing the young girl's comment, and then followed her out of the building.

"So what do you wanna do now?"

They had arrived home a short time later, and despite Samantha being full of energy, Sara felt exhausted, the case her and Warrick had been working on had completely worn her out.

"I need to sleep. I have the whole day to do what we want, so if I sleep now I won't be such a drag later on. We could go shopping? I have not enough food for me let alone another person."

Samantha shrugged.

"Yeah ok. I feel kind of tired as well. Can I have a shower?"

"Yeah, of course. You don't need to ask me that. I think I'll just get ready for bed."

Sara watched as Samantha headed for the spare room, coming back seconds later with pajamas and other odds and ends, and headed into the bathroom. Sara sat at her dining room table, head in her hands. In a matter of hours she had gone from living alone to being responsible for her 16-year-old niece. All thanks to her brother. Brian had been the fun one in the family. Sara was always in the books while Brian breezed through all of his classes then took off overseas where he had met Vanessa, and then at twenty-one, he had gotten married. Samantha's birth was both unexpected and unplanned, and since she had been born there had been a strain on their marriage, one that Sara saw herself with Christmas and general family gatherings.

"Thank you for taking me in. I don't think I said that. Thank you."

Samantha stood there looking like a small child, in pink silk boxers and a blue tank top, all the make up washed off and hair down, a comb clutched in her hand and the smell of vanilla wafting off of her skin.

"No problem. Want me to comb your hair?"

Samantha nodded and took a chair, handing Sara the comb as she came up behind her. Sara carefully combed the ends first, and then moved her way up, gently untangling the colored silken strands, going back to a time when Samantha would sit still for hour's when she was younger, loving it when her Aunty brushed out her hair.

"Hey Aunt Sara?"

"Mm?"

"Do you have a tattoo?"

Sara paused for a second, unsure whether to tell her the truth or not.

"Yes I do. Why?"

Samantha shrugged.

"I was thinking of getting one, and I made the mistake of telling Dad. He completely blew up at me and told me how you had gotten one and it was one of the biggest mistakes you had ever made. His word's not mine."

Sara sat down in the seat next to Samantha.

"It was a personal choice and yes it was one I regretted but not my biggest mistake, not by a long shot."

Samantha nodded and took the comb from Sara's hand.

"Right time for bed. Night Aunt Sara. Have a good sleep. I love you."

Samantha laid a soft kiss on Sara's cheek, her hair falling in front of her face, making Sara's skin a little damp.

"Night, Mans. Sweet dreams, I love you too."

Sara sat and watched the young girl go into the spare room and close the door after her. Then feeling incredibly old and responsible, Sara moved into her own room, where she sunk into the sheets gratefully.