Disclaimer: CSI is not mine. No amount of dreaming will allow me to own it. These characters have been borrowed temporarily and no matter how much I borrow them I still don't own them.

----

What interesting metaphor or proverb could Grissom use to describe the scene if front of him? Not a single Shakespeare quote seemed to fit, nor did any ancient Chinese proverb that he could think off. He was never good in situations like this and making some off hand quote or comment by someone much more famous than he was his way of dealing with the situation. On occasion his façade would crumble, his crew had seen it before, but he was always determined to be as detached as possible.

"What you got Gil?" asked Brass, Grissom's long time friend.

"I recognize the victim," was his only response as he went to inspect the body more closely.

"I'm glad you do. If you didn't we most likely would have to pull you in for physiological evaluation." It was a joke but Grissom didn't laugh. Brass continued, "Son of wealthy Vegas entrepreneur Tom Banks. The family reported him missing 2 days ago." As a sort of afterthought he added, "He's only 6."

Grissom just shrugged his shoulders. Why did he have to be so young? This was going to be a long night.

----

"Poor kid was strangled to death. His trachea was crushed. TOD to hard to establish, not much help sorry," Doc Robbins reported

"Are those defensive wounds on his hands?" asked Sara.

"Yeah. Kid fought back. Found skin cells under his nails as well." Doc Robbins showed the vic's hand as if for effect. "I sent a sample to DNA. Let's hope we get lucky."

"Thanks Doc." Sara turned to leave expecting Grissom to follow her. When he didn't she got concerned. "Grissom, you're coming right?"

Grissom jumped. Slightly flustered he managed to say, "Yeah."

Sara could tell something was wrong with Grissom. He always seemed to get emotionally involved when kids were concerned and this was no exception. She wanted to confront him about what was wrong then be there to comfort him like he had for her so many times before.

"Grissom," Catherine's shrill voice broke Grissom and Sara's companionable silence. "We may have caught a break in the case. Archie thinks he may have something."

When Grissom and Sara arrived the entire team was crowed around Archie's small desk their eyes gazing up at the screen expectantly. A case this big meant a lot of pressure from the Sheriff and that meant everyone working the case until it was solved. If it could be solved…

Archie, not used to all the attention, was quite pleased to have gathered such a crowed around him. He cued the video footage he wanted everyone to watch. "Now watch carefully." he said. "It's pretty fast."

The tape played through once. When Archie saw that everyone had confused looks on their face he played it again. "Did you see it this time?" he asked.

"No," said Catherine. The blank faces around him told him that everyone shared the same sentiment.

"Watch very closely." Archie said. "You'll want to be looking in the right hand corner of your screen." Archie hit play and the footage played again.

Greg's eyes lit up. "I see it!" he exclaimed.

"Would you mind telling the rest of us Greggo?" asked Nick.

"It's the car," his excitement coming through in his words. "Witnesses remembered a dark colored, maybe blue or black, car driving away from the scene fast. We were never able to pick it up on traffic cams but here it is, in all its glory!"

"We're very lucky," Archie began. "I managed to pull a license plate number from the picture. Brass is bringing him now."

There were congratulatory slaps on the back from Nick, Warrick, and Greg while Sara and Catherine smiled in appreciation. Grissom remained silent. They all walked out. It may be too early to celebrate but a cup of coffee in the break room sure seemed like a good idea at this point.

Brass walked in an hour later looking very somber. "It's over. The guy confessed. He was hoping to get a ransom for the kid instead he used to much force trying to stop him screaming." Brass slumped into the closest chair.

They all sat in the break room for a long time after that. There was no use pretending they weren't human. Every so often there would be one case that had the power to affect them all. This was one of those cases. They followed the evidence trying to find the kid alive then they tried to find a killer. That was over now.

Slowly, one by one, everyone began to leave and return to their semi-normal life. Catherine was the first to leave, most likely going home to see her daughter. Warrick was next, followed by Nick and Greg together. Finally Brass left and it was just Grissom and Sara sitting together.

Words were not right in this situation to comfort Grissom. He had been close to catatonic since the body was discovered. He was a mere shell of what he usually was.

"Grissom," Sara said softly breaking the silence. "I think it's time we go home."

Grissom mumbled something incoherent and Sara walked over to him. Placing a hand on his shoulder to comfort him she used her other hand to take his own. "Let's go home," she mumbled into his hair. It was at that moment Grissom broke down and began to cry.