The week had been brutal. Supervisor Gil Grissom looked at his night shift CSIs and almost groaned; they all looked as tired as he felt. Catherine was able to hide the bags under her eyes with make-up but the way she was carrying herself spoke volumes to her boss who had known her for years. Sara Sidle looked like something the dogs, who were lying in a corner alert but quiet, had pulled from the trash after a rain storm. Warrick Brown was slumped in his chair, green eyes closed, face resting on his fist, obviously losing the battle with the exhaustion that plagued the whole shift. And Gil's lover, Nick Stokes, was on the sofa, leaning back all but snoring.

"All right, I've got good news," Gil said, pretending not to notice as the men jerked awake. "We only have two assignments tonight so you'll be in teams until anything else comes in. Sara and Warrick, you've got a B and E on the strip, Catherine and Nick what looks like a kidnapping. Nick, take Panther with you."

The solid black German shepherd looked up from his spot, alert at the mention of his name.

"What about you, Gris?" Nick asked, taking the assignment slip.

"I'll be wading through paperwork," Gil replied. "So call if you need me for anything."

"Right." Nick clipped the leash on his dog's collar and followed Catherine out of the break room. Gil watched his people leave and smiled; they were good people, he knew how lucky he was that they were willing to work regardless of how tired they were or what was happening around them.

"Hey, Gris, I need you to look at something," Greg Sanders said from the door. "Please."

Grissom smiled at his younger lover. "What's going on?"

"I came in early to work on that analysis from last night, the rape case," Greg said as they walked down the hall to the DNA labs. "And I found something interesting."

"What?"

Greg, who was a showman at heart, pulled out a folder with a certain dramatic flare and handed it to his lover and boss. "The suspect in custody didn't rape the victim," he said. "But he's wanted in California and Texas on rape charges."

"So that case is still open but we solved two other cases?" Grissom asked, his right eyebrow arcing up over his glasses. "That doesn't happen very often. Good work, Greg; I'll let Brass know."

"You're welcome, just let me know when you want my talents again," Greg said. "Like, I could walk Nevyn for you."

Grissom looked down at his silver sable German shepherd. "Maybe later tonight," he said, a smile hinting at his blue eyes. "I want to keep him with me while I review this case."

"Right boss, later."

"Slang again, Greg," Grissom commented as he opened the door. "You know how much that annoys me."

"Yeah, I guess I'm just a bad boy," Greg muttered as he watched his older lover walk out.

"Hey Doc, we've got a problem," Grissom said as he strode into the morgue, making sure that Nevyn's tail wasn't caught in the door again. "I need to take another look at our rape victim."

"Did something happen?" Doc Robbins asked, looking up from a medical text on his desk.

"No DNA match to our suspect," Grissom replied. "So I thought maybe we missed something."

The older man slid his arm into his metal crutch and made his way to the row of freezers along the back wall. "I can't imagine that we did, Gil, with both of us in here but fresh eyes are always good."

"Thanks Al," Grissom said. He had just pulled his glasses from his lab coat pocket and was bending over to start his examination of the young woman who had been taken from the world far too early when he was paged to the front desk. "There are days I hate this part of the job," Grissom muttered. "I'll be back, Al, make sure she doesn't go anywhere."

"Gotcha, no hot dates," Robbins replied, earning a raised eyebrow from his friend before the CSI supervisor left the morgue.

Grissom reviewed the case file as he made his way through the familiar halls of his lab, the techs all knowing to dodge out of his way because he wouldn't see them. Nothing jumped out at him from the initial reports, including the one from Greg that was currently on its way to two other states. It didn't mean there wasn't anything there it only meant the evidence wasn't speaking yet.

"Dr. Grissom," a strong male voice commanded his attention from the direction of the front desk. Gil looked up in surprise and found an older version of his Nicky staring at him.

"Judge Stokes," Grissom replied. "How can I help you this evening?"

"We're in town for the weekend and are looking for Nick," the Judge replied. "We stopped by his town house and were told that he'd moved with no forwarding address. Is he here?"

Grissom sighed. "He's currently in the field," he said. "I'm afraid that I'm not sure when he'll be back. You're both more than welcome to wait in the lobby but it's a busy night."

"Do you know why he moved?" Jillian Stokes asked. "Especially without telling us about it?"

How could he answer that question? The truth was out of the question; Nicky, Gil and Greg had bought a house and were living together in a committed monogamous relationship. He quickly decided lying was his best option and to just let Nicky fill in the blanks later.

"I'm sorry, but I don't," he said. "You'll have to ask Nick for his reasons. And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm in the middle of a homicide investigation." Gil nodded to his lover's parents and made his way back to his office, pausing only to grab Greg from the DNA lab.

"What's wrong?" Greg asked, interpreting the look on his lover's face.

"Nicky's parents are in the lobby," Gil replied. He pulled out his cell phone, put it on speaker phone and punched one of the speed dials. Grissom hated calling his people while they were in the field unless the case dictated it, but he was willing to bend the rule a little.

"Stokes." Nick's voice was distracted.

"It's us, can you talk?" Gil asked.

"Sure, I was just bagging some fibers; what's up?"

"Your parents are here," Grissom stated.

There was a pause, almost as if Nick were trying to rearrange the sentence to make sense. "Gris, man, did you just say my folks are at the lab?" he finally asked.

"Yes," Gil replied. "They went to your old town house and when they found you'd moved came here."

"Shit, I never told them I moved," Nick exclaimed. "What excuse did you give?"

"I decided to leave that to you," Gil said. "I didn't want to tell them one thing and then have you say something else. I mainly just wanted to give you a heads up so you wouldn't be taken by surprise."

Nick laughed. "I appreciate that," he said. "I gotta go, Gris, Cath is looking antsy."

"We'll be here when you get back," Grissom said. He turned off the phone and looked at Greg. "I won't lie to you, Greg; things will be strained for a couple of days."

"Do we have to take our pendants off?" Greg asked softly, touching his through the bright fabric of his t-shirt.

Unable to wear rings to declare their commitment to each other, Nick had come up with the idea of simple gold pendants with their first initial engraved on either side. Gil and Greg both had a gold disc with an "N" on one side and a "G" on the other while Nick's had a "G" on both sides. The chains had been noticed by their co-workers and explained away as a Taoist goal marker. Grissom had shifted into lecture mode any time anyone asked about it and the person tended to make an excuse, hurry away and drop the subject for good.

"No, Greg, our explanation for them is fine," Gil assured his young lover. "The main question his parents seem to have is why he moved without telling them and only he can answer that."

"He won't be home this weekend, will he?"

"I'm not sure," Gil said honestly. "In this I think we'll have to follow Nicky's lead as these are people he knows best."

Greg met the intense blue eyes watching him. "Should we be prepared for the worst?" he asked.

"I wish we didn't have to be, but yes." Gil sighed and motioned for Greg to come around the desk. He pulled the younger man into a warm hug. "I believe this is one case where the glass may truly be half empty."