Author's Note: I've wanted to write a CSI fic for quite a long time and just never got around to it. It includes femslash (girl on girl loving), so if that isn't your thing, then don't read it! I don't own CSI or any of the characters, I'm just borrowing them to play for a little while.

Spoiler warning! Episode references include Season 10 episodes!

Chapter One - Catherine - Fragmented

I walked into the break room while fiddling with the assignment sheets in my hands. My heels echoed throughout the general quiet – everyone seemed tired tonight, reading science journals or tying up loose ends on their cases, so it was no surprise when they all looked up upon my entrance.

"Alright guys, we don't have much work tonight," I announced with a small smile on my face. "Greg and Sara, you have a 419 out in Summerlin. Nick, take Ray with you for this one. It's a 411, the location's on the slip. I've got a lot of paperwork to catch up on, so get to work on those. You know where I'll be if you need me." Handing out the slips, I turned to head to my office and my thoughts.

Sitting in my chair, I sighed. It wasn't the mound of paperwork before me that caused my distress…it was the team. Well, I thought, they're not exactly a team right now. Things had been disjointed in the lab for a couple weeks, and it was getting a little bit absurd. I put my head in my hands and covered my eyes. Why was it so hard for me to keep a team together? I had about a million better ways to relate to people than good old Gil had ever shown, and yet I found myself jealous of the way the bug-man used to keep the team together. Did he ever have problems like these? If he did, I had never noticed.

My biggest issue was with the way Ray had been acting. He seemed to be much more secretive, taking cases into his own hands and becoming almost hell-bent on the Jekyll cases. To say I was worried wouldn't be enough. He seemed almost calculating, and he was always sliding around us. A team is only as strong as its weakest link, isn't that what they say? If Ray couldn't trust us, that small crack in the team could turn into a fissure – and what would come of that? I didn't want the team to fall apart, much less have someone fishy in our labs. Ecklie was bad enough…not that I was comparing him with Ray, not at all. I just couldn't imagine having to deal with looking out for both of them.

The rest of the team had been pretty great. It felt wonderful to have Sara back – she was a familiar face, and even if she was closed-off most of the time, she definitely had come out of her shell a little. Maybe it was the marriage with Gil, but no matter what I could tell she was happier than when she left. She had healed a lot and still had her "Sidle spark." When she had first returned, it was like a breath of fresh air. Just having Nick and Greg with me, and some newbie and a fill-in, wasn't enough to keep the lab running in tip-top shape. But lately Sara had been heading into that familiar burn-out territory…that place where she spends nights at the lab, works way too much overtime, and gets a sulkier demeanor. She wasn't going to the extent of Ray, and I knew I could trust her, but I was concerned. Nick was, too. He was actually the one that brought her to my attention. I was used to it from all of those years – we were never really great friends outside of work, and so it was no surprise that Nick had been the one to talk to me. He always cared for her. They were like brother and sister.

A soft rapping on the door brought me out of my thoughts and face to face with none other than Sara Sidle standing outside of my door with the blinds half-pulled. I made an effort to make my desk less of a mess, not wanting to get caught with my head in my hands and my papers not quite tended to.

"Come in," I called, trying to add a smile to my voice. The door slid open quietly.

"Uh, Catherine?" Came the somewhat uneasy and somehow still-confident query.

"I thought you went with Greg?" My voice was soft, not accusatory. I had learned quickly when she had returned: remember the fights and the stress, keep the vocal tone at least neutral, if not supportive.

"Yeah, I told him I'd be there in a minute and that I had something to take care of. He called Brass already to let him know," she answered easily, sitting in a chair diagonally across from me at my desk. I nodded. "I'm not interrupting, am I?" She added, a classic Sidle afterthought.

"Of course not," I assured her. "What can I do for you?"

"I'd like to take a day or two off." Never one to dodge around a situation, she laid it out for me. I was shocked that she was asking for time off. Usually she'd work until someone dragged her home. My shock must have been evident, for she quirked an eyebrow up. "What's with that look?"

"Nothing," I brushed it off, pleased to see her smile – even if it wasn't a full-blown grin. "I'm just so used to you working until you drop, literally, is all. Taking a trip?" I asked, wondering if we were going to hear anything about her husband here at the lab. I knew she kept her home life private, but he was our colleague – our mentor – at one point.

"No," she shook her head. "I just need some time to myself. Time to think. I can't do that here."

"You're not going to take off on us again, are you?" I asked, partially joking yet mostly seriously – now was not a good time for a loss. She smiled again, a chuckle even bubbling forth.

"Don't worry about that. I'm nowhere near where I was back then."

"Good. We need a stronger team around here these days."

"Oh don't I know it," she chuckled as she stood. Just the simple conversation had lifted Sara's spirits. I smiled back at her, waving her away with one hand.

"Now, shoo. Go find Greg and Brass."

AN: Thanks for reading! Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon! It'll be from Sara's POV. Thanks for any reviews in advance! I'll take any tips on how to make the characters seem more like themselves!