NOTE: This majority of the dialogue contained within this chapter is not mine, but was in the episode 'Cool Change' for the fact that this episode is integral to the story and I am unable to change the dialogue in a way that would be better than the original, I have maintained what was originally written. I ask you to please consider this and any other time that dialogue from the show is used to be a novelization, and not me using the wonderful work of other writers for my own purposes, thank you.

This story begins at the beginning of CSI and develops from there. I use many of the original stories, but some with my own twists and turns. I also have added in some of my own cases and characters. Some of the stories have been rearranged in the timeline for artistic reasons. There will be crossovers eventually as well—2 are obviously the Miami and NY CSIs.

Eventually there will be shipping, but it won't be bad, I promise! (There will be no slash, because I don't write slash.) Some of the timeline is being tweaked still, but it will be solidified shortly. Again, most of the dialogue in this chapter comes from episode 2: 'Cool Change'. The rest of the chapters contain my work more than this one does.

Please read, enjoy, and comment (I accept all types).

As We Live

Part 1: A Girl Named Holly and A Girl Named Sara
Chapter 1- The Holly Gribbs Case: Section 1

Holly Gribbs got more than she expected her first day as a CSI, and as she felt her life slipping away, she found the whole experience to be funny in a sick sort of way. By the time the ambulance arrived, she was unconscious, with no way of knowing if she would live or die.

It was night when Sara arrived in Vegas. She had called ahead to a motel she had stayed at once before and gotten a reservation, so when she drove her car into the lot, she knew she had a decent place to stay for the night. She checked in, took her bags into her room, and fell asleep wondering what the day would hold.

At about seven in the morning Sara drove to the Hotel Monaco— where Grissom had left a voicemail for her to meet him— she saw dummies being dropped from the top of the hotel and smiled.

Grissom walked along taking pictures of the dummies. "Norman pushed, Norman jumped, Norman fell."

"Wouldn't you if you were married to Mrs. Roper?" Sara said with a playful smile.

Grissom responded with a similar tone and grin. "I don't have to turn around, Sara Sidle."

As he walked towards her she said, "That's me. Still tossing simulation dummies, there are other ways to tell you know."

"How, computer simulation? No thank you, I'm a scientist, I like to see it. Newton dropped the apple, I drop dummies."

"You're old school."

"Exactly, and this guy was pushed."

Sara paused and became serious. "How's the girl?"

He became serious too. "Still in surgery, she's not doin' very well."

"That's too bad."

"Sara, I have so many unanswered whys," he began, but she cut him off.

"There's only one why that matters now. Why did Warrick Brown leave that scene?"

He nodded slightly. Then he gave her the information she needed and gave her directions to the crime lab, and a folder containing information about the case. She got into her car, put the folder on the passenger seat, and drove to the lab.

Warrick shook his head in disbelief and disgust. There was only one way to get the money, go to a casino and win it.

"Do you know where I can find Catherine Willows," Sara asked.

"She's out in the field," Catherine replied quickly.

Sara paused, looked back at the papers she held in her hand, and was slightly puzzled.

Catherine looked back at her. "Let me guess, Sara Sidle?"

"I know who I am, I think you're a little confused," she replied with a little smile.

Agitation showed plainly though in Catherine's voice. "If you think you're taking my case… forget it."

Sara shut the door, turned around, and put her arms up in a gesture of surrender. "Look, we can stand here and argue, or we can go out there and find out who did this to Holly Gribbs. Two sharp women are better than one."

They stared evenly at one another for a moment, and then Catherine took a breath. She held up an evidence bag containing a pager. She took it out as she started speaking.

"Pager, found it at the crime scene."

"Where'd you get the pager nest?"

"Grissom, he won it on E-bay."

Sara nodded a little and watched Catherine at the computer. "They're great for tracing if you can rely on the suspect's honesty."

Catherine placed the pager on the nest, and let it trace.

"Uh… Desmond Tutu," Catherine said.

"See what I mean," Sara asked with a grin. "Don't feel bad, my last four traces came back Eminem, so…" They both laughed. Then Sara became serious. "Look, you seem to have everything under control here. Where can I find Warrick Brown?"

"Try one of the casinos on Blue Diamond Road." Catherine's focus had returned to the pager, so she couldn't see the look of disgust on Sara's face or how she shook her head. Sara turned to leave, and had her hand on the door when Catherine spoke again. "Oh, I'll page you, with any information."

Sara smiled, and then left while writing notes down in the notepad she was holding. Catherine then returned to her work with a sigh— figuring out whom the pager belonged to was going to take awhile.

Sara started as benignly as possible. "You were playing 100 on every spot, you got a system?"

"Counting cards," Warrick replied simply.

"Isn't that illegal?"

"Not if you do the math in your head."

She nodded and formulated her next question. "You play anything else?"

Warrick sounded exhausted when he responded. "I bet sports from time to time."

Sara started to dig into her bag for her notepad while talking. "So, let me get this straight. You were assigned by Brass to shadow a trainee. A robbery comes up on M.L.K. and you go for coffee."

"An officer was there."

"So you felt safe to leave. Do you know the policies and procedures for clearing a scene?"

"Yes."

"Then why did you leave? I mean, what was so important that you had to rush out of there?"

"I told you, I went for coffee."

Sara lost her investigative voice and switched into accusatory mode. "Was that before or after you made your bets? Sunday, Vegas, NFL football, come on, you tryin' to tell me that you didn't make a little pit stop? Look at me, did you log off, tell dispatch where you were going?"

"Do you know how many times I've been left alone at a crime scene when I was a rookie?" Warrick shot back his remark, and then sunk his head into his hand.

"Yeah, well this time is different."

"Yeah, why's that," his voice took on an edge of threat.

Sara spoke loudly, and her voice wavered a little. "Why, because a CSI was shot while you were supposed to be watching her! She nearly died!"

Warrick stared blankly at her for a moment, and then whispered, "Nearly, that means she's…"

Sara calmed down as well and answered his question, "In critical condition in the ICU at Desert Palms. She was just placed there within the hour, it's too early to tell if she'll live or not, but the doctor's are hopeful."

"Hey, this is the Willows house, can I help you," a female voice said.

Catherine gaped and swallowed hard. "Who is this, and where's Eddie," she spat.

"Um I'm Tanya, and Eddie is in the shower right now, who should I say called?" The woman sounded young and very much like an airhead.

"His wife!"

"Oh." In the background, Catherine could hear Eddie asking why she had picked up and who was on the phone, and then he got on. "Hello," Eddie said.

Catherine prevented herself from screaming and said angrily, "Who is she! Never mind. I'll see you when I get home, and Tanya better not be there!" Then Catherine shut her phone and put her hands to her head to prevent anyone from seeing her tears.

A few moments later Sara walked into the room and asked if she could get a soda. Catherine was slightly startled, and said yes while moving forward and trying to dry her eyes.

"Do you want one," Sara asked, as she looked into the mini-fridge, oblivious to Catherine's state of mind.

Catherine turned around, satisfied that she looked a little better and asked, "Is there anything in there with alcohol?"

"Root beer," Sara replied with a wry grin.

Catherine sighed. "No." She was still trying to control her emotions when a pager started beeping. Broken out of her emotional deluge, she looked at her pager and Sara looked at her own. After a moment of looking between one another, Catherine rushed to the suspect's pager, which was on the table.

After fumbling with it for a few moments, Catherine dialed the number into her phone and called it.

Sara looked shocked. "What are you going to say? Hi, I'm a criminalist; I was in the neighborhood…"

Catherine cut her off. "Shih, it's ringing."

"Hello," a young man said.

"Uh, hey," Catherine replied in a smooth fake southern accent.

"Who's this; I just dialed my own beeper."

"Uh-uh, it's my beeper now. I found it." Catherine responded playfully.

He wasn't happy. "It ain't your beeper, girl. It's mine; I do a lot of business on that beeper."

"What kind of business?"

"You know- slinging a little somethin'-somethin'." He sounded so sure of himself.

"Oh, a little somethin'-somethin', or maybe a little bling-bling?" Catherine added some curiosity into her tone.

He made a low growl and said. "So what you know about some bling-bling?"

With a longing edge in her voice, she said, "Well invite me over to your crib baby and you might find out."

"It's on. Three Aces Motel, room 202."

"Three Aces Motel, room 202." She sighed expectantly while Sara wrote down the information. "See you soon."

She shut her phone and looked to Sara in shock. "Did I just do that?"

Sara, who had been smiling the whole time cocked her head and asked, "What's a bling-bling?"

Catherine shook her head. "You got me."

After that, Catherine contacted Brass to get a team together so that they could get the man who had shot Holly. Catherine and Sara headed to the station so that they could accompany the team.

TBC…