Chapter 2

Greg awoke to some gentle shaking. He blinked open his eyes in the darkened room, but despite the darkness he instantly knew where he was. It was fast becoming his favorite place to wake-up; Fae's apartment.

He rolled on to his back so that he could see Fae. The sheet and blanket got twisted, leaving Greg bare from the waist up. Fae smiled as she lightly ran a hand down his chest.

"Hey sleepy-head," she greeted him.

"Good…um, what time is it?" Greg smiled back at her.

"Afternoon," she finished for him. "It's about 2pm…and I have to go to work."

Greg sat up and gave her a fake pout. "But it's your day off!"

"I know, I know," she rolled her eyes. "But they need an extra body on swing."

"But swing doesn't start for another couple hours!" Greg continued his protest.

"I know, but day shift is swamped and so asked for help from swing, which is now getting swamped. And, since I'm the day/swing floater, not to mention low man on the totem pole…"

"Low man on the totem pole? But you've worked at the lab for eight months!"

"Ok, I'm the only sucker left that will say yes and the only one who hasn't maxed out on over-time," she playfully conceded.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her in to a hug. Then he kissed her on the cheek. "Not a sucker, just a hard worker. And the best girlfriend in the world."

"Now you're just trying to butter me up so I'll get you coffee," she laughed.

"Would I do that?" he batted his eyelashes at her.

She laughed again. "Uh…yeah!"

He pushed her back on the bed and started to tickle her. "Uh yeah!" he mimicked her as her giggles grew louder. He had his knees on either side of her waist as her legs kicked up and down trying to get him to stop.

"Stop…please…stop!" she breathed through her laughs, as she grabbed at his bare arms.

Greg decided to have mercy on her and stopped. He kissed her and then rolled to the side so that he was lying next to her.

"Thank you, thank you," she sighed with a hint of laughter still in her voice.

A huge smile crossed Greg's face. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt this content. He turned his head to look at her and found her looking at him. What he didn't know was she was having the exact same thought he was.

Her cell phone rang, interrupting their moment of peace. She rolled her eyes and sat up. She grabbed her phone of the nightstand and answered it, "Page."

She made a few affirmative noises, apparently listening to whoever was on the other line. Finally she said, "Ok, I'm on my way." Then she hung up her phone.

"The lab," it was more of a statement than a question from Greg.

Fae nodded. "The Mistress beckons. Apparently I'm taking too long."

"The mistress?" Greg tried not to laugh.

She smiled wide. "The Mistress Catherine, my swing shift slave driver."

The laugh Greg had been holding back spilled forth. "I'll have to remember that."

"If you repeat that, you're a dead man!" she lightly hit his arm. "But I do need to get going."

Greg threw the covers off of himself. "Well, give me five minutes and I'll be ready to go."

"You don't have to rush," she started, then hesitated slightly. "I mean, I can give you an extra key and you could let yourself out."

"I would be honored with the, um, honor."

She gave him a wry smile. "Ha, ha. Ok, let me go hunt it down and I'll be back."

Fae quickly found the key and gave it to Greg, along with a cup of coffee. She convinced herself she was doing the right thing. She knew it was good for someone to have an extra key in case she locked herself out or something like that. And, at that moment in time, she couldn't think of anyone she trusted more than Greg.

They said their good-byes and she went on to work. Greg felt a little awkward being in her house without her, so he didn't stay very long. He needed to get home and take a shower so he didn't smell quite as girly anyway. He grabbed a quick sandwich before he double-checked all the doors, then went on his way, anticipating the next time he would be back.

Fae pulled up to the scene and shook her head. The rundown motel had definitely seen better days. Of course, any day there is a murder, is not a good day. But she doubted this place saw many good days in the first place.

She got out of her car and grabbed her kit from the backseat. She let out a sigh as she walked to the room. Right now the only place she really wanted to be was in Greg's arms.

She rolled her eyes at herself. What was she thinking? They'd only been dating for three months, only even known the other person's name for seven months! She could tell she was falling for him though. She shook her head. That was not a thought she wanted to think. Besides, she needed to concentrate on the scene at hand.

Fae walked to the room with the police standing guard. It was a good indication where the crime had occurred. Of course, it was also the only room that appeared to actually have people in it.

Fae scanned the room from the threshold. The first thing to catch her eye was the victim. There was what appeared to be a woman, twisted in the bloody sheets on the bed. One arm was above the woman's head, the other lost to the sheets. Her eyes, which were completely visible due to her short hair, were frozen open in shock. Her mouth was twisted in a scream of desperation.

"Hey Fae," Catherine greeted her. Catherine had liked Fae since the day she started. Fae was a hard worker and always willing to help.

Fae nodded in response. "What do you want me to do?"

"Dust everything for prints. I'm sure you'll find plenty," Catherine smiled glumly.

"Your wish is my command," Fae did a slight bow at her waist. Then she got to work.

It was half way through Greg's shift and he was sitting in the lab, going through the pile of the dirty clothes that had been brought in from Sydney Edwards' room. He wasn't really finding anything interesting or helpful. It was pretty much just a pile of dirty clothes, so he wasn't disappointed when his cell phone rang.

"Sanders," he answered without looking at the ID. He was sure it was Grissom, hopefully with a scene.

"Greg," it was Grissom. "I need you at a scene." He gave Greg the address.

Greg's heart stopped. Before he thought about what he was saying he asked, "Is Faeryn ok?"

"She got banged up pretty bad putting up a fight, but she'll live," Grissom responded, then let Greg's question actually sink in. "How did you know it was Faeryn Page's house?"

Greg let out a sigh. "Fae is my girlfriend," he answered plainly.

"When was the last time you were here?" Grissom inquired.

"Before I came in to work today," Greg replied. "I'm all over that house."

"Then it's best you don't come. You need to stay away from this evidence when it comes in too."

"I understand," Greg replied. He hesitated for a moment, then started to ask, "Is it…" Greg stopped himself, not knowing if it was actually proper to ask.

Grissom could hear the unfinished question. "Yes, you can go check on her."

Greg let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding. "Thank you." He hung up the phone, then carefully started to put the evidence away. He couldn't think of anything but making sure that Fae was ok.

Grissom hung up the phone with Greg and quickly dialed Nick. After giving Nick the run down, he went in to the house to start processing the scene. Of course, while talking to Nick, Grissom had left out that Faeryn was Greg's girlfriend. He didn't want to taint any evidence collection. There wasn't a hair or fiber that was going to be missed when one of the lab's own was harmed.