ok....i had some extra time so the 2nd chapter is up sooner than expected...big thanks to all of the people who reviewed, :) and i hope u enjoy this next part!!! (sorry its kinda short)

Greg blinked, then blinked again, but still couldn't chase away the fatigue that was settling over him. The only thing that really kept him awake was the promise of another cup of coffee after he finished the truckload of skin samples he still had to process. He really needed more caffeine in his system, even though he had already had five full mugs in the past 2 ½ hours. It wasn't healthy, but he would have passed out long ago without it. You did what you had to do.
Greg let out a long breath, and slid the next sample under the microscope, just as Nick Stokes and Sarah Sidle walked in. They didn't look any better than he felt. Nick strode over, with Sarah hanging back wearily. Greg looked blankly down at the plastic baggie of samples that Nick thrust at him.

"What is this?"

" Blue fibers. From our floater. Need a match. Now."

Normally, Greg wouldn't have argued, not with Nick clearly in a don't-mess-with-me–or–I'll-flatten-you mood, but his lowered caffeine levels led him to do otherwise. "You and everybody else in this God-forsaken lab." He gestured at the pile of bagged and sealed samples lying in front of him. "I'm totally backed up, man, and I gotta do all of these fir-" But he was cut short by the searing glare he received from the CSI. Mumbling to himself, Greg slid the fibers under the microscope, leaning in for a look. Nick leaned in as well, obviously regretting his abrupt address of the young technician.

"Got anything, Einstein?"

Nick obviously felt bad about his behavior a few seconds ago, but Greg wasn't about to forgive the guy that easily.

"Do you think Einstein had people hovering over his shoulders every minute of his life? And if he had, do you think we would all be walking around with E-mc2 T-shirts now?"

Nick mumbled his apology, chuckling quietly, and backed away to give the lab tech some breathing room.

"Hey, you guys wanna clue me in?"

Nick turned around surprised, as Sarah walked over to join them. He had totally forgotten she was in the DNA lab with them. "Well Mr. Einstein got a little touchy-feely about his personal space, but he hasn't told us what the blue fibers were from." Sara didn't even have the energy to smile, so she just closed her eyes and nodded. The entire crime lab was short-handed, and she and Nick had had to pull a triple. 4 ½ hours ago she had officially gone 24 hours without sleeping.

"Okaayyy," Greg let his head flop back heavily away from the microscope. " Your fibers are from a blue carpet. Synthetic, and close cropped. Maybe one of those wall-to-wall shag deals."

Nick nodded thoughtfully. It was a good start. Now they needed to go find Catherine, and catch her up. And then get out of here, because pulling triple shifts was not his idea of a good workday. Then again, it was hard to have a good workday when you dealt with crime and death every day.

"Thanks, Greggo, you're the man." Nick patted the young lab technician on the back, still feeling a little bad about his initial behavior.

"Yeah, yeah, as if I didn't know it. But I need some coffee pronto, so move along."

Nick shook his head as Greg made a beeline for the door. "Sorry, but I think Brass just drank the last of it. But Grissom probably has some of that Mongolian mud tea in his office. Not that I'm advising you to drink it."

Greg stopped dead in his tracks, one foot still poised to step out into the hall. Groaning loudly, he turned around and marched back to his table, covering his face with his hands. Sweet Mary, it was going to be a very long night.

Detective Jim Brass, LVPD, Homicide Division, was examining the irradiated fetal pig that stood in a glass jar on one of the higher shelves. Gil Grissom was watching with his usual distracted, yet sharp gaze as his colleague squinted at the jar, then snorted with amusement and disgust.

"Did you know that pigs are very intelligent animals? In fact, they're right behind chimps, dolphins, and elephants." Grissom smiled as the detective turned to look at him in bewilderment.

"Really...ahead of dogs?"

"And certain politicians."

Jim Brass laughed again, his face crinkling good-naturedly. "Yeah, I was about to comment on your…office decorations." He swept his arm in wide arc to include the pig, Grissom's prized two-headed scorpion carcass, and all the other eccentric items lining the shelves. Then he shook his head, turning his mindset back to the business at hand.

"How's your team doing? I know they put it in a lot of overtime. It's been a rough night."

Grissom exhaled heavily. "Aren't they all? And actually I was about go find Catherine, Nick and Sarah and tell them to go home, leave their cases for the day shift to handle. They need rest."

"Yeah," Brass agreed "We all do."

The thoughtful silence that followed was disrupted by the tinny ringing of Grissom's cell phone. He flipped it open promptly, bringing it to his ear. "Grissom" he answered, and then cocked his head to listen.

Detective Brass watched as the investigator frowned and nodded, ending the call with a "be right there". Grissom closed his cell phone slowly, slipping it into his pocket and looking up at Brass.

"A package just arrived for me at the main desk. The receptionist said it smelled funny."

The detective cast his friend a skeptical, sideways glance. "Well, that's never good."

But Grissom was already on his way out of the office, leaving Brass to simply sigh and follow him out.