Disclaimer: blah, blah, blah. I own nothing. Happy now?

Summary: yeah, I can't be bothered writing it all out again. Clichés. Sara and Catherine. Cheese. You get the gist…

Author's Note: I'll try not to get too carried away. Just a few short mentioning before we start.

-clears throat- ok, jellicos- thank you, thank you, thank you. Great ideas, you have officially inspired me!

flazeron- thanks for your feedback, and damn you for getting that jingle in my head!

Griffindor620- okaaaaaay then!

I promised myself I wouldn't reply to every review (because really, that would demonstrate to you and the world that I have no life. Which I do. Honestly…) So, to all the other great people: thank you, thank you, thank you. (but really, chimp1984, and gravitygirl143, I am not funny. How often do I have to say that?! )

Ok, so here's chapter 3. The next update might be a while ,though…


We need a cliché!

Chapter three

"This had better work, Nick, because you do realise that this is the second time in 2 weeks she will rip me apart!"

"I'm sorry Grissom," Nick smirked, not looking sorry at all. "But we all have to make a contribution, and this is yours."

"Why is it always me that has to tell her stuff like this?", he grumbled, but then turned to face the music.

Catherine stormed down the hallway towards them.

"Ooops, gotta go. Catch you later Grissom." Not bothering to hide his smirk, he quickly made his departure.

"Grissom, we have to talk!" She slammed the door. Sara, who was just walking by, jumped.

"What's up?", she asked Nick.

"No idea…", he laughed, and hurried off down the corridor. Sara just shook her head.

Breakfast at the diner…

Impatiently, the three guys waited for Grissom's arrival. When he eventually came in, his face showed signs of defeat.

"Well?", three inquisitive voices asked.

"She's going. Had to force her, and withstand Miss Willow's wrath, but she's going."

Smile broke out on the faces. "Then we have to make the arrangements. Don't worry Grissom, we'll do it. Your bit is over for now."

"Well thank god for that," he murmured, and hoped that his two friends would get their act together at this conference. He knew there would be a bug expert there, and really wanted his sacrifice to be worth something…

The lab, 1 week later

"So, you're ok with the conference thing, then?" Catherine smiled at Sara's concerned look. She was just so cute.

"Yeah, my sister'll take Lindsey. Thanks for asking, though."

Sara gave her an adorable, gap-toothed smile, and walked out of the break room. Maybe this conference thing wouldn't be too bad. She should probably apologize to Grissom at some point. But really, that guy had some nerve. He could at least discuss things with her before signing her up for a week long conference in New York. She had a daughter, who she couldn't just leave and jet all over the country to discuss blood splatters, or textural analysis with people. Not that it wouldn't be interesting, especially given the company, but really. Grissom should know better than to do something like that.

But then again, she should know better too. She really shouldn't be looking forward to spending time with the brunette alone. If anything, she should be avoiding her and trying to get over her attraction. Maybe that would work if it was only an attraction. This was typical. Trust her to fall for a straight, female co-worker. She had always had a knack for doing things the hard way. And yet…

Sometimes it almost seemed to her like there was tension in the air between them, and when they were alone, there was even flirting, occasionally. She wasn't even sure if the brunette picked up on it. Or maybe she didn't want to pick up on it. She was probably freaked out by her female supervisor flirting with her. She needed to get this under control.

Sighing, she buried her head in her hands. Why was it so hard?

"Have you seen my folder? I think I might have left it here." Catherine had sensed her presence before she opened her mouth. Wordlessly, she lifted the folder from the table next to her.

"You ok?" God, she was so sweet and concerned. How could she not fall in love with her?

"Yeah, fine." She didn't trust herself to bring across the 'I'm just tired' excuse very convincingly, so she went for denial. That was something she was getting good at.

The lab, about 1 week later

"Well, have fun."

"Yeah, and bring us back something nice!"

The girls were just about to get into the car and leave for the airport, when a red-faced Grissom appeared, waving a couple of pieces of paper in his hands.

"Wait, wait!" He caught up with them and handed them to Sara. "Can you give this to Professor Daniels, please?"

"Who?" Sara frowned, and read the first page. "Read about your theory on cockroach cross-breading…enclosed are my ideas and some questions…Grissom, what is this?"

"It's for Professor Daniels, the insect expert that will be at the conference. I want you to give it to him."

"Grissom, you have got to be joking. I will not chase after random bug freaks and give them your strange theories on cockroach cross breading!"

Grissom looked devastated. "Please, Sara. After all, I already gave up going to the conference so you and Catherine could…"

Suddenly, Grissom found himself on the floor. "Ooops, sorry Grissom," said Greg, who had 'accidentally' pushed into him, while Nick and Warrick began talking at about 100 miles a minute to cover Grissom's slip. Shaking their heads, the girls got in the car and drove away.

"The longer I spend with the guys, the more I realise that they're all crazy!"

Sara laughed in reply. "You're lucky you got me to keep you sane then, huh?"

"Yeah, I am," Catherine replied, and Sara noticed with a strange shiver going down her back that the blonde no longer sounded like she was joking…

New York, a long plane flight and taxi drive later…

Catherine hesitated at the elevator door. Sara, bless her, gave her a concerned look. "Do you want to take the stairs?"

The blonde had to smile at the thoughtfulness. The getting-over-Sara thing was officially on hold.

"No, it's fine. Besides, if we get stuck, we won't be alone this time, and someone in this hotel is bound to notice that the lift is stuck!"

"Don't know if that's a good thing…" murmured Sara.

"What?" Catherine was sure she'd misheard.

"I said, I don't know if us not being alone's a good thing." She indicated subtly towards a rather bulky man, with an extremely unpleasant aftershave smell that polluted the entire elevator. Catherine and Sara shared a look and started laughing.


"You have got to be joking!" Inwardly, Catherine was thinking the exact same thing. Conference with Sara was one thing. She could even accept one room, but a double bed…she didn't think so.

"I'll go down to the reception and sort this out," the brunette sighed. "trust Grissom to muck up the bookings."

"I told him I'd do it, but he was really determined to do it himself for some reason. I'll never give in that easily again!" Catherine let out a sigh and fell onto the offensive item. It was nice and soft. For a small moment, she considered telling Sara it was alright, and that they could just share. But that would be wrong in so many ways…

At the same time, the lab…

"They should be arriving soon." Grissom checked his watch.

"I'm telling you, after a week sharing a bed, they'll be stuck to the hip."

"Well, let's hope they're too caught up in cloud nine to mention to Ecklie that the lab is paying for two bedrooms, and the CSIs are only sleeping in one!"

"I don't think the concierge really understood as well, but I think I managed to get the point across in the end."

"He must think the people at the Vegas crime lab are freaks; reserving two rooms, but only letting the CSIs have one…"

"I sure hope they don't forget to give my work to Professor Daniels. Have I told you that Professor Daniels is one of the people I would most like to talk to about my experiment on…"

"PLEASE, spare us!" Warrick seemed exasperated.

"I was just saying," he murmured, clearly in a huff that no one cared about his bugs except him…

New York, a few minutes later…

"There are no other rooms!"

"What?!"

"There is not another free bedroom in this hotel. It's all booked up with the conference. I'm going to go and see if I can get something in a nearby place…"

She grabbed her bags, but Catherine would have none of that.

"No, don't. At least not tonight. It's already really late and we have to be up early tomorrow. We can share for tonight, and then we'll see, ok?"

Her brain suddenly caught up with her. She would be sleeping in one bed with Sara Sidle. Oh god.

"Well, if you're sure…"

She still seemed undecided, but Catherine patted the bed next to her, and the brunette smiled. She let herself fall beside the blonde and sighed.

Catherine turned her head and saw Sara looking straight at her. For one endless moment, she held her breath as the silence stretched over them. She needed to break it, before she did something very impulsive and very inappropriate . But just as she opened her mouth, the phone in the room rang.

"I'll get it." She lithely jumped up and answered. "Willows…"

The next shift, the crime lab, Las Vegas…

Greg, Nick and Warrick sat around the break room table and waited for Grissom. It was a slow night, and they were all glad. With two of them missing, it could get very busy.

They had all done their best to avoid Grissom, he'd been in an exceptionally bad mood ever since they had declared such apathy towards his bugs. If Catherine was here, or even Sara, they might be able to smooth things over. But they were in a hotel room in New York, hopefully getting over whatever it was holding them back and…

"Hey guys!" Three heads swivelled, and three identical, completely shocked expressions turned to face Sara Sidle and Catherine Willows.

"What are guys doing here?!" asked Grissom, who came in suddenly. The others still stared at them open mouthed.

"Conference was cancelled. The entire team that was hosting the event was, believe it or not, arrested for fraud, and they sent everyone home." Catherine started making coffee, oblivious to the stunned faces looking at her and the brunette.

"That is going to go down in history. Last time I watched the news, the New York DA was doing major damage control!" Sara chuckled.

"When did you get back?" Warrick had evidently found his voice.

"Yesterday. Had to force Sara here to go home and rest, and not rush off to the lab the minute my back was turned!" Sara turned an adorable shade of pink and Catherine smiled.

But then she turned towards Grissom, and the smile faded. "Don't you think that just because the conference was cancelled, I'll let you off the hook about the bookings. I think we need to talk about who's going to reserve hotel rooms next time. I'll wait for you in your office…"

"Not again," Grissom mumbled, his shoulders sagging in defeat. He felt like he had shrunk to the size of one of his roaches, waiting for Catherine to stamp him to the floor…

The diner, after shift...

"Well, that was a bust!" Greg gave Nick a look.

"Hey, my idea was about a hundred times better than your 'stuck in the elevator' thing. And mine would have worked if the whole thing hadn't been cancelled!"

"Whatever," murmured Greg.

"I think we need to approach this from a different angle," Grissom said thoughtfully. "We already tried giving them more time, and that didn't work. Now we need to change one of the other variables. Listen…"


TBC… Note: so there. No humour. Soz. And apologies for the 'the host team got arrested' thing. I couldn't think of anything else.

Oh well, please review. Next chapter will be…well, you'll just have to wait and see. But thanks again to everyone, especially Jellicos, for the inspiration and the clichés. Till next time…