After lunch was cleared away Sophie and Kaia went up to take showers. Sydney dug through the cabinets until she found the plastic boot-like cover she could put over her cast to protect it from water, then went upstairs and into her mother's room where Sara was trying to coax Kati into the waiting bathtub. The little girl shrieked and danced around the room.

"Come on Kat, if you take your bath then we'll go out and do something."

"What?" the little girl was suspicious. Sara looked at Sydney for inspiration.

'Movie,' mouthed Syd. Sara winked and turned back to Kati.

"How would you like to go and see Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants two?" Kati cocked her head to one side, then grinned.

"Ok," she said, yanking off her nightshirt and jumping into the tub, showering Sara with bubbles. Sydney giggled and went to her own room, banging on the bathroom door in an effort to make Sophie hurry. She gathered a fresh bra and pair of panties then went into the bathroom, rattling the shower curtain. Sophie yelped from behind, obviously startled. It worked though, seconds later the water turned off and the towel draped over the rail disappeared. The curtain pulled back and Sophie climbed out of the tub, grinning.

"Bet it takes you longer," she challenged, grabbing another towel and wrapping it around her sopping hair.

"You think?" asked Sydney, mildly.

"Yep."

"Counting the time it takes me to put this on?" she held up the plastic boot.

"Uh huh."

"Ok, fine. Get out so I can get started." Sophie skipped out of the room, laughing. Rolling her eyes Sydney stripped and sat on the edge of the toilet to put the cast cover on. She was unsteady on one foot without her crutches and it did take her longer than usual, though she was done in what she considered a pretty decent amount of time. Hoping out of the tub she dried herself off and tugged on her bra and undies. Sticking her head around Sophie's door she smirked at her twin.

"Beat that," she called. Her sister pulled away from checking her email at the desk and glanced at the clock.

"Well, I really don't think I take that long in the shower," she started.

"You do," interjected Sydney.

"Ok, ok. Fine! You win. That was pretty quick, broken leg and all, so yes, you get credit for it. Here," she reached into a jar next to her laptop and pulled out five dollars, "We're even. For now." Sydney grinned and hopped over to her sister.

"I'll buy you ice-cream later," she said, after taking the bill and giving Sophie a hug.

"Are you alright?" asked Sophie, all serious now as she allowed her concern to show. "I mean, are you in pain?" Sydney nodded.

"Yeah. My whole body aches, I still have a headache and my leg is just pounding. But whatever, I can deal with it." Sophie sighed.

"When was the last time you took some pain meds?"

"Right before we went to bed."

"I'll get some from mom while you get dressed."

"Deal, thanks." Sydney hopped back into her room, the movement jarring her leg and making her head hurt worse. She shrugged it off and dug through her closet, producing a black concert t-shirt and denim jeans shorts. Not much of a fan of flip-flops, even when the weather was warm, she snagged a pair of ankle socks before remembering she would only need one. She tossed the spare into the corner so she would be able to find it later and then yanked on a vans shoe. Hearing her twin scream and her mother's laughter she shook her head and sat down at her desk, pulling up her yahoo account. Sophie stomped past and into her room.

"What happened?" called Sydney.

"Kati threw water at me and got me soaked," grumbled Sophie. She slammed around in her room for a while before flouncing into Syd's room with the promised ibuprofen as she yanked a dry shirt over her head. Sydney turned and giggled when she saw her twin.

"Oh jeez, not again," muttered Sophie rolling her eyes. She had just put on the same shirt her sister was wearing. "We have so got to stop doing that."

"Oh come on Sophie, it's funny."

"Yeah, I know. And it's not likely we're gonna stop. We think too much alike." She held out the pills. Sydney took them and glanced over at the bedside table. The water bottle was still there so she stood, but her twin was too quick, grabbing it and placing it in her hand.

"Thanks," Sydney downed the pills in one go and polished off the water, then followed her sister down to her mother's room. They entered cautiously, wary of unnecessarily air born water. To their relief Kati was bouncing on the bed in shorts and a pink shirt with a spider crawling across the front. Her socks had ladybugs on them and her shoes, lying on the floor, had brightly colored worms, flies and other bugs decorating the surfaces.

"Where did she get those shoes?" asked Sydney, her jaw dropping.

"No idea," muttered Sophie, "but they're definitely creepy."

"What's creepy?" Kaia appeared behind them. Sophie pointed.

"Kati's shoes." Kaia stepped forward to examine them.

"Eeww," she cried, dropping one onto the bed.

"No eeww," said Kati, glaring at her. "My shoes nice. Daddy got them for me. They have buggies." The twins looked at each other. Only their father would buy his child shoes with bugs on them.

"Look," Kati was telling Kaia, "buggies. There's a blue one and a green one and a yellow one and,"

"Very nice Kat," said Kaia, backing away slowly, as though her sister was holding the tarantula, not merely a pair of shoes. Kaia was morbidly mentally allergic, as she liked to put it, to creepy crawlies of any kind, shape or form. Hence Grissom's collection was down in the basement, along with his numerous experiments and other scientific artifacts. Only Kati, and occasionally Sara, dared to venture down there with him.

"No Kaia, look. I didn't finish telling you. Look! There's a yellow one and pink one and a orange one and," she paused, frowning. Kaia looked up at her older siblings, as though begging them to rescue her. Sydney was laughing so hard she was in danger of losing her balance, and Sophie was videoing the moment with her cell phone. Kaia gave her the death stare, before turning back to Kati, who was yanking on her arm.

"What's dis one?" she asked pointing.

"Umm, it looks like a caterpillar," mumbled Kaia.

"I know that," Kati was exasperated. "What color is the caterpillar?"

"Oh. Purple, that's a purple caterpillar."

"Ok. Look, there's a purple one and a red one and here, look here Kaia," she said, turning the shoe upside down.

"Do I have to?"

"Yes, Look! Look!" Kaia looked at the sole of the shoe and leapt backwards with a yelp. Sophie zoomed in on the shoe, taking in the image of a large black widow before filming her sister's shaken face. Sydney had given up all pretense of holding herself together and had let go of her crutches and slithered down the wall to sit on the floor, holding the stitch in her side. Kati let out a shrill scream and threw one shoe at Kaia and the other at Sydney, who laughed ever harder and buried her face in her knees. Kati screamed again and jumped off the bed, running toward the bathroom and straight into her mother. Sara caught her and hoisted her up onto her hip.

"What is going on in here?" she inquired. "Syd, are you alright?" Sydney raised her tearstained face and nodded before catching sight of the shoes again and dissolving into a fresh peel of laughter. Sara turned to Sophie, who held up a shoe.

"Ahh, those. I thought they might cause a stir, but you know your father. He has a different perspective on life."

"He certainly does," muttered Kaia with a shudder.

"Ok guys, let's go. Kati put your shoes on," said Sara putting the child down on the bed and handing her the shoes, then turning to help Sydney get to her feet. Still amused at her father's choice of shoe's Sydney maneuvered herself out the door, along the hallway and down the stairs. When everyone else arrived behind her Kati was still yelling at Kaia about bugs and Sophie had managed to find the video camera and was taping the whole thing.

"Mom what car are we going in?" asked Kaia, a spark of hope in her eyes. Sara grinned.

"We'll take the Tahoe. Do you know where the keys are?"

"Right here," said Sydney, balancing on one crutch and tossing them to her sister. Kaia bolted out the door. When Sara reached the car Kaia was already inside, in the very back row, hiding behind Kati's car seat. Kati, however, was not to be dissuaded. The entire ride to the movie theater she lectured about bugs and even when they arrived she was still going strong. Sophie helped her sister out of the car and leaned in to whisper in her ear,

"Well, I guess one of us had to inherit the bug gene, right?" Sydney snickered and nodded as they headed inside.

Grissom yawned as he walked into the lab, a box full of specimen jars in his arms. His office was dark and quiet as usual, a nice refuge after the blistering summer sun. He deposited his charges and then wandered off to the showers; decomps in enclosed spaces were never fun. Twenty minutes later with the residual odor of death sufficiently removed and a cup of coffee in one hand he settled himself behind his desk and began to review his findings. He was still there when Catherine showed up an hour early for her shift. She stood in the doorway watching her friend in his element. Pursing her lips she wondered whether she should do this. She really didn't want to hurt him, god knows he'd helped her out and covered her ass so many times before, but if she didn't tell him, who would? And what if it was someone not as adept as she that broke the news in a less than tactful manner? She was sure he would be crushed. Taking a deep breath she gathered her nerves.

"Are you going to say something Catherine or are you just standing there because you're bored?" Grissom didn't even look up. Without missing a beat Catherine replied,

"No, I've plenty to do. I just thought I would come and ask about your case. I saw Ecklie a moment ago and he said something about you playing with creepy-crawlies." Grissom looked up over his glasses, suspicious. Catherine didn't normally stop by for social visits unless she wanted something. He shrugged.

"Decomp in the closet. At least two weeks probably."

"Oh. Did you find anything, um, probative? Any interesting miniature creatures?" Grissom raised an eyebrow.

"Miniature creatures?" Catherine sighed.

"You know what I mean Gil."

"Yes I do and yes I did. But that's not what you're interested in. Why are you here Catherine? What do you want from me? Unless of course you really are bored, in which case you can take a cold case from the fish." Catherine shifted her weight from one foot to the other, weighing her options. 'If I don't do it now, I never will,' she thought to herself. She walked forward and sat in a chair opposite him.

"So we had an interesting visitor here last night."

"Hmm," Grissom examined a fly under his magnifying glass.

"She was very nice, tall, long brown hair, brown eyes, pale skin, excellent musician. She had a cello with her and was playing in the break room. I've never heard anything like it; absolutely incredible. She said she was sixteen and a junior at UNLV, studying Philosophy and Political Science."

"I see," said Grissom, flipping through a textbook. Catherine grimaced, she was getting nowhere fast.

"Gil, she looks exactly like Sara."

"Does she really?" mused Grissom, turning another page.

"She's Sara's daughter. Sara came in and told Nick, Greg and I."

"Interesting." The next page revealed a table of sorts, something about insect distribution across various landscapes. Catherine was shocked.

"Grissom! Are you listening to me? I said Sara has a daughter. And she's sixteen, which would make Sara, what, twenty-one when Sydney was born?"

"Twenty actually, she's thirty-six now."

"Whatever, you're missing the point. Sara has a daughter Gil and none of us knew about it."

"And why is that such a big deal Catherine? And more to the point, why is it your business?"

"Because! It just is. We're a family here. We should know these things about each other. She should have told us." Grissom shut his book with a decisive snap and looked up at his colleague.

"Catherine, Sara is a very private person. Maybe she didn't want to share her family life with the team. Maybe she didn't feel it was right for you to meet Sydney until now. Maybe she was afraid you would react like this!" Catherine sat quietly for a moment, considering him.

"Did you know? About her, I mean?"

"Why do you need to know that?"

"So you did?"

"Did I say that?"

"No," she conceded.

"Well then, what more do you need to know?"

"How do you feel about it?"

"Why do you need to know that either?"

"Because you and Sara…"

"Sara and I what?"

"You live with her. How could you not know about a child?"

"Have Sara or I ever given you any inclination that we live together?"

"Well, no. But… the layout room… when she was under the car… you said that you…" stammered Catherine.

"I said that I love her."

"Yes," she said, relieved that he had spared her and said it himself.

"Catherine," Grissom took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose, "just because I said I love and care for her does not mean I am in a relationship with her outside of supervisor, subordinate work related duties. She has been my friend for years. And I don't recall ever having said that we have progressed beyond that stage, do you?" Catherine shook her head.

"No," she said quietly.

"Then why this barrage of questions? Have you not plenty of evidence from the James case left to process?"

"Yes," she said, standing up quickly, "Um, see you later."

"Yes, later." Catherine hurried out of his office, thinking. He had said, 'progressed beyond that stage!' Maybe all he needed was a push in the right direction. She had to get Nick and Warrick in on this one; they all agreed Griss and Sara were perfect for each other, daughter or not.

Grissom watched her leave, a slow smile spreading across his face as he put his glasses back on. This was going to be really entertaining to watch. Pulling his cell phone out he sent a text to his wife, letting her know about the newest thread of gossip about to attach itself to the grapevine.

Thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews!! I have started chapter five, but work is out of control this weekend, we have a major sale and i'm exhausted from moving furniture all day. However, i finish early tomorrow so hopefully i'll post in the evening, if not the day after. Thanks again, let me know if you have suggestions or ideas...