Hey guys, sorry for the slightly longer gap between updates, blame life getting in the way lol. Just finished day three of a nine day stretch at work, but after that I get a day off, work a day and a half then off for nine days whoop! Hoping to get some writing done in that time, once I've got all the boring adult crap out of the way. I seriously need a self cleaning house!
Anyway I've rambled enough. Here's the update.

Warrick Brown screeched his car to a stop and jumped out, meandering his way through police cars to the lab entrance. A small crowd had gathered, intrigued by the presence of a fire engine and ambulances. There was even a TV crew, who Warrick hoped to avoid. He'd almost reached the door, nodding at the two officers standing guard when a voice called out his name.
"Warrick! Warrick please!" He groaned and turned, the 'no comment' he had prepared dying on his lips as he came face to face with a concerned looking Lily, a sleepy Lindsey in her arms, being gently held back by a third officer.
"Lily? What are you doing here?" He motioned for the other man to let her pass and guided her up the remaining steps and inside the lab, the accrid smell of smoke hitting their nostrils immediately.
"There was something on the news about an incident at the lab. I tried Catherine's cell and got no answer, the switchboard was jammed so I loaded Lindsey in the car and came down. What happened?"
"All I know is there was some kind of explosion. I'll get you guys settled in here and find out more I promise." He led the older woman into the breakroom, grabbing her a mug of coffee while she placed the now sleeping child onto the couch, covering her with a spare jacket before accepting the hot drink gratefully.

"Warrick, Sara and Greg said to send you to the garage when you got here. You're going to need a jumpsuit it's a real mess in there." Hodges stuck his head into the room, his bandaged arm resting on the door jam."
"Sure. Hodges have you seen Catherine?"
"She's in the morgue."

Lily let out a strangled groan as her legs buckled, collapsing into the closest chair. Warrick stared at the lab rat, his gaze flitting between devastated and murderous. Realising what he'd said the other man's eyes widened, the colour draining from his face.
"No, no she's fine. She refused to go to the hospital so Grissom took her down there so Doc could stitch a cut and check her over! She's fine, oh God I'm so sorry!" He dashed back to his lab before Warrick could throttle him.
"He better run because I'm going to kill him when I get hold of him. I'm so sorry he scared you like that Lily, he's a fricken idiot."
"It's fine," she replied, wiping her eyes as the colour began to return to her cheeks. "Although if Lindsey had been awake you'd be calling an ambulance back."
Warrick smiled and squeezed her shoulder. "You going to be ok here? I'll come back and check on you guys soon."
Lily patted his hand. "We'll be fine, you go figure out what happened. I'm sure Catherine will be back soon."
He nodded and headed to the locker room. As he passed Hodges' lab he wasn't entirely unsurprised to find it empty.
"Damn moron," he mumbled before disappearing into the locker room to change.

"Would it kill Doc to keep a stash of local anaesthetic?" Catherine grumbled, scratching lightly at the skin around her stitches.
"His regular clientel don't tend to have much use for it," Grissom quipped, his smirk morphing into a grimace as an elbow collided with his bruised ribs. "Hey! What was that for?"
"At least we're on the same page pain wise now."
He raised an eyebrow and gestured to her freshly cast wrist. "Hairline fracture trumps brusies my dear."
"Doesn't it strike you as odd that Doc had the necessary supplies to cast my wrist but nothing to numb the pain? Cause last I checked corpses don't really care about broken bones healing."
"You have a point, I may have to ask him about that."
The red head yawned. "I seriously need coffee."
Grissom's hand moved to the small of her back as he guided her round the corner and into the breakroom.

"Mom? What are you doing here?" Her daughter's voice roused Lily from her uncomfortable slumber.

"Oh Catherine thank God you're ok, what happened to your arm?"
"Not now, where's Lindsey?"
The older woman glanced at the end of the couch, her eyes widening as she noticed it was empty.
"I... I don't know. She was just here."

Her last words fell on deaf ears; Catherine was already off and running down the corridor Grissom trailing in her wake.
"Lindsey! Lindsey!" She weaved round a corner, narrowly avoiding a collision with Hodges. Grissom was struggling to keep up with her, the pain in his ribs hampering his progress. He was just passing his office when he felt something small collide with his legs.
"Uncle Gil! I've missed you! Where's mommy
He stooped to pick up the little girl, her arms automatically finding their place round his neck. He stopped a passing lab tech, instructing them to chase down Catherine and tell her where they were before retreating to his office, setting Lindsey down on his couch.
"Your mom's on her way. Sweetheart, why did you wander off from your grandma?"
The small blonde shrugged.
"I woke up and Gramma was sleeping. I got bored and you always have cool stuff in your office so I came here."
Grissom had to suppress a smile.
"Did you get any new bugs?"

His reply died on his lips as Catherine rushed into the room, dropping to the couch and enveloping her daughter in a one armed hug.
"Lindsey! Why did you wander off?"
"Mommy, Uncle Gil already asked me that. I was bored."
Neither Grissom nor Catherine could help but smile; the tone of voice gave the latter a small taste of what the teenage years could hold.
"What happened to your arm mommy?"
"It's fine sweetheart, I just fell and hurt it a little. I'm ok."

Lindsey snuggled into her mother's side as Grissom instructed the same lab tech to head to the break room to tell Lily everything was fine.
"Uncle Gil, why do you have a picture of mommy on your desk?"
Both adults stared at each other, Catherine's eyebrows resting somewhere hear her hairline. Grissom cleared his throat.
"What picture Linds?"
"It's right here." She jumped off the couch and crossed to the desk, returning with a piece of paper which she proudly handed to him.
He held it at arms length, cursing the loss of his glasses. His eyes widened as he scanned the image.
"Lindsey was this the only picture you found?"
"Nope, there were a bunch more." Another trip to the desk yeilded a stack of papers. As he flipped through each one Grissom could feel a sense of dread in the pit of his stomach, cinching tighter with each turn of the page.

"Gil?"
"Did I do something wrong Uncle Gil? Mommy always tells me not to snoop."
"No sweetheart, you actually did great." Seeing Greg passing the he called out, motioning the younger man to enter. "Greg take Lindsey back to Lily in the breakroom. Tell them to stay put until I come get them. Then find Warrick and Sara and come back here." Greg complied and Grissom moved to his desk, lifting the phone and dialling a number.
"Gil, what's going on?" He met Catherine's gaze, the amount of concern reflecting in his eyes alarming her. He passed her the stack of papers, watching her eyes widen as she scanned each image.
The voice on the other end of the line jolted his from his reverie.

"Jim? It's Gil. I need you at the lab. I'm starting to think your theory wasn't such a stretch after all."

*
DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUN! Hope ya'll liked it

Lily
-x-