Disclaimer: CSI belongs to people much more talented and much richer than I...

lookie - another chapter, not that great but still - i'm updating! spoilers for Season 3 episode Play With Fire btw...


Jacqui walked out of the women's toilets and grinned as she saw Grissom and David walking down the corridor talking, but cringed slightly as she realised David was sucking up again. What did he want from it? A pay rise? Better hours? …A friend?

She hid in the shadows until David walked back, looking a little upset, then she grabbed him by the hand and pulled him inside.

David blinked in surprise at suddenly being yanked into the women's toilets and pinned against the door, but soon smiled as Jacqui looked back at him.

"I thought we agreed not to get distracted at work?" He asked her with mock scolding.

"It doesn't count if we are on a break." Jacqui whispered back, tracing a finger lightly down David's cheek.

"But I'm not on a break." He replied with a smirk.

"You are now." Jacqui half ordered as they kissed deeply, their tongues exploring each others mouths, the whole kiss feeling as sensuous as the time they shared on the floor of David's flat.

Jacqui pulled away after a while and looked up at him. "You ok?"

David sighed. "I just wish Grissom would respect me."

Jacqui rolled her eyes at him. "Then stop trying to impress him, watching you suck up to him just makes me cringe."

"Says the woman who just stuck her tongue down my throat." He retorted, twisting a lock of her hair lightly round his fingers.

"Hey, I didn't hear any protests!" She replied before being pulled into another kiss, but they were soon interrupted by the sound of someone's pager.

"Damn, Grissom's waiting for me in the lab." Jacqui said glancing at her pager in annoyance.

"Don't keep the boss waiting."

"Yeah, yeah." She muttered as she slipped out of the toilets and down the corridor to the prints lab, quickly smoothing down her hair and trying to calm her breathing. She really didn't want Grissom to find out what she'd just been up to – It would be bad for her time sheet...


Jacqui stopped sorting out the prints and frowned as her pager went off. She glanced at it and grinned. She had time for a break.

She hurried down the corridor to the locker room as fast as someone trying to not make it look like they were hurrying could. She had barely opened the door before David had pulled her the rest of the way in and pinned her against the door.

"Your turn." He smirked before running a hand through her hair as he kissed her passionately – A word which most people who knew David Hodges would never associate with him.

But then, Jacqui Franco was not most people.

"I'm meant to be working." She breathed after a moment, the words almost catching in her throat.

"And I'm on a break. Funny how the tables have turned." David smirked in reply before kissing him again.

Idly Jacqui wondered if stolen moments in bathrooms and locker rooms counted as dates, but didn't wonder about things like that for long – Well would you if David Hodges was running one hand softly through your hair, the other tracing circles on your back and if he had his lips and tongue mixing with yours?

"I've gotta go." She said regretfully, pulling away from him.

David breathed heavily and looked as his watch. "Meet you here after shift in an hour?"

"You can count on it." She replied before slipping out again when the coast was clear.

David smiled as the shut door. Their relationship had become so explosive in a short amount of time – But he was sure still meant a lot to both of them and was more than anything physical.

They had also made a game of sneaking round, snatching stolen moments and generally hiding from the rest of the techs and CSI's. It made them feel like teenagers, as well as extra smart and smug for being able to still keep their relationship secret even when surrounded by their tech friends, investigative scientists, and detectives.

Suddenly the whole building shook with a completely different kind of explosive, as if there was an earthquake or a bomb in the building and David nearly lost his balance.

He heard breaking glass and screaming from outside, and in a flash he had left the locker room and was running down the corridor down into the main section of the building, only to be greeted with complete destruction.

The DNA lab looked completely destroyed, there were fires everywhere, the sprinkler system had gone off automatically and have the glass walls were shattered. Everywhere he looked there were people stumbling through the debris to get out, some had cuts or bruises, some were fine except for shock, but none of them were Jacqui..

He stumbled through the debris himself on the way to the prints lab, as he passed the AV lab Archie and Nick had tried to get his attention but he ignored them, though at the same time he was glad they were fine.

He only paused when he saw Greg Sanders. He was laid unconscious, thrown from the DNA lab in the explosion. Sara was with him and Grissom was running over, as were a few other people.

David felt a pang of dread, but kept on going anyway.

"Jacqui!" He shouted but his voice sounded more like a hoarse croak, and it was hard to hear himself anyway above the sounds of fires, water sprinklers and extinguishers, general panic of the others in the building.

Then he saw her, slumped against a wall, she looked unconscious like Greg, the force must have thrown her from the prints lab as it was connected to DNA.

He stumbled over to her and crouched down next to her, she had a few cuts to her face caused by the flying glass.

"Jacs?" He whispered, fighting back tears.

"Hmmm?"

David heaved a sigh of relief and started to help her to her feet. She must have hit her head when she fell into the wall.

"It's ok Jacqui. There's been an explosion but we're fine." He soothed, not letting his voice falter as he helped her over the debris and towards the exit of the lab.

He could hear the sirens of fire and ambulance now, it wouldn't be long till the place would be milling with them.

He forced himself to glance back at Greg still lying on the floor as Grissom barked out orders to a few other techs. Sara had disappeared now, but that wasn't high up on David's list of worries, she was probably outside – Like they should be.

He glanced over at Jacqui, she seemed too disorientated to have noticed Greg – Which was probably a good thing. For all their bickering and bets, Jacqui loved Greg Sanders like the little brother she's never had.

"Jacqui!" David looked round at the panicked voice saying her name. Bobby Dawson.

"Help me out, she hit her head, might have concussion." He said to the ballistics tech who nodded and took some of the weight as they finally struggled outside.

It was even more chaotic outside than in – People were running all over, some injured and disorientated, many others just panicking as the firemen dashed past into the building, closely followed by several paramedics whilst the rest stayed outside to help those with cuts minor burns.

"Hey! Over here!" David yelled to one of the paramedics as he and Bobby sat her down on the wall.

He tried to appear calm as she was checked over. And in the end resorted to chewing on the end of his thumb nail out of nervousness.

"Is she ok?" Archie asked in a scared voice, he had just seen them and had run through the crowds to reach them.

"Fine. Minor concussion and a cut to the back of her head. Few cuts to her face and a slight burn on her arm." The paramedic replied calmly before moving on to help someone else.

"And that counts as fine does it?" David muttered angrily as Jacqui stood up, still feeling a tad disoriented and looked round for him. Obviously sighing in relief that he was ok.

"It could be a lot worse." Archie replied as he and David watched as Greg was wheeled out of the building on a stretcher.

Jacqui followed their line of sighed and gasped in horror.

All three looked as he was loaded into the ambulance. Archie stared at his friend, he could barely recognise him as the Greg who less than an hour ago had come bounding in asking about playing some computer games after work.

David couldn't look away, Greg looked as if he was dead, burns and cuts were covering him and his hair was littered with dust. David felt so worried for the loud shirt wearing, DNA tech who was a CSI wannabe, but at the same time he felt guilt that he was almost glad that it was Sanders on the stretcher, not Jacqui…But in an ideal world there would have been no explosion and nobody on a stretcher – Not that this could ever be mistaken for an ideal world

Jacqui couldn't understand it. Her head and arm ached and she had never felt so confused in her life. David had said there had been an explosion, but it felt so unreal. Greg laying there on the stretcher was unreal. She felt her stomach lurch and as the doors shut she turned to David and moved closer so he could put his arm round her for comfort…