Disclaimer: Don't own them. Just borrowed them to play with.
Author's Note: Many thank yous to Laurie for beta reading and general encouragment!
Warrick Brown arrived at the hospital just minutes before David. The assistant coroner found him talking to the uniformed officer Brass had assigned to watch the body.

"Warrick, didn't expect to see you here. They called this in as a routine transport."

"Yeah, the trauma staff didn't realize what they had."

"What did they have?"

"Any luck, they had key evidence in a homicide investigation."

David nodded.

"Alright. Let's get her in and see what we can find."

"Sounds good." Warrick paused, considered. "I think I'll call Gris. See if he wants to get in on this. You wanna give me an ETA?"

"Should have her back and ready to go in a couple of hours."

"Sounds good. Listen, I'm out. I'll meet you there."

"Ok by me."

Warrick left David to deal with the body of Lyla Morgan while he flipped his phone open and dialed Grissom.


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Grissom pulled back from the woman in his arms with considerable reluctance, hands still tangled in dark silky hair. He opened his mouth to speak but the ringing of a cell phone drew his attention. Shrugging, he reached into his pocket to retrieve the instrument and allowed Heather to move out of his embrace.

"Grissom." A pause. "Yeah, I would. When do I need to be there?" Another pause, this one shorter than the first. "That should work." He glanced at Heather, who was watching him with interest, and cocked an apologetic eyebrow. "No, I'll meet you there." And with that he flipped the phone shut and tucked it back into his jacket.

"Going somewhere?"

"Soon."

Her eyebrows arched. The question was in her eyes, but he paused for a long moment before providing an answer.

"Autopsy."

She drew in a heavy breath, nodding but offering no comment. Her eyes moved away from his, going to the door at the sound of a soft knock.

"Yes."

The door opened several inches, and Madeline's face appeared.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Lady Heather, but you asked me to tell you when Piper finished her session..."

"It's all right, Maddy." She turned her attention back to Grissom. "I need to see to this."

He inclined his head in acknowledgment.

"Don't let me stop you. As a matter of fact, I think I'll use the opportunity to get a progress report."

He followed her out of the office and down the dimly lit hallway, heading back outside for the crime scene while she climbed the stairs to the second floor.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~     


"Sara."

"Grissom." Her tone was sullen, a chill in her voice.

"How's it coming?"

"Just finishing up, actually."

"Anything new?"

"Not really."

She refused to meet his eyes, choosing instead to busy herself with gathering what evidence she'd collected. He watched her silently for a time, lips pursed, considering.

"Sara." His tone was sharp enough to make her look up. "Do we have a problem?"

"Should we?"

His look was that of a man who is fast running out of patience.

"Do we have a problem?"

She looked down, shifting uncomfortably.

"No," she muttered. "No problem."

He nodded, but regarded her warily.

"Good... I want you to pack up and get the evidence back to the lab. Tell Greg I want a rush on those cigarette butts, and tell him to get ready to run comparison samples as soon as Nicky and Cath get back."

"Ok. Anything else?"

"No. That's it."

He watched as she turned away from him, but quickly turned back.

"Grissom?"

He released a resigned sigh and met her eyes.

"Yeah."

"I..." She shook her head, looked down. "Nothing," she whispered finally.

He stood still for a brief moment, waiting, but she did not look up again.

"Sara," he began gently, "I don't..."

"I know." She cut him off a little too quickly. "I just... I thought... You know what? It's not important." She straightened, holding his gaze with a challenging stare. "I should get back."

He cocked his head, raising an eyebrow and pursing his lips, but said nothing. He allowed her to turn away first, waiting until she had retreated to the back of the Tahoe before moving back toward the house.



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