Happy New Year everybody!


Greg was just about to walk out the lab when he spotted Ms. Paulson walking in. "Ms. Paulson. What can I do for you?"

"Hi... I need to talk to you, they told me at the police station you'd be here. Can we talk somewhere?"

"Sure, follow me."

They walked to a bench to sit down.

"I feel kind of silly... I totally forgot about this." She handed him a cigarette butt in a plastic back.

Greg looked surprised. "Is this..."

"One of the guys smoked it while they... You know."

He nodded. "Thank you."

"I don't know if it'll help you, but..."

"I'm sure it will," he replied with a smile on his face.


"Do you have the result yet?" Russell asked while reading Greg's report.

"No, Robin's running it as we speak. It won't hold up in court, anyway, if we get a hit, but it could help us... if it's legit," Greg replied.

"You're still doubting her? Found anything on the background check?"

"I was about to do that now."

"You told me yesterday you'd do it." Russell raised an eyebrow.

"I know, I know. I just didn't have any time yet. Don't worry, consider it done."

Normally, Russell would give Greg a speech about priorities now. But he knew the last days weren't easy for him, either, so he held back. "Well then, don't let me stop you."

When Russell was about to sit down and Greg turned around to walk towards the door, they heard a loud bang and the glass walls breaking. They were surprised by the blast and pushed to the ground.

Silence. Awful silence, followed by screams. Greg slowly tried to get up, supporting himself on Russell's desk. Glass lying on the table cut his hand open. He didn't even notice. "Russell?" He looked around. Glass was lying everywhere. The air was smoky and he only was able to see silhouettes of people pass the room. "Russell!"

"I'm alright..." He replied low-keyed, lying on the ground, pushing the chair off of him and trying to get up.

Greg helped him. "Can you stand up?"

Russell nodded rapidly. "Told you I'm alright... Come on." They walked out of the office, trying to make their way out of the lab, and looking for possibly injured colleagues. "Where is everybody?" he asked worried. The lab appeared to be empty. The screams they just heard were getting quieter and finally stopped. Awful silence again. "...Is everybody out already? Hello?" Russell yelled, hoping to get a reply. Silence.

"Let's get out of here..." Greg said. With all the smoke in the air it was hard to see the exit, but they managed to get out.


"Thank god you two are okay!" Catherine and Sara hurried up to Greg, Russell and some of the lab rats. They got out of the lab 15 minutes ago. They all couldn't help but think about that one time Greg's DNA lab exploded because of a careless mistake Catherine made. "Is anyone injured?"

"Just some minor injuries from the glass..." Greg said as Catherine hugged him. Dust from Greg's clothes transferred to Catherine's.

"That doesn't look like glass..." Sara said as she pointed at Robin. Two nails were stuck in her shoulder. She was being taken into an ambulance right now. "I'd better ride with her!" She quickly ran over to the ambulance and got in.

"What the hell happened in there?" Catherine asked rather helpless.

"They don't know yet. They had to clear the whole lab because of the smoke. They fear it might've been some chemicals..." Russell sat down on the ground. He sighed. "It didn't smell like chemicals. It smelled like a bomb..."

"You don't think someone..." Catherine replied shocked. A bomb attack at the lab? How would that even be possible?

"I better call Nick..." Greg got his cell phone out. It broke when he was hitting the ground. "Cath, my phone is... Can I borrow..."

"Sure." She quickly handed it to him. He walked a few feet away to call Nick while Catherine and Russell kept talking about his theories.

"Would be a weird coincident if something like this happened right after we start investigating a terroristic group, huh?" He held his glasses in his hands. They were smashed just like Greg's phone.


The CSIs and lab rats were able to get back to work a few hours later. Except for Robin nobody else had to be taken to the hospital to take care of their wounds, but most of them had at least scratches. Greg and Russell had more scratches and cuts than most others since Russell's office was closer to the point of detonation. They thought maybe the bomb was targeted at Russell.

But there was also another theory. The firefighter found a second bomb that didn't detonate. It was placed on the other side of the lab. The theory was that this bomb, a much smaller one, was supposed to scare the people and make them run out the exit. When they did, the second bomb near the exit, the one that actually went off first, would go off and hurt and kill as many as possible. Luckily, the smaller bomb wasn't built correctly and therefore didn't go off.

"That one's pretty deep," Greg said as he was standing in the break room's doorway, pointing at Russell's forehead. He had a big cut, dried blood was around the wound. He didn't have time to wash his face, yet. "Maybe you should get that one checked out at the hospital."

"And what about your hand?" Russell said with a smile on his face. Greg cut his hand open while standing up. It was a rather deep, hurtful wound, but nothing serious. He also had some smaller cuts on his face. A big, hurtful bruise from when he was thrown against Russell's desk by the blast was visible on Greg's ribcage, but he didn't tell anyone. Little did he know one of his ribs was broken.

"Nah. I've been at the hospital too many times. Any word on Robin yet?"

Russell nodded. "She's fine. Luckily, the nails didn't go in too deep. She's already home."

Greg looked over to Russell's office. It was being repaired at the moment. It was a strange feeling, the sight of the blown-up lab. Again. It made Greg think about the time he got injured in the lab explosion. He sighed. "I think this is my fault."

"Why would you think that?"

"Ms. Paulson. I'm sure she did it."

"Let's not get ahead of the evidence. We know nothing about this woman, why should it be her who did this?"

"Because she was here right before it happened! She leaves and twenty minutes later the lab blows up! That can't be a coincidence!"

"Maybe. Maybe not. We don't know yet. Henry said the cigarette butt she brought us is still usable, we'll get our DNA results."

"I guarantee you this DNA won't help us. Maybe she wants to lead us in the wrong direction, maybe she just needed a reason to come here... Maybe..."

"Greg. Stop. Calm down, take a deep breath, you're babbling again."

"...Sorry." Greg was on the edge right now. He needed some rest badly, but they needed him at the lab.

"Now, what do we know about this woman?"

"I tried to call her... It's a fake number. I looked up her address. It's near the Chinese restaurant, you know, the one where Nick got attacked. And her name's a fake name, either."

Russell gave him a rather annoyed look. "Had I known this two minutes earlier... Now I believe she had something to do with the bombs, too."

Greg was too tired and still in shock, he didn't realize this information would help Russell understand why Ms. Paulson was very likely the one responsible for the bombs. "Told you so! But how are we gonna..." He had an idea. "Wait!" He ran away and came back half a minute later with a trash can.

Russell looked at it confused. "You wanna lie down or something?"

Greg rolled his eyes. "It's in there somewhere! She was drinking coffee from a Styrofoam cup!" He quickly put on gloves and started looking for the cup. "Get your camera!" Russell did and came back. Greg had found the cup. "There!"