SOOOOOOOOOOO (X100) SORRY!!!!!!!!!

If anybody still wants to read the story, here is the next chapter.

Ch. 9

The door opened, and it all seemed to happen in slow motion. Two motion, activated dye packs were taped onto the door. When it opened, and Stetler walked through they exploded. One covered Rick with bright green dye; the other one covered him in blue dye.

Stetler stood there in shock, after a second he whipped some dye off of his face, and then rubbed it on his pants. "What…the…hell." He said slowly, before he rotated and stared daggers at the team. The team was sitting seriously, looking shocked, and horrified, but their eyes conveyed their laughter. Neither side had planned their attack for Stetler, but they sure weren't regretting what had happened.

"Give me an explanation…. Now!" Stetler demanded his voice full of anger.

"I… believe than an explanation should be given…. But, perhaps, at a later time. You, should go change," Horatio said, giving his team time to prepare their defense.

"I will change. But nobody here shall move I foot. I want all of you here when I get back!" Stetler said before he stopped out of the room. The other CSI's let out a giggle, or two, at the sight of him when he charged past them.

As soon as the door slammed shut Horatio pressed his index fingers to his temples, closed his eyes, and then turned to face the team. He opened his eyes, removed his fingers, and began t speak. "The pranks were… not fine, but not horrible…. When they affected only you all. But now that Stetler is involved they have… disastrous consequences. I do not believe that I need to say what these consequences are. What are you going to do about that?" he asked.

"Take responsibility. It was our mistake. So we will take the fall for it. The rest of the team shouldn't have to suffer with IAB for our mistakes." Calleigh said immediately. She knew that she was destined for IAB trouble, not only from the prank, but also because of her new relationship with Eric. Eric seemed to realize this, because he put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed. Horatio raised his eyebrow at this, but didn't address it.

"We could say that it was an accident…." Ryan suggested, standing up.

"Like that will work…" Eric said, then moved toward Ryan aggressively.

"Least I came up with a suggestion!" Ryan said defensively.

"It is better to not say anything at all than to say shit!" Eric retorted.

"Guys, please, get it together!" Natalia intervened. At this the two men took a step back from each other. Ryan sat back down, and Eric sat down and Calleigh placed a hand on his thigh.

"Here he comes…. Be prepared," H said, just as the door opened and a clean Stetler barged into the room.

"Explain yourselves, immediately!"

"We were…. Making sure that the dye packs worked. We had a bank robbery a while ago, and weren't sure if they actually worked. We didn't know that you would open the door…" Ryan said. It was a lie, but nobody wanted to throw Ryan under the bus that Rick was driving, so nobody said a thing. Everybody nodded his or her head in agreement.

"See Rick?" Horatio said.

"I don't buy it. I'm going to see if you actually did have a bank robbery case, then we will chat again." Rick announced, then he left the room again.

"Good thing that we actually had a bank robbery case two days ago…" Ryan said. It was a good thing, but his comment was answered by silence.

"That was… quick thinking," Natalia said after a while to remove the awkwardness.

"It was," Eric agreed, grudgingly. As much as he hated to admit it, Wolfe just saved all of their asses.

"Thank you," Ryan said, trying his best not to sound smug: he failed at that.

"We... need to get back to work," Horatio said, and then he left to room.

"Truce?" Natalia asked, referring to their prank war.

"Truce," Calleigh and Eric said at the same time. They were both eager not to draw more attention to themselves than necessary.

"Truce," Natalia and Ryan both agreed. Then they shook on it.

"So…. I know that we put the green dye on the door, and it was our mistake. But did y'all put the other dye pack on it?" Ryan asked.

"I did," Eric admitted. "It was supposed to hit y'all.

"Same for us…." Natalia said. "But we must have put ours up first because I never saw another pack on it."

"Yah, you did. I saw the other pack, and thought Calleigh had put it on. So I was very careful not to set it off…." Eric said.

"Rick's face was awesome," Natalia said.

"It was," Calleigh agreed.

" Maybe…. Now I know we called a truce against each other…. But what about a few pranks on Stetler?" Ryan asked.

"We can't get in more trouble!" Calleigh responded.

"I know, but we'll be very careful. What do you think our CSI training is for? He will never be able to prove that it was us…." Eric said. He actually liked the idea, but he wouldn't do it if Cal didn't.

"Please Calleigh! I promise that you… or Eric… won't get in trouble at all. Me and Ryan will take the fall if we get caught!" Natalia begged.

"Come on Calleigh!" Ryan added.

"It's your choice," Eric said, looking at Calleigh.

"Fine, but… we need to be careful, and leave no evidence behind." Calleigh said cautiously.

"What should our first purposeful prank be?"

"How about, now call me crazy, but he stays here late. I noticed that sometimes, he falls asleep on his desk. Now we can't do anything to obvious, like cover him with whipped cream, but we could have some fun with it. We could like make it where he "accidentally" deleted a computer file, or messed up his perfectly organized desk in his sleep," Ryan said.

"We can do that…. But, I have another idea." Calleigh said. Then she whispered her plan to the others.

The four CSI's tiptoed up to Stetler's office, and the moonlight illuminated their path.

"Here he is," Ryan whispered, and lightly opened the door to Stetler's office. Sure enough, Stetler's head was on top of his folded arms, and his chest rose and fell evenly, which it can only do in deep sleep.

"I'll shuffle and disorganize his papers," Natalia said, and then immediately began to do her work.

Ryan put the glass of water on the desk, and then ever so gently lifted Stetler's hand into the glass. Calleigh traced a heart on the letter that her (non-CSI) friend had written as a favor, and then placed it on the computer keyboard.

"Look at this!" Eric said, and pointed to the computer screen. On the screen there was a e-mail from Stetler's mother. It read:

Rick,

What has happened to you? You never have enough time for your dear mother now. I carried you for nine moths and raised you. Now, you are suddenly too good for me! I would love to have you come to my house for dinner. Please, I would love to have my sweet little sugar-pie back, and have the cold-hearted monster that you have become disappear forever.

Your mother

Below the message, a picture of a toddler in a diaper resided. The toddler appeared to be running around a yard with a lollypop in his fist. The toddler was Rick Stetler.

Everybody chuckled lightly at this e-mail. "I can't picture him as a 'sugar-pie'" Eric said.

"Agreed," Calleigh responded.

"Let's go… before he wakes up," Natalia announced, then the four people rushed out of his office, and down the elevator.

"That was…odd," Calleigh said.

"It was… but it was kinda lame…." Natalia admitted.

"It was," the two boys agreed.

"Tomorrow, we need to do something better," Ryan said.

"Definitely," Everybody, Calleigh included, agreed.

"Maybe…." Eric began, and then he suggested a particularly "nice" idea.

If anybody would like to review that would be amazing.

I have had a very CRAZY past few weeks. I've pretty much disappeared from the ff planet, and I apologize for that. I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOO SORRY!!!! Please forgive me!!!!!

Thanks for reviewing the last chapter: lovecsimiami, Angelic dEvil xo, Rachel Fox Mulwray, HollywoodEncyclopedia, csiawsome, cyn23, emilypfaan, BlueTigress, FutureFemaleCSI, vickyhiphuggers, CSIMiamiLuver2012, C.H.E.A.R., and staregatefan95!!!!!

~ Katherine ~